AVSIM Family Loses One Of Their Own

Posted: Wednesday, June 27, 2007 - 3:53
It is with a saddened heart that I report AVSIM Senior Staff Reviewer Brian Fletcher passed away suddenly last night.

Brian will be missed by all at AVSIM and by the thousands of readers who have enjoyed his insightful and educating reviews. His reviews were not only found on AVSIM but in many print publications as well.

Our heartfelt condolences go out to Brian's family.

Cape Canaveral X from Aerosoft

Posted: Wednesday, June 27, 2007 - 3:46
New staff reviewer Angelique van Campen flies around a US restricted area as she takes an in-depth and up-close look at Aerosoft's Cape Canaveral X. "During special NASA activities, a 30NM circle is drawn around, let’s say the main building. Any flight within this 30NM circle is strictly prohibited and elevates from AGL (Above Ground Level) to unlimited flight levels."

Angelique takes us on a complete tour of the area and describes what we see, "Flying along the coastline at an altitude of 2500 feet, we fly south where we reach R-2934 (R-Restricted) area. The first thing we notice is the smooth change from the default to the Aerosoft scenery. Looking out of the window, we first see the Space Shuttle landing strip, KTTS and the huge Vehicle Assembly Building, located close to the strip. Flying above Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge park, we see that the Aerosoft's swamp looks very close the real swamps. One thing already mentioned is the Vehicle Assembly Building, where the space shuttle, fuel tanks and rockets are mounted together. The default FSX scenery shows these as well, but with fewer details."

Summarizing Aerosoft's Cape CanaveralX, Angelique comments, "The scenery or green areas representing swamps and lakes are not that bad. The only limitation compared to the FS2004 version, is the level of detail and the performance on your PC. The three runways on the other hand are realistic when I compare these with actual pictures from Google Earth. It’s a nice add-on, but to me after comparing the Aerosoft FS2004 with the FSX version, it appears Aerosoft just transferred the old FS9 version into a FSX compatible one without any additional features and/or improvements. However, you have to keep in mind that it only covers Cape Canaveral."

ProFlight 2000 Lives Again

Posted: Wednesday, June 27, 2007 - 1:46
ProFlight 2000 Emulator (PFE) provides you with the means to use one of the all time favourite Flight Simulator ATC programs with FS2004 or FSX, available in two Editions. PFE Standard Edition and PFE Deluxe Edition. PFE provides an all new runways database using data from FS9 or FSX, with active AI detection (both air and ground traffic) during takeoff and approach, configurable Transition Altitudes for each of the 26 ProFlight geographic regions, departure procedures (SIDs/DPs) are configurable and can be named which is then read out by the center, ATC handles missed approaches and vectors you back into the pattern. These and other additions have been added , for full details visit OnCourse Software

Tiger Moth – Float / Ski Plane Pack

Posted: Tuesday, June 26, 2007 - 18:40
Aeroplane Heaven is the Tiger Moth, in a news release today Just Flight announced the release of Tiger Moths on floats and skis. These aircraft come with the same award winning features of the land based machines and the detailed models have been carefully researched to ensure the highest levels of authenticity and realism with superb sound sets, realistic animations and textures. Both are unique aircraft that can be downloaded and installed straight into Flight Simulator X or 2004, for full details on this combo game pack or the single aircraft version visit Just Flight today.

Real Sky Pro Edition FSX & FS9

Posted: Tuesday, June 26, 2007 - 1:43
Sandon Lyon comments, "One thing ALL flightsim pilots need is a REAL SKY. REAL SKY PRO EDITION FSX version and REAL SKY PRO EDITION v1.1 FS9 version will give this effect to your Microsoft Flight simulator. Specially designed textures for both sims will bring out the maximum visual affect to your sim's sky. With no hit on frame rates and a easy to use Graphic User Interface (GUI), installing over 70 texture sets for each version is as simple as a click of a button. You can find out more at the product website.

FS Video Contest

Posted: Tuesday, June 26, 2007 - 1:17
SimTube is pleased to announce its first video contest sponsored by Natural Point! The contest will last for 30 days (ending on July 23rd, 2007) and the theme is "Prop Aircraft." The winners of the contest will be determined by vote and the community is asked to be the judges.

Not a member of SimTube? Head over to the SimTube website and learn what all the buzz is about! For more information on the contest, please read about the rules.

DC10 Video

Posted: Tuesday, June 26, 2007 - 1:11
Commercial Level Simulations has just released an 8 minute video of some DC10 action. There is a lower resolution version available to keep the size down. The normal version is 75 mb (against 35 mb for the second version). The video can be download from the CLS website.

FS Free Press

Posted: Tuesday, June 26, 2007 - 1:08
Arnie Lee of Abacus announces a new article in their FS Free Press relating to Aviation Photography. This is a great way to capture the latest liveries on your favourite airliner to add to your virtual hanger.

HJG June Hangar Contents Revealed

Posted: Monday, June 25, 2007 - 15:51
Never stuck for ideas and always ready with a surprise up its sleeve, the HJG (Historic Jetliners Group) have revealed the contents of their June hangar/website update.

This month's B707 & DC8 specialties from HJG include rarebirds from African, Asian, Caribbean, European, and both Latin and North American regions. Among the featured are six classic DC8 liveries covering U.S. supplemental carriers of the 1960's and 1970's. Four extremly rare DC8 liveries from Colombia, Cuba, and Mexico, and two equally rare Mexican B707's from the late 1970's and present day. Also included is an attractively painted B707 from Tanzania from the 1980's era, an unusual 1970's DC8 livery from Ceylon/Sri Lanka, and an almost now forgotten 1970's era DC8 operated by a long since defunct tourist charter operator from Belgium.

For the military buffs, also featured among HJG's June updates are new/revised Aircraft Base Packs for P&W J57 powered C135-A, and CFM-56 powered EC135-C & TC135 aircraft, complete with a selection of five new USAF liveries.

All this and more is currently available for "FREE" download and your personal FS enjoyment from the HJG website.

AlphaSim MH-53J Pavelow III Released

Posted: Monday, June 25, 2007 - 15:38
It's the special ops variant of the mighty CH-53 Super Stallion and some see it as both beauty and beast. From the blocky sensor-packed nose to the ungainly tail, it is the muscleman of the helicopter world, yet there is a powerful grace in its gentle movements.

It's the MH-53J Pavelow III and it available now from AlphaSim. Four texture sets present the MH-53J in gray lo-vis, Euro-camo, desert camo and an IFOR Winter scheme, all repaints by the esteemed Pierre Lheureux. The external model animations include the rear ramp, winchman's hatch, cockpit windows, extending refuel probe, togglable pilots, engine intake flaps and rotor discs which move according to joystick input. According to AlphaSim, the interior was constructed using the MH-53 operation manual for reference - all text descriptions and pretty much every switch & knob were replicated. The all-xml gauges include a moving map display and extend to both sides of the cockpit.

The MH-53J Pavelow III is available for FS2004/FSX. To see a preview video and purchase information, head over to the AlphaSim website.

Weather Maker RX from Calibre Software

Posted: Sunday, June 24, 2007 - 22:50
Senior staff reviewer Paul Middleton taps into Mother Nature and flies in the actual weather coditions as seen outside the cockpit window with Calibre Software's Weather Maker RX.

"What Weather Maker RX does is detects where your aircraft is, then goes to a weather report server to pick up the local and surrounding weather reports, and depict this weather around your aircraft using FSX's weather engine. As you move along it will pick up other reports along your route, so that you are consistently surrounded by real weather. If you prefer to use the real weather from an earlier day, then if you've previously stored that weather file it will allow you to use that."

Paul explains, "Now I won't begin to pretend that I've done a rigorous series of test flights on all continents and in all climates and seasons, comparing what I see with the weather reports from all the local stations. What I did instead was to use the product in my regular FSX flying, checking summary weather forecasts beforehand and mentally noting what I saw against what I expected. And my conclusion? Well, it never did anything completely silly, like snowstorms over Arabia or heat waves in Alaska. And generally speaking the results were pleasing, because unlike FSX's real weather with its (often) single layer of cloud, I got up to three layers, all different, and quite complex looking."

He continues, "FSX's own Real Weather has improved by leaps and bounds from the early days. It's by no means perfect, but it's certainly a lot better than it used to be, and it's an increasingly "hard act to follow". This does therefore challenge third-party software developers to provide a significant improvement, with weather that really does match the reports all the time. The test flights I carried out are representative rather than exhaustive, but it does suggest that when depicting the weather outside the cockpit, Weather Maker RX needs to do more to distance itself from "out of the box" FSX."

In his summation of Weather Maker RX, Paul remarks, "it provides a weather radar that can be used both in pre-flight planning and weather avoidance in-flight, and real in-flight weather based on real-world meteorological reports. Whilst this is not always as accurate as FSX's own Real Weather, it does allow you to go back to historic weather, and is a platform for further development."

IRIS E.A.P For FS9 & FSX Now Available

Posted: Sunday, June 24, 2007 - 4:54
The British Aerospace E.A.P. (Experimental Aircraft Program) was a technology demonstrator designed in the early 1980's. First flight was on August 8 1986 and they conducted 259 test flights, it featured a full glass cockpit, multi-function displays and voice warning systems. Iris Simulations provide three different combat variants of the E.A.P. based on the technology available around the time of manufacture. The result is the Tempest F.2 and T.1 for the RAAF and RAF, the navy F/A-39 Vortex for the US Navy and US Air Force and the Cyclone ES.2A. For full details about this release visit Iris Simulations

B17 from Shockwave Productions

Posted: Sunday, June 24, 2007 - 4:52
Staff reviewer Michael "DocW" Wehner reviews a WWII classic from Shockwave Productions, the B17 from their Wings of Power series. "There are only a few airplanes around with such an affectionate appeal as the B17."

"Bump-mapped rivets? Paint chipping? Exhaust stains? Hatches? All sorts of small cooling rips and neat little other exhaust-like-thingies? 3D modeled valve shafts? 3D modeled ignition cables? Readable prop placards? Guns, guns, guns with textured cooling holes and ammo belts? A bombardier’s office with a Norden bombsight visible through a reflecting Plexiglas nose cone? Name it on the exterior, and Shockwave has done it when it comes to the exterior."

"I know many of my AVSIM fellow simmers prefer flying in the 2D cockpit, but if you look for another argument of your transition over to VC flying and TrackIR using, the WOP B17 II VC is a most striking one: You can real ALL the placards, textures and gauges and you will hardly find a lever or knob that won’t work. The VC is a visual orgy and to the extent that FSX allows to simulate systems; the dials and levers all have functions."

"I felt somewhat challenged by the “Ultimate Realism” tag. So I decided to conduct some takeoff runs measured on the numbers. But apart from the numbers, does it feel right? Yes, it feels ok. The flight model makes you feel like you're actually fly the plane. All in all, I conclude that the flight modeling is about on par with the visuals."

In DocW's conclusions of Shockwave Productions' B17 he says, "the plane continues Shockwave's tradition of graphically high detailed, faithfully modeled WWII aircraft. In fact, they did not just continue it; they raised the bar even a little further. With the right weather settings at an English grass field, you can achieve that “almost there ” feeling."

FSX Update For The Flight1 ATR

Posted: Saturday, June 23, 2007 - 17:51
Flight One Software has released an FSX compatibility upgrade to the ATR 72-500. For one price, you can use the Flight1 ATR 72-500 in either FSX or FS2004. This update is also free for all CD ROM customers. For more information, please visit the ATR product page.

Project Airbus Releases Version 2 Of Their A320

Posted: Saturday, June 23, 2007 - 17:46
Project Airbus' version of the A320 contains an accurate model with details such as: opening passenger and cargo doors, animated pack inlets and outflow valves, all operetable control surfaces, detailed flap tracks and slat rails, hydraulics modelled on spoilers and landing gear doors, wingviews and other various features. Please visit Project Airbus for more information.

AlphaSim's XB-70 Valkyrie Ready To Go

Posted: Saturday, June 23, 2007 - 14:10
AlphaSim XB-70 Valkyrie out now. The Valkyrie is aimed at those who relish a technical challenge in their flightsim world. The real 'tour de force' of the model has to be the panel and cockpit - every gauge is represented and pretty much every knob and switch. All text descriptions are from the actual XB-70 manual. The Valkyrie's oddities are reproduced in the sim - the canards with animated trailing edges, the dramatic folding wingtips, the animated nose visor and the complex gear retraction sequence. The six animated afterburner nozzles blare out the deafening roar of the soundset and spew flames and smoke thanks to some amazing effects. Canard and wingroots both provide nice vapour trails under the right circumstances and a large cloud of custom tire smoke lets you know you have arrived back on the flight deck. Please expedite your taxi on over to AlphaSim

Georender Does It Again

Posted: Saturday, June 23, 2007 - 13:54
In a news release receieved early this morning; Georender have released the third volume in the U.S. National Parks scenery series. Volume three covers Yosemite/ Mono Lake and is for both FSX and FS9. The FSX version is 2.4 meters per pixel resolution. Yosemite National Park is a treasure trove of deep valleys, granite mountains, rivers, lakes, waterfalls, meadows and more. Please visit Georender for more information.

Phoenix & Dallas Megascenery arrive in Avsim Store

Posted: Saturday, June 23, 2007 - 13:41
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These two new Megascenery titles for Flight Simulator X (also includes the previous FS2004 versions)let's you explore thousands of square miles of high-resolution photographic scenery in these two major metropolitian areas. Never before has such high detailed resolutions been available... as now can be experienced using the new scenery engine in Microsoft Flight Simulator X.

Get your copy today at the Avsim Store

Stinson Model A Trimotor Released

Posted: Saturday, June 23, 2007 - 1:52
Dubbed "Americas Fastest Tri-Motor" the Model A was the Stinson Aircraft Company's last tri-motor, designed in 1933 as a low wing monoplane, eight seat feeder-liners for American Airways (now American Airlines). Featuring an unusual double-tapered wing that, combined with its tubby fuselage and forward-raked windscreen, gave it a markedly sinister appearance. It also boasted retractable landing gear that left the lower part of the wheels exposed below the engine nacelles while in the raised position, as many pilots forgot to lower the undercarriage on landing. Passengers were seated in two rows of three and a paired seat behind the enclosed cockpit. Fitted aft was a hold for 500lbs of luggage and freight, and that ultimate luxury for the time, an on-board lavatory. A total of 30 Stinson Model A's were built until production ceased in 1936. It was one of many promising designs whose commercial success was cut short by the introduction of the stressed-skin Boeing 247 and Douglas DC-2.

Golden Age Simulations brings back to life this graceful and unique airliner. The model is complete with a custom gauge package and once again unites the talents of our designers with Aaron Swindle of Sky Song Soundworks. Aaron has created for the model a unique soundfile that duplicates the sound of the three Lycoming R-680 radial engines. The model is fully animated and includes the Model A 2-W; a variant designed for Airlines of Australia and flown throughout the 1940's.

This release for FS9 and GW3 can be found with complete information at the Golden Age Simulations website.

Ultimate Traffic FS9 Update Released

Posted: Saturday, June 23, 2007 - 1:03
Flight One Software has released an update to their classic Ultimate Traffic for Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004 users. This version ships with a new schedule current for the Summer of 2007 and includes over 100 adjusted repaints to make traffic coverage larger than the original FS2004 version, There are over 350,000 real world flights in the new traffic database. The “ultimate” sandbox for AI Traffic generation in Flight Simulator, experts can use the advanced tools to create their own traffic environments, Virtual Airline's can use the tools to have their airlines fly around in the FS9 AI traffic system. For beginners, all you have to do is point and click your way to all new traffic in FS9. For more product details visit Flight One Software .