Which Flight Sim for iMac?

[zx6rrider]

My wife just got 27 inch iMac for her photography and after seeing the screen, thought it might be worth looking into a simulator to practice some instrument procedures on since I'm a bit out of date. Any recommendations on which is best to use with the Apple products? All my searches bring up older topics and I'm sure things have changed since then. I'm leaning towards X-Plane unless someone says otherwise. Also- these crazy new computers don't even have a DVD drive so I guess it has to be something downloaded.

 

[KatanaHawk]

X-plane is the most full featured and supported, I'd say that's probably your best option.

 

[zx6rrider]

Sounds good, thanks. Just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing something

 

[Retired in SAN]

Will second that. spend way to much time "flying" it. Good for the chops..

 

[B200 Hawk]

 

[Retired in SAN]

Yep, there are those that humor comes naturally but then their are those who try sooo hard. Well, you get it..

 

[pianokeys]

X-plane is probably the best as others have said. Still very much supported, and there is a good community for downloads/add ons. Now for a joke:

FS pilots are always the first to criticize YouTube videos of real pilots. Or anything aviation related for that matter.

 

[Retired in SAN]

Didn't realize you could only be one or the other.

 

[JustinS]

X-Plane is definitely the way to go with a Mac.

 

[pianokeys]

Didn't realize you could only be one or the other.

No one said that, but, there isnt anything wrong with flight sim. I do it myself. The only issue is with people who take it too seriously, and believe its a direct comparison to real life, and therefore have some secret knowledge that no one else has because of flight sim.

 

[Retired in SAN]

No one said that, but, there isn't anything wrong with flight sim. I do it myself. The only issue is with people who take it too seriously, and believe its a direct comparison to real life, and therefore have some secret knowledge that no one else has because of flight sim.

Oh. Can't say I ever paid that close attention to any of them. Although, many moons ago I had a couple of students who sim'ed a lot and their skills were sharp as a tack.

 

[ahsmatt7]

No one said that, but, there isnt anything wrong with flight sim. I do it myself. The only issue is with people who take it too seriously, and believe its a direct comparison to real life, and therefore have some secret knowledge that no one else has because of flight sim.

As much as I agree with you on your statements...let them have their day. A lot of simmers are kids or young adults who are merely keeping their dream alive. The kids are ignorant and arrogant. What kid isnt? The fact that they know they have the motor skills and knowledge to replicate what we do on some small level gives them a huge ego but it also is an accomplishment. Gotta give credit where credit is due, right? If a 15 yr old can understand and apply the systems of a 737, that's pretty cool at the end of the day.

Long story short, ignorance is bliss...so these peeps should enjoy it before the job becomes a job.

 

[mshunter]

This post is kind of dick'ish.

The realism of today's flight sims is incredible. It may not be the real thing, but it's on par with what we deal with when going to the school house to get trained, do yearly PC's, etc.

 

[Retired in SAN]

It seems like the consensus is that flight simming is something only kids do to stroke their egos or keep them away from hitting the bong. But it should be mentioned that, because of the authenticity of X-plane, the "designer portion of the program has been used to develop and simulate the characteristics and predictions of many actual flyable aircraft in it's history. Heard of Cirrus?

I don't know about MSFS as I have never used it but to assume that X-Plane users such as myself are just young arrogant kids exercising their egos just shows a lack of knowledge one has of the capabilities and benefits an off the self program like X-plane. At 54 years old and 30 years flying professionally in everything from Bell 206 to B737, I am glad that programs like X-plane exist and have used it for everything from brushing up for type ratings, ICC's to predicting the capabilities of NACA wing designs.

To assume that people who using simulators are just a group of Wanna-be's is pretty shortsighted and we might want to be considering the opposite by learning and embracing it's capabilities to make us better pilots. And if one thinks that desktop simulators can't duplicate the real thing, is stuck in the 1970s.