Real pilots? You mean ones with situational awareness?
In my engine performance studies, I had an instructor who became upset with folks who did "PLUG AND CHUG" with a computer model of an engine, putting in numbers and not questioning the output. He taught us, instead, to make a back-of-the-envelope prediction of the results - not terribly accurate, but good enough for a sanity check on the computer. Very useful!
BTW, many of us can still wield a K&E slipstick with deadly accuracy (four significant digits!). The real skill comes in placing the decimal point correctly.
