I teach at my local club every week. Most instructors there favor the Apprentice as a first plane (the club supplies them to the instructors!) I'm old fashioned and use an old glow power trainer. SAFE and Intermediate are helpful if you are on your own, but as flightengr noted, make the controls behave a bit differently. On a buddy box, we always fly in Experienced mode, even from the start. In that mode, the Apprentice is a bit better than older trainers - once you have moved the aileron a bit to bank the wings, one can center it to maintain that angle of bank. Older trainers (like mine) require one to still maintain a slight bit of pressure on the aileron to maintain the bank (primarily due to the greater dihedral of the wing, which makes the plane want to level itself), that can take a bit more learning to find the correct amount of control to bank, and then the amount to hold the bank. After the bank is established, THEN one pulls back on elevator to maintain altitude. So two steps - bank, then yank as needed to maintain level! Common for a beginner to do both at the same time, which may result in a zoom up as the plane also rolls - which gets really confusing for a new flier to correct. SAFE and Intermediate help to prevent going to far with all that, but can lead to allowing one to learn using overcontrol, but not know it, until they go to Experienced mode where they then end up all over the place.
1.
ALWAYS maintain hands on the sticks! For most, that is thumbs, but some use a variation of a thumb/first finger "pinch" of the stick. Pick a way to hold the sticks and move them, and stay with it.
2.
NEVER release the sticks to allow them to return to center. Move it back, not snap it back.
3.
SMALL, gentle movements. The more you move them, the faster everything happens, so think small and therefore slow.
RealFlight is great, because you can dial down the physics speed, and practice in slow motion, then bring it back up to full speed once you've gotten a bit familiar.
We first work on right and left turns. Setting the bank angle, and using elevator to stop the drop.
After being able to do fairly consistent level turns in both directions, I introduce an aerobatic maneuver - the Procedure Turn.
From straight and level, flying left to right (or right to left) when plane gets directly in front of you, do a sharp 90 turn away, and level out.
As soon as level go into an opposite turn (if you turned left for the 90, go into a right turn - and vice versa).
Keep turning until the plane is flying in the opposite right/left direction from which you started, and level out.
The goal is to have the turn be round, no change in altitude, and you end up on exactly the same path back that you started out on.
This introduces how to rapidly change from a turn in one direction, to that in another.
Then we do the same, but continue the first turn until the plane is again flying straight out away from you, and then change to an opposite turn. So if your circle was first to the left, after it flies straight out from you, change to a right circle. End at level when the plane is again back on the established right/left line you started on. A figure 8, that starts with the 90 degree turn away.
Somewhere in here, I introduce loops. Easy, fun, and allow a break from the repetition of the learning how to turn.
Don't do full rolls yet. Harder to do on a trainer, although the Apprentice can do them pretty well.
Hard to do in Real Flight, but we then start working on the traffic pattern. Fly straight over the runway. When out past the end a ways, do a 90 turn away and level out. Fly a bit, then do another 90 so you are flying back parallel to the runway, out at a distance. When well past the end, do another 90 and level to establish your "base" leg. Then do a final 90 lined up with the projected runway centerline, but maintain altitude. We do this many, many times. Here's where I introduce rudder control, to practice keeping the straight direction, but not allowing the wings to bank.
This is also where the perceived control reversal as it flies at you is most apparent. Finally, we start practicing reduction of the throttle on final, and letting the plane lose altitude. Then power up to go back to the original height. Eventually, we get to where we actually land, with the slight pull up just as the wheels are about to touch.
One does not have the wide view of the world one has in real life, so it can be hard to establish that traffic pattern in Real Flight. Concentrate on the four 90's, and don't worry too much about actually making the runway. Never, ever try to line up a landing by making a big half circle turn - do only the two final 90's. Judging the exact turn radius needed to end up on your final landing line is extremely difficult.
