Review by: Shawn Quigley
Published: January 29, 1998

In the history of gaming there is one type of game that has always stayed standing and that is the flight simulator. Although Microsoft may not have been the first to introduce the flight simulator, they were definitely the first to make a mark in this genre in the IBM PC world. Over the years, other titles have come and gone, with more notable games such as Flight Unlimited appearing on the horizon. Now Sierra is taking to the skies with their attempt to replicate the art of flying. Pro Pilot is a bold attempt at bringing a new level of realism to the PC world. The Adrenaline Vault took Pro Pilot for a spin around the world to see how it stands up to the competition.

There are a ton of different features that have been included in this title to help it differentiate itself from the other flight simulators. To start with, there are more than 3,000 different airports, with some of them even out of the United States. There are five different planes to choose from, the Cessna Skyhawk 172, Beechcraft Bonanza V35, Beechcraft Baron B58, Beechcraft King Air B200, and the Cessna CitationJet 525. This gives the chance to fly the basics of a single prop plane, to the more advanced dual prop plane, all the way to a jet airplane. Each plane has been replicated and shows an authentic instrument panel where most of the controls actually work and can be clicked and turned with your mouse.

Included in the Pro Pilot box is a complete Flight Companion book that is an essential way of learning everything about flying. There are hundreds of diagrams and drawings to help the novice and even the advanced flier learn new elements about flight. There also is a ground school CD-ROM that will take flyers through different lessons, teaching you everything from basic procedures to more advanced movements.

Each plane comes with advanced navigational aides. Everything is accessible from the cockpit view and you can change and turn dials by using your mouse. Pro Pilot also incorporates a Global Positioning System. This is a great feature that allows you to pinpoint your location at any time with greater accuracy than usual. The different navigational aides that a pilot can use when flying between two airports range from basic compasses to using more advanced navigation beacons, such as very high frequency omni-range or VOR.

There is a feature that allows you to do flight planning in Pro Pilot. This is an excellent way to plan a flight from one location to the next and then execute it. It allows you to choose locations, weather and other elements of the flight and the program takes care of the rest.

While flying you can choose to have a co-pilot alongside to help you while flying. When taking off, the co-pilot will handle calling out ground speed and watching other instruments. There are also many other options and features that can help you while flying. Pro Pilot comes with ATC, or air traffic control, that will direct you in and out of airports. This really helps add to the realism of Pro Pilot, bringing the player one step closer to the real thing.

There are many different locations in Pro Pilot that show a lot of detail. While you are traveling at higher altitudes, it is easy to see the different elevations of the land below, something that some other flight simulators have difficulty doing.

Something that Pro Pilot does a good job of is teaching the novice flyers the different terminology of flying. With each aircraft, there are different instruments that need to be watched and managed during flight. All the instruments are “live” on the screen and work like their real counterparts. Sierra wanted to make sure that each aircraft was as accurate as possible in Pro Pilot.

The question that needs to be answered for Pro Pilot is how do the airplanes fly compared to other flight simulators? Pro Pilot does a good job, for the most part, of bringing the true feeling of flying to your PC. Each plane has a different feel and different characteristics that make it exciting to take off and land in each plane. When you start the game, you can choose a location, everything from a specific runway on an airport, to an “in air” location. You also can choose the plane and set your fuel load and luggage load. This has an effect on how your plane flies in terms of lift and air speed.