On Topic

writes:

Why did they stop making cars with tail fins?

Because there was no longer a market for them.

Nose gear airplanes became the fashion for GA, with a small number of
tail dragger enthusiasts.

It has been a very durable "fashion," rather like disc brakes and fuel
injection.

Tail draggers are making a resurgance because of the nostalgia, they tend
to be cheaper to make (and thus sell), and there are situations where a
nose wheel is not really desirable to have.

So it's a niche market. Meaning that, unless a prospective pilot specifically
wants to fly tail draggers for some reason, there's no reason to include them
in a training program.

Financial limitations are always a factor in everything in real life.

It's possible to spend a lot more on something that will eventually provide a
payback than on something that won't.

Do you think the Air Force is going to do primary training in anything other
than cheap (by comparison) primary trainers?

I don't know how the Air Force sets its priorities. I don't think money is
always a key factor.

Nope, because such pilots wouldn't be allowed to fly out of the third world
and real simulators that accurately simulate actual flight cost more than
primary trainers.

Real simulators for large airliners are cheaper than the airliners themselves.
And regulations differ and can change. For example, the ICAO requires Level 4
proficiency in English, but it allows individual member states to measure that
proficiency in their own way, which means that many people who still can't
speak English well enough to be safe manage to join air crews.

Yeah, computers were invented making it possible to build a simulator.

Simulators substantially predate computers.

And, FYI, the FAA has been talking about increasing the flight time
requirements for pilots flying paying customers, not decreasing them or
using simulation.

Experience is always an asset. But you don't necessarily need a real airplane
to get experience. And in a real airplane, you're more likely to get one
year's experience ten times than ten years of varied experience, because
real-world flying tends to be fairly monotonous if it's safe, whereas
simulation can provide experience in all sorts of situations that would be too
dangerous to experience in real life (which is one of the main reasons for
using it).