National Air Tour

Posted: Tuesday, August 12, 2003 - 13:44
Bill Von Sennet has let us know that starting on September 8th 2003, The Aviation Foundation of America is re-creating the 1932 National Air Tour. A historic 4,000-mile journey that follows path of uncompleted 1932 tour with 25 vintage aircraft landing in more than two-dozen cities. The Air Tour is to celebrate the Centennial of Flight in 2003. Bluegrass Virtual Airlines will re-create the National Air Tour for use with Microsoft Flight Simulator 2002 and 2004 Century of Flight. More information is available here.

AVSIM 2003 Conference, Register now!

Posted: Monday, August 11, 2003 - 22:54
With registrations coming in from countries around the world the AVSIM 2003 Conference and Exhibition is your chance to join a crowd of flight simmers from all over the globe -- and, if you register early enough, to have a chance to win $500 worth of flight simulation software! Any attendee who registers for the Conference before August 15th will automatically be entered into our special prize draw, with the prizes presented during the Conference Proceedings.

In addition to this, don't forget our Awards Banquet, featuring keynote speaker Captain Richard J. Walsh, Director of Flight Center Operations for United Airlines, and the AVSIM - MAAM-SIM Low Level Lottery -- a chance to win a flight aboard Briefing Time, the Mid-Atlantic Air Museum's B-25!

The registration process for the Conference is easy! Just click here for full details, as well as detailed information on all conference activities. Convenient and secure online payment gets you registered fast.

We look forward to seeing you all in Reading!

AI Aardvark Boeing 727-200 Released

Posted: Monday, August 11, 2003 - 22:51
AI Aardvark team informs us they have released the Boeing 727-200 in the old paint scheme of Delta Airlines. Here are some more details: "This plane is initially being released only in the same paint scheme as an AI 727-200 released last year that was built by David Rawlins, who later became part of AI Aardvark. This new model is a substantial improvement over the earlier 727 model in every area. It has more detailed parts, more animation, and more LOD models. Because of it's 9 LOD models (vs. 3 for the old one) it also is more frame rate friendly than last years model. Several repaints scheduled to follow Delta are: FedEx, DHL, Iran Air, and Pan Am. A paint kit will be released within the next few days which will also include an extra model that features winglets. A 727-100 will follow within a short time. The 727-200 will work in both FS2002 and FS2004." For more check out www.ai-aardvark.com.

Paris Charles de Gaulle Scenery Version 3 Released

Posted: Monday, August 11, 2003 - 22:43
FsFrance Team informs us, their member Yannick Mille recently released the third version of his freeware gMax scenery of Paris Charles de Gaulle airport. According to the press release: "It includes new areas such as the Cargo area, Terminal 3, the FedEx Hub, Sofitel hotel, and a lot more. And as a new feature, moving vehicles can be seen aroud the terminals. The scenery is compatible with Fs2002, but an upgrade will soon be available for Fs2004." You can get more details and download the scenery here.

FS Helps Train British Helo Pilots

Posted: Monday, August 11, 2003 - 15:59
The Defence Helicopter Flying School, based at RAF Shawbury in Shropshire, is a combined helicopter training facility for helicopter pilots for Britain's three armed services. The DHFS has been using Just Flight's VFR Photographic Scenery, developed by Getmapping and Visual Flight, for ground based visual navigation training. Coupled with Microsoft Flight Simulator, the VFR Photographic Scenery is now allowing students to pre-fly feature-to-feature navigation exercises. From the 3D real-life aerial photography, students can follow a route using identifiable ground based features such as roads, rivers, plantations and other recognisable structures. An independent unit based at RAF Shawbury, DHFS provides basic single engine helicopter training for the three services. The school has developed its own full scale set-up for use with Microsoft Flight Simulator to enable students to gain extra practice on a replica of the single engine Squirrel helicopters used on the base. The set-up provides a highly cost effective solution to providing students with initial 'medium height' navigation training. Since most peace time flying is carried out at 'medium height', around 1500ft, the arrival of the VFR Photographic Scenery was greeted with enthusiasm as Andy Digby from RAF Shawbury explains: "Over the last three years we have developed our own low cost flight simulator using full scale flight controls that are faithful to our Squirrel aircraft. Before Getmapping's photo scenery was available VFR navigation was not really possible on the sim, but now everything has changed. At medium height the scenery works a treat and students have reported being able to follow the route for real because the ground based simulation was so good. Every feature shown on their maps is identifiable." Full details of the company's products can be found at www.justflight.com

Reality XP Upgrade

Posted: Monday, August 11, 2003 - 15:58
Reality XP has announced the release of its full product line upgrade with more than 42 new features and enhancements. These range from cross GPS functions between the Garmin GNS530 and the Apollo GX50, an automatic integration of the GPS line with the Jet Line series of products, and the support for keyboard-shortcuts plus the addition of a newly designed graphics engine and Garmin Trainer program handling code, the Reality XP Flight Line 530XP is faster and more robust. "Our latest upgrade release shows our commitment to our customers" said Jean-Luc Dupiot, President of Reality XP. "More than 1 year after its first introduction, the Apollo is a strong product, and with the cross GPS functions which links the Garmin and the Apollo, it is becoming an even more interesting choice for our customers, especially with the special discount we continue to offer this summer when purchasing the Apollo/Garmin bundle. This is the best we can offer to our customer as a company!"

With the release of its full product line upgrade, Reality XP also officially announces that all customers of its Flight Simulator 2002 product line will receive a free Flight Simulator 2004 upgrade. For more information, consult the Reality XP Web Site at www.reality-xp.com. Flight Line Avionics Apollo and Flight Line 530XP Garmin are available in a special bundle offer during summer 2003.

The Growing Community of AVSIM

Posted: Sunday, August 10, 2003 - 14:47
Did you know that AVSIM provides the simming enthusiast one of the largest and most popular online communities available for our hobby? If you have not explored the AVSIM forums, you will want to consider doing so. AVSIM offers more areas of discussion in our hobby than any other site on the Internet, with over 80 forums covering virtually every subject in flight simulation, and now with real life Certified Flight Instructors providing ground school training! If your interest is Helicopters, you can visit our rotor heads forum. If your interest is bush flying, you can do so at a number of forums on AVSIM. If your interest is panel, aircraft, scenery or utilities design, we have forums for those too. Are you interested in Train Sim? Go to our train sim forum and join a rapidly growing segment of our simulation community. What about historical aircraft and real aviation topics? We have forums for those too! If you haven't paid the AVSIM Forums a visit in awhile, please do so today! Join us here!

Conference Presentations Showcase

Posted: Sunday, August 10, 2003 - 11:28
As the time for AVSIM 2003 Conference and Exhibition gets closer so are the details on several activities we're planning. One of them is a series of presentations conducted by your fellow flight sim enthusiasts and known names in this hobby.

In the days ahead we'll be bringing more details on speakers and their presentations. We're starting today with Damion Shelton from The Open Source Glass Cockpit Project. Damion will talk and present The Open Source Glass Cockpit Project (OpenGC), an effort to develop cross-platform, cross-simulator software for creating glass cockpit displays suitable for use in a networked flight simulation environment. "By leveraging open source toolkits, we have been able to create an application that runs identically on 3 different operating systems (Windows, MacOS X, and Linux) with 3 different simulators (FS200x, X-Plane, and Flightgear). In addition, the architecture of the system is extensible, making the addition of additional simulators and gauges relatively trivial."

For more details on the conference and how to register please check out the Conference Page.

LAGO Releases Venice Scenery

Posted: Sunday, August 10, 2003 - 10:49
LAGO informs us they have now released their latest FS2004 scenery package featuring the historic Venice Scenery. The FS2002 version will be available later today. You can get full details here.

Eaglesoft Beechjet 400 Updated to FS2004

Posted: Saturday, August 9, 2003 - 19:06
Eaglesoft Development Group today announced that their FS9 Compatibity Updates for the Beechjet 400A/Premier1 Package are now available on their Downloads Page here.

According to Ron Hamilton, President of Eaglesoft Development Group, "Although our aircraft fly very well in FS2004 there were a number of tweaks we wanted to do in order to make these aircraft even more enjoybale for the the FS Community! We are happy to announce that these tweaks are NOW available for both current and new owners to enjoy!"

ASRC & GrndMaker Team on RIF/WIF

Posted: Saturday, August 9, 2003 - 17:58
In a message of interest to online ATC simmers Mike Evans has advised us that, "The Advanced Simulated Radar Client (ASRC) development team is pleased to announce that Corey Wirun, author of GndMaker, has joined us in a cooperative venture to support the recently announced Region Information Format (RIF) standard. Corey has signed on to develop the RIF compiler that will be delivered as part of the ASRC installation package."

"Version 1.2 of ASRC, slated for release later this year, will no longer support the sector file format currently used in the online aviation community. Instead, RIF compliant text-based files will provide the “region” information previously found in legacy sector files."

You can read about all the details in this post on the ASRC Forum

SFP1 Patch #2 News

Posted: Saturday, August 9, 2003 - 14:35
Combat sim fans anxiously awaiting the second patch to the 60's era jet fighter sim StrikeFighters: Project1 (SFP1) will want to check out a news item from our combat sim friends over at Biohazard.com with some additional "straight from the horse's mouth" details on the upcoming patch. You can check it out here.

Gibraltar for FS2004 Released

Posted: Saturday, August 9, 2003 - 14:14
Thorsten Loth has advised us that GIBRALTAR for FS2004 (2002) has now been released. According to Thorsten, "GIBRALTAR is still one of those very special places in Europe! It's geographical location, it's rich and interesting history and it's political status make it one of the most interesting places in Europe. The Airport of Gibraltar is also unique: the main and only access road to the peninsula from mainlaind Spain crosses the airfield, demanding special flight skills from any pilot approaching and landing! This scenery features the Airport of Gibraltar (LXGB) in very high detail, the 'Rock' that made Gibraltar so well known in full mesh and many scenery objects on the peninsula [including] - The "Point of Europe" lighthouse - The "Ibrahim al Ibrahim" mosque - The "Pillars of Hercules" monument - The "Gibraltar - Cradle of History" monument - The Cable car (animated) - The border installations - Ships (animiated) - circling sea gulls - exact coastlines - car traffic crossing the runway - Barriers open and close when an aircraft crosses the road - Follow Me car [and more].

Interested simmers are cleared at pilot's discretion to check it out here.

Avsim Conference Draws Global Response

Posted: Saturday, August 9, 2003 - 13:59
With registrations coming in from countries around the world the AVSIM 2003 Conference and Exhibition is your chance to join a crowd of flight simmers from all over the globe -- and, if you register early enough, to have a chance to win $500 worth of flight simulation software! Any attendee who registers for the Conference before August 15th will automatically be entered into our special prize draw, with the prizes presented during the Conference Proceedings.

In addition to this, don't forget our Awards Banquet, featuring keynote speaker Captain Richard J. Walsh, Director of Flight Center Operations for United Airlines, and the AVSIM - MAAM-SIM Low Level Lottery -- a chance to win a flight aboard Briefing Time, the Mid-Atlantic Air Museum's B-25!

The registration process for the Conference is easy! Just click here for full details, as well as detailed information on all conference activities. Convenient and secure online payment gets you registered fast.

We look forward to seeing you all in Reading!

Maderia Islands Scenery Updates to FS2004

Posted: Saturday, August 9, 2003 - 13:49
In an email to Avsim today Luis Sa from scenery publisher PTSIM announced that their Madeira Islands scenery "... is now availbale with an automatic installer for FS2004. Madeira Islands includes the famous airport of Funchal which is widely known known as a "dangerous airport". [I]ts runway is built on a platform over the sea. In addition, wind conditions and the surrounding mountains, make it a real challenge, even for experimented pilots. You can test several operation[al] procedures using Madeira Islands scenery and assess your ability in, for example, making a night approach to runway 05 following a sequence of 17 flashing lights curved along the shore!"

Interested simmers can get more information here.

LAGO Venice Scenery Exclusive Preview

Posted: Saturday, August 9, 2003 - 0:28
AVSIM has obtained a set of exclusive screenshots from upcoming LAGO Venice Scenery for FS2004, which is scheduled for release later this weekend. Screenshots presented were taken over several parts of this historic city on the coast of Adriatic Sea. You can see them here and be sure to click on thumbnails to see the full size screenshots with all the details.

AirsideTV Reports From Oshkosh

Posted: Friday, August 8, 2003 - 23:44
AVSIM Partner site AirsideTV just returned from Air Venture 2003 in Oshkosh where they provided full coverage of this event as a part of Centennial Of Flight celebration. The reports are now available as six one hour video highlight packages and are available for a small fee. "Coverage includes Countdown to Kittyhawk, Scott Crossfield, Chuck Yeager, an inside tour of the Airbus Beluga transporter, the Orbis DC-10 flying eye hospital, all the flying display action including aerobatic and military and much more!" The sample video clip which includes some of their exclusive interview with the Microsoft team and lots of flying action is available here. In addition AirsideTV would also like to announce the winners of their FS2004 Contest: Karen Schiora, Pete Aasen, Howard Hiler, Raymond Kleber, Tom Cox, Gert Frank, Floyd Gntt, R. Maxey Hester, Phillip Bartnicki, Jesus Manteca. You can get more details at www.airsidetv.com.

Kristiansand Kjevik Airport Scenery Released

Posted: Friday, August 8, 2003 - 23:16
FS Dream Factory today announced the release of their latest scenery product featuring the Norvegian airport Kristiansand Kjevik for FS2004. As announced: "Kjevik airport is a regional airport but it also serves flights to destinations in Europe like summer flights with Spanair to Mallorca and Canary Islands aswell as to Cyprus. The airport was built in 1939. Features: highly dense scenery over Kristiansand Kjevik, photorealistic textures on many of the buildings, as always the airports were built with real photos taken on the airports and maps as reference, beautiful night lights on the aprons and buildings, landclass for the airport area, mesh scenery for the airport area , marshalers on on the stands, dynamic scenery, static vehicles, static aircrafts, functioning wig-wags and more." Full details are available here.

FS Sound Studio Now FS2004 Compatible

Posted: Friday, August 8, 2003 - 22:56
Users of FS Sound Studio will be happy to hear that the product is now FS2004 compatible. Here are more details from the press release by Flight One Software: "Ed Struzynski has just completed a Flight Simulator 2004 compatiblity build for his best selling FS Sound Studio. FS Sound Studio is the best tool available for managing and editing Flight Simulator Sound Configurations. The graphical interface makes it easy to see the effects of changes, and you can immediately hear the results in preview mode." For full details check here.

SimFlyers Sceneries Now FS2004 Compatible

Posted: Friday, August 8, 2003 - 20:57
SimFlyers are happy to announce that all their sceneries are compatible with MS Flight Simulator 2004 - A Century of Flight. Registered users will find updates for download free of charge from the SimFlyers website here. The update installers require the scenery registration keys for installing the full version. Older keys (less than 25 characters long) will not be accepted anymore, but users owning these old-style keys may apply for a new, personalized replacement key from SimFlyers. FS 2004 AI at the moment will not yet work as designed and intended. As soon as the tools are available they will be fixing this. In the meantime AI aircraft will park in buildings and taxi/takeoff/land next to runways and taxiways.