Tour de France in Gliding

Posted: Friday, July 29, 2011 - 1:05
A new bundle pack is now available. Title : Tour de France in Gliding (Gliding competition) + Roussillon Airports. For the Tour de France in Gliding, after every stage, note the time you have realized so you can compare your time with the other flyers.

Orbx Releases 2WA1 Diamond Point Airport

Posted: Friday, July 29, 2011 - 0:57
Orbx is pleased to announce the availability of 2WA1 Diamond Point Airport, the fourth in a series of Pacific Northwest GA airfield by developers Andreas Hegi and Heiko Glatthorn. Featuring sandy coastlines, beaches, cliffs and an offshore island, this place not only makes for a challenging landing but is a delightful GA circuit area, since nearby WA45 Olympic Field is also included. The scenery features extreme detail with animated human characters, variable levels of grass and vegetation, a sound pack and a huge amount of custom modeled hangars, buildings, houses and clutter.

Forums Update Completed

Posted: Thursday, July 28, 2011 - 2:38
Update 2200 EDT: Update is completed. Forums should now be back online with latest software build.

Update: 2138 EDT: Folks we've been receiving some emails about the forums being down. Rest assured we are almost done with our updates to the IPB forum software to the latest software version. It is now 2138 EST, forums will be back online within 20-30 minutes. Thank you for your patience.

RadioStack X For iPad

Posted: Thursday, July 28, 2011 - 1:02
Aerosoft RadioStack X is an app for the iPad which replicates the complete standard radio stack of Microsoft FSX aircraft. When it is connected to the PC (via your local Wi-Fi network) which is running FSX you are able to set the frequencies of all radios in your cockpit with a simple flick of your finger. It increases the realism of your flights as you can keep your Virtual Cockpit focused on the windscreen and will not have to pan towards the radio stack.

Photoscenery of Poland

Posted: Thursday, July 28, 2011 - 0:40
The VFRPOLAND.COM website offers professional photographic scenery areas of Poland for most popular flight simulators on the market: FSX and FS2004. Now anyone can play the role of a virtual pilot and fly above Poland using a home computer.

The aim of the project is to popularize aviation with VFRPOLAND.COM by creating a recognizable and user-friendly website. The digital resources of theVFRPOLAND.COM website can be used for learning, training, practice and play with particular emphasis on air navigation VFR (Visual Flight Rules - flying using visual landmarks). The VFRPOLAND.COM website also offers a taste of the history and culture of Poland with the descripions of each area thereby introducing more people throughout the world to the fascinating and visually spectacular country of Poland.

Steve Lacey Memorial

Posted: Thursday, July 28, 2011 - 0:31
Sunday July 31st 2:30 p.m.
East Shore Unitarian Church
12700 SE 32nd St
Bellevue, WA 98005

Reception following:
Wilde Rover Irish Pub & Restaurant
111 Central Way
Kirkland, WA 98033

In lieu of flowers donations can be made to any Chase bank to the "Children of Steve Lacey Memorial trust" or through PayPal

F4F Wildcat/Martlet from Just Flight/Aeroplane Heaven

Posted: Wednesday, July 27, 2011 - 14:55
Staff reviewer Harold Zimmer jumps into Just Flight/Aeroplane Heaven's Grumman F4F Wildcat/Martlet to see how it made a name for itself in World War II.

"Variations of the aircraft include models with and without extra fuel tanks. The liveries included in this product reflect actual aircraft that flew in WWII. The amount of functionality within the cockpit is impressive. Authentic looking main panels, side panels, knobs, buttons, etc., are all very well made and textured."

"The Wildcat is nimble and maneuverable for its size and shape. Long flights in this aircraft are enjoyable as the F4F is fairly stable and easy to fly, even in turbulent weather. The aerodynamics described are represented within this model with a high degree of accuracy."

"Aeroplane Heaven has done a very fine job recreating this World War II fighter aircraft in its early years. Excellent modeling along with a large selection of variations and liveries makes this a hard product not to own if you are a WWII aircraft fan."

Orbx FTX - CRM Central Rocky Mountains

Posted: Wednesday, July 27, 2011 - 13:33
Orbx releases FTX Central Rocky Mountains, the first of a series of US Interior West regions extending the ORBX NA BLUE regions to the east and south. CRM is a vast region covering parts of Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming with key cities including Yakima, Boise, Idaho Falls, Helena, Billings, and Jackson. You will experience varied and beautiful landscapes with custom seasonal ground textures based on current aerial photograps taken over the region. Spectacular locations, such as the Columbia Plateau, Hells Canyon, Craters of the Moon National Monument, the Salmon River and Sawtooth Mountains, the Montana Prairies, and Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks, all are depicted in great detail. Just like with the NA BLUE series we've given every single of the ~450 airports and airstrips in the region an upgrade with more accurate placements of runways and taxiways as well as buildings, hangars, and objects. Additionally, every single square mile of land class is hand placed and all major roads, rivers lakes, powerlines, wind farms, and vertical obstructions are included for accurate VFR flying. Last but not least all ground textures are hand- annotated with our custom autogen objects. More information from the Orbx Homepage

Birmingham Shuttlesworth International Released

Posted: Wednesday, July 27, 2011 - 0:28
Birmingham Shuttlesworth International airport is available for Microsoft FSX. This airport as long been overlooked in the MSFS community, so TalonSim decided to give this marvelous airport the pizazz it deserves. Every area of the airport is detailed based on its real world layout. Best of all, as KBHM progresses through its current Modernization program, TalonSim will provide you with timely updates to reflect that progress.

Detailed Areas Include: Main Parking Deck, 3D Taxi Lighting Fixtures, 3D Concourse C, Pemco Inc Overhaul Area,Updated Extended RWY 6/64, Functional 3D ALSF-2,Alabama National Guard Base, plus FREE and timely updates for KBHM modernization program.

Steve Lacey Memorial

Posted: Tuesday, July 26, 2011 - 14:40
The "Children's Memorial Trust of Steve Lacey" is now established for Steve's children. If you would like to make a donation, you can do so at any Chase Bank under the "Children's memorial trust of Steve Lacey" account. The donations are anonymous so if you would like to send me an email with your contact information, Anna Rising will pass on your information to Steve's wife Nabila so that she can personally thank you.

You can also post your condolences at this Memorial Facebook site. Details of this tragic loss can be found at KOMO news.

San Francisco Intl X 2.0 Released

Posted: Tuesday, July 26, 2011 - 1:23
Flightbeam Studios is pleased to announce the release of their 2.0 update to KSFO X - San Francisco International X. The new update delivers the brand new Terminal 2 recently opened at KSFO, featuring 14 new gates for American Airlines and Virgin America.

Terminal 2 features some new night lighting technology and realistic baked in shadows. In addition to Terminal 2, KSFO is now AES compatible and simply needs an update from AES to activate dynamic jetways.

PMDG 737NGX Release Announcement

Posted: Monday, July 25, 2011 - 14:35
In the PMDG Forum Post "Soon (is) Defined" as being in your hands sometime in the next 7-10 days. Robert S. Randazzo from the Precision Manuals Development Group announced today that with final checks underway the much anticipated release is nearly ready for Roll Out.
Read more about "Soon defined" in the PMDG forums.

Steve Lacey Killed In Accident

Posted: Monday, July 25, 2011 - 12:53
Steve Lacey a long-time member of the ACES Development Team died Sunday. Washington State troopers report Steve an innocent driver killed in what may have been the result of road rage.

Washington State Patrol reported that around 2 p.m, southbound on Interstate 405 that the driver of a Hyundai Sonata exited the freeway in an attempt to follow a car that he claims cut him off, exited at NE 85th Street, rounded a corner at a high speed, lost control and hit a raised median, the car rolled and slammed into a BMW that was driving west on 85th Street. The driver of the BMW, 43-year-old Steve Lacey, died instantly.

Steve was married and leaves behind a boy of 7 and girl aged 5, he and his wife just celebrated their tenth wedding anniversary. His long history of contributions to FS include: Flight Simulator 2000, Combat Flight Simulator 2, Flight Simulator 2004 and FSX.

Avsim's Staff would like to extend our condolences to Steve's Family and thank him again posthumously for his contributions to the Flight Simulation Community.

C.Jodry Managing Editor on behalf of the Avsim Staff.

Gaming Brackets from JoyLoc

Posted: Sunday, July 24, 2011 - 21:11
AVSIM reviews editor Robert Whitwell reconfigures his cockpit to fly fighters with JoyLoc's Gaming Brackets. "If you fly fighters and have your HOTAS set up on top of your desk, you are missng out on the look and feel of a true HOTAS configuration."

"JoyLoc has designed an ergonomically correct set of brackets to correctly position your HOTAS controllers in the proper side-by-side configuration. These gaming brackets are easy to install/remove to make your flight sim experience just that little bit closer to the real thing according to the type of aircraft you are flying."

Sim Savvy Announces Scenery Upgrade

Posted: Saturday, July 23, 2011 - 17:02
Sim Savvy is pleased to announce an entire product upgrade. The current product Photoreal America is generated from 1 meter aerials resampled to 2 meter. The source of the aerials (NAIP) is now taking aerial photos in 50 cm resolution. The advancement will be passed along to customers and the entire product will be redone and resampled to 1 meter resolution using these new 50cm aerials.

To fulfill their promise of free high resolution upgrades to current customers, a section of each state completed in this higher resolution will be available for free download. If your purchase an additional upgrade (for 50 states) you will receive the entire state(s) on an upgrade drive that circulates from customer to customer. Hopefully upgrade customers will receive a new batch of improved scenery about once a month until all states are completed. Arizona is the first state completed and the free current customer upgrade is the NW section of the state including the Grand Canyon. The Phoenix area is also available to show how the improved resolution looks over cities. Upgrade customers will receive the entire state very soon.

Additionally, progress is being made on the 30 meter Satellite Scenery of the world. Europe, Africa, and Asia are completed and the Western Hemisphere is in production. This scenery will be a free bonus addition to the Photoreal America product upon completion.

New Comet Jetliner by JustFlight

Posted: Friday, July 22, 2011 - 16:00
Just Flight’s Comet Jetliner  provides an extremely accurate rendition of the DH 106 Comet 4C, the definitive Comet variant, presented here in nine liveries. The extraordinarily detailed virtual cockpit features include fully equipped pilot and co-pilot panels, an engineer’s station with every conceivable control, switch and gauge modeled, and a navigator’s station incorporating all the equipment needed for authentic navigation operations. The Comet is available here
Also, Carenado has just released their new CT210M High Definition. It is available at the Avsim store.
Visit the Avsim Store today.

Flight Sim Voices U.S. Flight Crew Vol1

Posted: Friday, July 22, 2011 - 13:57
Flight Sim Voices announces the release of U.S. Flight Crew Vol1. New Pilot, Flight Attendant, and Ground Crew voices. Easy to install and formatted for: Radar Contact V4, FDC Live! Cockpit. FS Passengers, XPAX, Level-D 767, PMDG 747, Airport Enhancement Services. Pilot or co-pilot voice spans all of these programs, your First officer is the same voice calling out checklists and responding to the tower.

VIRTUAL OSHKOSH 2011

Posted: Friday, July 22, 2011 - 13:44
KOSH , July 25 - 31 AirVenture hosts one of the largest gatherings of pilots and aviation enthusiasts in the world at OSKOSH 2011 !.

FS-MP's invites you to join them at VIRTUAL OSHKOSK 2011. Beginning Fri July 22 and running through Sun July 31, now in its 4th year of Hosting the event FS-MP's scenery and ATC services provide the Flight Sim Pilot the impression they are there.

C172N Skyhawk II For X-Plane From Carenado

Posted: Thursday, July 21, 2011 - 12:23
Carenado release a classic aircraft, the C172N Skyhawk II for X-PLANE 9.5 (or higher).

The package includes: 6 paint schemes and 2 regular models: with and without fairings, 1 ski model, 1 float model
Normal and Emergency Checklist for regular, ski and float models PDF.
Quick Reference document for regular, ski and float models PDF.
Recommended settings document.
Full moving parts: Ailerons, elevators, rudders, flaps, rolling wheels, doors, pilot and copilot’s window, ashtray, copilot seat, glove compartment, sun visor, fresh air control.
Normal & Emergency checklist and reference PDF included

Airbus Series Vol 1 Evo from feelThere/Wilco

Posted: Wednesday, July 20, 2011 - 2:03
Staff reviewer Arjun Murthy looks at the latest "Evolution" of feelThere/Wilco's Airbus Series Volume 1. "The Feelthere/Wilco Airbus Series 1 Evolution is an updated version of their initial Airbus Series 1. It includes the A318, A319, A320 and A321."

"The panels and gauges in the aircraft are mostly functional and are realistic. All the aircraft from the Airbus Series 1 Evo have a functioning Flight Management Guidance Computer (FMGC). Other aircraft also contain a Flight Management Computer (FMC) or Flight Management Systems (FMS) which is very similar to the Airbus’s FMGC. A Nav Data is also upgradeable meaning you will be able to fly with the latest data. Feelthere/Wilco provides a fully functional 2D and 3D/Virtual Cockpit (VC) on all the planes in the Airbus Series 1. All buttons that work on the 2D panel work in the VC."

"The aircraft of the Airbus Series 1 Evo are great to fly, with a good range of Short to Long Range aircraft. If you’re a person that thinks take off and landing are the most fun parts of the flight, the short range aircraft will suit you very well but if you like cruise procrastination, the long range aircraft would work very well."