Some of my time has been spent reworking files in CFS1 during my chicken pox/herpes zoster recovery. One such project is the retexturing and file editing (basically, from those of the default Spitfires) for the Seafire III. That is where this little story came to play.
Testing the reworked model in a mission scenario, I successfully shot down five enemy aircraft and blew away the remainder of their damage-laden airfield (my ammo and fuel was realistically limited, mind you). Unrealistically, I then "x"ed (warped) to the next waypoint and I was immediately transported to the landing arena.
Yet, something was wrong. A lit warning light on the panel alerted me to... oh, oh, I'd encountered the range problem of the real WW2 Seafire and present-day reality -- a fuel shortage! In this case, NO fuel. With no fuel in the engine it was now in the hands of the fool in the cockpit. Over four [simulated] miles to the [simulated] runway. No flaps -- keep the retained hydraulic pressure for last moment gear deployment -- and glide as far as possible in a slow descent; 3½ miles... 3¼ miles... 3 miles. Down to @150 feet off of the ground. Employ landing gear; I can hear the gear extending and I'm within 2½ miles of the runway, less than 100 feet to the dirt. Now within 2 miles of the runway, the landing gear are silent -- but the green "locked down" light isn't on... whomp! I bounce off the ground, airborne a second or so and whomp... rolling on the ground, employing rudder to keep a course toward the runway, then... stopped, something less than 1½ mile from destination (just close enough to successfully close the mission).

I contemplated. This wouldn't have happened with an electric-powered aircraft, something other than a limited-fuel supplied engine, anyway. CFS1's sister program, FS98, logoed "As Real as It Gets." So why the subsequent FS and CFS programs -- to get realer than real? Oh, well, I've only got a little over a simulated mile or so to walk....



...I have at least four reality times that when I walk to work ...unsimulated.