Latest Aerosoft Releases

Posted: Friday, December 28, 2007 - 18:43
Lukla X - Mount Everest - How about a product that we guarantee will frustrate you? Lukla certainly will do so as you attempt to land there. In fact we have not seen ANY pilot who was able to make the first landing there without serious problems and/or crashes. The runway is located at nine thousand feet, is seriously sloped and ends in a solid stone wall. Yet it is an important airport for the many tourists and climbers who want to climb Mount Everest. The scenery includes Lukla with all its houses, a few other places you can land (we would not call them airfields) and Mount Everest. It features textures down to centimeter size, full FSX design including scenery sounds, bumpmaps etc. Be ready to be frustrated but the moment you master this landing you know you are a better pilot.

Piper Cheyenne X - Digital Aviation delivered the Cheyenne for FSX this week and while the aircraft was a major hit in FS2004, the FSX version looks a lot better and adds a fully functional weather radar. Of course all the
FS2004 functions made the transition to FSX.

Airport Enhancement Services 1.93 - Version 1.93 adds new airports but above anything else, you can now have your aircraft de-iced. This new option works on all airports that are covered by AES. It looks incredible and completes the service fleet that AES will add to FS2004.

Screenshotworld.com Arriving Soon

Posted: Friday, December 28, 2007 - 15:50
screenshotworld.com will be arriving 1st January 2008, Chris W. Balmer says “screenshotworld.com will be a forum-based site for ‘as-is’, edited, and composite artwork from any flight simulator. The site will provide tutorials for those who wish to learn new skills - or even improve their existing skills - regardless of software being used.” Chris goes onto say “The site will open with a competition sponsored by Captain Sim, whereby the winner can select any product from the Captain Sim product line-up.” Make your way over to Screenshot World for more information.

LaGuardia (KLGA) from ImagineSim

Posted: Thursday, December 27, 2007 - 22:30
New staff reviewer Etienne Martin submits his first review, ImagineSim's LaGuardia (KLGA), which has been updated for FSX. "At 680 acres, LaGuardia is the smallest of the three airports serving the New York City metropolitan area. Its two 7,000’ runways, 4 terminals and 72 gates serve among others Delta Airlines, American Airlines, Frontier, JetBlue, US Airways and Air Canada."

"The marine terminal, the main terminal with its four concourses, the US Airways and Delta terminals are depicted faithfully. Located on a strip of land between the Grand Central Parkway and the East River, the airport is void of much greenery. It favors the utility of concrete, heavy fencing, blast shields and 40s-era hangars mixed in with modern terminal buildings. The ground textures are particularly well done, especially up close. The ground shows the appropriate wear and tear expected for a well traveled airport."

"LGA for FSX does not use the animated jetways found in FSX. The scenery only has a handful of selected gates that have FS9 style animated jetways triggered only when you enter a special frequency in the nav radio with your aircraft at the door. Each gate either has a parking system or the “2D” ground crew, or both. Each responds appropriately to the aircraft position as it nears the gate and helps guide the pilot to the proper parking position."

"While slower than the default scenery, I didn’t notice a significant drop in performance. I did notice significantly higher levels of traffic, both airport and airline in the FSX version compared to similar traffic levels selected in the FS9 version. As with other large airports, this add-on can lead to very slow frame rates if the AI traffic is high."

Concluding his tour around LaGuardia, Etienne remarks, "Imagine Sim provides a faithful rendition of the LaGuardia airport and a significant improvement over the default scenery. The level of detail is pleasing without a major hit to performance, although at the cost of simplified building textures and low outlying detail outside of the airport flight area. The tarmac itself is nicely done with detailed markings, with static and moving objects."

Seahawk X & Jayhawk X from Aerosoft

Posted: Wednesday, December 26, 2007 - 22:25
Senior staff reviewer David Wilson-Okamura departs for sea as he test flies Aerosoft's Seahawk X and Jayhawk X. "The Sikorsky Seahawk, a version of the U.S. Army’s Blackhawk helicopter, has been used by the U.S. Navy for reconnaissance, antisubmarine warfare, search and rescue, communications relay, and transport since the early 1980s. A Coast Guard version, which performs similar tasks, is called the Jayhawk."

"There’s a lot of detail here, both in the 3D modeling and in the skinning. The package comes with fourteen liveries, including one for the U.S. Coast Guard, one for the Japanese Navy, one for the Spanish Navy, one for the Greek Navy, two for the Australian Navy, and eight for the U.S. Navy. The Seahawk and Jayhawk can both be parked on ships, so to save valuable deck space, they can both fold up to about half their normal footprint."

"There are other good-looking helicopters for FSX: for example, the Agusta Westland EH-101 that comes with Acceleration. To my knowledge, though, there is no other helicopter product that even comes close to this one in the department of cockpit systems and avionics. How often is it that more realistic is actually easier to fly? Not often, but apparently this is one of those times."

"On the pedestal, there are two control display units (CDUs), which are similar in appearance to the FMS in a jetliner. The two units are independent, so you can display a different page of data on each one. The main instrument panel is dominated by two large LCDs, with some analogue gauges for backup. The Seahawk and Jayhawk are both heavy machines, which tends to dampen their movement and make them less skittish than, say, the default Robinson."

Concluding his naval aviator tour, David says, "Personally, I’m satisfied: while it’s challenging to fly the Seahawk/Jayhawk, you can start having fun with them right away. If you have tried helicopters before, and given up because they were too hard, this one is less hard. Once you get the hang of it, there is a real feeling of accomplishment, and you can land on other platforms (such as building rooftops) with more confidence, because you’ve already mastered the more difficult skill of landing on a ship."

VOZ Scenery For FSX Released

Posted: Tuesday, December 25, 2007 - 4:27
VOZ Scenery X is the all new scenery project from the crew at Vista Australis; and it has been designed solely for FSX. Over a year in the making, VSX features breathtaking scenery enhancements for everyone that enjoys flying in Australia. Covering all of Australia and the outlying Islands, there is something for everyone. For more information and to download, please visit Vista Australis at their website.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to All!

Posted: Tuesday, December 25, 2007 - 3:11
To all our AVSIM readers, friends and family, please accept our best wishes for the holidays. May your new year be prosperous and safe! Please give your spouse or significant other a hug and tell them how much you appreciate the understanding they give as you fly the world.

SimCharts V4 from Jeppesen

Posted: Tuesday, December 25, 2007 - 0:03
Senior staff reviewer Zane Gard flies his sim like he would in the real world while using Jeppesen SimCharts V4, "Jeppesen is a name long known in aviation circles. Ever since the early 1930’s when Elroy Borge Jeppesen started making his own charts for his personal use, every pilot that saw them wanted to use them. Jeppesen and Microsoft have had a relationship since FS2000, with Jeppesen supplying the data used for placing navigation data and airport information as well as displaying this information in MSFS’s GPS."

This review is very graphic intensive as showing what the charts do in association with a flight is the best way of demonstrating how to use these aids. Zane explains, "I’m going to take you along on three types of approaches which will cover using SimCharts for reality type flying in real IFR weather with winds and low visibility. We’ll do a GPS non-precision approach, a VFR non-precision approach and finally a full ILS all flown by hand, not with the autopilot, and tracked on the SimCharts."

Zane wraps up this detailed journey through Jeppesen SimCharts V4 with, "I personally like this product and found it very easy to use. Is it for everybody? I don’t think so. The argument will rise that you can download all the NOS charts for free and print them out using them on a kneeboard or stuck up next to the computer monitor. That won’t give you Jeppesen charts and it won’t give you a tracking line to follow or view later. So if you are flying online and the area you are flying in is using a newer set of procedures, you’ll probably get all uncomfortable as the controller wannabe on the other end scolds you for not being properly prepared."

Free Holiday Present From FScene

Posted: Monday, December 24, 2007 - 15:17
To-day FScene.com released a very interesting mission for FSX. Actually it's a Fun Mission for the 2007 Holidays. It plays in early Winter.

Ruud Faber describes it as follows: "Urgent mission from a Navy Airport; The weather is bad; All flights have been cancelled; You (experienced pilot) just arrived from London at Navy Airport de Kooy - Netherlands for a special mission."

The co-pilot briefs you on the purpose of this special flight. He's a Dutch airforce captain you know for years already. This airport has been officially closed some years ago. It's only available for special Navy flights. There's no ATC from the tower. A Marine talks you in and out via his cellphone. There's not much to rely on this afternoon. The mission is not easy to play, but flying it over and over you'll grow to become a great Cessna Pilot. Don't give up too soon! You can download it for free at the FScene website.

VFR Germany 1: West from Aerosoft

Posted: Sunday, December 23, 2007 - 19:28
Senior staff reviewer travels back to Europe to fly Aerosoft's VFR Germany 1: West. "Last summer I reviewed the last three titles in the Scenery Germany series for FS2004, I only wish they worked in FSX. So now I'll look at the first FSX installment of the base layer, VFR Germany 1: West."

"The bread and butter of this package is photographic ground textures, taken from airplanes. With FSX, the resolution can go up to 30 centimeters per pixel. With FS2004, photographic ground textures looked blocky up close. With this product, the coverage area looks much, much better than you’ve ever seen in Flight Simulator."

"As for blurries, they are no better and no worse than any other photographic scenery product I have ever seen, owned, or reviewed. If you fly too fast, the textures will blur; it’s a limitation of Flight Simulator. If you like flying the Cessna 172, this won’t be a problem. If you primarily fly jets, this product is probably going to be frustrating, and so will every other product that uses photographic ground textures."

"Photoscenery is not new for Flight Simulator, although with FSX we are seeing more and more detail. Ideally, you want a 3D house object to be placed on top of a 2D house, a 3D tree on top of a 2D tree, and so on. With VFR Germany, you get this effect for the entire coverage area. This is a big deal. I know that, with FSX, a lot of people have given up on autogen because turning it off improves frame rates."

Concluding his latest European tour, David concludes that with VFR Germany 1: West, "you can keep looking at it, for hours even, and notice new things. You can fly for days, even weeks, and not exhaust everything there is to see."

Great Australian Air Rally

Posted: Sunday, December 23, 2007 - 13:03
The folks at Deer Valley Flying Club have invited all the readers here at AVSIM to the Great Australian Air Rally in February of 2008. Dave Mulder in the press release says,"Yes this is the very same rally that was created and organized by Bluegrass Airlines since 2001. With the permission of Bluegrass, Deer Valley Flying Club is happy to bring this tradition to all of you in the sim community. For those who have flown before, we welcome you back. For those who have missed it in the past, we encourage you to participate. We hope to make this years event the biggest and best ever.

Individual prizes, fun, adventure, and friends await. There will be VA, Club, and Team prizes also, so sign up the whole club or fly for yourself. This is a world class and worldwide simming event. Don't miss it!! Please feel free to visit www.flydeervalley.com/gaar for more information on rules, planes, and procedures. We even have a movie or two up at the site to get you in the spirit GAAR 2008.

This year's rally has a special twist for allu in the form of mission planning for FSX and FS9. The Great Australian Air Rally will be 17 legs (4 or 5 each week) in the land of the Roo during the entire month of February. It will use FSX Mission programming for the pilots who want to use FSX and will provide ABL scripted Missions for those who want to use FS9. You will be tested in each of the 7 planes that will be used. This adventure can be flown off line or on line at any server you choose. We will provide the planes, weather, and the adventure. Registration will open at www.flydeervalley.com/gaar on January 1, 2008."

If the old pistons engines make your heart pound and a competitive adventure is what you desire, then make sure to get your registration in early. They look forward to seeing all of you in February of 2008.

Gotha Ho229 For FS 2004 Released

Posted: Saturday, December 22, 2007 - 16:51
Had the Ho 229 made it into production it would have been the culmination of Luftwaffe technology and design. Featuring flying wing technology to reduce drag, two 30mm cannons, one of the first ejection seats, and a powerplant of two Junkers Jumo jet engines, the Ho 229 would have been unmatched in the skies over Europe. SkyUnlimited has worked hard to replicate this marvel of aerial ingenuity for your personal enjoyment. You now can take to the skies in one of the most mysterious and deadly aircraft of WWII.

Features Include: a highly detailed exterior model of the Gotha Ho229 by Kevin “Gibbage” Miller; beautifully rendered Virtual Cockpits by Brandon Toomey that are animated and labeled; 8 stunning paint schemes featuring differently nationalities including a fictional Japanese version; "By the Book" flight dynamics built with the latest in airfile design technology by the acclaimed Jerry Beckwith; highly Detailed Panel by Jesse Lambert; machine gun effects, wingtip vortices effects, and contrail effects; custom Gauges by the acclaimed Michael Flahault; custom Gun Effects for FSX and Fs2004 by Rob Barendregt and Douglas Dawson; and custom Sound sets created by Michael Flahault. An FSX version will be released as a separate product.

Scotflight for FSX Released

Posted: Saturday, December 22, 2007 - 14:08
Scotflight for FSX - Highlands & Islands includes 27 detailed airports and airfields and a host of other features to bring the landscape in this remote and beautiful part of the world to life. The scenery also includes a more detailed coastline for the whole of Scotland. Version 1.1 is compatible with SP1/SP2/Accel/SP2. For full details on this release visit Visual Flight.

Arturo Merino Benitez International Airport by Skymaker

Posted: Saturday, December 22, 2007 - 4:34
Staff reviewer Roger Curtiss goes to South America to review Skymaker's Arturo Merino Benitez International Airport (SCEL). "SCEL utilizes 2 parallel runways of 10,500’ length in a north/south configuration (17L/35R and 17R/35L) with the terminal area located midfield in between them. Runway 17L/35R is certified for CAT III and ILS IIIA operations."

"I started my tour from the southwest corner of the ramp area where there are 2 open-air parking spots. I proceeded northbound past the terminal area and it was obvious that the terminal textures went beyond the standard FS airport buildings and certainly appeared to represent actual buildings. This impression was confirmed when I viewed some photos of the actual airport provided to me by Skymakers and this allowed me to appreciate the attention to detail that went into the product."

"The taxiway lines were “freshly painted” being quite vivid and clear and the taxiway signs were large and easy to read. But not every taxiway was marked with a sign. I passed one of the two fire stations where a few green trucks sat outside and took a look at a large LAN Chile hangar. The hangar was open and the airplane could be brought inside but it and others at the airport were generally of a generic construct and devoid of any interior appointments."

"For the return taxi to the main terminal area I reset the clock to night hours. The taxiways were beautifully illuminated with green centerline lights clearly showing the main and low visibility routes around the airport. But I did come to some taxiway intersections that did not have signs so it is imperative to maintain great situational awareness in order to avoid getting lost."

Roger sums up his tour of SCEL with, "while SCEL appears to be a sincere attempt to depict the Benitez Airport, it falls short in a few areas and offers few surprises and for those reasons I cannot place it in the same category as other titles that do offer these amenities. But I believe the Skymakers crew has room for improvement and enhancement that I hope will be forthcoming in updates or new offerings."

XPax Released

Posted: Friday, December 21, 2007 - 23:38
XPax, a new multimedia passenger simulation add-on from HiFi Simulation, has been officially released! This add-on is compatible with both FSX AND FS9. A full multi-media passengers experience is provided, with included audio and video content (4 unique voices with over 12 total sets). New content sets can be recorded or imported with a few clicks. Passengers are fully simulated from boarding to deplaning, with all various phases of flight properly tracked and monitored. Passengers can be viewed in real time via the manifest or top-down seating diagram screen! 3 detailed cabins are provided as well as a universal “Other” custom cabin diagram that can be configured for any load. Performance is scored by individual passenger approval and health amounts which will change based on the smoothness of the flight. Abrupt control movements, unsafe flying, hard landings, and many more other tracked events will cause approval reduction, and in extreme cases will cause health reduction. Flight logs are fully exportable for use with VA operations. Real-time dynamic control of FS aircraft payload, automatic jetway and doors control, a report screen, documentation, top-notch customer support and much more are all included.

This is the first in a series of low-cost dual-sim-compatible “pocket add-ons” from HiFi Simulation that aim to provide entertaining enhancements to the simulation experience with exceptional value. XPax is available now for immediate download. For more information, screenshots, documentation, and to download please visit the X Pax Page.

Flight Gear 1.0 Released

Posted: Friday, December 21, 2007 - 23:31
FlightGear is a free, open-source, flight simulator that runs on just about every major platform. The source code is licensed under the
GPL. FlightGear is available for free download from the Flight Gear Site. Ready to run versions of FlightGear are available for Windows and MacOS. Packages for other platforms should be arriving in the upcoming days. Please take a look at the above page to get an idea of the new features and aircraft that are available with this release.

VATSIM Special Partnership

Posted: Friday, December 21, 2007 - 17:51
VATSIM and MITRE's Center for Advanced Aviation System Development (CAASD) have joined together to conduct aviation systems research using the VATSIM network as a test environment for proof of concept and hypothesis testing of new ATC solutions.

Richard Jenkins of VATSIM writes, "This program is the direct result of the exacting standards required to fly and control on VATSIM and is a direct tribute to your tireless efforts to simulate as real as it gets. Today VATSIM leaves the world of purely a hobby and moves into the real world, making its contribution to future ATC systems and aviation safety. Congratulations to all those members out there that have made the reputation VATSIM has built over the years as the serious simulation platform. Your hard work has been recognized."

From the CAASD website Overview, "MITRE has helped the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) address the nation's most critical aviation issues since the company's creation in 1958. In recognition of this long and fruitful relationship, the FAA designated MITRE's aviation program as a Federally Funded Research and Development Center in 1990 and named the new entity the Center for Advanced Aviation System Development (CAASD). In addition to supporting the FAA, CAASD works with civil aviation authorities around the world, all of which face similar challenges. This enables us to increase our knowledge of best practices in aviation and share them with all our customers." CAASD primarily supports the FAA, but also works with more than 20 aviation organizations around the world—in Europe, Asia, South America, and North America. For more information from VATSIM, check out the VATSIM Forums.

ATR 72-500 Update

Posted: Friday, December 21, 2007 - 15:24
Flight One Software has officially released Service Pack 1 for the FSX version of the ATR 72-500. This update fixes several minor issues with the aircraft, as well as a minor change for Vista users if your FSX installation is installed to the Program Files folder.

Only users of the download version, or users that have the FS9 version on CD and have upgraded to the FSX version using the FS9 to FSX update program, need this update. You can get the update by visiting Flight One.

HJG Releases Core File Updates

Posted: Thursday, December 20, 2007 - 17:28
The Historic Jetliners Group has released updates to 16 of the B707/720/C135 TYPE panels for FS2004 & FSX. There have been no changes to any of the actual panel files. These do not need replacing. Again this is just a gauges/core files update only. In addition tothe core file updates HJG has added new base packs covering B707-138, B707-138B EARLY, and B707-138B LATE replace the original data and include FDE revisions. Please taxi on down to the Historic Jetliners Group for more information.

AVSIM Needs News Editors

Posted: Wednesday, December 19, 2007 - 14:57
Would you like to see your handy work on the front pages of AVSIM? Like to write, edit, and contribute to a great team and family? AVSIM.com is seeking news editors for it's front page news. All we ask is 3-5 days a month to submit stories that are emailed to us, surf the web looking for news to post, and on your duty days post the new files as they are ready.

You'll be joining a tight-knit family of AVSIM volunteers that love what we do, and at the same time giving back to the simming community. If you're interested, please send an email to AVSIM HR. We will be in touch quickly to discuss adding you to our team! Thank you, and have a happy holidays!

-John Binner, AVSIM
Managing Editor
jbinner@avsim.com

Got Yoke?

Posted: Wednesday, December 19, 2007 - 14:34
Now you can fly the Boeing 737 NG how it was meant to be flown. Beta Innovations, in collaboration with their technology partner, are pleased to announce the release of this limited run all-metal, fully realistic 737 Yoke. The 737 Yoke provides authentic functionality using the latest in USB technology for precision and stability. Manufactured using full metal and aluminum casting with specially powder-coated finish for realistic look and feel. For more information visit Beta Innovations .