Announcing Desktop Headlines from AVSIM

Posted: Saturday, March 24, 2001 - 18:08
AVSIM is pleased to announce a new service that now brings AVSIM's Headlines right to your desktop! Now, you can keep a continuous eye on news as it develops in the flight simming community. With the impending release of major simulators, you can't afford to miss even one moment of news feed. The AVSIM Headlines ticker will keep you in touch where ever you are on the net. Setting it up is simple and fast, and easy to do. Once setup, the ticker will update automatically every 10 minutes or so, to capture the most recent headlines posted at AVSIM. Continue reading here

Mallorca for FLY! Preview

Posted: Saturday, March 24, 2001 - 13:36
In a message today in the AVSIM FLY! Forum well known scenery designer Lennart Arvidsson has announced his upcoming scenery release "Mallorca for FLY!" which captures this famous resort island in the Mediterranean for FLY! aviators. You can check out Lennart's preview screenshots here

More Than Just Simming News!

Posted: Saturday, March 24, 2001 - 12:46
Did you know that AVSIM brings you more than just simming news? Have you checked out the "News Feed" feature at the top of the front page lately? If you do you will find the latest stories on developments in areas related to simming including real world airline news, computer gaming in general, and the big stories on internet developments - all of which can provide perspective and may have an impact on the simming world. Check it out here or click the "News Feed" label at the top of the front page.

AS2 Mini-Patch 2.08a Released

Posted: Saturday, March 24, 2001 - 12:33
Nomissoft, publishers of Airline Simulator 2, have released the latest patch, "Mini Patch 2.08a", which fixes some problems with the B744 and MD88 FMSs. You can read about the patch features and download it here

New Versions Of FSUIPC, WideFS, and more..

Posted: Friday, March 23, 2001 - 8:00
Pete Dowson today released new versions of his popular utilities. In this latest update Pete releases FSIUPC v2.40, WideFS v4.40, FSUIPC SDK 5th release, GPSout v2.36, AdvDisp v1.60 and AutoSave 1.20. As always this files are available as freeware and can be downloaded here.

Feelrealflight.com Announced

Posted: Friday, March 23, 2001 - 7:48
Matt Stubbington today announced the opening of Feelrealflight.com, a new website which shows their photo-realistic texturing techniques for FS2000. Currently you can download the FEELREAL Qantas F1 747-400, Model by Project 747-MELJET. There are several screenshots of the second FEELREAL project, texturing for Project Opensky's 747-400, British Airways 'Whale Rider' paint scheme. More information is available at www.feelrealflight.com.

AIRAC Cycle 0103 Now Available

Posted: Friday, March 23, 2001 - 7:41
Prabal Ghosh today announced the AIRAC Cycle 0103 (Worldwide Navigation Data) for Phoenix B747-400 PRO and SquawkBox 2.x is now available. You can download both files from AVSIM File Library here or directly from authors website here.

DC-3 Hangar Honored

Posted: Thursday, March 22, 2001 - 17:50
The DC-3 Hangar has been awarded the StudyWeb Academic Excellence Award. "To me this is the most tremendous thing that has happened for my site," said site Manager Trev Morson, "and what a reward for all the hard work!!" StudyWeb is one of the Internet's premier sites for educational resources for students and teachers. Since 1996, there expert reviewers have scoured the Internet to select only the finest sites to be included in StudyWeb's listing of educational links. To check out the DC-3 Hangar or learn more about the StudyWeb award, just jump to Trev's web site by clicking here.

Dutch Flight Sim Weekend

Posted: Thursday, March 22, 2001 - 15:53
On April 28-29, 2001, the Dutch National Aviation Museum "Aviodome" at Schiphol Airport will once again be the host venue for the Dutch National Flight Simulator Weekend 2001. About a dozen groups have already announced they will attend including, Tradewind Caribbean Airlines, Maritime Patrol Group (MARPAT), D.F.S.O. NL 2000 scenery design team, AUVA - virtual airline, Dutch Flight Network - virtual airline, Demoteam F 16 Falcon Lowland Tigers, Jan Dijkstra - F 16 mock up, Team AiRKZ, FS Midden Nederland (Hilversum), Flight Sim Club Almere, FSGG (Gouda on behalf of the HCC), PC PILOT + JUST FLIGHT, Fly United (Eindhoven), and Jeroen Dorrestein - flies "Precision Simulator". If you would like additional information, jump to the event web site by clicking here.

Target Korea Screenshots

Posted: Wednesday, March 21, 2001 - 16:43
Combat simmers who haven't checked them out yet will want to head over to Targetware for the latest screenshots of their upcoming Korean War sim, Target Korea, featuring the F-86F-30 and MiG-15bis fighters. To engage the screenshots salvo your drop tanks and cut in the burner to Target Korea

"Aeroplanner" Planning Aid Website

Posted: Tuesday, March 20, 2001 - 20:54
Here's an interesting website Aeroplanner.com Mark Munsell brought to our attention. The site says "AeroPlanner.com provides pilots the best planning tools and data available on the internet. View all NOS sectional charts online, query FAA navigation databases, plot routes based on airports and navaids, and print tripticks and store log information all online. Set up a free account with us today, and see how we are bringing electronic charting systems to the Internet." Though it's geared to real world flying, its many features and resources should interest the sim pilot as well. For example, there's A Step by Step Tutorial on Trip Planning that guides you through a 9 step process and illustrates using other features at the site.

Aeroplanner includes Airport pages with EchoFlight's Approach Plates, SIDs and STARs, and even Runway graphics. When you zoom in on an airport, in most cases they've plotted the runways on the map with the indentifiers on the ends. All this is available at Aeroplanner.

Additions to "Spain Global Scenery" Announced

Posted: Tuesday, March 20, 2001 - 20:23
Pedro Aviles reports that Avion Magazine.Com has just released his Sevilla & Wide Surrounding Area scenery for FS2000 commercial product. "Sevilla & Wide Surrounding Area" join Madrid 2000 and Alicante 2000 in the Spain Global Scenery collection. You can find full information and screenshots at the Spain Global Scenery for FS 2000 website.

Weekly "Top 5" Library Picks

Posted: Tuesday, March 20, 2001 - 19:42
Here's another installment of "Bear's Cave." Steve Cartwright also corrects an oversight in last week's installment; it was Frans Vranken that had actually done the Aerospatiale Ecureuil AS-350 B2 Monaco Air helicopter and it was Jean-Pierre and Arne Barthel that had done the panel. So enjoy today's Bear's Cave mini-reviews.

Microsoft/King Schools Offer Free Cessna

Posted: Tuesday, March 20, 2001 - 17:20
The real one! Microsoft Flight Simulator and King Schools are offering registered owners of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2000, Flight Simulator 2000 Professional Edition, Combat Flight Simulator, and Combat Flight Simulator 2 the opportunity to win a 2000 Cessna 172 SP Millennium Edition Aircraft! There will be one Grand Prize Winner chosen in January, 2002. The contest is open to those residing in the United States of America (see sweepstake rules for other limitations). For details see Sweepstakes 2001.

Third Wire Releases New Screenshots

Posted: Tuesday, March 20, 2001 - 16:38
Third Wire Productions has released some new screenshots from the latest build of their upcoming "Project1" 60's era jet fighter sim. The shots include the virtual cockpit in the F4 Phantom II and exteriors with markings on the F4 and MiG21. You can check out the shots here

PSS Releases ANA 747-400 "Pokemon", Seneca V

Posted: Tuesday, March 20, 2001 - 16:19
Phoenix Simulation Software today announced the latest release in the 747 Pro series, the ANA 747-400 "Pokemon" livery. This brings to 19 the number of liveries released to date with several more still to come. PSS also released an "all new from the ground up" Piper Seneca V for FS2000 Pro. This new model has been in the works for months and is the proud successor to the Piper Seneca V for FS98. And for all the 747 users there are now 11 flight plans posted, all by Philippe Praprotnik and more than twenty user repaints of the 777 by Greg German and Chris Mueller. For more information or to purchase the new file just head over to the PSS web site.

New X-Plane Scenery

Posted: Monday, March 19, 2001 - 13:48
Skydream the French X-Plane site has announced the arrival on their site of the new scenery CORSICA for the new version from X-Plane 5.60. They also will follow with new scenery for Caledonie, Provence Riviera with all the area of Marseilles and the Green Cape, as well as the new PACA and the new the Caribbean. More information is available here.

Target Korea Server Environment

Posted: Monday, March 19, 2001 - 13:47
Targetware, developer of Target Korea, has authorized the first community development project using its Sickware flight sim engine. The project will create a server environment that focuses on the aerial conflict in the Pacific Theater during World War II. The team wishes to create "the most accurate, most intense PTO theatre ever modeled in a MMP (massively multi-player) game". Anyone wishing to participate with this community development team, who possesses 3d modeling, aircraft skin design, terrain modeling, or detailed historical research on the period, should email Micah 'Yak' Bly at micahbly@visi.com.

German Airports Updates

Posted: Monday, March 19, 2001 - 13:46
Thomas Hirsch of the Scenery Design Team has let us know that the old German Airports Homepage www.germanairports.de has been closed. Their new homepage has been opened at address www.germanairports.net there are new updates for their sceneries Hamburg/Bremen, Duesseldorf, and Berlin Tegel now available. Also there are new pictures and information about the coming German Airports 1.

FS Design Studio Review

Posted: Monday, March 19, 2001 - 0:28
Got the itch to design your own aircraft or 3D scenery objects? Well, AVSIM Online Staff Reviewer Tim Cable did, and takes you through the process with ABACUS' Flight Simulator Design Studio Pro. Tim remarks that "It's so good that it has been used to create models for almost all of the more notable FS2000 aircraft that have been released recently. Titles such as Private Pilot and 767 PIC have used this tool for their 3d models. FSDS Pro also creates aircraft for MS Combat Flight Simulator 1 and 2, and has an exporter for Fly!. As far as I can see, this tool is almost as advanced as most 3d modelers, and I've 'tinkered' with 3D Studio and to a lesser extent, Truespace." We also asked Sr. Managing Editor and noted aircraft designer Robert Kirkland to add a 'sidebar' discussing FSDS' steep 'learning curve'; you'll find both Tim's review and Robert's comments here.