Flight Simulation

Key.Aero is home to PC Pilot, the world’s favourite flight simulation magazine which brings sense and expert opinion to the exciting and often daunting world of flight simulation. Contributors include many real-world pilots and aviation professionals to ensure what you read is as real as it gets. Articles cater for those interested in both civilian and military aircraft and include news on the latest standalone and add-on software products, news and reviews of flight sim hardware, tutorials, features and interviews.

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Orbx’s Key West International Airport (KEYW)

A stunning scenery area for X-Plane

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Back to Basics - Series 2, Lesson 11

New techniques for when things don’t go to plan.

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Carenado’s 560XL Citation

Cessna’s ‘rocketship’

Avro Vulcan Takes Flight in X-Plane

Just Flight, in partnership with Thranda Design, have released the Avro Vulcan B Mk2, K.2 and MRR for X-Plane 11.

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True Earth US Washington HD

A new Orbx region covering Washington State

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Baron’s Combat Corner - Air Combat Simulation

In this instalment of our combat simulation series, Derek Davis examines two of the most important elements that you need to consider when dogfighting – energy management and situational awareness.

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TrueEarth US Florida HD

Explore the sunshine state, courtesy of Orbx

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In Focus - Orbx Simulation Systems

Welcome to our new In Focus series where we put the spotlight on key players in the flight simulation industry and find out about their background, product range and future plans.

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Cockpit Building Update

Following on from our A320 cockpit building series, which finished in the autumn of 2017, Jessica Bannister-Pearce provides us with a status update on the cockpit in its current form.

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DCS: Supercarrier - An interview with Eagle Dynamics

We sought out senior producer Matt Wagner from Eagle Dynamics to find out about the eagerly anticipated DCS: Supercarrier module for DCS World.

All the latest news and updates from the world’s favourite Flight Simulators

Whilst flight simulators have been around for over a century in one form or another, it is only since the advent of the home computer that hobbyists and home users have been able to get a taster of what it’s like to fly the real thing.

Since before World War One, military commanders have been using land-based facilities to train their pilots, these mechanical simulators are now seen as the precursors for modern computer simulators. In the late 1970s, the very first flight simulators using 3-D graphics were launched and they’ve been a staple of the home PC market ever since.

With more than 4 decades of advancements in computer processing power, the flight simulators of today are almost unrecognisable compared to those early versions, but the principles remain the same. Modern flight sims bring photo-realistic graphics, realistic weather conditions and faithful recreations of an enormous range of aircraft including civilian, military and historic aircraft.

Key Aero is the only place you need to go to find out all the latest news, updates and big new releases from the world’s most popular flight simulators including Microsoft, X-Plane and Aerofly FS 2.

Microsoft Flight Simulator

Microsoft Flight Simulator has been around since the early 1980s with multiple versions, making it a popular choice amongst home and pro users. The latest version of the famous flight sim has taken the whole industry to another level, faithfully recreating the entire planet down to an accuracy of a centimetre and delivering this level of data via an online streaming connection. Serving data via a streaming service also opens up more avenues including real-time weather conditions and up-to-date maps and locations.

Discover great articles about all the latest updates and releases from Microsoft Flight Simulator.

X-Plane

Since the mid-90s, X-Plane has separated itself from the competition thanks to its use of real-world physics. This implementation has made it one of the most realistic simulators in terms of weather conditions, aerodynamics and user experience. However, the same algorithms that have made it possible to recreate the physics of the real world also enable users to create their own hypothetical aircraft and environments. In fact, X-Plane has even aided in the design and development of aircraft in the real world.

Read more about X-Plane.

Aerofly FS 2

Aerofly FS 2 has delivered some truly stunning, photo-realistic scenery as well as incredibly detailed cockpits and controls. As a result, the user experience is second to none. Aerofly have also built-in support for Virtual Reality (VR) headsets, allowing the user to fully immerse themselves into the virtual world.

Browse our flight simulation articles to find all the latest news from Aerofly, including new releases, software updates and forthcoming releases.

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