Inkjet printing suffers from a number of quality issues caused by unstable air flow between the print head and the substrate. A comprehensive understanding of the mechanisms underlying these defects is imperative. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) facilitates rapid scanning of various configurations, enabling efficient execution of parametric studies. Yet, the validity of the CFD simulation must be confirmed with experimental measurements of the flow. In this work, a numerical simulation framework was developed and experimentally validated. Good quantitative and qualitative agreement was obtained. The numerical simulations were also used to successfully reproduce typical print quality issues induced by unstable air flows.