The Flight Simulator

When choosing a flight simulator, aircraft is important. But the flight simulator airport is also an important part of the realistic flight experience.

The more airports that flight simulation software offer their customers, the more popular that game will be. To be sure, the variety of aircraft is the player’s first concern, but the flight simulator airport is also an important component….no more so when the people using the software have actually been to the airports in question and know the number of runways that should be at each airport, and over which type of scenery they should be flying when they take off.

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For Flight Pro Sim, for example, there are over 20,000 real world airports included, when the customer purchases the full scenery set (which includes scenery for the entire world). All of these airports have the correct runway markings and placement, and the correct approach lighting and the correct runway lighting. To add still further to the verisimilitude, the larger airports will have taxiways and green center line lights, the runways will slope, and as the plane changes its directions, the airport lighting will change intensity appropriately.

Pilots are not constrained to start their aircraft from the flight simulator airport runways. Flight Pro Sim offers the capability for the pilot to choose if he or she wants to start in the air, and if so at what altitude.  Not only that, on the advanced settings screen, the pilot can choose which latitude and longitude,  heading, altitude, roll and pitch, airspeed, and when appropriate, VOR, NBD, Fix, offset distance, glideslope, climb rate, offset distance and offset azimuth.

Weather can be chosen – wind direction, heading, speed, ceiling. The pilot can choose random winds and turbulence as well…which makes for a real fun flight.

Another feature that Flight Pro Sim offers is for multi-player flying over the internet, so that two or more people can not even fly together, but also communicate via radio.

It’s necessary for the flight simulator airport to offer the correct runways. For example, NASA Crows Landing (ICA0 id KNRC) offers runways 12, 17, 30 and 35.  The airport is no longer in use – which doesn’t stop flight simulation software, of course.

Crows Landing is a 1,500 acre NASA facility in the Central Valley of California, located 18 miles SW of Modesto.  It was a Naval Auxiliary Air Station for decades, serving Moffett Field. NASA conducted flight research there since 1993.

Hayward Executive Airport has runways 10L, 10R, 28L and 28R. This airport, built in 1943 as a fighter base, was turned over to the city in 1947, and is still open for business.  It is located in the city of Hayward, near the shores of San Francisco Bay. In addition to its runways, it also has a helipad.

The beginning pilot might wonder what the runway designations mean. A runway is given a number between 01 and 36, which indicates the runway’s heading. Thus, runway 36 points to the north (360°), runway 09 points east (90°), runway 18 is south (180°), and runway 27 points west (270°).

Since a runway can be used in two directions, the same strip of pavement has two names, and the numbers will always differ by 18 (or 180 °). If the airport has parallel runways, each one is identified with a direction — Left (L), Center (C) or Right (R).

Educating oneself about the flight simulator airport vs the real airport adds a je  ne sais quois to the experience.   You are going to love Flight Pro Sim!

Click Here to Download the Ultimate Flight Simulator

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