Your first flight Sim?

[Hellfire257]

 

First flight sim and first game.

 

:)

 

I feel very young compared to some of you!

[StiC]

Cliffs of Dover 11 months ago and it has taken over my gaming life. Flight sims have become my version of a mid-life crisis.

[Bitterdeath]

My first sim was Flight Simulator 4. I would play this on a monochrome green screen in my dads office. I even remember buying it at Egghead software (pre-Newegg).

 

Falcon 3.0 is the game I spent hours upon hours building and flying missions. Much like DCS now.

[Mouse]

F-19 Stealth Fighter.

 

I was too young to play, so my dad would just put it on autopilot and I would watch and pretend I was playing. Maybe it doesn't count because I wasn't really playing anything, but it's the flight sim that got me on the right track.

[AlpineYoda]

I've played so many over the years that I can't remember them all, but you never forget your first -- Microprose's F-15 Strike Eagle on the C-64 in early 1986, right after it came out.

 

For you young'ens out there, we had to load the game from a tape deck. That's right, a tape deck.

 

No takeoffs, no landings. Just start in the air and then refly the triangle on the ground that signified your base. Enemies were either triangles to be bombed or an 8-line wire frame see-through airplane.

 

I played that game until the tape deck wore out. That game (and Top Gun) even inspired me to get my congresswomen to help me apply to the Naval Academy, until I learned that you can't fly jets with contact lenses.

 

I have my private certificate these days and I sooooo wish that I could count toward my total time the literally 1,000s of hours I have spent on Strike Eagle I & II, various generations of Microsoft Flight, 2 versions of Microsoft combat sim, a short-lived F-22 "Lightning 2" sim, the original LOMAC, DCS A-10A, DCS A-10C, Falcon 1, 2, 3 (never tried 4 - always heard it was too buggy), X-Plane for my iPad, a shuttle landing sim for my iPad, and probably half a dozen others that I have forgotten, my insurance rates would be far lower!!

 

My Dad recently told me that he has no fear flying with me in actual planes because he saw me growing up flying every sim I could ever find, in all weather, in all combat conditions, and with all manner of battle damage. If I can handle all of that, he says, a Cessna or a Cirrus in "clear & a million" conditions is a piece of cake.

 

A couple of weeks ago, I walked my 6 year old through a DCS World: A-10C mission (one of the target-rich, low defense missions) with my Thrustmaster Hotas Warthog system, MFDs over 8 inch displays, 27 inch main monitor, surround sound, etc. Even if we start simming on 3-D displays or 80 inch monitors, I cannot imagine that he will see as big of a technological jump over the next 25 years as I did watching the evolution from Strike Eagle to DCS. Unless someone can build an affordable full-motion system, home simulators may have gone about as far as they can. Once you reach photo-realism, where else do you go?

[JABO2009]

Strike Commander by EA.

 

-> release : 1993/1994 haha. I remember 8 installation discs and my PC saying "insufficient DOS memory" after the first installation attempt. :-)

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strike_Commander

 

was awesome

[Headspace]

I have my private certificate these days and I sooooo wish that I could count toward my total time the literally 1,000s of hours I have spent on Strike Eagle I & II, various generations of Microsoft Flight, 2 versions of Microsoft combat sim, a short-lived F-22 "Lightning 2" sim, the original LOMAC, DCS A-10A, DCS A-10C, Falcon 1, 2, 3 (never tried 4 - always heard it was too buggy), X-Plane for my iPad, a shuttle landing sim for my iPad, and probably half a dozen others that I have forgotten, my insurance rates would be far lower!!

One of the easiest ways you can reduce your insurance rates is to get an instrument rating. If you haven't yet, that is. If you can afford a Cirrus, there's really no excuse not to.

[AlpineYoda]

I can afford to rent a Cirrus, not buy one quite yet. Waiting on those Powerball numbers.....

 

Yes, I have my instrument. Also high performance and complex endorsements. Debating whether I would ever have any use for a multi-engine rating.

 

Flight sim time would take me from the hundreds of hours into the thousands. Not a huge change in insurance rates, but even a few bucks could be worth it.

[Shaman]

First flight sim ever, was watching my cousin flying SOLO FLIGHT on Atari :)

Lynx on ZX Spectrum? Does it count?

If not, first "true" PC flightsims were (same day), Fighter Bomber and MS Flight Simulator 4.0, back when I was 8 or maybe 9 years old?

[Derk]

My first real sim (top gun and strike eagle on the 8-bit NES not counting) was Activision's A-10 Cuba! Must have logged 1000's of hours. After that mostly demo's, along came il-2, lo-mac (skipped all the flaming starfarce cliffs) then a period of fsx helicopters and now patiently awaiting DCS: UH-1H while reading up on you guys ;)

[Witchking]

Flanker 2.5

[evilnate]

I played this on my friends fathers commodore 64 in the 80's. I wanted one so badly that I used to fascinate about it when I tried to go to sleep.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F-15_Strike_Eagle_(video_game)

[Frogisis]

Jetfighter II in the early '90s on the first computer my family owned. I think I was in 2nd grade. That was a good year.

[maturin]

Red Baron, a WWI game. It probably wasn't realistic at all, but man was it awesome and man, was I young then.

[orl_cz]

F117 A - Stealth Fighter

[jctrnacty]

F117 A - Stealth Fighter

 

Tak tuhle hru jsem umel se zavazanyma ocima , jezis to bylo hodin :-)

[muffler]

:pilotfly: http://www.dendyemulator.ru/games/game/top_gun_iii/

[nickmow]

 

For you young'ens out there, we had to load the game from a tape deck. That's right, a tape deck.

 

 

 

Failed to load :smilewink: Man that just brought back a whole load of memories.

 

Anybody remember the Harrier or AV8B. Sim ? You had to fly off a carrier and fight a campaign over Timor Island ? That was smooth to fly on the earlier PC's. I had it about the same time as Chuck Yeagers air combat.......which we sneaked onto a couple of computers at work !

 

 

Wait up I found it

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AV-8B_Harrier_Assault

 

Superb smooth and with an absorbing campaign element I really really enjoyed this sim, and that would of been 20 years ago ?

Edited November 24, 2012 by nickmow

[Headspace]

Anybody remember the Harrier or AV8B. Sim ? You had to fly off a carrier and fight a campaign over Timor Island ?

I had that. On the PC it was Super VGA Harrier, on the Mac it was Flying Nightmares.

[vCUJOv]

http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=OowBFF0Ny_o&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DOowBFF0Ny_o

[Speed]

My first combat flight sim was USNF 97. I was only 12 at the time.

 

zfYUasEEegE

 

The graphics in that youtube vid are actually a lot better than I remember them. I didn't know you could look around the cockpit, lol.

[Heli Shed]

My first combat flight sim was USNF 97. I was only 12 at the time.

 

zfYUasEEegE

 

The graphics in that youtube vid are actually a lot better than I remember them. I didn't know you could look around the cockpit, lol.

 

I have the team that produced it as members of the 74th. and Mig Alley.

 

Pretty good in their time.

[Meatwod]

 

1987 Nintendo "Top Gun"

[Speed]

 

1987 Nintendo "Top Gun"

 

You mean this?

e2ay5jOGI0w

:D

[agrasyuk]

F19 stealth fighter.

Many many missions to kill that ever ressurecting radar in tripoli :)