While this may have happened to you, I'd say that kind of experience is
exceptional. Sorry it happened to you.

no big deal. I learned and no one got hurt and no one had to
deviate.

In 16 years and 1500+ hours of flying, I've never heard of anyone busted
by ATC for a 50 foot altitude deviation (well, I guess now I have).

it was not the 50 feet, it was that you basically fly the pattern which
is right underneath the approach into SFO. The big iron passes at
around 1800 and maybe a mile or two east of the pattern. I was not
only 50 feet high but I was also climbing. Remember the transponder
encoder shows in hundreds of feet and is not as accurate as the
altimeter in the plane. Add it all up and it could have shown me at
150 feet high and still climbing.

Regardless, I agree a PC-based flight simulator can save you time and
money on IFR training.

definitely. It can also more realistically teach you about
failures without risking your life.

Gerald