CBFiles relaunches as BritSim

Posted: Tuesday, January 18, 2011 - 12:36
Classic British Files, a community for lovers of Classic British aircraft and Flight Simulator has relaunched itself with a new name "Brit Sim". The redesigned website is more pleasant to the eye and also makes navigation easier. For more information visit BritSim

RAF Coningsby EGXC Released For FSX

Posted: Monday, January 17, 2011 - 14:12
The Airfield Construction Group has recreated RAF Coningsby Lincolnshire, one of the UK's front-line fighter stations and home to the Typhoon T1 and F2, Tornado GR4 and Battle of Britain Memorial flights.
Features of this new release include 1 meter per pixel ground resolution, accurately modelled and placed buildings with photo real textures throughout as well as accurate road sign positions.

Comprehensive ground support equipment including fuel trucks, tugs, cars, generators, towbars and Gateguards for all sqns, Runway equipment, including RHAG, PAR, Watchman Radar and Modelled Papi lights.
This release is free to registered members of their forums where further information is available.

Flight1 Releases Ground Environment X Europe 2.0

Posted: Friday, January 14, 2011 - 21:04
Flight One Software has officially released a significant upgrade for Ground Environment X Europe. This upgrade is free to all purchasers of Ground Environment X Europe for FSX, and it has recommended all its GEX Europe customers upgrade due to the very nice improvements that this upgrade offers.

Here are some of the features in the 2.0 upgrade:

- New airport pads for wet and dry locations.
- Completely reworked color and tone of many textures.
- Reworked autogen to reduce trees and buildings in rural areas.
- Replaced 4 primary texture sets to better depict rural and farming.
- New textures for UTX (Ultimate Terrain X) rail yards, interchanges, and UTX 'called' grass skirting.
- Color enhanced the default FSX road textures for those who do not use UTX.
- Reworked southern Europe textures to better depict a greener North/Central Italy (Xclass landclass + UTX is best for Italy).
- Added Northern and Southern Europe full texture support for Xclass Europe landclass.
- Added interface control to manually enable or disable the GEX/FSX autogen tree performance fix.
- Added GEX tree tile performance fix for users who fly over other countries such as New Zealand and South America.

For more information on Ground Environment X Europe, please visit Flight1.

VRS F/A-18E Super Hornet Update

Posted: Friday, January 14, 2011 - 13:19
VRS today released Service Pack 1 for their award-winning F/A-18E Super Hornet simulation for Microsoft Flight Simulator X. SP1 contains over 200 changes, features and fixes spanning 10 incremental point releases. SP1 will be automatically delivered via the VRS Aircraft Manager for any version. Customers wishing to download the SP1 update manually, or to review the change log, may do so via the VRS Support forums .

Cessna 310R from Military Visualization

Posted: Thursday, January 13, 2011 - 0:33
Staff reviewer Mike Cameron looks at the premier FS add-on release from Military Visualization, their Cessna 310R. "It is a six seat, low wing aircraft and was Cessna’s first twin engine aircraft to be put into production after World War II. Production continued on the Cessna 310 until 1981."

"Included with the installation are five high quality exterior liveries. All of the exterior textures are excellent looking with wonderful details. The interior textures are also impressive with some of the best looking fabric textures in any of the virtual aircraft that I have owned. Some of the aircraft have leather seats and these are also very good looking."

"The sound effects were recorded from an actual Cessna 310R owned by one of the testers. In a word, the sound effects are awesome! All animations are included that you would expect from a high quality aircraft add-on. Everything from the control surfaces to all of the doors that can be opened (including wing cargo doors) all look very realistic. My favorite animation is the landing gear."

"Unlike most flight simulator aircraft developers, MilViz has included very nice 2D panels to go along with the three different 3D Virtual panels that are included with the package. Two of the included aircraft feature 3D Analog Instruments with a Garmin GNS 430 & 530 GPS, Bendix-King KAP-140 Autopilot and Garmin GTX-330 Transponder installed. One aircraft has a Garmin G1000 glass panel system with the KAP-140 autopilot and the final two aircraft are called Free Radio and have the default FSX radios and GPS 500. All of the panels can be customized with your own instrumentation."

"The MilViz Cessna 310R has realistic flight dynamics and systems, so if this is the first time flying a twin engine aircraft I advise you to read the included documentation before attempting to fly this aircraft on the most realistic settings. If you already own other complex twin engine aircraft, the learning curve for operating this aircraft will be less."

"For their first general aviation aircraft, MilViz has produced an excellent product with the Cessna 310R. Everything about the product is wonderful, from the included documentation, incredible looking exterior & interior textures, and awesome sound effects to the very realistic flight model and aircraft systems."

Updated Version of Wee Tune Beastie II Released

Posted: Wednesday, January 12, 2011 - 10:17
Sky Blue Radio has released version 3 of Wee Tune Beastie II. The Wee Tune Beastie can be downloaded for FREE from the Sky Blue Radio website and once installed users can click to instantly stream Sky Blue Radio as it broadcasts around the world twenty- four hours a day seven days a week. With the application loaded listeners may interact with the DJ’s and other listeners, making requests and talking flight simulation via text. This software has the ability to connect the application directly to Flight Simulator, when you tune your cockpit com2 radio to 123.45, Sky Blue Radio will stream through your com2 radio as you fly the virtual skies. The new version comes with number of enhancements such as improved time display, stability and many more.

Concorde-X from FlightSimLabs

Posted: Wednesday, January 12, 2011 - 1:23
Staff reviewer Angelique van Campen goes balistic with FlightSimLabs' Concorde-X. "The Concorde was a supersonic passenger airplane. Air France and British Airways where the only airlines who bought the Concorde. Not surprising since the French and British governments subsidized the creation of this supersonic delta wing airplane."

"The 2D cockpit and the Virtual Cockpit offer a realistic look of how this supersonic aircraft was and I can tell you, it's beautiful and it looks very impressive with all those old-fashioned instruments, big switches and flight engineers panel. Not the entire virtual cabin is simulated but only the front part or to be precise, business- and/or first class. Via this area and the FWD pantry we enter the stretched cockpit. I'm aware that this is only visible when you enter the Virtual Cockpit, but when you go for the 2D cockpit, you won’t see all this."

"Mentioned before; the cockpit is full with switches, switches and even more switches. You find switches on the overhead panel, on the glare shield panel, on the center instrument panel, on the side panels and the flight engineer panel and whatever else I’ve forgotten. When you're grown up with modern aircraft like Boeing or Airbus, you’ll probably find it a mess and an unorganized area, however this is how it was."

Angelique studies the manual and takes this unique aircraft on a flight via the tutorial to get a real feel for it. "Remember, you are flying at higher speeds than normal and your cockpit view is totally different than you are used to compared to an ordinary Boeing or Airbus model. As long as you follow the tutorial (and please do that) you will enjoy your flight."

"The Concorde is and stays in many ways, an extraordinary model. An extraordinary model because it looks and is totally different than what we’re used to. An extraordinary model because it flies supersonic and an extraordinary model because it's fair to say that this is a well simulated replica of the original Concorde. While saying this, I mean the external model, virtual cockpit in particular, the virtual business or first class cabin and not to forget the manuals including the tutorial."

REAL H2O For FS9

Posted: Wednesday, January 12, 2011 - 0:20
Flight simmer Sandon Lyon says, "As a avid flight simmer, I had always disliked the water in FS 2004. Although, I love the sim it self to death. Therefore, I decided to focus on a product that would in my opinion fix one of the biggest things that lacked in the sim. 70% of the world is cover by what ? Yes, you are correct! Water."

REAL H2O will bring your sim to a new level of realism to the water in Fs2004. On top of amazing water, the product will include one complete ultra realistic sky texture set, which was specifically designed to effect the waters surface and blend naturally in appearance. REAL H2O was specifically designed and created to work together for Optimal Visual Experience. Using this product along with any other add-on that will replace the exact same files is not recommended. Although, many add-on clouds have been tested with REAL H2O and has had no negative effects and has been proven to display correctly. As a end user all you need to do is, choose one of the options on each or every tab and REAL H2O will do the rest.

FS9 737 Repaints

Posted: Wednesday, January 12, 2011 - 0:14
After nine repaints of the PMDG 737-800 in XL Airways France and Germany liveries, Emmanuel Parot is now offering the FS2004 community two new repaints of the PMDG 737-800 in Transavia.com France livery : F-GZHN and F-GZHV. These two french registered aircraft have never been depicted before and come to an addition to Emmanuel's collection of PMDG 737-800 repaints. These and other freeware offerings are available at his website.

Dangerous Airports 1 Released

Posted: Monday, January 10, 2011 - 16:04
Runways at beaches, on mountain tops and amidst forests. The latest download-product of the simulation expert Aerosoft is a great challenge for all FSX-Pilots.

"Dangerous Airports 1" contains three of the most dangerous airports in the world, Barra Eoligarry Airport on the Outer Hebrides of Scotland, Matekane Air Strip in Lesotho, Africa and Mountain Air in Burnsville, North Carolina.

Details and screenshots can be found at your local Aerosoft website.

Massive Scenery Collection Improved

Posted: Saturday, January 8, 2011 - 0:20
Sim-Savvy announces their entire East Coast Section has been redone with improved borders and uncropped coastlines. Also the six states of Indiana, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Kentucky, South Carolina and Florida have been replaced with newer aerials that are of a much better quality than the earlier releases. Previous customers will receive this upgrade with the Central US upgrade which is nearing completion. As always, upgrades are free for the life of the product. Additionally this months free samples on the website are of Southern Florida and Central Colorado. These samples show the improved quality of the 2009/2010 aerial photographs.

Just Planes Air Canada 777-200LR DVD

Posted: Saturday, January 8, 2011 - 0:15
Continuing the extremely popular series featuring Air Canada, Just Planes/World Air Routes now brings you the ultra long range aircraft on one of the world's longest routes from Toronto and Vancouver to Sydney, Australia. The Air Canada adventure started with the B767-300ER to South America, followed by the B777-300ER to Asia and Europe and it now continues with the B777-200LR to Australia!

This is Just Planes' 1st program filmed in High Def and released in Widescreen format. It is also the longest program to date with a running time of 4 and a half hours! The program includes detailed pre-flight briefings, pilot presentations, ETOPS and diversion procedures over the Pacific, Electronic Flight Bag presentations, Cabin service and Cabin presentations and a go-around in Vancouver plus a bonus landing in the flight simulator!

F9F Panther Released

Posted: Friday, January 7, 2011 - 15:07
Virtual pilots can now fly the F9F Panther within the skies of Microsoft's Flight Simulator X. Built only for FSX SP2 and Acceleration, the Panther has a highly detailed virtual cockpit that comes in '2' flavours, the F9F-5 and F9F-5P. Complete with 3D gauges, 6 authentic textures and a whole range of historically-accurate features.

Watch and listen as countless animations and sound effects bring the mighty Pratt & Whitney J48 engine to life. Fly fast paced sorties deploying bombs, firing rockets or have a blast with the machine guns whilst the accurate flight dynamics adapt to the ever-changing situation. Complete details can be found on the Vertical Studios website.

FSWidgets Android GMap Edition 1.1

Posted: Friday, January 7, 2011 - 14:49
FSWidgets releases Android GMap Edition 1.1 Today we have released the 1.1 update for the Android edition of our GMap product line. Of major note in this release is the full support of Android 2.1 devices which was not available in the original 1.0 release. Other improvements include improved locale support for non-english regions as well as performance and optimization enhancements. This is a recommended update for all users. More details are available from the FSWidgets Website .

PMDG MD-11 Training Video Released

Posted: Friday, January 7, 2011 - 14:41
Angle of Attack has just released their full video training course on the PMDG MD-11. This High Definition video provides 668 minutes (11 hours and 8 Minutes) of jam- packed training. Exploring the simplest procedures all the way to advanced usage of ATC and MCDU (FMC), failures, systems knowledge, autopilot operations, checklists, flows, and more.

Slovenia Scenery SP1 Released

Posted: Friday, January 7, 2011 - 14:38
Slovenia Scenery Team just released first service pack to their Slovenia for FSX. The service pack addresses some minor issues in one of the AI aircraft's looks and flight dynamics. Utva 75 is now visually updated and it's flight dynamics updated in order to play a role as gliders tow plane. Owners of this scenery will find service pack in the download section.

737-800 from Flight Sim Norway

Posted: Friday, January 7, 2011 - 1:13
Staff reviewer Ed Ocampo reviews an instructional DVD about the 737-800 from Flight Sim Norway. "Norwegian Air Shuttle is a low-cost carrier that was created in 1993 flying Fokker 50’s all over Norway. The airline has had a significant increase since 2002 when it decided to switch from a regional airline with Fokker 50’s to its current operating model with 737’s."

"We will start at Oslo, Norway, with the crew that will take the aircraft to Bergen, back to Oslo and then to Stavanger. The video shows how a pre-flight briefing is done with both pilots and the whole cabin crew reviewing the weather and other relevant data at their destination and alternate airports at the airline Ops room."

"We then move on to the aircraft and become a part of the crew as the captain briefs us on the departure, the engine failure procedures and the rejected takeoff/evacuation procedures."

"During another segment, we takeoff from Oslo in a sunny afternoon and in the cruise the pilots explain to us some of the landing considerations regarding performance as flaps selection, wind shear encounters, engine thrust and some more. We are briefed for the descent and get to see quite a landscape as we land at Tromso."

"This DVD is nicely shot and edited showing very interesting and different things about day to day commercial aviation. People interested in airline operations will truly appreciate this documentary for its myriad of information that is accompanied with gorgeous imagery."

The Cross Canada Adventure

Posted: Thursday, January 6, 2011 - 14:51
The Hawaiian flights were such a success that it was decided to launch an even more exciting and challenging multiplayer adventure consisting of 71 separate flights, that will take approximately one year to complete - this time from British Columbia to Nova Scotia, touching down appropriately in every Canadian province.

Twelve pilots have signed up so far for the first leg across Vancouver Island, and there is room for many more, in fact, the more the merrier. For Flight 01, pilots will gather in Tofino (CYAZ) and take off one after the other, heading for Nanaimo (CYCD). Full details about the Come Fly With Me program and to learn more about this latest IYP adventure can br found on their website..

Pilots using Come Fly With Me for the first time, should consider logging on at 20:00 GMT (a couple of hours before take-off), to make sure their system is correctly set up (computer, routers, etc.) so that they are ready to fly out with the rest of the group at the appointed time. Reservations for the flight can be made by logging into the IYP Dashboard via the Secure User Login on the IYP site, and then clicking on Reservations.

Ben Gurion Airport Released

Posted: Wednesday, January 5, 2011 - 14:54
FSAddon reports, "David Rosenfeld of Israel has been working long and hard to finish his FSX version of Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv. David made a (free) FS2004 version of it years ago, but has now greatly enhanced and extended the contents and built an entirely new airport for FSX (SP2/Acceleration)."

Included are a phototerrain (aerial photo) of the field and a large part of its surroundings, dotted with manually placed autogen objects and all the buildings of the airport, including the new terminal, the maintenance buildings down the road, etc. The night lighting of the airport and surroundings are nice and relaistic, making it a great experience to fly in at night.

There aren't many, if any, highly detailed commercial packages for Israel available and they feel that they are filling a gap with this product and FSAddon is happy to welcome David as one of their new authors. Now you can fly to the middle east and land in a realistic environment in the Holy Land.

Swiss Mountain Flying Video Bonus

Posted: Tuesday, January 4, 2011 - 14:53
Experience what it's really like to go Mountain Flying in Switzerland! Vertical Studios continues to merge flight simulation with real-world flying! Their 3-part FSX Mission, Mountain Flying in Switzerland includes a bonus VIDEO reward of the real-world flight, complete with narration and dramatic music.

If you complete the round-trip FSX mission, then you will receive the video reward for free. Or, you can purchase the exciting 15-minute real-world video at their website. Read AVSIM's review of their FSX mission. According to Vertical Studios' website, "We love to fly in real life because it gives us a sense of freedom and accomplishment! We believe flying FSX Missions should feel as good as flying in real life. That's why all our missions are designed by an FAA certified pilot and use real-world aeronautical information. We write the back-story and dialog and then record real people's voices for the role of flight instructors, air traffic controllers and various other parts. The results are FSX Missions that feel just like real-world flights."