Library Update

Posted: Wednesday, March 9, 2011 - 13:08
Our Library Rebuild was hindered in its introduction and as a result the Uploads done from Sunday until Tuesday will need to be re uploaded by their authors. We apologize for the inconvenience and will be working towards normalizing the system over the course of the day.

We have Reverted to Our Original Site and Library

Posted: Wednesday, March 9, 2011 - 1:14
For a variety of reasons, we have decided to revert back, temporarily, to both our web site design and our former library. We are going to spend some time refining both the new web site and the library. We cannot estimate when those efforts will be completed. We expect a new web site to come online before the new library does. We want to ensure that we have most, if not all, of the functionality that exists in the previous library is present in the new library when brought back online. Please bear with us as we put some more effort into making the AVSIM site everything that our users have come to expect.

Real H20 V2 Released

Posted: Friday, March 4, 2011 - 13:16
New with H2O v2, a total of 15 different water colors which can also be mixed to cover Rivers! Five totally new realistic swells / ripple effects which now equals 17 effects! New lens flare for sun! Ontop of all that 90% of the files from orginal version have been tweaked to get even more visual image. For more information visit the product page .

A New Kind Of Sim

Posted: Thursday, March 3, 2011 - 0:37
Anyone can fly a plane, but can you build a bridge? "Bridge! The Construction Sim" is now available as a download from Aerosoft.

The publisher and simulation specialist presents their new and unique construction sim to all fans of PC-simulations. The bridge building sim with its tricky missions is a very entertaining and interesting alternative to the popular concentration and strategy games and also demands a high degree of attention from the user. Check out the screenshots. Bring out your inner engineer.

FSXFollow For iPad, iPhone & iPod Touch Updated

Posted: Thursday, March 3, 2011 - 0:26
FSXFollow for iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch has been updated with visual enhancements:
- VORs and NDBs displayed on Map for easy navigation
- Altitude displayed on top of map
- Bugfixes
You must also update the free FSXFollow.exe

San Francisco International X Released

Posted: Thursday, March 3, 2011 - 0:09
FlightBeam Studios is pleased to announce the release of it's first scenery: San Francisco International X (KSFO-X). FlightBeam is a new developer in the FlightSim community headed by a game industry development veteran with the sole purpose of creating high quality scenery for the community.

KSFO-X features photo-realistic textures, baked-in shadows, 3D edge lights, moving SFO AirTrains, animated blinking hold short lights, dynamic window reflections and much more. Additionally, there will be a future 2.0 update featuring the brand new Terminal 2 opening soon at SFO, and other new features free for customers.

CLS 767 Livery Expansion Pack

Posted: Wednesday, March 2, 2011 - 13:08
The CLS Boeing 767 Livery Expansion Pack includes many large and some smaller airlines with high quality liveries . The package is now available at the CLS webshop. In total the package includes 25 liveries, and an additional 3 cargo liveries for expansion pack users. Featuring airlines like United, Lufthansa, KLM OC, Martinair, MyTravel, Delta and many more from all continents. CLS is also pleased to announce the opening of a support forum at Avsim. Although the official support forums remain at the CLS website, CLS will provide support in the Avsim Forum as well.

LatinVFR Release Lima Peru SPIM

Posted: Wednesday, March 2, 2011 - 13:02
LatinVFR has released their third Latin Hub Lima Peru SPIM for FS2004 and FSX. The airport is located in the city of Callao which is also the main shipping port of Peru, some 10 kilometers from the centre of Lima, it was opened in the early 1960’s and since then seen significant expansions making it today one of the most modern terminals in South America.
SPIM (LIM) airport with all its buildings done with accurate detail
* Surroundings extremely detailed
* More than 200sq Kilometers of photo scenery with thousands of hand placed custom autogen
* Mesh for the entire area of Lima
* Terminal gates with docking guidance systems.
* High resolution ground textures for runways, taxiways, apron etc.
* Revised land classes for surrounding photo scenery.
* Main buildings in Downtown Lima.
* Inclusion of manual in PDF format.
* Inclusion of charts and maps.
* Birds (FSX)
* Vehicle animations (FS2004) and native (FSX)
* Excellent night lighting.
* Dozens of custom apron objects (containers, vehicles, etc).
* Respective AFCAD for FS2004 and AFX file for FS making it fully AI traffic compatible.
* DX9 compatible for FSX
* Inclusion of charts in PDF format.
* Auto Installer adding automatically to the scenery library in FS.

New Zealand Earthquake Relief

Posted: Tuesday, March 1, 2011 - 13:20
Christchurch New Zealand has been devastated and Avsim has many friends who are affected, the New Zealand Red Cross has played a major role in assisting the residents and global community with information and by providing direct help on the ground, you can play a part in the recovery by visiting their website and making a donation.

Warbirdsim P-51D Cadillac of the Skies Part2

Posted: Tuesday, March 1, 2011 - 12:58
North American's P-51D Mustang has again been brought to life in part 2 of this classic aircraft and unique series of sets for FSX.
In the second of the series, a diverse collection of aeroplanes from across the world lovingly recreated and very accurately portrayed examples of their full size counterparts.
Part 2 Restored aircraft features a working set of rear cockpit controls in P-51D ‘Daddy’s Girl’, a Rocket laden example in FF-704, 3 types of propellers and a whole host of other details, which make the Warbirdsim Mustangs a Must have.
Part 2 features 7 + 1 Bonus aircraft, individual P-51 aircraft (not repaints, actual modeled variants), that can be flown in FSX. These are the most perfect examples of one of the most attractive, successful and iconic fighters ever produced.

Imaginsim KSJC V2 For FSX

Posted: Tuesday, March 1, 2011 - 12:49
KSJC V2 San Jose for FSX from imaginesim is out, features re-designed and more realistic runway and approach lighting, an improved AFCAD/AI aircraft system, a host of bug fixes related to graphics card variations, and a code clean-up resulting in increased frames-per-second performance. KSJC V2 is free for existing imaginesim KSJC FSX customers. Full details are at the Imaginesim Homepage.

Beechcraft Turbine Duke From RealAir

Posted: Monday, February 28, 2011 - 13:17
RealAir Simulations announces the release of the Beechcraft Turbine Duke. The turboprop Duke is a much more powerful aircraft compared with RealAir's piston Duke and features accurate turboprop engines with matching performance, new liveries, 3d model and optional failure modes. The Turbine Duke can cruise at 300 knots and climb at 4000 feet per minute. For more information please visit the RealAir Simulations Homepage.

FSFlyingSchool for X-Plane 9 V1.1 Released

Posted: Saturday, February 26, 2011 - 16:19
FSInventions announces a free update to their FSFlyingSchool add-on for X-Plane 9. This latest update introduces an exciting new feature which is free to all existing users.

Captions! The pilot now has the option to have all of the instructor's words displayed as on screen text in X-Plane. This will be very handy for several groups of Sim-Pilot. Folks who experience hearing difficulties can read the text they may not have heard.
Users who are not native English speakers will be able to see the words to better comprehend what is being instructed. Sim-Pilots who are simply having a little trouble keeping up with the fast pace of events that can often occur during flight will have that extra bit of information to help keep them on track.

The folks at FSFlyingSchool will soon release these captions for their FSX product and are also very interested in working with native speakers of other languages to add non-English versions of the captions too!

A Good Friend Has Passed

Posted: Saturday, February 26, 2011 - 12:15
Some sad news, Billy Rutherford one of AVSIM's top contributors for FS repaints and other modifications, died February 6th at 51 years of age. A very sad loss indeed, Thank You for over 1400 contributions to the Avsim Library and the many hours you dedicated to FlightSim , Our deepest condolences to Billy’s Family & Friends.

The Latest From Just Flight

Posted: Saturday, February 26, 2011 - 0:43
The SportCruiser

The SportCruiser for FSX is the latest arrival in the Flying Club hangar, and this ultralight two-seater is now available by download.

The SportCruiser is provided in ten variants and gives you three different panel options - the Dynon glass panel featuring a Dynon EFIS-D100, Dynon EMS-D120 and AP74 autopilot, an analogue 6 pack panel featuring the standard six primary instruments as well as a Garmin GPS unit and a Garmin CDI-106, and a Basic VFR panel with an airspeed indicator, altimeter and turn co-ordinator.

The animations include the fully functioning BRS (Ballistic Recovery System) - if you ever get into real trouble in the air, you can trigger a rocket in the fuselage which will deploy a parachute to get you safely back to terra firma!
The SportCruiser software is accompanied by a 56-page PDF manual complete with flight tutorial.

New addition to the Carenado X-Plane fleet

Carenado are leading the field when it comes to releases for the PC version of X-Plane, and their latest - the C152 II is now available by Download.

The C152 II includes four different paint schemes along with all the usual excellent Carenado features - the full complement of animations, excellent cockpit and night lighting, custom panel and gauges, and comprehensive checklists and documentation.

DC-3 Legends of Flight Service Pack 1

Service Pack 1 (357Mb) for DC-3 Legends of Flight is available to download, and should be installed by users of both the Download and Boxed editions. See Just Flight's Support Section for installation instructions.

The Service Pack includes a host of updates and fixes, including:
Airspeed indicator now displays in knots rather than MPH;
Radio altimeter has been modified to more realistically reflect the real unit (within FS limitations);
Reshaped tail-cone;
New radio compass;
Cylinder head temperature gauge fixed;
Sperry autopilot redesigned to improve ease of use;
Engine primer switches can now be operated independently; and
Cowl flap controls removed from Wright engine variants.

A318, A319 and A320 Jetliner Service Packs released

Updates are now available for Just Flight's A318, A319 and A320 Jetliner (Download & Boxed) add-ons for FSX. These small files will update the MCDU icons and will also solve the problem of the FMC crashing. You can download the 3.2Mb updates from Just Flight's Support Section.

Fly to....Series from FlightSoft

Posted: Wednesday, February 23, 2011 - 18:00
Senior staff reviewer Angelique van Campen travels the world in a DC-10/MD-11 to visit FlightSoft's Fly To series, including Africa, New York, Alaska, California and the Caribbean. "Each “Fly to ….” Each CD-ROM includes a: Douglas DC-10 Series aircraft with 2D cockpit for use with FS2004; a McDonnell MD-10 Series aircraft with 2D flight deck for FSX; and Within each flight simulator, a bunch of “flights” are added. These are approaches to specific airports within the applicable region."

"The MD-10 program allows operators to retrofit DC-10s with a new, advanced- technology flight deck. Benefits of the retrofit include a two-person flight deck, weight savings, increased reliability, and commonality with the MD-11 fleet. In the first phase of the FedEx MD-10 program, Douglas Products Division will convert passenger-configured DC-10s to freighters and redeliver them to FedEx. Phase two of the FedEx MD-10 program is installation of the ACF, a liquid crystal display flight deck based on the integrated glass design in the MD-11"

"Each Fly To... pack comes with – basically - the same software, same kind of manuals and same idea of “approach” flights. In more detail this means: A bunch of FS2004 / FSX manuals. The DC-10 / MD-10 cockpit manuals are, in relation to the 2D cockpit, of an average quality. In my humble opinion, those do not offer comprehensive information. It offers just enough in what the 2D cockpits allow. Unfortunately, the FSX manual that deals with the McDonnell MD-10 aircraft shows a brief history of the DC-10. It wasn’t a bad idea when it offered background of the MD-10. The installer installs the Douglas DC-10 with the old-fashioned cockpit in FS2004, while a MD-10 flight deck is available for FSX. Both come only with a 2D cockpit and no Virtual Cockpit is available. Depending on the “Fly to” series, each comes with an amount of prepared approaches or flights. Each approach is made with a DC-10/MD-10 and takes around 10-15 minutes to fly, including touchdown. The only exceptions are 11 approaches in Alaska, made with default FSX GA airplanes. Probably, for FS2004, default GA models are used. The DC-10/MD-10 approaches are fully automatic until the ILS detects the Glide Slope signal. From that moment the aircraft will follow the G/S to touchdown, however flight simmers need to control the flaps, flap speeds and landing gear."

PMDG MD-11 Training from Angle of Attack

Posted: Wednesday, February 23, 2011 - 1:25
Staff reviewer Marlon Carter goes back to flight school to learn about all of the intricacies of the PMDG MD-11 with Angle of Attack's training program.

"These training videos are in a vastly different format to the training previous customers would have been accustomed to. First of all, there is no systems section to the training as all systems are covered during the three (3) featured flights and procedures section. This allows for a more practical approach to learning since you are able to see how it all works in an actual flight setting. Secondly, these videos are beefed up to HD format with stunning video editing with the aid of TrackIR and EZDok. Added to this is the use of FSX as its training platform. Finally, the professionalism of these training videos is highlighted in the detailed use of FSbuild and TOPCAT for the flight planning portions."

"These training videos made me reminiscent of my flight training days and it really felt like I was in a classroom or simulator training session with an instructor giving one on one instruction on nearly very aspect of the aircraft. This is truly a valuable training tool to anyone who owns the PMDG MD-11 or anyone who is contemplating whether or not they should purchase this aircraft."

"If you were to use the MD-11 training as a basis of what to expect for future products, I for one will be eagerly awaiting the next training series in the pipeline which is the 737 NGX."

Perfect Flight Announces Flight Service Series.

Posted: Wednesday, February 23, 2011 - 1:10
A set of missions for FSX to give you more realistic flight experience recreating a real word ambience with new and unique features. You can really simulate a multi-crew enviroment with interactive briefing, checklist, Cabin Announcement and much more. Missions are released as single product or in two Bundle Packs. All from Flight Service Missions.

Aerosoft Changes Gears

Posted: Tuesday, February 22, 2011 - 0:37
Aerosoft releases the Omnibus-Simulator "OMSI" which is now available for download. The absolute realistic simulation for the PC guides you through the original scenery of Spandau, one of Berlin´s districts, in the 1980´s. The product shines with its level of detail and technical perfection which has never ever before been achieved in a bus simulation. Take for instance the realistic driving physics or the complex sound engine with up to 100 custom sounds for each vehicle, this is what makes "OMSI" unique.

ICARUSGOLD Grumman J2F Duck

Posted: Monday, February 21, 2011 - 14:46
The ICARUSGOLD Grumman J2F Duck (company designation G-15) was an American single-engine amphibious biplane with strut-mounted stabiliser floats beneath each lower wing and a large central float which also housed the retractable main landing gear.
A crew of two or three were carried in tandem cockpits, forward for the pilot and rear for an observer with room for a radio operator if required. It had a cabin in the fuselage for two passengers or a stretcher. The Duck's main pontoon was blended into the fuselage, making it almost a flying boat despite its similarity to a conventional landplane which has been float-equipped. This configuration was shared with the earlier Loening OL, Grumman having acquired the rights to Loening's hull, float and undercarriage designs.
The aircraft was used by both the United States Navy and United States Coast Guard, with the latter using them as utility aircraft for missions including mapping, rescue work, photography, and target training.

The ICARUSGOLD Grumman J2F Duck models were built using the FSX SDK and feature seven highly detailed models ,Tailhook version included. Stunning dynamic virtual cockpit, (fps) friendly . New fully animated vintage pilot and rear gunner, Mini panel and virtual cockpit with pop-ups for GPS and starter procedures.
Other features include Original Engine sounds, 18 accurate historical skins, Four WWII Airfields with 50 custom objects and Seven flights. Documents with an Installation Tutorial and Complete Manual with additional operating information, for further details visit the ICARUSGOLD Grumman J2F Duck Homepage.