On May 14, 9:23*pm, Clark wrote:
Learn to fly and then come back and tell everyone how much you really knew
before actually flying the plane.

Alternatively: talk to instructors about the students who "studied" on a
simulator before learning to fly. It's rather entertaining to hear about
folks who can tune a radio and fly the airways but they can't reliably find a
runway much less land on it. Hell, on my practical test the only VOR work I
had to do was give a simple heading to an airport. The DPE was much more
concerned about the practical operation of the aircraft rather than simple
radio nav skills.

In other words, studying a subject academically is much different than
actually participating in that subject physically and mentally.

Certainly you will agree that, all things being equal, it is good to
learn as much as one can on the ground before getting into the cockpit?
There is no substitute for manual practice, but manual practice is
going to happen anyway. Why wait until getting into the cockpit
before learning things that can be learned on the ground?

And why do all these flight schols have simulators?

-Le Chaud Lapin-