VATSIM Convention City Finalized

Posted: Tuesday, February 4, 2003 - 1:11
The votes have been counted, and the 2003 VATSIM Convention site has been decided upon. Despite stiff competition from other candidate cities, collected the largest number of votes. All six candidates - Frankfurt, Salvador, San Juan, Sao Paulo, Sydney and Warsaw - submitted impressive and exciting bids. The date for this year's convention has yet to be fixed, but should be fixed soon. You can get more information from the Vatsim website, available here.

AI Timetables Released

Posted: Tuesday, February 4, 2003 - 1:08
With the advancement in AI and the sheer volume of AI traffic that can be implemented, it may get a little tricky to find where all the traffic is and at what time. Until now. Genix Software has created the AI Timetable, a utility that allows you to view the schedule of AI traffic based on the airport. Check it out at their website, available here.

Ready for Pushback Aircraft PAK 6 Released

Posted: Monday, February 3, 2003 - 23:47
ADVERTISEMENT:

The latest aircraft pak for Ready for Pushback is now available for download on the Avsim Store.
Liveries in this collection include:
Corsair
MEA
Iraqi
Swissair

Ready for Pushback Aircraft are the most technologically advanced FS-2002 ever. Advanced aircraft models are based on FS-2002 Gmax modeling system and contain such features as: Animated control surfaces... including fowler flaps that extend in real-time. Detailed landing gear system. "Flexible wings" which move during landings and flight. Reflective surfaces and highly detailed texture surfaces.

FlightDeck Companion v1.3 Now Available

Posted: Monday, February 3, 2003 - 23:04
Dave March would like to announce that version 1.3 of his Flight Simulator add-on FlightDeck Companion has been released. This update is due to some users reporting problems with version 1.2. All reported issues were corrected, so if you're been having problems, click here to download the latest update.

Stratoliner Nearing Completion

Posted: Monday, February 3, 2003 - 5:34
After close to a year of development, Vintage Aircraft Works will release their freeware Boeing B307 Stratoliner this Wednesday. The aircraft is a full Gmax model with a virtual cockpit, full animations, and accurate flight dynamics. Initially, 3 liveries will be available for download. You can get screenshots and more information from their website, available here.

CS Releases 727 Version 1.2

Posted: Sunday, February 2, 2003 - 20:56
Captain Sim has announced the release today of the much anticipated Version 1.2 of the popular "Legendary 727" series. The new version updates the flight model and makes a number of other fixes and updates. You can read the announcement and the release details on the Avsim Captain Sim Forum here. [Editor's Note: For simmers upgrading earlier installations to Version 1.2 please be sure to read the download and installation instructions carefully!]

Latest FSTV Show Uploaded

Posted: Sunday, February 2, 2003 - 18:04
AVSIM Partner site FSTV informs us their latest show has been uploaded to our library and is available here. "This weeks features are FSHotseat Review, VideoFlyrec COF report from Spain by James Hermida, AirsideTV Clip of the week, The Flying Couch report, plus the Latest Flight Sim News Hints and Tips." FSTV would like to dedicate this weeks edition to the crew of STS-107 who lost their lives while on board the Space shuttle Columbia during re-entry two hundred thousand feet up in the sky on the 1st Feb 2003.

New LOMAC Video

Posted: Saturday, February 1, 2003 - 0:37
As recently announced, Ubisoft is now releasing new LOMAC videos every thursday. This latest 15MB video file, form the actual product, demonstrates Su-25 “Frogfoot” 3D cockpit, Mountain terrain of the western Caucuses, High speed, low-altitude turbulence and Transition from medium to low altitude terrain detail. In addition two new screenshots have also been posted. You can download the video here. Official LOMAC website is available at here.

Flight Project International - FPI Opens

Posted: Saturday, February 1, 2003 - 0:30
After VATSIM, IVAO and NVAS a new virtual air traffic organization Flight Project International - FPI begins operations. "Flight Project International (FPI) offers free of charge internet based services to simulate a virtual airspace environment with a flat, democratic organizational structure. After one month of successfull beta testing and with over 600 members having signed up already, forming 7 active Divisions, FPI will go "fully live" on january 31st, 2003.

At the same time, FPI releases its new, next generation controller client ICP1 for a public beta test. ICP1 is exclusively designed for the use on the FPI network, although minimal functionality (Observer) can be used at any private or public FSD compatible server. ICP1 is based on the real live P1 system, used by the DFS (german ATC authority) and takes virtual controlling on the PC to a new edge." For all the details and download links fly over to www.flightproject.net.

Perfect Flight Updates Triple Seven

Posted: Saturday, February 1, 2003 - 0:24
Perfect Flight "Triple Seven" users will be happy to hear a new update is now available. According to Marco Martini: "The package now includes several new features, thirty three planes, 431 AI/ATC Adventures, 75 Perfect Flight 2000 Adeventures, B777 sounds, The Triple Seven Flight Manager (a software that allows you the complete manage of yours flight), The exclusive ABL Adventure Compiler. (Design yourself all the adventures you want using the exclusive Adventure Compiler), the AI/ATC Adventure Generator that allows the complete interaction with the FS2002 ATC and Traffic generated by the Artificial Intelligence..." For more information click here.

FFG 737-900 Visual Model Patch Released

Posted: Friday, January 31, 2003 - 21:04
Freeware Flight Group - FFG recently released a patch for the visual model on their Boeing 737-900. This patch addresses the problem with the nosewheel steering animation and corrects it. You can download the file right here. The new FFG website is available here.

FlightDeck Companion 1.2 Released

Posted: Friday, January 31, 2003 - 20:33
Dave March from OnCourse Software today announced the release of FlightDeck Companion 1.2 upgrade which is available free to all registered users. This latest build brings many fixes together with several new functions and features like the new feature called VCP-X, which expands on the FDC Virtual CoPilot functionality, 4 new hotkeys to control ambient sounds, new feature for Spoiler activation and more. You can read the post with full details here. The official website is available over at www.oncourse-software.co.uk.

Virtual Wright Flyer Announced

Posted: Friday, January 31, 2003 - 20:25
With the celebrations of first 100 years of powered flight geting closer here's an interesting press release we just recieved: " A number of leading flight simulator companies and organizations have launched the Virtual Wright Flyer project, involving the development and construction of a very accurate simulation of the 1903 Wright Flyer. This simulator features a 75% scale museum-quality replica of the Wright Flyer, built from the original Smithsonian drawings. The "airplane" is mounted atop a six-axis hydraulic motion cueing system, that will provide accurate body force feedback to the pilot. A state-of-the-art image generator provides realistic, high-resolution scenery depicting the dunes of Kill Devil Hill. Sound and vibrations will also be provided. The encumbent pilot will lie in a prone position - just as Wilbur and Orville did - to control the flight model through the pitch stick (canard) and the hip cradle (wing warping and rudder). This drives a non-linear flight model which includes the aeroelastic properties of the aircraft. The challenge then - and today - was to keep the airplane stable during flight. Stability is thus augmented when necessary through an additional software loop that reduces the pilot workload. Although it will not be qualified for pilot training, you can be assured that this simulator will be the closest possible "virtual" replica of the Wright Flyer, allowing many to experience the challenges of aviation pioneers, and the latest developments in flight simulation technology." You can get more details by visiting www.WrightFlyerSim.org.

It's Not Too Late.....

Posted: Wednesday, January 29, 2003 - 19:17
That's right - it's not too late. Not too late to take the Avsim 2003 Demographic Survey that is. If you haven't added your personal profile why not take a minute and join over 6000 of your fellow simmers worldwide in helping us to get a current picture of what the flight sim community looks like. View the results to find out where you fit into the "big picture" of simmers from all over the world. Are you right in the center of the flight sim bell shaped curve - or 3 standard deviations off the mean?

You can take the survey here and view the latest results here

Ready for Pushback - Airliner PAK 5 Available

Posted: Wednesday, January 29, 2003 - 18:29
ADVERTISEMENT:
Vmax Flight Systems now has the latest download addition to "Ready for Pushback" available for download. The new aircraft pak contains the following liveries: Singapore Airlines, JAL, Braniff, and South African Airlines. Ready for Pushback Aircraft are the most technologically advanced FS-2002 ever. Advanced aircraft models are based on FS-2002 Gmax modeling system and contain such features as: Animated control surfaces... including fowler flaps that extend in real-time. Detailed landing gear system. "Flexible wings" which move during landings and flight. Reflective surfaces plus highly detailed texture surfaces

The new product is available for purchase on the Avsim Store.

Latest News on the CFS3 Patch

Posted: Tuesday, January 28, 2003 - 16:59
Microsoft's Combat Flight Simulator Insider describes features of their forthcoming patch. Interesting comments include these:

What about configuration and performance?

"We continue to investigate improvements that will yield enhancements to performance. Our work must span a wide variety of PC configurations; each with their own unique characteristics. We have made changes that demonstrate improvements to some systems, but not others. We continue to investigate, but it is possible that some configurations may not see a significant improvement in performance as a result of this patch."

How big will it be?

"One very good piece of news it that the downloadable update will be reasonably sized, even for people without high-bandwidth connections. The current size is under 6MB though it will probably grow a bit before we release it. Don't jump to the conclusion that this is a modest update, though. We're using a program called RT Patch to create our update, and this utility shrinks the update to include only those bits which have actually changed. The current total size of the update without shrinking it this way would be approximately 18MB."

New FFG Website

Posted: Tuesday, January 28, 2003 - 16:48
Steve Reyling reports that The Freeware Flight Group's new website in now online. Steve comments, "Please feel free to visit at www.avsim.com/ffg. FFG also asks for your assistance by reporting any broken links or other issues in the FFG forum."

ProjectAI Celebrates Birthday

Posted: Tuesday, January 28, 2003 - 1:02
Frank Cubillos informs us that "It's ProjectAI Birthday Week Celebration Time! ProjectAI celebrates its 1st birthday today--To really celebrate, we have made it our birthday all week long! To start off the party celebrations here are our presents to you, our supporters! New Releases: Czech Airlines and Australian Airlines reworks with most realistic AI, and some awesome new repaints and new color schemes: US Airways Lufthansa JetBlue Emirates. Next up to bat on your Flight1 Sponsored Server: Continental Air Jamaica total pantanal. Check the News Area in the ProjectAI forums for updates and more surprises as the week long celebration continues!" Congratulations Frank!

FSTV - Donating to Richard Harvey Scholarship

Posted: Tuesday, January 28, 2003 - 0:49
Reader Ian Gerada wrote AVSIM Online to say, "As announced on FSTV - we have decided that all the donations we receive from our viewers this week will be given to the Richard Harvey Scholarship. This is the least we can do to help this worthy cause." You can also make contributions to the scholarship here.

Stunning P-51 for Fly II Released

Posted: Tuesday, January 28, 2003 - 0:38
Reader Bert Pieke notes in Avsim's Screen Shots Forum that "A milestone aircraft for Fly II was just released (from Laurent Claudet, Jean Sabatier, and TJ) by the French group ROTW (available here in the Avsim library). The quality of the aircraft, inside and out, and the accompanying documentation would compare favorably with the very best payware aircraft for Fly or FS2k2."

To wet your appetite, see Johnny Svensson's message for some shots from the ROTW site here. Bert adds, "Note that the ailerons move realistically in the side cockpit view, just one of many details... not to mention the cockpit graphics that are some of the best I've seen in a civilian or combat simulator."