hello! I have seen many people refer to flight simulator programs in the forum.I am a newbie and have no prior experience of actually flying an RC plane. I have seen many videos of RC aircrafts being flown,seen practical demonstrations of nitro planes flying,read about how and why the controls of an model work.

Now, I am currently starting to build my 1st RC model,I am finding myself worried. Should I practice in a flight simulator to improve my (nonexistent)controlling skills or should I better get an instructor by my side when I first fly?(VC lives quite close to my home).plz advice...

If an instructor is available then go with him. However if you practice on SIM it helps you  in learning faster. After practicing few hours (close to 30 hrs) on SIM I could control easy star plane starting from 3rd flight.

Simply put, the sim is your first instructor.  A real life instructor helps you put what you practiced on the sim into use effectively and safely.

If you have access to a sim, try to get at least a few hours of flying on it before trying it for real.  The difference is almost always dramatic.

I am in the same boat craft as you are Fw190...

IMHO I agree with Anwar & Dinesh, SIM does a world of good to get our primary reflexes aligned on the orientation of the model & most of all no cost crashes.. I have been using a Phoenix Sim 3.0 for more that a month and feel pretty comfortable on two things (a) getting used to the Transmitter controls - My Spektrum Dx5e/8 can be directly linked up to SIM  (b) Simulating Weather/Failure etc etc to get the hang of how challenging (unforgiving) things could turn out to be. As they say " how important for the RC model to stay 2 mistakes High".

Too early to comment on how it is to really fly, my first attempt was a broken propeller... The shift to real world is the real thing...

Cheers,
Arun

Even when you have learnt enough, simulators help in the following ways( earlier days we didn't have this luxury, you had to carry the caddie, before you were let to touch a model)
(a) you can practice memorize your aerbatic sequences, world champions do that before the championship,
(b) when you have a long break from flying , you must start with sim, you will realise even 30 days of break will make you rusty

My experience with flight simulators is limited to F-16(1996 ver) and the MiG-29 fulcrum computer games.
Are there any free flight sim programs available or at least some basic versions distibuted on the net?

yaa , you can download fms free from net...
it is absolutely free..
u can also upgrade it by download new models in it...
here is the link..
http://n.ethz.ch/~mmoeller/fms/index_e.html
and
http://www.microflight.com/FMS-Flight-Simulator

YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES~!!!! if this conveys the message. If you dont find your exact model, just tune the one available for what you have. by putting in expo dr's and slowing or fast forwarding time. There is a LOT LOT LOT you'll learn.. and hey, being in INDIA, you'll save a TON of money! I am not kidding! I am in Heli world.... and dude, if i dindnt have it, i would have broke to a point of quitting. It'll boost your confidence and you'll see that if you go with  good sims, your flying will feel easier and more fun than the sim after you have practiced.

DONOT do a maneuver on a real plane until you have practiced a lot on sim esp if you have invested a boat load of money in it...

Now, FMS... PEICE OF CRAP!!!!!! I know there is HeliSim (but that might not be a whole lot of use to you until you get in heli world.

I LOVE CLEARVIEW SIM... its all online, no CD's involved, nothing. all internet download and activations... no paying for updates. its like 2000 rs.. give or take (40dollars) ... I think, it'll pay itself back before you know it.. Say 50 bucks for every hard crash you have on the sim.. You'll see

Use this link, it has some info.. :
http://rc-help.com/forumdisplay.php/38-Paid-Simulators

http://rc-help.com/forumdisplay.php/37-Free-Simulators

I may sound contrary ...... >.....to what my friends expressed about simulators but I personally feel that it is helpful only in learning Helicopter flying, after flying on almost all the simulators I found that they are leisure time games and give you least experience of flying aircrafts. Yeah if you want to learn Heli they are pritty helpful.

Simple example: try and fly a jet in any simulator and then fly it in real, whatever practice you do, if you are a newbie you will crash it because in a sim, jet float like leaf and you find them easy.

But still I recommend go ahead and do practice as this will teach you the basics of flight controls. Infact after learning flying in real, sim may be of great help in improvising your skills..

Honestly I wouldn't question you on the fact that the planes in sims do fly.. And yes the jets do glide much easier in sims.

Real life experience in planes is very important. Until you throw your aircraft in the air, you dont know if it's gonna fly. Lol.. I mean things like air drags and cg and junk... (IMO) you don't get that in a sim. But skills like you said, are very good to be improved on a sim... I would still suggest it ... your decision! )

The Main reason to use a sim is to get your orientation of an rc flight i.e. to know which is left and which is right with respect to the movement of the aircraft. Other things vary depending on the model, CG, wind, etc etc, A sim may not always prevent a crash (for a newbee) but it will help you to crash in the best way possible. 

That is contrary to everything I have experienced and seen others go through  

The main fun in RC flying (other than building an aircraft, and flying your own creation) is the fact that controls are reversed in different orientations.  This is where flying with something like Microsoft FS is different from flying RC (in real or on sims).  And sims do absolutely help a complete newcomer with getting his orientations right.  Not having orientations right is a major major reason why newcomers crash their planes.  Just flying or even flying with an instructor is NOT really a replacement for initial training on a simulator.

So sims are really really helpful to newcomers WHILE FLYING PLANES.  Of course they are much more critical to heli flyers, but that does not in any way lessen their impact on airplane model flyers. 

Of course, the fact that they help you train for advanced flight and new maneuvers (for both planes and helis) goes without saying.

  ..agreed Anwar Shabh,