You Are Not Hardcore Until You Fly the Falcon

Any serious simulation website, blog or community forum should have at least a word about Falcon 4.0 or any of its re-incarnations like Falcon 4.0 Allied Force.

To correct this blog's glaring omission, this is just a quick note on a simulator that is already 10 years old and still has lots to give.

I picked up my Falcon 4.0 at a ToysRUs (a big toy store chain in the US) sometime during 1999. It was more out of curiosity than anything else because I was not at all into flight simulators (or anything else interesting for that matter).

Many computers have sited on my desk and a variety of interests have come and gone through me since that time. But one thing was constant: a copy of Falcon in the hard drive.

This is the most complete simulation of the F-16 avionics to ever reach the civilian market. I once read that a lucky fan of Falcon 4.0 got to sit in a military grade F-16 simulator thanks to a fighter-pilot friend and that everybody was astonished on how much the civilian enthusiast knew about the avionics.

Falcon 4's uniqueness doesn't end in the detailed avionics. The simulation includes a rich, complex virtual war being waged around the virtual F-16 Falcon. It is almost embarrassing that no flight simulator released in the last ten years has not come even close to match the massive scope of this simulation.

Chances are you already know about this simulator. If don't, do yourself a favor and pick up a copy from any game store. It's the best 20 bucks you will ever spend.

As for myself, I'm back to flight school taking a refresher course.


Cheers,