So I downloaded and installed FlightGear 2.4.0 and I took a stab at downloading what looked like the 10x10 degree chunk of scenery that covered Vancouver Island (guessed right too).
Many surprises, some positive and some negative, but all and all better than I thought it would be (but not as good as I hoped it would be). The flight dynamics of the amphib float version of the DHC-2 Beaver that came with FlightGear seemed to be pretty much on the money and I was very pleased to see that the water created about the same amount drag as it does in FSX and not the molasses that passes for water in FS2004! I actually preferred the flap control and reaction of the Beaver to flap extension and retraction in FlightGear over the default FSX Beaver or the Aerosoft Beaver X.
Too bad that Nvidia Inspector doesn't have a profile ready to select for FlightGear. On the other hand I was totally surprised that FlightGear recognized my Saitek Aviator and already had a built in profile that assigned functions to the various buttons and switches.
Now I just have to read the manual to see what I may have overlooked in my haste to get flying!
Regards, Mike Mann