Originally Posted by Owain Glyndwr
Actually, if you have access to a development simulator you wouldn't involve pilots at all; you would simply set up the initial conditions and feed in the actual control movements [sidestick; TLA].
A simulator stays a simulator today, since they always have commands which don't exist on the plane and use metalanguage
EDIT 1 : "real system" replaced by "plane", but it is the case too if you simulate a rocket or another computer,aso.