flight sims......again

Hootie

Hootie

Old Skool
I just want to pick up something to practice unfamiliar approaches, and to keep my brain somewhere close to the ifr world. Is FS2002profesional the only worthwhile way to go? Im not going to be spending 400 bucks for the jeppesen one with one airplane. Is the asa on top sim for $125 any good?
It sounds like fs2002 is pretty popular around here, I just remember the early versions that had alot of bugs. Have they finally got the kinks worked out? also any particular jotstick? and rudder pedals or not?
 
I've got FS2002 and it works fine for approaches. Plus it's cool to mess around with when you're not shooting apps.
 
MS Flight Sim is good, plus CH products

I'd recommend MS Flight Sim 2002 Pro only because it's highly realistic and a lot cheaper than most of the other sims out there.

For a joystick I'd recommend anything from CH Products, but you're better off spending a little bit extra for the yoke that they make. CH makes a yoke/throttle set up along with the rudder pedals. I'd highly recommend doing it this way. I think their website is www.chproducts.com ...but you can purchase from www.marvgolden.com...

Do NOT get anything from Thrustmaster. They used to be a top of the line company, however they later got bought out by a company more interested in producing for the recreational gamer market who are more concerned about low cost. I still have an OLD thrustmaster joystick that I've had since 486 computers were out, and it is still bomb-proof and works exactly like a real joystick (feel, quality of construction, precision). Most of it was made of metal (including most of the the interior parts and even the outside casing!)..but now they are all made of plastic

I would not recommend getting the MS Sidewinder joystick with the force feedback because you cannot leave the stick in the center position (it will iterally wobble around with the force feedback). It makes it difficult for landing and maintaining a straight heading.

Here is the CH Products yoke/throttle control:
catz.c.i115700.jpg


Here are their rudder pedals:
propedals.jpg
 
Re: MS Flight Sim is good, plus CH products

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Do NOT get anything from Thrustmaster. They used to be a top of the line company, however they later got bought out by a company more interested in producing for the recreational gamer market who are more concerned about low cost.

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I dunno, Thrustmaster's new "HOTAS Cougar" setup looks pretty kicka$$. But for GA or commercial-type simming, yeah, go with the CH yoke.
 
dude I'm sorry but don't get anything expensive when it comes to this...

buy FS2002 if you want but don't waste your money on rudder pedals and crap like that; the only way to be coordinated is to actually BE in the plane and keep the ball in the center!!!

And as for 'realism' it does a good job pretending to be the real thing but it's nowhere near it... all the planes fly exactly the same; they just move at different speeds.

FS2002 + a crappy joystick is all you need.... beyond that you are just throwing your money away that could have been put to 'real' training

Don't get me wrong I have it and I use it but seriously you don't need anything fancy
 
All of you are wrong.
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If you want the BEST flight "SIMULATION" not gamey/flight model for your training with IFR procedures
on about the same playing field as Micro$oft, you need to get "X-Plane"

www.x-plane.com
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[ QUOTE ]
I just want to pick up something to practice unfamiliar approaches, and to keep my brain somewhere close to the ifr world. Is FS2002profesional the only worthwhile way to go? Im not going to be spending 400 bucks for the jeppesen one with one airplane. Is the asa on top sim for $125 any good?
It sounds like fs2002 is pretty popular around here, I just remember the early versions that had alot of bugs. Have they finally got the kinks worked out? also any particular jotstick? and rudder pedals or not?


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*********** X - PLANE ***********


http://www.x-plane.org

You'll never go back to the arcade game, MSFS2002!
 
I use MSFS2002 and both the mentioned CH products. A joystick is just fine, but the yoke and pedals help me transfer the practice to the airplane much better. If you have the spare cash its worth it. The whole set up is great for keeping instrument skills and procedures fresh when you are not flying much.

I tried X-plane last winter and really did not appreciate it. I sold my copy after using it for a week or two (seemed like it needed to go through some more development before it was going to be great). I know folks who love it, but I would try it before you buy it if you have the option. MSFS2002 does a great job for instrument practice.
 
X-plane does not put a "huge" emphasis on "eye candy" a.k.a, Graphics. Its primary concern is aerodynamic accuracy, and by making a comparison as to the Fidelity of each product I would say:

Microsoft Flight Sim's Graphics are = to X-Plane's realistic physics of flight, and X-plane's, poorer Graphics are slightly better than the Flight model of Micro$oft's game.

I don't want to sound like a broken record here, or even a "spokesperson" for x-plane, However.. the choice is clear when it comes to high fidelity flight modeling/weather interaction, and overall higher fidelity simulation of flight.

X-plane is for the more "hardcore" crowd of flight simmer's.

Oh and you can try it for free as well with the "downloadable demo" off of their website.

www.x-plane.com
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Does this happen on anyone else's machine?? Whenever I am making an approach on MSFS2002, invariably when I get to short final, the plane will yaw dramatically, about 35 degrees to one direction or the other. What is ther deal? This will happen whenever I am hand flying it, everything will be smooth, and then WHAM! the yaw hits. Airspeed does not matter, it can happen at any speed.

Darren
 
My sense is that this has to do with the airfield wind conditions being suddenly applied, rather than intruduced gradually, as in real life. I agree it's annoying,it can really mess up a good approach.
 
Anyone tried the new Fly2 (2002) sim by Terminal Reality? I bought it a while ago and its outstanding. It avoids the typical quantity not quality habit so typical of the microsoft sims. Fly2 focuses only on the 172, piper malibu and navajo, king air, raytheon hawker 800XP, and the Pilatus PC-12. Each one is very well done and very unique in its respective flight characteristics. The Hawker cockpit is incredibly complex and almost fully interactive (including the fms); so much so that I bet one of my friends he couldn't figure out how to start the engines in 15 min...best 2 bucks I ever spent!
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The manual is almost 300 pgs. Graphics are very good (though thats not what I look for in a sim). The flight characteristics are really in depth with the hawker: high-speed stalls, deep stalls, coffin corners, dutch rolls, jet upsets. The only thing that needs improvement is ATC. For example center won't warn you if your about to mid-air. It's the best PC sim I've come upon. The FLY series has come a long way from its earlier releases.
-Markus
 
well I had a look at the x-plane website and I have to say the details on the physics engine of the whole thing looks impressive, seems it simulates the plane flying by passing virtual air over the model to see how it reacts, not a pre programed flight model as in MSFS, sounds quite good really.

But I think I'll stick with MS FS2002, I just like all the downloads avaiable for it, the wide range of airports and I use it more for proceedure practice than actually flying profisicency since I know it's not going to be a lot like the real thing as far as flight physics go.

I will say some of thos after market AC have quite nice flight models that sh*t all over the MS ones. The B52 is an interesting one, it lifts off tail gear first just like the real thing, the meljet 777 also looks quite good, it must be I can hardly land the thing!
 
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