A couple of years ago, my wife's boss's husband called to see if I wanted to
fly up to N.H. with him for lunch. I'd been doing the F.S. deal since MS98
so I jumped at the chance. I was amazed when I got in the cockpit of the
rented 172. I knew what everything was. Tom was using a handheld Garmin GPS,
a really neat unit. I asked why he wasn't using the installed GPS. He said
he really didn't know how it worked, but I did. During the flight up I shot
radials. He asked how the hell I knew all this stuff, I'd never been in a
plane before, I'm sure you all know the answer. So on the flight home, I
took the controls during climbout, flew the radials while he watched on his
Garmin, and flew the approach to the thresh hold. He was shocked and so was
I. Was it the same as F.S.and vice versa? No way. Could I have done what I
did without F.S.? No way. If he had become ill during our flights could I
have kept us from crashing? More than likely! And no it's not a game!
"mike popken" wrote in message
om...
The following was the original comment in this thread:

"See Wired magazine:

http://www.wired.com/news/technology...w=wn_tophead_6

People have criticized me in the past for suggesting that someone
could
learn much of the skills of piloting with FS, but it seems that I'm in
good company."
==============

If the poster is suggesting a wanna-be pilot could gain some insight
into ATC, he would be right. And ditto for a little background on
using VOR navigation, and with fs2004, the Garmin GPS. I would agree.
It is also helpful for a wanna-be pilot to experience how fast things
happen when you fly, how mentally quick one must be in order to safely
fly a plane. Here I agree again, but as one who has flown real planes,
I cound not disagree more if the poster is suggesting Microsoft
simulator planes fly like the REAL THING. Microsof FS is an eye candy
entertainment GAME. Got that word the:: G A M E!!!!!!!!
That's all it is, an eye candy game, to entertain people, to keep
their minds off the sewer society we are (and have) slid off into, to
keep people preoccupied with utter nonsense so they won't have time to
write or call their congressmen about what a mess the world is
becoming, so they won't have time to organize war demonstrations, etc.
That is the only purpose of this product. MS airplaines do NOT even
remotely fly like the real thing, and all one need do to prove it for
themselves is go fly a real plane and you'll see for yourself. Then if
you still believe MS simulator planes fly like the real thing, then
you are probably a devoute religious person that belives all those
wierd stories about God destroying His own creations, causing fire n
brimstone, hell, devils, etc. And just think, there are a couple
billion people who believe all this crap, so it does not surprise me
that millions of Flt Sim fans believe Microsoft's simulator planes fly
like the real thing.
BETWEEN EVERY MAN AND REALITY LIE HIS MOST CHERISHED ILLUSIONS.
M.P. Hall

Hope this helps
Mike