connors@drutx.UUCP (05/22/84)
[ Fly me. ] I have two flight simulators which I use with my Apple ][, "Airsim-3" from Mind Systems, and "Flight Simulator II" from Sublogic Corp. Both cost around $50. Here is a review of each. Flight Simulator II ------------------- This is undoubtedly the more sophisticated of the two. It simulates a 180hp Piper Archer II. The display includes full instrumentation for VFR and IFR flight. This includes: airspeed indicator artificial horizon altimeter turn and slip indicator flap, trim, aileron, rudder, and elevator indicators magnetic compass non-slaved heading indicator (it precesses) vertical speed indicator communication radio 2 navigation radios, connected to 2 VORS, and a glideslope ADF transponder DME outer, middle, and inner markers digital clock master switch left and right fuel gauges oil pressure and temperature gauges tachometer carburetor heat throttle indicator mixture control suction gauge This is all included on the lower half of the Apple display, which makes things a little compressed, and the definition a little fuzzy, especially with a color monitor or TV. The upper half of the display is a view from the plane in any of 9 different directions. The scenery includes representations of 4 differents areas of the U.S. -- New York/Boston, Los Angeles/San Diego, Chicago, and Seattle. There are lakes, oceans, roads, 80 different airports, tall buildings, hills and mountains. If you use a monochrome monitor, there is good definition, but a color monitor will let you see the green ground, blue sky, and dark lakes and roads. (The people who developed this software say they are working on databases for many more places. Maybe it'll let you fly over your own house!). But that's not all... You can also set up your own weather -- you can decide the season, the heights and wind directions for 3 levels, and the surface wind. You can set a percentage reliability for the plane. If it's less than 100% reliable, things will start to go wrong; the airspeed will stop working, or a radio will quit, etc. etc. In night flying the scenery changes to show the lights of towns below, together with taxiway and runway lights. There is a radar mode, with variable magnification, which lets you see where you are. There is an optional war-game (which in fact is self-contained, and is quite different in feel). So, there are an incredible numbers of options. How does it feel to fly? Well, there are two ways to control the plane -- by the keyboard, or by a joystick. The keyboard is obviously not a terribly realistic way to fly. But it does work. It requires that you know all the right keys to press, and at what RATE you have to press them. The joystick gives you a much finer feel for things, in fact a bit too fine. The plane responds very sensitively to joystick movements, and an attempt at level flight is apt to consist of continual banking from side to side. A small error in centering the joystick seems to rapidly build up into a dramatic bank. To level the wings after a turn seems to take ages. The software could do with more tuning here. The performance of the plane is quite similar to a real Piper Archer, even down to the way it stalls. The simulation is approximately real-time, but things happen faster if there is nothing difficult to draw on the display (e.g. if you are flying through clouds). There are bugs in the software, but none of them too serious. Sometimes the simulation will freeze, or an instrument display will get corrupted. Is it just like flying a real Piper Archer? No way! It's not nearly as exciting. But for $50, it's a bargain. It'll give you a very good idea of what real flying is like, and let you get familiar with a plane's instruments and methods of operation. And it has one decided advantage: It will let you kill yourself many times over, in perfect safety. Airsim-3 -------- It is not clear what plane this simulation is based on, but it is certainly a more powerful plane than the Piper Archer, perhaps more like a Mooney 201. This is a reduced kind of simulator, but it has some definite attractions. It is instrumented with: altimeter airspeed indicator throttle indicator tachometer elevator, aileron, and flap indicators artificial horizon heading indicator vertical speed indicators 2 VORS ADF glideslope The instruments are larger than in "Flight Simulator II", and are clear and easy to read. They occupy two sides of the screen, taking up about half of the screen area. The scenery is very basic, usually just the horizon, but occasionally the coastline, some isolated mountains, and 8 or so airports. It is based on the coastal area of California, from San Diego to San Francisco. Different IFR approaches are possible at these airports. There is also a radar mode, to let you see where you are in relation to airports and navigational facilities. The plane is very easy to fly with the joystick, and there is a cheat-key which lets you level the wings instantly. Because it is easier to fly, it lets you concentrate more on taking in the "big picture". If you really yank the controls around, you can get the plane in strange modes. I once had the power off, was spinning at about 180 degrees/sec, and CLIMBING! This simulator is very good for practising IFR, and would be a definite aid if you were going for an instrument ticket. One useful mode is to be able to rapidly move the plane around using the joystick, and observe the effect on the navigation instruments of having the plane in different physical locations. You can also set up your own ILS approach. Paul Connors. AGS Computers / AT&T Information Systems, Denver.
hobbit@bnl.UUCP (Al Walker) (06/01/84)
We here at Rutgers found a bug in a [bootleg] copy of Flight Simulator [I forget if it was 1 or 2] wherein if you turned the plane upside down and shoved the stick forward, you would rise at incredible rates with no power. The program evidently thought you were falling.... have they cleaned this one up in your version? It was a more fun way of gaining altitude than hitting escape and typing in a new one... _H*