Is a flight sim really necessary to learn to fly RC planes? I was asked this question recently, and I liked my thoughtful and detailed reply so much that I decided to share it here with all of you!

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I don't think a flight sim is absolutely necessary, but I do think it's useful and helpful for a number of reasons.

A flight sim will help practice basic flying manuevers like figure eights and square turns after you first learn them while flight training. You can work on a new turning technique or aerobatic manuever with your instructor, then go home and practice the manuever on the simulator to reinforce the lesson.

A flight sim will allow you to fly when your schedule or the weather won't let you go out to the field and flight train. I remember when I was training a couple of years ago that I couldn't wait for Thursday night flight training to come around. When we got rained out, being able to fly on the sim was a good substitute. I think having the simulator available helps eliminate the temptation to go out and fly when you know you shouldn't.

I trained at a club with several Avistar owners who wrecked their planes trying to taxi them in their driveways or starting them in their garage and having them get away from themselves. Don't underestimate the temptation to fly when you know you shouldn't. The simulator will help ease the craving to fly when you want to go out to the field but you can't. Keeping a cheap RTF park flyer handy for crashing in between training flights is also handy.

A flight sim will give you extra stick time to work on control orientation and practice aircraft recovery without risking your planes. I can recall at least three saves I had last year that I can contribute to simulator practice. Twice I had sport planes out high and away from me and I lost orientation due to hazy visibility. I pulled them out of dives intuitively because of simulator practice, then realizing afterward, "Wow! That was a pretty good save." Another incident was over the winter when I was flying indoors and my foamy was coming in toward me but another pilot had cut across my flight path. I banked my airplane above his and pointed it directly toward the wall, then quickly corrected course and banked sharply again to parallel the wall before colliding with it. All of these saves were done instinctively and were simply reflexes of previous simulator work.

A simulator is also a good way to try new and different forms of flying without having to pony up the cash for extra models. I've flown trainers, sport planes, and pattern ships while at the field, but I'm curious to try a lot of additional forms of flying. On the simulator I can practice with scale warbirds, scale aerobatics, 3D flying, helicopters, sailplanes, flying wings, and all kinds of other aircraft without having to invest extra time or money. I've discovered that scale warbirds look and sound cool, but they're kind of boring to fly. I've also discovered that 3D flying and helicopters are way tougher than I thought they'd be, and that I've got a lot more practice to get in before I bother to invest in real aircraft of those types.

I have a friend who is a decent sport pilot like myself, but he hasn't had much luck stepping up to the next level of flying skills. He was considering buying a CAP232 ARF because he thought his Great Planes Big Stik .40 ARF was too tame for him. I thought it was a pretty big leap, but he thought he could handle it. I had him come over and fly the Big Stik .40 ARF on my Real Flight G3.5 simulator, and he thought it was pretty realistically modelled. I then had him fly the Great Planes Performance Series CAP232 that is modelled on the same sim, and he put it into the ground several times in a row. The simulator helped him realize he wasn't ready for that level of scale aerobat yet, and it saved him a lot of money and frustration.

If you're only interested in basic flight training and you're not sure if flying RC is something you're sure you want to do for the next three or four years, then you don't need a flight simulator. If you're excited about RC flying and you can't wait to try out aerobatics or 3D manuevers or other forms of flying, the flight simulator is a great investment that can improve your skills and keep your reflexes sharp when the weather or your personal schedule would otherwise keep you from flying.

I have Real Flight G3.5 and I like it, but I can't say it's absolutely the best simulator out there. The new FS One simulator from Hangar 9 is supposed to be quite impressive with regard to physics. Helicopter pilots tell me that the Reflex XTR simulator distributed by Model Rectifier is the best at capturing helicopter physics. Aerofly Professional Deluxe is often touted as the best for modeling 3D aircraft flight, and they have a new budget edition called EasyFly2 that sells for $99.99 with sim cable included for your transmitter. The new Phoenix Flight Simulator is supposed to boast great general graphics and physics, and it's the only flight simulator that models float plane physics and includes aquatic take-offs and landings.

I don't think which simulator you buy is critically important. Even if Real Flight G3 is the worst of the bunch, it's helped me improve and grow my piloting skills quite a bit. The difference between a mediocre pilot and a good pilot is simply practice, and having the flight simulator helps me get in a lot more practice than I could without it.