As a real world pilot, I am sure without a doubt that if anyone who flies sims got into a real airplane and (without training) tried to takeoff...they'd kill themselves. They would put too much or too little rudder, and end up running into the hangers alongside the runway. Or, they'd get into the air and stall it and plow into the ground. There's a reason for real life flight training.
A simulator is fine to help you while you're taking your training, but not as an end in itself.

Disagree.

I don't wanna start the fire, but those guys from 9/11, didn't have much trouble "flying" the real thing.
And I guess the only "training" they received was on simulator(s).

0f course that didn't involve much t/o-s & landings.

So, yes, I'm pretty sure that ppl, after years spent in flying sims, can't be much worse in real flying then ppl who that didn't do any sim.
Just remember, in ww2 time, there wasn't time for full flight school, just rapid flying courses.

And at the end, there's always and that tiny thing called "talent" You know.
Some are cut out for the job, some aren't. But I still must say that practice makes perfect.

Just my 0.02

Cheers

AFAIK those guys went to proper flight schools.

Yep totally agree - expect some real pilots have had a good laugh at some of the comments on here!!

Agree. I do get a big kick out of it!

I wonder how many real life pilots will have to come on here and insist that someone with sim-only experience would kills themselves in a real plane before people will accept it...

Without a propellor I can't really come up with which force would make a F-16 veer so violently to the side to make it end up in a hangar? Crosswind perhaps but you'd need a lot of it to make it uncontrollable by rudder. And even when landing in a crosswind with the F-16 I believe standard practice is to not use the rudder but to stear into the wind (Opsturen is the term in Dutch, can't remember the term in english). Someone with absolutely no flight experience might struggle but without lots of torque I think the F-16 might actually be less of a handfull then a small prop plane, again I have never flown a jet IRL myself just propellor driven aircraft but not having to fight the rudder to keep it straight on the runway must be nice!

I fly props, and have no jet time so that's why prop driven airplanes came to mind , right away. But some fast propellor airplanes can get away from you REAL quickly, so I can only imagine how far you'd be behind the airplane if you ever got an F-16 into the air.
Remember the video of that F-16 at Oshkosk that was making the rounds , not too long ago. Thousands of hours of jet time, and he runs off the runway and collapses his nose gear. Must have been slightly embarrassing! Let's not be silly.

Did the cause for that ever become public?

I know this to be a fact..LOL