Flight Simulator Page

One of my greatest interests, since I can remember, has been the concept of being able to fly. I know that there are loads of "real" flight simulator pages out on the internet at the moment (see my favourite links), but this little space in the world is a small attempt to contribute to a growing flight simulation world.
My main flight interest is with Microsoft ® Flight Simulator ™

I have been flying MS Flight Simulator since version 5.0 came out and I received it as a gift. I still fly version 5.0 occasionally. I have flown plenty on FS98 and now most recently purchased FS2000 pro. I have also enjoyed MS Combat FS. The most striking part of flight simulation is the internet community of FS pilots. With the very first search that I did, to find info on flight simulation, I was pleasantly surprised to find out how helpful and giving the FS community is. I found many pages and ftp sites that offered sceneries and aeroplanes for free. These sceneries and planes are the product of a countless number of hours that so many have spent building; testing and updating. I must add that in almost all instances, very high quality products have been created by the FS enthusiasts. I would like to use this space to thank and applaud all who have contributed to making the FS world a better place to fly in.

I hope to use this space to share some of my FS experiences and perhaps review some of the great FS products available via the internet, as time allows.

Helicopter experiences

I have really been enjoying flying the helicopter that came with flightsim98. It has taken me quite some time to try and master the take off and landing skills needed for helicopter flight. Those of you who prefer fixed wing craft may well enjoy some of the aspects of the helicopter, as I have found and list below:

• Slower flight speed makes for better scenery viewing

• The helicopter allows for hovering which really enhances the scenery aspect of FS2002. I often am interested in some of the finer details of the scenery in which I fly and have really appreciated getting close to a mountain or building. I also enjoy landing inside the stadium just outside Meigs airfield.

• I would recommend the South African scenery developed by Nico Visagie and his team, as listed under my flight links page. I quite often fly around Cape Town and love landing near the Cape Town Waterfront. I also enjoy hovering slowly all the way up the side of Table mountain to the cable station.

Try this out !

If you get the chance to install any voice recognition software such as MS Voice or Dragon Dictate try using it together with MS Flight Simulator. When using voice recognition with an adventure it creates a whole new aspect of realism. You can set the keystrokes that you would use to request take-off or landing and create the voice recognition equivalent. The joy in this is that with your voice you can just request take off as if you communicating with a real control tower. If you've "trained" your voice software well enough there's so many added commands that you can request, like requesting your auto-pilot to take over etc. etc. Give it a try if you have the means & let me know how it goes.

Hope to have more soon ...

In the meantime visit my flight links page for some really great flight-sim pages.

Page last revised: 25 May 2003

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