alfaFly Ostafyevo X Released

Posted: Wednesday, September 9, 2009 - 0:58
Ostafievo is a private, international business airport, the largest in its class in Russia, full attention to the most minute detail assured all the airport's contents are exactly in place like the real airport.

All communication and navigation equipment, runways, taxiways and aprons are arranged so they correspond to their real world counterparts by applying data presented in maps, AIPah, as well as technical documentation of the airfield, and a detailed study of photographs and satellite imagery. (Got the Russian Page? Use Google to translate)

Sky Simulations DC-9 For FS 2004

Posted: Tuesday, September 8, 2009 - 17:55
Sky Simulations announce the release of the DC-9 For Flight Simulator 2004, a replica of the real one with every part and detail of the real aircraft . It was made based on flight, maintenance and dispatch manuals with the collaboration of maintenance technicians of many important carriers using this aircraft.

Dual independent versions for FS9 & FSX (100% native models to it's respective flight simulator) Seven variations, covering the entire DC-9 family: DC-9 10's, 21, 30's, 41 and 51 with two cargo versions. 2D and 3d Panel with perfectly recreated and operational systems (Electric, Air Conditioning, Hydraulic, Pressurization, Pneumatic and fuel systems) that place you right away into the Captain's or First Officer's seat.

Dynamic and fully operational and clickeable Virtual Cockpit. HI-DEF photoreal digitalized textures all over the aircraft, full moving parts , main and service doors, front stairs, rear stairs, cargo bay doors, Captain's and First Officer's Windows, flight deck doors and landing lights, Ground services with independent controls, and a maintenance mode with endless number of details and features.

For more information visit the Sky Simulations Hanger.

The AVSIM Hack: An Update

Posted: Tuesday, September 8, 2009 - 0:40
The Publisher and CEO of AVSIM, Tom Allensworth, today issued the following statement; "Today, September 7th, 2009, AVSIM filed a criminal complaint with the Police Constabulary of London. We will not name any names, but have incontravertible evidence of the individual that performed the hack of AVSIM on May 12th this year. We have protected the forensic evidence and provided that evidence to the London police. We are committed to bringing justice to bear on this case.

As a result of this attempt to destroy and the subsequent rebuild of AVSIM, we have expended over $50,000 to bring AVSIM back online and that amount is still growing by the month. Numerous members of the community have contributed to the rebuilding of AVSIM, contributing over $25,000 dollars to get us back online. For that we are very, and eternally grateful. But be assured that once this action has seen its course, we fully intend to pursue this in the civil court to recoup those expenses, and as AVSIM always does, we will be putting those funds back into play, suppporting our bandwidth and system upgrade expenses.

Between the "hack" and the theft of over 60,000 email addresses from our forum system, considerable harm has been brought to AVSIM, not only to our reputation, but to our day to day operations, and at a minimum, we fully expect that the criminal complaint filed today will result in the perpatrator spending some time behind bars - under UK law. Those laws deal with unauthorized use of a computer, unauthorized and criminal theft of data, and numerous other violations of other computer and online laws violated by the acts of this person.

Finally, though we tried to resolve this over the last three months out of court, giving this person two opportunities to settle with us, the individual did not avail himself of the opportunity - in fact, he has ignored our proffers. We are now doing as we promised this person we would do; ratcheting this up to the next, criminal, level. To the extent that prudence allow, we will keep you informed of future developments."

Tupolev Tu-154M from FS ProTeam

Posted: Monday, September 7, 2009 - 19:30
Senior staff reviewer Angelique van Campen relates to her own personal experiences with a look at a freeware aircraft from FS ProTeam, the Tupolev Tu-154M. "While I worked for Lufthansa Technical Training, I traveled several times to Russia and Kazakhstan. Sometimes I flew in a Russian model with Siberia Airlines and that was the Tu-154M."

"The external model with all its details and I also mean “tiny” details, looks awesome. I must conclude that the overall quality of the model reflects the same or even a higher quality than some add-on payware models, so these guys did a great job!"

"The available cockpits are looking good and very realistic as far as I can judge, but there’s no virtual cabin, except for the very small cabin area related to the movable passenger doors. Normally a 2D cockpit doesn’t offer anything more then a few sub-panels however, this Pro Team Tupolev offers lots of panels. Certain instruments look familiar to me because of the instrument look and its lay-out, but others like light switches or even connecting APU or External Power, is suddenly more difficult since I don’t understand what’s written on the panel itself. Don’t compare this Tu-154M with an Airbus A320, 737NG, 777, 747-400, MD-11 or Fokker 100 or whatever. It’s basically an older model with old fashioned systems and instruments."

"Based on the available gauge programming, the Virtual Cockpit looks good! What’s a little less and without any depth are the flight engineer’s and third (behind the pedestal) seat supports. I’m very enthusiastic about the simulated aircraft systems." Angelique goes into the flight dynamics as she takes this bird on a routine flight. Her main comment about flying this aircraft is, "you really need to read the manual!"

"The offered quality, animations, eye for details and manuals and whatever else I’ve forgotten could be compared with payware models. I’m really impressed that many aircraft systems are simulated, even the flight engineer panel. The simulated Tupolev Tu-154M is a nice plane to fly, for short and longer distances and hopefully the Pro Team group comes out with a new model."

Aerosoft Releases German Airports 3 Berlin Tegel

Posted: Monday, September 7, 2009 - 17:36
Aerosoft has released German Airports 3 Berlin Tegel "Otto Lilienthal", the main airport for Berlin for another year (then it will be closed and replaced by a brand new airport) and handled 18 million visitors last year. Not a small airport by any measure! It has a long and distinguished history, with its main role during the Berlin Airlift standing out. The FS2004 version, and FSX version will be available soon, is currently available as a download. It now has full AESlite features (check out the cars that wait for traffic lights) and AES 2.04 will fully cover this airport.R

SP 4 Released for Space Shuttle Mission 2007

Posted: Monday, September 7, 2009 - 15:44
Exciting Simulations has released Service Pack 4.0 for the Space Shuttle Mission 2007 simulator. This significant development adds support for highly realistic R-BAR, TORVA, V-BAR and TORF procedures which are used for docking with the ISS.

This new Service Pack will test the skill, patience and perseverance of all virtual Astronauts as they are expected to dock the ISS using procedures very close to the ones used by the real NASA Astronauts, the updated “Commander’s Reference Manual” version 3.5, is available to assist the virtual Astronauts with the new features.

SSM2007 Official Website is your source for all updates and related downloads.

A2A Piper J-3 Cub Released

Posted: Monday, September 7, 2009 - 15:30
A2A Release their latest Accu-Sim aircraft the Piper J-3 Cub, the base package includes standard J-3 Cub, Tundra tires, Floats, and Skis with nine liveries.

Released as a base package with optional " Accu Sim " expansion pack, the product ships with a 118 page, full-sized Pilot’s Manual and is fully Sp2 compatible, additional features provided with the expansion include Accu-Sim physics true wing, airframe, engine, ground, water, and internal systems behaviour.

Passenger On BoardTM adds a new dimension of piloting realism with an intelligent passenger that is aware of the surroundings, talks when appropriate, including being able to spot and call out traffic. Accu-Sound now allows for a direct connection to the Accu-Sim and FSX physics engine with airflow through the airframe, window, and door, structural creaks, bumps, jolts etc. with three hundred and ninety sounds in all made with professional recordings from three actual Piper J-3 aircraft.

Ground physics realistically rock your wings and buck your tail. Regular tires, skis, and large tundra tires all have their own distinctive ground handling benefits and limitations. Each aircraft comes with its own sound set which is tied in with the physics of the airframe.

A fully detailed look over the features can be found at the
A2A Simulations Homepage .

Orbx's YSTW Tamworth Airport Released

Posted: Sunday, September 6, 2009 - 15:06
The world's FIRST 7cm/pixel airport! Prepared to be stunned at the detail of the airport aprons, taxiways and surrounds with the first ever FSX airport to be released using incredible 7cm/pixel digital sourced aerial imagery, taken using the very latest direct to disk mounted cameras on aircraft.

Tamworth airport is a busy regional hub and also the home of the Basic Flight Training Skills (BFTS) school, which is the first stop for any "top gun" candidate wanting to fly with the Australian Defence Forces.

The scenery includes both 7cm and 15cm ground imagery close to the airport, completely integrated into the Orbx FTX AU GOLD region. As well as BFTS and the airport, this scenery features over 200km of pristine 60cm/pixel photoreal imagery of the Tamworth township, farms, hills and surrounds and uses a custom 5 metre resolution terrain mesh.

Orbx FTX products homepage have plenty of images and video to look over of this and the previous releases that make up their list of fine scenery enhancements.

Tongass Fjords X from FSAddon

Posted: Saturday, September 5, 2009 - 20:04
Senior staff reviewer David Wilson-Okamura goes "way up north" to take a look at FSAddon's Tongass Fjords X. "The original Tongass Fjords came out a couple months before FSX. It was the third major payware scenery by Holger Sandmann (after Misty Fjords and Vancouver+) and his first full-scale collaboration with Bill Womack, who did the airfields and settlements. The product received several awards, including the AVSIM Gold Star, and in my mind still represents the high-water mark of scenery development for FS2004."

"Tongass brings everything up to 38m standard for the coverage area (which extends into British Columbia) and fixes some anomalies. In general, though, flyers of the default scenery won’t notice a huge difference in this regard. What you will notice right away are (a) richer landclass and (b) more detailed shorelines."

"There are 4 new airfields, bringing the total up to 13, and 11 new forestry cabins, up from 20 in the original. Bring some pontoons, though, because most of the cabins are only accessible on floats. So are most of the product’s 44 seaplane docks, which outnumber the region’s landing fields (listed and unlisted) by a factor of almost 3. There are also 11 helipads (including the emergency Coast Guard pads at Five Finger lighthouse and Cape Decision lighthouse)."

"This product covers a very wide area, and its two main developers, Holger Sandmann and Bill Womack, have been building it up, detail by detail, for at least five years. Hardware aside, there is one big variable and that is weather. Some days are clear, and some days you can’t see anything. In-between, there are days with big cumulus clouds that cut your frame rates in half (and look great in screenshots). If you want to, you can adjust the level of detail with the scenery slider and get higher frame rates; I didn’t find that necessary, but the option is there if you want it. Meanwhile, what works for me is to fly something that places low demand on system resources. I’ve had lots of great flights with the Aerosoft Beaver -- which, of course, is better for STOL and water operations anyway."

"It has been a long time -- maybe since the first Tongass -- that I have reviewed a scenery product where everything was this polished: terrain, harbors, traffic, even charts. What makes Tongass Fjords X stand out is its comprehensiveness: terrain plus traffic (air and water) plus airfields plus settlements. The quality of each element is uniformly high."

PMDG BAe JetStream 4100

Posted: Saturday, September 5, 2009 - 14:40
PMDG Releases BAe JetStream 4100 Turboprop, the airplane has one of the most complex turboprop engine models yet created for FSX and is "typically PMDG" in terms of systems detail and operating complexity, with detailed operating manuals, an introduction and tutorial in the release package.

The JetStream 4100 has served as a development testbed for some new technologies implemented to model virtual cockpits in astounding detail with the minimum FPS hit possible. With this cockpit, you can zoom right in on the finest details such as the black brushes that protect the throttle housings, and you will see virtually no loss in clarity even at high zoom levels.

The PMDG Configuration Manager will help you match the simulation detail to the capabilities of your hardware, and a new feature known as the PMDG RAMP MANAGER to allow you to control non-aircraft animations and items such as engine plugs, chocks and a GPU. In the air, you'll find amazing levels of system modeling, crisp, clear displays, a thorough simulation of the airplane's avionics right down to the Radio Management Units, and of course the engine modeling.

Visit the PMDG Homepage for details on this new release .

Classic Liners: Vol 2 from Aerosim

Posted: Saturday, September 5, 2009 - 3:04
Staff reviewer Benjamin van Soldt continues his look at the Aerosim series of aircraft with Classic Liners: Volume 2. "The volume 1 package included the Boeing 737-200, Boeing 727 series, and the classic Boeing 747 models (100 through 300). The volume 2 package includes the L-1011 Tristar (L-1011-1, L-1011-500 and L-1011 ADV 500), DC-10 (DC-10-30 and -40) and DC-8 (DC-8-53 and -61): another great lineup that the flight simming community has needed for a very long time."

Benjamin goes into a detailed description of the exterior, interior, panels and sounds of the 3 featured aircraft. He then takes each up for a flight and backs his account with a multitude of screenshots. "With this package, you get 9 adventures to play with, 3 for each aircraft. These adventures are fun to do and very helpful. They basically are an extra to the tutorials in the manual that only show you the workings of the FMS and the INS, and nothing about other procedures. The adventures give you the option of learning how to successfully land each of these aircraft, which is extremely helpful, especially for those that have no idea how to do an IFR approach."

"I myself am finding this package a good value for your money ($35, without VAT), much more so than the Volume 1 package was. You get three more detailed aircraft. In the end, you have to make up your own mind on this one. I know I have been greatly enjoying reviewing Classic Liners: Volume 2 and I’ll be recommending it to anybody interested in flying aircraft from the sixties and seventies. The relative simplicity of these aircraft is great in that you can easily manipulate them by adding third party panels and sounds."

Majestic Software Releases Dash 8-Q300 Training Edition

Posted: Friday, September 4, 2009 - 23:30
Majestic Software introduces a new edition of their award-winning Dash8-Q300 aircraft addon for FS2004 and FSX - the TRAINING edition. This package is the most advanced of their Dash8-Q300 series and is intended as a training aid for professional pilots and technicians, as well as for the CBT system familiarization and demonstrations. The training edition is a former AIRLINE edition, which was already in use for some time in the numerous flight schools for the goal pilots and technicians training.

This edition provides the full range of failures in every aircraft system using the included instructor station, as well as their new guide on how to utilize the capabilities of this software to prepare for the recurrent pilot proficiency checks. Apart from that, the training edition is fully hardware cockpit enabled, and can be used to build home cockpits of various complexities from the ground up.

Aerosoft Releases Discus Glider X

Posted: Friday, September 4, 2009 - 23:19
Aerosoft released what they call the first high end glider add-on for FS. Discus Glider X covers three standard class gliders made by Schempp-Hirth. There is a pure glider, a glider with a small 'get home' engine and one with a slightly larger engine that allows it to take-off under its own power. Designed for competition, the gliders come with advanced instrumentation including a C4 Flight Computer. And it's all done to such a level of detail they include the actual real manuals for the gliders and the main instruments. The list of features is long and impressive, from over 100 additional (non standard) sounds for all kinds of events to dozens of special animations. When you see the images you see they did not skimp on polygons designing these aircraft either. Aerosoft comments, "Gliders have evolved into very serious aircraft while we were all looking at Cessna's and Boeings. We thought they did little more than glide silently from A to B but the Discus is capable of performance that makes most GA aircraft weak in the knees!"

Software Module for the CockpitSonic MCDU

Posted: Friday, September 4, 2009 - 23:16
Eric Marciano announces his release of the software module for the CockpitSonic MCDU. It is just perfect for the cockpit builders and for the "armchair pilots" who just have the device on their desk. In addition, this module brings many improvements and new features that increase the quality of the FeelThere/Wilco Airbus Series aircraft.

RG-EBT Combo pack from Pacific Island Simulations now available at the Avsim store

Posted: Friday, September 4, 2009 - 17:02
This combo pack consists of nothing but raw grit: PNG Bushpilot (RG) and Extreme Bush Trekker (EBT) airstrips, giving the simmer 40 airstrips and a combination of over 22 waterports and helicopter pads. The package is based on high altitude rough terrain and sea level short-strip flying. There are two major hubs for medium range aircraft flying domestic, regional and international routes. It is a great package for anyone looking for quality VFR scenery. You can get it here.

The Avsim store already carries other quality sceneries such as SimGiants with Canary Islands or Milan Malpensa. Aerosoft Sceneries with Manhattan X, Lukla X, London or Cape Canaveral.

All theses titles are available via instant download.

Visit the Avsim store today.

Warbirdsim's P-51 Mustang (FSX) Released

Posted: Thursday, September 3, 2009 - 1:43
Take control of your virtual skies with WarBirdSim's new Mustang package. The definitive work of one of world's most thoroughbread fighters is now available for FSX. Already a legend and fast gaining accolades with real P-51 pilots, 10 aircraft and 3 variants are depicted in 1 package; the P-51B, P-51C & the Mustang III along with a section of different colors worn by the actual Mustangs & featuring authentic manuals and checklists, fly the legends that made real flying a legend.

2 new P-51B & P-51C colour schemes reproduced in high detail in the FSX release. Making use of additional features in FSX bump textures add authenticity to an already wonderful model and reflective textures make bare metal shine! Lt. Clarence E Sullivan's P-51-B-10-NA Mustang 'Sleepytime Gal' of the 376th Fighter Squadron, 361st Fighter Group.

P-51C-10-NT 'Dody' from the 2nd Fighter Squadron, 52nd Fighter Group, 15th Air Force, Madna, Italy, 1944. Serial number QP-S (43-23133)flown by Capt. Hans Zachmann. is very accurately recreated for FSX many new and additional items have been added including a gun camera, which saves footage to the movies folder (along with an updated poster in the box version showing all ten aircraft with associated unit badges and crests).

US Cities X: Indianapolis from Aerosoft

Posted: Wednesday, September 2, 2009 - 2:13
Staff reviewer Allen Lavigne heads to Indianapolis, not to go racing but to fly the scenery as presented by Aerosoft. "This scenery for the city center of Indianapolis is geared mainly towards VFR flyers and will interest our copter pilots in particular. There are no custom airports but there are some heliports inside the city that can be fun to use."

"This series "USCitiesX" is a separate endeavor of lesser complexity and size than that of Manhattan X, yet it is still much more than just custom FSX scenery as seen in the many large FSX-customized cities throughout the default FSX world. Aerosoft's products are "wall-to-wall" enhanced custom design without any autogen at all within its borders. There are no airports in this package, and KIND lies outside of the photorealistic tile."

"Again, a master class "work of art" forms our undeniably brilliantly skilled developers at Aerosoft. US Cities X: Indianapolis is a reproduction of the city core and some outlying points of interest such as the Indy 500 Raceway track, along with 9 semi-detailed heliports."

Aerosoft Releases Nice Cote d'Azur

Posted: Wednesday, September 2, 2009 - 1:16
Nice Côte d'Azur Airport (or in French: Aéroport Nice Côte d'Azur) is the third important airport in France and is often seen as the only airport of Monaco. There is a great helicopter service to that little Principality. It has two parallel runways that can be used at the same time and a very busy helicopter section. Located on the Mediterranean coast the weather, with mostly turbulence, can make it a bit daunting at times, something that is not made better by rather complex noise abatement procedures. All in all an airport that is a bit special and that's always nice. The version Aerosoft has released is an FSX version of a professional project done for one of the world's biggest simulator builders. So you get the same quality as Airbus pilots are using for training. It also means the airport is VERY frame rate friendly as it needs to run at 60 FPS on the professional systems without skimping on looks.

Vehicle Simulator V 1.5 Released

Posted: Tuesday, September 1, 2009 - 14:42
After half a year of intensive development Vehicle Simulator V 1.5 has been released, version 1.5 features : create vehicles using components, sailboats are fully functional, and all sailing functions for them are available, improved object collision and detection.

Topographic maps and marine maps added, improved underwater effects and scenery support, improved scenery editing tools, and scenery creation functions, improved vegetation, above and below water.

Vehicle Simulator is based upon Micro Flight and Virtual Sailor, and combines them into one powerful program containing excellent graphics from ground level and up, a naval environment above and below water, and the atmospheric model from ground up to space.


An excellent vehicle simulation for land, naval and flying vehicles with many features that can be fully explored with a visit to the Vehicle Simulator Homepage.

Australia & Western USA from FranceVFR/FSAltitude

Posted: Tuesday, September 1, 2009 - 0:49
Staff reviewer Tim Capps climbs to altitude while exploring Australia then heads across the Pacific to the Western USA to check out 2 titles from France VFR / FSAltitude. "When you gain some altitude, you notice that your realistic world is made up of a limited number of repeating terrain illustrations. Everything is where it is supposed to be, in a general sense, but there isn’t a lot of variation. VFR France’s brilliant idea is to give you your FSX scenery (whether stock or gussied-up) in your immediate vicinity, but -- here’s the trick -- replace it farther away with photorealistic scenery. There will always be a “footprint” (their word is “cone”) of native scenery directly beneath your airplane. This will occupy more or less of your field of vision depending on your altitude, and will usually be tucked discretely out of sight until you need it for take-off and landing."

"To test the concept, I studied Australia in Google Earth and tried to discover a flight that would take me over as much varied terrain as possible. I have never visited Australia much in FSX, perhaps because the standard scenery is so dismal. But when someone gives you a realistic treatment of the whole continent, with New Zealand thrown in, suddenly you’ve got eight million square kilometers of some of the world‘s most interesting terrain to explore. FS Altitude Western USA (which gives you most of Mexico, too, incidentally) works the exact same way."

"Unless there are heights in the distance, FS Altitude is not a factor until after you take off. At altitude, however, you can see that you are flying over the real deal. With some realistic cloud cover and visibility limits, it is darn near as real as it gets. In addition to the two products reviewed here, there are also editions for the Eastern United States (available at a discounted bundle with Western USA as an option) and Western Europe."

"VFR France has devised an elegant solution to the up high-down low scenery dilemma, and one which does not so much cooperate with your other scenery as benignly ignore it. If you like to fly airliners, cruise will become something more than the time you do something else between taking off and landing. It will be an entertainment, an education, and at times a reflection on this beautiful planet of ours. FSAltitude Australia and Western USA are 2 of those products that truly elevate the flight sim experience."