Kid Pilot

Copyright: KBkids.com

There are many flight simulation programs on the market, but most are far too difficult for younger children. Knowledge Adventure's Kid Pilot is one of the first geared toward younger elementary aged children. After seeing the excitement of more difficult flight simulation programs, your youngsters may be left wondering what all the fuss is about. Kids who are just interested in airplanes may find this program interesting, but few will find it truly captivating. Kids who are looking for speed, may want to try Hot Wheels Stunt Track instead.

From the flight control tower, your children can choose one of three airplanes to fly. Each plane has different strengths, so they will want to try each. This program is much more fun with a joystick. A map of the United States allows them to choose from various airports around the country. Many of the 'airports' are really just landmarks. For example, there is certainly no major airport in the Colorado National Monument, or at the John Day Fossil Beds. Other major airports are missing from the list. The emphasis seems to be on giving your child a flavor for a few of the major airports, and teaching them a bit about geography along the way. State outlines on the US map would have been helpful.

Once they have selected an airport, they can choose the time of day they would like to fly, and the difficulty level of the program. There are three difficulty levels. At level one, the plane is rather forgiving of your young pilots maneuverings. Set on level three, the feel is much more realistic. You can set the program so that the plane crashes on impact, or bounces back up into the sky. This makes the program more accessible for younger elementary aged children. As they fly around, your children can snap photos which will be kept in their scrapbook. They can browse through the scrapbook at any time, or add text to their pictures.

Testers enjoyed taking off and flying the planes, but soon became somewhat bored. Once you take off from an airport, there is really nowhere to go. You fly around the sky, watching poorly rendered 3D environments change on the ground. The program does not recommend anything special graphically, so the average user will be disappointed with the 'realistic' landscapes. As a matter of fact, the program as a whole loads slowly even above the minimum requirements. Kids were excited to 'be flying,' but soon wanted more. You can change the cockpit view, but that is about it. The flying was fun for awhile, but then a new challenge was needed. They wanted 'something to do.' The only real choice is to select another airport and fly around that site.

All in all, this is a very good idea. There is a definite need for a good flight simulator for younger children. In order to warrant the highest recommendations, however, this program needs to be taken a step further. More adventure, and challenge (other than simply flying around) is needed to make this a truly top-notch program.

Bottom Line: A great idea which lacks enough flare to keep kids occupied for a long period of time.

Ratings: (based on KBkids.com's 4 star rating system)

Overall: 2

BrainGain: 2

FunFactor: 2

EasePlease: 3

Amazon does not carry this product, but you can find it at: http://www.cdaccess.com/html/quick/kidpilotpr.htm