got to fly a beechcraft bonanza for an hour or so once, we were already airborne when he flipped the control wheel over to my side and that was after he asked me if i wanted to fly and i said "NO", yeah i was 15 at the time and the first time i had ever been up in a plane, needless to say it was awsome after i settled in a little bit ( IE holding the contols frozen in a slight climbing to the right) he told me to put the nose down a little bit so i pushed the stick/wheel down about a half inch and my stomach just about came out of my mouth. after i realized only gradual pressure on the controls was needed it truly was awsome , at least for me all i had to do was pretty much follow a highway, probaly barely turned and he was working the rudder so it really wasnt all me flying but it was still a great memory and i still hope one day to take some real lessons.

and oh yeah love the demo, cant wait to meet yall in the game and learn a few things, deffinately going to play this game in at least realistic untill i learn enought to play on sim mode, ive never played a real flight sim but being a 360 owner have to say im tired of arcade flight.

I have my Private license, just topped the 100 hr mark. I am also within a few weeks of obtaining my Instrument Rating.

I feel for you there. IFR is the ultimate Jedi mind-screw training wise. The positive side is that the checkride is a little more lenient since the DPE already trusts your judgement. Just watch the new changes to void times, that just changed 8-1. They need some night/IFR type missions in BoP. Make us navigate to the target on instruments, then give us a narrow opening in a broken ceiling to bomb the target. Asking too much? Probably.I think this is the first console game where I have seen all of us with an actual pilots license (only the FAA calls it a certificate), come out in droves. Has anyone paid attention enough to the Spitfire cockpit to know if the Turn Slip Indicator is working and accurate?
It's a shame they couldn't bend the historical rules a little and give us a PAPI, that would be a lot of fun to mess around with. They should at least make you use a VOR on simulator or realistic, they were invented at the time. If we can't get an IFR mission, give us a mission where you have to track on the VOR to your target. Once again, that is not asking too much for such a great game with such a realistic representation of flight.

Haha IFR training is so different, my flight examiner who is based at the airport KMGY is about 83 years old and can fly like those red bull air race guys. He told me that "Instrument training is an Unnatural Act that is only punishable by god" What that means? i dunno. I just did some NDB appchs and some GPS appchs today. I would LOVE a VASI or PAPI. VOR navigation, REAL dead reckoning. Get some transponder and TCAS action. How about ATC comms, DME arcs, Holds, LASHO, Missed appchs procedues, Circle to land, sidestep.....as i have lost about 80% of the people here. haha im so excited about this game........Or a makeshift LOC/ILS for those in need of help with decents without crashing.

Most of that stuff existed during WW II and was in use on the battlefield so I don't understand why we don't get some of it. It's kinda hard to argue for more realism in this game, though. Having to look at the instrument panel and actually follow a radial is unheard of in a console game, could be another first for BoP. They could even have you hold in the pattern so that damaged aircraft could land, give some kind of points for actually staying in the pattern instead of flying off to the coast to look for baby seals to club. It would be a very interesting mission if you had to ride a radial to pick up the bombers that you are going to escort instead of instantly starting near them. Everybody says they want realism, at least until they find out that not all of flying is terribly exciting and a lot of it is routine.

Well with the night missions maybe we will get a suprise and have you follow a radial or at LEAST a working compass like in PC. Im not sure if we have one, i havent looked in the demo for the compass. I would have thought that BOP would have used Keyboards and have extensive controls. (like that game Phantasy Star, unless im wrong that keyboards are not compatable)

Keyboards are compatible with 360 and PS3, not sure why they didn't include the feature in BoP. My big question with everybody overheating their engines is why they didn't include cowl flaps? I know that if you go to the virtual cockpit you have a compass across the top. It's not quite as precisely marked as what we're used to, but it's a game, N S E W is enough I guess. I am going to hammer out the demo some more and really check out the cockpits to see what all gauges we have and don't have. I know we have an RPM gauge for the prop and naturally MP, but I haven't seen a VOR/DME which they had in the mid-1930s, or the old-school radio beacons like the ones the Japanese followed to get to Pearl Harbor. I wouldn't put it past them, though, this seems to be one of the very few games where the developers really listened to the gamers and talked to actual pilots about what we do and don't use.
We could ask them to throw in ILS approaches, void times, designated routes and all that is IFR, but come on, it's a game and that stuff is hard in real life. Can you imagine being on a mission with a wounded plane and having the tower tell you "Spitfire #### establish on the localizer then enter the 45 you're #3 behind a Blenheim hold on left downwind for 16, maintain visual seperation and establish glide slope at discretion." I really like the way you think, but man would we crash a lot.

Hey just out of curiosity, what plane are you doing your IFR training in? I did all mine in my 182, kinda the easy way out because 182's are notoriously stable. It's always nice to talk to other pilots, both about real flying and the game, we all learn so much that way.

Im doing all my training in C-172SPs....one has a Garmin 430, the other does not. In regards to the game, the PC version of IL2 has almost 150 controls and can be configured any way you like. Im not sure if you are familar with the Il2 series, but it had everything you could ever want in configured controls. except Navigation. Though they did a good job of mapping the ground to the map with cities and stuff you would see on a sectional chart.

Until they include airfields on the map with $100 hamburgers I refuse to be satisfied.