As an ex "voice over" in the sim, I think Synthetic has called it about right.
At the end of the day they are simulators, and from what I saw on the flight deck side, some pilots hated it with a passion but lots didn't because from what I could see, they saw it for what it was - a training aid put in place for there use.
Is it real? Ask the crew that insisted on descending below there minimum safety altitude over the Grampians. Result one shaken crew and a salutary lesson learnt for the Air Traffiker on the outside.
The other thing I do remember after a certain incident in foreign parts, is lots of captains asking for a quick 15 minutes during which they "simulated" what had happened to the real crew, as one succinctly put it - "I want to know why and I want to make sure it does not happen to me"
They have there place and I am sure the technology is available to make them better, but that’s down to price I think we all know what happens when the beancounters at MOD buy something......
