Microsoft Flight Simulator for Windows 95 (0)

Overview

Microsoft Flight Simulator for Windows 95, more commonly referred to as Flight Simulator 95 or FSW95, was the first version of Microsoft's franchise not released on DOS, and took advantage of new Windows features such as DirectX. While largely a port of the, it included two new planes, improved scenery areas and a number of training courses and challenges.

The default airport, which remained for several more versions until destroyed in the real world, continued to be Meigs Field, Chicago. Plane destruction was also present in this version (in a collision the plane would shatter and fall downwards).

Multimedia demonstrations of aerobatic maneuvers, performed by Patty Wagstaff, were included along with other multimedia pilot help of more basic flight concepts and features.

Flight Simulator 95 was released on the same day as and the PC version of .

Included Aircraft

The game included six aircraft in total, adding two new to the franchise (the Boeing and Extra). Each was detailed with external models and functional instrument panels, and semi-realistic procedures and checklists available.

• Cessna Skylane RG - an 'ideal plane for pilot training', suitable for many kinds of flying without overwhelming an inexperienced aviator
• Learjet 35A - a small private jet
• Boeing 737-400 - a large, usually commercial jet aircraft
• Extra 300S - a single-seat aerobatic aircraft
• Schweizer 2-32 - a basic sailplane (unpowered glider)
• Sopwith Camel - a successful fighter biplane used in WWI; this version is not armed.

Scenario Flights

Training Lessons

Several in-engine lessons were provided as an interactive tutorial on basic and more advanced topics; these could be set so that either the player or "Instructor" (computer) had control of the aircraft, but couldn't transfer it temporarily.

• Introduction Flight: "A introductory lesson on taking off, flying a traffic pattern and landing the Cessna 182RG at Chicago, Meigs Field, Runway 18."
• Normal Landing: "A lesson on normal landings in the Cessna Skylane RG at Meigs Field, Chicago."
• 15 Knot Crosswind Landing: "A lesson on crosswind landings at Meigs Field, Chicago."
• Climbs, Turns, and Descents: "A lesson on climbs, turns, and descents near Tokyo."
• Maneuvering at Minimum Controllable Airspeed
• Approach and Departure Stalls

Flight Scenarios

A variety of preset flights were also included, often to show off various new features or scenery, or for the player to experience flight in perfect (or less-than-perfect) conditions. Nineteen in all, these included an Aircraft Carrier Fly-By, a tour of New York City, a 'hidden' hot air balloon near Chicago, and several optimal locations for use with the sailplane (i.e. that would provide thermals or ridge lift). A "Surprise Flight" function was also available, but only selected from previously saved flights (including the default scenarios).

Adventures & Challenges

Two 'Adventures' were included in the default install - "LA Haze Maze", an ILS landing at Van Nuys California, and "Fly Before You Buy", a tour of Seattle and the Learjet 35A.

A much vaster number of challenges were also available. Many, but not all, were provided with multiple difficulty variations (from Basic to Mastery).

• Beautiful Bay Area Night: A night approach into San Francisco
• Bumpy Road into Boston: An ILS (no visibility) landing into Boston, flying the 737.
• Carrier Landing: Land on a stationary and unencumbered aircraft carrier (supposedly the Nimitz)
  
  • Challenging: Land with the Learjet
  • Difficult: Land in poor weather
  • Mastery: Land with the Sopwith Camel while controlling it remotely
• Cross Country: Fly to and land/takeoff at a sequence of airports
  • Higher difficulty levels include more airports or harder paths.
• Crosswind Landing: Land on a runway with a significant crosswind present
  • Challenging: Auto co-ordination of rudder and aileron is disabled
  • Difficult/Mastery: Higher crosswinds and more difficult runways
• Daredevil: Land (and come to a stop) in the Los Angeles Coliseum
  • Challenging: Instead, perform a loop around the Golden Gate Bridge
  • Diffcult: Fly inverted between the WTC towers and then continue around Manhattan
  • Mastery: Fly through downtown Chicago in heavy fog
• Easter Island Roll: Perform a barrel roll in the 737 over Easter Island
• Emergency Descent: Descent from 33,000 ft to 10,000 ft in the 737 by following emergency procedures without colliding with mountain peaks or exceeding maximum speed
• Follow The Leader: Taxi and takeoff, and follow a Cessna in close formation
  • Difficult: Stay in a traffic pattern at Meigs Field, sharing airspace with many other AI planes
  • Mastery: Takeoff behind a much slower plane, then safely pass it
• Inverted Flight: "Survive" being flipped upside down with no fuel
  • Higher difficulties include more dangerous locations/weather
• Inverted Flight at Atlanta: Perform a 'ribbon cut' aerobatic maneuver at under 50 feet above the ground
• Landing Blind at Heathrow: Perform an ILS landing with low fuel and a critically ill passenger (supposedly)
• Lost in Rio: Find and land at an airport in worsening weather before running out of fuel
• Lost in the USA: Find and land at Martha's Vineyard
  • Higher difficulties include worse weather, further distances or specific runways
• Manhattan Bridges Race: Fly under all the in-game bridges around Manhattan
• Mountain Flying: Fly between airports in dangerous conditions
  • Higher difficulties include more difficult landing areas (even a road) and weather
• New York Movie Flight: Capture exciting footage for an upcoming movie's chase scene
• Out of Gas: Land with almost no fuel at an airport that knows you're coming
  • Challenging: Descend from 40,000 ft and land with no fuel
  • Difficult: Land with no fuel in changing weather conditions
  • Mastery: Attempt to glide in a Cessna to land
• Partial Panel: Land at Meigs Field at night with several failed instruments
  • Challenging: Land at Port Angeles with instruments failing as time passes
  • Difficult: Perform a more difficult landing with instrument failures
  • Mastery: Land with only an airspeed indicator, localizer (runway alignment) and glideslope.
• Perfect Pattern: Fly a perfect pattern in good conditions
  • Challenging: Complete the pattern with a consistent wind
  • Difficult: Fly a right-hand traffic pattern
  • Mastery: Fly in winds and turbulence
• Remote Control: Take off and land a Cessna while watching from the control tower
  • Challenging: Land the Cessna remotely
  • Difficult: Land the Cessna remotely while facing it
  • Mastery: Take off and land while watching from above the runway
• Sailplane: Land at a nearby airport in the glider
  • Higher difficulties require further travel or provide less opportunities for lift
• Spot Remote: Land the Sopwith Camel at LaGuardia from a chase-camera view
  • Challenging: Fly in the Learjet instead
  • Difficult: Fly in the glider instead
  • Difficult: Take off and fly in chase-cam at night time
• Under the Eiffel Tower: Fly along the Seine and under the Eiffel Tower while inverted

A variety of IFR landing scenarios (i.e. no or minimal external vision, requiring close attention to instruments to find, approach and land on the runway) are also included, for a number of aircraft, locations and weather.

Global Coverage

Flight Simulator 95 includes nine main geographic areas: Chicago, London, Los Angeles, Munich, New York, Paris, San Francisco, Seattle, and Tokyo. Each of these includes a number of airports (with their real-world layouts), detailed scenery, and correct rivers and highways for US locations. This version was the first to also include major airports outside the US and Europe.

Airports and scenery were occasionally available outside these areas (such as Rome, Moscow, and Miami) but usually in lesser detail or quantity.

Preset Airports

Airports as listed in the 'Go To Airport' window, which separates them by scenery area. Thus, the high-detail Athens (covering one city and one airport) is given the same prominence as low-detail Africa. Planes can be moved to any position on the Earth's surface by setting latitude and longitude exactly, but detail is minimal outside these areas.

• Africa: Abidjan, Antananarivo, Cape Town, Casablanca, Gran Canaria, Harare, Johannesburg, Khartoum, Kinshasa, Lagos, Nairobi, Santa Maria, Seychelles
• Asia: Aden (Yemen), Bangkok (Thailand), Bombay (India), Calcutta (India), Christmas Island, Colombo (Sri Lanka), Den Pasar (Indonesia), Kaohsiung (Taiwan), Karachi (Pakistan), Kushiro (Japan), Kuwait (Kuwait), Male (Maldives), Manila, Riyadh, Seoul (South Korea), Shanghai (China), Singapore (Singapore)
• Athens: Athens
• Atlanta: Dekalb-Peachtree, Fultown Co-Brown, Hartsfield Atlanta Intl, Peachtree City-Falcon
• Avra Valley: Avra Valley
• Beijing: Capital
• Berlin: Schonefeld, Tegel, Tempelhof
• Boston: Block Island State, Bradley Intl, Brainard, Chester, Danielson, Green State, Katama Airpark, Logan Intl, Manchester, Markham Mun, Martha's Vineyard, Southbridge Mun, Tweed-New Haven, Windham
• Cairo: Al Ismailiyah AB, Cairo Intl, Giza, Port Said
• Cape Canaveral: Skip Strip, Dunn, Merritt Island, Shuttle Landing Facility, Orlando Intl, Patrick AFB, Space Center Executive
• Chelan: Chelan Muni
• Easter Island: Mataveri Intl
• Europe: Barcelona (Spain), Bergen (Norway), Brussels (Belgium), Copenhagen (Denmark), Dublin (Ireland), Geneva (Switzerland), Glasgow (UK), Hamburg (Germany), Helsinki (Finland), Istanbul (Turkey), Keflavik (Iceland), LeHavre (France), Lisbon (Portugal), Madrid (Spain), Orenburg (Russia), Prague (Czech Rep.), Reims (France), Stockholm (Sweden), Vienna (Austria), Warsaw (Poland),
• France - Paris: Barberey, Bretigny-sur-Orge, Charles de Gaulle, Cormeilles-en-Vexin, Le Bourget, Les Mureaux, Orly, Persan-Beaumont, Toussus-Le-Noble, Velizy AB, Villaroche
• Germany - Munich: Augsburg, Donauworth-Genderkingen, Eggenfelden, Gunzenhausen-Reutberg, Munich, Oberpfaffenhofen
• Jerusalem: Ben Gurion, Jerusalem, Queen Alia Intl
• London: Andrewsfield, Biggin Hill, Blackbushe, Denham, Dunsfold, Elstree, Fairoaks, Farnborough AB, Gatwick, Halton AB, Hatfield, Heathrow, Leavesden, London City, Luton, North Weald, Northholt AB, Panshanger, Redhill, Stansted, Stapleford, White Waltham, Wycombe Air Park
• Mexico City: Lic Benito Juarez Intl
• Miami: Dade-Collier, Everglades, Homestead AFB, Homestead General, Kendall-Tamiami, Key West Intl, Key West NAS, Marathon, Miami Intl, Opa Locka, Opa Locka West
• Moscow: Domodedovo, Sheremetyevo, Vnukovo
• North America: Albeuquerque NM, Anchorage AK, Atlantic City NJ, Barrow AK, Belize City, Berlin NH, Billings MT, Bismarck ND, Boise ID, Burlington VT, Calgary (Alberta), Charleston SC, Cheyenne WY, Cincinnati OH, Columbus OH, Dallas-Forth Worth TX, Denver CO (two airports), Duluth MN, Edmonton (Alberta), Fairbanks AK, Gander (Newfoundland), Godthab (Greenland), Goose Bay (Newfoundland), Grand Canyon AZ, Grand Forks ND, Grand Rapids MI, Great Bend KS, Great Falls MT, Guantanamo Bay HAS (Cuba), Hilton Head Island SC, Honolulu HI, Houston TX, Huntington WV, Huntsville AL, Indianapolis IN, Jackson MS, Jackson WY, Jacksonville FL, Kansas City MO, Lincoln NE, Little Rock AK, Louisville KY, Marquette MI, Memphis TN, Minneapolis MN, Montego Bay (Jamaica), Montgomery AL, Nashville TN, New Orleans LA, Norfolk VA, Oshkosh WI, Philadelphia PA, Phoenix AZ, Pittsburgh PA, Ponterville CA, Portland ME, Portland OR, Raleigh/Durham NC, Rapid City SD, Richmond VA, Salt Lake City UT, San Antonio TX, San Jose, San Juan PR, San Salvador, Santa Barbara CA, Santa Fe NM, Sioux City IA, Sioux Falls SD, Spokane WA, Tallahassee FL, Telluride CO, Tonopah NV, Topeka KS, Tulsa OK, Unalaska AK, Vancouver (British Columbia), Waco TX, Wilmington DE, Zihuatanejo
• Oceania: Alice Springs, Auckland, Brisbane, Darwin, Guam, Johnston Atoll, Melbourne, Midway NAF, Nadi (Fiji), Perth, Port Moresby (PNG), Queenstown (NZ), Wake Island, Wellington
• Page Muni: Page Mun, Wiley Post, Will Rogers World
• Panama: Enrique Adolfo Jimenez, Howard AFB, Marcos A. Gelabert Intl, Tocumen Intl
• Reno: Alpine Co, Blue Canyo/Nyack, Calvares Co-Rasmussen, Carson, Columbia, Dayton Valley, Dearwater, Douglas Co, Georgetown, Lake Tahoe, Nervino, Nevada Flyers, Parker Carson, Placerville, Reno/Stead, Reno/Tahoe Intl, Tahoe, Westover/Amador Co
• Rio De Janeiro: Rio De Janeiro Intl, Santa Cruz AB, Santos Dumont
• Rome: Ciampino, Fiumicino, Urbe
• South America: Asuncion, Brasilia, Buenos Aires, Cayenne (French Guiana), La Paz (Bolivia), Lima-Callao, Natal (Brazil), Quito, Santafe De Bogota, Santiago
• St Louis: Lambert-St Louis Intl, Spirit of St Louis, St Louis Regl
• Sydney: Kingsford Smith Intl
• Tokyo: Atsugi Aero, Chofu, Hyakuri Aero, Iruma, Kastner AAF, Kasumigaura, Kisarazu Aero, Matsmoto, New Tokyo Intl, Oshima, Shimofusa Aero, Shizuhama Aero, Tachikawa Aero, Tateyama, Tokyo Intl, Yokota AB
• Toronto: Buttonville Muni, Toronto/City Center, Toronto/Pearson Intl
• USA - Chicago: Aurora Mun, Bloomington-Normal, Campbell, Clow Intl, Du Page, Dwight, Frankfort, Frasca, Galt, Gary Regl, General Mitchell Intl, Gibson Cit Mun, Glenview NAS, Greater Kankakee, Howell-New Lenox, Joliet Park District, Lake In The Hills, Lansing Mun, Lewis University, Lowell, Meigs, Merrilville, Midway, Morris Mun-Washburn, O'Hare Intl, Palwaukee Mun, Paxton, Sanger, Schaumburg Regl, Univ of Illinois-Willard, Vermillion Co, Waukegan Regl
• USA - Las Vegas: Boulder City, Indian Springs, Henderson Sky Harbor, McCarran Intl (three runways available), Nellis AFB, North LV Air Terminal, Pearce Ferry, Echo Bay, Perkins Field, Temple Bar
• USA - Los Angeles: Brackett, Catalina, Chino, Compton, Corona Muni, El Monte, Fallbrook Community, Glendale, Hawthorne Muni, John Wayne-Orange Co, Long Beach, Los Angeles Intl, McClellan-Palomar, Oceanside Muni, Ontario Intl, Riverside Muni, San Diego Intl, Santa Barbara, Santa Monica Muni, Van Nuys, Zamperini
• USA - New York: Brookhaven, Danbury Mun, East Hampton, Essex Co, Kennedy Intl, La Guardia (two runways available), Lincoln Park, Linden, Long Island MacArthur, Lufker, Marlboro, Mattituck, Montauk, Morristown Muni, NAVWPS, Newark Intl, Old Bridge, Republic, Sikorsky Memorial, Spadaro, Teterboro, The Gabreski, Waterbury Oxford, Westchester Co
• USA - San Francisco: Alameda NAS, Auburn, Borges, Buchanan, Byron, Cameron Park, Carmel Valley, Chico Muni, Crows Landing NALF, Franklin, Frazier Lake, Fresno Air Terminal, Fresno Chandler, Fritzsche AAF, Garberville, Gnoss, Gualala, Gustine, Half Moon Bay, Hamilton, Hayward, Healdsburg, Hollister Muni, Kingdon, Lampson, Lincoln Regl, Little River, Livermore Muni, Loch Lomond, Lodi, Lodi Airpark, Mather AFB, McClellan AFB, Merced Muni, Mesa Del Rey, Metro Oakland Intl, Modesto City, Moffett Field, Monterey Peninsula, Napa Co, Natomas, New Jerusalem, Nut Tree, Oroville Muni, Palo Alto, Parrett, Petaluma Muni, Rancho Murieta, Red Bluff Muni, Reid-Hillview, Rio Linda, Rio Vista Muni, Sacramento Executive, Sacramento Metro, Salinas Muni, San Carlos, San Francisco Intl, San Jose Intl, Sharpe Army Depot, Sonoma, Sonoma Skypark, Sonoma Valley, South Co of Santa Clara, Stockton, Sunset Skyranch, Tracy Muni, Travis AFB, University, Visalia Muni, Watsonville Muni, Watts-Woodland, Willows-Glenn Co, Yolo Co, Yuba Co
• USA - Seattle: Arlington Muni, Auburn Muni, Boeing Field/King Co Intl, Bremerton National, Fairchild Intl, Firstair, Harvey, Martha Lake, Olympia, Pierce Co-Thun, Port Orchard, Renton Muni, Sanderson, Seattle-Tacoma Intl, Shady Acres, Snohomish Co, Spanaway, Tacoma Narrows
• Washington D.C.: Andrews AFB, Baltimore-Washington Intl, College Park, Washington Dulles Intl, Washington National