Good for SIM, but will not fly a plane by itself.Ī flight simulator can be a huge help in learning to fly. These prices do NOT include servos, receivers, etc. That will fly your plane AND act as a simulator constoller with one of theĪbove adapters.
Have not tried it.ĬRRCsim - Free flight simulator for MacOS/Linux/WindowsĬonvert a game controller to a flight sim controllerīrand new, Low cost full function 4 channel radios that have trainer ports Old radio with a trainer port so you can practice. Then there is always the chance that someone at the club will loan you an I purchased a used Futaba conquest 4 channel FM radio for $10 to use as a buddy box and to use on a simulator. Finally a low cost used FM radio that has a trainer port would be an excellent way to run your sim.
I believe buddy boxes, which are not functional radios, can also be used to run a simulator. I also list some examples of low cost fully functional radios that can run the sim AND fly a plane.
The links offer FMS and other simulators plus sites that provides a cable that can connect to the trainer port on your radio so you can fly the sim using your own radio or buddy box. It will also help you learn to fly the plane toward you. You get comfortable with your radio, your plane and how the controls work, without breaking any wings, tails or anything else. Not as fancy as the expensive ones but it works and can really help *I'm one of those old-fasioned people who believe that computers are supposed to make life less complex and more enjoyable, not the other way around.There are a number of free RC airplane simulators.
Found no other relevant documentation on the DMG, just some bible quotes, which were absolutely no use under the circumstances (praying DIDN'T help.).įrankly, if this software is actually used by anyone in the groves of academe doing serious research, I'm never flying again! For now, I'd suggest sticking with Warbirds or X-Plane they may not be open source, but they work. The other problems I can forgive as development issues, but this is just plain carelessness. Installation: "Drag the FlightGear folder to Applications" say the (rather meagre) installation notes: this I tried, and got a permissions error.
Its harder to make a comment on the flight models, since my machine (eMac 700MHz, 32MB nVidia, fine according to the limited system specs on the HTML manual pages) couldn't manage more than about 8 fps (guessing, the fps display didn't seem to work), and the poor UI design meant that changing the settings was too much of a chore*.
For me, detecting collisions with ground objects is a major part of the "simulation" aspect of any flight sim. Physics: I managed to roll through the terminal building on a take-off run, did an inverted loop (in a 707!) and flew straight through the ground, which then disappeared leaving only a black dot. Major settings like screen resolution and controller options seem to be inaccessable from inside the game. Not just the "ported-from-UNIX-ugly-but-works" style, I mean pull-down menus that don't do anything except tell you to use an XML editor to edit the preference files (hacking is fun, but shouldn't be mandatory). Stability: takes a long time to load (about 2 minutes) and appears to be the pizza of death, but after the screen changes resolution and aspect ratio a few times it seems to work reasonably well (is the splash screen supposed to tear up like that?). Sound: Good, but then flight sims aren't the most complex soundtracks on the planet. Graphics: OK close to MSFS (pretty good for freeware, in other words). I'm not sure this should even be a beta release yet.įirst the good news.