Hey john tullamarine:
I generally agree with your hierarchy of simulation “value,” and I go back to my on-going campaign to convince simulator and training device manufacturers, pilots and pilot organizations, as well as regulatory authorities of essentially these same points. Value to the pilot without compromising what it is that the pilot is likely to learn and take into the airplane for application.
What I object to is those who claim to be “pilots” making statements like “If you find you’re too high in the flare, all you have to do is pop some more flaps and push the nose over slightly. You just have to be careful to not land on the nose.” Please note, this is not a “made up” line – but a quote from another forum.
I guess I am acutely aware that we have pilots of all experience levels – including those legitimately desiring to become a pilot one day – and some who like the idea of being able to talk intelligently with “real” pilots when their experience is limited to or is largely on something like MSFS. I worry that if one of the lesser experienced pilots, say just past solo, were to read and believe the statement I quoted above, were to find himself or herself in that situation – too high in the flare – and decided to just “pop” some more flaps and push the nose over – we could see one less participant on the forum – and we’d never know why. Perhaps that is a bit overly sensitive, but I guess that’s a burden I have to live with.