In the last post I mentioned how professional pilots intentionally fly by the numbers and how trim makes that possible. In this post I would like to discuss intention at the CFI/Student level and propose a desktop training solution.
Airline pilots fly by the numbers because they have to. Speeds, configurations, and performance targets aren’t suggestions — they’re guardrails. The interesting part is not that the system works (it clearly does), but that the same discipline can be adapted — very effectively — to general aviation training. And this is where the home simulator begins to shine.
In a light aircraft like a Cessna 172, we don’t need a page full of V-speeds. What we need are a few reliable anchor numbers and the discipline to use them. Downwind at 90 knots. Base at 80. Final at 65. Not perfect numbers — repeatable numbers. That distinction matters.
The simulator gives us something the real airplane cannot: the ability to isolate, repeat, and study cause and effect without distraction.
Take the stabilized approach. In the real world, we talk about it. In the simulator, we can enforce it. Set the rule: by 500 feet AGL, the airplane is on speed, on glidepath, and configured — or we go around. No salvaging, no improvising. Run that pattern ten times in twenty minutes. What begins as an exercise quickly becomes habit.
Or consider the fundamental relationship every student struggles with: pitch and power - trim. In the airplane, it often devolves into chasing needles. In the simulator, we can slow it down. Set climb power and a known pitch attitude. Observe the result. Reduce power, hold attitude, watch the descent develop. Repeat. The lesson becomes clear: the airplane is not doing something mysterious — it is responding exactly to what was set.
The same holds true when we begin to stretch beyond standard conditions. Change the environment — raise the field elevation, increase the temperature—and suddenly those familiar numbers don’t produce the same results. The rotation speed hasn’t changed, but the runway seems shorter and the climb anemic. That’s not a flaw in the system; it’s the lesson. Numbers are targets, not guarantees. Performance margins matter.
Wind adds another layer. A steady approach at 65 knots is one thing. Introduce gusts, and now we adjust — adding a few knots for stability. The simulator allows you to dial this in precisely, to see what happens when you don’t, and to understand why that small adjustment makes a large difference.
Perhaps the most revealing exercise is the simplest: fly a pattern “by feel,” then fly it again using defined speeds and checkpoints. The comparison is usually not subtle. One is variable, reactive, and inconsistent. The other is controlled, predictable, and repeatable. That’s the difference flying by the numbers makes.
There is, however, one critical condition if the home simulator is to be truly effective: it cannot exist in isolation. It should be integrated into the CFI’s syllabus. The same numbers, the same callouts, the same expectations — used in the cockpit — should be reinforced at home. In that way, the simulator becomes a bridge between lessons, not a separate activity.
Used properly, it anchors what was learned in the last flight while preparing the student for the next. The result is continuity. The student shows up not to relearn, but to refine.
None of this suggests that a home simulator replaces the airplane. It doesn’t. What it does — when used properly — is support the learning process. It reduces workload by building familiarity. It reinforces discipline. It allows a student to arrive at the airplane having already seen the picture.
Used this way, the simulator becomes more than a game. It becomes a laboratory.
And in that laboratory, the numbers stop being abstract — and start becoming instinct.
Your thoughts?
Kenneth (Ken) Butterly, Founder
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