Practical experience with a real commercial aircraft is a requirement of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) if students are to qualify as licensed aircraft maintenance engineers.
Touch has been in the marketplace for a while on Windows PCs but never took off either due to lack of a touch-optimized OS and apps, low quality quality experience of resistive touch controllers on previous devices, and in many cases the requirement for a pen versus a finger.
But while direct experience often affords the best view of artwork, by no means are plane tickets a requirement, since the world can also be traveled on the web.