35 of those hours can be in an FNPT2
OK, this is another fun one
The use of a sim depends much on whether one needs to actually learn IFR procedures.
Ex IMCR, I could fly every procedure straight off the plate, and IMHO so should every properly trained IMCR holder who can read. What I could not do is fly the IFR stuff to the required accuracy, at the required timescale, under the massive (relative to any real life flight) pilot workload, under a deliberately compromised situational awareness, in an aircraft which behaved very differently to mine.
Years back, I found real value in FS2000 for learning IFR procedures (worth many hours and a few grand) for the IMCR but I think an aircraft owner with an IMCR (I think IMCR holders are the big majority of FAA or JAA IR candidates, whether they are owners or not) is going to have an equal challenge in the following two cases
- training in a sim and doing the checkride in a real plane
- training in one's own plane and doing the checkride in a different plane
This was proved true (to me) when I went to the USA, when I found the PA28-161 like a matchstick on the sea swell, compared to the TB20, not to mention the suspect avionics (non slaved DI etc).
Pre-USA, this lead to me hunting down every UK checkride option so I could train in the same plane (mine) in which the checkride would be done, but I failed to find anybody who could credibly (credibly) promise a checkride.
What I can see a sim being good for is knocking off legit loggable hours, for somebody who is already checkride ready before they reach the 50hr mark. The Q is whether it is cheaper. And even then I wouldn't touch it, pre-checkride, unless it was the same type as the checkride type. Currency on type is most of the trick in this game, IMHO.
caught fire in my early days.
Did the sim catch fire, or did the instructor give you simulated fires?
I was sitting in a fairly fancy professional sim a few weeks ago, with an FMS, 2xG430. Used for training ATP candidates, JAA country. It's far removed from an aircraft in which a checkride will be flown.