Flight Sim’s weather effects, above, are among the best of any programs we tried.

by Jane Garvey

Anyone with a computer has encountered the popular Microsoft Flight Simulator series—now up to the 2004 iteration—but few pilots have taken it seriously as an instrument trainer, including us. But that’s a mistake, because MS Flight Sim has evolved to be more than a game and with the recent addition of instrument failures, it’s a contender as a currency trainer. At $29.99 discounted, buyer’s remorse is hardly a worry if you don’t like it.

One caveat, however: When we tried to boot up Flight Simulator for the first time, video card warnings prompted us to spend some time with the Readme file and we eventually upgraded an older video…