Fullscreen HTML5Med Res (??MB)HTML4

A quick look at: Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004 – A Century of Flight W hile we were preparing the Instrument Landing Systems article for publication, we were reminded that Microsoft Flight Simulator also caters for Instrument Landings – and is probably the closest thing that many readers would ever come to taking control of an aeroplane. We’d heard that you could “almost” learn to fly a real plane by first learning how to “fly” MFS. There were many news reports not too long after September 11 which stated the terrorists first learnt to fly using MFS. And we’ve seen other reports claiming MFS is not only used in flying schools but is also used by pilots to maintain their skill levels or to learn new skills without spending the sometimes huge amounts of money required to hire a real aircraft. Is that true? And what about the Instrument Landing System? How does that compare? With the quick co-operation of Microsoft, a copy of the latest version of MFS was soon installed in my computer and I went flying. Well, sorta flying. Taking off and crashing would be a more honest description (honest, boss, it was all for research . . .) Microsoft Flight Simulator has been around for twenty years. Somewhere in my software library there’s a copy of the first MFS. I remember thinking at the time that it was a very good simulation, particularly given the standard of computer graphics at the time. I also remember getting pretty frustrated at the time, taking off and crashing (yeah, nothing’s changed). I confess I haven’t looked at MFS in the ensuing two decades. So just how good is the latest incarnation of Microsoft Flight Simulator? (While it’s called MFS 2004, it was released in 2003 to mark the centenary of the Wright Brother’s first flight). In so many ways, it’s very, very good. The graphics, for example, are amazing. Being the parochial type, the first thing I did was load Sydney International Airport instead of one of the Seattle airports (OK, Microsoft designers are allowed to be parochial too!). For a couple of minutes, I thought that Sydney airport wasn’t included – but of course it’s there under its fair-dinkum name, Kingsford Smith International. Incidentally, you can choose 368 airports from Australia or 23,760 fields around the world. Want to fly out of Oshkosh? No problem, b’gosh! 18  Silicon Chip But back to Sydney. I took off (any idiot can take off – all you have to do is apply power and pull the nose up) and banked right. Sure enough, there was the Sydney CBD and Centrepoint tower. I buzzed the city at an impossible illegal height and even flew under the coat-hanger (Harbour Bridge for the geographically challenged). The scenery is amazingly realistic, especially from a reasonable height. “OK”, I thought, “I’m gonna find my house.” Completely ignoring air traffic control rules, I climbed to a thousand feet, followed the harbour down to the heads (well, something like the heads) and turned left up the Northern Beaches. Long Reef is a pretty prominent headland and just happens to mark the edge of controlled air space (I know that because Dick Smith told me that as we flew into Sydney one time). There, on its left, was the “lump” of Collaroy Plateau and immediately beyond Narrabeen Lakes. My place should be pretty easy to spot, between the two. But it’s not there – a high-rise building is. And it was a similar story all the way up to Pittwater and Palm Beach. So while the overall scenery is very good, it’s best viewed from a reasonable height and not taken too literally! Time to get back on terra firma. And here is where the terra started! I decided to head for Bankstown airport because I’d flown in and out of there recently. Let’s say my attempts to land were not quite as successful as take-off (remember I said any idiot can take off). But eventually, I did manage to put it down at Bankstown. Not necessarily on the runway – on any runway – but hey, a landing’s a landing! Flying lessons With a couple of weeks to spare, I would be able to perfect this because one of the most powerful features of MFS is its renowned inbuilt flying lessons. The introductory lessons, by King Schools, are a bit folksy American for me (sorry, John and Martha). The “real” lessons, by very experienced instructor Rod Machado are very good (but the jokes are corny!). You can advance from student, private, instrument, commercial and airline pilot, flying everything from a Cessna Skyhawk SP 172 right up to a Boeing 737-400. But that’s not all you can fly in MFS 2004. It’s not called “A Century of Flight” for nothing. You can fly everything from the 1903 Wright Flyer, through the Curtis “Jenny” (the barnstormer’s favourite), the Vickers Vimy, Lindbergh’s Spirit of St Louis, then through many of the world’s famous aircraft – DC3, various Cessnas, Beechcraft, Lear Jet, right up to Boeing 747 and 777. There’s also a couple of helicopters and even a sailplane – 24 aircraft in all. As you may have deduced, I am no aviator (it was always on my wish list but never got off it!). But I really do siliconchip.com.au  believe that given enough time and practice, you could actually learn to fly using these lessons. Well, you’d certainly be a lot more capable of handling the real thing than a novice without any MFS experience. ILS Now for the reason we wanted to look at MFS in the first place: Instrument Landing Systems. Exactly as Daniel Field explained in the ILS article, you can use the glideslope and localiser needles to put your-self on the runway at the right place. It really is that easy. One of the MFS lessons covers this specific item. But there’s much more. MFS includes every electronic aid to flying that is currently available to a “real” pilot. You can even program in weather (including real siliconchip.com.au weather conditions applicable to your local area in real time). The cloud effects included with this edition of MFS have earned it “rave reviews”. For the more adventurous, you can program in gear failure. Want to lose an engine on take-off? How about a lightning strike knocking out all avionics on a 747-400 at 500 feet on final in zero visibility? No pressure! What you need The computer needs to have a bit of grunt. Minimum spec is a 450MHz processor with an 8MB video card and 1.8GB of hard disk space but we’d suggest this is an absolute minimum. Even on a 2.4GHz/32MB machine we noticed a few glitches. Most important, though, you need a joystick. They say you can use Review by Ross Tester MFS with the keyboard but it’s very frustrating. We actually bought a new joystick specifically for MFS. For less than fifty dollars you should be able to get a quality joystick with plenty of controls and, importantly, a throttle. These days, with USB on pretty well every computer, it’s sensible to get a USB joystick. Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004 – A Century of Flight comes on four CDs. One of the frustrating things is that, even with the program (all 2GB of it) loaded on your hard disk you still need to leave No 4 CD in the drive. It’s probably an anti-piracy device but it’s a pain in the proverbial. With a “G” rating, Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004 is available practically anywhere. Recommended retail price is $109.95. SC June 2004  19