Review
Looking Glass Technologies’ Flight Unlimited series continues to excel over the competition with the release of Flight Unlimited 3, an absolutely gorgeous flight simulator that includes enough game modes, flyable planes, and deta (more…)
Posted on 03 December 2009.
Review
Looking Glass Technologies’ Flight Unlimited series continues to excel over the competition with the release of Flight Unlimited 3, an absolutely gorgeous flight simulator that includes enough game modes, flyable planes, and deta (more…)

This is an excellent reflection of real flight.It is as realistic a flight simulation as you can get.Belive me,you will absolutely be hooked on to this game.Anybody who is associated with or interested in flight or has always wondered what it is like to fly a high quality aircraft,this game is without a doubt for you.All 10 brilliant aircraft featured in this simulation are based on real life aircraft and give the same feedback and operate in the exact same way as the real flight machines.Take the Fokker Tri plane which gives you the feel of flying in the midst of World War 2 with its simple 3 instrument cockpit.Or how about the Mooney TLS Bravo aircraft which is really an aircraft version of an American Sports car and what a powerful engine it has.The twin engined Windhawk is absolutely brilliant for landings and smooth flight.Or try the 2 seaplanes which really creates an excellent splash,what about the Mustang,a war plane which can really perform some brilliant acrobatics.Along the way you can soar like a bird with the Stemme S10-v Motorglider and practice your flying skills on the Piper Arrow and the Trainer.However all these wonderful aircraft cannot compare to the excellent Raytheon Beechjet 400A Aircraft,probably the best jet aircraft in all Flight Simulation Games.With an advanced,futuristic and easy to operate cockpit with 2 glass screens containing a wealth of flight information along with good avionics,feedback,control,performance and operation,this is without a doubt the most excellent, smooth flying aircraft.It is quick,powerful and is brilliant to handle,with a very reliable auto-pilot.It is the best. Apart from these wonderful aircraft in your fleet,the choice of location for this game is brilliant.You get to fly along the entire West Coast of the U.S.A.,from San Diego all the way to Seattle.There are 60 real life beautifully constructed airports with exactly the same airport features and buildings.Imagine planning a flight from Sacramento and then flying on a heading of 340 degrees and some 2 hours and roughly 500nm later you land at the wonderful Sea-Tac Int’l airport.It is like being a real commercial pilot.And some of these airports brilliantly allow you to interact with an air traffic control tower,a ground control tower and even listen to an ATIS weather information system,as well as getting to choose your pilot’s voice from a list of names with some charming and some really amusing voices.What is even better,is that you get to create your own weather and you really can create and experience real life thunderstorms,downdrafts,turbulence etc.Or fly for thousands of miles of terrain and get to see some wonderful real life features such as the Grand Canyon,Las Vegas at night,The Golden Gate Bridge or even Bill Gates House.Fly to airports such as Boeing Field,Mchord Air Force Base,Portland Int’l,Arcata with its beautiful Pacific Ocean scenery or even take off from Olympia Harbour with your seaplane and observe some wonderful boats there.Apart from that try the Challenges which really tests your pilot skills,for example you can be a 40 minute corporate shuttle pilot flying your customers from airport to airport and obtaining a rating for each flight,or you get to rescue hikers trapped on the beautiful Mount Rainier,or be an eye in the sky.Then for those of you who do not know how to fly,there is even a flight training section for you where a qualified pilot comprehensively teaches you how to land,take-off and even teaches you advanced flight skills such as navigating with your VOR and NDB instruments or flying in dangerous weather or how to fly certain aircraft such as your brand new Raytheon Beechjet 400A or how to glide with your Stemme S10-v Motorglider.Then there is the “quick flight” option where you get to fly wherever you want,whenever you want to.And you also get to create your own cities airports and record your significant flights as well having your personal logbook containing all your information relating to flight.In this game there is loads of vital easy to understand information about the aircraft specifications,airport information,radio and navigation frequencies as well as an informative map providing you information about each airports VOR information,as well as airspace information,as well as a Global Positioning Satellite System which can be very useful for flight navigation and informing you about points of interests,airport co-ordinates and the altitudes of the land features. This is without a doubt,in my opinion the best ever game relating to flight,at times it is like having a flying school or an airport or an entire portion of a country just for flight and exploration of a beautiful part of the world right within your own home.It is trully fascinating and realistic,you have got to have it.The best virtual way to earn your wings.
This is leagues above the original Flight Unlimited. It’s amazing how well most of the aspects of civialian flying are captured in FU3. The graphics and sound are top notch.
Like many here, I was initially disappointed in the graphics. However, after twicking around a bit I found myself quite impressed. I need to upgrade my K6-2 350 real soon. Smoothness is very important to flight sims. If you find yourself disappointed in the graphics then downgrade the settings until you reach the balance of smoothness and graphic detail. Then just leave it at that! You’ll enjoy it much better. I have a Voodoo2 and an ATI Rage128. Both handled FU3 fairly well.
The sounds are very realistic. I have never owned a flight sim with a radio. I’m amazed. Winds, rain, thunder, other aircraft, etc. All sounded great!
There’s so much extra that I haven’t yet covered more than 40% of what FU3 has to offer. There’s a great series of lessons to get you started in the right direction. This is a sim that gets better and better the more time you spend with it.
I gave the game 4 stars instead of 5 for several reasons. My basis of comparison is Jane’s WWII (a 5-star sim! Buy it!). The FU3 virtual cockpit is not very good (WWII’s is awesome!). Also, the scenery is limited as compared with other sims (MS Flight Simulator). I don’t own FU2 and you can’t buy it…so I’m out of luck.
It’s fun to explore a game (er, scuse me, SIM!) like this. I’ve read about some “easter eggs”. Bigfoot is spotted all over the place! There is at least one cloud formation that bares a striking resemblance to one of the Looking Glass programmers.
Conclusion, FU3 is my favorite civilian sim right now. I’m planning to buy MS Flight Simulator 2000 as soon as the price drops (10 years from now is my projection). But, until then…FU3 is the ONE!
R.I.P. Looking Glass! You are missed my friends! Thanks for the Underground and for influencing my Thievian whys!
3.0 out of 5 stars
flight unlimited 3 why?
why cant you use the jetliners that are shown in the pick an aircraft screen? That irritates me. other than that this game is one of the best flight sims i’ve ever played.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Ruben Happy landings.
I currently have “FlightII Unlimited” I enjoy this version very much is great, I love it; I searched for the next level “Flight III Unlimited, I belive is going to…
2.0 out of 5 stars
Can’t get it to run on my Profile 2.
I can’t get this to run! Even after reading all the documentation, and trying this and that and more, it won’t recognize my joystick (and pedals).
4.0 out of 5 stars
Looking for Flight Unlimited II
I love FU III … but I feel that the San Francisco plates from FU II is ESSENTIAL. I cannot find anyone who still has FU II for sale but would very much like to purchase a copy…
5.0 out of 5 stars
A great game
I’ll make this simple, the game was great, great graphics, great gameplay and lots of other stuff to.
2.0 out of 5 stars
Disappointed
This was the first flight simulator I’ve used, and after reading some rave reviews about it, I was really disappointed with the scenery.
4.0 out of 5 stars
a COOL GAME
Flight Unlimited 3 is not your normal everyday ariel hijinks game but it is a very controled game.Even though you can flip the plane over it’s not really about that.
1.0 out of 5 stars
Total Loss
If I could I would give it no stars. The program will not run at all on my system, a BRAND NEW P-III, 700MHz, 128 MB RAM, and 64MB NVIDIA video card.
4.0 out of 5 stars
To Be Real
Excellent ATC interaction, weather generation, and all-around realism. Would hope for more detailed and interactive instrumentation on secondary aircraft in future versions…
5.0 out of 5 stars
flight unlimited 3 , Raphs review
Where do you go after creating some of the most detailed and lush scenery ever for a flight simulator? How about a few hundred miles up the coast?