Avsim Visits Embry Riddle SimCamp

Posted: Wednesday, April 23, 2008 - 16:33
By: Martin Arant - Avsim Simulation Technologies

While on a recent trip to Arizona I had the pleasure of visiting Embry Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU) at their beautiful Prescott, Arizona Campus. The ERAU Prescott Campus is planning on holding the first ever “Flight Sim Summer Camp” scheduled for June 2008 so I was anxious to tour the facilities, as Avsim will be participating in the event.

Situated in the midst of natural wonders, Embry-Riddle's Prescott, Arizona campus covers 539 acres of high-altitude western terrain. The flight training center is at nearby Prescott Love Field Municipal Airport. The campus has excellent programs in flight, engineering, space physics, global security and intelligence studies, computer science, aviation business administration, meteorology, and a graduate program in safety science. The Robertson Aviation Safety Center features an accident investigation lab and the Robertson Flight Simulation Center, houses six Frasca flight-training-devices. Nearby destinations include Phoenix, about 80 miles southeast; Las Vegas, 260 miles northwest; and Los Angeles, 375 miles west. The Grand Canyon, considered one of the most impressive natural splendors in the world is only 95 miles away.

I was met by Ray Bédard, a professor at ERAU, and the architect of the FS-SCORE system used at the ERAU-sponsored landing competition at the 2007 Avsim Conference in Seattle. It was at the Avsim Conference that Ray and his wife and business manager Laurie started exploring the possibility of putting together a flight simulation camp for dedicated flight simulation enthusiasts. The idea was to bring attendees together in a fun and relaxing setting to enjoy spending a week flying the Embry Riddle simulators and taking part in some great simulation scenarios... like a search and rescue exercise using both their networked simulators and the Robertson Air Investigation Site.


The main attraction of my visit was of course, the flight simulators... and Embry Riddle has lots of them. My first exposure to the importance of simulation in the student training environment occurred when I went into a room adjacent to one of the main lecture rooms and saw over 30 students sitting in front of PCs running nothing less than Microsoft Flight Simulator. The instructor was describing QNH and how it is given in millibars in Europe and inches of mercury in the USA. This brought back memories (and not all pleasant) of my own recent preparations for my commercial written test. This looked like a much more interesting and fun way to learn... sitting in front of your individual simulator while receiving instruction. Ray explained that these 30+ PCs are networked into the ERAU air traffic control system located in another building. This allows students to learn ATC procedures and interface directly online with other students flying on the simulators. As a matter of fact, Embry-Riddle is now training actual controllers from the Prescott FAA tower using their virtual air traffic control system. In addition to the PC simulators ERAU also utilizes Frasca cockpit simulators with wide-view visuals. These are fully functional cockpits with working avionics, including the most up-to-date moving map GPS systems. The cockpit simulators I saw represented the Piper Seminole or the Cessna 172. The pièce de résistance however, had to be the full-scale Airbus 320 simulator. This cockpit simulator was actually donated by Airbus to Embry Riddle, so it’s no different that the simulators used by the airlines for Level D training. This simulator is only used for student cockpit orientation, so it is not certified, but that doesn’t mean it’s any less realistic to fly... with its 3-channel visual display and working cockpit systems. A recently posted Avsim video on youtube will take you on a brief visit to the Frasca and Airbus simulators. The youtube link is: Embry Riddle Video. There is also a virtual tour of the flightline located on the ERAU website at: Flightline Tour.

The ERAU Flight Sim Camp is planned for June 16 to June 21 at the ERAU Campus in Prescott, Arizona. Avsim will be participating in the camp by working with the flight simulation community to secure sponsorship for awards and prizes, as well as providing flight scenarios for the ERAU simulators during the camp. Details and signup information on the camp are available from the Embry Riddle Flight Sim Camp section of their website at: ERAU SimCamp

Twin Otter X - A Different Kind Of "Review"

Posted: Wednesday, April 23, 2008 - 3:27
Staff reviewer Mark Kolo recently went on a family vaction to the Caribbean. This inspired him to write a "review" about Aerosoft's Twin Otter X and flying in and out of FlyTampa's St Maarten. This ficticious account utilizes these 2 pieces of software along with others, to show what can be done within the simming world as it applies to the real world. We hope you enjoy this different approach to expressing the abilities of simulation software. Mark presents his version of "Island Hopping."

XPax from HiFi Simulations

Posted: Sunday, April 20, 2008 - 18:30
Staff reviewer Juan Llobera looks at a new way of loading your commercial airliner with passengers with HiFi Simulations' XPax. "This is a new product and is the first one of a series of low-cost dual-sim compatible “pocket add-ons” (something like a Lite series) that basically aims to provide a multimedia passenger experience."

"XPax enable you to:
- Provides a multimedia passenger carriage experience
- It lets you control (manually or automatically) the connection of Jetways (if you have a scenery add on that lets you do that) as well as doors.
- It provides Real-time monitoring of passengers health and approval rating
- Provides a scoring and ranking system based on the flights performance
- Provides a set of 12 audio recordings (containing female and male voices in various accents)
- Provides a report about your flight
- Provides a real time dynamic aircraft weight control based on the passenger load."

Juan's review of XPax concludes, "XPax is a pretty good add on. It gives you the chance of populating those empty seats on your virtual flights. It gives us another option when it comes to Virtual Passengers."

IVAO Virtual Sky - 2nd Edition

Posted: Sunday, April 20, 2008 - 16:52
IVAO have now included an improved section on training and they hope you will all find it useful. Also, in this issue they have an exclusive article from the famous author Captain Mike Ray. You can download your copy of the IVAO - Virtual Sky, then sit back and enjoy this latest edition.

AU Blue - South Australia from Orbx

Posted: Sunday, April 20, 2008 - 0:26
Staff reviewer Chris Balmer flies "down under" and looks at Orbx Simulations System's AU Blue - South Australia. "Orbx is building on the advanced scenery and texture techniques pioneered with the Vista Australis (VOZ) project first launched in December 2005."

"The scenery has the following description provided by the developers: “ Full Terrain Experience introduces a radical new modular design with a level of visual fidelity unprecedented in Microsoft Flight Simulator since its introduction over twenty years ago. For the first time ever it is a pleasure to fly low and slow and take in the depth of features that our ground terrain textures provide.”"

"Keep down low and the scenery comes to life without destroying your simming session and reducing it to a PowerPoint presentation in terms of frame rates. Flying low and slow will really allow you to see the improvements over the default FSX textures, and the added levels of detail that have been put into this scenery. The roads, houses, and general buildings have all been blended into the scenery extremely well. Climb up to a few thousand feet, and you will start to see the “photographic” elements of the scenery. The vistas can be breathtaking in Australia, and they are here for you to see with some lovely detail."

"This is what scenery add-ons should be all about!" comments Chris about AU Blue - South Australia. "The area of coverage is pretty vast, and is only 1 of 4 elements of the Australian continent. Having all 4 would be simply awesome! This will be a popular add-on for many people from all over the world."

USA Forests for X-Plane 8/9 Released

Posted: Saturday, April 19, 2008 - 17:12
The long wait is over, AlPilotX has released the forests for the entire USA! Now you can fly from the Adirondack regions to the Everglades swamps, from the Chihuahuan semi desert to the Sierran Redwood (and Sequoia) forests up to the Cascades Wilderness. All covered by our very detailed and very versatile forests which replace the much more coarse ones from the original V9 Global Scenery (and add forests to X-Plane 8, which doesn't have any of them by default).

To give you rough numbers, here are the words from Albert Laubi who did all the texture and forest definition work (i.e. the artwork): "... This custom made plant cover of the USA now consists of 38 given ecoregions with 351 individually designed forest definitions and 5735 assignments out of 193 different trees and shrubs :-). Combined with stunningly exact forest outlines, this extraordinary scenery gives the USA a very plausible look and to you the joy of a superbe view from the cockpit..." So it will definitely bring your X-Plane flying experience in the USA to a new level (especially in the western mountains)!

New screen shots are available to help you get an impression of what the new scenery will do for you! Here are the download links for X-Plane 9 and X-Plane 8.

Another Captain Mike Ray Article

Posted: Saturday, April 19, 2008 - 1:27
FSVisions has published another an article written by Captain Mike Ray. In this article Capt. Ray once again takes you to a "Cold and Dark" cockpit. The article is free to download at the FSVisions website.

Madrid Barajas 2008 For FS2004

Posted: Saturday, April 19, 2008 - 1:12
SimWings is well known for the high quality airport scenery and Madrid Barajas 2008 is certainly no exception. Highly detailed and including the most recent new developments (new terminal plus runway) it is designed on top of high detail aerial images. Of course our Airport Enhancement Services already covers it. The FSX version will be available in a few weeks as a free download for customers of the FS2004 version.

North America Terrain Mesh for FSX Version 2 - USA

Posted: Saturday, April 19, 2008 - 1:07
FSGenesis today announced the completion and availability of the United States portion of their North America Terrain Mesh for FSX Version 2. V2 represents a significant enhancement from V1, not only addressing the plateaus at thousands of public-use airports, but increasing the vertical resolution from 1m to .25m. North America US V2 is available via download with both manually-installed zip format, or auto-installers, totaling more than 4 Gb. A 4-DVD media version is also available as an option, which will begin shipping on Monday, April 21. Those buying North America Terrain for FSX will also automatically recieve Canada/Mexico when V2 coverage for those areas is completed within the next month.

German Quick Start Guide for FSFlyingSchool

Posted: Saturday, April 19, 2008 - 1:05
FSInventions announces the release of the first foreign language media for its FSFlyingSchool add-on for FSX and FS2004. The new "German Language Quick Start Guide" is free to all. It's in handy PDF format, with loads of details and tips packed into its 9 pages. Includes table of contents. Just click on the 'German Quick Start' link on the main FSFlyingSchool web site.

X-15 for FS9 / FSX

Posted: Saturday, April 19, 2008 - 0:57
Xtreme Prototypes is proud to announce the release of version 1.1 of its X-15 add-on rocket aircraft package for Microsoft® Flight Simulator X and FS2004. Featuring fully functional 3D virtual cockpits, an automatic ignition sequence, new X-15 custom sounds, 10 new camera definitions for FSX and 12 saved flights based on actual X-15 missions.

The upgrade is now available online at no additional cost for registered users of version 1.0. Version 1.1 is a major revision of version 1.0 and contains many new features in addition to those found in the original package, including four different virtual cockpits. Each VC contains over 900 parts and nearly 200 animated gauges, switches, levers, light indicators and flight instruments. Like in the advanced 2D instrument panels of the previous version, the virtual cockpits have been meticulously created to conform as closely as possible to the cabin of the real X-15 rocket aircraft. The VCs allow a total 3D immersion into the X-15 flying environment and come with new internal spotlights, switches, control sticks, handles and levers with tooltips. Some switches have also been replaced on the 2D panels. Virtually all switches in the VCs and 2D panels are clickable and can be used to simulate nearly every step and procedure required in a typical X-15 mission. The main 2D panel now has multiple side views and 10 new camera definitions, some of them corresponding to the real-world X-15 external bug-eye cameras, are now available in the FSX version of the aircraft.

The X-15-1 now has her own custom sound effects for both FSX and FS2004. In addition to the basic FS sound set (igniter idle, rocket engine, flaps and gear), extra sound effects (APUs, turbopump, engine precool/prime and fuel jettison effects) are included in the FSX version. The X-15-1 addon has a special feature that renders the VC canopy “invisible” to give the user the impression that the aircraft is equipped with a “bubble” glass canopy for more visibility and a spectacular outside view when flying in the VC.

The Xtreme Prototypes X-15-1 rocket aircraft package comes with the original X-15-1 (over 100-page, PDF format) utility flight manual and a 20-page VC manual supplement (English and French), both inspired from the real-world X-15 manuals. The VC supplement is available as a free download on the Xtreme Prototypes website.

In Memory of Tim Westnutt

Posted: Friday, April 18, 2008 - 17:15
Mark Beaumont wanted to let all of the AVSIM Family know about the passing of Tim Westnutt. Tim was a musician, pilot and friend to many including those in The AVSIM community. His services are to be held on Monday, 21st of April, 2008, at 12:15 p.m at
Crematorium Zaanstad
Wibautstraat 282
1505 Zaandam
the Netherlands

Directly following the service, his friends will gather at the pub for a drink to celebrate Tim's life at
Trefpunt Café
Hogendijk 28b
1506 AH Zaandam
The Netherlands
(075) 615.8524

Mark also sent along a notice that can be read here.

Latest Releases From Just Flight

Posted: Thursday, April 17, 2008 - 18:59
Just Flight have announced the release of three new products. The first is the boxed version of the F-Lite Airbus Collection Long–Haul is now available. The second announcement is the release of more areas of VFR Real Scenery, this time Leeds & Bradford and also Cardiff are available to purchase for those wanting to try areas of VFR Real Scenery without forking out for an entire volume. You are cleared direct to Just Flight for more information.

Lukla X and Twin Otter X from Aerosoft

Posted: Thursday, April 17, 2008 - 1:16
Staff reviewer Jon Murchison takes Aerosoft's Twin Otter X for some approaches and landings in Aerosoft's Lukla X scenery pack. "Lukla’s runway can only be approached from one direction due to it being snuggled up to a rather large mountain, is on a precarious 19O angle and has a 2000 foot drop at the end. So access is restricted to either Helicopter or STOL aircraft, which leads me nicely into the aircraft known as the DHC-6 Twin Otter."

About the Twin Otter, Jon starts on the outside. "My initial impressions upon seeing the Twin Otter was, Aerosoft had developed a classy model. The download and boxed editions come with five versions that include the DHC-6-100 with wheels and another with skis, and feature 4 liveries depicting various military, private and airline operators. The DHC-6-300 also comes with a wheels model, one with floats for water operations, another with a skis/wheels combination and then 11 liveries across these 3 types, like the 100, these also cover a diverse range of operators."

"Two panel types are provided as standard equipment but these are only in VC view, no 2D panel is included. The panel itself is well laid out. All the standard gauges are placed in front of you and given this aircraft was developed in the 60’s, all the gauges have that weathered well used look about them. Both pilots have a ‘steering wheel’ which is connected between both pilots using a Y shaped bracket that disappears into the floor in the middle of the cockpit. Most of the switches on the panel work but not all, given the level of detail included in the model it would have been cool if they all did. The interior lighting is excellent, bringing atmospheric across the panel and throughout the rear cabin."

"On the taxi, I found the Twotter to be very nimble, the throttles only needed to be open slightly to get her moving and the effective brakes were used repeatedly until I got a feel for her. Once lined up and I opened the throttles I was away as the Otter really loves to fly. I did like the ability to slow my descent and approach considerably using reverse thrust in flight, which is the first time I have actually come across this in FSX. The Floatplane version of the Otter is a real bugger to taxi, you either have to control it much like you would a sail boat and use the wings to help move you into position, or, if you have a flight yoke, use separate power inputs into the engines to help assist making turns."

Moving on to Lukla, "LuklaX is not just an airport scenery, nor is it improved mesh or photoreal scenery. The sum of all these parts makes up LuklaX as a whole, creating a transformation across the region with particular emphasis on Lukla Airport and Mt Everest."

"The foundation of this package is its mesh and landclass. The area covered by these is a large rectangle that starts just south of Phablu in the lower left corner and extends to finish just north and east of Mt Everest. The Photoreal areas are small and limited to Lukla Village and Mt Everest itself, with the textures used being around 5m/pixel (5 meters equals 1 pixel). This certainly enhances both these areas, with Mt Everest looking particularly impressive."

"The terminal facilities sit at the far end of the ramp area with various scenery items such as freight, people and another aircraft sitting on the ramp with you, all adding atmosphere and detail. The control tower is located on the other side of the runway as is the rest of Lukla village that lines the walking track that heads further up the mountains. All the buildings use what appear to be photo textures and provide suitable enough detail. The village, and in fact all buildings throughout the scenery, use purpose built autogen with textures more fitting the construction types for the region."

Concluding this in-depth look at Aerosoft's Lukla X and Twin Otter X Jon says, "Singularly, both packages bring enough to FSX to make them worthwhile, but put them together and you have something quite unique. There is no doubt LuklaX adds a level of detail to the region it covers that leaves the default FSX scenery in its dust. Flying in and out of Lukla brings with it enough challenge to make this a region you are likely to want to fly around in for some time. The DHC-6-100/300 Twin Otter is the best twin engine prop I have flown to date. Aerosoft has captured the aircraft's shape well, packed it full of details and wrapped it in flight models that seem to be very realistic. The quality on all aspects of the visual model show a real dedication to this aircraft. The fact different interiors and types, such as floats and skis, have been included adds real value to the product. I can certainly recommend both packages, the Otter in particular, if you are looking for a highly functional and realistic Twin prop."

FS2Crew Has Released Update to Airbus Series

Posted: Wednesday, April 16, 2008 - 1:31
FS2Crew has recently released an update to its Wilco/feelThere Airbus Series - Special Edition. Service Update 1 is a free upgrade for customers, which incorporates many important fixes and updates. Customers should head over to FS2Crew to download.

New Gauges At Flight Illusion

Posted: Tuesday, April 15, 2008 - 9:34
Flight Illusion is proud to present its latest addition to the range of analogue panel gauges. The turn and bank coordinator was the missing piece in the basic 6 setup. With this new gauge, all kinds of setups, from general aviation to military aircraft can now be made. The gauge is based on a dual stepper motor configuration, allowing one axes to drive the ball and the other to turn the small airplane. Yet another gauge is based on the existing attitude indicator. However, the pitch bar and bank ring are now full black & white, giving the gauge an "old warbird" look. The gauge has been developed for a Messerschmitt simulator project, but can easily be used in all kinds of panels as found in vintage aircraft. Both gauges can be hooked in a daisy chain configuration to other instruments or directly to the central interface. The 80 mm diameter gauges are lit by 2 LED's. For more information, visit Flight Illusion

FSDreamTeam Says Thanks

Posted: Tuesday, April 15, 2008 - 1:15
FSDreamTeam is happy to announce the release of a free scenery for FSX. It's the Greystone (17FL) airfield, home of the Jumbolair aviation community, with the largest private residential runway in the US. This airport is quite famous because John Travolta's house is located on its grounds. This is were he parks his own Boeing 707.

The scenery is for FSX only, and is offered as a free download for all Chicago O'Hare customers, it will automatically run registered if the users has bought O'Hare, otherwise it will only run in Trial Mode. However, it's not possible to purchase Greystone separately.

Regardless of its small size, the scenery has been made just like any payware product: it has an hi-resolution 26 cm/pixel photo-realistic background with autogen that blends nicely with the surrounding area, several animations of birds, cars and people, AFCAD with a parking stand big enough for a jumbo jet in front of the house and, of course, John Travolta's house fully modeled and textured in 3D. Runway texture has been enhanced too with skid markings.

This release will hopefully be the beginning of a new offering from FSDreamTeam: small free "bonus" products, offered to all existing customers as a token of appreciation for their support.

Aeroscene Seeks Dedicated Testing Team

Posted: Monday, April 14, 2008 - 14:12
Aeroscene Simulations is looking to assemble a 'Dedicated Testing Team'. We are looking for a diverse group of honest individuals who wish to make sure our products are accurate, and meet the needs of our customers. A Dedicated Testing Team needs to be in place that is unbiased, and disconnected from the development. They would need to cover a broad spectrum of testing experience, computer knowledge, and product knowledge. Aeroscene Simulations would like to make clear that testing is an extremely important aspect of the product development cycle. The testing cycle will require that an individual spend several hours per week downloading, installing, testing, reporting, discussing, providing screenshots, or save files and the responsibility involved is not to be taken lightly. If you are interested, then please review our application (PDF) which contains more information, and how to apply.

"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.