i've been flying for a year now and i had no instructer to help me. like all the other guys are saying i'm sure its the best way to go about things with hands on training buti just did it with the simulator. i musta spend about 50 hours on that thing and then i made sure my plane was trimmed as close as you can get it when its on the ground and away i went. had my first crash hear a couple weeks ago cause my engine quit in flight and i misjudged the distance to a grain bin and hit while floating down. just make sure you can do anything on the sim that you'd do in a real flight without having to think whcih way to move the sticks. you should react instictively. i used a real fight simulator and had good luck with it. i always todl myself i wouldn't try flying my plane unless i could fly inverted a few feet off the ground and right into the camera. after i could do that i had the guts to try my real plane which was landed perfectly ok the first time. i woulda tryed an instructer but there is none close to me. all the best man....Good Luck