"Across The Strait" - FSX Scenery

Posted: Monday, April 14, 2008 - 0:14
Cook Strait divides the North and South Islands of New Zealand, and the two 'Real New Zealand' scenery projects which border the strait are now available together in 'Across the Strait', exclusively for FSX. This compilation combines 'Real NZ' Wellington and 'Real NZ' Marlborough, and adds 3 local missions and supporting aircraft repaints developed by the folk from ARNZ-X. (www.flightsim.co.nz) For existing owners of this scenery, the missions are available for free download from ARNZ-X. I'm proud to be involved with what I hope will be the first of many collaborative releases, complimenting the 'Real NZ' scenery with quality missions. 'Across the Strait' is available from Godzone Virtual Flight.

Mission Skills Contest

Posted: Monday, April 14, 2008 - 0:07
IVAO and Aerosoft, presents an exhilarating event ‘Lukla Air Bridge’ on Saturday , 19 April 2008 , this event promises to put every pilot’s skills to the ultimate test among the ranges of the Himalayas. Mission is to transport as much cargo as possible from Kathmandu to Lukla within the six hour window provided. Air Traffic Control services will be provided at Kathmandu and at Lukla. Also, aircraft types will be limited and your weight/balance sheet will be checked at Lukla to ensure accuracy. The team or individual who transports the greatest amount of cargo to Lukla will receive 10 FREE DOWNLOAD PRODUCTS courtesy of Aerosoft. The second place team will receive nine download products, etc, all the way to 10th place who will receive one product. Complete details are available in the rules.

Free B737NG Tutorial Video

Posted: Saturday, April 12, 2008 - 16:23
Would you like to see a full-size Boeing 737NG cockpit simulator driven by MSFS? If so, WingBest is now offering a complete, 25-minute tutorial video for free! The video explains some of the basics of flying a big airliner and a sophisticated flight simulator. The featured B737 cockpit simulator is exhibited at The House Of Future Exhibition in Budapest, Hungary, where visitors first have to watch the tutorial video before taking the pilot's seat. WingBest is offering another free documentary featuring Andras Kozma, an excellent sitar artist, renowned scenery designer, and builder of the 737NG cockpit. These free videos were created by the same people that have produced a number of unique aviation DVDs entitled "Secrets of Ferihegy Airport", "Cockpit Secrets", and recently "Flavours of Flight: Sierra Kilo Delta". For the free Boeing 737NG flight simulator video tutorial and more, you're cleared direct to the WingBest website and look for the FREE Movies link under Categories.

Tim Westnutt Takes Final Flight

Posted: Saturday, April 12, 2008 - 15:07
Mark Beaumont from the MAAM-SIM Team has lets us know that Tim Westnutt has passed away this week at age 54 from a heart attack at his home in Holland. Tim was very much a part of the development testing at MAAM-SIM, and flew over for the MAAM show on occasions.

Tim was an accomplished pilot in his own right, he rarely went anywhere without getting some stick time in, one way or the other. On a recent trip to New Zealand, he even got himself cleared for landings at Milford Sound in the South Island! Tim flew the Pilatus PC-12 professionally in Switzerland too.

Tim will be sorely missed. Urgently, his girlfriend Brenda Jones is keen to trace all friends of his to keep them up to date with any arrangments made on his behalf. Her email is BJ_Jones@ntlworld.com. She woould appreciate all ofhis friendsbe in touch with her, although as of today arrangements are still in abeyance.

Messages can also be left at Tim's MySpace page http://www.myspace.com/timwestnutt

Cirrus II Category II Hardware Review

Posted: Saturday, April 12, 2008 - 2:42
Senior staff reviewer Zane Gard flys with Precision Flight Control's Cirrus II Category II hardware. "PFC was one of our exhibitors at the AVSIM FanCon in Seattle last November. Eric Whiteside, their special projects manager, brought two full units out to show at the event. One was a full Cat III system utilizing their newest C2 console, complete with manual elevator trim wheel which was hooked up to the electric trim yoke switch… neat stuff. The other was a full Cat II system using the Cirrus II console (one of their most popular training units ever)."

"If I told you that this has transformed my simming experience, would you believe me? Finally… FINALLY I have found hardware that gives a feeling of being in the cockpit and not having to touch the keyboard or mouse from engine startup to shutdown. When I set up the Cirrus II, I made sure to program one of the yoke buttons for the push-to-talk for use with VoxATC, so just like when in a real cockpit I want to talk to the tower or approach, I dial in the correct frequency, wait to confirm no one else is talking then key up and speak… look Mom, no mouse, no keyboard! I’m also utilizing my TrackIR4 Pro but when I setup the yoke button for view selection, I made the decision to make it a switch. Push it one way for the 2D panel, press the other direction for the VC. So I can enjoy the smooth hi-res gauge movement of the 2D and if I want to look out my windows, I can switch to the VC and pan around using the TrackIR."

"PFC pedals are heavy; steel and aluminum in construction with springs and are self centering. Their travel may be less than most aircraft I have flown but the overall feel is very realistic, the further you press them the harder they get to push. The toe brakes take some setting up to calibrate them so that you like their feel, and they can take a considerable push to get them to stop the aircraft and this is not far from reality."

"The digital avionics radio stack is a thing of beauty; dual knobs, labeled buttons that really work. It was designed to emulate the Bendix/King line of radios found in a majority of training aircraft and includes the radial feature on the nav radio. This allows you to alternately display the standby frequency or the radial from the tuned VOR station. The ADF has all the settings like the real unit including flight elapsed timer, and stopwatch functions. The autopilot and altitude preselect use MSFS variables so they will work with all default and many aftermarket aircraft (as long as the programmer used these same variables they should work)."

"I couldn’t wait to get a twin up so I changed the power quadrant out for the twin engine one. Easy job, just unscrew two thumbscrews, pull off the single engine quadrant and push the twin quadrant on and replace the thumbscrews."

Zane's in-depth review of Precision Flight Control's Cirrus II Category II hardware wraps up with, "this is really highly specialized equipment, so I don’t expect it to be for everybody. It costs more than many computer/sim hardware combinations out there, so I can understand an initial sticker shock. I can’t imagine any simmer that wouldn’t want it or envy someone that does have it.I would considering getting PFC’s flight sim combo which consists of their yoke, quadrant and rudder pedals. The cost is roughly double of buying plastic equipment, but its an investment that years later will give the satisfaction of money well spent. In fact, add a radio stack to the latter and you can have a Cat I PCATD."

Real Scenery Airfields – Denham

Posted: Friday, April 11, 2008 - 13:11
The first in the new series of super-detailed British airfield sceneries for Flight Simulator X, Real Scenery Airfields – Denham, is now released. The package faithfully re-creates the well-known airfield situated to the north-west of London. The detailed scenery and objects at the airfield are up to date. A wholly new feature in this release is the appearance of snow on the ground during December and January, thanks to unique technology not found in any other product. For a look at some screenshots and further information visit Just Flight .

FlightRiviera - Airport Pack #1 Nice et Cannes

Posted: Friday, April 11, 2008 - 1:12
The new scenery from France VFR, Riviera JetSet is now available in FSX version. When purchasing France VFR’s first AirportPack you will be delivered both the FS2004 and FSX versions. For the ones who already own the first version (FS2004), a free patch can be downloaded from their web site. In order to promote the new scenery of FlightRiviera JetSet X, France VFR has set up the Collection of Riviera Basepack and Autogen that is required for using the Riviera JetSet X. Complete details are available at the France VFR website.

Aeroscene Releases Fife Airport

Posted: Friday, April 11, 2008 - 1:08
Aeroscene Simulations is pleased to announce the release of Fife Airport for FS2004. Fife Airport is an under-developed airfield in Flight Simulator and Aeroscene Simulations brings it to life. Fife Airport is a small General Aviation field located north of Edinburgh, Scotland. It has one runway, along with a small apron. We have include custom ground work, markings, buildings, textures, even small details such as fuelling pumps, bins, gates, entrance ways, signs, and more. Only the restaurant located at the airport is lit at night as per the real airport. The real airport attracts visitors from all over the UK, and sometimes from Europe too. Aeroscene Simulations hopes you might like to take a trip to Fife Airport.

Embry Riddle announces Summer Flight Sim Camp

Posted: Thursday, April 10, 2008 - 13:16
Embry Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU), with participation from Avsim, is pleased to announce the first "Flight Sim Camp," to take place from June 16 to June 21 at the ERAU Campus in Prescott, Arizona. You will be able to test your skills, participate in a virtual Search & Rescue Competition, spend time in the ERAU simulators with wrap-around visuals and exciting flight scenarios, visit the Robertson Safety Crash Center Reconstruction Site, and compete for some great awards and prizes. A video preview of the recent Avsim visit to ERAU is available on YouTube.

HJG 2nd Anniversary Website Update

Posted: Wednesday, April 9, 2008 - 23:31
Historic Jetliners Group - who are celebrating their 2nd Anniversary – have announced many new releases. There are new and upgraded versions of B707/720, BAe 146-300/RJ-100, CV990-A, DC8, & KC135. Additions to HJG's Boeing inventory include extremely rare B707-120 freighter conversions operated by lesser known carriers from Switzerland and Colombia during the early 1970's. Adding to the Douglas inventory is a DC8-33 in a rare/experimental Capitol Airways livery trialled during 1979, the DC8-50F & Super 62F freighters operated by African registered carriers from more recent times and a rare DC8 Super 63CF operated during the mid 1970's. by a major Asian carrier. Last but by no means least of all HJG's 2nd anniversary website update also features final edits for previously released B707-320B/C's textures now upgraded to their correct S2HK (Stage 2 Hush Kit) models, along with a new B707-120 freighter model, complete with operating forward fuselage main-deck cargo door and a belly full of containers. All this and a great deal more are available now.

New Space Shuttle Mission 2007™ Add-On

Posted: Wednesday, April 9, 2008 - 23:22
Exciting Simulations ™ is proud to announce the release of the first free add-on for the award-winning Space Shuttle Mission 2007™ simulator. The new package adds Space Shuttle mission STS-122 to the existing SSM2007 missions set. STS-122 was supposed to be launched on December 6th, 2007 but due to multiple External Tank ECO (Engine Cut-Off) sensor troubles detected during tests, it has been rescheduled, and finally had lift-off on February 7th, 2008. The main mission goals included the installation of the Columbus module and replacement of ISS Astronaut Daniel Tany (Flight Engineer) who returned home on-board Atlantis, with Astronaut Leopold Eyharts - who remained behind on the ISS. The mission was extended by two days due to medical issues with Astronaut Hans Schlegel which delayed EVA-1 by 24 hours, and to allow for additional time to activate the Columbus research module. STS-122 was concluded with an uneventful landing of Atlantis on February 20th, 2008 on Runway 15 at the Kennedy Space Center. In the best SSM2007 tradition, the STS-122 free add-on allows budding Virtual Astronauts to experience the launch, on-orbit activities, docking with the ISS, all EVA activities including the deployment of the Columbus module, and return to Earth by manually landing the Atlantis at KSC. More information about this mission can be found at NASA. The free STS-122 add-on and the Space Shuttle Mission 2007™ are available online in downloadable format at the SSM2007 official website.

VFR Real Scenery Vol's 3 & 4 from Just Flight

Posted: Tuesday, April 8, 2008 - 2:25
Senior staff reviewer David Wilson-Okamura goes on a scenic tour of England with Just Flight's VFR Real Scenery: Vol 3 & Vol 4. "These last two volumes of the series covers Wales and Southwest England and Northern England respectively."

"For photographic ground scenery, the main determinant of image quality is the photo source. For VFR Real Scenery, the photo source is identified as GeoPerspectives, a commercial supplier of aerial photography for all of England and Wales. The photos have a resolution of 25 centimeters per pixel; which is to say, that the smallest object you can see in the source photographs is about one foot. After processing by Just Flight, this resolution is reduced to 1 meter per pixel; which is to say, that the smallest object you can see in the finished scenery is about one yard. This is a massive improvement over what was possible in the previous version of the sim."

David comments on VFR Real Scenery Vol 3 and Vol 4, "like nearly all similar products, VFR Real Scenery has only one season, spring; again, that is standard. At night, lighting will be visible on major roads and in towns; this is a common feature for this type of add-on, but not quite standard, and I am glad we have it here. Unless the product includes autogen, which this one doesn’t, photo-sceneries tend to have better frame rates than other types of scenery, because there’s less for the rendering engine to calculate. Expect, then, to get better frame rates than you would have had for the same area in the default sim. Bottom line: this product will perform about as well as other products in its class (i.e., photo-sceneries with no autogen)."

Walk and Follow FSX Patch Released

Posted: Tuesday, April 8, 2008 - 1:03
DBS Studio release patch 1.0.0.3 to Walk And Follow FSX for compatibility with Windows Vista and solve possible problems with widescreen monitors.

SimWing Magazine Now In English

Posted: Saturday, April 5, 2008 - 15:40
SimWing Magazine is now available to all flight sim enthusiasts in English as well as Italian. Head on over to their website to take a look at this informative magazine.

FS-eXcel for Flight Simulator 2004

Posted: Saturday, April 5, 2008 - 0:06
Enjoy the most realistic flight experience ever with FS-eXcel for FS2004. Developed by FS-eXceleration Software and distributed by CaptainKeith.com, FS-eXcel is an all-inclusive visual eXcelerator package for FS2004 that greatly enhances the look of the sim with no adverse frame-rate effects whatsoever. With FS-eXcel you will experience ultra-realistic sky, ground and water for FS2004. FS-eXcel replaces the default environmental, building, airport and runway textures in FS2004 with our ultra high quality photo-realistic textures that drastically improve realism. This package provides a “total visual make-over” for Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004. For more info and screenshots please visit the FSeXcel website.

Aerosoft Releases and Updates

Posted: Friday, April 4, 2008 - 23:47
Releases - German Airfields 3 - Lower Saxony (Niedersachsen). One of the products Aerosoft has worked the hardest on in the last few months has to be German Airfields 3 which covers a good deal of Germany with the smaller VFR airports. Of course, they are perfectly compatible our other German sceneries, The 15 airports in this package are 100% FSX standard and are absolutely realistic. If you like smaller airports don't miss the German Airfields series!

Lord Howe Island X - Moving along, more than 10,000 miles actually, we come to Lord Howe Island. A small but very beautiful island in the Tasmanian Sea, about 2 hours flight from Sidney and Brisbane. It is meticulously modeled by Mat Dalton and features very high definition textures and mountains which are not mesh but actually modeled 3D objects. The island is surely not on regular routes we fly, but it sure is worth a visit!

Updates - Aspen X Update 1.10 - Moving to yet another continent, we arrive at Aspen. Aerosoft's coverage of this airport and surroundings has just been updated so it is now fully SP2 compatible. The 1.10 update also includes far more traffic for this airport. You can find the update their FAQ's / Updates section with the full version also updated.

Piper Arrow II from Commercial Level Simulations

Posted: Friday, April 4, 2008 - 23:40
Staff reviewer Laurie Aston looks at the Piper PA28R-200 Arrow II from Commercial Level Simulations. "The Piper pedigree goes right back to the original PA-28 which was designed by John Thorpe as an all-metal home-build project, which after some tuning and alteration, became the first Cherokee. By 1994, and an abundance of Aircraft manufacturers like Cessna, Grumman, Mooney and Beech producing faster, more efficient and cheaper four seat general aviation aircraft, saw a recession across the globe which pushed Piper into bankruptcy, and it was several years before the new Piper re-established the Piper Arrow."

"The download results in a Piper Arrow II in one of eight liveries, and includes a plain white finish Arrow complete with a paint kit, with which you can paint and logo finish your own Aircraft. There is no bump-mapping, no weathered look, no real panel markings; several aerials and a standard finished propeller is all that enhances a pretty casual external model. I suspect that this model of the Piper Arrow has been ported from FS2004 (FS9) as it looks very ordinary, and that’s all I can say really. Actually flying the aircraft, and I have flown both the Piper Cherokee 140 and 180 in real life, reveals that some aspects of flight performance are very good."

"Looking at the interior reveals a couple of finished flight instrument panels, depending on the livery, and one of them is a ghastly blue. The instruments, to be fair, are well presented as models of the originals, together with the control yoke and rudder pedals. Some of them work really well, accurate and instant in response, but others, engine and fuel wise especially, are not to be trusted at all."

"The engine, simulating the Textron-Lycoming 10-360 C1C6, actually sounds very good throughout its range of RPM, and is very much on the button as far as I can tell. Checking the Magnetos on the ground provides the necessary rocking motion on the airframe, caused by static thrust and torque effect, which is a plus point. It starts in accordance with the manual, runs well and is correctly influenced by prop and mixture controls to give best performance."

"The Piper PA28R-200 Arrow II has the potential to be a really nice aircraft, and a nice addition to anybody’s fleet," says Laurie in his summary.

Rescue Pilot - Mission Pack for FSX

Posted: Thursday, April 3, 2008 - 23:55
This is the first in a series of exciting expansions from Just Flight and the download version is available now. In Rescue Pilot, you will get the chance to put your virtual flying skills to use. You are a pilot of an air rescue service and your job is to respond to any emergency calls that are received at your home base. A typical day for a Just Flight Rescue Pilot could find him airlifting an injured person from a car accident, picking up a stranded mountaineer or flying a life-or-death dash with a vital medical cargo. The work is always challenging - but never dull - and the job satisfaction is immense!

Rescue Pilots must use their flying experience to the full in a variety of fixed wing and rotary aircraft to complete the missions but there is also a choice of settings to match an individual's skill levels. The twelve authentic missions with realistic ATC and convincing scenarios will keep virtual rescuers glued to their joysticks. For complete details, visit the Just Flight webpage.

Vroute.info Premium Gone Live

Posted: Wednesday, April 2, 2008 - 17:54
vroute today announced the launch of its long awaited product - vroute.info premium, the ultimate flight simulation pre-flight and in-flight information tool. Now anyone interested in serious flight simulation can find a huge route database, comprehensive airspace maps, flight progress cards, map and scenery links as well as VATSIM online traffic data - all in one place. The successful predecessor, the vroute.info application, has been installed by over 20,000 flight simulation enthusiasts worldwide. The route database has over 64,000 entries which likely makes it the largest resource of its kind in the world. Every evening over 1,000 people begin their flight simulation experience by checking where to fly, what waypoints to follow, what weather is to be expected and printing out their flight progress cards - which help the sim pilot have all important information at hand. Even VATSIM flight/ATC booking is fully integrated, delivering an accurate overview of traffic over times. The new premium product adds another dimension of useful features to the well-known predecessor. The mapping capabilities were greatly improved with a completely new module, delivering high-resolution airspace maps with a pseudo-3D terrain layer. The map display shows the flight path area with stunning detail - not only depicting the basic navigation aids, but also showing airspace sectors, routes, fixes and airports below. All this is overlaid on a high resolution terrain image, showing important geographical features of the Earth below. The map is built of over 700,000 tiles hosted on vroute's powerful server - a total of over 5 gigabytes of data. It takes full advantage of high resolution computer screens by being fully resizable and offering a wide range of zoom levels. Another great feature of the new release is a vertical flight path calculator and fuel planner. It delivers a reliable answer to the well known problem of how much fuel one should load to get safely to the destination. The fuel planner is so accurate that it even takes into account the weight of payload and the selected cruise flight level. Vertical flight path provides a graphical overview of the route with terrain elevations and vertical airway boundaries, which is especially interesting if someone plans to fly a turboprop aircraft over mountainous terrain. The fuel calculator provides accurate fuel level estimate for each waypoint, which helps keep track of the consumption and detect problems early. For those who use advanced cockpits with sophisticated Flight Management Computers, vroute offers export feature which enables direct entry of route information into the aircraft's FMC - without having to retype the waypoints. Vroute.info was designed from a perspective of someone who wants to get the right information fast, without browsing multiple websites and launching different programs for different elements of the pre-flight preparation" - said Micha³ Rok, the company founder and lead programmer. If you have been looking for such a service, then you are cleared direct to vroute

Abacus Releases WWI Dogfight

Posted: Wednesday, April 2, 2008 - 17:46
One of the most compelling features of Microsoft Flight Simulator X is the introduction of missions. FSX missions can turn a simple ride in an aircraft into a challenging, exciting and entertaining adventure. WWI Dogfight by Abacus Pub features the design talents of Daniel Dunn and David Chester. They have reproduced a high fidelity set of aircraft from yesteryear including the Sopwith Pup, Fokker DR.1, Avro 504, Nieuport 17 and the R-Class Super Zeppelin. Master mission maker Ron Jeffers has once again turned on his creative juices to bring us ten challenging missions that depict dog fighting over Western Europe with titles such as "Train Busters", "Red Baron's Challenge", "Lost Zeppelin" and "Battle for Paris". They're loaded with music, animation and some humor to boot. Interested? Head over to Abacus Pub.