Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004

Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004 is an installation in Microsoft's Flight Simulator game franchise that was released in 2003. Commemorating the centennial of Orville Wright's first flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, the simulator contains most of the aircraft included in FS2002, but also features exclusive vintage aircraft that are not found in any previous or subsequent installment of the Flight Simulator game franchise. As a result, it is by far the most popular of the series, and many simmers swear by it, even with the release of Flight Simulator X in 2006. Compared to its successor, FS2004 takes up less storage space, has faster installation, higher frame rates has better out-of-the-box graphics settings (although FSX can be easily adjusted for better visual displays), and was released on CD, improving compatibility with older machines that did not have the DVD-ROM drives required for FSX. These trade-offs, particularly the ones concerning frame rates, parallel the differences between FS98 and FS2000, but FSX is indeed superior to FS2004 on high-end computer hardware.

Default User Aircraft
Beechcraft Baron 58

Beechcarft King Air 350

Bell 206B Jetranger III

Boeing 737-400

Boeing 747-400

Boeing 777-300

Bombardier Learjet 45

Cessna 172SP Skyhawk

Cessna 182S Skylane

Cessna 208 Caravan Amphibian

Cessna 208B Grand Caravan

Curtiss JN-4 Jenny

de Havilland DH-88 Comet

Douglas DC-3

Extra 300S

Ford 4-AT Trimotor

Lockheed Vega 5B

Lockheed Vega 5C

Piper J-3 Cub

Mooney Bravo

Robinson R22 Beta II

Ryan NYP

Schweizer SGS 2-32

Vickers F.B.27A Vimy

Wright Flyer

Default AI-only Aircraft
de Havilland DHC-8-100

McDonnell-Douglas/Boeing MD-83

Piper Cherokee 180

Making the AI-only Aircraft flyable
AI-only aircraft can be flown by the user with modifications to the .AIR file using a program such as AirEd. Change the value on the "Aircraft Type" parameter from "2," which indicates an AI-only aircraft, to "0," which indicates a user aircraft. Save the changes to the file. The AI-only aircraft do not have instrument panels, so the easiest way to get one would to be to copy the panel file folder from the King Air, 737, and Skylane to the Dash 8, MD-80, and Cherokee, respectively. This can be done for the AI aircraft of FS2002, but the various fields are not named in the FS2002 .air files. The AI-only aircraft do not have virtual cockpits.

The MD-80 and Cherokee include animations for opening the main exit, but the Dash 8 does not. It is unknown why the MD-80 and Cherokee include these, since aircraft controlled by the CPU never open their doors.