"Is the Flight Simulator Dying?" Micro Mart article.

[rojantrojan 17]

For those in the UK, the computer magazine Micro Mart have an article in issue 1050 (9th - 15th of April) titled "Is the Flight Simulator Dying?" It's a very interesting read and written by Joe lavery who also contributes to PCPilot. It's worth checking out. Rhydian

[byork 2,258]

Flight simulator will only die when technology makes human pilots obsolete, and when people accordingly no longer connect flying with direct human actively.I suspect in the future, your "flight simulation experience" might involve you simulating sitting at a ground station with a small team of engineers monitoring 10 different airliners as they autonomously fly to their destinations. Sounds like fun :( That'll happen someday, you can count on it, but not in my lifetime probably.Till then, Flightsim won't be going anywhere. It'll be around, but in what form who knows.There's still too many people who have a bizarre fascination with shiny metals tubes that take people from A to B at 30,000 for flightsim to die off....The interest in aviation is still out there...

[january 19]

Flight simulator will only die when technology makes human pilots obsolete, and when people accordingly no longer connect flying with direct human actively.I suspect in the future, your "flight simulation experience" might involve you simulating sitting at a ground station with a small team of engineers monitoring 10 different airliners as they autonomously fly to their destinations. Sounds like fun :( That'll happen someday, you can count on it, but not in my lifetime probably.Till then, Flightsim won't be going anywhere. It'll be around, but in what form who knows.There's still too many people who have a bizarre fascination with shiny metals tubes that take people from A to B at 30,000 for flightsim to die off....The interest in aviation is still out there...

-------------Bryan- in your photo- looks like you are carrying an assault rifle. Are things that nervous on the flight deck?Alex Reid

[Chock 17,769]

Timed that article badly for a few reasons: Probably the best helicopter combat sim ever made, and quite possibly one of the best flight sims in general too has just been released, i.e DCS Black Shark. Apparently nobody told DCS that flight sims were dying, because Black Shark is the first one in a series of sims which are set to include several other combat aircraft at an equally refined level, and of course even the military are using flight simulators these days when they employ pilotless drones which are controlled for much of their flight in exactly that fashion. Expect to see X-Plane, also become a more stable development platform to encourage developers to make stuff for it too, so there's another one on the up, and for both FSX and FS9, there have been several recent releases which are probably the best things to have come out for them in years.Al

[Guest fullstoplanding]

"Is the Flight Simulator Dying"This statement concerns Flight Simulation as a hobby or pastime. I don't think so. Flight Simulator, for the most part, is simply letting one be involved with flying airplanes vicariously. From something as simple as the J-3 Cub in MS FS all the way to the best heavy add-ons, AI, virtual airline operations and so forth. In general, as long as there is what we call aviation (in its broadest sense) then there will be simulated aviation (in its broadest sense). Roger

[Tom Allensworth 1,532]

We just launched our State of the Hobby survey. Keep an eye on it and the results. The answer to the question; "Is the Flight Simulator Dying?", will lie there, me thinks.

[Avcomware 1]

Hello everyone."Is the Flight Simulator Dying"If anything, it will be more useful for the next generation of pilots. Things are getting more expensive, in real flying, and the pilots, and wanna bes, will be forced to use other methods to get the "feel" of flying, and be proficient.The problem now, is that there is no sim that comes close to the Real flying sensation which attracts a fairly small group / envelope of the population. As computer's trough put increases more realistic, from the sensation point, sims will come along. They may not be as we know them now, instrumentation wise, but the Aviation in general will also change. We are in a period of transition, somewhat dangerous in my opinion, where we use / have more information, but it takes more practice and knowledge to benefit from it. Eventually we will get to the point where the Automation and Information will merge in a way that it will make it easier to fly. The type of flying may change, we will be more observers than commanders, so to speak. Not my kind of flying.With that in mind, I would think that companies like Google, and others, will eventually have their own versions of Simulators that will be available, more attractive to a wider group of people. You will be able to "Fly" real time, real Wx, real terrain to your destination. Imagine, being able to empty your Waste cans, real time, by mistake of course, on Wall street? :( I only hope MS stays out of it, otherwise they are likely to slow down, stop, others from doing it. Be prepared for Space Sims, and for the young people out there, get all the Astronomy / Space related courses that you can. TV

[Macsm 0]

No, and it will come back to previous enthusiasm, me think (all this downer feeling may have to do with the economy)... Also, I can see X-plane taking on a more prominent role. Also, I wish the FLY! franchise would be picked up by somebody (commercial company) and continue to develop; there are still some very talented developers doing stuff for FLY!...regards,Macs :)

[Guest RobertAlley]

Avcomware you hit on a good point... the large MS share of the flight sim hobby has held us all back for a while. Almost all of the improvements we have gotten (Dynamic weather, GPS, Round World) have been in direct response to other sim's innovations.Robert Alley

Hello everyone."Is the Flight Simulator Dying"If anything, it will be more useful for the next generation of pilots. Things are getting more expensive, in real flying, and the pilots, and wanna bes, will be forced to use other methods to get the "feel" of flying, and be proficient.The problem now, is that there is no sim that comes close to the Real flying sensation which attracts a fairly small group / envelope of the population. As computer's trough put increases more realistic, from the sensation point, sims will come along. They may not be as we know them now, instrumentation wise, but the Aviation in general will also change. We are in a period of transition, somewhat dangerous in my opinion, where we use / have more information, but it takes more practice and knowledge to benefit from it. Eventually we will get to the point where the Automation and Information will merge in a way that it will make it easier to fly. The type of flying may change, we will be more observers than commanders, so to speak. Not my kind of flying.With that in mind, I would think that companies like Google, and others, will eventually have their own versions of Simulators that will be available, more attractive to a wider group of people. You will be able to "Fly" real time, real Wx, real terrain to your destination. Imagine, being able to empty your Waste cans, real time, by mistake of course, on Wall street? :( I only hope MS stays out of it, otherwise they are likely to slow down, stop, others from doing it. Be prepared for Space Sims, and for the young people out there, get all the Astronomy / Space related courses that you can. TV