New Website for Home Flightdeck Builders

Posted: Thursday, October 8, 2009 - 19:32
A new website has been launched to show case home made flight decks called myflightdeck.org . This website aims to showcase various home made flight decks and also a platform where flightdeck builders interact with each other. For more information visit myflightdeck.org's home page .

Strike Fighters 2 Series from Third Wire

Posted: Wednesday, October 7, 2009 - 23:53
Staff reviewer Peter Clemenko III jumps into the cockpits of various military fighters in a series of releases by Third Wire - Strike Fighters 2, Strike Fighters 2 Vietnam, and Strike Fighters 2 Europe. "Strike Fighters 2 is more based around the Middle East, where the Vietnam title is, you guessed it, based in Vietnam, and Europe is Cold War era Germany. Each one comes with a multitude of aircraft, and a good array of campaigns and weapons."

"As far as content goes, with the various products installed, you get plenty of campaigns along with a random mission generator. The biggest issue I had though was there were no pre-set missions, mission editors, or training missions, and no multiplayer. The campaigns are pretty good, however they seem a little repetitive. However, the sim does well to mix up air to ground and air to air ops, even though the missions felt canned."

"The AI in this sim seems to be pretty good. I don’t want perfect AI that never makes mistakes as that would just ruin the feeling of it being human. The graphics seem pretty decent, and as such, I enjoyed them. I enjoyed the little details I noticed such as the pilots head pivoting on a swivel in the cockpit from the external view. I also noticed that the cockpits were pretty good, and there were plenty of them, including various cockpits based on numerous versions of the same aircraft. That was a nice little touch."

"All in all, Strike Fighters 2 is a breath of fresh air up to a point. There are some major let downs though. The biggest one I can think of is the fact that they pulled the Multiplayer option (which was in the first version), and they didn’t include any training missions."

vroute Support For Jetstream JS4100

Posted: Wednesday, October 7, 2009 - 14:46
"vroute" is the first flight planning and preparation tool to offer full support of the PMDG's latest product - the BAe Jetstream JS4100 - both in route export format and fuel calculation. Route export - users can now export any of the available routes into PMDG's file format. In less than a few mouse clicks, the FMC gets preloaded with the selected route. This saves time in FMC programming and reduces the risk of mistakes, resembling the way airline pilots do with company routes. In addition to the Jetstream 41, vroute supports many other add-on aircraft formats, including PMDG 747 and MD-11, Level-D 767, PSS and Wilco Airbus / ERJ. Fuel calculation - Calculating the required fuel is no simple task, especially when one has to consider factors such as high-altitude winds, impact from payload and distance to alternate airport. Complete details can be found at the "vroute" website.

Library Update Newsletter Back Online

Posted: Tuesday, October 6, 2009 - 22:19
Avsim Members can now receive daily notifications of the latest arrivals in the Avsim Library via their Email again by clicking the List Server link here or on the top of the Front Page and follow the instructions to get your Library Updates delivered directly to you each day .

New Home Cockpit Building Website Announced

Posted: Tuesday, October 6, 2009 - 2:21
An all new web community has been launched dedicated to home cockpit builders, called Cockpit Builders . This is a non commercial website and hopes to support anyone taking on the challenge of recreating a favorite aircraft in a more "Life Like" atmosphere by providing a large group of people to look upto for interaction, exchange of views, advice, etc. For more information visit Cockpit Builders Homepage.

From the Library Director

Posted: Monday, October 5, 2009 - 18:00

It is great news to report the library is now, once again, back to a normal state. AVSIM is very proud to have endured the hardship and prevail with the full support of the community we serve. I would like to thank everyone involved in the process. Further, I believe we should all come together and thank the library managers who endured vigorous waves of e-mails, forum postings, and harsh criticism. Thank you to Rick Case, Gary Buska, Jerel Hayes, Hendrik Herryjanto, Momtchil Dobrev, and Mark Plumley.

The very threads that piece this community are the men and women who serve it. It is rare and far between we get a chance to thank them. Once again, thank you gentlemen for your hard work. The community and I applaud you.

Respectfully,
Chase Kreznor
Library Director

Roussillon Aéro Simulation Releases More Gliding Mission

Posted: Monday, October 5, 2009 - 17:54
Roussillon Aéro Simulation introduces 8 new FSX gliding missions around Australia. For more information visit Roussillon Aéro Simulation Homepage.

DBS Studio Releases New 2D Panels

Posted: Monday, October 5, 2009 - 17:30
DBS Studio announces the release of a new series of easy-of-using authentic 2D panels for Flight Simulator 2004 and Flight Simulator X. DBS's Yak-40 Panel presents an authentic Russian "Classic Age" aircraft environment, combined with easy to use pilot's operations; such as fast start, easy takeoff, easy flight, and easy landing. Full information is available at the DBS Studio website.

Historic Jetliner Group Update

Posted: Monday, October 5, 2009 - 17:24
Freeware HJG have released a flightline full of new and upgraded files featuring yet more high quality classic/nostalgic jetliners for both FS2004 and FSX. Latest textures for HJG Boeing aircraft include an extremely rare B707-320B SCD (only 5 of these aircraft were ever built) in the late 1970's livery of a major Hong kong based international airline. Early production B727-100 aircraft supported by liveries for 3 Mexican carriers from the 1990's, and the late 1990's identity of a lesser known operator from the African Congo. Late production B727-100 aircraft are represented by 2 variations of colourful and patriotic livery applied to the aircraft. For a complete list of all the new files, visit the Historic Jetliner Group website.

Library Upload Capability Restored

Posted: Sunday, October 4, 2009 - 17:26
Our tech team has been hard at work since the commencement of the AVSIM restoration to bring the website back to its previous state. We are happy to announce that as of today, our Library upload capability has been restored.

Your uploads will go through the same process as before, approved and edited by the Library Managers ans then placed on our electronic shelves for your access. Thanks to all of our Library users for their patience. Let the uploads begin....

Mallorca X from Aerosoft

Posted: Sunday, October 4, 2009 - 1:25
Staff reviewer Jon Murchison heads to a European vacation getaway with Aerosoft's Mallorca X. "Mallorca X is a little bit different to other releases from the Aerosoft stable in that while Palma de Mallorca is rendered, as is the smaller GA field of Son Bonet, it doesn’t stop there. To quote the Aerosoft Mallorca X page, this product comes as a “complete island in a breathtaking resolution of 0.5m/pixel” and when the DVD version is released Aerosoft say this will be extended to include the other two islands in the Balearic group."

"Palma De Mallorca has four areas of operation with the international terminal being the larger area of the four taking up what is effectively two sides of the main terminal space. Here visiting aircraft are served by single air bridge equipped gates and terminal buildings that have plenty of glass in them providing virtual passengers great views of the ramp operations. The air bridge’s themselves are highly detailed and emblazoned with airberlin.com. The textures on these were very clear and crisp as they were for the majority of the buildings. A good portion of the domestic terminal sits on stilts so airport traffic such as push back trucks, buses and catering trucks are clearly visible running under the buildings and in and out of the ramp areas and this is supplied by AES Lite."

"Son Bonet (LESB) is a sleepy little airport that lies about 4 or 5 km’s north of Palma and as a result is closer to the city centre and is primarily used for general aviation. Four large hangars with either fully or partially open doors dominate the ramp area and sit in front a series of workshops and other facilities. All of the scenery items in this area are very well constructed with excellent levels of detail and textures. Cars and trees also populate this area making it quite dense scenery wise."

"Mallorca X comes with AES Lite. In its simplest form this adds a myriad of traffic both on the major roads around the airport but also ramp side buses, catering trucks, push-back trucks etc. Pretty much anything you would expect to find at a major airport can be seen following pre-defined loops. A simple click of the mouse will turn traffic flows on and off for the three areas of the scenery this covers."

"Mallorca X is in my view a destination that caters for pretty much any form of flying one might care to partake in. Topographically speaking Mallorca varies from steep mountains protecting its northern coastline to the sweeping fields that roll into the ocean to the south. Farmland, vineyards, desert and holiday retreats dot the shorelines and hinterland making this a VFR feast for those who like it low and slow. Both helicopter and GA pilots will appreciate the resolution of the photoreal textures as the island unfolds beneath them. For those who want an even more intimate experience get in a car and follow the roads and tracks clearly discernable across the island. The combination of high detail airports that sit on a complete island of hi resolution photoreal textures makes it in my view a complete destination for flying."

Fix For SKCL - Santiago Bonilla Aragon Released

Posted: Saturday, October 3, 2009 - 16:49
PILOT'S GesmbH announces the release of a fix for the Airport SKCL - Santiago Bonilla Aragon (Cali, Colombia). In this case the installation of FS Global reveals a wrong airport altitude in FS, leaving the airport beneath actual terrain level like a "bathtub".

You will find the fix as a FREE DOWNLOAD on thier website. The upcoming FS Global 2010 will come with a tool, which allows every user to fix these problems themselves.

A2A Piper Cub v.1.1 Patch Released

Posted: Saturday, October 3, 2009 - 0:11
From A2A simulations comes an update to their Cub.

Check out the Version 1.1 Video

New Features in v.1.1

- Paddle to and from a dock or any shoreline with a functional oar.
- Make advanced water to land landings with Tundra tires. This allows for safer landings near shorelines and lakes. While the tundras are larger than regular tires, they are not floats, so if you get too slow over the water, they can pull you in and nose over. Be careful and respectful of the dangers of skipping over water. The wave physics are enabled, so you may get some bucking up and down at speed.
- Hand towing (CONTROLS PANEL). This allows you to slowly pull or push your aircraft after the engine has been shut off.
- New tie-down physics will hold aircraft steady. If you use the tie down on water, it will simulate a tie down near a dock. The plane will still rock back and forth in the watter, but it will behave as if it is roped down.
- Audible damage physics. This means if you push an engine, especially if cold, you will hear some slightly different sounds coming from the engine.

PASSENGER ON BOARD:
- Nervous Heidi won't comment so much when down low.
- Misc improvements and fixes to Heidi's intelligence.

MISC:
- Wing departure characteristics slightly tuned.
- DAT files automatically get re-located to MY DOCUMENTS / A2A / FSX / J3CUB.
- Tuned (reduced) ground effect.

BUG FIXES:
- Engine damage bug fixed
- Fixed a bug when sometimes hand starting was not possible based on previous flights.
- Sudden damage is relatively less likely when TBO time 1800 is chosen.
- Fixed bug where air starting required the prop movement speed to be slowed down to start.
- Gauge physics improvements and fixes.

Download the patch!!

MiGMan's Flight Sim Museum 2.0

Posted: Friday, October 2, 2009 - 23:59
MigMan announces the launch of Flight Sim Museum v2.0. The tecnhnology conversion of www.migman.com that had been ongoing since 2007 is finally "finished".

Good foundations have been laid for the next 10+ years of operation, and the cobwebs that accreted since 1998 have been well and truly swept away. Even though the majority of the Museum content still resides in static html, the organisation of that data has been 'normalised' and the indexing of it handed over to Joomla. In fact the quickest way to find information in the Museum now may well be to use the "Search the indexes" function.

MiGMAn writes: "The process of finding a Content Management System took me far and wide, I looked at many and finally settled on Joomla. Funnily enough Joomla was one of the first I examined back in 2007, but at the time I was not convinced it would have longevity. Two years later it looks solid, with a huge user base and an open source codebase. There will be more functionality added over the next year. For now, it looks like a great day for flying!"

FSWidgets: GMap for FS2004

Posted: Friday, October 2, 2009 - 23:53
GMap comes to FS2004!

FSWidgets has just released the FS2004 edition of GMap, a free moving map system powered by Google Maps. In recognition of the large proportion of folks in the community still using FS9, it was only a matter of time before the FS2004 incarnation would join the existing FSX and X-Plane versions. Available for download at FSWidgets' Shop.

The Avsim Store has a full line of downloads from the top publishers

Posted: Friday, October 2, 2009 - 18:06
The Avsim Store has a great selection of instant download products.
From Carenado, you get get the latest PA-28 Archer II, the Mooney 20-J , the C172N Skyhawk and others.
From Aerosoft, you can get the F16 falcon, the DHC-2 Beaver, the Cape Canaveral scenery and others
From Wilco you can get the Boeing 777 or the CRJ Regional Jet.
Visit the Avsim store today.

Flight Replicas Me-262 from Flight1

Posted: Tuesday, September 29, 2009 - 1:59
Senior staff reviewer Angelique van Campen looks at Flight Replicas Me-262. "The Me-262 began life in 1938, when Willy Messerschmitt was called upon to design a new fighter to be powered by two gas turbine engines. The configuration eventually chosen featured a sleek streamlined fuselage with the two podded engines carried beneath a low-mounted wing."

"The Flight Replicas Me-262 comes in the following models; standard (whatever this may be), R4M rocket equipped launcher, Jabo fighter/bomber and a 2-seater. The model’s external look and detail is pretty good. Some parts are not that impressive but other parts, like the main landing gear wheels and then especially the tires, look great. On the models you find everywhere lines of panels and unfortunately, it stays as a line so there’s no possibility to open a specific panel."

"This time only one cockpit version and then as expected, only the Virtual Cockpit. I don’t know about other military fighters and what they are offering but thinking about it, it’s a relatively small cockpit area with one or two seats and not too many complicated instruments. This makes it possible to fly - without frame rate reduction – an easy VC. ."

After taking the aircraft up and puting it through its paces, Angelique concludes with, "You only get an FSX model of the Me-262 specially designed to work with FSX SP2 or the Acceleration Pack. You don’t get the FS2004 version included with this package."

AVSIM Social in Chicago 10 Oct 2009

Posted: Monday, September 28, 2009 - 14:51
Join us at the Chicago O'Hare Hilton on Saturday, October 10th, 2009, at 6:00 p.m. for the 2009 AVSIM Social! Meet your fellow flight simulation enthusiasts and have a drink with us. The event is FREE but you must purchase your own drinks. If you are under the age of 21 you must be accompanied by an adult to gain entry. Log on to our RSVP system and let us know you're coming.

Latin VFR Releases Santamaria Int'l Airport

Posted: Sunday, September 27, 2009 - 23:11
Located in the Province of Alajuela, is Juan Santamaria International Airport, previously known as "Coco" and still referenced by pilots as such, it is the main airport of Costa Rica. This airfield serves a great number of tourists from Canada, Europe and the United States. There are three other international airports in the country but only the Daniel Oduber International
Airport in Liberia, Guanacaste is served by major airlines. Currently, Juan Santamaría is the second busiest airport in Central America after Tocumen International Airport in Panamá.

Abacus - Combat Collectors Edition 2 - FS2004/FS-X

Posted: Sunday, September 27, 2009 - 14:10
Abacus' Combat Collectors 2nd Edition for FS2004 and FS-X contains 14 of the best military planes and helicopters throughout history. After installing, you'll be able to take control of planes ranging from WWII prop planes to Vietnam and modern day props and jets to helicopters as well. Each of these aircraft have great virtual cockpits, great flight dynamics and slick paint schemes to make you feel like you are in the action.

Check out hi=-res screenshots at Abacus Combat Collection Edition 2