Neil is a top instructor and a great guy, you have a good one there !!!
Here'a a good tip for you. When sitting around waiting for your lesson, listen to the guys talking, some of them have been at it for years and have some good tales to tell. Remember, learn from the mistakes of others, you wont live long enough to make them all yourself!!
As for FS2004. I agree with all the previous comments. The problem is that it makes you use instruments more, we are generally flying under visual rules, and they are called visual for a reason. The scenery isn't that good unless you get an add-on. The main problem is that it is just a game, not a real sim. You don't get any feedback, so where you might get a feel for what goes where, the seat of your pants don't tell you a thing. Some of the speeds are a little out, and try and get the 172 to stall. Yes it will stall, but nicely, no wing drops on it, and it will not spin at all. Whilst you might not want to spin in real life, you need to be aware of the causes so that you can prevent it, and FS cannot replacate this. SIM is also a lot harder to trim than real life.
My advice is not to compare the real thing to SIM, but compare SIM to a real plane, like I have done here. But as for flying headings and instrument reading it's not bad at all.
My personal favourite flight on SIM is the extra 300 under Runcorn Bridge!!! Just for fun you see.
Last edited by cessna l plate; 11th July 2006 at 07:54.