Most people learn by seeing then doing until they understand. You are asking more of the bell curve then they want to be bothered with when you offer them written instructions only.
Vudu's youtube films are the simplest medium to convey the basic concepts to playing this game. If the online help topics could all have imbedded flash movies, "Here is How To get from A to B". Most beginning problems would get ironed out. We are no longer a culture that reads the manual, or has the patience for more than a single paragraph longer than 140 characters. Otherwise anyone could read the flight manuals, hop in the cub, run a few circuits around the pattern, then solo.
Ever try to make a gunsight using my "simple" written instructions? Most players die from boredom wading through the first few sentences.