Is there a real flight simulator I can get for my laptop...for free?

In My Humble Opinion
1

Is there real flight simulator software that I can get for my laptop for free?
I am a total noob to the flight simulator world, never been inside of a cockpit, but, IIRC, I kinda got a peek inside of one once, but that may have been the pilots washroom. I would like to be able to fly a plane in case civilization crashes, and the only way to save my family and nation is if the president is stuck at the local airbase, and the presidential limo pulls up and one of the goons with the sunglasses asks if somebody knows how to fly a…I dunno, whatever matches the free flight simulator that you guys are gonna put me onto.

Anything out there that matches what I’m looking for?

Thanks,
hh

2

Flightgear

Haven’t tried it. Supposed to be OK.

You can download free demos of both Flight Simulator X and X-Plane.

If you want to shoot stuff in your plane IL-2 1946 is the standard and it is a measly $10 from steam.

You will also need a joystick.

3

I’m downloading the Flight Simulator X demo right now. I have a gamepad with analog joysticks, will it work?

4

Not as well as a dedicated joystick, but enough to get the idea.

You can get a cheap joystick but if you actually are going to use it much you might as well get a decent one. The analog gamepad will give you a chance to figure out if you want to.