Probably eighty percent of what I use MSFS for could be accomplished with pencil, paper and a FlightSafety poster of the aircraft layout, if I’d just sit down and spend the time concentrating. The simplest advantage of the game is that it’s a video game, so holds a person’s attention better, because there’s the payoff of ‘really’ intercepting the glideslope.
However, as Aviatix further points out, flying a plane in Microsoft Flight Simulator is NOT the same as flying a plane in real life and as she states, “you’re free to do stupid things” and “there’s the risk that practicing these things and having them work out will transfer psychologically to the real airplane.” Furthermore, as a certain “MEMpilot” has pointed out in an old entry on airlinepilotforums.com, he is increasingly seeing a certain pattern among his new students which he describes as ‘Microsoft Flight Simulator Syndrome’ and this pattern “manifests itself in over controlling, instrument fixation, and general intolerance for stick and rudder.”
Nevertheless, Microsoft Flight Simulator is and always will be a useful tool for student and veteran pilots alike. Its to bad that Microsoft has decided to end support for the product.