So having broken up for my summer holidays I thought I would really try and knuckle down with my flight training, as a result of this I concluded a flight simulator of some sort would be really useful. There was just one catch, I had no money to buy one, the result was a super old school PC with Microsoft Combat Pilot 2 being hooked up.
The Entire SetUp

Was this a good idea? Yes, to be honest I was very surprised as to how good such and ancient piece of technology was. The graphics aren't great but that doesn't really matter that much, what I found most impressive was its closeness to actually flying. I was fortunate to find  a sidewinder joystick and so my flight sim was complete.
The SideWinder Joystick


I figured that of course a flight simulator of such an age is not going to teach you to fly but, it my just help you become a little more familiar with the effects of controls as well as letting you fly in a much more extreme fashion, really pushing the limits of your aircraft without harming yourself. So far I have stalled the plane numerous times on the Sim and for each time I do it I gain a little more understanding on the plane and where in its flight envelop the plane is likely to stall and how much pressure you can apply to the stick to get out of it.

All in all it is a really useful product which has cost me very little, for a huge saving in flying time that I would have to spend in the air to gain a similar level of experience. Don't get me wrong, I don't feel that a flight simulator is in anyway a substitute to actual flying but it is a fun game/activity which may help a little when flying.
The old beast which is running it all.

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Thanks.