Flight Simulator Programs for PC's.

[V-man]

I would like to know with which simulator program out there people have had the best luck installing, running, etc...?

[av8tir]

Easy to install. Compatible with the newer Windows platforms. Nice graphics,lots of interesting aircraft to choose from. Excellent weather depictions as far as cloud formations and complicated weather senarios.The airport database is excellent.

[Mas_o_menos]

Vital IX Visual, Full Glass Cockpit, Worldwide Nav Database, Full Six Degrees of Motion, etc.. All installed into a room size video game :shocked:

[Arauthator]

First download the free Google Earth and install it.
http://earth.google.com/download-earth.html

Here is a list of the controls.
http://earth.google.com/intl/en/userguide/v4/flightsim/index.html

It's not quite like Microsoft Flight Simulator (http://www.google.com/search?q=microsoft+flight+simulator), but it's a promising start.

How to see this feature. Make sure you have Google Earth 4.2 (http://earth.google.com/download-earth.html). Open the application, click on the globe and then press Ctrl+Alt+A. You should see a dialog that lets you choose one of the two aircrafts (F16 "Viper" and SR22) and an airport.

To fly, you need to read this list of keyboard shortcuts (http://earth.google.com/intl/en/userguide/v4/flightsim/index.html), but you can also use a mouse or a joystick. "To disable or enable mouse controls, left click (single click on a Mac). Once mouse controls are active, the pointer shape changes to a cross on your screen."

Marco Gallotta (http://marco-za.blogspot.com/2007/08/google-earth-flight-simulator.html), who found this feature, has some tricks: "Moving on though, you can get a quick start by holding Page Up for a few seconds to increase to maximum thrust (thrust meter is the left bar of the lower-left meters). Once you've accelerated to a sufficient velocity use the arrow keys to take-off. The keys are in reverse as one would expect with any flight simulator, so use the down arrow to take-off. When you've gained enough altitude then stabalise the aircraft to a straight flight path. It can be rather tricky to get the hang of as the controls are quite sensitive."

This easter egg could become a standard feature in the next versions of Google Earth and it will bring even more fun to the application.

[Simmi]

I would like to know with which simulator program out there people have had the best luck installing, running, etc...?

A CAE Sim (90's vintage) with Simex Plus...
Visual - E&S with openflight database.

[SimFixR]

The Tropos coupled with Barco display units look incredible..

But I can't wait for the new A380 sim to get here. NEW TOYS!!!!