Can MSFS 2024 help with real-world flight training while working on a PPL?

MSFS 2024 and PPL training — where it really helps (and where it doesn’t)

Yes, a good PC sim can absolutely help your real-world training, but it helps most in the “mental and procedural” side of flying, not the “feel of the airplane” side. If you use it with the right expectations, it can save you time/money and reduce workload in the cockpit.

What MSFS can genuinely help you learn

• Procedures and flows: Checklists, cockpit flows, passenger brief, “before takeoff / after takeoff / cruise / descent / before landing” routines. Repetition is where the sim shines.
• Radio work and cockpit workload management: Practicing when to do what (aviate/navigate/communicate), staying ahead of the airplane, and not getting task-saturated.
• Navigation basics: Pilotage/dead reckoning concepts, using headings, groundspeed/time/distance, and understanding how wind changes what you see out the window.
• Pattern geometry and sight picture (to a point): The shape of a standard traffic pattern, aiming points, stabilized approach concepts, and go-around decision-making.
• IFR “thinking” (even if you’re pre-IFR): Scan discipline, holding headings/altitudes, instrument cross-check, and basic approach brief structure. Even for a PPL, these skills help.
• Emergency rehearsal (as a thought exercise): Engine failure “what would I do next?”, best glide concept, picking a field, running a flow. (Just be careful not to practice incorrect control feel or unrealistic glide performance.)

Where MSFS will mislead you if you’re not careful

• Control feel and trim behavior: Real airplanes talk to you through the seat and controls. A spring-centered joystick and consumer rudder pedals don’t replicate that.
• Ground handling: Taxi feel, braking, wind effects, and nosewheel steering tend to be “different enough” that you can accidentally build bad habits.
• The flare/landing feel: The last 10 feet is largely sensory cues and timing. Sims often teach people to “force it on” or chase the runway.
• Looking outside properly: In real training, your instructor will constantly reinforce where your eyes should be. In a sim, it’s easy to get glued to instruments or the wrong visual cues.

Practical ways to use it alongside your PPL lessons
1) Use the same airplane and “keep it simple”
If your flight school uses a 172/PA-28/whatever, fly something similar in the sim and avoid hopping between a bunch of aircraft. The goal is repetition, not variety.

2) Chair-fly + sim-fly the exact lesson you’re about to do

• The night before: run the flows and checklist items.
• Then practice the profile: taxi-out, run-up, takeoff, pattern, landing, shutdown.
• Keep the session short (15–30 minutes) and focused.

3) Make it “procedural,” not “performance hunting”
Don’t worry if the airplane in MSFS climbs 100 fpm different than your trainer, or the stall breaks differently. Focus on:

• Callouts
• Checklist discipline
• Staying ahead of the airplane
• Decision points (go-around, divert, “this is unstable”)

4) Practice radio and airspace awareness
Even without fancy add-ons, you can rehearse:

• What you’re going to say on each leg of the pattern
• When to request flight following (if applicable in your area)
• Airspace transitions and “what do I need before I go there?”

5) Debrief like you would after a real flight
After each session, jot down 2–3 things:

• What went well
• What got messy
• What you’ll do differently next time

That habit carries directly into real training.

A couple of guardrails (important)

• If your instructor teaches something different than the sim “suggests,” your instructor wins every time.
• Avoid drilling landings endlessly in the sim if you notice it changing your real-world flare timing or sight picture. Use the sim for pattern setup, callouts, and go-arounds instead.
• If you can, set up your controls to be as consistent as possible (rudder pedals help a lot for coordination), but don’t assume it will perfectly translate.

A few quick questions so I can tailor this to your situation

• What aircraft are you training in for your PPL (C172, PA-28, etc.)?
• What controls are you using at home (yoke/joystick, rudder pedals, throttle quadrant)?
• Are you mainly trying to improve landings, navigation, radio work, or checkride-style procedures?
• Are you training at a towered field or non-towered (or both)?