FSBreak Talks Scenery with Bill Womack

Posted: Saturday, July 25, 2009 - 0:44
The latest installment of the popular FSBreak podcast turns to flight sim scenery. Designer Bill Womack, author of Aerosoft's "Hawaii Dillingham X", "100 Dollar Burger: Plum Island", and co-author of "Tongass Fjords X" is the featured gues. He talks with Eric and Mark about the challenges of the current sim marketplace, the joys and frustrations of building scenery, and gives a sneak preview of upcoming projects. Tune in to FSBreak to hear the interview.

FS2Crew "Voice Commander" 737 Contest

Posted: Saturday, July 25, 2009 - 0:42
FS2Crew, a developer of flight crew simulations, is getting ready to release its most revolutionary, ground-breaking product ever: FS2Crew 2010: Default 737 Voice Commander Edition. This is a radical step-forward for FS2Crew that truly raises the bar not only in the flight crew simulation genre, but also in the Voice Command genre as well.

To help raise awareness for the new product, FS2Crew is holding a contest. There are 10 free copies of the new Voice Commander product to be given away on August 7th, 2009. To enter, all you have to do is correctly answer 5 skill-testing multiple choice questions. Please taxi to FS2Crew to enter the contest.

FSFlyingSchool2009 Reviewed

Posted: Friday, July 24, 2009 - 1:30
Senior staff reviewer Jeff Shyluk goes back to school, flight school that is as he revisits a product he previously reviewed except this time it's the 2009 version of FSFlyingSchool. "FSFlyingSchool is an interactive simulated flight instructor who monitors your actions in Flight Simulator and accumulates notes on your technique into a comprehensive logbook. Jeff Preston, the team leader for the FSFS project is tireless when it comes to making revisions and additions to the product. He listened to what customers had to say about FSFS, and now he is proud to present a new release of the product. I will revisit FSFS and find out what is new in this latest version."

"I should be clear and point out that there are actually quite a few increments involved, depending on the version of FSFS you are looking at. The same basic premise and operation of FSFS remains intact, but a number of improvements allows for smoother, more streamlined operation of the product, as well as a higher lever of interactivity with the instructor. Checklist items like lights and engine management are now crucial for a successful flight."

"The new version has an enhanced logbook that keeps track of all of your flight statistics. You can consult your flight records for an in-depth analysis of your pilot habits, use the log to track your flying time for a virtual airline, or seek out a definitive cause for an aircraft crash."

"FSFS2009 is easy to install and easy to use. The focus is on maintaining basic airmanship skills, so there are no in-depth lessons like you would find at a flying school, nor are there accommodations for extreme aircraft like fighter jets or stunt planes. However, you may use almost any engine-powered fixed-wing general aviation or passenger/cargo aircraft that you have on hand, including third-party add-ons. FSFS2009 does require that you have at least the freeware version of Peter Dowson's FSUIPC installed for FSX."

"Overall, FSFlyingSchool2009 is a product I like, much as I do the original FSFS. Now that I have seen both, I can say I prefer the new version. It doesn't break anything, it just improves on what has gone before."

Orbx Releases FTX: AU YCNK Cessnock Airport

Posted: Thursday, July 23, 2009 - 1:25
YCNK Cessnock Airport is situated right in the heart of the picturesque NSW Hunter Valley (about one hour's flight north of Sydney), home to much acclaimed wineries and a thriving olive industry. A short flight from both YPEC Aeropelican and YWVA Warnervale, this airport is the final in Orbx's NSW Central Coast series. Covering nearly 80 square kilometres in 60cm/pixel photoreal, and the airport in 15cm/pixel photoreal scenery.

Complete your Central Coast airport collection with this simply stunning scenery which gives you a whole valley to explore and lots of famous little touches which Orbx is famous for.

FSX CF-188 Demo Team Positions

Posted: Thursday, July 23, 2009 - 1:15
Matt "Guns" Webber announces, "We are a Canadian demo team that uses the F-18 Hornet whose paint job changes every year, based on a real Canadian Forces demo plane. We are getting into training, but we have some open spots that need to be filled. Here are the positions: -AP/Narr. (CF-188_#7) -Right Wing (CF-188_#3) -Sparky 2 -Flight Surgeon -Film Crew. This is our Summer practice schedule: Sunday to Thursday: 7:00pm to 9:00pm Friday 7:00pm to 10:00pm Saturday 7:00pm to 10pm. Visit our website for more information or questions."

YPEC - YMVA - YMAV from Orbx

Posted: Wednesday, July 22, 2009 - 2:31
Senior staff reviewer Angelique van Campen completes her tour of Australia with the 2nd part of her Orbx/FTX tour. "This time I'll take you on a cross country flight through AUGOLD and AUBLUE Australia, while discovering the FTX airports AeroPelican (YPEC), Warnervale (YWVA) and Avalon (YMAV)."

"Ok, each individually reviewed airport costs you no more than US$28.63 (€21.69) and is worth every penny. You could, and I strongly suggest to, add to this FTX AUGOLD and/or AUBLUE. Each of the FTX scenery products will be US$35.80 (€27.12) but for that you get the entire scenery area and for AUBLUE, the airports YWVA and YMAV are located in this part, which gives you the overall FTX sensation. One really important item; when you own one of the colored FTX packages - AUGOLD | AUBLUE | AURED| AUGREEN - don't forget to download and install the road fix. When you forget this, the cars and trucks are crossing through the airport registration building at AeroPelican. FSX settings and the final performance of your FSX depends on lots of other things but it's very helpful using the suggested settings including AI boats, GA aircraft and cars."

Angelique goes into great detail as she treks her way across the country and intimately describes each stop along the way. This is a fairly long review but well worth the read, as Australia is an exciting and diverse continent to fly in and across and Orbx has presented it well.

Multi Crew Experience V1.6 Released

Posted: Wednesday, July 22, 2009 - 0:55
The FS++ team is pleased to announce the release of V1.6 of their award winning add-on to both FSX and FS2004 called Multi Crew Experience. MCE is a speech based add-on that allows the flight sim enthusiast to fly those heavies in a more realistic way. Issue commands to co-pilot, go through the checklist, etc. It is also a serious alternative to VoxATC for interaction with the FS built-in ATC system. A fully working, time limited demo, is available for download.

Virtual Oshkosh 2009

Posted: Wednesday, July 22, 2009 - 0:52
iFlyOnline announces their premier FSX Multiplayer event of the year - July 24 - August 3. For details visit: Virtual Oshkosh 2009. Each day beginning at 19:00 Zulu, the event will feature a mass fly-in to KOSH using the RIPON-FISK arrival with full air traffic control. Then, an airshow that includes some of the finest acts in the FSX Community. Confirmed so far: Thunderbirds, Blue Eagles, Black Falcons, CF-188 Hornet Demo Team, and more! Don't miss the action! iFlyOnline.com is an FSX Multiplayer community for aviation entusiasts featuring a high bandwidth direct connect FSX server, Forums, TeamSpeak server, ATC School, and more.

FScene Goes Multi-lingual

Posted: Tuesday, July 21, 2009 - 0:26
As of to-day most international visitors to the FScene website will find information, Questions&Answers as well as installation instructions in their own language. These files are available in 10 languages, in both HTML and PDF format.

New Releases at the Avsim Store

Posted: Monday, July 20, 2009 - 16:36
The Piper PA34 Seneca II from Carenado is now available for download. The Seneca II is a great twin for FSX. The Avsim store now has a wide selection of Carenado planes available for download.
As we keep adding more products to the store, check our 'New' Section to see what was recently added. You can also look at the bargain bin for great deals.

Support Avsim.com, visit the Avsim Store today

New Space Shuttle Mission 2007™ - STS 125

Posted: Sunday, July 19, 2009 - 21:44
Exciting Simulations has released today a new free Mission Pack for the Space Shuttle Mission 2007 simulator - the STS-125 mission. This is the most recently completed NASA Space Shuttle Mission and the last to visit the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). Carried out by Atlantis on May 11, 2009, STS-125 was a complex mission which tested the skill and patience of the Shuttle crew.

In the best SSM2007 tradition, the budding astronauts will experience first-hand the liftoff, On-Orbit ops including rendezvous and capture of the HST, EVA in Zero-G, RMS operations, Deorbit, Reentry and manually Landing the Shuttle at Edwards AFB.

The Space Shuttle Mission 2007™ is available for online purchase in downloadable format at the SSM2007 official website. The latest Demo can also be downloaded freely at the same website.

2 Sceneries from SimGiants

Posted: Sunday, July 19, 2009 - 21:35
Staff reviewer Etienne Martin visits 2 locales from Sim Giants, the Canary Islands and Milan Malpensa. "The Canary Gold for FSX product contains three airports: El Hierro – GCHI – is near the town of Valverde on the westernmost island of Hierro in the archipelago. Tenerife North – GCXO – is one of two main airports on the central island of Tenerife near Santa Cruz de Tenerife. To complete the Canary Gold package, we also tour Fuerteventura – GCFV – near Puerto del Rosario on the eastern island of Fuerteventura. Then, we move to Europe and northern Italy where we visit one of the three major airports near Milan - Malpensa International airport – LIMC."

"I found the overall quality to be good and balanced between detail and performance. What also immediately caught my eye were the ground textures, in particular the numerous ground markings and variety of ground textures that really make the scenery standout. The signage is excellent, so is the associated night lighting for taxiways and runways. For example, some hold short markers are associated with alternating red/yellow flashers, a nice touch."

"There is a good effort in blending the add-on scenery with the default scenery. SimGiants uses background textures based on satellite photo scenery and manages to blend quite well with its FSX scenery surroundings. SimGiants supports all seasonal changes for Milan Malpensa, again blending well with the surroundings."

"SimGiants adds a few interesting details, such as construction vehicles, coffee tables with umbrellas, glass lined gangways leading to the terminals that are amazingly transparent. Parked cars and other static objects can be found scattered about the airport although all are static. Some of the construction workers are animated, and there are some static figures around terminal entrances."

"I found performance to be quite good compared to some other scenery add-ons that take a heavy toll on the visual frame rates. I am very pleased with the overall renditions of the airports in the packages. I can only ask for many more airports to get the SimGiants treatment."

Ultimate Traffic 2 Demo

Posted: Saturday, July 18, 2009 - 21:55
Flight One Software has released a free demo of Ultimate Traffic 2 for FSX. This demo will give you a taste of what Ultimate Traffic 2 is all about. The demo includes the airports of Ft. Lauderdale (KFLL) in the USA, and Stuttgart (EDDS) in Germany.

With this demo, you will be able to see how Ultimate Traffic 2 can add to FSX the most realistic airport and enroute traffic based on real world airline flight schedules. UT2 implements all new technology that allows for AI aircraft to follow flight plans on the way to their destinations, allowing your skies to depict the most realistic traffic patterns possible.

Air Hauler from Just Flight

Posted: Saturday, July 18, 2009 - 1:27
Avsim reviewer Proflig8tor goes into the cargo business for himself as he checks out Just Flight's Air Hauler. "Have you ever thought, “it would be neat to be financially rewarded for doing a good job in Flight Simulator, to have something more than another 0.8 in the logbook to show for your work?” If so, running your own cargo operation in AirHauler might be just what you are looking for."

"The set up and creation of your Company is straightforward with the ability to customize your Flight Sim version, Company name and your Chief Pilot. You then select the difficulty level from amongst Easy, Hard, or Career Mode. Career mode is the most challenging scenario. You can even choose to use real world weather and oil prices. Then you must choose a base to begin operations."

"Air Hauler is very much a real time affair which relies on a link between it and your Flight Simulator using FSUIPC. The link is very stable and works very well, sometimes too well. AirHauler is a product that enhances Flight Simulator by making your Sim flying more meaningful. If you like point to point flying in airliners and enjoy real world weather and operations, you will have a ball in AirHauler. You will want to pick aircraft for use in AirHauler that are both easy to fly, and fly well without intense monitoring. The Beechcraft Baron, B200 and Cessna Caravan work well."

"Overall the program is remarkably stable given the potential for problems running an add-on program plus third party aircraft with add-on panels within Flight Simulator. I’ve not experienced a single frozen screen or crash to desktop while using AirHauler. AirHauler’s developer built the sim that he wanted to play. It is a very well done effort that has resonated amongst many Flight Simulator users and which gives real promise to the continued growth of the genre. The program is easy and fun to use."

"I consider it a must try at its reasonable price, particularly if you ever harbored any thoughts of being a freight dawg pilot. Air Hauler is on its way to becoming a classic in the Flight Sim community."

Watercraft For FlightSim - Deltasim Sirocco GTX2 V 2.0

Posted: Friday, July 17, 2009 - 16:04
Deltasim Studio has released version 2 of the Sirocco GTX2 as a freeware. The update includes a new glass material for better visibility, new hull textures, fixed wind and speed indicator, added new very stable dynamic, new navigation lights, reflector search lights, new animation for radar and stern gates, starter switches, new wake and spray effects, camera definition for most important places on the deck, speed up transferring on the deck. This is a native FSX version compatible with SP1, SP2, Acceleration and ESP. For more information please visit DELTASIM STUDIO .

Cordova, Alaska Scenery Released

Posted: Friday, July 17, 2009 - 14:59
Flight Immersion have released their second low cost, high immersion scenery add-on for FSX. "Cordova, Alaska" upgrades the default FSX scenery for THREE airfields in the Cordova, Alaska region, allowing simmers to make short distance (10-20 minute) flights between the three fields. This range is perfect for simmers who want immersive scenery and some 'life' at their airfields. Cordova, Alaska is available at the SimMarket website.

RealAir Beech Duke Boxed Edition

Posted: Friday, July 17, 2009 - 14:40
A classic twin-engine light aircraft that has it all - sleek good looks and a pressurised cabin that allows you to cruise the airways in comfort and style in Flight Simulator X.

The Beechcraft Duke first rolled out in 1968 and production continued through to the early 1980s. The aircraft's blend of elegance, pressurised cabin and performance made it a firm favourite with her owners, though her reputation for thirst and expensive repair bills were equally legendary!

Developed by the award-winning RealAir, this beautiful simulated aircraft makes the perfect platform for IFR flights, or just taking to the skies for the sheer pleasure of flying... this must be one of the most satisfying simulations of a piston twin yet available for FSX.

The Duke has been painstakingly developed from the ground up for Flight Simulator X over a two year period by RealAir. And it shows, with the meticulous attention to detail of every possible aspect of operating this classic Beechcraft, so that the visual aesthetics, sounds, cockpit and panel, animations and flight model all contribute equally to the highest standards possible within FSX. Divert to the Flight1 website for details about both the download and boxed versions of the Duke.

Nantes Atlantique from FranceVFR

Posted: Friday, July 17, 2009 - 2:27
Staff reviewer Jon Murchison heads to Europe to review FranceVFR's Nantes Atlantique. "Nantes Atlantique (ICAO LFRS) is a medium size regional airport in the west of France. Serviced by one 2900 ft runway operating on 03/21, it has a modern terminal facility, GA parking and general ramp parking. Situated close to the nearby city of, wait for it, Nantes, the airport currently serves around 3 million passengers a year. One of its claims to fame is the location of the Airbus production facility just across the road from the airport."

"I had a look around and was suitably impressed with the level of detail in the scenery. The main terminal is purpose built and while it doesn’t comply with the FSX SDK, and I say that because it has no bump mapping or reflectivity so I am assuming this is the case, it looks great. The resolution of the textures is not as high as some I have seen but they are effective, well colored and no doubt add to the performance. The gates are standard FSX default jetways but their placement is realistic as per their real world counterparts. Nantes is a compact airport with GA facilities to the north, cargo and ATC tower to the south and what appears to be an old terminal next to a hangar on the other side of the airport to the west."

"The ramp area has plenty of static objects such as buses and service trucks and these are complimented by default FSX vehicles roaming around as well. Out the front of the terminal, additional parking can be found with more buses and cars populating the area. I noted the scenery does utilize levels of detail so items will appear the closer you get to them and it utilizes simpler versions of the item when you are at a distance. Moving south from the terminal is a fairly busy area containing the airport control tower, the fire station with purpose built fire trucks, and a cargo area that is a combination of purpose built scenery and default FSX trucks and scenery objects which populates this area. Next to this is the fuel depot which has various default FSX fuel trucks parked at it."

"Beyond the airport fence to the north and east is an extensive area that covers a number of hotels and, of course, the sprawling Airbus factory that’s well worth an explore. All of these items are well detailed with a very large number of scenery items actually sitting on top of the photoreal base. From what I could see, all of the facilities have been modeled creating a very distinctive landmark. For the amount of detail presented, I didn’t note any drop in performance, but as I always say that will vary from machine to machine."

"Overall I really enjoyed Nantes Atlantique. It has a cozy, friendly feeling and that’s because it’s not a huge airport but it has lots of facilities and you can comfortable fly a twin engine heavy in and out if you wish. The overall level of detail is very high, both within and outside the airport’s grounds and the photoreal base it sits on completes the effect. If you fly in this part of the world then I see no reason at all why you wouldn’t want to add Nantes Atlantique to your collection."

Rail Sim - Class 60 Released

Posted: Friday, July 17, 2009 - 0:37
Just Trains announces thier latest add-on for Rail Sim and RailWorks. The Class 60 locomotives can be used to haul heavy freight in any RailWorks or Rail Simulator route, and this add-on includes a set of scenarios for you to drive on some of the default RailWorks and Rail Simulator routes.

Class 60 is supplied in 10 authentic liveries and is modelled with exacting attention to detail, all the way down to small features such as grills and vents. The realistic cab features accurately modelled and correctly placed controls, and you can even use the windscreen wipers and move the individual window sunblinds up and down to aid visibility when the sun is low in the sky. The distinctive sounds of the Class 60 were recorded from the real locomotive and include the unique engine start-up sounds and horn.

ATC Simulator 2 Update

Posted: Thursday, July 16, 2009 - 15:18
ARTS-IIIA widescreen support for ATC Simultor 2 now available for download for existing ATCsimulator2 customers, both Standard and Professional Editions. This update provides support for running the ARTS-IIIa mode on widescreen monitors. The following modes are now supported; 1280x800, 1440x900 and 1680x1050. Normal (96 dpi) and Large (120 dpi) font modes are required.

All existing 4:3 aspect screen modes are still supported. Until now, STARS was the only mode available on widescreen monitors. Adapting ARTS-IIIa for widescreen monitors helps to preserve the nostalgia associated with this legacy air traffic simulation. For more information and/or to update, visit ATC Simulator 2.