A
flight simulator is a system that tries to copy, or
simulateSimulation is the imitation of some real thing, state of affairs, or process. The act of simulating something generally entails representing certain key characteristics or behaviours of a selected physical or abstract system....
, the experience of
flyingFlight is the process by which an object moves either through the air, or movement beyond earth's atmosphere , by aerodynamically generating lift, propulsive thrust or aerostatically using buoyancy, or by simple ballistic movement.-Buoyant flight:Humans, although not apparently other animals, have...
an aircraft. It is meant to be as realistic as possible. The different types of flight simulator range from computer based games up to full-size cockpit replicas mounted on hydraulic (or electromechanical) actuators, controlled by state of the art
computerA computer is a machine that manipulates data according to a set of instructions.Although mechanical examples of computers have existed through much of recorded human history, the first electronic computers were developed in the mid-20th century . These were the size of a large room, consuming as...
technology.
Use
Flight simulators are extensively used by the
aviationAviation is the activity involving man-made air-borne flying devices , including the people, organizations, and regulatory bodies involved with them.- History :...
industry for design and development and for the training of pilots and other flight deck crew in both
civilA civilian under international humanitarian law is a person who is not a member of his or her country's armed forces. The term is also often used colloquially to refer to people who are not members of a particular profession or occupation, especially by law enforcement agencies, which often use...
and
militaryA military is an organization authorized by its nation to use force, usually including use of weapons, in defending its country by combating actual or perceived threats. As an adjective the term "military" is also used to refer to any property or aspect of a military...
aircraft.
Engineering simulators
Engineering flight simulators are also used by aerospace manufacturers for such tasks as:
- development and testing of flight hardware. Simulation (emulation) and stimulation techniques can be used, the latter being where real hardware is fed artificially-generated or real signals (sTimulated) in order to make it work. Such signals can be electrical, RF, sonar and so forth, depending on the equipment to be tested.
- development and testing of flight software. It is much safer to develop critical flight software on simulators or using simulation techniques, than development using aircraft in flight.
- development and testing of aircraft systems. For electrical, hydraulic and flight control systems, full-size engineering rigs sometimes called 'Iron Birds' are used during the development of the aircraft and its systems.
World War I and on
A number of electro-mechanical devices were tried during
World War IWorld War I , also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All Wars, was a global military conflict which involved most of the world's great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances: the Triple Entente and the Triple Alliance...
and thereafter. For example, learning to fire a machine gun requires that the pilot learn to lead targets, so a ground simulator was developed to teach this skill to new pilots. The best-known was the
Link TrainerThe term Link Trainer is commonly used to refer to a series of flight simulators produced between the early 1930s and early 1950s by Edwin Albert Link, based on technology he pioneered in 1929 at his family's business in Binghamton, New York...
, produced by Edwin Link in Binghamton, New York USA and available from 1929. This had a pneumatic motion platform driven by bellows giving pitch, roll and yaw, on which a replica generic cockpit was mounted. It was designed for the teaching of Instrument (cloud) flying in a less hazardous and less expensive environment than the aircraft. After a period where not much interest was shown by professional aviation, the US Army Air Force purchased four Link Trainers in 1934 after a series of fatal accidents in instrument flight. The world flight simulation industry was born. Some 10,000 Link Trainers were used in the 1939-45 war to train new pilots of allied nations. They were still in use in several Air Forces into the 1960s and early 1970s.
The
Celestial Navigation"Celestial Navigation" is the 15th episode of The West Wing.-Plot:Sam and Toby have to go to Connecticut to get the President's Supreme Court nominee, Roberto Mendoza, out of jail after he is wrongfully arrested on suspicion of drunk driving...
Trainer of 1941 was a massive structure 13.7 m (45 ft) high and capable of accommodating an entire
bomberA bomber is a military aircraft designed to attack ground and sea targets, primarily by dropping bombs on them.-Classifications of bombers:...
crew learning how to fly night missions. In the 1940s,
analog computerAn analog computer is a form of computer that uses the continuously-changeable aspects of physical phenomena such as electrical, mechanical, or hydraulic quantities to model the problem being solved...
s were used to solve the equations of flight, resulting in the first electronic simulators.
Simulators in the civilian aviation industry
In 1948,
Curtiss-WrightThe Curtiss-Wright Corporation was the largest aircraft manufacturer in the United States at the end of World War 2, but has since evolved through a long period of aerospace component engineering to become a component manufacturer, specializing in actuators, controls, valves, and metal...
delivered a trainer for the Stratocruiser to
Pan AmericanPan American World Airways, commonly known as Pan Am, was the "flagship" international airline of the United States from the 1930s until its collapse on December 4, 1991...
, the first complete simulator owned by an
airlineAn airline provides air transport services for passengers or freight, generally with a recognized operating certificate or license. Airlines lease or own their aircraft with which to supply these services and may form partnerships or alliances with other airlines for mutual benefit.Airlines vary...
. Although there was no motion modelling or visual display, the entire cockpit and instruments worked, and crews found it very effective. Full motion systems came in starting in the late 1950s.
The early visual systems used an actual small model of the terrain. A camera was "flown" over the model terrain and the picture displayed to the pilot. The camera responded to pilot control actions and the display changed in response. Naturally only limited areas of the ground were able to be simulated in this manner, usually just the area around an airport or, in military simulators, typical terrain and sometimes targets. The use of digital computers for flight simulation began in the 1960s.
In 1954, the Link Division of General Precision Inc. (later part of
Singer CorporationSinger Corporation is a manufacturer of sewing machines, first established as I.M. Singer & Co. in 1851 by Isaac Merrit Singer with New York lawyer Edward Clark. Best known for its sewing machines, it was renamed Singer Manufacturing Company in 1865, then The Singer Company in 1963. Originally all...
and now part of
L-3 CommunicationsL-3 Communications Holdings, Inc. is a company that supplies command, control, communications, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance systems and products, avionics and ocean products, training devices and services, instrumentation, space and navigation products. Its customers include the...
) developed a motion simulator which housed a cockpit within a metal framework. It provided 3 degrees (angle) of pitch, roll, and yaw, but by 1964 improved, compact versions increased this to 10 degrees angle. By 1969 airline simulators were developed where hydraulic actuators controlled each axis of motion, and simulators began to be built with six
degrees of freedomIn mechanics, degrees of freedom are the set of independent displacements and/or rotations that specify completely the displaced or deformed position and orientation of the body or system...
(roll, pitch, yaw for angular motion and surge, heave and sway for longitudinal, vertical and lateral translation). Starting in 1977, airline simulators began adopting the modern "cab" configuration where computers are placed in the cockpit area (rather than in off-simulator racks), and equipment is accessed via a wraparound catwalk when the simulator motion system is inoperative.
Around this time great strides were also made in display technology. In 1972 Singer-Link developed a collimating lens apparatus, using a curved
mirrorA mirror is an object with at least one polished and therefore specularly reflective surface. The most familiar type of mirror is the plane mirror, which has a flat surface...
and beamsplitter, which projected Out of The cockpit Window (OTW) views to the pilot at a distant focus. These collimated monitors greatly improved the realism of flight simulation. However, each monitor only offered a
field of viewThe field of view is the angular extent of the observable world that is seen at any given moment.Different animals have different fields of view, depending on the placement of the eyes. Humans have an almost 180-degree forward-facing field of view, while some birds have a complete or...
of 28 degrees and several were needed for a realistic field of view. In 1976 wider angle collimated monitors (e.g.
http://www.rickleephoto.com/mosaicfresnel.htm) were introduced, so-called 'WAC windows' standing for 'Wide Angle Collimated'. Finally, in 1982 the Rediffusion company of Crawley, UK, introduced the Wide-angle Infinity Display Equipment (WIDE) that used a curved mirror of large horizontal extent to allow distant-focus (collimated) viewing by side-by-side pilots in a seamless display. For details, see the entry under 'Collimation'. WIDE-type displays are now universal in the highest levels of Full Flight Simulators for aircraft where two pilots are seated side-by-side.
Flight simulators and flight training devices
Various categories of flight simulators and flight training devices are used for pilot training. These vary from relatively simple Part-Task Trainers (PTTs) that cover one or more aircraft systems, Cockpit Procedures Trainers (CPT) for practicing drills and checks, to so-called Full Flight Simulators (FFS). The higher levels of Full Flight Simulators have motion platforms capable of moving in all six degrees-of-freedom (6-DoF). They also have wide-angle high-fidelity collimated visual systems for displaying the outside world to the pilots under training. Medium to high-end simulators use a
Control Loading SystemA Control Loading System , is used to provide pilots with realistic flight control forces in a flight simulator or training device. These are used in both commercial and military training applications....
to provide realistic forces on the pilot controls. The simulator cabin containing the replica cockpit and visual system is mounted on a six-cylinder motion platform that, by moving the platform cylinder under computer control, gives the three linear movements and the three rotations that a freely moving body can experience. The three rotations are Pitch (nose up and down), Roll (one wing up, the other wing down) and Yaw (nose left and right). The three linear movements have a number of names depending on the area of engineering involved but in simulation they are called Heave (up and down), Sway (sideways left and right) and Surge (longitudinal acceleration and deceleration).
Flight simulators are used to train flight crews in normal and emergency operating procedures. Using simulators, pilots are able to train for situations that are unsafe in the aircraft itself. These situations include engine failures and failures or malfunctions of aircraft systems such as electrics, hydraulics, pressurization, flight instruments and so forth.
System trainers are used to teach pilots how to operate various aircraft systems. Once pilots become familiar with the aircraft systems, they will transition to cockpit procedures trainers or CPTs. These are fixed-base devices (no motion platform) and are exact replicas of the cockpit instruments, switches and other controls. They are used to train flight crews in checks and drills and are part of a hierarchy of flight training devices (FTD). The higher level FTDs are 'mini simulators'. Some may also be equipped with visual systems. However, FTDs do not have motion platforms, though many have the fidelity of the Full Flight Simulators. Images of the surrounding environment is projected on displays outside of the cockpit for effect. A computer or computers are used to generate the images, which can be very accurate, and simulate the movements of the instruments.
A full flight simulator (FFS) duplicates all aspects of the aircraft and its environment, including motion in all six degrees-of-freedom. Personnel in the simulator must wear seat belts as they do in the real aircraft. As the cylinders' travel in any simulator is limited, the motion system employs what is called 'acceleration onset cueing' that simulates initial accelerations well and then backs off the motion below the pilot's sensory threshold so that the cylinder limits are not exceeded.
Flight simulator use referenced in aviation incidents
Flight simulators have been referenced as having been used for training in security incidents involving real world aircraft. The 9/11 Commission in the US concluded in 2004 that those responsible for flying the planes into World Trade Center and Pentagon had used PC-based flight simulators for training.
- In 1999, gamer Yuji Nishizawa briefly hijacked a Boeing 747 over Tokyo, fatally stabbing the pilot and flying within 1,000 feet of the ground before being subdued. Later the hijacker explained that he was a flight simulator fan who had wanted to try flying a real aircraft.
- Zacarias Moussaoui
Zacarias Moussaoui is a French citizen who was convicted of conspiring to kill citizens of the USA as part of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks...
was one of the hijackers involved in the September 11 attacksThe September 11 attacks were a series of coordinated suicide attacks by Al-Qaeda upon the United States on September 11, 2001. On that morning, 19 Al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked four commercial passenger jet airliners...
, and had flight-simulation software on his laptop computer when he was arrested. During the trial of Moussaoui it was revealed that he had used the Flight simulation software to improve his flying skills.
- In 2005 through an open letter, Jack Thompson
John Bruce "Jack" Thompson is an American activist and disbarred attorney, based in Coral Gables, Florida. Thompson is known for his role as an anti-video-game activist, particularly against violence and/or sex in video games....
, a former attorney and anti-videogame activist, accused Microsoft of aiding terrorists in its popular Microsoft Flight SimulatorMicrosoft Flight Simulator is a flight simulator program for Microsoft Windows, marketed and often seen as a video game....
series. His letter and the response from the industry was widely reported in the news media.
- Jermaine Lindsay, one of the four 7 July 2005 London bombings
The 7 July 2005 London bombings, also known as 7/7, were a series of coordinated suicide attacks on London's public transport system during the morning rush hour...
, may have used flight simulators to practice flying an airliner with an accusation that he was registered with a virtual airlineA virtual airline is a dedicated hobby organization that uses flight simulation to model the operations of an airline. Virtual airlines generally have a presence on the Internet, similar to a real airline...
. A person of the same name listed his nearest major airport as Heathrow and clocked up 30 hours in two months with a virtual airline. The website later denied the member's linking with the bombing, and indicated it was working with the Metropolitan Police to establish whether its former member was the bomber. The website stated that it provides information about airlines and free add-on software for Microsoft Flight SimulatorMicrosoft Flight Simulator is a flight simulator program for Microsoft Windows, marketed and often seen as a video game....
and does not provide flight instruction to its members.
Simulator and flight training device certifications
National Aviation Authorities (NAA) for civil aircraft such as the U.S.
Federal Aviation AdministrationThe Federal Aviation Administration is an agency of the United States Department of Transportation with authority to regulate and oversee all aspects of civil aviation in the U.S...
(FAA) and the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), certify each category of simulators and test individual simulators within the approved categories. U.S. commercial pilots can only log required training time in simulators that are certified by the FAA and European pilots in simulators approved by EASA. In order for a simulator to be officially certified, it must be able to demonstrate that its performance matches that of the airplane that is being simulated to the fidelity required by the category of Flight Training Device (FTD) or Full Flight Simulator (FFS) to which it is designed and approved by the regulatory body. The testing requirements are detailed in test guides referred to as an Approval Test Guide (ATG) or Qualification Test Guide (QTG). Simulators are classified as Level 1-7 Flight Training Devices (FTD) or Level A-D full-flight simulators. The highest, most capable device is the Level D Full Flight Simulator. This can be used for so-called Zero Flight Time (ZFT) conversions of already-experienced pilots from one type of aircraft to a type with similar characteristics. In ZFT conversions, no aircraft time is needed and the pilot first flies the aircraft, under close supervision by a Training Captain, on a revenue flight.
Manufacturers
Civil Full Flight Simulators include
FlightSafety InternationalFlightSafety International is a provider of professional aviation training, simulation equipment and software, operating as a wholly owned subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway...
(FSI),
FrascaFrasca International, Inc., is a United States manufacturer of flight simulation training devices, with over 2200 training devices delivered in approximately 80 countries throughout the world. Now based in Urbana, Illinois, Frasca International was founded in Champaign, IL in 1958 by current...
International, Inc.,
Rockwell CollinsRockwell Collins, Inc. is a large United States-based international company headquartered in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, primarily providing aviation and information technology systems, solutions, and services to governmental agencies and aircraft manufacturers....
, Opinicus in the USA, CAE Inc. and Mechtronix in Canada, Sim Industries in the Netherlands,
HavelsanHAVELSAN was established by Turkish Air Force Foundation in 1982 as a Turkish Company named HAVELSAN-Aydin in order to provide maintenance for Turkish Air Force's high technology radars....
in Turkey and
Thales GroupThe Thales Group is a French electronics company delivering information systems and services for the Aerospace, Defense, and Security markets...
in France and the UK, the UK site being the ex-Rediffusion simulator factory at Crawley, near Gatwick airport.There are currently about 1200 Full Flight Simulators in operation worldwide
, of which about 550 are in the USA, 75 in the UK, 60 in China (PRC), 50 each in Germany and Japan, and 40 in France. Of these, some 450 were made by CAE, mainly in their Montreal factory, about 380 by Thales and its #predecessors Rediffusion and Thomson CSF, and about 280 by Flight Safety International.
L-3 CommunicationsL-3 Communications Holdings, Inc. is a company that supplies command, control, communications, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance systems and products, avionics and ocean products, training devices and services, instrumentation, space and navigation products. Its customers include the...
operates a facility in
Arlington, TexasArlington is a city in Tarrant County, Texas within the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington metropolitan area. According to a U.S Census Bureau release, as of 2007 Arlington had an estimated population of 371,038...
which manufactures flight simulators for the military; the division (Link Simulation and Training) traces its legacy back to Link's original invention.
Flight simulators are also extensively used for research in various
aerospaceAerospace comprises the atmosphere of Earth and surrounding space. Typically the term is used to refer to the industry that researches, designs, manufactures, operates, and maintains vehicles moving through air and space...
subjects, particularly in
flight dynamicsFlight dynamics is the science of air and space vehicle orientation and control in three dimensions. The three critical flight dynamics parameters are the angles of rotation in three dimensions about the vehicle's center of mass, known as pitch, roll and yaw .Aerospace engineers develop control...
and man-machine interaction (MMI). Both regular and purpose-built research simulators are employed. They range from the simplest ones, which resemble video games, to very specific and extremely expensive designs such as LAMARS, installed at
Wright-Patterson Air Force BaseWright-Patterson Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base located in Greene and Montgomery counties, eight miles northeast of the central business district of Dayton, Ohio, United States. Part of the base is located along the city limits of Riverside and is also adjacent to Fairborn and...
, Ohio. This was built by Northrop for the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) and features a large scale five degrees of freedom motion system to a unique design and a 360 degree dome-mounted visual system.
Instructor operating stations
Most simulators have Instructor Operating Stations (IOS). At the IOS, an instructor can quickly create any normal and abnormal condition in the simulated aircraft or in the simulated external environment. This can range from engine fires, malfunctioning landing gear, electrical faults, storms, downbursts, lightning, oncoming aircraft, slippery runways, navigational system failures and countless other problems which the crew need to be familiar with and act upon.
Many simulators allow the instructor to control the simulator from the cockpit, either from a console behind the pilot's seats, or, in some simulators, from the co-pilot's seat on sorties where a co-pilot is not being trained. Some simulators are equipped with
PDA-Science and technology :* Personal digital assistant, an electronic device which can include some of the functions of a computer, a cellphone, a music player, and a camera* Patent ductus arteriosus, a heart defect* photodiode array, a type of detector...
-like devices in which the instructor can fly in the co-pilot seat and control the events of the simulation, while not interfering with the lesson.
In the past full motion flight simulators had been limited to multi-million dollar hydraulic devices used at large training centers such as those provided by
FlightSafety InternationalFlightSafety International is a provider of professional aviation training, simulation equipment and software, operating as a wholly owned subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway...
,
CAECAE may refer to:* CAE is an adult education course provider in Melbourne, Australia* CAE Inc., a Canadian manufacturer of flight simulators* CAE , Council for Aid to Education...
, Alteon (a Boeing company) and at the training centers of the larger airlines. Recent advances in electric motion platforms have led to their use in Full Flight Simulators at these and other training centers and also permitted full motion simulation to be provided economically for much smaller aircraft including single-engine piston aircraft at training centers such as
Flight Level AviationFlight Level Aviation is a provider of advanced or recurrent instrument flight training for pilots of single-engine and multi-engine piston aircraft...
.
Flight simulators are an essential element in individual pilot as well as flight crew training. They save time, money and lives. The cost of operating even an expensive Level D Full Flight Simulator is many times less than if the training was to be on the aircraft itself and a cost ratio of some 1:40 has been reported for Level D simulator training compared to the cost of training in a real
Boeing 747The Boeing 747 is a widebody commercial airliner, often referred to by the nickname "Jumbo Jet". It is among the world's most recognizable aircraft, and was the first widebody ever produced...
aircraft.
Modern high-end flight simulators
High-end commercial and military flight simulators incorporate motion bases or platforms to provide cues of real motion. These are important to complement the visual cues (see below) and are vital when visual cues are poor such as at night or in reduced visibility or, in cloud, non-existent. The majority of simulators with motion platforms use variants of the six cylinder
Stewart platformA Stewart platform is a kind of parallel manipulator using an octahedral assembly of struts. A Stewart platform has six degrees of freedom .-Development:The Stewart platform was first reported in a paper by V. E. Gough in1956...
to generate motion cues. These platforms are also known as Hexapods. Stewart used an interlinked array of six hydraulic cylinders to provide accelerations in all six degrees of freedom. Motion bases using modern Stewart based hexapod platforms can provide about +/- 35 degrees of the three rotations pitch, roll and yaw, and about one metre of the three linear movements heave, sway and surge.
These limited angular and linear movements (or "throws") do not inhibit the realism of motion cueing imparted to the simulator crew. This is because the human sensors of body motion are
more sensitive to acceleration rather than steady-state movement and a six cylinder platform can produce such initial accelerations in all six DoF. The body motion sensors include the vestibular (inner ear, semicircular canals and otoliths), muscle-and joint sensors, and sensors of whole body movements. Furthermore, because acceleration precedes displacement, the human brain senses motion cues before the visual cues that follow. These human motion sensors have low-motion thresholds below which no motion is sensed and this is important to the way that simulator motion platforms are programmed (and also explains why instruments are needed for safe cloud flying). In the real world, after conditioning to the particular environment (in this case aircraft motions), the brain is subconsciously used to receiving a motion cue before noticing the associated change in the visual scene. If motion cues are not present to back up the visual, some disorientation can result ("simulator sickness") due to the cue-mismatch compared to the real world.
In a motion-based simulator, after the initial acceleration, the platform movement is backed off so that the physical limits of the cylinders are not exceeded and the cylinders are then re-set to the neutral position ready for the next acceleration cue. The backing-off from the initial acceleration is carried out automatically through the simulator computer and is called the "washout phase". Carefully-designed "washout algorithms" are used to ensure that washout and the later re-set to about neutral is carried out below the human motion thresholds mentioned above and so is not sensed by the simulator crew, who just sense the initial acceleration. This process is called "acceleration-onset cueing" and fortunately matches the way the sensors of body motion work. This is why aircraft manoeuvre at, say, 300 knots, can be effectively simulated in a replica cabin that itself does not move except in a controlled way through its motion platform. These are the techniques that are used in civil Level D flight simulators and their military counterparts.
The
NASA Ames Research CenterNASA Ames Research Center located at Moffett Field, California, was founded Dec. 20, 1939 as the second National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics laboratory. The center was named after Joseph Sweetman Ames, a founding member and longtime chairman of the NACA...
in "Silicon Valley" south of San Francisco operates the
Vertical Motion Simulator. This has a very large-throw motion system with 60 feet (+/- 30 ft) of vertical movement (heave). The heave system supports a horizontal beam on which are mounted rails of length 40 feet, allowing lateral movement of a simulator cab of +/- 20 feet. A conventional 6-degree of freedom hexapod platform is mounted on the 40 ft beam, and an interchangeable cabin is mounted on the hexapod platform. This design permits quick switching of different aircraft cabins. Simulations have ranged from blimps, commercial and military aircraft to the Space Shuttle. In the case of the Space Shuttle, the large Vertical Motion Simulator was used to investigate a longitudinal
pilot-induced oscillationPilot-induced oscillation occurs when the pilot of an aircraft inadvertently commands an often increasing series of corrections in opposite directions, each an attempt to cover the aircraft's reaction to the previous input with an overcorrection in the opposite direction. An aircraft in such a...
(PIO) that occurred on an early Shuttle flight just before landing. After identification of the problem on the VMS, it was used to try different longitudinal control algorithms and recommend the best for use in the Shuttle programme. After this exercise, no similar Shuttle PIO has occurred. The ability to simulate realistic motion cues was considered important in reproducing the PIO and attempts on a non-motion simulator were not successful (a similar pattern exists in simulating the roll-upset accidents to a number of early Boeing 737 aircraft, where a motion-based simulator is needed to replicate the conditions).
AMST Systemtechnik (Austria) and TNO Human Factors (the Netherlands) have developed the
Desdemona flight simulation system for the Netherlands-based research organisation TNO. This large scale simulator provides unlimited rotation via a gimballed cockpit. The gimbal sub-system is supported by a framework which adds vertical motion. Furthermore, this framework is mounted on a large rotating platform with an adjustable radius. The Desdemona simulator is designed to provide sustainable g-force simulation with unlimited rotational freedom.
Flight simulators at home
Crude flight simulators were among the first types of programs to be developed for early
personal computerA personal computer is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end user, with no intervening computer operator...
s. Bruce Artwick's
subLOGICThe subLOGIC Corporation is an American software development company. It was formed by Bruce Artwick when he was at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and later incorporated by Stu Moment....
simulators were well-known for the functionality they managed to get onto 8-bit machines. Key computer game technologies such as 3D graphics, online play, and modding were first showcased in combat flight simulators such as Red Baron II and
European Air WarEuropean Air War is a combat flight simulation released by MicroProse in 1998. European Air War is the sequel to 1942: The Pacific Air War by Microprose. The stock standard version simulates the Battle of Britain, and the Allied Air offensives in Western Europe during the Second World War in 1943-45...
. The game world in flight simulators is often based on the real world. However, they are often confined to one part of the game world by invisible boundaries. In some games, the aircraft simply halts in midair, while other games force the player to turn around. However, many games solve this boundary problem by wrapping the game world as a sphere.
Although these games strive for a great deal of realism, they often simplify or abstract certain elements to reach a wider audience. Many modern fighter aircraft have hundreds of controls, and flight simulator games usually simplify these controls drastically. Further, certain maneuvers can knock a pilot unconscious or rip their aircraft apart, but games do not always implement these concerns.
A popular type of flight simulator are
combat flight simulatorCombat flight simulators are video games used to simulate military aircraft and their operations. These video games are distinct from dedicated flight simulators used for military flight training which are far more complex and consist of realistic physical recreations of the actual aircraft...
s, which simulate combat air operations from the pilot and crew's point of view. Combat flight simulation titles are more numerous than civilian flight simulators due to variety of subject matter available and market demand.
In the early 2000s, even home entertainment flight simulators had become so realistic that after the events of September 11, 2001, some
journalistA journalist is a person who practises journalism, the gathering and dissemination of information about current events, trends, issues, and people while striving for viewpoints that are not biased.Reporters are one type of journalist...
s and experts speculated that the
hijackersAircraft hijacking is the unlawful seizure of an aircraft either by an individual or by a group. In most cases, the pilot is forced to fly according to the orders of the hijackers. However, there have been cases where the hijackers have flown the aircraft themselves...
might have gained enough knowledge to steer a passenger airliner from packages such as
Microsoft Flight SimulatorMicrosoft Flight Simulator is a flight simulator program for Microsoft Windows, marketed and often seen as a video game....
.
MicrosoftMicrosoft Corporation is a multinational computer technology corporation that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of software products for computing devices...
, while rebutting such criticisms, delayed the release of the 2002 version of its hallmark simulator to delete the
World Trade CenterThe World Trade Center was a complex in Lower Manhattan in New York City whose seven buildings were destroyed in 2001 in the September 11 terrorist attacks...
from its
New YorkNew York is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States and is the nation's third most populous. The state is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
scenery and even supplied a
patchA patch is a piece of software designed to fix problems with, or update a computer program or its supporting data. This includes fixing security vulnerabilities and other bugs, and improving the usability or performance...
to delete the towers retroactively from earlier versions of the sim.
The advent of flight simulators as home video game entertainment has prompted many users to become "airplane designers" for these systems. As such, they may create both military or commercial airline airplanes, and they may even use names of real life airlines, as long as they don't make profits out of their designs. Many other home flight simulator users create fictional airlines, or virtual versions of real-world airlines, so called
virtual airlineA virtual airline is a dedicated hobby organization that uses flight simulation to model the operations of an airline. Virtual airlines generally have a presence on the Internet, similar to a real airline...
s. These modifications to a simulation generally add to the simulation's realism and often grant a significantly expanded playing experience, with new situations and content. In some cases, a simulation is taken much further in regards to its features than was envisioned or intended by its original developers.
Falcon 4.0Falcon 4.0 is a modern air combat simulation originally released on December 12 1998 by MicroProse. It is a realistic simulation of the Block 50/52 F-16 Fighting Falcon jet fighter in a full scale modern war set in the Korean Peninsula. Falcon 4.0s dynamic campaign engine runs autonomously...
is an example of such modification; "modders" have created whole new warzones, along with the ability to fly hundreds of different aircraft, as opposed to the single original flyable airframe.
In 2009, Russian game-developer
neoqb released
World War IWorld War I , also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All Wars, was a global military conflict which involved most of the world's great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances: the Triple Entente and the Triple Alliance...
combat flight simulator called
Rise of Flight: The First Great Air WarRise of Flight is a World War I new-generation combat flight simulator developed by Russian Company .The PC game's title in Russia and CIS is – 'Война в небе – 1917' and in the USA and Europe it is published as 'Rise of Flight: The First Great Air War'...
. The game has unique physics and flight model and also an advanced damage model, which bring new level of realism to a user. Rise of Flight features an advanced flight model that simulates the unique handling characteristics of World War I aircraft. Spins, stalls, loops, takeoffs and landings are all accurately modeled. The complex physics model simulates natural forces such as lift, g-force, inertia and torque, which allows for an amazing level of fidelity and interaction of objects within the game environment. The detailed and progressive damage model tracks the trajectory of every bullet and shell fragment, leaving no room for error.
One way that users of flight simulation software engage is through the internet. Virtual
pilotAn aviator is a person who flies aircraft for pleasure or as a profession. The first recorded use of the term was in 1887 as a variation of the French 'aviation', from the latin 'avis', coined 1863 by G. de la Landelle in "Aviation ou Navigation Aérienne"...
s and virtual
air traffic controllerAir traffic controllers are the people who operate the air traffic control systems to expedite and maintain a safe and orderly flow of air traffic and help prevent mid-air collisions. They apply separation rules to keep aircraft apart from each other in their area of responsibility and move all...
s take part in an online flying experience which attempts to simulate real-world aviation to a high degree. There are several networks where this sort of play is possible, the most popular ones being VATSIM and
IVAOIVAO, or the International Virtual Aviation Organisation, is an Internet-based flight-simulation network.-Overview:IVAO provides flight-simulation enthusiasts with a network that allows them to either fly online with other people as pilots, or direct virtual air traffic as air traffic controllers...
. Virtual Skies provides a low barrier of entry allowing any level member to fly or control without worrying if something goes wrong. Virtual Skies covers mainly UK & USA VATSIM and is generally regarded to have better coverage of the virtual North America and Great Britain, while IVAO's pilots and controllers generally fly and control the virtual Europe, Africa and South America. IVAO's ATC certification process is not as strict as VATSIM's, which allows for a greater number of controllers to be available, but guarantees their proficiency to a lesser degree than VATSIM. Both networks receive anywhere from 300 to 900 ATC and pilot connections, depending on the time of day.
Much rarer but still notable are flight simulators available for various game consoles. The most notable of these were
Pilotwingsis a Nintendo video game for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, originally released in 1990, and included with the system in some early packages. A flight simulator game, Pilotwings features lessons and goals in light plane flight, rocketbelt, hang glider, and skydiving...
, made available for the Super Nintendo, the sequel
Pilotwings 64is a video game for the Nintendo 64, released in 1996, along with the launch of the console. It was one of two launch titles for the Nintendo 64, the other being Super Mario 64...
for the
Nintendo 64The , often abbreviated as N64, is Nintendo's third home video game console for the international market. Named for its 64-bit CPU, it was released on June 23, 1996 in Japan, September 29, 1996 in North America, March 1, 1997 in Europe and Australia, September 1, 1997 in France and December 10,...
and the
Ace CombatAce Combat is an arcade style Flight Action video game series published by the Japanese company Namco Bandai Games. Emphasizing action and dramatic plots over complete reality, the series has established itself in Japan, and the world as a prime example of the pseudo realistic flight action...
series on Playstation 1&2. The very rare
Sky OdysseySky Odyssey is an action/adventure flight simulator for the SonyPlayStation 2. It was developed by Cross and released in 2000...
is yet another example of console flight simulators. Due to the restrictive nature of a game console's ability to simulate environments properly in general and the processing limitations of these systems in particular, game console-based flight simulators tend to be simplistic and have a more arcade-like feel to them. While generally not as complex as PC based simulators, console flight simulators can still be enjoyable to play, though their 'simulation' status is disputed by many in the flight simulation community.
Homebuilt cockpits
Often referred to as Simpits, home cockpit building is a common hobby among simulator pilots. Simpits range in complexity from a single computer, with some effort to create a permanent area for simulation, through to complete cockpit reconstruction projects utilizing multiple systems. The growth in home cockpit complexity and realism has been further fueled by the opening up of the simulation software packages with published
SDKA software development kit is typically a set of development tools that allows a software engineer to create applications for a certain software package, software framework, hardware platform, computer system, video game console, operating system, or similar platform.It may be something as simple...
s (Software Development Kits) now common.
The push for higher realism in desktop simulation, often fueled by real pilots looking to practice cheaply at home, has led to a wide array of suppliers growing up to satisfy the demand. Hardware is available from a variety of commercial sources ranging from yokes, throttles and pedals, through to radios, lights and complete instruments. This
home use hardware is rarely certified for flight training, so the hours spent practicing in the simpit will not count towards a pilot's hours. However it is widely utilized as an unofficial training aid, allowing realistic procedures practice, as well as the opportunity to complete visual or IMC approaches prior to a real world flight. This can help make a pilot's real-world flight time safer and more productive. Professional opinion is divided about how effective this home simulation can be against real world flight, and this has been a subject of debate in popular flying magazines such as 'Pilot' through 2007.
For those wishing more than a desktop simulator, replica panels are commercially available mimicking those found in a modern airliners such as a Boeing or Airbus. These panels will either fit into a real cockpit section, which some large scale home simulators are built into, or will be mounted in a home constructed cockpit frame, normally made from wood. With most modern airliners now using Glass Cockpit type displays it is relatively simple to replicate the displays in software, outputting them via multi head graphics cards or networked PCs to cheaply available LCD monitors mounted behind the panel. To the casual observer it can be hard to tell a home built static simulator and a commercial one apart.
In addition, companies who now build FTDs (Flight Training Devices) for leisure and Flight Training have developed replica cockpits. One company in New Zealand has launched Flight Experience based worldwide which offers an exact replica of a 737-800NG to the public. So far they have locations in Australia, New Zealand and Singapore and under the guidance of real flight instructors you can take off, fly and land at hundreds of airports and use the same SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures) as the airlines (www.flightexperience.com)
Where commercial panels or controls do not exist, simulator builders will often create their own out of wood or similar easily worked materials. Another common route for sourcing the specific hardware needed in a simulator, and one used by the commercial sector as well, is to obtain a real component from a scrapyard and convert it for PC input. Interface hardware for these home-made controls is directly available from commercial suppliers, or can be obtained by dismantling cheap joysticks or similar components and rewiring them. Some home builds will even incorporate motion platforms, although unlike commercial simulators these are normally more limited in motion, and often rely on electrical motors as opposed to hydraulics.
Beyond the hardware of home cockpits, most flight simulator software can simulate modern aircraft systems to a very high standard in addition to the basic flight dynamics, providing accurate recreations of, among others, the FMC (Flight Management Computer), autopilot and engine management systems. With additional hardware and add-in software this may be extended further, for example into a fully functional overhead panel requiring real-world check lists to be followed for engine start-up and flight with a full flight deck crew.
Space flight simulators
As
spaceSpace is the boundless, three-dimensional extent in which objects and events occur and have relative position and direction. Physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions, although modern physicists usually consider it, with time, to be part of the boundless four-dimensional...
is a natural extension of
airspaceAirspace means the portion of the atmosphere controlled by a particular country on top of its territory and territorial waters or, more generally, any specific three-dimensional portion of the atmosphere....
, space flight simulators may be treated as an extension of flight simulators' genre. There is a considerable interdependence between those two kinds of simulators, as some flight simulators feature
spacecraftA spacecraft is a craft or machine designed for spaceflight. On a sub-orbital spaceflight, a spacecraft enters space then returns to the Earth. For an orbital spaceflight, a spacecraft enters a closed orbit around the planetary body. Spacecraft used for human spaceflight carry people on board as...
as an extension and some space flight simulators may feature realistic atmospheric flight simulation engines.
Popular home flight simulator software
Popular flight simulators for home computers include:
- Google Earth
Google Earth is an information program that was originally called EarthViewer 3D, and was created by Keyhole, Inc, a company acquired by Google in 2004. It maps the Earth by the superimposition of images obtained from satellite imagery, aerial photography and GIS 3D globe...
flight simulator can be activated by pressing Ctrl-Alt-A
- Rise of Flight: The First Great Air War
Rise of Flight is a World War I new-generation combat flight simulator developed by Russian Company .The PC game's title in Russia and CIS is – 'Война в небе – 1917' and in the USA and Europe it is published as 'Rise of Flight: The First Great Air War'...
new generation combat flight simulator of World War IWorld War I , also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All Wars, was a global military conflict which involved most of the world's great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances: the Triple Entente and the Triple Alliance...
- Microsoft Space Simulator
Microsoft Space Simulator is a space flight simulator program for MS-DOS/Microsoft Windows. It is one of the first general-purpose space flight simulators and it incorporated concepts from astrodynamics and celestial mechanics.- Features :...
- Microsoft Flight Simulator Series
Microsoft Flight Simulator is a flight simulator program for Microsoft Windows, marketed and often seen as a video game....
- its latest installment (Microsoft Flight Simulator XMicrosoft Flight Simulator X is the latest version of Microsoft Flight Simulator after Flight Simulator 2004...
) now includes space as an area to be discovered, with a payware space shuttle available.
- Orbiter, a freeware space flight simulator
- Space Shuttle Mission 2007
Space Shuttle Mission 2007 is a Space Shuttle stand-alone mission simulator for the Microsoft Windows XP and Vista operating system...
, Includes several missions flown by several space shuttle.
- X-Plane, also includes a Space Shuttle and Mars flight simulators
- YS Flight Simulation 2000
YS Flight is a freeware flight simulation programmed by Soji Yamakawa . The simulation is popularly referred to as YS, and was originally called YS Flight Simulation System 2000, until a name change by the author in 2008 to simply YS Flight Simulator...
, a freeware flight simulator
- FlightGear
FlightGear is a free, open-source multi-platform flight simulator developed by the FlightGear project since 1997.The project had its first release in 1997 and continued in development, culminating in the latest major release of 1.9.1b in January 2009, with specific builds for a variety of operating...
, an open source flight simulator
See also
- Rise of Flight: The First Great Air War
Rise of Flight is a World War I new-generation combat flight simulator developed by Russian Company .The PC game's title in Russia and CIS is – 'Война в небе – 1917' and in the USA and Europe it is published as 'Rise of Flight: The First Great Air War'...
- FlightGear
FlightGear is a free, open-source multi-platform flight simulator developed by the FlightGear project since 1997.The project had its first release in 1997 and continued in development, culminating in the latest major release of 1.9.1b in January 2009, with specific builds for a variety of operating...
- International Virtual Aviation Organization
- Microsoft Flight Simulator
Microsoft Flight Simulator is a flight simulator program for Microsoft Windows, marketed and often seen as a video game....
- VATSIM
- Virtual Airline
A virtual airline is a dedicated hobby organization that uses flight simulation to model the operations of an airline. Virtual airlines generally have a presence on the Internet, similar to a real airline...
- X-Plane
X-Plane is a flight simulator for personal computers produced by Laminar Research. It runs on iPhone/iPod Touch, Linux, Mac or Windows-based PCs. X-Plane is packaged with other software to build and customize aircraft and scenery, offering a complete flight simulation environment...
- YS Flight Simulation 2000
YS Flight is a freeware flight simulation programmed by Soji Yamakawa . The simulation is popularly referred to as YS, and was originally called YS Flight Simulation System 2000, until a name change by the author in 2008 to simply YS Flight Simulator...
External links