@lobstaboy I'm sorry you think that this is a waste of time, but thanks for your insight nonetheless.
Appreciate the explanation @JAFO , just really confused... the best sim is the pilot's brain.... if he sits in a chair or in a standby aircraft and armchair-flies, that's fine but if he sits in a simulator and sim-flies, that's bad?
At this point, I'm not claiming simulators will help me get a PPL, simply that it would aid in practicing stuff I've been taught (PAT, APT, LAI, etc.) and possibly reduce what is "lost" during periods of no flying. I have seen people try to "accelerate" or jump start their PPL by flight simming and buying some "PPL add-ons," let me be clear in saying that even I facepalm at such ideas. I've been flying combat flight sims for a long time now but I have no illusions about my abilities as a combat fighter pilot!
I'm not here to prove anyone wrong or question the opinion of experienced pilots, I'm simply trying to understand why/how your opinions have come to what they are!
@johnm, I agree and have noticed I'm instrument-flying more than I am looking out the window so I've really appreciated the difference! Trimming and all forces involved in flight are also obviously more appreciated in real flying, no contest there! As one of my buddies once said, "the view sure beats any 4K monitor!"
@T67M , thank you very much for your input! Can you tell me what bad habits you had to un-teach and what challenges you've noticed that are particular to sim flyers? If I am more aware of these pitfalls, I hope I can be more successful in avoiding them!
I would greatly understand the sentiment here if I had encountered the same difficulties but so far, my flight lessons have been straightforward with positive debriefs afterwards (no issues with climbs, turns, descents, straight and level, trimming, flaps, takeoffs, and taxiing, although I tend to taxi on the slower side) and both insturctors I've flown with are aware of my simulation background, albeit combat flight sims and not really civilian flight sims.
Do you think I should have another word with my instructors as to their evaluation of my flight performance? As mentioned earlier, I need to work more on my lookout and flying visual rather than keeping my head inside the cockpit, but this issue I've identified myself and was not due to a comment from any of my instructors.
@WelshRichy , you're correct with the airspeed indicator and going with RPM/MP combinations. I assume that with experience comes the "feel" of speed? I would love that challenge of learning to land with a "broken" airspeed indicator! Thanks for confirming that will be the case, @Paul_Sengupta!
@PaulW , thank you for that constructive input! Do you have any specific channels to recommend? One guy I was watching seemed okay... until he made a video where he showed that he didn't understand how airplanes fly! D'oh!!