FlightGear is one of the best alternatives to install on our computer with a Windows operating system when we want to enjoy an open-source flight simulator. Of course, users who feel identified with it will know the reference of the segment, Microsoft Flight Simulator, but the truth is that this option has nothing to envy it.

One of the main differences that we have to consider between this simulator and other similar ones is related to the title's database, which has more than 20,000 airports worldwide to use. If you know these airports, you will see that all of them are represented as faithfully as possible, with all the lights, signs, and other elements that make up the infrastructure.

To enjoy FlightGear, the first thing you have to do is choose one of the many airplanes available when the game starts. Immediately you can try your luck with a series of initial flights. And if you don't like any of the planes you have at the beginning, you should know that the application will allow you to download others from the web, such as the famous Concorde from Air France.

You will see when you download these ships from the Internet that you also can consider some others that are not airplanes themselves, and that allows us to enjoy the game in a completely different way than what we have seen so far. So that you know more in detail what we say, you will have ships like, for example, the sleigh of Santa Claus for download, taking this flight simulator to a different dimension.

Likewise, if you don't want to be connecting to the Internet for that kind of download, you should consider that the original planes are not bad, as they have presented some of the most attractive ones known for years. For example, we will mention the A320, the Boeing 747, or the 1903 Wright Flyer to note some of the most outstanding, although, as we have said before, there are more than 20 that the game offers us from the first instance.

One recommendation we will give you before we finish is that the controls or commands of the aircraft might not be as simple as other similar platforms, so you will have to take the time to get used to them. We expressly advise you to use the program's getting started guide will provide you with the first technical aspects to consider.

Even this difficulty that we mention exceeds the primary flight dynamics model that we have chosen, considering that there are several available, starting with the JSBSim, but also considering the YASim or the UIUC. Especially interesting is the last one, considering that it is the one that NASA uses for its flight simulators.

Regarding the FlightGear interface, we can differentiate, considering that the program first has a series of initial menus that configure much of the game's contents and are somewhat obsolete. Now, when we move on to the simulator itself, we find that it is one of the best we have seen for the category, which can be verified with the screenshots accompanying this review.

And it's not just the planes themselves. Still, you'll also notice a high degree of graphical definition in many other aspects, such as the cities or geographical features that appear on the horizon as we move forward. The same happens with the different times of the day or weather that may affect us concerning the position of the sun or the appearance of other celestial bodies such as the stars or the moon.

When analyzing the main virtues of FlightGear, we have to point out that it is an open-source program, meaning we can install it on our computer without paying a single euro cent. On the other hand, its functions and options are complete, without losing sight at the same time that the scenery database is one of the most varied that we can find in programs of this type.

Of course, when we analyze any program like FlightGear, we also have to say that there are specific issues that we did not like, although we will talk only about a particular point in this case. Indeed, what we wanted least about this flight simulation application is that it is sometimes complicated to learn how to handle the aircraft, which can frustrate us or make us lose some time.

As a summary of everything we have pointed out so far, we can conclude that FlightGear is undoubtedly at the top of flight simulator applications that we can install on our computers with the operating system Windows. The fact that you don't have to pay for any of its contents, and that it still has a lot of possibilities to offer us, is undoubtedly what we expect in these cases.