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.

​Descending over the non-traffic side for Runway 28 at NZGB. [Click and drag to move] ​ Review Premium

Black Box Simulations' Britten-Norman BN-2 Islander

We review Black Box Simulations' second general aviation aircraft for Microsoft Flight Simulator, the Britten- Norman BN-2 Islander.

Wings Over Flanders Fields: Between Heaven & Hell II Feature Premium

Wings Over Flanders Fields: Between Heaven & Hell II

A truly immersive experience The developer of Wings over Flanders Fields, Old Brown Dog, has released a new version of this popular series called ‘Between Heaven & Hell II’. Derek Davis takes it for a test flight and highlights some of the new features that have been incorporated.

Feature Premium

Back to Basics - Series 3, Lesson 6

In this lesson, we continue to develop our instrument night flying skills and learn how and when to use the flight, engine and navigation instruments when the weather or visibility makes visual flight more difficult.

Review Premium

Orbx's Split Airport (LDSP)

For this issue, I’m grabbing my bucket and spade and heading off to a popular holiday destination, Split in Croatia.

Review Premium

Aerosoft’s World of aircraft: Glider Simulator

Some might think that releasing a new concept in flight simulation immediately after the fanfare of Microsoft Flight Simulator is a dubious decision but Aerosoft has successfully done so with World of Aircraft: Glider Simulator. We take a look at the concept and the initial product in the series…

Review Premium

Orbx's Frankfurt City Pack

Fascinating Frankfurt

Orbx EA-7 Edgley Optica Review Premium

Orbx's EA-7 Edgley Optica

As third-party aircraft add-ons continue to emerge for Microsoft Flight Simulator, scenery developer Orbx has released its first aircraft for this platform, the unique Edgley EA-7 Optica.

News Premium

Olbia Costa Smeralda Released

The latest X-Plane destination from Orbx is LIEO Olbia Costa Smeralda Airport in Sardinia.

This is not a game! What is flight simulation? Feature Premium

This is not a game

Now that Microsoft Flight Simulator has become fairly well established, we’re beginning to see a growing number of differing opinions as to whether this program is a game or a simulator. So, we posed a series of questions to experienced pilots and representatives of the retail side of flight simulation to get their views on the subject.

UK Discovery Tour, Part 3 Feature Premium

UK Discovery Tour, Part 3

In the third and penultimate leg of our United Kingdom discovery tour, we depart from City Airport in Manchester and fly over several incredibly picturesque mountainous areas before finishing up in Inverness, the capital of the Scottish Highlands.

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.

Subscribe to Key.Aero

Become a part of our aviation community and subscribe to Key.Aero now. You can get all the aviation information you'll ever need, whenever you want, with access to all the latest aviation updates, news, events and more.