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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Back to Basics - Series 3, Lesson 1

In this new series, Peter Stark turns to the next phase of flying that may attract GA pilots – visual night flying. During this series, he explores the challenges of flying at night and demonstrates how to use flight simulators to practice the skills you may need.

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Team Fusion Simulations’ Desert Wings: Tobruk

Set over the desert sands of the North African campaign of World War Two, this exciting module allows you to experience what it was like to fly and fight in a variety of single-seat fighters and fighter/bombers, as well as twin-engined light and medium bombers.

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Orbx’s Innsbruck (LOWI)

Orbx revisits the capital of the Tyrol.

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X-Aviation’s Take Command! SR22 Series

The Cirrus SR22 is synonymous with speed and style. The aircraft has been the world’s best-selling general aviation example since 2003, with over 6,000 units delivered since it was first produced at the turn of the millennium.

PC Pilot Issue 130 Out Now

The new November/December issue of PC Pilot has finally touched down, and as always it is loaded with exciting reviews, features and tutorials.

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Microsoft Flight Simulator

Training flights, challenges, activities and the weather system.

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Microsoft Flight Simulator

Scenery and Airports.

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Microsoft Flight Simulator

The Aircraft

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Microsoft Flight Simulator - A new beginning

Microsoft Flight Simulator is arguably one of the most anticipated flight simulators released to date. It is ground-breaking in terms of design, sporting a new cutting-edge graphics engine while streaming satellite data from Bing Maps to bring us almost a true-to-life representation of the planet...

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Interview - DC Designs’ Concorde

DC Designs, in partnership with Just Flight, recently announced that it was developing the Aérospatiale/BAC Concorde as an add-on aircraft. Thomas Haynes spoke to Dean Crawford, founder of DC Designs, to find out more.

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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