I have been buying the Microsoft Flight Simulators since Version 1 and each version has become even better than the previous one, and Flight Simulator 2000 is no exception. It is a worthy successor.

For readers who have not used a Flight Simulator (FS) before and would just like to purchase a good game, do not purchase the FS. This not a game in the usual sense as there is not shooting or bombing, although it has a multi-user version when you can use a network connection or a modem to fly with another user.

Microsoft Flight Simulator is a realistic flight simulator where a pilot or learner can practice their flying skills in a variety of aircraft, in most conditions such as dusk, night, cloud, strong wind etc as well as instrument flying.

The aircraft's behaviour is modelled quite accurately and it behaves similarly to the real thing. As I pilot I find that the FS Cessna reacts in the same manner as the real one. It takes the same time to accelerate and lift off, speed changes by the same amount when the nose is lifted of lowered by a certain amount, on approach the flaps have the same increase in the descent rate and so on as on the real Cessna. The sensitivity of controls increases with speed by the same extent as with the real Cessna. All this is very important to a pilot who is flying the FS as it gives him or her a feeling of confidence that they are improving their flying skills.

FS 2000 gives a good frame rate despite the level of detail that is being displayed. On a 300 MHz computer with 128 MB of RAM and a Matrox MGA-6100 AGP video card, in the default window with default settings the rate is between 18 and 25 frames per second (FPS) depending on the scenery complexity. In the full window on a 17 inch monitor and with no instrument panel visible, this drops to 3-5 FPS. On a 450 MHz computer with the same specifications the rates are 25-35 and 5-7 respectively. With 96 MB RAM the rates are only slightly less. The level of detail even extends to the position of the sun, stars and moon for your location and time.

FS 2000 has two new aircraft one of which is the Concorde. (A complex aircraft that is very difficult to fly and land.) It now gives a reasonably comprehensive range of aircraft that includes a helicopter, a glider and the Word War I Sopwith Camel. It has over 20,000 airports, incorporates the Jeppesen database, six cities in very high detail, updated instrument panels for existing aircraft with moving map GPS navigation.

Price

The professional edition sells for about $130 while the standard edition sells for about $100. Functionally both programs are the same. The professional edition contains two additional aircraft, six additional high resolution cities, two training IFR panels and an instrument panel editor plus a flight dynamics editor.

Minimum Requirements

FS 2000 requires Windows 9x or NT, Pentium 166 MHz processor, 32 MB memory to run and a 4x CD drive and over 500 MB of free disk space for a typical installation and 350 MB for the absolute minimum. However with just the minimum hardware the performance will be quite poor. More realistic minimum requirements would be a 300 MHz processor and 64 MB of memory with video card that is not the bottom of the range. Although a joystick in not essential, I would say that it is highly desirable in order to give the computer pilot a much more realistic way of flying.  

Gripes

Very few really. My main one is that there is no upgrade from an earlier version and you must pay the full price. The only other one relates to the disk space required. Flight Simulator version 1 ran on one 5.25 inch floppy disk. However, with the price of 10 GB hard disks now costing a lot less than the 5.25 inch floppy drives, and considering what is delivered by this product, this should not be a problem for users with relatively new computers.

Summary

For anyone interested in aviation this product should be seriously considered. For the price that is less than one hour's dual flying you can put in many hours of fun flying and possibly improve your instrument flying. Although not a substitute for the real thing, it lets you explore a lot of aircraft, cities and the crashes are a lot less costly!

Reprinted from the April 2000 issue of PC Update, the magazine of Melbourne PC User Group, Australia

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