Flight Sims – Just How Realistic Are They?
Author: Commander Mike “Toonces” Loomis
Introduction
Rare would be the man who, as a child, saw a fighter jet fly overhead and didn’t think to himself, “I want to do that when I grow up!” Unfortunately, most of us don’t become fighter pilots. However, we have the opportunity through computer flight simulation to understand a bit of what goes on in that cockpit, flying 600 knots and pulling 6 Gs.
The enthusiast flies his first simulator, buys more and more hardware, controllers, accessories, and more computer power to run ever more complex software. At some point the inevitable question surfaces- how realistic are home flight simulators, anyway? This article seeks to address this question from an aviator’s perspective.
