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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UK Discovery Tour, Part 1

Welcome to the first of our four-part UK Discovery Tour, in which we visit some of the new hand-built airports and cities in Microsoft Flight Simulator. In the first leg of our grand tour between Land’s End and Shoreham, we explore some of the famous landmarks in the south and western part of the British Isles.

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The Human Element

In this first instalment of our new ‘Human Element’ series, in which we talk to publishers, developers and end-users within the flight sim industry, we met up with Pere Casellas, technical director and co-founder of Virtual Fly and Oscar Mateos, sales and marketing manager of its parent company, Aircatglobal.

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Back to Basics - Series 3, Lesson 4

In this lesson, Peter Stark looks at sensory illusions and teaches us some piloting techniques to stay out of trouble.

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Fly Tampa’s Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport

We travel to the land down under and explore Australia's largest hub, Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport.

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PILOT'S Boeing B314 Clipper

One of the most unique and perhaps romantic aircraft ever built in the golden era of aviation – the Boeing 314 Clipper Flying Boat – has a fascinating and rich history. The team at Pilot’s has spent years researching and producing a study-level sim of this remarkable aircraft and we test-fly the ‘Early Bird’ model designed for Prepar3D.

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Orbx Simulations' Paris City Landmarks

In this review, we visit the capital of France and take a closer look at some of the 200 new points of interest added to Microsoft Flight Simulator by the Orbx TrueEarth team.

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Microsoft’s UK Update 

For its third world update for Microsoft Flight Simulator, the Microsoft/Asobo team has given the UK a makeover, applying improvements such as more accurate terrain elevation, new textures as well as upgraded airports and points of interest.

PC Pilot Issue 133 Out Now

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

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Digital Design’s Liverpool John Lennon Airport

We take a look at one of the UK’s regional airports: Liverpool’s John Lennon Airport by Digital Design.

Meribel Airport for Microsoft Flight Simulator Released

Scenery developer Orbx has announced LFKX Meribel Airport for Microsoft Flight Simulator is now available.

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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