On Mon, 06 Sep 2004 21:56:09 GMT, "Jay Honeck"
wrote:

So damaging can the use of the simulator be during this stage, that it's
use can actually retard the progress of a new student.

Another point of view:

I learned to fly ten years ago in 1994. I started "flying" sims in the
mid-80s, when they were little more than wire-frame depictions of flight.
(Anyone remember Atari STs?) By the time I could afford real flight lessons,
I had a zillion hours of sim time.

At least partially as a result, I took to flying immediately, and soloed
with just 6.4 hours in my logbook.

Quite frankly, I'd be willing to bet that my time riding motorcycles was
just as helpful in learning to fly (the physics of riding and flying are
nearly identical) -- but my instructor (who, by the way, was an older
gentleman and quite the technophobe. He believed that computers were evil
devices from Day One.) figured that all my sim time really helped --
especially in the early stages of flight instruction.

Your mileage may vary, of course.

Atari ST? I would have killed for one of those. I was stuck with an
Atari 800 that I had about $1,000 invested in, if you can believe
that. I started flying Bruce Artwick's flight simulator before it was
SubLogic. I also believe that my 30 years of motorcycle riding helped
with my flying. Everything from the similarity of motion to the
attentiveness to weather helped.

That being said, I do think that the simulator can be harmful to a new
student primarily because of the well documented "head in the cockpit"
syndrome. Those that have flown simulators for many years may be over
that problem. At any rate, there is much to be gained from Flight
Simulator, even if not at the beginning of your training. In response
to the OP, it is not a substitute for a real plane or a CFI but it is
clearly more than just a game.

Rich Russell