So, does anyone know of MS's new flight sim announcement (Century of Flight) is going to, in a sense, be FS2K4 or are they still planning another release this fall?John-PaulToronto

J-P, That's it. There won't be anything else for a couple of years. What they announced is all we're going to get.Trip

Hey thanks... well that's fine with me. A summer release for the new sim is better than a fall release for me. I'm a teacher (summers off!) which gives me more time to play with new toys!! :-)John-PaulToronto

Probably no teacher of economics or you'd have worked out for yourself that releasing 2 flightsim versions in a year or so makes no sense at all :-rotor

Right, Jeroen. That's why Microsoft will never amount to anything in the software world... they have a loose grasp of economics.;-)

I really hope they re-did the default planes...I wont buy this new thing unless they do. I thought I was gonna be getting high quality when I got FS2002, and everything else is for the most part, except the commercial jets.

My personal take on the FS2004 aircraft (and all MSFS aircraft) is that I'm glad they include them and I'll fly them for a while. However, I'd prefer the total flight sim engine (graphics, weather, physics modelling, etc.) be the focus of their efforts and leave the fancy planes to the 3rd party guys. They don't have time and personnel to do both. Let them build the base sim and leave it to the enthusiasts to perfect everything else.

Oddly enough, I prefer the default planes almost always over the 3rd party stuff. Guess I just have problems with dirtying up my sim, but perhaps not... Every 3rd party plane I get either has inconsistencies, or doesn't 'feel' complete, or is just plain old low quality. I actually bought the Carenado Bonanza V35 hoping that a payware version would be great, but as it happens the virtual cockpit was TERRIBLE quality. I like the low and slow planes, but also one with enough performance to do cross country (or when I'm ambitious, cross continental) flights. I've never found one that's great quality though. :-( (If anyone wants to make a recommendation I'd apprecaite it). It dissapointed me to no end to find that we had the old Mooney from FS2000 stuck in FS2002. Looks like from the screenshots that they have new models though, especially if they're playing up on this concept of fully interactive VC's.Kenneth

Kenneth,Buy any of the following planes and I guarantee you won't find any incompletness:Flight1 Piper Meridian, Cessna 421, DC-9Dreamfleet Archer, Cardinal or 737RealAir SF.260Wilco 767 Pilot in CommandCaptainSim 727After you've seen the really good high fidelity payware planes out there, the defaults seem like seriously over simplified toys.Ryan

>Oddly enough, I prefer the default planes almost always over >the 3rd party stuff. Guess I just have problems with >dirtying up my sim, but perhaps not... Every 3rd party >plane I get either has inconsistencies, or doesn't 'feel' >complete, or is just plain old low quality. Ken,I am sorry to say but you have been buying the WRONG stuff. If you were buying the RIGHT stuff the default FS aircraft would look ridiculous to you. I agree with the list provided by Ryan.Michael J.

>Probably no teacher of economics or you'd have worked out >for yourself that releasing 2 flightsim versions in a year >or so makes no sense at all And releasing 2 sims within 4 months of each other makes even less sense. :-lolMichael J.

Any of Bill Lyons Classic packs are the best bang for the buck you can get in vintage GA stuff.His new Globe Swift is fantastic, as is the Waco biplane, Ryan STA and Tiger Moth packages and only 12.50 US each.http://www.enter.net/photoalbum/data/reddog/551867.jpgSceenshots and Pics athttp://community.webshots.com/user/reddog18951USMC Retired

There is a screenie of the Lear on the Insider page, and I think it looks much better than the one from FS2K2...so I believe they did something there...or I just need to get bigger glasses...

Strange, Jeroen, that I only remember posting an inquiry about flightsims...!! Did I ask you for an insulting comment about me personally? Or, are you just some rude sort who takes a sadistic pleasure in trying to bring those around you down to your own moronic level? The next time you insult someone's personal vocation/career on here why don't you look in a mirror first and you will undoubtedly find someone more deserving of your criticsm... :-grrIf you absolutely feel that you must flame me again... please spare everyone else and email me directly: [email protected](P.S. Microsoft will have released 2 flightsims within a year of each other... see if you can figure it out)John-Paul :(

True, but what if I didn't have an internet connection and was unable to download any aircraft? If FS didn not include any aircraft, my FS cds would be a $60 set of coasters.Not everyone has an internet connection to surf avsim/flightsim/etc for 3rd party aircraft/panels/sounds/etc, and as a previous post indicates, some people *choose* not to.However, in past versions, the default planes are far from perfect. They're flyable and should be satisfactory for the casual flyer that cannot or choose not to download 3rd party aircraft. If MS just released FS without any aircraft included (leaving 100% reliance on 3rd party aircraft), they would definitely lose sales.So, they put together a selection of aircraft, expecting the 3rd party aircraft designers to fill the void and the hangars of the rest of us.