747 Training from Angle Of Attack

Posted: Friday, November 7, 2008 - 1:47
Senior staff reviewer Angelique van Campen goes back to school and learns the ins and outs of the PMDG 747 with Angle of Attack's Instructional DVD's. "FlyAoAMedia, developer of this Angle of Attack DVD package, offers you a highly educational DVD package that brings your PMDG 747-400 knowledge to a new and higher standard."

"This 3 disk DVD set instructs you on the Systems, Procedures and Flight aspects of PMDG's 747. In principle, each DVD can be used without having the PMDG 747. But these DVD's will help you learn everything about being the owner of this title."

"Angle of Attack's Instructional 747 Training DVD's doesn’t come with paper or digital manuals but instead it comes with three DVD’s full of useful information. DVD 1 covers more or less the most important aircraft systems. DVD 2 comes with important procedures needed for any flight to get this Queen successfully in the air (take offs) and back on the ground (approaches). Finally DVD 3 covers, in detail, a complete North Atlantic flight."

Check out this review and see if these DVD's will help you get that real world job as a 747 Captain.

Around The World In 80 Flights

Posted: Friday, November 7, 2008 - 0:40
Fly over the Alps and Pyrenees before facing the challenge of the mighty Himalayan range. Explore the Far East and Australia. Blaze a trail from the frozen north, to tropical Africa. Conquer the lonely Pacific, leapfrogging across a series of islands as you make your way to the United States. Make landfall and catch your breath before flying over some of the most stunning scenery in the world as you head across the vast expanse of the USA to the Caribbean before venturing a Trans-Atlantic crossing back to Farnborough.

Each of the 80 flight legs can be flown as individual or consecutive missions and are comprehensively detailed, with a flight plan, pilots notes, full briefing and a guide to many of the wonders of the world that pass beneath your wings. From man-made wonders such as the Great Pyramids and the Golden Gate Bridge, to natural wonders such as Mount Kilimanjaro, the Sahara Desert, the Indonesian Archipelago and the Grand Canyon, the entire route has been carefully chosen to showcase the breathtaking beauty of the planet.

Complete the entire trip around the globe in a stunning recreation of the 1937 Lockheed ® Electra 10E and you will have truly earned the special circumnavigators' certificate awarded to master aviators! Complete details can be found at the Contact Simulations website.

Ask And Ye Shall Receive

Posted: Thursday, November 6, 2008 - 1:16
Carenado has had numerous requests for their C152II to be compatible with FS9. Well the squeeky oleo's get the grease and Carenado has heard you. This download is a separate package not an upgrade or patch, and they also plan to do the same for their C172. Complete details can be found at the Carenado website.

Scenery Tech - South America Landclass Review

Posted: Wednesday, November 5, 2008 - 22:29
Avsim's Staff Reviewer Etienne Martin has taken a look at the Scenery Tech - South America Landclass Scenery addon for FSX. Etienne goes on to say: "Scenery Tech brings some detailed landclass data to the South American continent, in a set that appears very complete, more so than Scenery Tech’s Asia product.

Within the limits of the supported terrain types in FSX, the end result is well worth it.  The effect is immediately apparent - even drastic in some areas. The product shines noticeably in reducing the vast expanses of bland scenery in areas neglected by FSX while adding good variety where possible.
In the end, the product adds pleasing visuals which directly translates to a new level of immersion for flights in that part of the world. Take a minute or so to read the Scenery Tech - South America Landclass Scenery review and see if its a product that would enhance your own flight sim experience.

Kaman SH-2 Seasprite from AlphaSim

Posted: Sunday, November 2, 2008 - 4:18
Senior staff reviewer Gene Davis takes to the air in his favourite genre of aircraft, a helicopter. This time it's the Kaman SH-2 SeaSprite from AlphaSim. "Alphasim has the biggest selection of helicopters available for FSX and with each new release, each one just seems to get better and better!"

"The Kaman Seasprite from Alphasim is probably one of the most beautiful looking choppers to come out for FSX and is, in my opinion, one of the most detailed choppers available to date from Alphasim. Once the product installation is complete you will find five different model variants along with six different texture sets of the Seasprite installed."

"Externally, this is one of the best helicopters available for FSX, it is so highly detailed that sometimes you forget that you are not looking at a picture of the real thing. Features like bump-mapping, self shadowing, and some of the best night lighting I have seen to date makes this a must have for any helo-pilot in FSX!"

"The cockpit is where this chopper takes a massive leap.Out of all of the choppers I have flown for FSX and FS9 for that matter, I found that the Kaman, though considerably more complicated, offered the best feeling of flight and gives the pilot a true to life feel for the overall helicopter and how it flies. The virtual cockpit is not only functional, but it also offers accurate gauges and systems that are used in the real Kaman Seasprite."

"Do I like the Kaman SH-2 Seasprite? A wholehearted yes and I think it is one of the best helicopters to come from Alphasim to date! Do you like flying helicopters in FSX? Or are you contemplating your first helicopter add-on? If you are, then you owe it to yourself to get this one and I think it is safe to say that you will not regret it. I certainly haven't!"

FlightSim Community Loses A Valuable Member

Posted: Saturday, November 1, 2008 - 21:06
It is with deepest sympathy that we must report the loss of a well known female Flight Simulator pilot and dear friend, Mrs. Shelly Johnson. Shelly was 32 years old, a loving mother of two, and devoted wife to her husband. Shelly had flown for a number of VA's over the years and was a member of British Airways Virtual for some time. A dedicated online pilot, she had accumalated nearly 2000 hours on the VATSIM network, with over 7000 hours total in her virtual flying career.

Shelly lived, with her husband and family, near the town of Colorado Springs, Colorado. She was about to relocate to South Africa when her life was horribly taken away from us by a drunk driver some two weeks ago. All of our thoughts are with her family during this tragic time. She will be deeply missed by all who had the honor of knowing her.

VATSIM USA will hold an online flyin event in her honor on November 15, 2008. The event will take place at her home airport of Colorado Springs, (KCOS). Please join your fellow VATSIM pilots as we pay respect to this wonderful lady. The FlightSim Community will greatly miss her.

Centers for Airway Science Founder Passes

Posted: Saturday, November 1, 2008 - 15:19
It is with great sadness that Senior Staff Reviewer, Dr Zane Gard, reports that his dear friend Robert Strickland, founder of Centers for Airway Science passed away in late September. His work, insight, and dedication to teaching will be sorely missed by everyone involved in the program. A 22 year veteran of the Air Force he served in Vietnam. After retiring in 1976 he worked with the Texas Rehabilitation Commision. His love for flying was also a driving force behind the establishment of the Warren Lee Strickland Centers for Airway Science in Portland, Oregon. The non-profit program, endorsed by General Colin Powell and Tiger Woods, provides an environment where practical math, science, and computer applications are emphasized through computerized flight simulation and model aircraft design and construction, and compliments the traditional educational program. He took hundreds of children having difficulty in school and showed them a practical application for what they were learning and literally turned many lives around. He was one man that made a difference for so many.

A Memorial Service is scheduled for Saturday, November 1st at 2 p.m. The Memorial will be at Pearson Air Museum in Vancouver, Washington. Please join us there if you can. You can send your thoughts about Mr. Strickland's work to rhsmemorial@comcast.net. CAS will be posting contributions to this site on a wall at the Memorial. His family requests that you send contributions to Airway Science, PO Box 4142, Portland, OR 97208 rather than flowers.

Orbis World Flight Charity

Posted: Friday, October 31, 2008 - 21:40
On Monday November 2nd at 2300hrs UTC, seven FBS (fixed based simulators) will depart Sydney Australia (YSSY) on a seven day round the world fund raising flight. The flights are conducted on the VATSIM network and will be handled by the World Flight ATC Centre that will provide ATC for the group and also assist local controllers who are online as we pass through their airspace. The event will conclude on Sunday November 9th at 0900hrs UTC Full details of the participating team’s web addresses, flight plans and route details can be found at World Flight Group.

In addition to the flight, this year World Flight Scotland are holding a charity auction in support of ORBIS and the Flying Eye Hospital, which is also the chosen charity of World Flight USA. The auction is held on eBay and runs for the week of World Flight 2008. With over 40 listings and products from Flight1, Just Flight, Aerosoft, Captain Sim, FS Addon, FScene, FS2Crew, Topgun Simulations and Vroute. Hardware from GoFlight, DVD's from Angle of Attack, ITVV and Just Planes, there is something for everyone. What a great opportunity to get great add-ons from your favorite developer while supporting ORBIS.

A child goes blind every minute. £2 provides the medicines to treat 2 adults and 2 children and prevent unnecessary blindness, a little goes a long way. Full details of the items can be found on the Ebay Listing Site or go to World Flight Scotland’s website for more details. Further information on all the items and the companies supporting the auction can also be found at Sky Blue Radio.

The AVSIM Library's Recent Updates

Posted: Friday, October 31, 2008 - 16:38
The AVSIM File Library would like to introduce our new library managers: Momtchil Dobrev and David Marshall! Along with our new additions to the AVSIM family, we are also proud to announce our stance on protecting copyrights. Chase Kreznor, Library Executive Director, has always been very focused and vigilant on enforcing adherence to any and all types of copyrights. With this focal point an idea was drafted, submitted, and approved by the other directors at AVSIM allowing a new position, EULA Investigator, which has been filled by Tom Knudsen of the AVSIM Library. For those of you not familiar with this term, EULA is the acronym for End-User License Agreement.

The emphasis of this new position is to provide authors a one stop solution to not only eliminating copyright violations, but also to investigate occurrences and track possible trends. This position is also responsible for communicating with vendors (freeware and payware) to update and enforce individual EULA. To contact our Copyright department reference a copyright violation within the AVSIM File Library, you may e-mail copyright@avsim.com.

Perfect Flight - Flight Operation X - British Airways

Posted: Friday, October 31, 2008 - 13:46
Flight Operation X (FOX) is a new series of Missions designed to be used exclusively with Microsoft Flight Simulator X "FOX - British Airways" is the first title for this new product. There are 303 pre-saved flights that you can edit and compile into a single mission to use in Flight Simulator X. The Flight Manager allows you to make your choice of Flight, determine Weather conditions, Season, Departure Date and Time , with Charts and Maps available during the flight. Additional features include Custom Engine Sounds with reworked or custom made (B747, B777 and Lockheed L-1011) stereo sounds. The Missions include a complete Flight Briefing for each flight edited and saved by you and more than 500 Charts and Maps. For complete details visit Perfect Flight

Flight illusion X-Plane Interface Released

Posted: Friday, October 31, 2008 - 13:30
Flight illusion gauges now X-Plane 8&9 compatible, for cockpit builders using X-plane as their simulator program Flight illusion is releasing an X-Plane compatible version of their interface, allowing all the FI gauges to be connected and tweaked. Flight illusion invites X-Plane users to download the interface and take a look at how it's functioning, even if they don't have gauges, that'll show you how easy the software works. Compared to MS-FS the advantage is that no extra "in between" like FSUIPC is needed. Hence it is possible to update the information at almost 50 times per second (FS has a 10/second update rate). This results in even smoother gauge movement. For more information, please visit Flight illusion .

Eaglesoft Cirrus SR-22 G2/G3 Turbo Review

Posted: Wednesday, October 29, 2008 - 21:31
Avsim Staff Reviewer Mark Kolo has been busy reviewing the latest offering to roll off the production line at Eaglesoft. The Eaglesoft Cirrus SR-22 G2/G3 Turbo is a GA aircraft which has seen many evoloutions over the years.

Mark is suitably impressed with the SR-22 and goes on to say: "To say that I enjoyed my time with the Eaglesoft SR-22 would be a huge understatement. I enjoyed nearly every single feature of this aircraft, as it truly re-created its real world counterpart almost perfectly. The high degree of systems accuracy combined with excellent modeling, spectacular factory paint jobs, a decent soundset, and realistic airfile (I think…)make this the perfect selection for any GA fan!"

Click on the above link to read the full review, and also take a minute to visit the Eaglesoft website.

New FSX Videos

Posted: Wednesday, October 29, 2008 - 16:57
Mhimhi has just published two new videos on FSX, one called Breathless and the other one is a video between an A380 vs B747. Both can be seen directly on Volovirtuale.com

Capt Sim 757 Captain v2.1(FS9) Available

Posted: Wednesday, October 29, 2008 - 16:28
Many new features, fixes and enhancements are available for this title. Complete details can be found at the Capt Sim website.

Project Open Sky's Boeing 777-200 v2

Posted: Tuesday, October 28, 2008 - 21:27
Staff reviewer Laurie Aston takes a look at a great Freeware release from Project Open Sky (Posky), their Boeing 777-200 Version 2.

"Putting this very simply, the exterior models are nothing short of stunning. This applies to the limitations of FS2004 and also the vast graphic capability of FSX, and all of the aircraft liveries I downloaded produced beautiful aircraft with everything where I expected it to be. From the color and finish to the shape and styling, these aircraft look good from any angle."

"The POSKY team has really excelled themselves with the cockpit and panels. You are much better off using the Virtual Cockpit, a separate download, but with a bit of jiggling it can produce a stunning flight deck, just as real as it can get without 3D. It is a brilliant achievement by the designers, and I congratulate them whole heartedly for giving us such a valuable product."

"This aircraft takes off correctly with the airspeed pretty well in tune with the all up weight and trim/C of G calculations. Flaps operate correctly along with the leading edge slotted slats that are fitted to the 777, and they display correct sections, both in number and correct operation, so no fault there. It banks smoothly, dives and climbs smoothly, stalls or attempts to stall as per the program, and even the air brakes pop out when selected in the correct sense and at the right angles. It cruises just as one would expect, and frankly it is difficult to criticize anything from the air file."

Wrapping up this freeware report of Posky's Boeing 777-200, "It is one heck of an airplane, in every respect, so go and download it now. Then find the model you want and you will not be disappointed and will fly the wheels off it, or the wings. If you have to wait a bit because the website is busy, then it only proves what a bargain this B777-200 is. Project Open Sky's dedication to the task has to be recognized."

IVAO Virtual Sky - 3rd Edition

Posted: Tuesday, October 28, 2008 - 1:38
"We are happy to present before you the third edition of our official magazine of "IVAO Virtual Sky". Our first two editions had over 52,000 cumulative downloads for which we owe our sincere thanks to all our avid readers. You can download your copy of the IVAO - Virtual Sky.

Instructor Station V1.25 Now Available

Posted: Monday, October 27, 2008 - 14:21
This utility is meant to assist PC Simmers and Home Cockpit Builders using FS2004 (and FSX). Also many features are available for Project Magenta users (pmSystems, Glass Cockpit, MCDU, FCU). Compatible with all types of aircraft. It is also a great tool for any simmers who want to control the flight simulator externally. The "Instructor Station" allows you to set your aircraft on an approach to a runway of your choice under any weather conditions, start-up and shutdown your network computers (fully customizable), program or set an aircraft systems failure at any moment, calculate the amount of fuel required for your trip and load it to the aircraft, record the performance of your flight (landings, take-offs, etc.) and plot it graphically, and many other things. Their program has proven to be very successful amongst the PC Flight Simulation and Cockpit Building communities.

Carenado Releases Its Next Generation FSX Aircraft.

Posted: Monday, October 27, 2008 - 14:10
It is the C152II, a well known aircraft by most of the pilots because a vast majority of them learned to fly in one of this bird.

This aircraft was developed using: NURBS modeling techniques; high resolution textures resulting in a photorealistic representation with very friendly FPS performance. All the textures have fine tune alpha calibrations of whites for the bloom lights; and a polygon optimized procedure. All of this plus new FSX and DX10 features like cast shadows on VC, external dynamic cast shadows, normal mapping, specular mapping and bloom lights, resulting in a superior representation of this aircraft.

Carenado has achieved a new quality standard that was impossible to reach until now which will delight thier fans and customers.
With this release, they enforce thier commitment to their customers to give them high quality products with true representations of the reality in terms of visual and behavior parameters. More information about the C152II visite the Carenado website.

Section 8 F-86 Sabre Finally Released

Posted: Sunday, October 26, 2008 - 22:19
Afer a short delay, the recently reported F-86 Sabre from Section 8 is now in the Avsim File Library and already drawing quite a number of downloads. This freeware product is described as a "labour of love" and if you look at the list of designers involved, you can be sure its going to be right up there with some of the best payware aircraft on the market today. The F-86 Sabre is now ready for your enjoyment!

For more information, please visit Section 8 Website, and download it from the Avsim File Library.

Heli Traffic X Released

Posted: Sunday, October 26, 2008 - 17:01
FlightSimTools announces the release of their newest product for FsX, Heli Traffic X. This new addon, brings realistic helicopter traffic to life. Helicopter traffic starts and lands at helipads, hover and fly as true helicopter traffic should, adding a whole new level to AI Traffic. For more information, please visit FlightSimTools.