Unique Features

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FlightGear...

Costs

• Price: 0.00$
• the latest, unlimited and full featured copy of FlightGear can be downloaded for free on the homepage.
• add-on airplanes and scenery is also available for free
• long-term costs: FlightGear will remain free

Community

• is not only a simulator, it is a international community that wants to give everybody the opportunity to feel like a real pilot.
• is fully community driven. Commercial interests have no influence.
• to influence FlightGear development (new features) just start contributing, for example by providing feedback
• is created, maintained and updated by an international crowd of volunteers that donate their time and work for free.
• is open for you, over 10000 people from around the world have liked FlightGear on facebook - come join us
• your add-ons and modifications can be added to the main distribution. No more lost or forgotten efforts

Freedom

• is published as free software under the GNU General Public License.
• poses as less limits as possible opposed to commercial packages that impose limits trying to seduce to pay for enhancements.
• Open Source: is completely open in contrast to commercial sims.
• because everything is open and shared, there is no dependency of one company
• can be improved by anybody using free tools.
• offers anyone the opportunity become creative and to

• develop the software
• develop the landscape
• create 3D landmarks and buildings
• create the 3D model of aircraft
• re-create the flight dynamic of aircraft
• paint aircraft
• create flight instruments and controls
• to develop enhancements. You can even create a rocket and place a satellite in orbit around the world.

Realism

• was the first flight simulator to include a comprehensive celestial simulation. Sun, moon, planets and stars are drawn on the accurate position in the sky with the phases in synchronisation with the selected time and date. The scenery includes lighting on roads and urban areas making night flights as realistic as possible.
• renders the sun, sky and clouds realistically. Their appearance changes according to the atmospheric conditions and the weather
• advanced weather simulation models meteorological conditions like they appear in real life.

• weather is based on complex and accurate formulas
• interacts to ground and atmospheric conditions dynamically, just like in real life
• is not static, as in other simulators, but constantly changes
• integrates with the rendering engine leading to realistic appearance

• includes such optical phenomena under icing conditions as: 22° halo, sun dog, light pillar and parhelic circle,
• will be the first flight simulator to include realistic simulation of VHF radio propagation for ATC communications and navaids.
• is the only flight simulator which includes out of the box AI traffic for most major airlines according to real-life flight schedules, valid between october 2011 - october 2012, and also has tools available to maintain and update the airline/flight database.
• the helicopter simulation is based on accurate models and offers a realistic behavior comparable to what you'd have to buy add-ons for other sims

Performance and Hardware/Platform Support

• multi-screen and multi-GPU support
• is not a single platform simulator, it will run on Windows, Linux and Mac, and more! (ok, it won't run on the ZX81 but that is being worked on)
• has a very stable 3D engine that works on everything from cheap second-hand machines to high-end gaming machines
• supports multiple graphics cards and multi-monitor set-ups, no need for a Matrox Triple.
• has support for 3D sound via OpenAL
• can be easily interfaced to peripherals like joysticks, yokes and pedals
• can be also easily interfaced to custom I/O devices, i.e. for home cockpit builders

Included Airplane models, Scenery and Add-ons

• is modular, enhancements are provided by the FlightGear community, to the FlightGear community, for free.
• offers with a single download well over 10 aircraft in the base package and most aircraft have several paint-jobs available. If 10 aircraft isn't enough, the community offers well over 400 other aircraft for anyone to download. Above that there is a huge database of liveries for anyone to try out.
• additional high detail scenery is available. Search our forum for more detailed and better quality scenery created by the community.
• has a built-in downloader that provides you with the latest scenery for the entire world. Every time you visit new places, additional scenery is automatically downloaded, installed and displayed.
• has a worldwide scenery database, collecting objects and models of landmarks, airports and houses.
• We may not have many add-ons yet, but that's simply because we try to incorporate as much as possible into the main project. By doing so, you don't have to browse the internet for interesting stuff.

Flight Dynamics Modeling (FDM)

• features not only one flight dynamics engine, FlightGear contains three (actually more) flight dynamics models with one interface around it.
• provides, with the inclusion of JSBsim, the standard for fluid simulation and is used as such by government and education.
• with Yasim a FDM somewhat comparable of X-Planes blade-element engine

Flexibility, technical features and development opportunities

• models are based on XML files (i.e. plain text, can be edited using a simple text editor) that can be tweaked, adjusted and improved by anyone.
• is flexible in nature, inputs and outputs can be networked (over TCP/IP and UDP) making multi PC configurations easy possible. One master and several slave computers can be configured to display 180 degrees around you with instruments and controls. All the hooks are available to include Real instruments into a virtual cockpit.
• is shipped with a standalone lightweight panel rendering engine to draw 2D panels on a low-cost computer/graphic card without 3D acceleration at reasonable frame rates.

Miscellaneous Features

• multiplayer/multi-crew support: cockpits can be manned with a crew, one in Poland and one in Malaysia. They can refuel their aircraft by contacting a tanker that is manned with a crew from Germany and Japan. All on one network, together, live.
• possibility to start and position an aircraft in the air
• radio and autopilot settings can be adjusted using a GUI offering better ergonomics as clicking around on a panel. However, if you prefer that - you can do that too of course
• nearby ATIS and tower frequencies can be looked up in sim

Unique Features? -> need to be discussed

• is not (only) for the geek and nerd. The easy single download makes flying pos pilots that want to lay their hands on the yokes, push the throttle and twist the heading bug, not caring about peek and poke, differentials, iterations and integrals.
• aircraft can be flown alone or within a simulated world including traffic control. *
• runway slope is correctly rendered.