With X-Plane, you also get one of the most realistic sims on the market. It’s not free, but then again very few are and certainly nowhere as complete as this one.

If you don’t know what X-Plane is then you’re probably new to Flight Sims? Many simulations come and go (mostly go) from companies as large as Microsoft, but I can’t think of another flight sim as extensively developed and none since 1993. Back then it was a Macintosh beta to simulate the Piper Archer, and the Windows release came in 1996. Over 20 years later anyone who has ever searched for a flight sim has probably bumped into X-Plane. With X-Plane, you also get one of the most realistic sims on the market. It’s not free, but then again very few are and certainly nowhere as complete as this one. Previous versions are offered for a lower price if money is tight and the latest version with scenery upgrades can run you up to about 90 bucks, but easily worth every penny. They also offer mobile versions (never been a fan of mobile flight sims myself) and offer some approved joysticks and other flight hardware which can also be a difficult choice.

X-Plane is not a game, but an engineering tool that can be used to predict the flying qualities of fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft with incredible accuracy.

Screenshots don't do it justice, so here is a gameplay video. Audio is enhanced, but the graphics are what you will see in X-Plane.



Because X-Plane predicts the performance and handling of almost any aircraft, it is a great tool for pilots to keep up their currency in a simulator that flies like the real plane, for engineers to predict how a new airplane will fly, and for aviation enthusiasts to explore the world of aircraft flight dynamics.

X-Plane contains subsonic and supersonic flight dynamics, allowing users to predict the flight characteristics of the slowest aircraft or the fastest. X-Plane also includes more than 30 aircraft in the default installation, spanning the aviation industry and its history. Aircrafts included range from the Bell 206 JetRanger and Cessna 172 to the Space Shuttle and the B-2 Bomber. Additionally, more than 1,400 additional aircraft models can be downloaded from the Internet (X-Plane.org, the X-Plane.com Links page, and Google are good places to start looking), many of which are completely free. If those aren’t enough, users can design their airplanes and test-fly them!

The full X-Plane scenery package covers the Earth in stunning resolution from 74° north to 60° south latitude. On Earth, users can land at any of over 33,000 airports or test their mettle on aircraft carriers, oil rigs, frigates (which pitch and roll with the waves), or helipads atop buildings. They can also realistically model the flight of remote-controlled model aircraft, perform an air-launch in an X-15 or Space Ship One from the mother ship, fly re-entries into Earth’s atmosphere in the Space Shuttle, fly with friends over the Internet or a LAN, drop water on forest fires, or shoot approaches to aircraft carriers at night in stormy weather and rough water conditions in a damaged F-4. The situations that can be simulated are unbelievably diverse!