Hi Flight Ace
[glow=yellow,2,300]"Here is an interesting Link indicating why motion in a simulator used for flight crew training is required by the Government", [/glow]I would agree with you
Okay I can agree with what you think my statement should have been typed out as...no problem there...
However using a desk top computer with the Microsoft Games installed does not make it a Flight Simulator.
I found that in most definitions of Flight there was mention of motion...
ex.
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/flightWe can not duplicate flight without motion and it is as simple as that.
Unless the Microsoft Programs such as FSX and FS2004 are installed on a system with motion then the best they can be is Training Aids or a Game for personal enjoyment...
A piece of software for the desktop computer can simulate motion, but perhaps not in the tactile kind of way unless it is geared for that purpose
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The most simple definition of a simulator is trying to simulate an environment, usually to serve a purpose such as training. In a sense, I think programs like FSX, X-Plane, and MS Flight can each serve as a simulator to a certain extent. The merits on how much of a simulator it is, however, is in my opinion gauged by how realistically the software is designed to do so. Here, MS Flight seems to be more geared towards a casual audience, and the game likewise delivers scenarios that are somewhat borderline fantasy.
As for other software, like FSX, or even X-Plane... well, I've seen them make their way into commercial flight training institutions as sims that are in fact, recognized by the government as "flight simulators," for the training of civilian flight crews (usually instrument work). My very first commercial sim I've jumped into utilized a pretty simple yoke and throttle system and ran a primitive and modified version of x-plane with no motion whatsoever other than force feedback on the controls. It was still recognized as a flight simulator and I could still log sim hours in my log book. I've also jumped into a sim that ran some derivative of FSX, though it is situated on a moving platform that responds to command inputs.
Software like FSX and FS2004 may in many ways be considered "games," but they are no less simulators than some of the stuff I've seen. I consider my desktop version of FSX a simulator--especially with some of the addons I use--for it portrays the aspects of cruising the air with a set of wings to a satisfying level and has also helped me train and prepare for real flights as well. It certainly doesn't simulate everything (I don't think any simulator can take into account every variable that exists in real life), it still accomplishes it's goal of simulating something that is real.
Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2012 6:53 pm