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EA's first flight simulator comes with the endorsement no less, of General Chuck Yeager, USAF (retrd), the first man to break the sound barrier way back in 1947 in a Bell X-1. That's some name to live up to, but EA's simulation promises a great variety of aircraft types to fly.

You can choose from seat of the pants Spads of the Mach 2+ General Dynamics F-16, the Fighting Falcon, and three mythical airplanes especially programmed to test the skills of any pilot with their highly-unpredictable handling. However, they're particularly difficult to locate in the program.

There are five different game plans available: Introductory Flight, Test Flight, Air Racing, Formation Flying and Flight Instruction. There is a comprehensive instruction manual which includes technical specifications for all the different types of aircraft as well as a section devoted to the principles of flight and instructions on how to perform the different manoeuvres. As always it pays to read the manual before embarking on a mission. Once you've done that, you'll be in good shape to get started and the most sensible thing to do is to sit back and get a feel for the instrumentation and graphics by watching the Introductory Flight. This takes you through a hair-raising sequence dodging around a slalom course at near ground level in one of the mythical great airplanes, an XPG-12 Samurai. Having frightened the life out of yourself watching this, select one of the other options from the menu.

If you are not a Concorde pilot like me, or aren't familiar with flight sims, the Flight Instruction sequence would be well worth your time. Basic instruction takes you through the fundamentals such as straight and level flight, turns, climbs, descents, take-offs and landings. Watch the demonstrations and then try the different manoeuvres yourself. Advanced instruction includes steep turns and stall recoveries and by this time you should be ready to try your hand at some aerobatics as well. There's instruction on how to perform loops, slow rolls or Cuban Eights. Follow the instructions on how to perform these and you will get a real feel for them as well as a clear insight into how they are performed. I thoroughly enjoyed this section.

Of the remaining game options available I thought the Test Flight was the most challenging. Here you take on a wide range of aircraft and try to get as much out of them as possible. I took an F-16 Fighting Falcon up to 82,000 feet and Mach 2 - I have an idea the height I achieved was somewhat in excess of the real thing!

You can pit your skill against the various aeroplanes and try your hand at a selection of flight test manoeuvres. The two menu options I found least satisfying and realistic were Airplane Racing and Formation Flying. The control responses were not tight enough to allow you to follow the required flight paths and there was too much lag. Also, I found that the graphics were not really good enough to allow accurate visual formation flying. Nor were the instruments (The altimeter in particular) of a large enough scale to fly low level safely. I found myself eating dirt on several occasions. Should you fail this badly, a picture of Chuck will appear to admonish you on your performance. A humbling experience.

Nevertheless my overall impression is that Chuck Yeager is a genuine instructional flight simulation that provides a sound basic insight into the techniques of flying. In general the instruments were clear and not too cluttered and the programming sticks to the basics of flying rather than taxing you with extras like navigation or fuel. For example, you can land more or less anywhere and carry on flying for as long as you like! I sometimes wish the real thing was like that.

Obviously that isn't too realistic but it does allow you to learn about aircraft handling without having to concentrate on such details.

Chuck Yeagar's Advanced Flight Trainer is a worthy addition to the ones I've flown and genuinely instructional. Take it for a spin.