Drawing on 20 years of experience developing award-winning software, the Microsoft Flight Simulator team commemorates both the centennial and its own aviation milestone with the release of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004: A Century of Flight.

ABOUT THE AIRCRAFT :

Modern Aircraft : Beechcraft Baron 58, Beechcraft King Air 350, Bell 206B JetRanger III (helicopter), Boeing 737-400, Boeing 747-400, Boeing 777-300, Cessna Skyhawk SP Model 172, Cessna Skylane Model 182S, Cessna Caravan C208 Amphibian, Cessna Grand Caravan C208B, Extra 300S, Bombardier Learjet 45, Mooney M20M "Bravo", Schweizer SGS 2-32.

Historical Aircraft : 1903 Wright Flyer, Curtiss JN-4D "Jenny", Vickers F.B.27A Vimy, Ryan NYP "Spirit of St. Louis", Ford 4-AT-E Tri-Motor, Model 5B Vega from Lockheed, Douglas DC-3, deHavilland DH-88 "Comet", Piper J-3C-65 "Cub".

KEY NEW FEATURES :

• Dynamic weather system based on realistic atmospheric physics, with true three-dimensional clouds that form and dissipate, and automatic real-world weather updates when you're connected to the Internet.


• Weather “themes” that generate a wide variety of stunning—and challenging—flying conditions with just a few clicks of a mouse 


• Enhanced interactive air traffic control (ATC), including traffic at all airports around the world (including non-towered airports), altitude changes en route, pop-up IFR clearances, and precision and non-precision approaches to multiple runways 


• Interactive 3D “virtual” cockpits—tune radios and operate key aircraft controls and avionics by pointing and clicking in the virtual cockpit view. 


• Scenery improvements, including taxiway and runway signs, enhanced auto-gen 3D objects, more high-detail airports, and improved lighting and sky effects 


• Garmin 500 and 295 series GPS with color moving maps and airport/facility information 


• Improved full-color map view with terrain display 


• Improved support for 3D graphics hardware acceleration in multiple windows and across multiple monitors 


• Learning Center--a “Web site on the disc” available while the simulation is running that includes a Key Topics visual guide to the features in Microsoft Flight Simulator, direct links to flights and lessons, flight briefings, how-to procedures, aircraft handbooks, and more. 


• New and expanded lessons and ground school topics 


• Kiosk mode for unattended demonstrations

CORE FEATURES FROM PREVIOUS VERSIONS :

• Worldwide scenery with accurate 3D terrain and auto-gen objects that fill in the world with appropriate buildings and vegetation no matter where you fly. 


• Jeppesen NavData database, including VORs, NDBs, ILS, low- and high-altitude airways, intersections 


• Approximately 24,000 airports worldwide (increased from about 22,000 in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2002). 


• Flight planner to create realistic VFR and IFR flight plans and navigation logs 


• Flight analysis to play back a flight on a moving map that shows ground track, key flight data, and a vertical profile 


• Instructor's station--link two PCs so that one pilot can observe a Flight Simulator session, change weather, fail systems, and provide comments and help via a chat window.


• IFR training panels for selected aircraft that include all key instruments, avionics, and controls in one window for realistic IFR flights. 


• Multiplayer capability over a local network or the Internet.