Douglas DC-2 from Flight 1

Posted: Sunday, May 22, 2011 - 22:50
Staff reviewer Mike Cameron looks at an innovative aircraft from the beginning of the passenger airline industry, Flight 1's Douglas DC-2. "The DC-2 established 19 American speed and distance records in its first six months of service. There are currently only three DC-2 aircraft still around. The Flight1 DC-2 product was developed by the UIVER Team, distributed by Flight1 Software and all profits from this product is being paid directly to the Aviodrome Dutch National Aviation Theme Park to keep the real airplane flying."

"The textures of the cabin seating sometimes change depending on the exterior livery being used. The cockpit was produced based on photos taken from the real aircraft. Two different 3D Virtual Cockpits are included as part of the package. The exterior textures are also photo-realistic and features full bump-mapping and specular effects. Thirty eight liveries are included with the FSX boxed edition."

"The UIVER Team has produced an authentic reproduction of the Douglas DC-2 with an incredible amount of detail. I highly recommend this aircraft distributed by Flight 1."

Nord-Pas De Calais & LFQQ from France VFR

Posted: Saturday, May 21, 2011 - 18:55
Senior staff reviewer Angelique van Campen flies from Holland to France by way of France VFR's Pas de Calais and the Lille Lesquin International Airport (LFQQ). "Nord-Pas de Calais, is one of the 27 regions of France. It consists of the departments of Nord and Pas-de-Calais, in the north and has a border with Belgium. Lille is the principal city of the Lille Métropole, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the country behind those of Paris, Lyon and Marseille. Lille is situated on the Deûle River, near France's border with Belgium."

"The 1st VFR flight goes along the coast line from the northern city of Dunkerque (LFAK) to Berck-sur-Mer (LFAM). The 2nd VFR flight starts in LFAM where I fly in an eastern direction to the city of Vitry-en-Artios (LFQS), home of Renault Cars. These two VFR flights should give you a good idea of the photo-real quality of France VFR Nord-Pas de Calais."

"LFQQ can be used as stand-alone add-on scenery or in combination with the Nord-Pas de Calais scenery package. The airport includes high-definition textures of ground and buildings as well as night textures. Particularly important as a stand-alone, the scenery covers about 50 sq. Km. and adds an extended photo realistic area to the airport including specific autogen and VFR landmarks and nearby road traffic."

"Overall impression of these France VFR products is something like "they did it again!" The team at France VFR are specialists in French territorial photo-real sceneries and some French airports. This photo-real scenery of Nord-Pas de Calais offers not only realistic ground textures, but also lots of autogen and, in some areas, handmade 3D object."

UK2000 Scenery Releases 'Birmingham Xtreme V2'FSX/FS9

Posted: Saturday, May 21, 2011 - 16:50
This new version of Birmingham includes the new pier constructed recently and other change made since the first version was released in 2008. Made to a high level of detail and accuracy but still maintaining a friendly frame rate.

Birmingham Airport is the UK's sixth largest Airport. With over nine million passengers through its two terminals each year, it acts as the Midland's premier gateway to the world. Over 50 airlines operate services to more than 100 destinations including New York. Birmingham also provides low cost services with carriers including, Flybe, Monarch, bmibaby, Ryainair and Aer Lingus.

AVSIM Attends Paderborn

Posted: Saturday, May 21, 2011 - 3:57
Senior staff reviewer Angelique van Campen recently attended Aerosoft's Flight Sim Conference at Paderborn. Here's her report in words and pictures.

iFly Jets: The 737NG For FSX Released

Posted: Friday, May 20, 2011 - 23:13
Flight One Software, in partnership with the iFly Development Team, is proud to announce the release of "iFly Jets: The 737NG for FSX".

After years of development and testing, iFly Development Team has created one of the most sophisticated and complete add-on packages for Microsoft Flight Simulator. The product showcases a highly accurate simulation of the 737NG cockpit environment, including detailed flight systems and virtual panels. There are multiple variations of aircraft included, covering a wide range of 737NG configurations.

The product includes an entire fleet of aircraft that covers the NG range. This includes the 737NG -600, -700, -800, and -900, plus the -BBJ, -BBJ2, and -BBJ3 variants. There are multiple configuration options among this fleet that you can configure via the Configuration Manager, including jet engine types, MCP type, and wingtips. A MyFleet tool is included as part of the Configuration Manager which allows you to manage your entire fleet of models and repaints.

SP2 for Tower! 2011 Released

Posted: Friday, May 20, 2011 - 23:10
feelThere would like you to know that they have released a Service Pack (SP2) for Tower! 2011 single and multiplayer mode.
Existing feelThere and ATCSuite customers can receive this patch free by re-downloading their product using the link they received at the time of the purchase. We will send this patch to our 3rd party partners in the next few days.

The service pack will fix the following problems:
-Some users reported sound problems after installing the KLAS add-on
-Some users reported problems with incorrect holding positions at certain runways
-feelThere found some issues with intersection runway operations. They weren't reported yet but they thought they had better fix it
-Preparation for the upcoming KJFK add-on. New York will have two one way taxiway and they have added some better support for these one way taxiways.

Complete details and installation instructions can be found on the feelThere forum.

V2 of GMap Android

Posted: Friday, May 20, 2011 - 14:45
FSWidgets says this new version introduces significant new capability including "cloud" based word-wide navigation data covering airports, VORs, NDBs and Fixes. Charts have been updated and now include new US IFR Enroute Low and High coverage, five new map types, and improved runway/taxiway resolution on all existing map types. Other enhancements include new HUD and compass overlay and improved support for tablet sized devices. This is a free upgrade for all existing GMap 1.x users and is available from the Android Market or the FSWidgets website.

Piper Saratoga For X-Plane from Carenado

Posted: Thursday, May 19, 2011 - 2:59
Staff reviewer Ted Gold takes Carenado's Piper Saratoga for a spin in the X-Plane environment. "Following hard on the heels of the Moody M20J for X-Plane, Carenado is following a specific route map for bringing their incredibly high standard of flight simulator GA models to the X-Plane world and raising the bar for future developers to follow - a good thing."

"The Saratoga ships with four paint schemes and a default white canvas for repainting. Carenado has worked magic here with superb dynamic lighting effects over the fuselage and numerous details to be appreciated by any pilot. Internally the model provides more immersive features. Virtually everything within the cabin functions as expected; from the door releases and flip-top seat ashtrays, right down to the mood lighting provided by 4 individually switched reading spots over each seat."

"Carenado has not just included a whole new level of custom gauges, they went ahead and ensured that every one has its own dynamic reflective model that shifts depending on eye point location and direction of lighting source. The original Collins COM and NAV radios are razor sharp and effortless in function (and nicely tied in with the GPS unit NAV/COM when tuned via the inner/outer rotary dials that stand proud from the panel)."

"Generally speaking, the aircraft flies by the numbers. Trimming the aircraft and maintaining stability is easy. Takeoff’s and landings are simple to manage. The Saratoga is a “must-have” tour-de-force release for X-Plane."

Ben Gurion X from FSAddon

Posted: Wednesday, May 18, 2011 - 2:46
Staff reviewer Benjamin van Soldt visits an airport he is very familiar with in real life, Ben Gurion International Airport. So here's his review of Ben Gurion X from FSAddon. "FS Addon has published this new rendition of Ben Gurion for FSX by David Rosenfeld, the same guy that made a very good LLBG add-on for FS2004 in 2006. However, this FSX version is no mere port, as you might think. It is new scenery, suited for FSX, and using FSX technology."

"Contained in this scenery package is Ben Gurion International airport and photo scenery of the immediate surrounding area. The photo scenery does not extend all the way to the beaches of Tel Aviv, but stops right where Tel Aviv more or less starts. Not only has the airport seen a makeover, but also large chunks of the surrounding area too. The photo scenery also has night lighting and the default FSX cars move on the photo scenery’s highways."

"I think FSAddon’s rendition of Ben Gurion is a faithful one. Everything that needs to be there is present, and it has been done with an eye for detail, resulting in very good quality scenery. The 3D modeling is great and the texturing is very good too. For anybody interested in flying into this airport at least a few times, FSAddon’s Ben Gurion is pretty much a must-have."

National Airline History Museum Flight Simulator Fund

Posted: Tuesday, May 17, 2011 - 22:28
Roger Dodger Aviation is running a fund-raiser to donate a new Flight Simulator to the National Airline History Museum, GoFlight is generously donating a GF-LGTII panel for the project, and you can assist in the effort. For more information about the project and how to participate, follow the link page's instructions.

Flight1 Release Airport Studio

Posted: Tuesday, May 17, 2011 - 2:27
This is a new airport editor for FSX and FS9 that lets you edit airports directly inside Flight Simulator. You can easily create, move around, and delete airport elements using the mouse in Flight Simulator views. Airport Studio displays an overlay in the Flight Simulator scenery with the airport being edited, allowing for a true in-place editing.

You can use Airport Studio to add, modify or remove taxiways, parking spots, aprons, start locations, helipads, boundary fences and other elements of your airports without leaving Flight Simulator. No need to guess locations or restart FS frequently - you will always see and edit all airport elements directly in the Flight Simulator view. Once finished editing, simply save the file and hit the Reload button for your changes to take effect in FS!

Airport Studio is also a perfect companion product for their Airport Facilitator X, and for every other airport editor. When used this way, you can easily adjust visible airport elements inside Airport Studio, and use the external airport editor for other tasks. Airport Studio will automatically detect and load changes every time you save the file in the other editor, giving you an instant preview of all your changes.

The 2011 Flight Simmer's Demographic Survey

Posted: Sunday, May 15, 2011 - 15:16
AVSIM ran its last flight simulation demographic survey over 4 years ago and we are pleased to announce that we have opened the 2011 demographic survey to start the series over again. The purpose of the survey is to determine the state of our hobby today. The survey is important for a variety of reasons; developers can focus on which sim is prime among its customers, vendors can determine price sensitivities for add ons, web sites can determine areas to concentrate their energies on, and we at AVSIM can determine our effectiveness as a news provider and community resource. We encourage you to participate. There are only 9 questions to answer, and should take you no longer than 5 minutes to complete. All the information provided by you is anonymous and cannot be unidentified as your answers by anyone, including AVSIM Staff. Please join us in taking the survey today.

Carenado Releases The Commander 114 For FSX

Posted: Saturday, May 14, 2011 - 1:01
This aircraft was tested by real Commander pilots. It features extremely detailed cockpit with 3D gauges. The exterior comes with five different paint schemes plus a blank texture.

Other features of the Commander 114 include: Century III autopilot flight system; Customizable panel for controlling windows transparency and static elements such as wheel chocks, pitot cover and sights props; Original HQ digital stereo sounds recorded directly from the real aircraft; Pop up Commander 114 manual with normal, emergency checklist and performance tables.

The PDF documents include: Normal and emergency procedures check list, Quick reference, Century III Autopilot Manual, Operations Tips, VC Diagram and recommended Settings.

Colorado Camping Weekend - FSX Mission

Posted: Saturday, May 14, 2011 - 0:57
Vertical Studios has released day 2 of their Colorado Camping Weekend FSX Add-On mission. The 4 day mission lets you enjoy great mountain flying while visiting 5 airports and flying ver 6 mountain passes. This leg of your journey takes you from Camp Vertical, over the Vail Pass, through Glenwood Canyon and on to lenwood Springs.

Watch the preview video to get a sense of how nice it is to fly VFR, low and slow, in Colorado. The product includes detailed aeronautical charts of your departure, route, and arrival; FSX Nav Log, Flightplan and GPS with programmed waypoints; Real-world voice actors with written text of entire dialog. Vertical Studios offers the FSX add-on market a unique benefit; real-world, ultra-high-quality FSX add-on missions by an FAA certified pilot.

Do Add-ons Really Make A Difference?

Posted: Friday, May 13, 2011 - 15:06
Contributing reviewer Ray Marshall looks at how many of the latest add-ons can really contribute to how you fly and how effective they are. "This is a review of a half dozen or so popular add-ons for FSX used straight out of the box for the first time, all together for my first transcontinental flight using the PMDG MD-11X F."

During his flight from Boston to Frankfurt ray states, "I learned the enjoyment factor is increased exponentially with the use of quality add-ons to an already quality product. Each of the add-ons is used to support the others in this flight. My biggest surprise may be how much professionalism and enjoyment the TOPCAT program brings to the party."

"Which did I enjoy the most? Easy answer - Aivlasoft’s Electronic Flight Bag. Which could I not do without? Angle of Attack PMDG MD-11F Flight Training videos. Navigraph is indispensible. With their AIRAC update cycles that covers your entire range of add-ons to keep all your SIDs, STARs, airports and approaches up to date and so reasonably priced, how can you do without it?"

This multi-product review will open your eyes with regards to putting it all together and getting the most out of your flightsim experience. Even though it's directed to heavy metal flyers, it applies everywhere in our simulated world.

Aerosoft Releases H36 Dimona X

Posted: Thursday, May 12, 2011 - 15:51
The Hoffmann H36 Dimona is not your regular small aircraft. It's in the rather exclusive class of touring motor gliders; aircraft that are a cross between motor aircraft and gliders. They got the long wings of a glider but a standard (though often rather small) aircraft engine. You can either use them as a normal aircraft or switch off the engine and glide for a while.

Latest News From Just Flight

Posted: Thursday, May 12, 2011 - 15:31
Service Pack 4 released for CLS 767 200/300 series This service pack provides several fixes for the 767-200/300 Series software (all versions for FSX and FS2004) and also incorporates the set of free bonus liveries that were previously available.

Marshall Islands for FSX - This Micronesian nation of atolls and islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean is a great place to fly - float plane devotees, fans of tricky landings (and no doubt some enterprising Air Hauler pilots) will enjoy this finely detailed set of airports and island scenery, which features accurate terminal buildings, upgraded terrain mesh, night lighting and effects, photorealistc textures and custom runways, vegetation and objects. Also included are a host of animations including bird song and crashing waves!

Polish Airports Volume 1 - The development team behind the Polish Airports series have done a really great job on the three airports featured in Polish Airports Volume 1, available in both FSX and FS2004 editions. EPRZ Rzeszow Jasionka, EPKT Katowice Pyrzowice and EPGD Gdansk Rebiechowo all feature stunning photorealistic textures that change to reflect the current seasons and time of day, and the airport buildings are accurately modelled and placed using satellite data for ultimate accuracy. These airports also include animated airport traffic, high-quality static aircraft, custom special effects and more.

And now for something completely different - If you fancy a change from fast-paced jet action and feel like slowing down a little and seeing the land from less than several thousand feet, give Farming Simulator 2011 a try.

The long awaited sequel to one of the best selling simulations of all time brings the intricacies of farming to your desktop, with stunning new graphics and a myriad of new features. Career mode gives you the chance to experience daily life on a farm in all its variety in a freely accessible world - breed livestock, look after your animals and sell the milk, or build up your income by growing a wide range of crops. As your income grows, so do the opportunities to invest in everything from tractors, combine harvesters, ploughs and seed drills to balers and loaders, all lavishly detailed, fully operable and licensed by the big names in agricultural machinery. You can even work your farm with the help of your friends via an Internet or LAN connection.

Africa ! From Open VFR

Posted: Thursday, May 12, 2011 - 13:41
OpenVFR publishes their first African countries as scenery for Microsoft Flight Simulator X:, as well openVFR added new countries to openVFR America. Countries like Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Peru, Bolivia and the Falkland Isles are now available. Additionally two missing countries for openVFR Europe: Croatia and Slovenia, have been released.
Like all sceneries of openVFR there are different packages (terrain, objects and a mesh) available for each country. Also the new african sceneries are based on Openstreetmap and elevation data from NASA.

New Project Magenta Website

Posted: Thursday, May 12, 2011 - 3:57
Project Magenta has a new website allowing improved access to documentation, software updates, tools information about their software.
Being based on a modern and reliable system which has a vast array of potentially useful plugins and allows for some custom development that they have in mind, it should prove to be a very useful resource for everyone involved. So whether you are a customer or just browsing, please register as a user on their website. They will be adding notifications about new features as their website grows step by step.

Carenado Release Their PA28 Archer II for X-Plane

Posted: Wednesday, May 11, 2011 - 12:57
Carenado has released the famous and classic PA28 Archer II for X-Plane, Features: Fully Interactive virtual cockpit with separate switches for instruments lights and dome light toggle yoke in the VC, Nightlight effects on panel, realistic light effects on gauges

Full moving parts: Ailerons, elevators, rudders, flaps, rolling wheels, Animated sections such as: doors, sun visor and copilot seat, Realistic lights: Navigation lights, beacons, landing lights, polygon optimized model.

3D modeled pilot and cockpit area, many details as: pitot, antennas, chocks, pitot cover, baggage area.
Realistic textures and original paint designs, featuring four different paints schemes, two models: with and without fairings

Similar behavior compared to the real airplane with real weight and balance, original HQ digital stereo sounds (44100 HZ) recorded from the original aircraft. Visit the PA28 Archer II Product Page for more details.