Old ATC
The Truth is ... that Flight Sim is the most valuable tool for gaining ratings and skills that has ever been invented. My flight Sim Set Up has three screens, with Matrox Tripplehead2Go, Control Yoke and Rudder Pedals.
It is because of the hundreds of hours, I've spent doing NDB Approaches, VOR/DME Approaches and ILS's, with the Vis set to the minimum, that I've been able to be really really current, and master the skills. The Casa examiner rescently described my performance to the CFI as "Fauntless". My wife came out to the aerodrome after the test and the examiner told her that I'm one of the best he has seen, and that he would let me loose in cloud any time, with not the slightest worry.
There is not doubt about it, that this is not outstanding ability on my part, but the continued practice, practice, pracetice that I did over many months leading up to the final test. I'm no star, but if I hang in there, I can usually master whatever it is.
As I played back the diagram of where I'd been, I could see the effect the various winds set had on things like holding patterns, analyse them in my mind, and apply less bank turning into wind, and more turning downwind, and how much drift to lay off in any given wind situation, without having to resort to the "maths" of it all. Just like VV, you learn "how to do it", subconscious mind stuff. It helps too in Orientation ... it does help if you know exactly what part of the Approach you are on at any time ... and on all the local approaches around here, I don't need the charts, and could do them, as I know all the numbers and figures as second nature,, due to the practice I've done.
Take a simple thing like take off. On Flight sim, you run through the checklist, taxi onto the runway, apply power, keep the aircraft straight as it wants to yaw to the left, because of the twisting motion of the propellor, and the "wind" it generates which goes from the prop, round underneath the aircraft, and hits the tail surface, L.H. Side of the aircraft and makes it want to weathercock to the left. Just a little right rudder to hold it straight is all that is required.
Landings are the same. You can come around onto final, and get to the point where everyone has difficulty, which is the last 200 ft, and "save" that scenario, returning to it any time. In the course of an hour, you could probably do 60 touchdowns ... in the plane, you might do 6. You can do a Playback of each landing, and again analyise it, so appropriate improvements can be made. Of course it goes without saying, that a good approacyh is needed for a good landing, and approaches can be practiced over and over too.
Navigation. The Australian scenery packages with lakes, mountains, towns, aerodromes and Nav Aids are so realistic, that before I go anywhere I haven't been before, I'll do the Flight Plan, the "fly the mission", with a Map on my knee, and observe all the prominent topigraphical features and Nav Aids enroute, so when I do the actual flight, it's the second time I've done it, and I've fallen into all the traps at home, rather than out in the aircraft, and know what I'm expecting to see..
Before each IFR Training Nav Flight, I'd "fly the mission" a number of times, and I knew the frequencies, best places to do everything, get operating sequences right ... it was a real Godsend.
ILS's. You have two VHF radio's in the panel, and they need to be set up like this.
COM 2. To have Home Aerodrome 118.8 and Radar 125.7.
COM 1. To have APP 124.7 and TWR 120.5.
The sequence is this. Start off on 118.8, broadcast when changing to Radar 125.7, and call them, get identified etc.
When they say "Contact Approach 124.7, you have that already set up on COM 1, so you select Com 1, call them, and at some point they tell you to call Tower. This is where the Approach can fall apart, and you can quickly get out of tolerance by having your attention diverted, so having TWR 120.5 also on Com 1, with the Flip Flop button right there, you can still concentrate on the instruments, put your hand up to the radio, quickly glance as you push the flip flop button, call Tower, and only be a microsecond away from what you are doing, which is folying the aircraft. If you have to stuff around, changing frequency selector knobs etc, you will fail your test by drifting out of tolerance. The examiner will not bring you round for a second go, you either pass or fail.
The CFI puts many candidates up for tests, and he said that those with flight sim are so far ahead of those who haven't got it ... because it gives recency, currency, and skills that are easily lost, are retained.
Then you can add in a crosswind, light at first, increasing to over the max allowed for that type of aircraft, developing the "crossed controls" technique as second nature, when landing the aircraft. Some people never master this.
The same with VV, the ATC radar vectoring training program. I have probably spent over 100 hours going through all these lessons, just to improve my own skills. It is over 40 years since I did my ATC Course, during which time Ive had "Check Controller" experience, plus 16 years training, both Ab Initio and Sector Specific.
My assessment of the VV Course is ... it is a really great tool, for learning radar vectoring, sequencing and separation. Going through each lesson in sequence, and staying on each exercise til that particular skill is mastered, is something I'd recommend to anyone going on to an ATC Course. If a sequence is stuffed up, you can "rewind" the program, and change whatever is needed to get the sequence right, which is 3 or 5 miles between aircraft, when the leading one touches down.
With the advent some years ago, of the home PC, the VV program is in my opinion, the best.