PS:
Nothing will get you ignored, terminated, or vectored out of airspace faster than being an ass to ATC.
I always wondered, why is it okay for ATC to make smartass remarks, but not pilots?
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Devonai, I haven't flown for a few years now, but I got single and multi engine commercial & instrument and was working on my CFI when I gradually got tired of the hassle of flying and gave it up. I think, MS Flight Sim can help you a lot even for getting your private pilot's license, even if the look and feel are different, because it helps you rehearse the simple things that fluster you when you have to concentrate of the physical motions of flying the plane. For example, what the hell am I supposed to be doing right now? It is just hard to think about ATC's instructions, or fill in info on your cross country log and make various time/distance/fuel calculations, or mess with the nav instruments, when you're still concentrating on keeping the plane straight and level.
You can get some bad habits from flight sims/games. I spent too much time staring at the instruments when I moved to real airplanes. But in my opinion you gain much more from the computer than you lose. Because I always wore sunglasses, my instructor never realized how much my head was inside the cockpit, and the more flight experience I gained the more I looked outside on my own, but I did pretty well even with that bad habit to unlearn. I think I concentrated on the feel of the controls and the sound of the prop pitch more than I looked outside, actually.
Most pilots say the instrument rating is the toughest, but for me is was definitely the easiest. I was in my element, I guess... I just am good at going from instrument to instrument, and maybe my "bad habit" helped me out there. Flight sims are fantastic for practicing this. Saves you a ton of money and time.
I think the best book to learn from are the Jepp manuals & workbooks. They were the core for me, and everything else a supplement. So go through those thoroughly and one step at a time, making sure you get just about everything before moving on.
Actually, what will help you learn the best, in my opinion, is doing nothing but flying and studying flight, as in 8 hours a day 5-6 days a week if you can get instructor and airplane availability. During a holiday break for like 7-8 when most left for home (it was a school where people from around the country & world came to fly, not a place for locals), I stayed at my flight school and my instructor was around with few others to teach, and I flew 2-3 times a day and spent the rest of the day studying or doing pre/post flight stuff. It was amazing. It was like I became a super pilot. I flew 3 times as often in the same period of time, but learned 6 times as fast.
