My first computer flight sim was Solo Flight for my Atari 800 in 1983, written by Sid Meier. I used to play it for hours and I think that’s where my first fascination with flying a sim comes from.
Anyone else remember their first flight sim addiction?
Falcon 3.0. Bought it with my first PC in 1993 (386 DX40) along with a Gravis Analog Pro flight stick.
Take offs and landings at Meigs Field Chicago circa 1984.
The first “flight sim” I ever played must have been the original Gunship from 1986 on my uncles Atari ST, if I remember correctly.
The first flight simulators I played on our family PC were Flight Unlimited, Flight Simulator 5 and Fleet Defender:
Pilotwings on the SNES
I can’t remember if FS98 or Jane’s USAF was after that (which are both arguably more simulation oriented) once we got our first family computer that could even play games
lol I remember a friend’s father used to play that flight sim on his Sinclair back in the early / mid 80s. It was the first time I’d seen flight sim on a computer. Only it was on a monochrome monitor.
I never actually played it myself as that computer was off limits to the kids.
I was just a girl, at first I played with my father … I used it until the early 90’s when my father bought me my first pc and I got the fs4
My first flight simulator was on my Timex Sinclair 1000. It was black and white only and hooked up to my massively large 19"TV. That was 1980 or 1981. A few months later I got a Radio Shack Color Computer. Flight simulator was the first thing I bought for it. In 1989 I bought a CompuAdd 12 MHZ 286. I’ve gotten every version of MS Flight Simulator since 1989.
Same for me, it wasn’t that great. I think we loaded it from cassette tape. It was my dad’s setup, but he never really got into it.
ooohh great thread this should be fun…and bring some nostalgia for sure
My first ever flight sim was some air combat sim that came on a floppy disk and was simply hud lines and a horizon with dot pixels as enemy planes. This was in 1993 so no Idea what that particular sim even was. But it came on a 5.25 Floppy Disk that my father had in a pile under his old IBM.
After that I was hooked I later discovered sims like
F-22 for Sega
Then in 1997 my father bought me my first PC
I discovered sims like
Red Baron
War Birds
Chuck Yeager Air Combat
Birds of Prey by Argonaut
Which till this day is by far one of the most detailed advanced sims for its time back then, as in no combat flight sim dev has ever attempted such a sim on a huge scale again.(No DCS doesn’t even come close to the amount of content this sim had)
Complete with pretty much every Nato Aircraft and weapons system layout.
I studied each aircraft and pretty much read that thick manual twice.
Honestly this very piece of military aviation software alone was my motivation and driving force into pursuing an Air Force career back then as a kid.
iF-16
Longbow
Commanche
Janes Titles
Top Gun for both PS1 and PC(Two totally different games/sims)
The PC version was actually pretty ■■■■ intense and cool for what it was back then.
Air Warrior
Joint Strike Fighter by Eidos(Another title that was totally advanced and before its time)
Then it happened…I discovered Microsoft Flight Simulator 1998 and have been hooked on civilian sims over combat sims ever since.
Went away for the Air Force in 2002 and didn’t really keep up with pc gaming nor simming again until 2006 when FSX released.
FSX
P3D
XP11
Now we are here with MSFS.
I had top gun on the commodore 64. I can hardly count that though, it was more equivalent to a few pixels moving across the screen. Amazing how far we’ve come in 35 years.
subLogic Flight Simulator II on the Commodore C64 around 1985 or 1986. Don’t quite remember which. But I do remember that I didn’t know what I was doing. 
This was mine. FPS were pretty good and no micro stutters. Although the landing challenges were limited to just the one scenario 
(I don’t have any photos of my original; this one from stuffwelove.co.uk, referenced in accordance with their copyright statement)
Mine was a fighter pilot type game on the ZX Spectrum, but first on PC was Flight Sim 3.
I did create a video recently, running MSFS 4.00 (DosBox) on a traffic circle taking off from Miegs, circling around, and landing, then doing the same on MSFS 2020 (using a freeware Miegs add on)
If you are interested in a bit of nostagia, here you go! (skip to 2:12 to see the MSFS version)
I am quite sure the first flight sim I ever saw was Sublogic Flight Simulator on my uncle’s Apple II. I remember using a later version of MSFS on an MS-DOS PC when they had some glider over Martha’s Vineyard, but I really had no idea what to do. The first sim/game that actually got me hooked to flying was F/A-18 Interceptor on the Amiga, that was amazing back then!
I was maybe 10 when I installed SubLogic Flight Simulator II on my Apple ]|[ - Monochrome (green on black) graphics, keyboard controls, and “clicking” engine sound. I think I got between 1-5 fps at most. Landings were a real challenge.
Many later versions of FS (and other sim-like air combat games) followed, as well as a couple initial real-world lessons. But parenthood and career got in the way, and simming was left behind in the days of FS 2004 (and whatever version of X-Plane was out then)
FS 2020 brought me back, and I’m now considering trying X-Plane again as well. Who knows - maybe I’ll even dust off the old logbook…
Oh my gosh what an awesome comparison! I remember those old graphics, 3D was mindboggling back then. But the sound was just awful 
Just remember I got my first AdLib sound card for the PC to play Battle of Britain. Unbelievable how far we have come in the last 30 or so years!!!
We have indeed come a long way. I dont even have the most high end computer either, that video was done on a Ryzen 1800x, and a GTX 1080, 4K and high end settings, and it looks epic!
