It's not really a "game"..., October 14, 2007
By Canon User (Naples, FL, USA) - See all my reviews
Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars
... it's a flight simulator, plain and simple. I've always dreamed of obtaining a Private Pilot Certificate, but one thing has always kept me from achieving this goal. You guessed it, CASH! The one thing that steadily increases the amount you have to pay for flight lessons is the need to keep doing things over and over until your instructor is satisfied that you can perform any given procedure satisfactorily. X-Plane allows you to practice these procedures in the comfort of your own home until you have them down cold.
I've read the other reviews and I'm convinced they are dealing with an X-Plane evil twin or something. I've had no such problems with my modest computer setup. Here's the breakdown; I run X-Plane 8.6 (it is now Universal Binary) on a MacBook Pro that comes with the standard ATI Radeon 1600 256 MB graphics card. 100 MB hard drive and 2GB DDR2 SDRAM. OS is X version 10.4.10. I run X-Plane off and external fire wire 800 1 TB 7200 RPM drive. Finally my controls are the CH Products USB Flight Sim Yoke and Rudder Pedals. Everything is calibrated for maximum realism. Of course, all my rendering settings aren't maxed out, everything is pretty much middle of the road (the X-Plane webite has very detailed instructions on how to get the best performance out of you machine.
When I fly the simulator I average between 50 and 60 frames per second - smooth, smooth, smooth.
I haven't had one single glitch or system crash.
All the procedures I practice are straight out of Sporty's Private Pilot Course (about 200 bucks). The actions of X-Plane emulate the procedures described in the course to a T.
Now think about it, how much further you'll be ahead of the game if you practice the maneuvers, learn the instrumentation and handle your X-Plane aircraft with a high degree of proficiency when you first walk into your local civilian airport and sign-up for your Private Pilot Certification course as opposed to the person that walks in the door cold and requests flying lessons? I'm sure your training will take much less time than that of the complete novice. And as you know, time is money. With X-Plane under your belt, it's like you've done all your homework before even stepping into a class.
If you really want a super trainer to fly, just Google Jason Chandler. He has created some of the most beatiful and accurate planes for X-Plane on a payware basis. I purchased his Cessna 172S SP for about $10 and absolutely love it. It's far better than the Cessna 172 that comes preloaded in X-Plane.
As for instructions on using the various pieces of equipment in X-Plane, do a little searching on the web in terms of actual equipment used on the planes, checlists, airpot directories etc... With a little bit of common sense diligence, you'll find everything you need.
Someday (in the not too distant future I hope), I will sign up for those flight lessons and will be thoroughly prepared to pass the course requirements thanks in large part to X-Plane!
P.S. Over the years I've tried Microsoft Flight simulator and Fly! on a PC. They are over-hyped and just plan suck!
But if your running X-Plane 8.6 on a new Intell DuoCore Mac, you are in for treat. This is the best consumer-grade flight simulator on the planet. Period.
Many thanks to Austin Meyer and his team for their phenominal work!
