HEATHROW INTERNATIONAL ATC
Hewson Consultants
Memory: 48K
Price: £7.95

Probably the most disturbing simulation ever written has been re-released in a new improved form by Hewson. Heathrow International Air Traffic Control is guaranteed to dispel any idea you might have had that airports are safe places to be in.

The original program was a classic of simulation, and with the addition of Concorde flights, and a completely different version for Schiphol airport in Holland thrown in on the B side of the cassette, the new product is even more impressive.

The screen displays a radar map of the area around the airport. Aeroplanes enter the screen at any one of four stacks, points where pilots are instructed to circle until the controller brings them into land.

It sounds easy, but it is not. The idea is to get everything moving in an orderly flow, but you only have to make one mistake to start a chain reaction leaving bits of broken aircraft strewn all over West London or the Zuider Zee. Although the program is slow, being conducted in real time, and tests you over half an hour of activity, once something starts to happen you will find it very difficult to work out the instructions for each individual aircraft quickly enough.

Although it is not the sort of thing to drive everybody wild with excitement, for those who like beating their brains into a pulp on wet weekends watching Concorde carving up the rear end of a DC10, Heathrow ATC is what they have been looking for.

PRICE: £7.95
GAME TYPE: Simulation

Some simulations are games, intended purely for enjoyment. Others make claims to be completely accurate simulations, and they have considerable educational value as well as being fun. Heathrow International Air Traffic Control falls into the latter category.

The program comes in two parts. One side allows you to simulate controlling air traffic at Heathrow airport, the other side allows you to try out the same job at Schiphol airport.

The programs are divided into eight levels. Level one allows you to practice landing light aircraft at your airport. By level eight you have to cope with incoming and outgoing aircraft of all types, the likelihood that one aeroplane will declare an emergency and have to land as soon as possible and the possibility that some of your equipment will break down, you will lose radio contact with one plane.

The programs are startling in their complexity, but their accuracy does, in some ways, lower their appeal. After all, while it is interesting to understand the problems of an air traffic controller, it is not necessarily fun to have to deal with them all, or to have train yourself to the skill level necessary to complete even the simplest operation.

Detailed , but perhaps rather more worthy than fun Air Traffic Control is produced for the 48K Spectrum by Hewson Consultants, 60a St Mary's Street, Wallingford, Oxfordshire.

Spectrum 48K
£7.95
Simulation
Hewson Consultants

Two games for the price of one, though people who bought the previous version of Air Traffic Control are unlikely to rush out and buy this one just for the extra thrill of controlling Schiphol as well as London-Heathrow. It features Concorde and the occasional radio failure and rogue aircraft.