Here is another program by John which has to be one of the neatest tool any flightsimmer (or any computer user for that matter) can ever use. It pops up your flight plan (or any other text file) on the screen as you fly. It has a show/hide key and it can handle up to five separate text files. The beauty of this little gem is that you can use it with 'any' computer program, not only the Flight Simulator. For example, I am using it now as I make the review of this new app. Includes several more options, such as timer etc... You try it and you'll love it. John has graciously given me permission to make this program available right from my own site (the only place I know of where you can get it). And here it is! Download install and... enjoy!

GPS2 by David Drouin

If one was to ask me which event brought the most enjoyment and realism to the flight sim world I would have to answer "David Drouin's introduction of his GPS 1.0" This statement of course is not meant to minimize the contribution of so many dedicated simmers who already had contributed to the hobby with programs such as the Flight Planner and various utilities etc but David's GPS was the first and he led the way to a whole new way to fly the venerable MS Flt Sim.... and enjoy doing it!

Up until the release of GPS 1.0, one had to use a great dose of imagination and 'make believe' to realistically fly long distances, such as over the Pacific Ocean. Even with the advent, in '97, of special scenery containing virtual NDB's and VORTACs across the oceans, flying long distances just wasn't realistic.

I really enjoy flying long distance all over Europe and North America and I put GPS 1.0 to good use. I had found it to be easy to use and even easier to make data files covering selected areas of the world. Then came GPS Ver 2.0! After having read the 'promo'... I just couldn't wait acquiring that one! I, as many others, quickly found the built-in nagware extremely annoying. Wishing to partake of the added features (minus the nags) in the registered version, I did just that. After all, the asking price was more than reasonable and, having been the first to 'pave the way with a good GPS, I felt Dave more than deserved a monetary reward for his efforts.

Truth be told, as much as I had looked forward to using this new version, with all its advertized bells and whistles, I barely used it at all and quickle returned to GPS 1.0. Perhaps it was just me but I found it too much of a hassle to built those databases with Ver 2.0. As I fly mostly the FS6 version (I also have FS98 installed) this presented no big problem. And, somehow, I knew that very soon, some other dedicated flightsimmer would come along and offer a better and perhaps 'free' GPS! And guess what? I was right. In came Masakazu Irie who offered his DPGPS system and, for free!

I discuss DPGps at great length in the page dedicated to the Moving Map program and you can view and get it here

In the works...

Listed below are some of the add-ons I use and will review here. By filling in the form below, you will be automatically notified whenever this feature is updated.

Flight Plan

GPS Converter

and many more of those little 'toy' which make flight simming so much fun!