ORIGINAL: extra260bum
I'll disagree with that. I think an investment in a sim is a smart thing for a new pilot to do. Whether the 3-D flight physics are perfect or not aren't nearly as important as what the sim does teach you; like orientation/controls when flying toward yourself, and reflexive corrections of in flight mistakes before you could think about it. Both of which can save you more than $200.00 worth of planes
I've flown for years and I still use my sim to try out things and work out the kinks before I do it with something I have a thousand bucks in
I agree.. Ive only been flying for about a month now. When I first started I would lose orientation of my plane, was not used to reversed controls , and needless to say Ive spent alot of time doing some repairs. (should have seeked out an instructor ,I know) I decided to buy a simulator so that I could practice getting used to the controls without the expense of replacing more parts on my plane. I dont think that a person can learn to fly all together off of a sim, but I do believe that it helps immensly. Ive noticed that the last couple of times that I have went out to fly that I am able to control my plane alot better and am happy to say that I did not crash,lol. I was able to work the controls while they were reversed without getting confused. So I think a sim is a definite asset.