I think a sim is an excellent tool. It CAN lead to bad habits, but I think the good far out-weighs the bad.

What people end to forget is: It's a training DEVICE, not a training METHOD. So getting a Sim is an excellent idea, but just as we tell newbies "Don't go flying without an instructor or you will crash", we should also tell them, "Use a Sim to learn the basic controls, but get advice from an instructor so you don't get into bad habits.

I am currently training a father/son team "Long Distance".

The story is: Once a year I go to a Fun Fly about 25 miles away. One of the girls I work with lives in the area, and the Fun Fly is always in conjunction with the local town's yearly festival.

Last year, I told her to stop by the field with her 12 yr old son to check it out. Well, her son just loved it, but I wasn't perpared to do any training (Wrong Airplane to train with) so they just watched.

Later she told me how he still talks about it and says, "I wish I could have tried it", etc.

So I recently loaned her a Sim and told her to let him try it out. She came back and said that her son AND her husband just loved it. So I told her to have them start learning GOOD habits - Start "Boxing the field" and "keep the legs straight", etc, etc.

This summer, when we have that Fun Fly again, I'm going to bring along a trainer and spend some time on the buddy box with them and see how well they do