X-Plane

X-Plane is, without a doubt, the best flight simulator on the market. As soon as you get past the price of it and actually buy yourself a copy, you will realise how much better it is than Microsoft Flight Simulator. X-Plane comes with:
 * The Flight Simulator application
 * Scenery for ALL of the Earth and Mars (if you choose to get the Mars CD, otherwise it just comes with a small portion of the planet)
 * WorldMaker: Allows you to edit EVERYTHING about the land above which you fly, from everything from adding hills to adding custom built objects that you can place anywhere
 * PlaneMaker: Allows you to build your own special plane from scratch, or import pictures and model an existing one, then add photorealistic paint to it in any paint program
 * AirfoilMaker: Even though X-Plane comes with tonnes of pre-built airfoils for any use you need them for, you may want to create a new one, and this program allows it to be done
 * Briefer: Launch it, type in your altitude, departure and destination, and it tells you the weather for your trip, which it downloads from the Internet

All of these programs combined together give you the X-System, the most realistic flying experience for your computer.

X-Plane, unlike Microsoft Flight Simulator (MSFS), models the behavior of your aircraft on the aircraft's specifications. You may have noticed that in MSFS, all the planes fly similarly. Well, not in X-Plane. You give it a wing placed on the top of the plane, and it will fly like it has a wing on top of the plane. Give it a shape that looks like a brick? It will fly like a plane that looks like a brick: that's one of the great things about X-Plane. Every aircraft feels real.

In addition to this, X-Plane has complete Navigation data for the entire earth. You will find every Navigation aid (Navaid) you will need: Fixes, NDBs, VORs, Middle Markers, Outer Markers, equipment and frequencies for ILS approaches and much more.

Of course, don't expect to be a Senior Captain as soon as you jump into a 747-400. It takes time to learn the ropes. Luckily, there are hundreds of tutorials on the Internet that will get you cruising the skies in no time. There are also forums (such as X-Plane.org and the X-Plane Freeware Project which develops free X-Plane craft that behave exactly like the real ones do) as well as places where you can download free aircraft ( X-Plane.org and the X-Plane Freeware Project )

A nice little extra, is that all updates throughout a version are absolutely free! For example, if you buy X-Plane 8.01, you will be able to download all the updates, such as 8.41, 8.73, 8.99, up to the final release for that version.

I suggest that every keen flight simmer should have a copy of this program! IT IS WELL WORTH IT!

If flying alone gets a little dull after a while, what do you do? Well, you hook up to the Internet using XSquawkBox and fly online with other pilots and ATC! And yes, you can even talk to ATC and other craft. You are also able to join one of the hundreds of Virtual Airlines to add more realism to your flying experience, such as FreeWorld Airways, a Virtual Airline exclusively for X-Plane, which has planes, scenery, data, forums and tonnes of friendly people to help you become as best pilot as you can possibly be.