Why do you like flight sims so much? Are you a aspiring pilot?
aI’ve had a general fascination for planes ever since I was a kid. Heck, that’s why I go by ace. My dad had these floppy discs and Maximum PC demo discs with flight sim games on it like Dynamix’s Aces Over Europe:
Of course, these games were incredibly simple, especially by today’s standards. Still, they captivated me, and certainly inspired my fascination with WWII and military technology, especially aviation.
A few years later, I was with my dad at a computer show and I saw this joystick in a discount bin. I asked him if we could buy it, and he did! It was the SFS Suncom Joystick, a beautiful piece of hardware with programmable buttons and twin throttles.
Around the same time I got into games like Mechwarrior and Pacific Fighters, a standalone expansion of Oleg Maddox’s now legendary IL-2 flight sim series. I played those games near religiously. Of course, I was still a kid, and I couldn’t quite grasp the nuances of flight- I often played on simpler flight models/modes because I didn’t understand the value of controlling the power and RPM separately, managing the water/oil radiators, or using rudder input for yaw (as it is, I had no rudder pedals at the time).
As I got into my second or third year of high school, I bought myself a Saitek X52:
Alongside Saitek rudder pedals:
These things would serve me for almost five years. It’s kind of crazy they lasted as long as they did, given their reputation and that I didn’t take care of them all that well, but I got them before Saitek was acquired by Mad Catz, so that may have played a role in things.
I would play flight sims on and off over high school and college, as well as some space sims like Elite: Dangerous. It’s the past two years or so that I’ve really dove back into flight simming, now that I’m older and have a deeper understanding of the mechanisms behind flying planes. I started playing more general aviation sims like Microsoft Flight Simulator X and X-Plane 11, as well as getting the latest entry into the IL-2 series, Battle of Stalingrad, and its expansions.
That’s when I started looking into higher end equipment and found things such as the MongoosT-50 by Virpil:
And MFG Crosswinds by Simundza:
Both were excellent and worthwhile purchases, overcoming many of the problems and limitations of the X52.
While I don’t have current plans on pursuing a pilot’s license, it’s definitely something I would want to go for, one day. Being able to pilot a plane is something I’ve always wanted to do, and doing it virtually has always been a lot of fun for me.
I do mainly play combat flight sims though.
