Flight Simulators

Flight Gear
by Various

Entry created by Andreas Jung.

Open source flight simulator. Features three different flight models. [IMO] One cannot deny that the developers have achieved a lot by creating a flight simulator. The code base is definitly huge and there is lots of know-how in it. The ability to select different flight models is remarkable. However, when moving from thumbnail to fullscreen, one cannot deny that this flight simulator has the feel of "programmer's art". I wouldn't spend more than half an hour with this sim, because the simulated world doesn't feature much that's worth to spend the time in there, other than a few traffic patterns. The flight models are convincing though. The simulator didn't have it's breakthrough, and I doubt it will ever have - it's simply too much lost between multiplatform development and open source idealism. When I read the website, I'm not sure wether they are advertising open source or their simulator.

MS Flight Simulator
by Microsoft

Entry created by Andreas Jung.

Probably the most successful commercial general purpose flightsimulator.

The Flight Simulator Project (White Clouds)
by Matthieu Laban

Entry created by Andreas Jung.

Being implemented in C#, this project by Matthieu Laban is the pioneer of managed flight simulation. The project is steadily growing, and the development process can be monitored via the BLOG on his website. Freeware.

X-Plane
by Laminar Research (Austin Meyer)

Entry created by Andreas Jung.

X-Plane is well known for it's sophisticated aerodynamics. Having the FAA approval, X-Plane has a high reputation among the flight-training/test-pilot/engineering-community. With an improving graphics-engine, X-Plane also gains more popularity in the mainstream segment.

Flight Unlimited III
by Looking Glass Studios

Entry created by Andreas Jung.

General aviation simulator bound to a photorealistic Seattle scenery. Can be extended with the San Francisco scenery from Flight Unlimited II. It must be noted, that Looking Glass Studios went out of business in 2000. [IMO] Still the best GA simulator available. There is still an active community. The game has a special charm, that has never been reached by any other flight simulator available (convincing scenery, missions, easter-eggs, etc.).

MigMan's Flight Simulator Museum
by MiGMan

Entry created by Andreas Jung.

From the website: "The Flight Sim Museum provides a permanent and growing overview of the entire genre all in one conveniently organised location. In the Flight Sim Museum you can relive the 'glory days' at the click of a mouse.".

modsim.org
by modsim.org (Devrim Erdem)

Entry created by Andreas Jung.

"The News Portal for Visual Simulation & Training Industry Professionals"

DynamicSim
by Simulationfreaks

Entry created by Andreas Jung.

Ambitious flight simulator project (in development), simulating aircraft type F-18 in a Hawaiian Islands scenario. [IMO] Lots of aspects are looking well done. There is a large number of video clips showing different aspects of the sim. Nice: there is a technical page with in-depth technical descriptions of various aspects of the sim. However - excuse me, I'm biased - I have no idea where to get this amount of top-notch aerial imagery and terrain mesh from. It should cost millions. It's not a too big deal to make this kind of imagery look good - basically all you see is a plain heightfield terrain engine with some fancy imagery projected on it. Critical issues still have to be addressed - the runways visible are only part of the imagery, i.e. there is no airport system embedding some kind of airport mesh into the terrain heightfield. Although the imagery is good enough to produce some details of the airport, it won't be able to reproduce sufficient ground-details reaching commercial quality level. So it's not quite clear yet, whether the screenshots show eye-candy only, or a mature simulation platform. If the project should really succeed in reaching a commercial quality level, I'd be happy to be a customer from day 1.

Lock On
by Ubi Soft

Entry created by Andreas Jung.

Fictitious conflict in the Black Sea region. Features A-10, F-15, Su-25/27/33, and Mig-29 with accurate aerodynamics. [IMO] With air combat simulators dying out, this unique application demonstrates, how a combat flight simulator can look like on state-of-the-art hardware. Especially interesting because of the focus on Russian aviation technology.

Aircraft Simulation Techniques Used in Low-Cost, Commercial Software
by Michael Zyskowski

Entry created by Andreas Jung.

The paper summarizes the most important aspects that need to be addressed during the development of a flight simulator. [IMO] Should be the first paper you should read if you want to create a flight simulator.

Desert Combat Scene
by K. Whitehead

Entry created by Andreas Jung.

Desert-style combat scene with Black Hawk and A-10 aircraft near Nellis AFB.

Orbiter
by Martin Schweiger

Entry created by Andreas Jung.

Space simulator featuring orbital mechanics as well as atmospheric flight. Still updated in "sporadic" intervals. Freeware. [IMO] Only state-of-the-art space simulator available at the moment. Good example of a simulation with changing reference frames (you can really go everywhere!). Honestly, this application has had it's zenith already.

The Space Shuttle Simulator
by Mikael Lundberg

Entry created by Andreas Jung.

More or less a remake of the old DOS game "Shuttle" with modern graphics. [IMO] Hard to have an opinion. There seems to be lots of work in it, because placing all the switches alone is a great deal of work. On the other hand, the application itself is a little bit "crappy" (select screen resolution using a dialog-box with Yes/No/Cancel). The ergonomics is as disastrous as the original game: To set a switch, one has go to the specific panel and search/set the switch. During this time, one cannot look out of the window. So instead of flying, one is navigating and scanning panels most of the time.