ORIGINAL: bigedmustafa

My ESky flight simulator with FMS just arrived yesterday along with some Falcon 40 helicopter parts I ordered from RaidenTech. I did get a chance to try the ESky controller with the ClearView flight sim and it worked wonderfully with Clearview. Any simulator that will accept a generic USB joystick should work well with the ESky controller.

Windows XP automatically recognized and installed the controller. For best results, you will want to go to your Windows Control Panel > Game Controllers menu and callibrate the ESky controller in Windows first. You will also want to callibrate it again within whichever flight sim program you choose to use it with.

The ESky controller operates surprisingly well once you get it dialed in. I flew it with the included FMS 2.0 Alpha 8.3 that came on the included CD along with some ESky helicopter .wmv videos. The version of FMS included on the CD is actually slightly outdated as FMS 2.0 Alpha 8.5 is currently available. It also contains only the basic minimal assortment of planes and landscapes; you will want to find some FMS fan websites that have aircraft and fields to download.

If you purchase the ESky controller with FMS for $19.99 and then register for the full version of ClearView for $39.95, you'll have a good controller and two flight simulators all for less than $60. ClearView is downloadable in demo form from www.rcflightsim.com and you can try it out for about 15 minutes of flying time to make sure it runs OK on your PC. After that, you will need to register it.

I don't have access to copies of Reflex XTR, Phoenix R/C, Aerofly PD, EasyFly 2, or FSOne to try them with the ESky controller. My impression is that the ESky controller will probably work with any Simulator that will accept a USB cable connected to a standard transmitter.

FMS certainly isn't the ideal simulator, but it is fun to play with and it will help teach basic orientation. A little bit of "googling" and you can find dozens of additional aircraft and flying fields to add to FMS. ClearView's physics modelling is really pretty good, and it looks awfully nice as well. I was enjoying shooting touch-and-goes with the aileron trainer included with the demo.

Combining the ESky USB controller and FMS CD with the ClearView simulator looks like a good way to maximize your hobby dollars if you're interested in flying when it's raining or when you're sitting at your computer in your jammies at 11:00PM at night.