While interesting as a project for many reasons, I don't think it would have been practical for X-Plane.
X-Plane is different from all other simulators in that it doesn't have a "flight model" programmed in for each aircraft. Instead it simulates the actual airflow around the body of the aircraft, based on the 3D model being rendered.
So any existing simulator would likely have been fairly unhelpful: it would have an inaccurate physical model and no hints whatsoever as to how air actually flows around the plane, only shortcuts giving off hints as to what effects it has on flight dynamics.
What old simulators could have been used for, I suppose, is for automating discrepancy detection: throw random scenarios with random control inputs into both the old simulator and X-Plane, then see if the aircraft response diverges. Based on that, investigate.
That said, it sounds like this was exactly the instructor's job (except maybe they simulated in their head) which was probably the cheaper way to go about it in the end anyway.
X-Plane is different from all other simulators in that it doesn't have a "flight model" programmed in for each aircraft. Instead it simulates the actual airflow around the body of the aircraft, based on the 3D model being rendered.
So any existing simulator would likely have been fairly unhelpful: it would have an inaccurate physical model and no hints whatsoever as to how air actually flows around the plane, only shortcuts giving off hints as to what effects it has on flight dynamics.
What old simulators could have been used for, I suppose, is for automating discrepancy detection: throw random scenarios with random control inputs into both the old simulator and X-Plane, then see if the aircraft response diverges. Based on that, investigate.
That said, it sounds like this was exactly the instructor's job (except maybe they simulated in their head) which was probably the cheaper way to go about it in the end anyway.