Flight Simulation Origins, Part 1 – Atari, Amiga & the Birth of a Lifelong Aviation Passion

Show notes

Episode 17 launches a new multi-part flight simulation special — and goes back to where it all began. Long before glass cockpits, streaming scenery, and powerful PCs, flight simulation meant floppy disks, one megabyte of RAM, and imagination.

Host Jürgen Reis revisits his very first flight simulation experience at a late-1980s trade show, flying an early simulator on an Atari ST — a moment that sparked a lifelong fascination with aviation. From there, the conversation moves into the Amiga 500 era, where 880-kilobyte floppy disks powered legendary titles like F-18 Interceptor and, later, the groundbreaking A320 Airbus by Thalion — a simulator that introduced real IFR flying, Jeppesen-style enroute and ILS charts, and serious flight planning to a whole generation.

Stefan Lorenz, now an Airbus A320 first officer, shares how his own aviation journey quietly began years earlier — watching Jürgen fly F-18 Interceptor on an Amiga during a long afternoon at his parents’ house. That first exposure to flight simulation planted a seed that later led him down the same path: from Amiga to early PC systems and the first versions of Microsoft Flight Simulator.

Beyond nostalgia, the episode offers surprisingly timeless insights: why outdated real-world charts are still perfect training tools for flight simmers, how carrier landings and custom scenarios build real aviation discipline, and how flight simulators can even be used to prepare for RC aircraft flying. The core philosophy remains unchanged — then and now:
If you can’t do it in the real world, you can do it on your PC.

Honest, reflective, and deeply rooted in early simulation culture, this episode is both a retro journey and an invitation — for anyone who once flew virtual skies in their teenage years, and for those discovering flight simulation today.

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Aviation-Quest.cc – Stories from Above is a long-form aviation podcast hosted by Jürgen Reis and Airbus A320 First Officer Stefan Lorenz.

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