No, you don’t need an expensive full-motion sim to knock off the IFR rust. We compare offerings from three companies.

Real right down to the skid marks at Orlando Executive’s runway 7, SimCom builds its own non-motion simulators on site.

With good local flight schools getting scarcer by the day, the state of advanced training—especially advanced instrument training—is in utter disarray. Despite anemic economics, the industry is designing and building sophisticated airplanes with ever more capable avionics. Yet training, the kind you get at the local airport, hasn’t kept pace. If you’re unable to do anything but direct nav with your Garmin 430, the kid behind the counter at the flying school—if there is a flying school—might not be able to help. …