Flightgear - The Flight Simulator From Hell!

Everyone has heard of Microsoft Flight Simulator, but for some serious flight simulator buffs, Microsoft's attempt is not up to snuff. The folks at Flightgear, an open-source flight simulator project, have a program that can be easily modified to work with almost any hardware or software platform. Their booth attracted throngs of drooling aviation fanatics, who wanted to try their skills on a realistic 747 cockpit.

John Wojnaroski built his 747 simulator with scavenged and self-built parts. It had multiple LCDs in the panel and supported a projection screen for the outside view. He and his helpers have spent nearly two years building the simulator and they are far from finished. Wojnaroski says: "This is a continuing project. I don't even remember how much money I spent making it."

Flightgear will run on Windows, Linux and Mac OS X operating systems. The graphics are rendered with Open GL, which allows it to get decent frame rates on average machines. Every line of source code is available and is under the GPL licensing scheme.

Flightgear can simulate dozens of planes, with new flight models being contributed regularly. The world is simulated with nearly 12 G of data, which can be downloaded or mercifully purchased on three DVDs for only $40.