Free range Flight Sim?

[TheGreatSatan]

Any good free range flight sim games out there? Something only needing a mouse and keyboard?

[diluzio91]

Seem... dunno if this counts... but Google earth has a built In flight thing.... fly anywhere over real topography...

[x88x]

What sort of thing are you looking for? Just something to have some fun flying around or what?

[Outlaw]

I can't vouch for the sites or links. I did successfully download files from the first 2 (Flightgear and Orbiter) links but have not installed them yet to verify working or otherwise.

eHow Link

Links from eHow:
1. http://www.flightgear.org
Description: FlightGear (civilian flight simulator)
If you are looking for a freeware alternative to Microsoft Flight Simulator or its main competitor X-Plane, look no further than Flightgear Flight Simulator found at http://www.flightgear.org.
Continuously improved by scores of developers, Flightgear runs on Windows,Apple and Linux computers. It is a modular package, meaning that, just like for Microsoft Flight Simulator, there are many available add-ons such as aircraft and scenery. Besides being free, Flightgear is also an open source program, meaning you can download the source code and change it to your liking. I installed an earlier version of Flightgear, and found it relatively easy to set-up. However, the program still had a few bugs and was lacking the polish of Microsoft Flight Simulator or X-Plane.
Overall, Flightgear is a solid offering and the more time you will put into understanding and customizing this program, the more you will get out of it.

2. http://orbit.medphys.ucl.ac.uk/
Description: Orbiter (space flight simulator)
If you want to do your flying outside of the Earth's atmosphere,and on other planets, then Orbiter is the simulator for you. Orbiter is also a free program, and can be found at http://orbit.medphys.ucl.ac.uk/.
Orbiter features realistic space and atmospheric flight physics, the entire Solar System, and a range of missions to fly in both real and fictional (but highly complex) spacecraft. Just like Flightgear, Orbiter has numerous add-ons such as high-resolution planetary textures, user created missions and many spacecraft.

3. http://homepage3.nifty.com/ysflight/....html#YSFLIGHT
Description: YS Flight (civilian and combat flight simulator)
YS Flight (http://homepage3.nifty.com/ysflight/....html#YSFLIGHT) is a small flight simulator that has an interesting selection of both military and civilian aircraft. The graphics are fairly rudimentary,but setting up a mission is a snap. If you want to get in the cockpit and shoot some bandits after just a few clicks of the mouse, give this sim a try.

4. Abandonware
Many simulators of ages past are now available on the web as 'abandonware'. Just Google the term and you will find numerous sites where you can browse for old flight simulators. Since most will run under Microsoft DOS, you will need a DOS emulator, like DOSBox, to get these games to play. DOSBox is found at http://www.dosbox.com/.
I used to have a lot of fun playing Electronic Arts 'Chuck Yeager's Air Combat' and MicroProse 'Dogfight' or '1942: Pacific Air War'. You should definitely give these games a try, just to get a sense of how far the simulation genre has come.


5. http://www.microsoft.com/games/fligh...downloads.html
Description: Free Download Demos
The latest offering of Microsoft Flight Simulator, FSX, has a playable demo which can be found at http://www.microsoft.com/games/fligh...downloads.html. Scroll down for 'Trial Version'
NSFS's main competitor, Laminar Research X-Plane, also has a time-limited version located at http://www.x-plane.com/demo.html.

Hope this helps.
Outlaw


**update**
Was able to successfully fly and crash the boeing 777 in Flight Gear. There were no cool explosions, but for free, the details were to be expected.

**update1**
Orbiter tested Win7 64. Graphics wise, same as Flight Gear. Fairly decent for free though. Addons for both sims.
Flight Gear tested Win7 64 and WinXP 32.

Flight Sim X Demo (Only 2 missions available. You do not have to land in the Landing mission though as far as I could tell) Also, not sure if it's my pc or demo, but it did crash a couple times in Win7 64bit