Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

My qualifications: More than 3000 hrs of real world flight time, Commercial, Instrument, Multi-Engine and Flight Instructor certificates, and an incalculable amount of my life spent "flying" every major flight sim ever made for the PC, starting with the original MS Flight Simulator on an Apple IIe in 1983. For whatever it's worth, folks, I'm an expert on this subject. FS-2004 Century of Flight is the new state of the art, the new gold standard. By itself, this software is worth going out and buying a new, hot PC just so you can fly it. If this is your first flight sim experience, you'll have fun just doing loops and looking at the pretty scenery. But here's the truth: the more aviation experience you have, the more you will appreciate this sim. Quite frankly, I can't think of a single significant element of the real-world flying experience that isn't precisely modeled and simulated in FS-2004. Want to climb in the 172 and practice NDB approaches down to minimums in rain and a stiff crosswind? No problem, you can do that here. Want to captain the 747 from San Francisco to Honolulu by moonlight? Consider it done. Want to fly neck-straining aerobatics "in the box" over the runway at Oshkosh in Patty Wagstaff's Extra 300? Start the engine and go. Want to load up the DC-3 and fly "The Hump" to gain an appreciation of true aviation heroism? Yep, you can do that too. With or without the snowstorms and turbulence. Quite frankly, if you can come up with a non-combat flying scenario of any kind, you can almost certainly experience something very close to it in FS-2004. This sim isn't just fun, or accurate - it's realistic training and practice for the IFR pilot. Words simply can't express the depth, thoroughness, accuracy and variety to be found in this sim. Everything happens in real time and it's so accurate on my PC that I can get out my E6-B whizwheel and do time, fuel and distance calculations while I'm "flying" and have them work out almost exactly. The more of a pilot you are, the more this sim will give you. And no matter how many hours you have, there is no pilot alive who won't benefit from the incredibly realistic practice and training that this sim provides. If you rent a 172 now and then, you'll be so much sharper in the real cockpit because of this sim. And if you own your own airplane, you can practice things like non-precision approaches, holding pattern entries, missed approach procedures and engine failures to landing, all without burning a drop of gas or putting your own airplane in jeopardy. Here's what it boils down to: In general aviation today, you either train and practice with this sim, or you're behind the times and selling yourself short. Get it.