Quote Originally Posted by Ash View Post
Can't be exactly the same, surely? It isn't real, for a start. You're not going to die if something goes wrong, or right in this case.

Could you do it?
I've done some sim training myself and I've sat in on lots of training and testing and what is immediately noticeable is that after 10 minutes everyone completely forgets that it isn't real. It's so incredibly immersive that you have absolutely no feeling of it being make believe at all.

Flying an aeroplane, under power, into something and hitting it accurately would be more a question of holding your nerve than skill. An airliner has lots and lots of thrust and lots and lots of momentum; it will go exactly where you point it, and if you're not concerned about niceties like maintaining a correct speed and rate of descent, or keeping the ride comfortable for your passengers, or overstressing the airframe, you could learn pretty quickly to aim the nose at your target and keep it there.