Microprose
(distributed in the U. K. by U.S. Gold)
48K disk
or cassette
£14.95
Flight simulator programs for micros have become
increasingly popular over the past year and there is now a good
selection available for the Atari. Unlike the D.A.C.C. simulator
(reviewed in Page 6 issue 9), Solo Flight is based on flying a small
single engined aircraft in a variety of locations in the U.S.A. On
booting the disk, you are given the main menu from which you may
select either the Practice Flying mode or the optional Mail Pilot
game. If "Flying" is chosen, you may also choose the type of
flying you wish to practice - this may be Clear Weather, Landing
practice, Windy Conditions or Instrument Flight Rules (low cloud and
so poor visibility). You can select the state in which to fly (Kansas,
Washington or Colorado) and this is important since it is much more
difficult to fly in mountainous Colorado with its tiny airfields than
it is in nice flat Kansas. To play Mail Pilot needs a good working
knowledge of how to fly the aircraft and so it is best to start with
Practice Flying.
The main flying screen starts with your plane
grounded on an airfield somewhere in the state of your choice, and
your first task therefore is to take off. The screen itself is divided
into two halves. The top part shows the view out of the front window
(though you can look out of the sides or behind by using the arrow
keys). One slightly odd feature is that you can also see a small
picture of the aircraft in the middle of the screen. This is intended
to aid the user in determining the attitude and height of the plane,
since it also casts a shadow. Although a little unrealistic, it is
necessary and you very quickly get used to it. The bottom half is a
comprehensive set of instruments including the usual altimeter, fuel
gauge, airspeed indicator etc., and also Instrument Landing System and
VOR navigational indicators. Some of these instruments are dials and
others are digital readouts. Controls are provided by joystick and
keyboard. The stick controls climb, dive and bank while the keyboard
controls the flaps, brakes, landing gear and throttle (with the 0 - 9
keys a la Star Raiders). There is a pause key which is absolutely
essential since there is no autopilot in this plane and you could
easily crash into a mountain while reading the instructions! In-flight
emergencies can be simulated for practice purposes.
Take-off is straightforward. Simply taxi to the end
of the runway, set flaps, apply full power, and pull back on the stick
when the speed is 85 knots or more. You inevitably make mistakes the
first few times. It's surprising how much difference trying to take
off with the brakes applied or with no flaps actually makes!
Once up, you can fly around as much as you like
until your fuel runs out, but you can't relax - just as in a real
plane you must watch your instruments and make numerous small
corrections to keep correct course and height In Washington and
Colorado you must also watch out for mountains and avoid flying into
them. The mountains are one of the few negative aspects of the
program, being depicted on the screen as white outlines only (i.e. you
car see through them) which makes it hard at first to realise what
they are and how close you are to them. Fortunately, their heights are
given on the state maps in the program's documentation and with a
little practice it is easy to fly over them.
The next hurdle is to land, and this is considerably
more difficult than take-off. You must get the approach conditions -
airspeed, rate of descent; nose pitch etc. just right of you will
stall, bounce or simply run off the end of the runway. Failure to
lower the landing gear leads to an embarrassing crash. The package
insert gives some good guidance on the landing procedure, but it is
still very much a matter of practice. It is also essential to practice
routine scanning of the instruments and flying in windy conditions
before trying IFR flying. This is very difficult at first since once
above the cloud ceiling you can no longer see anything out of the
window! Finding somewhere to land demands an understanding of VOR
navigation - a system which allows you to work out your current
position and that of nearby airfields by means of radio beacon
cross-bearings. Again, this is well explained in the documentation.
Having mastered the control of the aircraft, you can
then go on to try the Mail Pilot game included in the package. This
requires you to deliver five bags of mail to the correct destination
in the least amount of time. Not only do you have to be able to
navigate correctly, but as the game progresses the weather
deteriorates and mechanical emergencies may develop (especially at the
higher difficulty levels). After each delivery you are shown a map of
the route you took to arrive at your destination, and on difficult
airfields in bad weather you may have flown all over the place before
arriving! If you crash, the program will tell you where you went
wrong. At the end you are given a score depending on the number of
successful deliveries, degree of difficulty and technical competence
in flying the plane.
Overall, this is a very worthwhile program to own.
Once you master the principles of flying the plane, there is the
challenge of learning to fly by instruments and the immense
satisfaction of bringing the plane in safely with an overheating
engine in terrible weather on a difficult airstrip. Instrument flying
is very well catered for and the package offers the facility of
designing your own approaches to any one 21 different fields! The
documentation is excellent and supplies all you need to know about
flying the aircraft. No program is perfect, and I did have one or two
small complaints. I have already mentioned the mountains, and some of
the instruments use artifacting for additional colour, which made the
fuel gauge in particular difficult to read. Other than that, it is
very good indeed and can be heartily recommended.
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