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In this actual screenshot I am flying my Mooney Bravo over Aspen during a snowstorm. Flight Simulator 2004 (Century of Flight) has the most sophisticated weather rendering to date. It alone is worth the price of the sim!
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004, a Century of Flight, is by far the most realistic in the series to date. Like to fly in real weather? Flight Simulator 2004 will acquire the latest weather data from the National Weather Service and feed it into your computer for real time and weather conditions and update the weather every 15 minutes as you fly. Fantastic! And there are even more airports than even before. In addition to some nice scenery improvements, the main reason to purchase this sim is to acquire the fleet of historical aircraft that are included.
The 1903 Wright Flyer, Curtiss JN-4 Jenny, Vickers Vimy,Ryan NYP "Spirit of St. Louis," Vega, Ford 4-AT Tri-motor, De Havilland DH88 "Comet," Douglas DC-3 and Piper J-3 Cub augment the usual generous supply of general aviation and commercial jetliners.
You'll need a fast box to run this simulator effectively. My 2GHZ Pentium 4 still stuttered with full weather effects and most scenery settings on the higher side of average.
The first time I took the controls for real was in this 1968 Beechcraft Bonanza owned by my friend Harold. We took off from Costin Field in Port St. Joe, Florida and toured the area. My Flight Simulator practice enabled me to control the aircraft adequately, but we had to rely on Harold's skill and experience to land the plane over the treetops to the tricky sand and grass strip at Costin. When I got back to Atlanta, the first thing I did was to start Flight Simulator to see if tiny Costin was one of the 3000 included airports. You bet it was! I was able to re-create the entire flight including the tour of St. George Island including the famous leaning lighthouse, the touch and go at Appalachicola and the flight up the beach to wave to the wives. ( They were not included in FS2004. but were visible on the real flight ) Anyway, life does imitate art and if you want the best all around value priced flight sim available be sure to check out Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004!
The Beechcraft Bonanza Panel.
This page was last updated 12/14/07
