Why do we fly? Dominic Smith shares a rather personal piece about the need to fly (simulated) and what makes it so special. He then shares a sample flight that shows some beautiful country where he loves to escape through the wonders of GA aviation.

In the flight simulator world we can choose our weather, time of date, season and so on and take the exact flight we want. In the real world--things happen. Real world pilots of course do plenty of flight planning but events can occur that throw off the best plans, sometimes ending up with the plane landing somewhere other than intended. Airline captain Tony Vallillo shares several "diversionary tales" from his long career.

Allan Jones brings us a story that combines some real aviation history and some flight simulation. Learn about WWII pilot Joy Lofthouse and the Air Transport Auxiliary who delivered newly built military aircraft. Then take on the challenge of an FSX flight in WWII Great Britain, flying VFR only through limited "balloon lanes".

The Blackburn Firebrand is not one of the more famous planes of WWII, but it does have an interesting history and some interesting flight characteristics as well. Martin La Grange tells the story of how the Firebrand came to be and developed during use, and also introduces the Alphasim version that you can use in your flight simulator.

Continuing from the previous "Going Places" installment where he arrived in Montevideo, Rodolfo Astrada turns around and heads back north. As before, he weaves in stories of the regions being traveled, including Uruguay and Madeira, and aircraft history, including the Boeing 727.

Tony Vallillo has long regaled us with his tales of airline flying. But flying the big jets was not enough; he dreamed of owning his own plane. This ultimately came about in a way that involved knowing just the right people and looking at just the right time. In part 1 the deal was made, but now he owned a plane on the wrong coast of the US that needed to be flown home, resulting in an adventure of low and slow flying.

Those in the northeast U.S. just went through a major blizzard earlier this week (FlightSim.Com HQ got three feet of snow). Storms like this obviously have an impact on aviation. In this timely feature, former American Airlines captain Tony Vallillo shares some stories of his own flights in winter storms and how the airlines deal with such weather.

Tony Vallillo has long regaled us with his tales of airline flying. But flying the big jets was not enough for this pilot, who dreamed of owning his own plane. This ultimately came about in a way that involved knowing just the right people and looking at just the right time, ending up with the ownership of a most unusual craft with a fascinating history.

Author Allan Jones tell the real-lift story of a Christmas Day flight, seventy years ago in 1944. "Faith's Flight" is the WWII story of the rescue of school children in China taken across the hump to India. Read the story and then recreate the flight yourself using your flight simulator.