With each new Flight Simulator release since version 6.0, Microsoft has given us bigger and more complex aircraft to fly. Flight Simulator 2002 is no different as it adds the venerable Boeing 747 to the 737 and 777. (The illustrious Concorde is dropped from the roster.) In this section of the review, we'll take a look at the turbine powered aircraft included in FS2002. For the purposes of this review, we'll take a look at the new visual features that all of the aircraft share, review the updates to the carryover aircraft, then take a look at the new 747.

Test System (Ed Rutledge) Athlon 1.0 GHz Windows XP 512 Megs RAM GeForce 2 PRO 64MB HP 9100 CD-RW Hercules Fortissimo II Microsoft Precision 2 Joystick KDS 19" Monitor Flying Time: 40 hours over 26 days

FS2002 Aircraft - A whole new look
(Ed Rutledge)

Traditionally default FS aircraft push the visual envelope compared to any aircraft released for the previous version. FS2002 is no exception. The visual models for all of the turbine aircraft are gorgeous. Microsoft has taken advantage of advances in graphic card technology and applied them liberally to the default aircraft. The strobe effect of the night lighting is stunning. Bare metal textures, reflective surfaces and rounded surfaces all have more realistic detail. The default aircraft also boast a full slate of moving surfaces. In addition to the moving control surfaces which have become standard, the default aircraft include spinning wheels, moving thrust reversers and the exterior doors that open and shut. OK, so what if 2 of those 3 items are pure eye candy, that's the stuff that a lot of simmers love to see.

Landing lights also make their return. Surprisingly the quality of the landing lights doesn't match up to the superb external lighting.

From below, the American Pacific 737 shows off her bare metal reflective belly. Reflective textures are available when 'Multi-Texturing' is used.

Without Multi-Texture selected (under 'Display|Hardware'), the metal surfaces aren't as stunning

Note the thrust reversers coming open on landing. Unlike previous versions, you can view all of the parts in motion during an instant replay. Ideal for replaying that picture perfect landing.

Aircraft doors are another new moving part feature in FS2002. Here we are closing the main door so we can get on our way

Although landing lights make their return, they don't provide the same realistic impact as the rest of FS2002's night lighting.

Let's a take a look at the carryover aircraft…

Learjet 45

Looking right for approaching traffic (using 'cockpit view')

A Learjet has been included in every version of Flight Simulator since 1983's FS2. FS2002 continues the lineage with the Learjet 45 that was included in the last 3 versions. In fact, the Lear in FS2002 is eerily similar to the FS2000 version.

Externally the plane has updated lights to special effects with the other planes. Unlike the other new planes, it does not have moving wheels, thrust reversers or doors that open. The visual model comes in one variation.

The panel is exactly the same as FS2002, save a slightly updated communication stack to allow you to have standby COM frequencies and listen to 2 frequencies at once. The default Learjet is one of the few default panels that were functional and attractive throughout the lifecycle of FS. If a 3rd party business jet didn't have a panel, I never hesitated to throw in the default Lear panel.

Unfortunately, the Learjet is the only panel in this group that doesn't include a virtual cockpit.

Looking at both panels, you'll see the only change is the cosmetic updates for the function buttons and the COM panel...

...essentially this panel is unchanged from FS2000.

Disappointingly the flight model for the Learjet 45 doesn't seem updated from FS2000. The pitch instability makes the plane almost unflyable. Even tweaking the control sensitivity to the least sensitive setting, it is impossible to manually control the plane's attitude. Although it's somewhat stable with the autopilot on, you'll have your hands full trying to manually fly this bird.

Here we are level over the city of Peoria. The old saying goes, 'If it plays in Peoria, it'll play anywhere. The departure from PIA was a close call as the wild pitch instability almost had us end up a pile of rubble off the end of the runway.

We're setting up for a visual approach into Meigs, something I've done for the past 6 versions of FS. We're still on autopilot, so we're set up nicely. As soon as the A/P was turned off, the Lear was a bucking bronco.

Boeing 737 and 777 – The old standbys

As the most popular airliner in the world, the 737 continues to be the mainstay of FS airliners. Flight Simulator 2002 offers a variety of liveries with each airliner. The 737 comes with a updated livery for Orbit Airlines with a metal texture, an American Pacific which shows off the reflective metal surface and a new livery for Landmark. (Landmark is the only fictional airline represented by all 3 Boeing models.)

The default Orbit Airlines 737 for Flight Simulator 2000

The updated metal Orbit Airlines livery for Flight Simulator 2002

The 737 panel bitmap is virtually unchanged from FS2000. There are a couple of additional buttons for the new ATC and moving map options. The night lighting is much improved with a soft reddish glow to the bitmap at night. While it was a little surprising that Microsoft didn't attempt to improve the default panel, a look at the current state of FS panels makes the decision understandable. Top freeware and commercial panels literally take thousands of man-hours to create. The default panel is really designed to get the vast majority of users up and flying. Those searching for truly authentic panels will continue to seek 3rd party products.

While the 2-D panel is unchanged, the introduction of virtual cockpit brings the 737 panel to life. The virtual panel view is outstanding for giving you the sensation of flying from the cockpit. You'll need to adjust the viewpoint to get the proper perspective, but once it's set, you'll see the future of Flight Simulator panel development.

On final approach into Salt Lake City International. Although it's not a complex panel by today's standards, it is still very functional and will get you from point A to point B. The 737 was a joy to fly.

At night the virtual cockpit view provides a more realistic night view of the runway lights. Once you've flown an approach from the virtual cockpit, you'll realize the future potential of this feature.

An Orbit Airlines 737 climbs steadily out of a crowded Chicago O'Hare

The flight model for the 737 is predictable – if not spectacular – just as is its real life counterpart. The power and pitch models are much more decent. The autopilot has been updated for all turbine aircraft with mixed results. The autothrottle is much more responsive. It doesn't have the issue of blowing past the assigned speed before reducing power that the previous version had. Out of the box, the autopilot automatically engages the 'wing leveler'—you can't disengage the wing leveler unless you use the autopilot to control the heading. This is annoying for those of us who like to use the a/p to control altitude, but fly the heading manually. Fortunately this is easily fixed with a small update to the aircraft.cfg file.*

*The wing leveler can be turned off by adding the following lines to the autopilot section of the aircraft.cfg file:
use_no_default_pitch = 1 (0 = Default to current pitch mode, 1 = No default pitch mode.)
use_no_default_bank = 1 (0 = Default to Wing Leveler mode, 1 = No default bank mode.)
Now you can turn the plane using the HDG knob while the autopilot is engaged.

This and many other tips for improved FS2002 performance can be found in the "FS2002 Tips Menu" at John Consterdine's Flightsim Veterans Club website.

Fuel flow and power settings for the 737 are much closer to published numbers than with previous versions of FS. I logged about 20 hours in the 737 and enjoyed it more than any default FS aircraft I'd previously flown. It was a pleasure to fly.

On our approach, our Landmark 777 shows off her tilting bogies

Like the 737, the Boeing 777 in FS2002 is very similar to the FS2000 model. It comes in three liveries, World Travel Airliners, Landmark and Soar.

The 777 sports an identical panel to its predecessor, save a few small cosmetic changes. It is a basic functional panel that bares some resemblance to its real life counterpart. There are no new gauges or aircraft systems modeled. The panel still has the annoying issue of being able to view the EFIS engine controls or the Navigational Display, but not both.

You'll forget about the shortcoming of the 2-D panel if you spend your time in the virtual cockpit. The only frustration I had was that you cannot see the EICAS display in the virtual view; it only shows the ND.

Taxiing out to runway 17L at DFW. The virtual panel view gives you a much more realistic perspective of being high in the cockpit.

As we cruise towards Memphis, we glance over at the detailed virtual interior of our 777. I'm not sure where our first officer went…

Like the 737, the 777 flight model is serviceable. The aircraft handles well on the ground, but tends to have an unrealistic body lean during turns. In the air, the aircraft definitely has a heavier feel, but is very stable.

On our final approach to 36C in Memphis

Something New – Boeing 747

Since its introduction in 1969, the Boeing 747 has reigned as the undisputed king of airliners. It's bigger, flies farther and carries more people than any other airliner in the world. The 747-400 variant flies more than 8,400 miles and can carry more than 500 people. If you consider that the original 747 design is more than 30 years old, its longevity at the top of the airline heap will probably be unmatched.

The 747 was easily the most requested airliner for the last 2 generations of Flight Simulator. In FS98, the sheer number of parts on the 747 made it nearly impossible to create a quality model. While this issue was alleviated in FS2000, this is Microsoft's first shot at the aircraft.

A quick glance at the panel reveals a much improved bitmap. The Primary Flight display and EICAS are similar to the 777, but has the advantage of 3 CRT screens instead of 2. Obviously this gives you a lot more information at a glance.

A feature unique to the 747 panel is the ability to see the dialed value in the tool tip window for the radio and autopilot settings. For those of us who use the Intellimouse wheel to dial in the settings, it gives you a quick update of the value you've scrolled to. I wanted to try this feature with the backup artificial horizon gauge. It's always difficult to accurately gauge the pitch angle of the AI on the PFD; the tool tip would give you the exact pitch angle. Unfortunately the backup AI had a bug and only displayed the correct bank angle, not the correct pitch.

One of the new gauges is a realistic clock with elapsed time, chronometer and date/time functionality. An FMC is not included. It appears that the elements of a GWPS are included, but I couldn't hear any voice calls. For example, if you get in a rapid decent, you'll see a 'Sinkrate' warning on the EICAS, but won't hear a verbal warning.

On runway 31 at JFK, you can see the quality of the updated panel bitmap compared to the other default panels

Here were are at Los Angeles International at night. The subtle night lighting for this panel is better than all of the other airliners in FS2002.

As you scroll up the radio or autopilot values, the exact setting is displayed in the tool tip. This also works for throttle, engine and flaps settings.

The virtual panel is flat out gorgeous. It is very detailed, down to reference manuals in the cabinet behind the first officer. The throttle/center console is beautifully rendered. More than any other default airliner you get the sense of being in the captain's seat.

In the virtual cockpit, you really have a feel for how high the 747 towers over the runway.

Looking over to the right, we see the incredible detail of the rest of the virtual cockpit. Although you use the mouse to change any panel settings, all of the gauges reflect the actual values.

The throttle console is fully modeled in the virtual cockpit view. The FMCs are just for show – they are not actual gauges.

The aircraft comes in 2 passenger liveries, Landmark and World Travel Airlines...

...and a Global Freightways cargo version

Although it looks great, the panel ran extremely sluggish on my system. I tested FS2002 on an Athlon 1.0. With reasonable settings I got excellent frame rates with all of the other default panels, but the 747 panel seemed choppy, especially compared to the smooth frame rate of the external view. As a pilot, you must be able to trust your instruments. It's very difficult to fly by the instruments when they don't reflect the actual state of the aircraft.

Like the other Boeing aircraft, the flight model could be described as serviceable. While it may not be as realistic as it could be, it provides the sensation of flying the queen of the sky.

Up Next

In Part Five we move to the major utilities FS2002 has to offer. "Although I am a very experienced flight simulator user, I have tried to look through the eyes of a beginner when trying the Flight School," Senior Reviewer Francois Dumas tells us. Having recently reviewed a stand-alone flight school program, he brings that experience to the task. In addition to flight training, Francois also takes a look at the built-in flight planning package and the flight analysis capabilities. That pretty much takes you from the beginning to the end of the flight experience.