When was your "Golden Age" in this hobby?

[Kuragiman 227]

I am in my Golden Age right now.   I fly at least one flight a day if not two.   Love every second of it.   Can't wait to be able to actually plug in my new yoke and throttle system when my new desk arrives and actually have the room for everything!

[z06z33 763]

For me it has been more of a roller coaster ride. When I initially got into flight simming with Flight Unlimited II around 1997, everything was obviously new and exciting.

 

When FU3 came out in 1999, it was a huge disappointment because my system at the time wasn't fast enough, but once I upgraded a year later, the excitement came back. Then I stuck with FU3 until FS9 came out. Towards the end I got a little bored with flightsims. FS 2002 didn't have what I wanted, and FU3 was getting long i the tooth. So 2003-2004 was a bit of a low.

 

With FS9, didn't care much for default scenery because of the framerate problems. However FS9 with Megascenery around 2005 - 2006 was another very exciting period.

 

With FSX, flight simming for me hit an all-time low. It was so buggy and slow that I completely gave up on flight sims. I hardly played FS at all between 2007 - 2011. I only got back when I discovered OrbX scenery and upgraded my system in 2011. Right now is a very good time to be a flight simmer IMO. Even though our current sims (FSX and P3D 1.4) are outdated technology-wise, there is so much amazing content coming out.

Id say from 1997-2004 so many new flight Sims back then fly2k, FU3, CFS ect

I still remember seeing Flight Unlimited 3 in a game store for the first time I was so excited I bought it and played for for many years and I really do think it was one of the best flight Sims ever and far ahead of its time in so many ways.

 

1.ATC that is still better than fsx's

2.First with photo scenery

3.First with aircraft that responded to G forces and would break up in flight

4.first to show crash damage

5. Great weather engine.

6. First use of sea planes with realistic water handling

7. FirstSim with a VC

And so many more flight simming would be alot different if Looking Glass was still around.

[DAL1850 51]

FU3 was a fantastic sim as was Fly! Such a shame these sims were crushed under the chariot wheels of the great behemoth.

 

I remember during the late betas of FS2002 when Microsoft pulled airframe and crash damage from the game in the wake of 9/11 for fear of political and media backlash. They never made a return.

[bic 44]

I think there were a couple golden ages.  The first golden age was when we got it on a computer such as Apple ][.  I remember flying for about an hour, then later that night feel a sort of vertigo or the room moving as I was so focused on it.  I could never get enough computer time back then.  The next major age was when we got color and the world. 

 

All the years there after, they (programmers) always pushed the limits of the hardware so we never had any good hardware, until perhaps now.  So, we're in a third golden age with photo scenery, expansion of flight model simulation, AI, ground services, monitoring (Air Hauler, FSX Pax), flight planning etc.. 

 

What is the next level or golden age?

[JasonHarris 96]

I am not sure I could call this the golden age but it's the time that really brings the most vivid memories back.

 

    Sublogic flight simulator on the C64.  Not only did you get the software but you got large fold out maps of s few areas.   For someone young at the time who had never flown before it was kind of magic to have the aviation charts and think you were flying around the area.

 

    Of course the sim is awful by todays standards but the memories are some of the best.

[Alan_A 1,650]

 

 

The first golden age was when we got it on a computer such as Apple ][.

 

I agree.  My first golden age was my first flightsim experience - on the Macintosh in black and white in 1986.  Just the fact that you could experience an airplane on a computer was amazing.  I bought all the Charlie Gulick Flight Simulator Adventure books, and also started working through Richard Collins' instrument flying books - a natural step since there wasn't all that much to see out the windshield.  I also remember what passed for network flight back then - I got together with an RL pilot I'd met through CompuServe AVSIG, we timed our flights to arrive in Martha's Vineyard on a windy afternoon, met up in a CompuServe chat room (that was the networked part), then we logged off and I flew home to NYC and he flew home to Massachusetts.  

 

The other golden age is right now.  And it'll last for the next couple of weeks 'til P3D v2 comes out.  And then that'll be the golden age...   B)

[ADamiani 470]

I think when fs5 came out, then Aerowinx PS1.3, Flight Unlimited, X-Plane 3, then again with X-Plane 9-10 and Orbx/P3D 1.4.

 

I'm ready for a new time of big fun with P3D 2.0, but the golden age was between 1993 and 2001, I can't forget EF2000 2 vs 2 via modem: hours and hours of low-res fun. But it was like dreaming. And I have to say, THAT was my golden age, because of Fabio and Giorgio, two friends of mine who passed away.

 

That's why my golden age will be forever frozen in time, and it will never come back.

[rlkjmt73 7]

I am not sure I could call this the golden age but it's the time that really brings the most vivid memories back.

 

    Sublogic flight simulator on the C64.  Not only did you get the software but you got large fold out maps of s few areas.   For someone young at the time who had never flown before it was kind of magic to have the aviation charts and think you were flying around the area.

 

    Of course the sim is awful by todays standards but the memories are some of the best.

 

I have to totally agree.  The Commodore 64, with 5 1/4" disks (I also had a cassette tape reader), and sublogic FS with the foldout charts and a lot of info on how to fly.  Those were the days weren't they?

 

Rod

[NGXfanatic 85]

 

 

FLY was the creative origins of PMDG, which has raised the bar in more than a few areas since and has driven more innovation than most.

 

I remember flying the PMDG 757 for Fly!, I have very fond memories of practicing the ILS approach to KEWR 22L over and over, just flabbergasted by what I was seeing on my lowly Mac G4.  At that time, I was a mac head, and we were shut off from ms flight simulator, so Fly! was our great hope.   Looking back, that probably was the biggest reason why I loved Fly!, not only was it a revolutionary simulator that way ahead in terms of cockpit functionality, systems logic, and graphics, but the fact that Terminal Reality even offered a mac version was a big plus.   Just like now in FSX, the New York area was stutter city back in the early 2000s in Fly!, but I still loved every moment.   With FSX now, things have improved 1000% since the Fly days, but back then, it was a new experience for me so I was more impressed with what I saw on that sim then as I do now, jaded as I am with MS Flight sim.   Have you ever wished you could erase your memory and hear that favorite song or see that favorite movie for the first time again?   I sometimes feel that way about flight simming, If I was to open up FSX as it is now in 2013 and see it from a fresh perspective, I'd have a heart attack if my point of reference was Fly! in 2000!

 

I had no idea Fly! was the launching pad for PMDG.  I think they released a 777 for Fly2, but I passed on that platform and moved to the X-plane world, where I remained until I got fed up of the lack of a proper FMC simulation and migrated to MS flight sim in 2008.  Thanks for the memories!

[Matthew Kane 1,343]

From Sublogic Flight Simulator 2 and MSFS 4 to MSFS5.1. The addons from BAO and Mallard as well as Microsoft made those years a lot of fun.

 

I was young enough to be extremely fascinated by it back then. Now my brain is too old to be fascinated in the same way but it is still a great hobby. FSX is overwhelming compared to the early years but is great in its own way. The early years had a lot more imagination behind it. 

[bugbee 26]

2001? Not sure, went from canned flights to radar contact atc, with FS98,

really appreciated that.

 

Ken

[edetroit 933]

For me the Golden Age of the Flight Simulation "Community" was FS98.

 

But the Golden Age of FS is most definitely right now with my beloved FS9.5. :wub:

[scottb613 1,188]

Yeah - I'm with Ed - back when all the "freeware" guys were out there pushing the envelope - for the sheer joy of the hobby... And like Ed - I'm still on FS9...

 

Regards,

Scott

[Robert McDonald 167]

I came late to the flight sim party, I've been flying online for about 2 years or so, and already nearly 600 hours.  So, you can see I fly often.  Sometimes 6 hours a day!

 

It's a constant challenge trying to ramp up my simulation immersion levels.  I have to say the quite recent addition of the full-scale Flight Deck Solutions (FDS) 737 FMC has taken my breath away, along with the commitment to triple monitors and triple PCs running XPlane 10.25b3 in 64 bits.

 

I met a guy who just completed an 18 year full-scale 737 cockpit restoration, where everything works right down to the power trim wheels in the TQ... and I guess you could say that would be my ultimate goal.

 

Honestly, what I experience now is hard to argue with.  I enjoy all of it, including the pre-flight planning and filing, getting the weather, and flying end-to-end with ATC from blocks-to-blocks via Pilot Edge. 

 

It's hard to imagine getting any closer to reality, unless I was actually able to fly a full motion Level D sim, or sit in the real deal (which is never going to happen in this lifetime).

 

I have flown private planes briefly, and enjoyed it, but I couldn't get too excited about the airspeeds in a civilian prop.  The idea of jet flight is what captivates me, the power during the climb... the effortless grace and the joy of flying the genius products coming out from Boeing.

[Bert Pieke 7,585]

Clearly, it has never been more real than what we have to day, with FSX, RealAir, Orbx, RXP etc..

 

But the golden age for me was Flightsim ATP, ProPilot, and Fly!

 

Book size paper manuals to read, maps and charts to digest..

 

Those were the days where you could sense the possibilities...  Awesome!