The very mention of A320 Airbus sends a shiver down the spine and the mind rolling back to the days of the package holiday.
Arriving at the airport some three days before your two-in-the-morning, cheap-rate flight is due for takeoff, you queue with a herd of other revellers all mooing with excitement over the prospect of sun and fun on the Costa.
After waiting some three hours in a fly-infested baggage check-in behind the enormous Mrs Mankey, her three jammy-faced sprogs, her sombrero and her 13 suitcases which are full to the brim of mosquito repellent and diarrhoea cures, you finally hand your bags in.
Once you have collected your tickets, the caring ground-crew cattle prod you towards the departure lounge where you get up camp for the remainder of the time. Living on a diet of insipid coffee and stale sandwiches, you count the hours until your flight is called.
As the time counts down an air of expectancy fills the room. With only 30 minutes till boarding an announcement booms over the tannoy telling you that due to Spanish air traffic control the flight has been delayed a further two months.
Finally however, it is time to board. After the mad rush, 200 sweaty carcasses are settled in their seats anticipating their stale food, copious amounts of lager and a good opportunity to goose and verbally abuse the hostesses.
Fortunately, Airbus has very little to do with the passengers on domestic flights. Instead it concerns itself with the serious business of safely commuting people from airport to airport in the United States at the helm of a state-of-the-art modern airliner.
Unlike many flight sims (especially military ones) designers Thalion have concentrated on making A320 as realistic as possible. In fact, on opening the box one finds a host of technical manuals and a complete set of charts.
On first glance this may seem daunting to many, so a training mode has been implemented which gives you the opportunity to select your own weather and destinations.
In full flight mode the met office supply weather and cloud ceiling, then it is up to you to decide the amount of fuel and the number of passengers you wish to carry. These are not irrelevant questions either, because they affect the way your Airbus will handle.
Once this has been decided it is into the cockpit and time for take off. To get off the ground you must follow the correct procedure, as everything about A320 is laid out like the real thing and must be implemented at the right time.
Once in the air, unless it is a very short across town flight you must use your trusty charts and beacon system - this could take some time.
The beacons help you to navigate by sending out a signal which lets you determine how far you are from your next point of reference.
This process is repeated until it is time to for landing. This time you must use more hi-tech wizardry, in the shape of the ILS - Instrument Landing System.
This works on the similar basis to the beacons, except it tells you whether you are too low, too high or left or right of the runway. When you have completed your flight (tangled wreckage or intact) the computer works out a performance rating. This is based on such things as speed, heading and remaining feel.
As you get more proficient and progress in rank, so the flights get more complicated and difficult. For example, less facilities from the auto-pilot are available and no automatic ILS are allowed.
A320 has been designed with realism in mind, so fancy graphics and gimmicks are out of the hold doors. For example, towns are only displayed as grey patches.
The main differences between its older brother European Airbus are on improved control system, better sound and slightly enhanced graphics.
Even though Airbus will take a lot of mastering and patience it can get rather tedious on long haul flights. But it does succeed in providing gamers with a truly realistic simulation.
So if you have had your beady eye on the look for an accurate sim, Thalion's A320 is definitely the one for you.