This is the history of Microsoft Flight Simulator. It was first published on Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia and is reproduced here under FREE licence for the benefit of our customers.
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The original simulator had black and white wireframe graphics, featured a very limited scenery consisting of 36 tiles (in a 6 by 6 pattern, which roughly equals a few hundred square kilometers), and provided a very basic simulation (with only one aircraft simulated). Despite this, it ended up being one of the most popular Apple II applications of the early eighties.

The simulator was later ported to the TRS-80 Model I, which had only rudimentary graphics capability. To squeeze the simulator into the TRS-80 limited memory and display, subLOGIC saw it necessary to drop the instrument panel and reduce the resolution. Flight Simulator for the TRS-80 therefore has the most simplistic graphics of all versions of flight simulator.

Later subLOGIC released updated versions of Flight Simulator for both the Apple II and TRS-80 on 5 1/4 inch diskettes. The updates included enhanced terrain, help menus and a bomb sight.

Flight Simulator 98

- Released in mid 1997

FS98 (6.1) is generally regarded as a 'service release', offering minor improvements, with one notable exception: The simulator now also featured a helicopter (the Bell 206BIII JetRanger), as well as a generally improved interface for adding additional aircraft, sceneries, and sounds. Other new 'out of the box' aircraft included a revised Cessna 182 with a photorealistic instrument panel and updated flight model. The primary rationale for updating the 182 was Cessna's return to manufacturing of that model in the late 1990s. The Learjet Model 45 business jet was also included, replacing the aging Lear 35 from earlier versions.

A major expansion of the in-box scenery was also included in this release, including approximately 45 detailed cities (many located outside the United States, some of which were previously included in separate scenery enhancement packs), as well as an increase in the modeled airports to over 3000 worldwide, compared with the approximately 298 in earlier versions. This major increase in scenery production was attributable partially to inclusion of the content from previous standalone scenery packs, as well as new contributions by MicroScene, a company in San Ramon, California who had developed several scenery expansions previously released by Microsoft.

This release also included support for the Microsoft Sidewinder Pro Force Feedback joystick, which allowed the player to receive some sensory input from simulated trim forces on the aircraft controls.

This was the first version to take advantage of 3D-graphic cards, through Microsoft's DirectX technology. With such combination of hardware and software, FS98 not only achieved better performance, but also implemented better haze/visibility effects, "virtual cockpit" views, texture filtering, and sunrise/sunset effects.

FS2000 (7.0) – Elevations levels have been improved when compared to FS98. For the first time, a GPS feature is added.

Flight Simulator 2000

- Released in late 1999

FS2000 (7.0) was released as a major improvement over the previous versions, and was also offered in two versions; one version for "normal" users, and one "pro" version with additional aircraft. Although many users had high expectations when this version arrived, many were disappointed when they found out that the simulator demanded high-end hardware; the minimum requirements were only a Pentium 166 MHz computer, although 400–500 MHz computer was deemed necessary to have an even framerate.^[2] However, even on a high-end system, stuttering framerate was a problem, especially when performing sharp turns in graphically dense areas.

This version also introduced 3D elevation, making it possible to adjust the elevation for the scenery grids, thus making most of the previous scenery obsolete (as it didn't support this feature). A GPS was also added, enabling an even more realistic operation of the simulator.

New aircraft in FS2000 included the supersonic Aerospatiale-BAC Concorde (prominently featured on both editions' box covers) and the Boeing 777, which had recently entered service at the time.

An often overlooked, but highly significant milestone in Flight Simulator 2000, was the addition of over 17000 new airports, for a total exceeding 20000 worldwide, as well as worldwide navigational aid coverage. This greatly expanded the utility of the product in simulating long international flights as well as instrument-based flight relying on radio navigation aids. Some of these airports, along with additional objects such as radio towers and other "hazard" structures, were built from publicly available U.S. government databases. Others, particularly the larger commercial airports with detailed apron and taxiway structures, were built from detailed information in Jeppesen's proprietary database, one of the primary commercial suppliers of worldwide aviation navigation data.

In combination, these new data sources in Flight Simulator allowed the franchise to claim the inclusion of virtually every documented airport and navigational aid in the world, as well as allowing implementation of the new GPS feature. As was the case with FS98, scenery development using these new data sources in FS2000 was outsourced to MicroScene in San Ramon, working with the core development team at Microsoft.

FS2002 (8.0) – Autogen allowed the environment throughout the world to be true to its surroundings. A Cessna C172SP Skyhawk is shown here flying above the default Meigs Airport in Chicago.

Flight Simulator 2002

- Released in October 2001

FS2002 (8.0) improved vastly over previous versions. In addition to improved graphics, FS2002 introduced ATC and AI aircraft. Users could now fly alongside computer controlled aircraft and communicate with airports. A "target framerate" option was added, enabling a cap on the framerate in order to reduce stuttering while performing texture loading and other "maintenance" tasks. The external view also featured an inertia effect, inducing an illusion of movement in a realistic physical environment. The simulation ran smoother than Flight Simulator 2000, even on comparable hardware. A free copy of Fighter Ace 2 was included with the software.

FS2004 (9.0) – Featured dynamic weather with three-dimensional clouds and improved graphics.

Flight Simulator 2004: A Century of Flight

- Released in July 2003

Flight Simulator 2004: A Century of Flight, also known as FS9, was shipped with many historical aircraft such as the Wright Flyer, Ford Tri-Motor and the Douglas DC-3 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Wright Brothers' first flight. It included an improved weather engine, which provided true three-dimensional clouds and localized precipitation for the first time. The engine also allowed users to download weather information from real weather stations, allowing the simulator to keep the weather synchronized with the real world.

Flight Simulator X (10.0) – featured improved AutoGen, increased ground resolution, and had better lighting effects.

Flight Simulator X

Flight Simulator X, or FSX, is the tenth and current edition of Flight Simulator. The new features include new aircraft, improved multiplayer support, including the ability for two players to fly a single plane, and players to occupy a control tower (available in the Deluxe Edition), and improved scenery with higher resolution ground textures.

It is also the first of the series to be released solely on DVD due to space constraints.

Aircraft in Microsoft Flight Simulator

Notes:

• Yes – This means that the aircraft is included.
• AI – Aircraft can only be used by the AI traffic.
• ASD – 747, Starship, Piper Cherokee and Cessna Floatplane were included only with the Aircraft and Scenery Designer add-on for FS4.
• Pro – Aircraft is included only on the Professional Edition of FS2000 or FS2002.
• Deluxe – Aircraft is included only on the Deluxe Edition of Flight Simulator X.
• A hyphen (" - ") – Aircraft is not included.

Any plane with G1000 in the name means that the plane features a Garmin G1000 glass cockpit GPS navigation system (FSX Deluxe Edition only).