Although still expensive, ELITE 8.0 is cheaper than it was six years ago and it incorporates more features.

by Jane Garvey

Never mind honing your IFR skills to a razor’s edge, just keeping legally current is a chore. And in case you haven’t noticed, $4-a-gallon gas doesn’t make it any cheaper. It therefore makes perfect sense to rely on a desktop flight simulator to dislodge at least the larger scales of rust.

But which program? And which hardware? Since we last examined this topic six years ago, the market has made some fundamental shifts. Last time, gameport joysticks and serial peripherals were the big (and frequently hassle-riddled) deal. The advent of USB has all but eliminated hardware issues. …