In the 10 years since the Back to Basics series first appeared in PC Pilot, both the visual quality and flight dynamic fidelity of the current flight sim add-ons have improved immensely.
We have seen developers' skills take flight simulation to an astonishing level and while this has made our sim time more enjoyable and realistic, emails from readers also suggest this has also created a higher level of complexity. This complexity can distract both experienced and student pilots from the real task at hand – flying the aircraft safely and smoothly.
And so we are pleased to start a new phase of ‘Back to Basics’, using some of the latest products available to explore the fundamentals of flight that will broadly follow a typical Private Pilot Licence (PPL) syllabus, which will benefit sim pilots no matter what their level of experience.
This series has been prepared in the FSX/FSX: Steam Edition/Prepar3D environment as it is currently the most popular platform being used. As they also share a high level of menu similarity, we will often include shortcuts to allow you to more quickly learn the menu structure. However, the principles we explore are applicable to aviation in general and so are relevant to all simulators.
One b…
