User Guide

Flight Simulator

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2000

Microsoft

This is what straight-and-level flight looks like

from the left seat, where you, the pilot, normally sit

(Figure 1). Don’t worry if you seem to be headed

for a distant mountain village. I’m with you.

Besides, this is Rome and those Romans are very

good at repairing villages.

How to Tell You’re Going Straight

Okay, how do you know you’re actually flying

straight and level? The easiest way is to look over

the instrument panel out the windscreen (the front

window) as shown in Figure 1. It appears that the top portion of the instrument panel is

approximately parallel with the earth’s distant horizon. This implies that your wings are not banked,

which means you’re flying straight and not turning.

There is, however, another way to tell if you’re flying straight.

1. Press the hat switch on your joystick to the left (the hat switch is the button that sticks straight

up out of the middle, near your thumb) to take a look out the left window. (You can also use

Shift+4 on the numeric keypad to look left.)

Notice how far the wing is above the earth’s horizon.

2. Now press the hat switch to the right and take a look out the right window. (You can also use

Shift+6 on the numeric keypad to look right.)

In straight flight, both wings should be the same distance above the horizon (refer to the

horizon, not the mountains).

Having the

Right Attitude

In airplanes, I prefer that my students almost strip

the gears in their neck by looking right and left

out the windows. This helps them check the

wing’s position and keeps their eyes out of the

cockpit looking for traffic. In the simulator, it’s

inconvenient to keep shifting views to the left and

to the right. So, you’ll use the attitude indicator to

help maintain straight-and-level flight. The

attitude indicator is located at the top of the six

main flight instruments directly in front of you

(Figure 2).

Figure 2

Figure 1