AN2_Driver said:
I'd ask you to take into account that people who do sim before they take the big and costly step to go in the real realm of the pilots tend to be some of the most enthusiastic of all. In the present day and age, private flying has enough people who despise every single one of us (see the other thread about drop outs) so we can do witout inadvertedly or explicitly singling out more people. Unfortunately I have seen this happen in the past.
I'd just like to highlight this point: Not only in trial lessons, but very much so on PPrune, it seems if you have used a flight sim you are generally admonished as if some sort of naughty schoolboy
. (BTW it's not limited to flying, try telling an instructor at a driving experience day that you've "driven" the circuit on a computer based game/simulator!)
For me it's analogous to my job as a software developer. TECHNICALLY it far better all round - both for me and my customer - if I install software on a brand new server all of its own. But in the real world, the server WILL have been used before and will have other pieces of software on it. Technically this is a worse position for the customer, and there may be all kinds of extra problems I have to solve as a result, but in the real world as a supplier that's my tough sh
, the customer is king!
I don't think anyone's disagreeing that it's easier for an instructor to start with a student as a blank canvas, and I'm certainly not advocating an approach which dictates the use of a PC flight sim before genuine lessons (though I may have found it beneficial in some areas
), but it's an instructor's job to teach.
I may be bad at flying because I've learnt some bad habits on a flight sim or it might just be that I'm simply incompetent, either way I'm paying an instructor my hard-earned cash to teach me so even if they don't like it they'll need to find a way to get me flying. I would personally find it more than a little bizarre for the guy I'm paying to teach me, to admonish me for my current inability to do what he's supposed to be teaching - whatever I've previously done that may or may not contribute to that. If I'm not grasping it, surely it reflects as much on their ability to teach as to me, maybe that's what they're defensive about?
So if you are thinking of flying but can't decide or haven't yet got the cash I'd say don't be scared off maintaining your enthusiasm and using a flight sim by instructors or posts on here - if you enjoy it, do it. But I don't think many people will RECOMMEND it as the best approach to learn. Remember the instuctor's opinions on here are just that - opinoins - and yours is valid too! Each to their own.
Happy Flying
