I was trying to teach a 17 year old. ( You know the old trainer/ buddy box way.)
After 2 crash landings. He bought a Simulator.
4 weeks later, he flew his new Hanger 9 Showtime 4 flights with perfect landings every time. (Note : His first landings!!!)

awesome. They do help. I got the phornix sim. But need a better graphics card for my notebook. It is a newer compaq but has a basic card, so I get hiccups when flying the models. I love the traning features, there is one selection just for landing and one just for torque rolling, very cool. Tell the 17 year old congrats on the successful flights.

Yea, last autumn I gave my buddy's son two lessons before winter set in. Then he spent all winter on the sim.

Spring came and after two more times in the air I said, "You don't need ME anymore!"

I agree on this .My sons friend who has never been near an rc plane flew one on my sim for like 5 mins one nite.Next day we went to the field and he took the buddy box and flew figures 8s like had been doin it for years.I never had to take back control.Just think of the money i would have saved in crashed planes had these been around in the 80s when i started

Thats how I learned. They really do help. Some people learn faster, and some people learn slow, and the SIM will go however fast you want, and when your ready for your next airplane, you just select a new aircraft. Also, if you crash, you can hit the red button on the transmitter instead of picking up the pieces

I used Real Flight Basic just to get that "feeling" back after over 30 years of not being in the air. My fingers had become a little rusty let's say.
It does help but it's not all inclusive.
I have not read about one yet that simulates gusts

I have a moderate dyslexia issue and the sim has been the only way I learned to fly. While I still turn have a occassional quickly remedied wrong way turns while free flying up high, my muscle memory for landing is dialed in due to hours on the sim. The brain/finger connection will screw up when free flying, but when landing or taking off, the muscle memory is 99% perfect.

A sim (Realfight in my case) rocks!

Jack

Phoenix does, it's in the custom wind setting, you set a base wind speed, direction, turbulence etc, then set the gust speed (and frequency) that goes over and above the preset default wind speed you just selected.

Itried to teach myself, after 4 planes Igot the cheap FMS cable and practiced . Went to the field with my instructor, took 3 ten minute classes and my instructor says I'm done, Solo.
Been having a blast since then.

Eh, most do, including RF Basic.