FS, How Real?

That hole is a mistake in the terrain texture in flight simulator.
https://flyawaysimulation.com/downloads/69/fs2004-utilities-misc/

I think that Microsoft did a amazing job considering the massive scale of flight simulator and the many small nuances of aviation. It's as real as you can get (on a computer). Yes, it could be better but it could be much worse also. Checkout early versions of flight simulator.
🙂 http://fshistory.simflight.com/fsh/index.htm

Last edited by CRJCapt on Sat Jul 29, 2006 7:05 pm, edited 1 time in total

default FS is quite unrealistic with just a basic 737 panel etc. BUT... the PMDG is very realistic and many pilots have tested this and said how realistic it really is. Here is the 737 real panel:

and the PMDG panel:

The real 737 overhead:

PMDG overhead:

All fully functional and very realistic,,basic FS is bad but a bit of payware can sort that!!

I am a pilot at the present, I fly the 737-700 in real life, flying passengers on short to medium haul routes for an airline but I also fly on flight simulator, quite a lot actually

The aircraft I fly on Flight Simulator would be the Cessna 172, which is the aircraft I trained in a few years ago. I fly the PMDG 737-700 (the plane I fly in real life, only not made by PMDG ) and I find it really realistic 😀

Sounds are great in it, it handles like the thing in the real world, the FMC is realistic, the same layout as the ones that I use when flying. The cockpit is layed out the same in Virtual Cockpit which is nice, you know your way round if you like 🙂

To me Flight Simulator is realistic, but to make it realistic you need the help of add-ons, and I'm not talking about autoflaps, autogears, autolands, because they just make the game more unrealistic.

Add-ons like Active Sky (payware), which enhances weather, and payware aircraft (PMDG are the best, but there are other goods ones as well), realistic sceneries for airports (not ones that include fictional ILS's [apart from the juliana ones, its great scenery, it comes with ILS on runway 9 which isnt there in real life but there isnt a lot you can do about it] or ones that add fictional runways)

In my opinion, Flight Simulator is realistic, and I think with the proper add-ons it reaches its full limit of realism (obviously there is a limit to how realistic you can get with a computer)

If you have any questions regarding the realism of FS2004 please post back here and I'll be happy to answer them and help out, because FS is great, and there is no other equivalent to it, its the best Flight Simulator for the PC around 😀

wow, are you really a real pilot?? 😎 😎

In a scale of 1-10, how would you rate how realistic the 737-700 PMDG, (which i also fly on here) compared to the real thing. I have looked around and many pilots say its very realistic with the FMC, overhead panel etc all very the same. I now know how to start the plane from 'cold and dark' start the engines and programme my flight etc.

Does the trim wheel really make that clinking noise 😛 noisy!!

I like to manually fly the flight from the minute atc tell me to descend and usually 9/10 i can hit the center of the runway line at full flaps and 130-140 knots

Yeah I am a real pilot 🙂

On a scale of 1-10, I would rate the PMDG 737-700 about 8 compared to the real thing (which is good, seeing as there is a bit difference between a standard computer and an actual flying plane)

I think PMDG did a great job in doing this plane, as we all know, Flight Simulator is limited, but the PMDG really uses every oppurtunity right up to the limits it can, so I think they couldnt have done better with this plane, considering thats its for a PC. The only things missing is the actual feel that you are flying, in real life you can feel yourself accelerate down the runway, you can feel yourself rotating, you can feel yourself banking and most importantly when you practise stalls in cessna's, it has a unique feelilng to it 😀

The trim wheel does make that clicking noise in real life. lol!! One of its functions is to let the pilots know that the autopilot is adjusting to whatever change you have made etc

That sounds good, that you get the runway on center, but if you follow the ILS needles it should be no problem, it just takes practise

When I am flying, I dont handfly all the way down when I get to T/D (top of descent), the TOD would be pre-programed into the FMC and would start the descent, with ATC clearance.

I would descend down to about 2,800AGL and then hold this until established on the localizer, and then I would follow the glideslope down to land

But I would advise you to keep handflying down, as this is a good practise to get into, and not be relying on autopilot (we dont rely on it, were perfectly able to hand fly a whole 4 hour flight, sometimes we even take autopilot off while cruising and hand fly for a bit if we get bored). Its just that we use autopilot to make the flight smoother and most fuel efficient etc

Hope this helps, any more questions just ask 🙂

dvorak