Pilot Academy is a flight simulator

Flight simulator

A flight simulator is a device that artificially re-creates aircraft flight and various aspects of the flight environment. This includes the equations that govern how aircraft fly, how they react to applications of their controls and other aircraft systems, and how they react to the external...

 video game released for the PlayStation Portable

PlayStation Portable

The is a handheld game console manufactured and marketed by Sony Corporation Development of the console was announced during E3 2003, and it was unveiled on , 2004, at a Sony press conference before E3 2004...

 in 2006

2006 in video gaming

-Events:* January 26, 2006 -- Nintendo announces its newly redesigned handheld, the Nintendo DS Lite. The new model is lighter, smaller, has configurable brightness and features an improved user interface.* January 26, 2006 -- Konami Corp...

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Gameplay

The game lets you pilot aircraft from different eras, from World War I to the present day. The game has two major classes, Civilian and Military. The flying lessons and missions are divided into these categories. For the first few major civilian lessons (taking off, turning, etc.), you control a Cessna

Cessna

The Cessna Aircraft Company is an airplane manufacturing corporation headquartered in Wichita, Kansas, USA. Their main products are general aviation aircraft. Although they are the most well known for their small, piston-powered aircraft, they also produce business jets. The company is a subsidiary...

, but after completion of the first lessons, you control a Global Express business jet and a 747, respectively. The military lessons do not involve the basic skills of flying, instead they focus on weapon control.

The game has different missions which are divided into Civilian and Military, such as having to land a 747 in an area with many tornadoes or entering enemy territory for a reconnaissance mission.

Graphics

The game is rendered in 3D, but with insignificant buildings in 2D. All of the aircraft are detailed with logos and artwork, with real movements such as a visible rudder movement when the rudder is activated, and the full movement of the landing gear while extending and retracting. There is no visible damage, however.

The game uses only 3 different maps, but with each mission decorating each map differently and using a different part of the 64 square km map. The three maps are a pacific island area map where most of it is water (The map may represent an area in Malaysia, as one of the buildings looks roughly like the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur.), a grassland map with extensive snow covered mountains, and a desert map. Only the map with the islands is playable in Free flight mode.

The aircraft in the game are all actual planes from real life with real names and manufacturers. All the planes have different acceleration, climb capability and response to control inputs. For example, a 747 will respond slower than an F-16, but will be harder to lose control of.

Military

• C-130J Super Hercules
  C-130J Super Hercules
  The Lockheed Martin C-130J "Super" Hercules is a four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft. The C-130J is a comprehensive update of the venerable Lockheed C-130 Hercules, with new engines, flight deck, and other systems. The Hercules family has the longest continuous production run of any...
  
  
• Sopwith Camel
  Sopwith Camel
  The Sopwith Camel was a British First World War single-seat biplane fighter introduced on the Western Front in 1917. Manufactured by Sopwith Aviation Company, it had a short-coupled fuselage, heavy, powerful rotary engine, and concentrated fire from twin synchronized machine guns. Though difficult...
  
  
• Fokker Dr.I Triplane
  Fokker Dr.I
  The Fokker Dr.I Dreidecker was a World War I fighter aircraft built by Fokker-Flugzeugwerke. The Dr.I saw widespread service in the spring of 1918...
  
  
• Supermarine Spitfire
  Supermarine Spitfire
  The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft that was used by the Royal Air Force and many other Allied countries throughout the Second World War. The Spitfire continued to be used as a front line fighter and in secondary roles into the 1950s...
  
  
• Messerschmitt Bf 109
  Messerschmitt Bf 109
  The Messerschmitt Bf 109, often called Me 109, was a German World War II fighter aircraft designed by Willy Messerschmitt and Robert Lusser during the early to mid 1930s...
  
  
• P-51D Mustang
• A6M Zero
  A6M Zero
  The Mitsubishi A6M Zero was a long-range fighter aircraft operated by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service from 1940 to 1945. The A6M was designated as the , and also designated as the Mitsubishi A6M Rei-sen and Mitsubishi Navy 12-shi Carrier Fighter. The A6M was usually referred to by the...
  
  
• Messerschmitt Me 262
  Messerschmitt Me 262
  The Messerschmitt Me 262 Schwalbe was the world's first operational jet-powered fighter aircraft. Design work started before World War II began, but engine problems prevented the aircraft from attaining operational status with the Luftwaffe until mid-1944...
  
  
• F-117 Nighthawk
  F-117 Nighthawk
  The Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk was a single-seat, twin-engine stealth ground-attack aircraft formerly operated by the United States Air Force . The F-117A's first flight was in 1981, and it achieved initial operating capability status in October 1983...
  
  
• F-16 Fighting Falcon
  F-16 Fighting Falcon
  The General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon is a multirole jet fighter aircraft originally developed by General Dynamics for the United States Air Force . Designed as an air superiority day fighter, it evolved into a successful all-weather multirole aircraft. Over 4,400 aircraft have been built since...
  
  
• Mig-29 Fulcrum
  Mikoyan MiG-29
  The Mikoyan MiG-29 is a fourth-generation jet fighter aircraft designed in the Soviet Union for an air superiority role. Developed in the 1970s by the Mikoyan design bureau, it entered service with the Soviet Air Force in 1983, and remains in use by the Russian Air Force as well as in many other...
  
  
• A-10A Thunderbolt II
  A-10 Thunderbolt II
  The Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II is an American single-seat, twin-engine, straight-wing jet aircraft developed by Fairchild-Republic in the early 1970s. The A-10 was designed for a United States Air Force requirement to provide close air support for ground forces by attacking tanks,...
  
  
• F-15 Eagle
  F-15 Eagle
  The McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle is a twin-engine, all-weather tactical fighter designed by McDonnell Douglas to gain and maintain air superiority in aerial combat. It is considered among the most successful modern fighters with over 100 aerial combat victories with no losses in dogfights...
  
  
• F-5E Tiger II
• F-14 Tomcat
  F-14 Tomcat
  The Grumman F-14 Tomcat is a supersonic, twin-engine, two-seat, variable-sweep wing fighter aircraft. The Tomcat was developed for the United States Navy's Naval Fighter Experimental program following the collapse of the F-111B project...
  
  

Civilian

• Cessna 172 Skyhawk
• Cessna 182 Skylane
• Cessna 170 Skylark
• Acroplane
• AT402B Air Tractor
• Boeing 747
  Boeing 747
  The Boeing 747 is a wide-body commercial airliner and cargo transport, often referred to by its original nickname, Jumbo Jet, or Queen of the Skies. It is among the world's most recognizable aircraft, and was the first wide-body ever produced...
  
  
• Global Express
• Air Force One
  Air Force One
  Air Force One is the official air traffic control call sign of any United States Air Force aircraft carrying the President of the United States. In common parlance the term refers to those Air Force aircraft whose primary mission is to transport the president; however, any U.S. Air Force aircraft...
  
  

External links

• http://www.risingstargames.com/PilotAcademy-more.asp Rising Star Games info site