How did you get in to FlightSim?

[Kimber]

In July of 2003, before FS9 came out, my husband made
me sit down and play flightsim!! Then we found a plane I liked
and did a repaint of it just for me!! It was the default CFS2 P-39
with a panel we found at simviation and moved it to FS9 and
I flew it for hours!!

Three weeks later I was taking flight lessons and six months later
I soloed!!

$50,000 later I have

IFR
Multiengine
Float
Jet
Turboprop

And over 1100 hours!!

And I am F-16 qualified!!

I think I have mentioned before, my first light plane ride and lesson
was in Mr. Mulligan!!

[Quixoticish]

My first flight sim experience was with Flight Simulator something-or-other on an Amstrad IBM 8086. It actually had an aircraft creator built in, I used to spend hours playing with it.

[glen]

Like most others here I was raised in an aviation friendly enviroment with a grandfather and uncle who had worked for Hawker, de Havillland and Handley Page at various time in their lives, it was definately a Classic British upbringing.

I think the first Flight Sim I played was Fighter Bomber on the old Amiga 500, after that when I eventually got round to my first computer, (Pentium II 300 Mghz), it came with FS98 installed and a friend and I thought that was amazing.

Glen.

[Sl4yer]

I started with Flight Simulator on the Spectrum (what a POS that was - the game that is, not the Spectrum). I got the game with the computer - I remember it was one of the dearest at the time at £7.95! I progressed to Fighter Pilot on the Spectrum, a quite reasonable (for it's day) F15 simulation.

I'd seen MS Flight Simulator in my father's PCW magazines. He'd worked in computing since graduating in the 70s, and we often had Commodore PETs (see here) and Superbrains (here) around the house, in the days before the IBM PC. I once wiped one of his 5.25 floppys (probably after a game of Hunt the Wumpus) by leaving it in the drive after switching off!

Father brought home a copy (quite literally, with nicely pirated manual) of FS2 from Hong Kong after one of his trips away. I played it on a green CRT on a Ferranti Advance 86B (see here). I was ever so pleased when I first managed to make contact with the ground without crashing!

I next used FS3 when I was a student in 1992, on my PS/2 Model 50 (80206, 1 MB RAM, and a 60MB hard disk!). Then on to FS98 when I got back into computers in 1998, and FS2004 in late 2003.

James

[VEGAS]

I started playing F-15 Strike Eagle on the Commodore 64.

I got hooked within minutes. Instead of flying the missions I'd be doing aerobatics and just generally flying about doing landings and touch n go's and thought it was the dogs.

FS98 took my breath away when I first got it.

Look where we are now! FS9 I mean (not that new shite)

[Hot_Charlie]

Decided I wanted to be a pilot before I was born...

First PC had F15 Strike Eagle III (from Microprose) and AV8B Harrier Assualt.

First MS Flight Sim was FS5...

Been doing it ever since, although less as the years have passed...

[northantsflyer]

PSION Flight Simulator on the ZX Spectrum 48K, think it was around 1983/4 ish ???

Always been into aviation

[Tom Clayton]

I got FS2002 Pro as a birthday present in 2003. (I bet someone here knows when that was!) I started reading through the help files and found out that there were sites where I could d/l new aircraft addons, and I've been glued to the PC ever since!

[DispatchDragon]

Trying to remember - like Boatr it was a very early version of FS and all wire models - we've come along way baby....

oh and welcome to the "Home" Tom Clayton - you'll like the hooligans here

Leif

[airboatr]

yeah, the drive from the commador 64 was louder than the sound effects

and the 747 was a royal pain in the arse to land
I remember it took me a ton of trys before I made
a successful landing...
Now we have such great stuff to fly
with animated wings and clickable VCs
we have come along way Lief
thanks to the FS comunity developers

God BLess'em ....Every one


PS welcome Tom