Editor's note: FLIGHT SIMULATOR NOTEBOOK is a regular column devoted to articles about flight simulators, from tutorials and strategies to hangar talk and anything in-between. Potential articles may be on any flight simulator product of interest. If you would like to contribute to FLIGHT SIMULATOR NOTEBOOK, please contact GAME BYTES Magazine.
THAT'S RIGHT, I HAVE NO LIFE; I HAVE FLIGHT SIMULATOR

THAT'S RIGHT, I HAVE NO LIFE; I HAVE FLIGHT SIMULATOR

by J. Ollinger
DON'T DO IT -- READ ABOUT IT

I picked up Microsoft Flight Simulator, the Official Strategy Guide by Nick Dargahi (FS:OFG) during my last trip to the bookstore. It's a substantial book for $19.95 US, and weighs in at 467 pages, with a lot of quality illustrations, graphics, and eight pages of color plates in the middle.

The book not only explains all the stuff that the FS manual covers, but it also goes into some things that the FS5 manual glosses over or ignores completely. FS:OSG offers helpful checklists, performance specs, and information on how to properly fly the planes in the current FS5 hangar. For those who have trouble finding their way around, the book has an extensive chapter on navigation techniques. There are also couple of "solo adventures"--guides on how to fly cross country.

Also there's a section on add-ons and accessories for FS, from joysticks, and yokes to high-end simulation programs. I thought I knew everything that was available for FS and found out I was wrong. It's worth a look.

The appendices have some interesting peformance charts comparing different computer systems and the frame-rates you can get out of them, a huge navaid/airport listing and navigational maps, and a real nice breakdown of the FS5 keyboard controls.

Novice FS users will get a lot more out of the book than veterans, but the navaid/airport listing alone makes the book attractive. Add to that a variety of interesting and useful information, presented well and illustrated profusely, and the book becomes even more valuable. It's definitely worth a look.

MICROSOFT FLIGHT SIMULATOR, the Official Strategy Guide
Written by Nick Dargahi
Published by Prima Publishing, P.O. Box 1260BK, Rocklin, CA 95677
ISBN 1-55958-466-1
Library of Congress Number 93-85785
$19.95 US

BEST UTILITY OF THE MONTH

... comes from Georges Lorsche of Luxembourg, and the program is FINAL APPROACH Version 2.2, a shareware Windows program.

What it does is allow you to create and view airport approach plates for your FS5 tours. First you create the approach plate using the tools the program offers, and then you print out the plates for the airports you'll be stopping at on your trip.

An approach plate is a diagram of the proper approach procedures for a particular airport. The NOAA prints collections of these, as does Jeppesen and others. What you do is look up the airport you want to land at and the runway approach in use (VOR, NDB, ILS, etc.), and the plate will tell you the altitude you should be arriving at, the holding pattern, descent information, and a variety of other information (including radio frequencies).

FINAL APPROACH has two views--profile and top-down. The profile view shows the altitudes and distances from the airport at various stages of the final approach. The top-down view shows the approach radial, the holding pattern, and navaid frequencies.

If you're familiar with the layout of real approach plates, then the program should prove to be fairly easy to use and understand. If you've never seen a plate, then the program isn't going to make much sense. You'd be better off to pick up an NOAA or Jeppesen booklet and learn how to read it first.

There are two versions of the program--unregistered and registered. Since it's shareware, you need to send the author $30 if you plan to keep it. The unregistered version does everything except allow you to use the profile view of any plates that you create (other than the few that came with the program). You can create and store them, but you can't see them without the registered version.

Hopefully the program will continue to be updated and improved as it goes. Click-and-drag features would be nice--if you place an item in the wrong place, you have to have the computer erase it and then place it again. It would be nice to be able to just click on the item and drag it into place. Also, FINAL APPROACH has a field for the old FS4 coordinate system, which is not compatible with the lat/long coordinate system that FS5 and FLIGHT ASSIGNMENT: ATP use. It would be great if another field would be added to allow it.

This is one of those utilities that would be great if a lot of people used it and built up a database of approach plates. If you download a scenery area, a collection of approach plates for the airports would be nice (especially for the areas that aren't easy for me to get, like Kenya and Australia), but almost anything would be welcome.

If it sounds interesting, check it out. The unregistered version lets you do everything but see your saved profile-views, so you can get a good idea of whether it looks worthwhile or not. All it costs is the price of a download to evaluate it. It's available on Compuserve, by ftp over the internet, and elsewhere.

FINAL APPROACH version 2.2
by  Georges Lorsche Software & Consulting
5, rue des Violettes
L-3447 Dudelange
Luxembourg/Europe
CompuServe:  100041,211
Internet:    100041.211@compuserve.com
Fax number:  +352 459210
             +352 524001
This column is Copyright (C) 1993 by J. Ollinger for Game Bytes Magazine. All rights reserved.