how many years have you been simming?

i just realized this the last few days how long ive been doing this thing called flight sim. If u .... 1995-2015= you get 20 years. I started with the FSFW95 which still has downloads on this site ...i may get back to that game again soon...

 

i went then to FS2002 and then FS2004 and then the demo for FSX and now FSX:SE

 

i have played FS5 but only once at a friends house.....

 

so i was wondering who has the longest or how long some of you have been doing this flightsim for?

SimLogic and 8-bit Atari days. Then all of the MS simulators. FSX-SE when it was released for $5.00

Some odd 30 years.

It all started in the mid-eighties with MS FS 2.1 on an XT 8088. Who knows what that is anymore ?

 

Went thru all versions of MS FS (including MS Flight), Flight Unlimited, Pro Pilot and Fly!. Also SubLogic's Flight Assignment ATP and Flight Lite, and Thalion's Airbus A320. Started fairly late with X-Plane (version 5.0), now my main flight sim.

 

Only a few "arcade style" flight sims, most notably Chuck Yearger's Advanced Flight Trainer, and Microprose's F-15.

First flightsim was probably 747 on the Vic 20 som 30 odd years ago.

Then Sublogics Flightsim and every version of MS Flight sim from Amiga to PC.

Still waiting for the next generation to appear?

Started with FS2.0 B/W which I had on the MacIntosh in my office room when I was in the Air Force in 1987. Then had it at work, and at home since FS4.0. Leading one of the oldest FS VA groups since 1998, (it was found in 1997), but the first time I used a PC based simulator was a moon lander on a Sinclair ZX81 in 1981, so it makes quite many years, with FS 28 years, all together 34 years!

Flight Simulator 1.0 by BA0 {Bruce Artwick Organization} on an Atari in 1982. Switched from Atari to Commodore 64, then Amiga, then finally on to PC, a 286 I think at that time.

Sub Logic back in the mid to late 70's.

Sub Logic back in the mid yo late 70's.

 

Hey KCD, no cheating please ! ;)

SubLogic was founded somewhere in the second half of the seventies (accounts vary), but they released their first flight simulator, FS1 for the Apple II, in late 1979 or January 1980 (again, accounts vary).

 

Edit: from the Gutenberg project

 

The subLOGIC Corporation is an American software development company. It was formed in 1975 by Bruce Artwick while attending the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and in 1978 incorporated by Stu Moment.[1]

 

Bruce Artwick and Stu Moment's produced a number of "ground breaking" computer video graphics programs during the 1980's. Their software development expertise, combined with an avid interest in flying, led to producing a very successful flight simulation program: "FS-1" (1980). In 1982, "Flight Simulator" was licensed to Microsoft. Since 1982, Microsoft has released major updates to Microsoft Flight Simulator [2]approximately every three years.

 

The company produced software other than flight simulators, including children's educational software[3] and Night Mission Pinball (1982).

 

http://self.gutenberg.org/articles/SubLogic

 

Assuming SubLogic FS1 for the Apple II is the first "real" flight simulator, the maximum number of years is less than 36.

Relative late comer starting with DI "F16 Combat Pilot" on the Amiga in 1993, most of the Microprose games and of course the Thalion Airbus - strange how happy we were with zero scenery and just a strip of vaguely different pixels to land on at each airport, no buildings or much else.

 

Graduated to the PC in early '95, so FS5 was my first encounter with our "bad boy". Went through most of the mil-sims while they were still being made, the Janes series starting with USNF and my particular favourite, Longbow 2. Even now those missile trails against a deepening amber sky in full 3DFX glory send a shiver down my spine. Of course we still had the joys of MS-DOS back then and I spent nearly as much time trying to set up a boot disc to run TFX as playing, getting firmly stuck on the 3rd mission. EF2000 caused major ructions as I received it as a present on Christmas Day, promptly vanishing off to the computer room much to the chagrin of SWMBO who was left doing dinner, while I spent 90 minutes flying across Scandinavia...to get shot down over the target by an unerringly accurate and tantamount to cheating AI SAM.

 

Quirkiest titles, probably the Tornado mil sim where it took longer to plan the mission than fly it and failure to precision execute your pre-planned ballet resulted in a mid air collision over the target. Then Strike Commander, Chris Roberts' earthbound alternative to Wing Commander. I actually quite enjoyed the (then) cutting edge cinematic story, even if the physics and missiles were pants and the ony way you could down enemy planes was to spend 15 minutes in a turning circle trying to get a bead with the chain gun.

 

Happy days though, when graphics were not nearly as important as a good campaign, whether scripted or dynamic. Sad that come the early 2000's the market all but dropped away from the mil-sim scene as it would be great to play titles like Longbow or USNF etc. at todays graphics and hardware level.

Simming since Sublogic's FS1 on an Apple IIe circa 1980. Developing since FlightShop circa 1995.

I was first involved back in 72 or 73, but that doesn't count. I got to go with my father to Des Moines for his semi-annual refresher training (UAL). Great cockpit layout, don't recall much in the graphics dept though. Around the same time, we also went to visit an old Navy buddy of his that happened to be OIC Survival Training at NAS Pensacola, and I got to "Fly" an A-4 sim. NO graphics, just a cockpit, set up as though pure IFR (windscreen blanked out). I had fun in that one.

In the mid-80's, I wound up...ahem..."seeing" a gal that ran the F-4 sim in Yuma, and I would stop by when I was out of work in the Radar shop for a little "flight" time. Usually around 0200 or 0300, and if a real pilot showed up, obviously they got priority. Better GFX than before, though :) If nothing else, the gal was better scenery by far...

Come the first of the '90's we had blisteringly fast 286-12 computers out at work, and we loaded up an F-15 sim from someplace off a 5-1/4' floppy or 5 and flew that when we got all the work done for the moment. Used a mouse for input.

So I guess the "official" answer would be '90-ish. After that, I picked up am F-14 sim someplace, and really enjoyed that. it had great flight dynamics, and you actually utilize weapons, eject if they got used on YOU, things like that. Do missions off land or carriers, lock your radar on cruise missiles or MiG's, fire your Phoenix, Sparrow or Sidewinders, depending on the target's range...THAT sim I really enjoyed.

Then FS2004 came out, I bought it, and I still have/use the discs I got then. I have FS9 really tweaked & peaked out, and still prefer it, although I am slowly getting into FSX-SE for the FSXBA FA-18C, from the FSDT folks. THAT plane I dearly love to fly! Maybe I am stepping up into a new decade in the sim world. Who knows, maybe by 2020 I'll look into P3D.

Pat☺

I got inside in April 2012. Not many years as compared to you all...

1987 with Sublogic FS II on the Atari XE.

All I can tell you, Rat Race, is that I was in Massachusetts at the time. I was there from 1976 to January of 1981. There was a Sub Logic program, very rudimentary, available in those years ; it ran on my first ever computer, a Radio Shack Color Computer that ha been enhanced by the addition of an external 5.5" floppy drive. After February 1981, I had left Massachusetts for North Carolina. My first association occurred in Massachusetts. That's a long time ago, and I guess my 78 year old mind is slightly infirm if you say I could not have had the program at that time. I don't know what else I can say.

All I can tell you, Rat Race, is that I was in Massachusetts at the time. I was there from 1976 to January of 1981. There was a Sub Logic program, very rudimentary, available in those years ; it ran on my first ever computer, a Radio Shack Color Computer that ha been enhanced by the addition of an external 5.5" floppy drive. After February 1981, I had left Massachusetts for North Carolina. My first association occurred in Massachusetts. That's a long time ago, and I guess my 78 year old mind is slightly infirm if you say I could not have had the program at that time. I don't know what else I can say.

 

Hi KCD, there is no doubt in my mind that you were one of the very first customers of SubLogic's FS1 for the Tandy TRS-80, released in March 1980, while you were still in Massachusetts. So, there's nothing wrong with your story (your memory is better than you think :) ).

At any rate, very few would have known about FS1 before you, let alone that they would still be avid flight simmers.

 

I got inside in April 2012. Not many years as compared to you all...

 

It's not a competition, Rishab :) Good thing there are young simmers like you.

 

Simming since Sublogic's FS1 on an Apple IIe circa 1980. Developing since FlightShop circa 1995.

 

It's not a competition, but so far, you're the winner. Although, "circa" 1980 does sound a bit vague :D

34 years.

01-01-1987

 

Cheers,

MY whole life has been a simulation

05/19.1944

I had (still have - non-operational) an 8088. Buildings were made out of sticks basically. Fun times!

I started shortly after SubLogic Flight Simulator 2 was released on Apple IIe. I was hooked and even went backwards to A2FS1, then have owned all subsequent titles thru FSX. This inspired me to become a pilot in life and I am now a captain for a major airline based in Houston. 14,000+ hours total time in real life and I still love flight simming, especially with my son, though I have mostly migrated over to X-Plane 10 as I believe the flight characteristics are much better. For eye candy and certain planes I still have FSX.

It's been a great hobby/job!

bout 1960 or 61, i think. i cut a nice piece of white posterboard. and used a compass and ruler to draw instruments on it. made needles you could reach around back and make them move on the dials for airspeed, altitude, etc. cut out a big rectangular front window with a cardboard disk behind it, so that you could rotate it from the back to change the scenery. it was my interplanetary rocket-powered spaceplane, and i traveled the earth and solar system in it. the rest of the vehicle i just imagined, kids are good at that. bout 12 years later i logged some time in some old-style link trainers as part of my real-life training. to my mind you could call both of those flight simming. ya wanna be a spoilsport tho, woulda been falcon 2.0 on amiga computers in the late 80's. :)

For it was FS on a Atari 1040ST, you had the choice of a Cessna 172 or a lear jet, scenery was a bunch of black lines coloured in with a flat colour. You couldn't do the globe trotting that you can today, once you flew out of the San Francisco area it was just green representing the ground and blue for the sky, don't think there was weather either, no clouds nothing.

Started back in 1983 with the Sinclair Spectrum 16k while I was in the UK doing a military language course. Upgraded the Spectrum to 48k and I was hooked. Can't remember the name of the sim, but it was "awesome" in those days.

 

 

Sent from my tablet thingy!

In the beginning....it was the Link Trainer at USAF Pilot Training in 1971. But as a hobby on a PC it was back around the very early 1980's when Sublogic released Flight Simulator for the Atari 800. When a PC appeared under the Christmas tree a few years after that, then it was on to MSFS3.1, The Chuck Yeager "advanced" flight trainer in two versions, ATP, Flight Light, Disney Stunt Island, Flight Unlimited in all versions, MSFS in all versions except the first MSFS for Windows, and recently X-Plane 10. To say nothing of Singer Link 707 and 727 sims, CAE and Rediffon A-300 and 757 and 767 sims, a few Link C-141 and C-5 sims and the odd Redbird FSX these days!

Since 1982. SubLOGIC A2FS1 on an Apple II (my son still has both the sim and the Apple stored away somewhere). Talk about scenery...those were the days...sigh...

 

Doug