Excuse my earlier post (deleted now) - thought the above post was the first in the topic and suggested the poster try the computer forum for more responses!
Has anyone tried X-Plane before? I use that as opposed to MSFS. The sim models the atmosphere first then looks at a plane's geometry etc. to work out how it flies rather then the look-up table method used in MSFS. The current version (7.xx) has graphics approaching the quality of MSFS but more importantly (I think), the atmospheric/weather modelling is very good. You can fly anything from a Cessna 152 to a Boeing 747-400 - the new panels are awesome and the flight dynamics seem very good.
It's FAA-approved and is used by companies like Scaled Composites (SpaceShipOne) and CarterCopter.
Check it out (x-plane.com) if you've never heard of it before
Also see:
http://www.x-plane.com/FTD.html
There's plenty of reviews available from the site as well.
V1R
P.S. I hope this doesn't contravene advertising rules. Mods: feel free to delete the links if it's a problem.