| Flight simulator games can help to deal with the fear of | | | | realistic these days, if you get a quality one. (And |
| flying. This is not witchcraft or snake oil, it is an | | | | quality is not that expensive anymore). Whether it is |
| intelligent solution to an awful phobia suffered by many | | | | the fleet of aircraft available to you, or the background |
| people. I discovered this completely accidentally | | | | scenery, or the accuracy of the cockpit, or the lags |
| through my sister-in-law, who was afflicted with | | | | and responses of the controls, everything is a lifelike |
| aerophobia all her life. But when she started playing | | | | recreation in a high-quality game. |
| flight simulator games with my wife and I things started | | | | You can actually step into a real cockpit, recognize the |
| to change little by little for her. | | | | controls, and feel familiar with using them after you |
| But, to give some context to the story, I have always | | | | have been playing flight simulation games for a while. |
| been interested in air travel so when computer flight | | | | I eventually did get the opportunity to take some flying |
| simulator games started appearing on the market | | | | lessons and I was amazed at how familiar it was to |
| some 15 years ago I naturally looked into them and | | | | me after playing with flight simulator games. |
| tried out a few. They were pretty disappointing for a | | | | But what happened with my sister-in-law? Well, these |
| long time either too convoluted or too buggy for | | | | phobias usually don’t come alone and fear of flying |
| somebody without a qualification in computer science. | | | | is often allied with other fears such as fear of heights |
| The combat flight simulator games were the best but I | | | | or fear of crossing water. This is how it was with my |
| was not interested in that area. I wanted to fly normal | | | | sister-in-law. She also had a fear of heights and |
| aircraft in the same way, to the same destinations, and | | | | experienced flying as being suddenly and uncontrollably |
| under the same circumstances as regular commercial | | | | yanked off the ground and dragged to a great height. |
| pilots did. Flying training in real aircraft was out of my | | | | When she learned how to control and navigate a |
| reach both physically and financially so I was searching | | | | plane that sense of helplessness started to reduce |
| for flight simulator games that would give me the | | | | and she began to feel in control of what was |
| same experience. | | | | happening in the air. The more she understood what |
| Spin ahead fifteen years and now you can fly an | | | | was happening and could recreate it - from starting, to |
| airplane at home. The developments in flight simulator | | | | maneuvering an aircraft and understanding how to |
| games have been among the best publicly available | | | | navigate it - the less fearful she became. |
| tech advances around. You can now pretty much play | | | | (Click here to see the flight simulator game that helped |
| on a flight simulator the same as those used in flight | | | | her.) |
| schools to teach pilots. | | | | The good news is that although she is still not a happy |
| And you don't have to wait for a CD in the mail or | | | | flyer but she has become a competent one. She is no |
| some guy to give access to his server (when it is | | | | longer in danger of having panic attacks on planes. The |
| running), you can download an on line flight simulator | | | | better news is that she has become an avid player of |
| game pretty much instantaneously now and be taking | | | | flight simulator games and she, my wife, and I spend a |
| your first steps towards flying in a few clicks of your | | | | lot of time flying happily together virtually these days in |
| mouse. | | | | multiplayer mode. |
| Flight simulator games are photo-realistic and kinetically | | | | |