4005,
This is exactly the point that I was trying to make. I totally understand that you are trying to get a headstart on learning to fly by playing with the small electrics and the simulator. But how do you know that you are doing things correctly on the simulator? Sims are a great thing in that they will allow you to practice and improve your skills without ever leaving the house. But the simulator doesn't know if you are doing things right or wrong. If you are doing things incorrectly you will just be practicing incorrectly. I have had students come out that had done exactly what you are, spent a lot of time on a simulator before coming out to the field. The problem was that they had learned some very bad habits on the simulator that I had to "un-teach" before they could properly learn to fly a RC plane. It took probably twice as long for me to train them to fly than it would have if they hadn't done the simulator first. So in this case it actually hurt the pilots instead of helping them. While this is by no means a complete list, here are some of the bad habits I see students picking up from simulators without using an instructor:

1) Failing to keep the plane straight during takeoff run.
2) Climbing out too steep.
3) Not maintaining a constant altitude while turning.
4) Turns that aren't smooth, too sharp, etc.
5) Forgetting that there is a left stick.
6) Not lining up with the runway during landing approach.
7) Using ailerons instead of rudder to make course corrections when landing.
8) Using the elevator to extend the landing when you realize you're short.
9) Failure to learn the signs that a plane is about to stall, and what to do to avoid it, or recover from it.

I'm not trying to tell you that simulators are bad, because that's not true. Simulators are a wonderful teaching tool when they are used properly in a course of instruction. They can really help cut down on the training time a student needs by giving a place for the student to practice what they learn each training session. If you want to get a headstart on learning to fly I would recommend that you contact an instructor and explain to them what you are doing. They can give you some things to work on using the simulator that will help you learn.

Please don't think that I am trying to discourage you from flying, because I'm not. I just don't want to see you doing things that could possibly increase your training time instead of decrease it. Good luck on your training.

Hope this helps

Ken