For those lucky enough to have witnessed the eighties, this picture might bring back some good memories...
When we had no 4k visuals, 7.1 surround sound or Virtual Reality... We listened to cassette tapes with Walkmans, computer monitors looked like fish bowls and VGA graphics were the cream of the crop. But the fun we had...

![Imgur](https://i.imgur.com/YtlrKed.jpg)
*image credit: myabandonware.com*

Meigs Field, near Chicago, Illinois: once a world-famous airport. Not because its size or amount of traffic. No, until 2004 it was the starting location for all default flights in the Microsoft Flight Simulator series, to be removed completely from the successor, Microsoft Flight Simulator X.

The airport was closed in 2003 by a local administration and the distinctive island got a makeover and the airport was completely demolished in the process. Because it was such a famous location in the virtual world, the airport has been recreated as add-on scenery for today's modern simulators. So if you'd like to go back to the eighties and fly a Cessna inverted through the antennas on Sears tower (Willis tower nowadays), you still can!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EHNmQhQkPo
*video by "ftp2leta" (Youtube)*

I'm writing a series on how to get started with your (renewed) flight simulator experience. With great visuals, interactive online networks and a vast number of add-on aircraft and scenery, it finally has become **"As Real As It Gets"!**

- [Part 1](https://steemit.com/tutorials/@fsonline/flying-the-virtual-skies-1-choosing-your-platform-and-hardware)
- [Part 2](https://steemit.com/tutorials/@fsonline/flying-the-virtual-skies-2-getting-started)

- [Who am I?](https://steemit.com/introduceyourself/@fsonline/introducing-fsonline-to-you-steemians)