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- From: rwittick@msu.edu
- Newsgroups: rec.aviation.simulators,comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.flight-sim,rec.aviation.answers,rec.answers,news.answers
- Subject: rec.aviation.simulators Frequently Asked Questions
- Summary: This posting contains frequently asked questions
- for the rec.aviation.simulators news group, and should
- be read by anyone who wishes to post to the group.
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-
- Archive-name: aviation/flight-simulators
- Posting-frequency: semi-monthly (5th, 19th)
- Last changed: 2/21/96
-
- rec.aviation.simulators
- FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
-
- This FAQ is maintained by rwittick@msu.edu (Bob Wittick) and
- is posted twice a month. Any comments, suggestions, additions or
- corrections are welcome, so feel free to send me your ideas.
-
- Similar to the FAQ on rec.aviation, there are |'s (pipes) at the beginning
- of each line that contains new information. This way those of you with
- 'grep'-like utilities can immediately search this file for the new stuff.
-
- Our "unofficial motto" (smiley-captioned for the humor-impaired):
-
- "Any product (flight/computer oriented) that considers Angle
- of Attack in an at least semi-realistic way is a sim, any other
- a game." :)
- -- Gary Cooper (not the dead one)
-
- A special thank you is extended to John Mechalas, who founded this FAQ and
- spent several years maintaining it. His many contributions to the Internet
- flight simulator community have been invaluable.
-
- Thanks also to: Glenn Wallace, Hayden Nanton, G. David Frye, Robert Dorsett,
- Mark Strawcutter, Brooke Anderson, Jeff Beadles, Joel Murray,
- Linda McGarry, Dan Sharpes, Bruce Jackson, Mary Shafer, Rob
- Jones, Michael Jones, Stefan Frick, Gary Cooper, Jim Knutson,
- Brian, Paulo Ney de Souza, Tim Tessin, Scott Chan, Brad Bass,
- and Alan Epstein for their major contributions.
-
- Also thanks to the countless others who have provided John and me with constant
- feedback and other helpful hints.
-
-
-
-
- Abbreviations you may see used on this news group:
-
- 3DAGS Amtex's ATP Companion: 3-D Advanced Graphics System
- AAF or A&AF Mallard's "Aircraft and Adventure Factory" for MS FS4
- ACM "Air Combat Maneuvers", a flight simulator for Unix
- AOTP "Aces of the Pacific"
- ASD or A&SD Microsoft's "Aircraft and Scenery Designer" for MS FS4
- ATP subLOGIC's "Flight Assignment: Airline Transport Pilot"
- AW Air Warrior
- BAO The Bruce Artwick Organization
- DOF Degrees Of Freedom (used in describing flight models)
- F15III "F-15 Strike Eagle III"
- F3 Spectrum Holobyte's "Falcon 3.0"
- FAQ Frequently Asked Questions
- FS "Flight Simulator", usually referring to Microsoft's
- FSFS BAO's Flight Simulator Flight Shop
- FS4 Microsoft's Flight Simulator, version 4
- FS5 Microsoft's Flight Simulator, version 5
- FTP TCP/IP "File Transfer Program"
- FU Looking Glass Technology's Flight Unlimited
- MS Microsoft
- MS FS Microsoft "Flight Simulator", usually referring to the IBM
- version
- PC Personal Computer, not necessarily referring to IBM PC's
- SB Sound Blaster sound card for IBM computers
- SEE Mallard's "Scenery Enhancement Editor" for MS FS4 w/ A&SD
- SGA or S&GA Mallard's "Sound and Graphics Upgrade" for MS FS4
- USNF Electronic Art's "US Navy Fighters"
- VLB VESA Local Bus (usually referring to the video card)
-
-
-
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
- INDEX
-
- Section A: General information about rec.aviation.simulators
- A1. What is rec.aviation.simulators?
- A2. Is it okay to discuss games?
- A3. Can I post binary files here?
- A4. What posts *don't* belong here?
-
- Section B: Flight Simulation Theory
- B1. Where can I learn about flight simulation?
- B2. What do you really mean by "realism" in a flight simulator?
- B3. How does the flight model influence fidelity?
- B4. What is a 6 DOF flight model?
- B5. What is DATCOM?
- B6. How "realistic" are the various PC based simulators?
-
- Section C: PC-Based Products
- C1. Which flight simulator is best for me?
- C2. Can I maintain my FAA currency with a PC-based simulator?
- C3. Will a FPU/Math co-processor improve my simulator performance?
- C4. Are there any space simulators?
- C5. What simulators are available for Unix or Sun systems?
- C6. Are there any Air Traffic Control simulators?
- C7. Where can I buy flight-related software?
- C8. Are there any flight-simulator-related mailing lists?
- C9 . Are there any magazines devoted to flight simulators?
- C10. What new products are available or are expected?
-
- Section D: Microsoft Flight Simulator
- D1. What kind of performance should I expect from FS5?
- | D2. How is the FS5.1 CD-ROM version different from the floppy disk version?
- D3. What add-ons are available for FS5?
- D4. What are the various "companion books" available for FS?
- | D5. Can FS5.1 be used in Windows-95 protected mode?
- | D6. Must Flight Shop be installed before I can use FSFS planes?
- | D7. Why did FS5.1 lose all my scenery when I added some new scenery?
-
- Section E: Specific Questions on Other Products
- E1. Why doesn't my Sound Blaster card work with ATP?
- E2. The KU antenna won't deploy in shuttle, and I can't de-orbit. Is
- there a fix?
-
- Section F: FTP and WWW Sites
- F1. Are there any FTP-sites that have flight-sim related material?
- F2 Is there a way to get flight-sim related materials via e-mail?
- F3. Where can I get ACM, FltSim, and Aviator?
- F4. How do I upload files to the various flight-sim FTP sites?
- F5. Where else can I get flight-sim related materials?
- F6. Are there any www sites devoted to flight simulation?
-
- Section G: Misc.
- G1. What happened to Mallard?
- | G2. What happened to SubLOGIC and BAO?
- G3. How do I submit comments, suggestions, or corrections to the FAQ?
-
-
- -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
-
-
- Section A: General information about rec.aviation.simulators
-
- A1. What is rec.aviation.simulators?
-
- rec.aviation.simulators is one of many sister groups that are under
- the "parent" group rec.aviation. This USENET news group is specifically
- for the discussion of air and spacecraft simulators, whether they be
- PC-based, Workstation-based, or "real". Mostly, you will see talk
- about PC sims, since most of us can't afford (and consequently don't
- have access to) the real things. For those that are interested in
- discussing the theory of flight simulation, you may also want to
- check out sci.aeronautics.simulation.
-
-
- A2. Is it okay to discuss games like "Falcon" or "Hellcats"?
-
- Since the software market doesn't really differentiate between games
- and flight simulators, we don't either. However, you are more likely
- to find game-related simulators on the newsgroups
- comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.flight-sim and comp.sys.amiga.games and others,
- whereas discussion of "pure" simulators on here.
-
- If you need help with a game, you are probably going to have better
- luck (and more responses) by posting to the games newsgroups.
- However, if your questions are about flight or combat technique,
- flight modeling, realism, or other issues related to the software
- you are using, then this is the best place to post.
-
-
- A3. Can I post binary files here?
-
- In the past, some uuencoded binary files have been posted to this
- forum. In general, most of these files have been airplanes or
- scenery for MS FS4 and such. Although there's nothing really wrong
- with posting such files to the news group, use a little common sense
- before doing so, and ask yourself the following questions:
-
- * How big is the file? Whereas posting a 2k TRACON/ATC sector
- is probably not a big deal, a 50k scenery file is probably
- pushing things. Most administrators probably don't want to
- store several large binary files in their news spool
- directories.
-
- * Would it be better to put it up for FTP? In the case of larger
- files, it would be better to post the file to an FTP site
- such as ftp.iup.edu or wings.ark.com, and then just
- announce its existence on the news group, telling people where
- they can find it and what it is. See Section F for a listing
- of FTP sites that carry Flight-Sim related material.
-
-
- A4. What posts *don't* belong here?
-
- In general, if it's not related to flight simulation products or
- theory, you're better off taking it somewhere else. This includes,
- but is not limited to, political discussions, flames, chain letters,
- government propaganda, and anything by Robert McElwaine or Melvin
- Gladstone. Also note that requests for cheats, cracks, or other ways
- of bypassing copy protection, are not welcome. *Several* major product
- developers read this forum, and you're more likely to offend the
- people that are trying to make their living than you are to get any
- help in illegal activities.
-
-
- Section B: Flight Simulator Theory
- -----------------------------------
-
- B1. Where can I learn about flight simulation?
-
- For the actual flight dynamics, try the references listed below. You
- would be best off reading books on computer graphics for handling the
- graphic displays:
-
- Foley et. al., _Fundamentals of Interactive Computer Graphics_,
- Addison-Wesley. [Basics only. -R D Dorsett]
-
- _Microcomputer Displays, Graphics, and Animation_, Bruce A. Artwick,
- Prentiss-Hall, 1985, ISBN 0-13-039322-3. Previously published
- as _Applied Concepts in Computer Graphics_.
-
- _A versatile computer-generated dynamic flight display_, Bruce A.
- Artwick, Aviation Research Laboratory, Institute of Aviation,
- University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, prepared for Engineering
- Psychology Programs, Office of Naval Research, May 1975.
-
- _Flights of Fantasy_, by Chris Lampton, completely implements a PC
- based flight simulator. While it isn't Strike Commander or Falcon
- 3.0, it _is_ much better than any other book on the market for
- learning implementation details of 3d graphical games. [ -Brian]
-
-
- The following references are mostly academic texts, and provide more
- of introductions to dynamics and flight dynamics theory. Additional
- references are listed in B4 and B5.
-
- _Aircraft Control and Simulation_, by Brian L. Stevens and Frank
- L. Lewis, John Wiley & Sons, 1992, ISBN 0-471-61397-5. This is
- what a lot of people seem to think Rolfe's _Flight Simulation_
- is. Develops a 6 dof F-16 flight model. [ -RDD]
-
- "Modeling Flight," in _IEEE Potentials_., April 1990.
- Performance-based model of bizjet-category airplane; Turbo Pascal
- source available on various ftp sites as "SIMULATE.PAS"
-
- _Simulation Of Aircraft_, Connelly, Mark E. Report 7591-R-1.
- Feb 15, 1958, Servomechanisms Laboratory, MIT. It is a bit dated
- but its what CAE Electronics used to throw at new graduates in the
- Aero Group to educate them. [ -Iab Maclure]
-
- J. D. Anderson, Jr., _Introduction to Flight_ (McGraw-Hill, 1989).
- [A great intro to flight dynamics. Read this first before tackling
- the more difficult texts that follow. -B Anderson]
-
- C. D. Perkins and R. E. Hage, _Airplane Performance, Stability, and
- Control_ (Wiley, 1949). [One of the best books I've found on the
- gritty details of flight dynamics, including all of the complicated
- effects ignored by all PC flight sims. Written by and for aircraft
- designers. -BA]
-
- B. Etkin, _Dynamics of Atmospheric Flight_ (Wiley, 1972). [A more
- modern treatment. Relies more on linearization, which I don't like,
- but the treatment is more well organized. -BA]
-
- R. Von Mises, _Theory of Flight_ (Dover, 1959). [Another detailed
- book like the one by Perkins and Hage. This one is even a little
- more involved than Perkins and Hage's, and it's not suitable unless
- you are comfortable with physics and math at the freshman or
- sophomore level. However, since it's a Dover book, the list price is
- only $13-- a steal considering that Perkins and Hage's and Etkin's
- books cost about $90 each. -BA]
-
- J. M. Rolfe and K. J. Staples, eds., _Flight Simulation_ (Cambridge
- University Press, 1986), pp. 36-60. [This is a book about the
- development of flight sims. Pages 36-60 (Chapter 3) contains
- information on the quaternion formalism for representing an
- aircraft's attitude. This is the way to do it in a flight sim. It
- is much simpler and faster than the Euler-angle formalism (i.e., it
- is much more suitable than using the gimbal equations). -BA]
-
- Another excellent reference is _Spacecraft Dynamics_ by Kane, Likins,
- and Levinson (McGraw-Hill, 1983). [Also details the quaternian
- formulation, as well as gives transformation equations between the
- various sets of parameters. Also lists transformation matrices for
- several sets of euler angles. -JM]
-
- If you want to see a flight model in action, you will definitely want
- to check out the flight model used in ACM (a Unix-based flight
- simulator for X11 environments. A separate FAQ for ACM is maintained
- and posted periodically).
-
- Tim Tessin writes:
-
- ACM uses a 6 DOF model with roll, pitch and yaw modeled using
- NACA stability derivatives. Also ACM actually models the spring
- and motion damping effects of the landing gear struts, as well as
- the contribution of ground friction by the wheels.
-
- B2. What do you really mean by "realism" in a flight simulator?
-
- Robert Dorsett Writes:
-
- There are two major issues to consider: realism and fidelity.
- Realism is how "real" a system feels; fidelity relates to the actual
- models used.
-
- Realism is a highly subjective issue: a simulator might model each
- blade of grass on the approach end of a runway, but if the user's
- flying overhead at 37,000', that won't affect his perception of
- *realism* at that point. Similarly, a graphics system might provide
- a high- resolution database, but if it only uses an orthographic
- projection, it won't win over many pilots!
-
- Simulation is, therefore, the *art* of providing the expected cues
- and response characteristics for a specified mission. Most military
- simulators are so specialized that they're optimized for certain
- missions or flight regimes; airline simulators tend to be much more
- flexible (all regime). For each regime, appropriate feedback must be
- maintained.
-
- Real-world systems models are usually (but not always) the
- cornerstone of high-fidelity simulation; final "realism", even in
- airline simulators, is obtained only after an exhaustive survey and
- fine-tuning process. The acceptance process for even a
- production-run simulator can take up to a year.
-
- A third issue is perception, and the intent of the game as an
- entertainment product. For example, pilots realize that airplanes
- are essentially very easy to fly and land: non-pilots may expect them
- to be horrifyingly complex to fly, given a lot of the mystique
- surrounding aviation, a lot of which has been enthusiastically
- promoted by pilots themselves. :-)
-
- All retail flight simulators are just games, and, to some degree,
- help shape and feed off the perceptions of their users. So if the
- users expect an F-16 to be almost impossible to fly, an F-16
- simulator that IS almost impossible to fly wouldn't disappoint anyone
- except real pilots. Conversely, a simulator that is actually easy to
- fly might disappoint game-players as too easy, or "arcade-ish,"
- because it IS too realistic.
-
- In discussing "realism," one should really pay attention to three
- factors:
-
- 1. The flight dynamics and flight instrumentation. (flight
- simulator)
- 2. The visual system.
- 3. The systems support. (systems simulator)
-
- The basis for such discussions in this forum should be from the
- pilot, not entertainment, perspective.
-
-
- B3. How does the flight model influence fidelity?
-
- True fidelity in a flight simulator comes from the flight equations
- used in the flight model. In general, the more complex the flight
- model, the better performance you are going to get, though there are
- instances where even a *good* flight model can lead to poor flight
- simulation (more on that in a minute).
-
- In general, most of the low-end, low-cost simulators on the market use
- what is known as a "3 Degree of Freedom", or 3 DOF, flight model.
- This means that the equations of motion only determine x, y, and z
- displacements of the aircraft in space, and then use this information
- to determine the flight attitude. The actual characteristics are
- based on the so-called "performance" equations, which themselves are
- usually only defined for steady-state situations. Various other
- characteristics, such as roll rate, must be fudged by the author.
- Some simulations don't even pay any attention to angle of attack,
- using stick input or airplane pitch as the final determining
- characteristic.
-
- Most high-end simulators use a 6 DOF model, described below, and a
- lot of PC-based simulators tend to ignore these kinds of models
- completely, and rely on a "point-space" performance model instead.
-
- The equations of motion do not make the flight model, however; they
- merely set the limit on what is and is not possible. In order to
- support these equations, you must also have good models for finding
- the lift-curve slope, drag coefficients, stability derivatives, and
- other parameters.
-
- In addition, you have to decide how you want to calculate these
- parameters. Should you calculate your lift on each wing
- independently, or just the lift on the whole wing surface area? The
- latter method would be faster and easier, but the former would allow
- you to model such flight dynamics as the "Dutch roll" modes,
- stall-spin conditions, and other common effects. How about downwash
- effects, which alter the effective angle of attack of the tail?
- There are several issues that need to be considered.
-
- Finally, after you have your flight model together, you need to find
- the parameters that fit your aircraft, so that your *plane* flies
- just as realistically as your flight model does. For example, you
- could have a high-end, 6 DOF flight model, but if your Cessna 172 has
- the wrong wing area modeled, it won't *fly* like one.
-
-
- B4. What is a 6 DOF model?
-
- Robert Dorsett writes:
-
- A 6 degree of freedom flight model provides for a fairly accurate
- modeling of the motion and flying characteristics of an airplane.
- It is generally used when the airplane is to be modeled as a "rigid
- body." It considers both rotational (yaw, pitch, and roll) and
- translational motion, both centered around the center of gravity.
- Since there are three axes to consider in each case, this is referred
- to as a six- degree-of-freedom model. This model actually considers
- twelve variables, since both the instantaneous rate of change *and*
- position have to be considered. These are referred to as the state
- variables, which are applied to varying matrices of coefficients to
- get the desired fidelity.
-
- Several people recommended "Aircraft Control and Simulation," by
- Frank L. Lewis and Brian L. Stevens (Wiley Interscience, 1992, ISBN
- 0-471-61397-5). It is a comprehensive work, using an F-16 model as a
- case-study example. It includes FORTRAN code.
-
- A couple of people recommended NASA CR-1756, "The simulation of a
- large jet transport aircraft volume I: mathematical model," by C.
- Rodney Hanke, March 1971. This deals with the simulation of a Boeing
- 747. I've found the second half, containing the aerodynamic data, is
- all but impossible to find, however.
-
- One of the more accessible references is J. M. Rolfe's _Flight
- Simulation_, a survey of the art. It has a bottom-line description
- of a 6 DOF flight model, adapted from the Hanke paper. It is more
- useful for its insights into other aspects of system and flight
- simulation.
-
- One respondent suggested "A review of flight simulation techniques,"
- by Max Baarspul, in _Progress in Aerospace Science_, Vol. 27, 1990.
- This is a comprehensive monograph (120 pages), detailing the art of
- simulation. Portions are reminiscent of Rolfe, but he develops a
- flight model for a DHC-2 "Beaver" in much more detail.
-
- Dan Sharpes dug up the following two:
-
- _Aircraft Dynamics and Automatic Control_, by McRuer, Ashkenas, and
- Graham, (Princeton University Press, 1973, ISBN 0691080836), which
- apparently has a detailed DC-8 model at the end.
-
- _Flight Stability and Automatic Control_, by Robert C. Nelson (McGraw
- Hill, 1989, ISBN 0070462186). Dan transcribed the following
- derivatives for a 747-100 or -200, on page 260:
-
- Longitudinal
- Mach Alt CL CD CLa CDa Cma CLadot CLq
- .25 SL 1.11 0.102 5.70 0.66 -1.26 6.7 5.4
- .90 40k 0.5 0.042 5.5 0.47 -1.6 0.006 6.58
-
- Mach CMq CLM CDM CmM CL-De CM-De
- .25 -20.8 -0.81 0.0 0.27 0.338 -1.34
- .90 -25.0 0.2 0.25 -0.10 0.3 -1.2
-
- Lateral
- Mach Alt CyB ClB CnB Clp Cnp Clr Cnr
- .25 SL -0.96 -0.221 0.150 -0.45 -0.121 0.101 -0.30
- .90 40k -0.85 -0.10 0.20 -0.30 0.20 0.20 -0.325
-
- Mach Cl-Da Cn-Da Cy-Dr Cl-Dr Cn-Dr
- .25 0.0461 0.0064 0.175 0.007 -0.109
- .90 0.014 0.003 0.075 0.005 -0.09
-
- W = 636,600 lb
- CG @ 25%MAC
- S = 5500 ft sq
- b = 195.68 ft sq
- c-bar = 27.31 ft
-
- Ix 18.2 E6 slug-ft sq
- Iy 33.1 E6 slug-ft sq
- Iz 49.7 E6 slug-ft sq
- Ixz 0.97 E6 slug-ft sq
-
- All derivatives are per radian.
-
-
- For more aircraft models, check out the following references:
-
- Robert K. Heffley and Wayne F. Jewell, _Aircraft Handling Qualities
- Data_, NASA CR 2144, December 1972, 343 pp. Aircraft described are
- NT-33A, F-104A, F-4C, X-15, HL-10, Lockheed jetstar, Convair 880M,
- B-747, C-5A, and XB-70A.
-
- G. L. Teper, "Aircraft Stability and Control Data, NASA CR-96008,
- 1969. Aircraft covered are A-7A, A-4D, F-106B, T-38, F-5A, F-104,
- F-105B, B-58, Navion, and DC-8.
-
-
- B5. What is DATCOM?
-
- A description of DATCOM, from Dan Sharpes:
-
- The Datcom is the short-hand title for the "USAF Stability and
- Control DATCOM." It contains methodologies for determining the S & C
- derivatives for just about any type of configuration. It does NOT
- contain the S & C derivatives of aircraft (popular misconception!).
- Here's what the Guide to Datcom says:
-
- "Fundamentally, the purpose of the Datcom (Data Compendium) {OK, I
- was wrong. Flame me!} is to provide a systematic summary of methods
- for estimating basic stability and control derivatives. ... For
- any given flight condition and configuration the complete set of
- derivatives can be determined without resort to outside information.
- The book is intended to be used for preliminary design purposes
- before the acquisition of test data. ... there are many cases where
- the Datcom can be used to advantage in conjunction with test data.
- For instance, if the lift-curve slope of a wing-body combination is
- desired, the Datcom recommends that the lift-curve slopes of the
- isolated wing and body, respectively, be estimated by methods
- presented and that appropriate wing-body interference factors (also
- presented) be applied. If wing-alone test data are available, it is
- obvious that these test data should be substituted in place of the
- estimated wing-alone characteristics ..."
-
- The Datcom has nine sections:
- 1) Guide to Datcom and Methods Summary
- 2) General Information (notation, parameters of wing, body,
- section, and platform)
- 3) Effects of External Stores
- 4) Characteristics at Angle of Attack (static derivatives in alpha)
- 5) Characteristics in Sideslip (static derivatives in beta)
- 6) Characteristics of High-Lift and Control Devices (section and
- wing forces and moments, including hinge moments)
- 7) Dynamic Derivatives (in p, q, r, alpha-dot, and beta-dot)
- 8) Mass and Inertia
- 9) Characteristics of VTOL-STOL Aircraft (thrust characteristics)
-
- The methods are a mixture of theoretical and empirical equations.
- Each section starts with a description of the aerodynamics that
- contribute to the derivative as appropriate to the configuration.
- The methods are then discussed with sample problems following. Next
- are the references, the tables showing accuracy of the methods, and
- finally, the charts. You'll probably recognize these - several
- authors use them liberally in their texts.
-
- Where to get DATCOM:
-
- It's $175. It's distributed in four binders, is 3,200 pages, and can
- be ordered from:
-
- Global Engineering
- 7730 Carondelet Ave. #407
- Clayton, Missouri 63105
-
- 800-854-7179
-
-
- B6. How realistic are the various PC-based simulators?
-
- Robert Dorsett writes:
-
- This is difficult to establish, since, again, user enjoyment of a
- product isn't directly proportional to its realism. Also, different
- users might prioritize different aspects of the simulator, which can
- contribute to perceptions of realism. An instrument-rated pilot
- might value the fidelity of the nav database; a VFR pilot might want
- a detailed visual database and good "seat of the pants"
- controllability. A combat pilot will want a challenging adversary,
- whereas a would-be test-pilot would enjoy just flying the airplane.
- So far, there aren't any "combat airplane" equivalents of MS FS,
- which will just let one fly around a realistic civilian database in a
- really high-performance airplane, so it's not really possible to talk
- about "instrument" military simulators, even though a couple provide
- "ILS" approaches.
-
- Since "package" evaluations ARE a function of user expectations, take
- the following with a grain of salt.
-
- 1. _Civilian_ Considering flight realism, database design and
- fidelity, and instrumentation.
-
- Realism: Elite (Mac/PC), without a doubt. Developed with a 6 DOF
- flight model, very accurate. Followed by Microsoft Flight
- Simulator 5 (PC), ATP (PC) and MS Flight Simulator 4 (Mac/PC).
-
- Database: Elite, for its nav database; ATP and MS FS 5 for
- their visual databases. Navaids modeled better in ATP.
-
- Instrumentation: Elite (Mac/PC), without a doubt; ATP and MS FS
- 4 and 5 are about on par.
-
- 2. _Combat_ Considering flight realism, database design,
- responsiveness, and challenge.
-
- Flight: "Hellcats over the Pacific"'s (Mac) F6F feels the most
- like any airplane, but its performance near the edges of the
- envelope feels too stable. Next-up would be "Falcon 3" (PC),
- idiosyncrasies and all; followed by "P-51 Mustang" (Mac), and
- "Aces of the Pacific" (PC). Near the bottom of the list is
- "Falcon MC" (Mac), with its horrible flight model.
-
- Database: "Hellcats," again, the most detailed, modeling
- everything from moving aircraft carriers to the ammo cans on
- anti-aircraft batteries. "Falcon" (3 and MC) are mediocre
- seconds.
-
- Challenge: "Falcon 3's" probably the best, due to the necessity
- of learning and using the various types of weapons systems.
- "Hellcats" arguably provides the best air combat maneuvering guns
- environment, although enemy aircraft don't die easily enough when
- hit point- blank. "P-51" has a difficult ACM environment, but is
- only 1:1. However, when one wins, one has a real feeling of
- accomplishment.
-
-
- Section C: PC-Based Products
- -----------------------------
-
- C1. Which flight simulator is best for me?
-
- The answer to this question, like all others of this type, is "it
- depends on what you want to use it for". There are a number of
- flight simulators out on the market, and they are (mostly) broken
- down into the following categories:
-
- * Cheap games -- These would be programs that aren't really flight
- simulators at all, but rather programs that have an airplane or
- some such thing in them. They are not intended to be flight
- simulators, any more than DOS's EDLIN and Mac's TeachText are
- intended to be word processors.
-
- * Flight Simulation Combat -- This category would include games
- like Falcon, Aces of the Pacific, Hellcats, and others. Some
- of these have better flight models than others, some have better
- combat modeling. It's really difficult to point out which of
- them is the best, since it all depends on what kind of planes you
- want to fly, and how complicated a program you want.
-
- * Low-end Simulators -- This category includes FS 5 and ATP, and
- consists of programs that are really intended to be basic flight
- simulation "games" (and I use that term loosely). You get a
- fairly good flight model at low cost, and also good graphics.
- They are usually intended for VFR flight, and not for serious IFR
- practice.
-
- * High-end Simulators -- This category includes software packages
- like Elite and IFT-Pro. They typically will have a 6 DOF flight
- model, realistic performance, high fidelity, and are designed to
- provide existing or future pilots with serious IFR practice.
- They are also considerably more expensive, ranging from $150 to
- $1,500 or so.
-
-
- C2. Can I maintain my IFR currency with a PC-based simulator?
-
- There is no PC-based program that can, at the present time, be used
- to log IFR hours. However, the following products are recommended
- for serious IFR practice:
-
- "Elite" by Aviation Teachware is an extremely expensive, but highly
- realistic IFR trainer that is available for the Mac and IBM. There
- are several different versions out, depending on what type of
- computer you have, and they all require a flight yoke of some kind or
- another. Elite is not a toy, and is probably the most accurate and
- realistic PC-based simulator, both in terms of flying
- characteristics, and instrument panel simulation. The list price for
- Elite varies from $400 to $700, depending on which version you
- purchase.
-
- "Instrument Pilot" by Precision Training is an IBM (386 or better)
- based integrated instrument rating instructional simulator. It comes
- with speech generation hardware to simulate communications and
- includes all equipment necessary for instrument training ground
- school. List is about $495, and it can be purchased directly from
- the company at (800) 452-0465.
-
- "IFT-Pro" from Flight Deck is also a good choice. Though not as
- complex as Elite, it still offers a high level of instrument and
- flight realism, and is an excellent package. It's also a lot
- cheaper.. list is somewhere around $350. It is available for IBM
- systems.
-
- | "FS200", by Jeppesen, is an IBM PC-based (486 or better)
- | flight sim that is intended for IFR training, and has a "pilot
- | console" that attaches to your serial port. The console has switches
- | for nav/com radios, throttle/prop/mixture, flaps/gears, etc..
- | Databases constructed from Jepp NavData are available for $75 each.
- | Prices range from $800 to $1,500 and up depending on the hardware,
- | databases, and software options selected. FS200 can be purchased
- | directly from Jeppesen at (800) 732-2800.
-
- C3. Will an FPU/Math co-processor increase my simulator performance?
-
- Robert Dorsett writes:
-
- Most flight simulators, as with most games, use fixed-point
- integer arithmetic. They do this both because most production
- machines, until recently, haven't had an FPU, but they also do it
- because this approach is significantly *faster* than FPU
- performance.
-
- This approach is also used by real-life avionics and simulator
- manufacturers, and obviously is not a "limitation." A common
- misconception is that an FPU adds more "precision," and leads to
- greater "realism." This is wrong.
-
- A simulator must explicitly code for FPU use. Thus, simply by
- adding an FPU, one won't see any magical speed changes.
-
- So unless a simulator explicitly *requires* an FPU, or *states*
- that it will benefit from an FPU, don't bother buying one, unless
- you can use it elsewhere.
-
- Simulators that don't use an FPU:
-
- Hellcats over the Pacific (Mac)
- Leyte Gulf (Mac)
- ATP (IBM)
- FS4 (IBM and Mac)
- FS5 (IBM)
-
- Simulators that do:
-
- Elite (all versions, IBM and Mac)
- Falcon 3.0 (req'd for High Fidelity model, IBM)
-
-
- C4. Are there any space simulators?
-
- Virgin produces a simulator simply entitled "Shuttle". It is by far
- one of the most complex, detailed, and realistic simulators available
- for the PC, Amiga, and Atari ST.
-
- Another, older, program, called "Orbiter", is available for Mac
- systems.
-
- Microsoft's Space Simulator is a more recent entry into the space
- simulator product set. It was written by BAO, the designers of
- Microsoft's Flight Simulator. Nick Dargahi writes:
-
- Space Simulator is the most advanced and complex simulation program
- ever created for the PC. The program combines the awesome photo-realistic
- graphics engine of Flight Simulator 5.0 with a newly created orbital
- dynamics simulation, so that you can actually recreate the motion of
- spacecraft in outer space. Spacecraft can rotate and move in three
- dimensions, planets can rotate along their axes and move in their
- assigned orbits. Well-known comets, such as Halley's, Swift-Tuttle,
- Kohoutek, and West are plotted accurately, as are some of the larger
- asteroids of the solar system. Twenty-one nearby star systems have
- been recreated with imaginary planetary systems that you can visit with
- your spacecraft. It is also possible to take intergalactic trips to
- visit 21 deep space objects, including galaxies, nebulae, star clusters,
- and black holes. Because even at light speed, or 300,000,000 meters per
- second (186,000 miles per second), journeys of such vast distances can
- take thousands of years, Space Simulator gives you the option of
- accelerating and decelerating the passage of time. This means that
- you can fly to the heart of the our Milky Way Galaxy and return to Earth
- in time for lunch.
-
- Other features of the program include: choice of spacecraft and space
- stations astronomical observatory, external chase and internal
- cockpit 3-D view windows with auto-tracking and panning capabilities,
- video recordings/ space photographs/ situation recorder, autopilot,
- flight computer to link together autopilot commands, and both
- space shuttle and Apollo 17 LEM landing missions. [-Nick Dargahi]
-
- C5. What flight simulators are available for Unix systems?
-
- There are currently three flight simulation programs that you can run
- on a Sun workstation running SunOS/Unix, or on X-Window systems:
-
- Flight Sim (fltsim.tar.Z) -- A flight simulator for Sun systems. No
- documentation, only some notes on what systems it has been run on
- (Sun3, 4, 386, IPX with 8-bit color). [Latest reports suggest that this
- file is no longer available. Does anyone know of another source?]
-
- Air Combat Maneuvers (acm-4.0.tar.Z) -- A LAN-based combat simulator
- for the X-11 window environment. It simulates F-16 and Mig-23
- aircraft and is a client/server package, meaning that several players
- can fly against one another when connected to the same server. A
- separate FAQ is maintained for ACM by Brad Bass (bass@convex.com), and
- is posted here periodically.
-
- Aviator (???) -- Stefan Frick writes:
-
- I think it started as a demo-project by two SUN-employees to exploit
- the performance of the GX-graphics-accelerator. One of them is Bruce
- Factor, can't remember the other one...[The other is Curtis Priem
- - Paulo Ney de Souza] A couple of years ago, you could get the program
- for free from your local sales-rep., but the authors formed their own
- company, called 'Artificial Horizons' and it became a commercial
- product. The simulator models the FA-18, X-29 and Boeing 727.
-
- Is uses terrain-data from the US Geological Survey and it gives at great
- sense of realism. The cost of Aviator is $40 (US) for the license + $8
- (US) for the media.
-
- Scott Chan writes:
-
- Silicon Graphics workstations come bundled with a flight simulator
- located in the demos. One can take-off, land, and dog fight in a
- Cessna 150, B747, F15, P38, etc. Flight characteristics "seem" pretty
- good; frame rate is good, but depends on hardware platform and detail
- selected. Scenery is somewhat sparse. Instruments are useful but not
- realistic. There is also a heads-up display instrument panel.
-
- Dogfighting takes place against other employees goofing off over the
- network. I have no idea if it's been ported to other platforms which
- have OpenGL...
-
-
- C6. Are there any Air Traffic Control simulators?
-
- The newest addition to this category is "Tower" which was released
- by BAO in the Fall of 1995. Tower offers three different airports
- from which to control the traffic: (1) Canyon, a fictitious polygon
- based medium sized airport, (2) Washington's National Airport, and
- (3) Chicago's O'Hare International. The last two contain photo
- realistic graphics.
-
- "TRACON II" by Wesson International is available for many platforms.
- It is an excellent simulation of ATC, and the PC version can even be
- linked to Microsoft Flight Simulators for multi-player interactive
- flying and ATC. There are several variants available, including
- TRACON for Windows, and TRACON Pro (suitable for training real ATC
- personnel).
-
-
- C7. Where can I buy flight-related software?
-
- Here are several good places to try. I am sure there are more, but
- these companies really stand out (feel free to add to this list):
-
- Chips and Bits (800) 699-4263
- DataWings (713) 431-1079
- Electronics Boutique (800) 800-5166
- Egghead Software (800) EGG-HEAD Software of all types.
- Flight Computing (800) 992-7737 Flight-related software and
- more. Very aviation-
- oriented.
- Flight Sim Central (800) 477 SIMS Software and hardware for
- flight simulators.
-
-
- C8. Are there any flight-sim-related mailing lists?
-
- The Flight Simulator mailing list is mostly centered around MS FS,
- but is not restricted to any particular product or class of
- products. To subscribe send a message to <mailserv@grove.iup.edu>
- with "subscribe flight-sim" in the body of the message.
-
- Falcon 3 users can join the Falcon mailing list by sending a
- message to "majordomo@falcon3.k9.com " with the line "subscribe
- falcon3" in the BODY of the message.
-
- Air Warrior mailing list can be subscribed to by emailing
- "listserv@cactus.org" with "subscribe 666th-etal <user>" in the
- body of the message.
-
- C9. Are there any magazines devoted to flight simulators?
-
- There are several magazines published that focus on flight simulators.
- Two of the more commonly available are:
-
- MicroWINGS Magazine
- Official Magazine of the International Association of Aerospace
- Simulations
- 381 Casa Linda Plaza #154
- Dallas, Texas 75218
- USA
-
- The subscription rate for MicroWINGS is $49/year; it is published
- bi-monthly. No telephone number given.
-
-
- Full Throttle
- The Microsoft Flight Simulator Pilot's Journal
- Published by The Cobb Group
- 9420 Bunsen Parkway, Suite 300
- Louisville, Kentucky 40220
- USA
-
- The subscription rate for Full Throttle is $39/year; it is published
- bi-monthly. You can call them at:
- 800-223-8720
- or
- 502-491-3300
-
- C10. What new products are available or are expected?
-
- The latest version of the Microsoft Flight Simulator is
- version 5.1. There is both a disk version and a CD-ROM version. This
- version includes better ground texturing, a visibility weather
- option, a scenery management system, and better autopilot capabilities.
- The CD-ROM version includes close to 200 additional airports as well as
- major mountains around the world. A scenery designer for FS5 was also
- alluded to in the readme file for FS5.0, but this product has yet to be
- | officially announced. The latest scenery set for FS5.1 is the
- | Microsoft Hawaii scenery.
-
- | BAO released Flight Shop late in 1995. It allows you to design new
- | aircraft for FS5. It also will convert FS4 aircraft to FS5, provided
- | you have the original crated file. It has adventure capabilities
- | similar to but more extensive than those offered in AAF for FS4. There
- | are now several hundred Flight Shop aircraft and adventures available
- | at the various FS archive sites.
-
- | BAO also released Tower toward the end of 1995. This is described in
- | section C6.
-
- | AMTEX has released ATP Companion: 3-D Advanced Graphics System. 3DAGS,
- | as it is called, is an addon to ATP and it changes the scenery to 256
- | color, gives new instrument panels for all the A/C including high tech,
- | glass cockpits for the A320/B767, realistic day/night visual transition,
- | gradual visibility changes while going into/out of clouds, a new
- | auto pilot for the A320/767 and 3D viewing with special glasses.
-
- | Flight Unlimited has been released by Looking Glass Technologies. It is
- | a high resolution, aerobatic flight simulator. It models five aircraft:
- | Bellanca Decathlon, Pitts Special S-2B, Grob G-103A Twin II Avro
- | Sailplane, Sukhoi SU31, and an Exta 300S. It requires a lot of computer
- | power for the higher graphic resolutions, but it appears to have
- | excellent flight models.
-
-
-
- Section D: Microsoft Flight Simulator
- --------------------------------------
-
- D1. What kind of performance should I expect from FS5?
-
- The faster your machine, the better off you will be. Although a
- 386 is the minimum recommended processor on the box, you will find
- that you'll want a 486DX *at least* if you want to use most of FS5's
- features and still get reasonable frame rates. To give you an idea of
- the "low end" computers, John's former 386DX/25 gave a frame rate of
- between 2 and 5 fps at Chicago with the following configuration:
-
- ET4000 video card, 320x400 VGA (256 colors)
- Textured sky, gradient horizon
- Textured ground
- Normal scenery density
- No dynamic scenery
- No shadows
- No building textures
- No aircraft texture
- Airport lighting on
- "Enhanced readability" instrument panel
- No image smoothing
- Low instrument update rate
-
- He could increase this frame rate to about 3 to 8 fps by removing the
- textured ground. Removing the textured sky further increased frame
- rate, and switching to the 16-color mode essentially turns the graphics
- display to FS4 levels, but with a slightly lower frame rate than FS4
- (this last one is difficult to measure accurately). These frame rates
- were playable and acceptable to him.
-
- When he upgraded to a 486/25, (same video configuration), the frame
- rate was roughly twice that of the 386/25.
-
- A 486DX2/50 or higher will (in most circumstances) allow you to run
- with all the special effects turned on with more acceptable frame
- rates.
-
- You'll find that your video card will make a big difference, especially
- if you are running VLB. Configuring for large disk caches (1 MB to
- 2 MB) will further increase performance, and FS5 prefers EMS to XMS.
-
- The main thing to remember is that you can't expect to turn on all the
- display options and dense scenery and still get high frame rates,
- especially if you have a slower processor. FS5 is essentially a 486 or
- Pentium program, and unless you turn down the details to match your
- processor, you will not be happy with the results.
-
-
- D2. How is the FS5.1 CD-ROM version different from the floppy disk version?
-
- | The CD-ROM version of FS5.1 contains about 180 additional airports from
- | all over the world. Note, however, that these airports only include
- | runways and fuel boxes. The CD-ROM version also has better coastline
- | definition, and major mountain ranges included.
-
- D3. What add-ons are available for FS5?
-
- There are several sets of scenery disks that have been published
- by BAO or Microsoft. The scenery sets that have been released
- so far include: San Francisco, New York, Paris, Washington DC, Japan,
- Caribbean, Europe I, Las Vegas, and Hawaii. Some of these sets are very
- graphic intensive, and have been known to give frame rates in the 1-2 fps
- range with all scenery options turned on. This has been a particular
- problem using the photo-realistic scenery sets. San Francisco, Washington
- DC, and Las Vegas were photo-realistic scenery sets distributed by BAO.
- This type of scenery requires a lot of hard disk space (around 17mb for
- each) and looks very blurry from low altitudes, but from high altitudes
- it is much more realistic than the synthetic scenery (all the others),
- which require much less hard disk space (between 3 to 6 Mb per set) and
- offers better resolution at low altitudes.
-
- | A new version of the Aircraft and Scenery Designer has been expected for
- | some time, but no formal announcement of the product's release has ever
- | been made. Several freeware scenery compilers are presently available.
- | They include: BGLGEN, BGLTOOLS, SCASM, AIRPORT, and FSASM. They are
- | available at ftp.iup.edu. They are not as easy to use as the A&SD for
- | FS4, but I have used BGLGEN, BGLTOOLS, and SCASM in designing my Hong Kong,
- | Scotland, and Michigan scenery for FS5, and they do work well, once you get
- | used to the edit-compile-test-edit-compile... cycle that is needed to use
- | them.
-
- | BAO's Flight Shop has also been released. This product is described in
- | section C10.
-
-
- D4. What are the various "companion books" available for FS?
-
- Here are three currently available books for FS5:
-
- Dargahi, Nick. 1994. _Microsoft Flight Simulator: The Official
- Strategy Guide!_. Prima Publishing, Rocklin, CA.
-
- Stern, Jonathan M. 1995. _Microsoft's Flight Simulator Handbook_.
- Brady Publishing, Indianapolis, IN.
-
- Trimble, Timothy. 1994. _Adventures in Flight Simulator,
- Version 5_. Microsoft Publishing, Redmond, WA.
-
- These three can be used with either FS4 or FS5:
-
- Calfior, Fred, and Douglas Miller. 1994. _Flights of
- "13MIKE"_. CalMil Publishing, Prescott, AZ.
-
- Calfior, Fred, and Douglas Miller. 1994. _IFR Flights of
- "13MIKE"_. CalMil Publishing, Prescott, AZ.
-
- Calfior, Fred, and Douglas Miller. 1995. _Airienteering
- with "13Mike"_. CalMil Publishing, Prescott, AZ.
-
- These two are for Microsoft's Space Simulator:
-
- Barba, Rick. 1994. _Microsoft Space Simulator: The Official
- Strategy Guide!_ Prima Publishing, Rocklin, CA.
-
- Dargahi, Nick. 1994. _Space Simulator Strategies and Secrets_
- Sybex.
-
- D5. Can FS5.1 be used in Windows-95 protected mode?
-
- | The answer to this question is: maybe. That is, it will work depending
- | on your hardware configuration. I am able to use FS5.1 in Win-95
- | protected mode, but others have complained that it won't work for them.
- | If you want to try it, take a look at Microsoft's FS5.1 FAQ, which is
- | available at http://www.microsoft.com/kb/faq/home/flight/all.htm.
-
- D6. Must Flight Shop be installed before I can use FSFS planes?
-
- | Yes, all planes designed by Flight Shop require a module in FS5 before
- | they can be used. This module is copied to FS5 at the time Flight
- | Shop is installed.
-
- D7. Why did FS5.1 lose all my scenery when I added some new scenery?
-
- | There is a bug in FS5.1 that sometimes causes this to happen. The best
- | way to minimize the impact of this bug is to save a copy of your
- | WORLD.VIS file (found in the \FLTSIM5\SCENERY directory) before you
- | add any scenery. If the scenery add operation is not successful, you can
- | copy back the WORLD.VIS file and restore your system to the way it was
- | before you began the change.
-
-
- Section E: Specific Questions about Other Products:
- ----------------------------------------------------
-
- E1. Why doesn't my Sound Blaster card work with ATP?
-
- If you are hearing only the first word of every ATC message through
- your sound card, it is generally cause by an improper setting in the
- SETBLASTER line in your AUTOEXEC.BAT.
-
- Linda McGarry writes:
-
- I had the same problem with only 'Los' spoken from my Soundblaster
- card. After a few phone calls to my supplier, I found out that
- there is another option to the SETBLASTER environment variable that
- is not mentioned in the leaflet that comes with the upgrade, the T
- (type of soundblaster?).
-
- I have: SETBLASTER=A220 D1 I5 T1 (??)
-
- (I believe that the recommended value of T for current soundblaster
- cards is T3).
-
- Hope this helps!
-
-
- E2. The KU antenna won't deploy in Shuttle, and I can't de-orbit. Is there
- a fix?
-
- Joel Murray writes:
-
- There is a bug-fix available directly from Virgin. All you have to
- do is send them a letter stating that you want the fix and enclose
- the UPC code from the back of the box. I did and have experienced
- NO problems since installing the fix.
-
- By the way, if you type SHUTTLE /ALL (I think), all of the missions
- become available to you.
-
-
- Section F: FTP and WWW Sites
- ---------------------
-
- F1. Are there any FTP sites that have flight-sim related material?
-
- There are several places you can go (IP addresses are subject to
- change. Please use the alias/name if possible):
-
-
- ftp.iup.edu (144.80.128.8) Mostly FS5 files. Most new
- (This is a VAX/VMS machine) files are in flight-sim/uploads
-
- Wings.ark.com (204.50.2.23) A new ftp site with a lot of
- FS5 files (scenery, FSFS planes
- utilities, etc.)
-
-
- F2. Is there a way to get flight-sim related materials via e-mail?
-
- In addition to anonymous FTP, the Internet flight simulation file
- archive at ftp.iup.edu may be access with the mail-based server
- mailserv@ftp.iup.edu. Commands go in the message body, not the
- subject. Try HELP to get started.
-
-
- F3. Where can I get FltSim, ACM, and Aviator?
-
- The following sites are taken from archie as of 2/17/94:
-
- acm-4.0.tar.Z -- ftp.x.org /contrib
- pdq.coe.montana.edu /pub/mirrors/X11-contrib
- sunsite.unc.edu /pub/X11/contrib
- theta.iis.u-tokyo.ac.jp /pub1/contrib
- ftp.luth.se /pub/X11/contrib
-
- Aviator can be purchased from QUALiX (yes, that's a lower-case "i")
- for $48 (US):
-
- QUALiX GROUP, Inc.
- 1900 S. Norfolk St., Suite 224
- San Mateo, CA 94403
- Phone: 1-800-245-UNIX, 415-572-0200
- Fax: 1-415-572-1300
- E-mail: info@qualix.com
-
-
- A Windows port for ACM is under construction currently, and a demo
- of ACM for Windows is available at ftp.iup.edu in the FLIGHT-SIM.ACM
- directory. It requires a 386/7 for the floating point power, and runs
- as a native Windows App.
-
-
- F4. How do I upload files to the various flight-sim FTP sites?
-
- The incoming/uploads directories for some sites are given below.
- Read the README files at the particular site for details on the
- upload procedures.
-
- Site Directory Comments
- ---------- ------------- -------------
- ftp.iup.edu UPLOADS: Note the colon
- after the directory
- name-- it's needed.
-
- [for alternate methods of submitting files to ftp.iup.edu please
- see the file [anonymous.flight-sim]00readme.txt on ftp.iup.edu.]
-
- ftp.ulowell.edu /pub Archiver puts new
- files out every
- month or so. Mail
- to archiver after
- uploading.
-
- wuarchive.wust.edu /pub/MSDOS_UPLOADS/games
-
-
- Remember to always send mail to the archiver after uploading a file.
-
-
- F5. Where else can I get flight-sim related materials?
-
- One other source, if you don't have Internet access, is to check out
- FSFORUM on CompuServe. The libraries and forums there cover flight
- simulation of all types, from games to simulators like FS to air
- traffic control and more. [Does anyone have information on Prodigy
- or Genie? --JM]
-
- F6. Are there any WWW sites devoted to flight simulation?
-
- Yes, there are many with new ones cropping up every week. Here is a
- list of a few of them that are either flight sim related or have links to
- flight sim pages:
-
- Comox Valley http://www.ark.com
- CH Products http://www.chproducts.com/
- Thrustmaster http://www.thrustmaster.com/
- MicroWINGS http://www.microwings.com/
- Full Throttle http://www.zdnet.com/~cobb/fullthro/
- BAO http://www.bao.com/
- TekMate http://rampages.onramp.net/~tekmate/
- E-Flight Center http://chantry.clever.net/e-flight/
- Flight 642 http://www.flight642.com/
- FS Aircraft http://www.intr.net/theduke/
- FS5 Scenery Design http://www.pix.za/0/business/a.bruton/scenery.html
- FS News Online http://user.aol.com/fsnews/
- Looking Glass Tech http://www.vie.com/lgt/
- FS User's Guide http://www.surf-ici.com/fishman/fs51/default.htm
- NettWing's Faves http://www.flylnx.com/miahub/nuttfave.htm
- FS Uploads http://www.naples.net/~nfn00200/iup.html
- Flying High BBS http://www.mcs.net/~teleman/flyhibbs.html
- Aerodrome http://www.zdnet.com/~complife/
- World of FS5 http://www.st.rim.or.jp/~kkitamur/fs5.html
- General Aviation http://aviation.jsc.nasa.gov/simulators.html
-
-
- Section G: Misc.
- -----------------
-
- G1. What happened to Mallard?
-
- Mallard was a publisher of software titles for the flight simulator
- community. However, they fell on financial hard times and went out
- of business early in 1994.
-
- G2. What happened to SubLOGIC and BAO?
-
- | In the Fall of 1995 SubLOGIC was purchased by Sierra and BAO was
- | purchased by Microsoft. Microsoft has indicated that its first
- | new product will be FS6 for Windows 95. They announced that it
- | should be available by the end of 1996.
-
-
- G3. How do I submit comments, suggestions, or corrections to the FAQ?
-
- Send email to rwittick@msu.edu
-
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