Cheers for sharing that @lobstaboy! Don't the same reasons apply to armchair flying? I've never come across any posts discouraging armchair flying.
As I already have a flight sim setup, I only really needed to get a yoke to convert from combat flight sims to civilian flight sims, so even counting the costs of material to create a stand to integrate it to the simpit, it's still less than the cost of a lesson. However, I do see your point of possibly needing more lessons, but that's why I am careful to distinguish between flight sim flying and real flying and not let my simming "contaminate" my actual training. Thanks to your input and those of others in this forum, I'm more aware of this possibility and if it does happen, I will know the possible cause and the fix.
lobstaboy wrote:You don't have to believe me (and the others with the same message).
It's not an issue of whether I believe you (and the others) or not; I appreciate the input but I also want to understand why you and others have this message and not the another message. As an instructor, is it enough for you that the student follows your instruction blindly? Or is it not better if the student understands WHY you've given the instruction?
lobstaboy wrote:But I can tell you that instructors' hearts sink when a pupil tells them 'i expect to learn quickly, I've got a sim at home' because they know there will be unnecessary struggles ahead.
(Incidentally the same is true of car drivers - the best flight pupils are folk who've never driven a car!)
I guess that's because it's easier to work with a "blank" than having to teach the student to un-learn certain things? I can totally understand this as I have to consciously have to stop myself from turning the yoke if I want to go left/right and instead operate the pedals. This is funny too as I never have this problem in my simulation time, but maybe that's because I primarily use a HOTAS which automatically puts my brain in a different mindset.... holding a yoke and maybe my brain thinks it's a steering wheel and that's where the issue arises.
The two instructors I've flown with, I never told them I got a sim setup at home prior to flying with them. It was only after several comments that I seemed to know what I was doing that I confessed to having one. I also told them I appreciated the difference between real flight and simming and I try to identify habits I've formed with simming that would be detrimental to real flight ---- such as looking at my instruments too much and to look out more. On a recent flight where the aircraft was being kicked about a lot, it was great to really, really appreciate holding a sight picture out the window and not chasing the instruments around!