The Ford 4–ATTri-Motor prepares
for takeoff in the “Winter
Wonderland” weather theme.
Dreams Of the sky
For thousands of pilots who learned to fly in the Curtiss JN–4D “Jenny” during World War I, the postwar skies were an open opportunity. Barnstormers looped and swooped above gasping crowds and, for many people, airplanes were still such a new sight that nearly every flight was an impromptu air show. The Curtiss Jenny, which performed in many such spectacles during the 1920s, introduced the public to flight.
During World War I alone, the Curtiss JN–4D “Jenny” was used to train nearly 9,000 American pilots— 95 percent of the flyers in the United States in 1919.
Weather
Like the early flyers’ aspirations, the skies in Flight Simulator have no limits. Just as you can re-create Tex Marshall’s cross- country flight, fly a Curtiss Jenny through a barn near Findlay, Ohio, and pilot the daring “Hell Stretch” airmail route across the stormy Allegheny Mountains, you can also customize many kinds of weather—from severe thunderstorms to a clear blue afternoon—to test your skills.
Underwood & Underwood/CORBIS
The Curtiss Jenny
starred in many antics during
the barnstorming years.
It was an era when pilots dreamed of adventure. In 1920, Tex Marshall, his wife Katherine, and their friend Frank Palmer set out for Ohio from Florida in a pair of Curtiss Jenny airplanes. They had no set schedule, few certain landing fields, and inaccurate maps. As Marshall soon discovered, the sky was as full of challenge as of wonder. One challenge had a name: weather.
Clouds are one of the most marvelous and challenging parts of flight, and they’re the centerpiece of Flight Simulator’s improved
weather system. Flight Simulator now features Dynamic Weather; three-dimensional clouds build and change realistically with the temperature and time of day, and even blow across the sky. The dynamic weather system also generates rain, snow, and fronts that develop based on atmospheric conditions.
Flight Simulator’s new Weather Themes—preset weather conditions centered on your aircraft’s current location—generate challenging flying scenarios with just a few clicks. Select “Cold Fronts” to fly through fast-moving storms, “Fogged In” to test your instrument skills, “Winter Wonderland” to spend a beautiful day flying amid snow flurries, or one of seven other preset themes that let you experience complex weather conditions without having to set conditions along your flight path.
F L I G H T S I M U L AT O R 2 0 0 4 | A C E N T U R Y O F F L I G H T |
