Fantastic atmosphere eh?
I think the flightmodel is really good for a realistic but sort-of easy to use flight-game, only the rechargable boost is unrealistic, the rest seems pretty real. I also absolutely love the idea of a flying base, and after finding out that zepellins are actually partially hollow on the inside and there have been smaller ones with planes attached then it doesn't seem that far-fetched after all does it, unlike the Iron Vulture from Disney's Tale Spin.
The original release also had the manual designed like a period aviation magazine with faked but realistic ads fitting the alternative world, not sure if the budget-re-release has that intact.
On the site there were also stories from the magazines mentioned in the manual and game with extra background on the characters in the game like Paladin Blake, Black Swan etc. Just adding even more oozing atmosphere from the golden age of flying!
And that just makes it a crying bloody shame that the Xbox-only Crimson Skies sequal had absolutely everything that was good in the original deleted/ruined: realism, characters, menus, flight-model, custom-plane maker etc.
At least we still have the original game to play over from time to time
Frank