X-Plane

X-Plane offers the most realistic flight model available for home use. X-Plane is not a game, but an engineering tool that can be used to predict the flight characteristics of fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft with incredible accuracy. Because X-Plane predicts the performance and handling of almost any aircraft, it is a great tool for pilots to keep up their currency in a simulator that flies like the real plane, for engineers to predict how a new airplane will fly, and for aviation enthusiasts to explore the world of aircraft flight dynamics. Welcome to the world of props, jets, single- and multi-engine airplanes, as well as gliders, helicopters and VTOLs. X-Plane contains subsonic and supersonic flight dynamics, allowing users to predict the flight characteristics of the slowest aircraft to the fastest. X-Plane also includes 35 aircraft on its master disk, spanning the aviation industry (and its history), sporting aircraft from the Bell 206 JetRanger and Cessna 172 to the Space Shuttle and the B-2 Bomber. Additionally, more than 1,400 additional aircraft models can be downloaded from the Internet (X-Plane.org, the X-Plane.com Links page, and Google are good places to start), nearly all of which are free. If those aren't enough, users can design their own airplanes and test fly them! The full X-Plane scenery package covers the Earth in stunning resolution from 74 north to 60 south latitude. Scenery is also available for Mars thanks to the Mars Orbiting Laser Altimeter, which mapped that planet's elevation. On Earth, users can land at any of over 33,000 airports or test their mettle on aircraft carriers, oil rigs, frigates (which pitch and roll with the waves), or helipads atop buildings. They can also realistically model the flight of remote controlled model aircraft, air-launch in an X-15 or Space Ship One from the mother ship, fly re-entries into Earth's atmosphere in the Space Shuttle, fly with friends over the Internet or a LAN, drop water on forest fires, or shoot approaches to aircraft carriers at night ...