At AirVenture 2001, Microsoft Flight Simulator 2002 premiered. The company had a large presence at the show—they had a kiosk in an exhibit hangar and had rented a large trailer with an awning where they set up computers so that members of the media could test-fly the game.
The audience for the virtual aviation experience—I hesitate to call it a ‘game,’ and more on that later—was both aviation enthusiasts and certified pilots, as MSFS 2002 had been developed to be “as realistic as possible.” I promptly tested this assertion by rolling a virtual Cessna 172 inverted and keeping it there. As the fuel tanks on the 172 are in the wings and the aircraft has a gravity-fed system, going upside down means the fuel doesn’t reach the engine. In real life, you expect it to stop—and quickly. I silently counted alligators as I held the aircraft inverted—there was the sputter and cough as the engine quit approximately 15 seconds into the maneuver.
