Survey: Home Flight Sim Helps Prepare Real-World Pilots

A new survey says flight students who supplement with home flight sims are able to shave almost 20 hours off flight training hours from the FAA average.

Meg Godlewski

Friday, May 31, 2024 at 03:27 PM ET

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Pilots can get valuable practice on simulators. [Credit: Shutterstock]

Key Takeaways:

A new study by the Flight Simulation Association found that pilots who use home flight simulation require significantly fewer flight training hours to achieve certification (5.5 fewer hours than non-users, and nearly 20 hours less than the FAA average).
Home flight simulators enhance training by allowing learners to practice procedures, build muscle memory, prepare for cross-country navigation, and develop communication skills through virtual air traffic control in a low-risk environment.
While home simulators don't replicate the kinesthetic feel of real flight, accepting their limitations allows pilots to benefit from dedicated practice and troubleshooting, and the technology also shows potential for air traffic control recruitment and training.

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One of the common challenges with learning to fly is that unlike learning to play a musical instrument, more often than not you cannot practice what you learned at home. That is, unless you have a home flight simulation set up.

While the time “logged’ using X-Plane or Microsoft Flight Simulator doesn’t count toward the required time for a certificate or rating, and it won’t give you the kinesthetic feel for the aircraft, it can still help reinforce concepts learned in lessons.