However, if you’re on a budget and want a highly detailed and realistic flight sim that’s highly customizable, you can’t do much better than FlightGear. Flight Simulators For Mac: Conclusion As we’ve seen, although there are less flight simulators on Mac than there on PC, there are three that work on both platforms and stand out for professionalism and realism: X-Plane, Aerofly FS and FlightGear.

New to this forum and to flying. Recently received my private license and would like to practice as much as possible when at home.

Will eventually purchase a single engine plane (possibly new or within 5 years) but need hours and skills before such an investment. Willing to spend money on a decent simulator but would prefer to find a used one if possible. Also not a IT hardware wizard so not about to build my own. Need advice and also searching to see if any available for sale. Preference would be in SouthEast US region.

I am looking for something that can help with increasing my comfort level with the instruments, yoke, rudder pedals and throttle. Lead a busy work life and airport is not close so spending money on rental hours instead is not an option. Not looking for a entry level (cheaply made or old) simulator, but willing to spend up 10K to secure a decent one that has been lightly used. Would prefer one with side monitors for more realistic visuals, and sitting in a position more like flying would be a bonus; but a really decent desktop (well under 10K) would be considered.Also looking for any feedback on what simulators others found useful for training (single engine through instrument rated). I am looking for something that can help with increasing my comfort level with the instruments, yoke, rudder pedals and throttle. Lead a busy work life and airport is not close so spending money on rental hours instead is not an option.

Not looking for a entry level (cheaply made or old) simulator, but willing to spend up 10K to secure a decent one that has been lightly used. Would prefer one with side monitors for more realistic visuals, and sitting in a position more like flying would be a bonus; but a really decent desktop (well under 10K) would be considered.Also looking for any feedback on what simulators others found useful for training (single engine through instrument rated). Sony dcr hc48 driver for mac. Click to expand.I'm a Sport Pilot student. I use X-Plane 11 with a Saitek yoke, rudder pedals, and throttle quadrant run off a Dell laptop onto a flat screen TV. I used it initially as a glorified 'chair flight' system; getting used to flying the pattern, setting RPMs, maintaining altitude, etc. It helped a ton.I haven't tried things like stalls or slips so I can't tell you how accurate those are.

I fly E/G airspace so I haven't played with the ATC functions.I'm currently using it to pre-fly my checkride. It's at an airport I've never been to and I want to run the flight from different runways and try and get my climb-out, checkpoints and landmarks dialed in. The actual scenery is not likely to be correct but major roads and intermediate runways are (and I'm using several runways as landmarks). My hope is that this will make the actual checkride flight easier.Total cost for the gear (I had the laptop so I'm not counting that) was around $500 with works out to 2 or 3 hours plane/CFI rental so I figure it's not a bad investment.Downsides:I fly a Skycatcher and there aren't many good models for the plane. I found one but the avionics package is different from my actual plane.

It's good enough for what I'm doing but would drive me nuts if I wanted to learn the actual avionics. If you fly something more popular.not an issue.Skycatcher has a stick/stoke rather than a yoke but I just use my left hand on the Saitek yoke. I had to define buttons and switches for things like flaps that are, in the 'Catcher, levers. No big deal for what I'm doing.It is hard to keep the plane straight on the runway and landing is a b.ear.the visuals and feel are so very different from actual flying that I find those phases helpful but not a ton.The TV screen res is not the best so some of the instruments are difficult to see. An actual big monitor would make a difference but not enough for me to spring for the cost. My experience has been different.

When I was last taking lessons, my flight simulator helped me with departure stalls. Also, 2 years after my last lesson in a Skyhawk, I had a familiarization flight in a Evektor Sportstar. I actually landed the Evektor better than I had ever landed the Skyhawk.

(Two years gap, low wing, vs. High wing, etc.) And, I was good at estimating altitude with the altimeter covered.I had been flying my simulator between lessons, and the instructor observed that most sim-pilots spent two much time looking inside the cockpit, but I was good about looking outside the cockpit. He was also impressed I hadn't lost much after my last Skyhawk lesson.I tried a Redbird simulator at Abundant Air at KRHV, and it was easier to fly than my simulator, and most pilots on here say that it's harder to fly a sim than a real plane.I used to be scared of the ground approaching when landing, both in planes and simulating. Sims 4 new aspirations mod. Shooting many sim landings has gotten me over the ground fear, and my cross-wind landings are getting better.Finally, electricity is a lot cheaper than Avgas!Of course, YMMV. New to this forum and to flying.

Recently received my private license and would like to practice as much as possible when at home. Will eventually purchase a single engine plane (possibly new or within 5 years) but need hours and skills before such an investment. Willing to spend money on a decent simulator but would prefer to find a used one if possible. Also not a IT hardware wizard so not about to build my own.

Need advice and also searching to see if any available for sale. Preference would be in SouthEast US region.

Click to expand.Check this post out:However, from what I've read, the Saitek yoke has a severe detent at the yoke's neutral position. It is possible to open it up and remove the mechanism that causes the detent. I'd just recommend a CH Products yoke, or if you want to put some big bucks into your HW, you could get a Redbird Gold yoke, and matching rudder pedals. Amazon has both. You can save a few bucks going with a Saitek Throttle quadrant instead of the Redbird Gold throttle quadrant. The first has levers, the last has a vernier throttle; I don't think it makes that much difference.I haven't had good luck getting joysticks to work with FSX:SE, and a yoke is a little closer to realistic.

With a $10k budget you can get a Precision Flight Controls Cirrus II console, Avionics stack and rudder pedals plus two networked computers. One for the outside view on a 4k tv and the other for the instrument panel. X-Plane 11 and Airplane Manager for the seperate instrument panel. Been using a setup like that with mostly used components. When flying is slow it keeps me on my toes.

If you need any parts info let me know. The below setup is a mix of some older software simulating an interchangeable six pack and a G1000. Running on three computers. You should just stick with X-Plane 11 and Air Manager to keep things simple.

X-Plane 11 has a pretty good G530/430 combo plus a G1000. I have a Saitek yoke and pedals with Xplane 11 and find it very useful in trying to train my brain to deal with the many things you need to keep track of simultaneously. I also use a VR headset which gets rid of a lot of visibility problems associated with a simulator with a screen.

If I wanted to get something simple and not build one I would go for the Redbird Jay. It comes with everything including yoke, throttle, computer, Prepar3D software and monitor. You would want to get the pedals from Redbird as well. X-Plane 11 now supports VR natively, so you don't need Fly Inside anymore. A Rift or Vive VR headset will be more immersive, but it will be more difficult to use hardware peripherals and you will need a real good video card for that.

Multiple monitors instead of VR will allow you to use add-on hardware peripherals easily like rudder pedals, yoke and throttle. There are also fully functional hardware peripherals for the G1000 and G530, G430 etc., RealSimGear makes these hardware panels. But that's probably more of interest to someone getting an instrument rating.

XPlane + basic peripherals is certainly good enough for you to practice those PPL requirements a flight sim is good at teaching:1) Procedures for your PPL: That would be your engine start, runup, GUMPS, etc checklists. Plus the procedures for your Private pilot PTS practical test maneuvers. You can practice setting the maneuvers up, hitting the right RPM's and flap config. For your stalls etc.2)Familiarization with the routes and airports (runway configurations, taxiways approach etc) for your cross countries.

You can use Ortho4xp to build scenery tiles that contain very recent satellite photo scenery for the routes and airports you'll be using. You can pick up all your landmarks and see what the airports will look like on approach. Even after your PPL it's useful to fly a route in Xplane before visiting a new airport.3) VOR navigation, the sim works just like the real thing.4) If you're using an integrated flight app like Foreflight you can log your iPad onto your local network and tell Xplane to feed it GPS data so you can use it as you would when your flying. It will even run your app's AHRS.5) Radio practice, get a PilotEdge subscription and you can practice your radio work with ATC controllers. This can relieve some of the anxiety some new pilots feel talking on the radio.What is the sim not good for? Stick and rudder skills, which is probably 70% - 80% of what you need for your PPL.

You'll have to spend a lot of money to get a sim that can teach this effectively, better just to fly as often as possible to pick this up.