Adam, I hope you have a super duper Flight Sim gig at home complete with yoke and throttle quadrant running on at least a dual SLI? Will save both you and your dad a fortune!
Flight Sims go a long way towards teaching one how all the various flight parameters are related (speed, pitch, VS, alt, temperature, pressure). There will be a selection on here who will cringe at what I'm telling you...by telling you Flight Sim teaches bad habits. Yes there are some undesired habits one may develop from over indulging in Flight Sim but nothing that can't be undone. The advantages far outweigh the disadvantages. Practise makes perfect and this is a vital tool, so invest by spending the cost of at least 2 lessons into suitable hardware, if you haven't already!