the_dimwit
Well-known member
- Joined
- Feb 27, 2004
- Posts
- 50
erj-145mech said:With Microsoft Flight Sim, you can just jump in the real deal after a few hours self check out to go from point A to point B as long as nothing goes haywire.
Actually, you're not that far off. I have "played" with Flight Sim for years, and the latest version (FS 2004) is quite realistic. Some of the payware designers have worked to recreate the aircrafts' systems down to the minute detail. The user manuals for some of those planes take hours to understand. Overhead panels, fuel systems, etc. are detailed thanks to consulting w/ aircraft manufacturers and testers.
Add to that the aforementioned Vatsim, where a Flight Sim user can fly while interacting with live atc (either text or voice), and the experience gets real quite quickly.
Once a person has been "flying" an airplane on the computer for a while, I'd suppose the real thing wouldn't be that hard. Of course, I don't think I'd be able to hop into a 747 and go to China, but stealing a few hours in a twin wouldn't be unthinkable.
--Dim