Flight Simulator Software - Any Help or Just a Game?

"pjbphd" wrote in message
news:Nx3%c.213310$sh.156079@fed1read06...
I'm a student pilot and have heard mixed reviews of Flight
Sim software. Some say it's great for a little on the ground
practice. Others say it's really a waste of time.


The Navy appears to think that students with MS Flight Sim training are
better than students without Flight sim training.

"Armchair jet jockeys play Microsoft Corp.'s Flight Simulator on their PCs
to capture a bit of the thrill of the real thing, which replicates an actual
flight experience closely enough that the Navy is making its customized
version of Flight Simulator standard issue for all student naval aviators.
.......
Cadets who used the Navy version of Flight Simulator in a test run this
summer "had significantly higher flight scores...and fewer below average
unsatisfactory flight scores," "

http://www.cnn.com/2000/TECH/computi...6/missile.idg/

This is from an AOPA article.

"Have you heard of Herb Lacy? In 1998, the ensign and U.S. Naval Academy
graduate saw a lifelong dream fulfilled when he was accepted into Naval
flight training. But Lacy, who had never flown an airplane, found himself at
a disadvantage in the extremely competitive program—many of his classmates
had previously received flight instruction, and some were certificated
pilots.

Lacy decided to level the playing field. He bought a copy of Microsoft’s
Flight Simulator 98 and used software tools to create a representation of
the Beech T–34C Mentor in which he would learn to fly. Lacy even added local
landmarks near Naval Air Station Corpus Christi, Texas, to help him with
situational awareness. He spent more than 40 hours flying the customized
simulator before climbing into a Mentor cockpit.

His efforts were so successful that not only did Lacy graduate near the top
of his class, but the Navy investigated the idea of using computer gaming
software for training. An experiment showed that when pilot trainees
practiced with Flight Simulator, 54 percent more received above-average
flight scores. So the Navy decided to issue Flight Simulator 98—modified
with a software shell, much like Lacy’s version—to all of its flight
students."

http://www.aopa.org/pilot/features/future0004.html