Originally Posted by
gulliBell
There is a huge cast working behind the scenes to keep the simulators going, and the parts needed to maintain them are the exact same pricey parts that go into a real helicopter. Plus the initial outlay to buy the simulator is much the same as what a new real helicopter costs, sometimes more. Which takes up a big chunk of the price per hour. Where the economics of the simulator really shine is when you crash them, much much cheaper than crashing the real thing.
Yes, I know. The same excuses for years, hehehe. But then, I go home and see the visuals of a 2004' flight simulator running in an old PC and I think: "jesus, they are laughing at us!".