Links
This page is not going to be the usual sea of blue underlined links so common to the Internet. A link appears here only if I deem it a valuable addition to the flight-simming experience, and also if I personally use it. Explanations are included with each link so that you may judge its value.
No links are placed here because a website owner gave me a free copy of their software or product.
Please e-mail me if you use a utility that is particularly useful and worth sharing with others, and I'll check it out. Please notify me, too, if you find a broken link here.
Are you a Newbie? Then jump to the bottom of this page for information on required software patches before worrying about anything else.
FSNavigator
In my opinion, if you are not using FSNavigator you have only half a flight-simulator. Authored by Helge Schroeder, FSNavigator is a valuable mapping utility that shows the location of airports, navaids and your aircraft. One can zoom out to show the entire world or all the way in, so that a single airport occupies the full screen. Best of all, you can plot your planned flight path by clicking on the navaids, airports, or waypoints along the route of flight. It does a lot more, too. You'll wonder how you ever did without it.
Helge has updated to version 4.51 of this classic program, which, unlike previous versions, is fully compatible with FS-98, FS-2000, and
So, if the $30.00 is not a problem, then go to Helge's new website for version 4.51 of FSNavigator, a 9.1 Mb download fully compatible with FS-98, FS-2000, and
If you are using FS-98, the freeware version of FSNavigator is satisfactory. The filename is fsnav300.zip and the Documentation, English, is fsnavdoc.zip. Both files can be found at:
If you are using FS-2000, yoiu may either use the shareware version, 4.5+ or the freeware version 3.0. If using the freeware version, 3.0, a separate database is needed. That file name is fs2kdt60.zip compiled by Dennis D. Thompson.
Pilot's Assistant Toolset
Brian Tooby's Pilot's Assistant is a 1 MB freeware program for Flight Simulation pilots which functions in conjunction with MS Excel. This toolset can be likened to an E6B calculator, except that it's more intuitve to use, faster, more accurate and provides much more information. It's a flight planner, fuel planner, and descent planner. It also calculates bank angles, climb and descent rates, wind correction angles, great-circle routes, and on and on. BUT, there's another nugget of gold here. It has a terrific resource which lists websites valuable to flight-sim pilots, with descriptions of each. In my judgement, Brian doesn't adequately promote that feature. It's excellent. Go see for yourself.The MSFS Gateway Page
The MSFS Gateway Page is a recently discovered website that has been a God-send for me. It lists, describes and categorizes 100 popular MS Flight-Simulator links, including most of my favorites. Gone are the frustrations of searching my out-of-control bookmarks to find the URL of a frequently-visited flight-sim website. But beyond that, I learned of other valuable websites worth a visit. Webmaster Tony Smith has personally visited every site, and they appear on his website only if he deems them valuable or interesting.
Classic Airliners
You don't have to delve very far into this tutorial to spot my fondness for propliners, aka propeller airliners. The DC-3 is my favorite, but if an aircraft has two or more propellers hanging off the wings, and it carried passengers for hire for an airline, I can find room for it in my hangar.
If you're equally fond of the old birds go to Tom Gibson's California Classic Airliner website. There you'll find an unequalled array of propliners, panels, sounds and descriptions.
Love props, but they don't have to be airliners?
If the sound of a prop plane, no matter the number of engines or its mission, makes you light-headed and takes the cares of the day away, then visit Simviation's website. Jets are there, too, along with panels, gauges, and utilities so they have something for everyone.
Simviation's great feature is that prop planes and jets are listed separately. A photograph and brief description accompany each aircraft in the index.
Just scrolling through their 68 pages of prop listings, each with about eight aircraft, will provide an interesting afternoon's diversion. Historic aircraft are in their own listing, too. I bookmarked that site real early.
Better than the Airport/Facility Directory
The Government prints a seven-volume Airport/Facility directory listing all public airports in the continental US, with descriptions, plus navaids.
The same sort of thing, but more inclusive, is available on-line, at AirNav.com. It is an independent, free resource, with the same currency dates as the US Government publications. The on-line data is broken into three categories:
AIRPORT INFORMATION
Get all the information about airports. Details include airport location, runway information, radio navigation aids and communication frequencies, significant obstructions, and a wealth of other information for pilots. In a way, it is similar to the A/FD, but with lots more detail and covering more airports (e.g., it also includes private and military airfields). As an added bonus, you will be able to search airports by name or by location.
NAVAID INFORMATION
Obtain detailed technical and operational information about radio navigation aids used for en route navigation (VORs, NDBs, TACANs, etc.).
FIX INFORMATION
En route fixes, airway intersections, waypoints... they're all here, from AAAMY to ZUYEB. Find out where they are, how they are defined, and on which charts you can see them.
This is a great resource and hardly the day goes by that I don't go to it for some sort of information. Once you've used it, you'll rely on it, too.
More links on the way . . .
For the Newbie
It's unlikely that you found this website if you are brand new to Flight Simming. However, we all know the definition of assume, so here is a quickie for the newcomers.
Both FS-98 and FS-2000 require software patches to function properly. A patch is simply a software update of an existing program, usually to fix bugs that are so serious that even the boss is embarrassed. Companies receive no money for patches, unless they call them upgrades, so they fix the absolute fewest things that they must.
FS-98 requires two patches:
- fs98pat1.exe (801 KBytes)
- fsconv98.exe (1515 KBytes)
Get the FS-98 patches by clicking the button below.
FS-2000 requires only one patch at the moment. Be aware, though, that FS-2000 Pro requires its own patch (8.90 MBytes) as does FS-2000 Standard (7.06 MBytes).
Go to this Microsoft website to download the FS-2000 patches, aka "updates."
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