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I have always loved flying and getting my feet off the ground. whether it was flying as long and far as I could by riding bicycles over jumps, or making kites and model aircraft, or flying "drones" when they became available. But flight simulators have always had a very special place in my heart starting from the first that were available in the very beginning of home computers.
For years I have enjoyed checking out airports that I intended to fly to in real life on a flight simulator first. I once took a friend of mine flying, and he told me that he had downloaded and had been practicing with a simulated version of our airplane. He had memorized all of the relevant numbers, takeoff, landing, and approach speeds along with a lot of other information about our airplane. I told him that we would do a walk around together before taking off, and that I would handle the radio work, but that I was only going to give him tips on flying if he needed it.
He took off and flew to another nearby airport and did several takeoffs and landings without any help from me. This was many years ago and the simulators and accessories that you can buy have gotten better. The accessories such as control yokes and rudder pedals have gotten better as well. And of course, the price of VR headsets have come down a lot even as they have gotten better. Of course, the total price of this is fairly expensive depending on how realistic you want your flight simulation to be.
This article from Flying magazine is several months old. Their top overall pick, Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 was still a mess at that time. So, I assume that the article was not completely unbiased, but at this point most of the problems have been corrected and I now use it more than the 2020 version for various reasons.
I of course have splurged on the most expensive versions of both Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 and X-Plane 12, but this is really not necessary. I just like being able to try out numerous versions of aircraft. The airports on MSFS 2024 tend to be more realistic and I like that you can get used to looking for landmarks ahead of time to help with your approach to the airport and even flying the pattern around it.
With the very high cost of airplane rentals and instruction and even just aviation fuel... it really will save you a lot of money if you want to learn to fly if you spend time improving your skills and knowledge with a flight simulator. Most have fairly realistic "flight schools" included. And they are very worthwhile.
It’s been a long time since I used Flight Simulator. Does it still start you off at Miegs Field?
I miss Digital Image Design’s EF2000.
Yeah, it’s been THAT long for me.
I tried an early version of MS and shelved it. I’m sure they improved it but I’m the last to advise.
When the 2020 version of MS Flight Simulator came out it could bury most PC’s with its graphics. Even a 2080 Super had low frame rates with good settings.
It was a running joke in PC game circles back then that the gaming world went from “Can it run Crysis” to “Can it run Microsoft Flight Simulator”?
Thank you for the advice.
It’s been years since I tried any kind of flight simulator. That was the Microsoft WWIi flight simulator era. I never really got into it. A few versions are still around here on a shelf.
I do stuff with drones periodically.
The idea of trying a more modern simulator hasn’t been forgotten.
My garage workstation area has a pair of 34 inch Dell curved monitors that rarely get used. They are docked to a W7 laptop that I play BF1942 once in a while.
The Mac gets the bulk of use in photos and video editing and remastering.
Similar story here. I’ve been using flight simulators since the very first SubLogic Flight Simulator that came out for the Atari 800.
30 years later, on my first flight with a flight instructor, after a half hour of letting me have the yoke, my flight instructor said “You’ve got a flight sim on your computer dont you?” “Yep”. “I thought so. I’ve seen this before. It makes a big difference.”
So if you ever want to go get your pilot’s license, it pays to spend time on the MS Flight Sim.
I used to enjoy MS flight simulator. I even went out and purchased a set of USB rudder pedals and yoke with throttle that attached to the desk.
I remember years ago they came out with I believe “The Red Baron” where you could do dog fights against someone else on the computer. I knew then it would change everything.
My best friend from my HS has been flying hang gliders for prolly 50 years. Some competition also.
But he had a foot launchable sail plane for several years. Sat in a cockpit and flew with a stick. Carried the whole thing in a big tube on his Hummer. It was the coolest thing.
Oh yeah - he was also a fireman.
I’m waiting for MSFS 2034🤣
Did you have a particular building in mind?
AVIATION PING!......................
An American Airlines Boeing 737 fully loaded with passengers...
DCS is great (has optional built in adaptability for VR too).
The base sim is free and you start with a P-51 (and a couple of Russian jets).
I think it also comes with an A-10 too.
I have added on aircraft over the years.
I’ve been sim flying MSFS since the very beginning in the early 80s. I’ve had every version of the software and can realistically fly every aircraft they have. I especially love to fly the jet airliners these days. IMO, nothing compares to the realism and eye candy of MSFS.
Bought them all (minus X-PLANE) until FSX.
Didn't necessarily spend a lot, as there was plenty of freeware to keep it interesting. I did my part for awhile by creating real-world airline traffic using pdf timetable data and then sharing that with the community, but once timetable data went all digital, that was the end of that.
I did purchase FS2020, but never found an aircraft that could fly worth a darn...might be my setup(gameport controllers using usb adapters), I don't know. Even bought an HP VR set...that was cool, but made me dizzy.
I'm content with fs2004, it doesn't have all the fancy stuff...but it's smooth with few glitches and lots of great freeware aircraft/scenery.
Must admit...X-Plane does look interesting...might try that out.
For what it’s worth, I crashed the X-30 flight simulator three times at 10,000 mph. Then they threw me out.
Hughes Aircraft F/A-18 WTT-2E7 Weapons Tactics Trainer and flight simulator.