Nothing new, but may be of interest to some: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7902468.stm

Nothing new, but may be of interest to some: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7902468.stm

We was doing a demo at the official opening of the refurbished Ipplepen village hall yesterday and had FSX with the local vfr scenery being viewed from carenado's excellent Piper Cherokee and people that have never even heard of flight simulator before were looking with dropped jaws at the spectacle that was being showed on a large screen before them.They was amazed at the traffic moving below them on local roads and the approach to (EGTE) Exeter International airport, had them asking if they was really there :(

It's really hard to believe that most people aren't aware of one of the oldest computer games if not the oldest. There are even real world pilots who aren't aware of FS or at least how close to reality it has come over the years.I recently had a conversation with a captain (yep, 4 bars) on a flight, he was very surprised at my questions regarding our flight. When he asked how the hell I knew all this. I told him that although it was mainly through reading (simming takes a lot of reading as you all know), FS was where I had the chance to put my knowledge to practice. He was even more surprised at that!

One of my best friends is a retired corporate pilot with just over 30k logged hours. He has held every possible certification available from the FAA, including fixed wing, rotary, amphib, float, etc. He absolutely loathed "flightsimulator" with a passion, and took every opportunity possible to let me know it (meaning, every time I saw him or spoke to him on the phone!) for many years......until the day I visited him at his house, and played a DVD I'd made from some of the best-of-the-best videos that've been released over the past year.You see, he'd never even looked at any "flightsimulator" since FS95, and had absolutely no idea just how much progress had been made in terms of visuals and systems programming.