Customer Reviews

Microsoft Flight Simulator 2002: Sybex Official Strategies & Secrets

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

As the author of 24 books and the holder of an Airline Transport Pilot License and Flight Instructor Rating, I feel qualified to comment on this book. The cover says it has "comprehensive coverage of both standard and professional editions including the new interactive air traffic control feature." In fact the words "air traffic control" do not appear in the table of contents and the book has no index! I have yet to find the alleged ATC coverage, The book contains much extraneous information and no helpful software data, no troubleshooting guide, no guide to keystroke commands. Nothing on how to use the autopilot.

It is as confusingly organized as the sof tware's so-called "help" files. It provides 13 identical "fill-in-the-blanks" aircraft checklist forms for each aircraf t in the software, using up 32 of the book's 156 pages. What a waste of space.

Don't waste your money.

I made the mistake of not believing the reviews and ordering the book. I assumed a certain amount of MicroSoft bashing was responsible for the low ratings, but that was not the case. It appears the author took what was avaiable from the FS2002 CD Flight Book, added a little bit of real world aviaton material, and included a few tid-bits of helpful information to create a book. I have spent 15 minutes looking it over and will probably return it. There is such an incredible amount of information that can be used to optimize using the FS2002 that I expect a legitimate handbook to be produced soon. A lot of what is contained in this book is basic filler material, if you are already flying around succesfully with FS2002 I strongly suggest you look elswhere for a manual to improve your flying.

I agree with everything the other reviewers have said so far. There is absolutely NOTHING that can be gained from reading this book, except for a few web addresses which can easily be found with a search engine. Save your time. Save your money. Save your disappointment. Do not buy this book.

I purchased this book expecting it to give me a lot of information on flying all of the aircraft that were available. In particular, I was looking for detailed information on how to master the Boing aircraft so that I could create a proper flight plan that included climb and descent information that I could then execute in a realistic simulation of a commercial flight. However, I found the book contained very little information that was beneficial to me in this area. A significant portion of the book is spent covering topics already covered in the FS2002 documentation. Very little information is given on how to really use the flight planner and navigation log. Overall, I am disappointed with this book and am still looking for one that will really teach me how to master the heavies.

While this book offers advice on the many items related to flying in general, it is not necessarily very specific for FS2002 (it does use examples of the planes offered in 2002 though). For any experienced flight simmer, it is contains pretty routine information and talks more in generalities than specifics. I was looking more for an "extended manual" which would offer specific examples how to use each of the features offered with FS2002. For example, ATC, which is virtually left out of this book entirely. Also, there is no index for looking up a quick reference and no keyboard command reference. For my purposes, I was very disappointed in its content. In my opinion, this is NOT an "extended manual" as I've seen it advertised on some web sites, nor is it a "how to" book for FS2002 and unfortunately, that is exactly what I was looking for when I bought this book.

Folks, I hate to say it, but don't waste your time on this one. This is not at all what I expected in a "strategy guide" and does not at all match up to the previous flight sim strategy guides, which were done much better. I keep checking back to see if anyone has written a helpful manual, but haven't found it yet. I certainly don't need a book that is not much more than the documentation that is on the CD!

As anyone who has purchased Microsoft's Flight Simulator 2002 knows, the software comes with no manual...only online documentation that's not the same. When I first heard about this book I was therefore very excited to get something on paper that would help. In particular, I need to find out more info on GPS navigation and using Air Traffic Control (ATC). This book fails miserably to help in these areas. It would have been nice to just include a Gate-to-Gate tutorial flying from say Los Angeles to San Francisco on a large jet and telling you how to set the NAV radios, tell you the correct speed, etc.Nothing like that in this book! It won't even teach anything about taxiing from the Gate to the runway. I too hope someone else will have the foresight to put together a good manuel for FS2002.

What "Strategies and Secret" are contained in this book? Its a lazy, lame, horrible attempt to teach you how to fly in FS2002. Chong's FS 2000 book was much better - what happened? This book won't teach you anything you can't find in Microsoft's manuals, and even then, those manuals are better. Like another poster said, it would be nice to have a "door-to-door" flight tutorial for one of the heavies like the new 747, but there isn't anything close to that in the book. Chong spends too much paper rambling on and on about the FS2002 adventures. Gimme a break. Join a virtual airline or online club instead, you'll learn much more about flying FS 2002 there. This book seems like he copied and pasted the thing together in a weekend, and now he's laughing all the way to the bank. I bought this book because I was disappointed Microsoft doesn't provide a hard-copy manual, but I found myself trashing the Chong book and spending a weekend printing out the Microsoft manuals. Don't bother buying this book unless you want some lame tips on the 2002 adventures.

This book was put together by a researcher who has no feel for FS2002. It is cold, dry and dull! Sure, all the information is here--but it seems to have been written by a technical writer whose boss told him to get something, ANYTHING, in print that will fill 200+ pages ASAP--or else!

Don't buy this book. It gives you LOTS of information, but little of it will help you enjoy the game. The writer merely grabbed technical information from flight manuals etc. so that Sybex and MS could try to syphon a bucket-load more money out of your pockets. FS2002 is fantastic..this book isn't!

Everything the other reviewers say is true. This book is a major letdown. Everything in it amounts to 'filler' material, with nothing of substance. It does look like it was put together in a weekend.