STS-99 for Space Shuttle Mission 2007™ Released

Posted: Friday, June 6, 2008 - 19:34
The Space Shuttle Mission 2007 gets the famous Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM), STS-99 as a FREE add-on.This mission is particularly interesting for all Flight Simulation fans as it allows you to perform the mission which made possible the high resolution topology sceneries available for PC Flight Simulation software such as Microsoft FSX and Laminar Research X-Plane.

STS-99 started with the Endeavour launch on February 11, 2000 which began the high-resolution data-collection part of the SRTM earth topographic mapping project. The project was spearheaded by NASA and the National Imagery and Mapping Agency, with the cooperation of the German Aerospace Center DLR. During the mission, the Shuttle acquired close to 1 Trillion raw measurements of the Earth's topography, which were later processed, optimized and arranged in a usable and standardized format. The resulting extremely accurate and complete topography database contributed – among others - to better GIS, Flight Simulator Scenery (including MSFS), transportation safety and communication networks optimization.

In the best SSM2007 tradition, the STS-99 free add-on will allow budding Virtual Astronauts to experience the launch, on-orbit mission including the deployment and operation of the special radar equipment, and return to Earth by manually landing the Endeavour at the Kennedy Space Center. The Space Shuttle Mission 2007™ is available online in a downloadable format at the SSM2007 official website.

Real Scenery Airfields - White Waltham

Posted: Friday, June 6, 2008 - 18:47
Just Flight is pleased to announce the release of the second instalment in its series of British airfield sceneries for Flight Simulator X. Real Scenery Airfields - White Waltham re-creates the well-known home of the West London Aero Club - a very popular destination for both real and virtual pilots. Available for download exclusively from Just Flight, Real Scenery Airfields - White Waltham is a fantastic value and a must-have for anyone who wants to experience real GA flying in FSX.

Real Scenery Airfields - Denham, the first out of the blocks, has been very well received by press and public alike and Just Flight's in-house development team has been spurred on by its success. White Waltham has been designed to the highest standards using high resolution aerial images and on-site research; the scenery includes all the major buildings that make White Waltham instantly recognisable.

Among the many unique features of this scenery is snow on the ground during December and January - a first for FSX add-on airports. As well as the authentically-modelled buildings, custom night textures and high resolution mesh, White Waltham boasts static and AI aircraft, people and objects - there are even animated flocks of birds!

Another first for White Waltham is a fully functioning demo version of the airfield that users can try before they buy.

France VFR Releases AI-ATC Radars

Posted: Friday, June 6, 2008 - 18:20
France VFR is proud to announce its latest release - two radars within the same pack: the Radar AI-ATC simulating Air-traffic Control Tour and the On-board radar that is to be taken on board into the aircraft of your choice. Theses products were developed simultaneously for FS2004 and FSX in order to offer the virtual pilot a group of visual information for navigation, such as aircraft type, registration, position, distance, altitude and direction regarding the nearby air traffic evolution (ranges up to 40NM). These pieces of information can be obtained either on the AI traffic during a standalone session or through the participants of a network session. Both radars are fully compatible with the Network sessions native to Microsoft Flight Simulator as well as other widespread severs (IBNet, FSHost). The radar integration is at your fingertips with the specific “Radar Configurator” software provided in the pack. It allows any user (from novice to expert) an easy and rapid integration for adding or removing your on-board radar in two clicks.

Note: this website is in French. Google "france vfr" to translate the website for you.

AVSIM Library on Google Maps

Posted: Friday, June 6, 2008 - 17:53
There is a new website that could be very useful for Simmers who want to discover new Addons from the AVSIM Library. From FS9 database, Map2Explore.com allows you to put on Google Maps and Google Earth some 25,000 airports by their ICAO, their country, their region or their city. On each Placemark, you will find information about the airport and links that allows you to make search directly in AVSIM Library to find Addons for this location. Also, there are links to find videos from Youtube.com, photos from Panoramio.com, and nearest articles from Wikipedia.com, local weather, and more.

Map2Explore.com is a perfect merge between Google Maps and Google Earth with Geonames.org, Wikipedia and Microsoft Flight Simulator databases. The GeoNames database contains over 8,000,000 geographical names corresponding to over 6,500,000 unique features and Wikipedia.org contains up to 230,000 articles. With a special marker from Google Maps (Magic Menu) you can drag it at a location in order to search information about the region like the nearest Wikipedia articles, airports, photos and local geographical features that you can export towards Google Earth. This website is completely free.

Airport Design Editor Updated

Posted: Friday, June 6, 2008 - 17:32
ScruffyDuck Software and the ADE Development Team are delighted to announce the latest update to Airport Design Editor. Version 1.30 contains several fixes and some new functionality. It is available from versions 1.20 thru 1.26 either using the online updater or it can be downloaded from AVSIM. This release is not a full installation and requires version 1.20 or later to already be installed.

Included is a screen capture tool to make thumbnails for library objects or generic buildings; the ability to save any of the 80,000+ generic buildings in FSX and re-use them at will to modify or enhance other airports; a Library Object Manager that allows users to work with object libraries and includes the ability to add and use custom libraries and more.

FSAvidyne Single Engine Turboprop Update

Posted: Friday, June 6, 2008 - 17:18
Flight One Software has updated their FSAvidyne Flight Deck System to support Single Engine Turboprop Aircraft. The complete system integrates virtually all instruments and gauges from today's panels into an easy to manage, colorful display.

The EXP5000 PFD displays standard flight instrumentation including attitude direction indicator (EADI), horizontal situation indicator (EHSI), altitude, airspeed, vertical speed, moving map, terrain, and traffic, on large high resolution displays that are easy-to-read. The MFD displays checklists, terrain and traffic warnings, engine data, and navigation features such as: Airways, Fixes, VOR's, NDB's, Special Use Airspace, Class B,C, & D Airspace, Tower Zones, Obstacles, Obstacles Warnings, TAWS, TAWS Warnings, Traffic, Traffic Warnings, Runway Depictions in Information Pages, and Runway Depictions on Airport Map Icons.

The software package also includes a S-TEC Fifty Five X Autopilot to recreate correct autopilot functionality within the Flight Simulator environment. The update is free for all existing users. The updated version can be downloaded from the Flight One website.

Flight 1 Pilatus PC-12 CD For FSX Out Now

Posted: Wednesday, June 4, 2008 - 20:20
Flight1 Software is proud to announce that the CD version of the Pilatus PC-12 is now available for Flight Simulator X.

The “Officially Endorsed by Pilatus Aircraft, LTD" package offers several different configurations that include: commuter, executive, cargo, and multi mission surveillance. This versatility along with the PC-12's advanced aerodynamic airframe will allow you to explore the FS world with unmatched flexibility.

The Swiss designed and engineered Pilatus PC-12 is like no other aircraft in the world today. Whether you're flying nine of your friends to the big game, flying executives to Atlanta in first class style, or delivering food rations to a short airfield in Alaska, the PC-12's ability to adapt itself to virtually any flight assignment sets it apart from other single engine aircraft.

Building on the award-winning add-on originally developed for FS2004, this FSX version of the PC-12 has been overhauled with a set of new features to take advantage of the latest offerings within Flight Simulator X. Some of the new features include:

Updated FSX exterior model with specular lighting and bump mapping, dual Garmin 430 GPSs replace the single KLN90B, a Garmin MX200 Color Multi-Function Display, reworked night lighting and lighting logic, upgraded EHSI, plus many more refinements and optimizations.

For more information, screenshots, and to purchase the CD version of this amazing aircraft today you're cleared direct to the Flight1 PC-12 page.

VATSIM Suffers Outage, Now Partially Restored

Posted: Monday, June 2, 2008 - 18:38
From the VATSIM News Wire: "VATSIM suffered a major server outage this weekend and is still in the process of recovering services. Currently, the FSD network (the one you connect to fly and control) is fully functional. The data feeds for ServInfo, DLMN, vRoute, and VATSpy are operating again. Weather server has been recovered and weather is updating. We are still waiting for the SweatBox server to come back online. Unfortunately, the VATSIM forums are still down. The data server remained online during the incident and no stats data was lost."

Per theplanet.com, the Hosting provider for VATSIM, this outage was caused by a large-explosion in their Houston, TX Network Operations Center. (NOC) Those wishing to learn the whole scoop can visit theplanet.com update page for up to date information.

AlphaSim Cessna 170B Released

Posted: Monday, June 2, 2008 - 14:43
The AlphaSim Cessna 170B, first in the new AlphaSim FS2004 value range, has been released. AlphaSim writes, "Veteran FS modeller Chris Lampard has provided detailed exterior and interior models of this famous classic GA aircraft - there is even a detailed engine which is revealed when the cowl opens. The total download size is only 2.5 MB, textures are crisp, but small and easy to edit. Default sounds and gauges are used and there is no 2D panel - although this is not really needed as the gauges in the v-c are crisp and easy to read. The usual keypresses bring up the radios and other useful items." For more information, including screen shots, head on over to AlphaSim.

Cielosim Releases Instant Enhancer

Posted: Saturday, May 31, 2008 - 23:02
Cielosim is pleased to announce the release of Instant Enhancer . Instant Enhancer is a scenery utility that greatly enhances the visual quality of Flight Simulator 2004. Instant Enhancer enhances the quality of textures used by default for clouds, water reflections, waves, the sky, airport grass/terrain, airplane lights, runway lights, taxiway and runway textures, the sun, lens flare, environment reflections, the trees in all seasons and the moon. Instant Enhancer replaces the default Flight Simulator textures with over 250 realistic custom made textures. It also includes an easy to use user application to choose and preview which textures to install.

France VFR Release Update

Posted: Friday, May 30, 2008 - 17:04
France VFR is proud to announce the release of an update for their Flight Alps South BasePack for FSX. This completes the series The French Alps now compatible with FSX in its entirety, soar above the French Alps from the North to the South in FSX. For details and download visit the FranceVFR WebSite.

Reality XP Releases Garmin GNS WAAS

Posted: Tuesday, May 27, 2008 - 3:12
Now featuring Class-B Terrain Awareness and Warning System (TAWS) for an extra margin of safety in the air, the GNS 430/530 WAAS is an all-in-one GPS/Nav/Comm solution. With built-in WAAS navigation capabilities, it is approved to fly LPV “glideslope” approaches without reference to ground-based navaids. With the improved Autopilot Roll Command, the GNS 430/530 WAAS can automatically fly your aircraft through holding patterns, procedure turns and other position-critical IFR flight procedures.

Reality XP’s next-gen solution takes advantage of the new capabilities of the Garmin GNS Trainer in 32bits and delivers an unprecedented level of functionality. Redesigned from scratch, the new offering is compatible with FS9 and FSX right out the box.
"With today's announcement of latest GNS WAAS products, we are officially ushering in a new era in true next-generation simulation" said Jean-Luc Dupiot "The award winning GNS 430/530 WAAS features powerful technologies and capabilities that have never been brought together in our products before”.

Now compatible with FS9, FSX, WinXP , Vista32 and Vista64. Previous customers of the Flight Line 430XP and Flight Line 530XP for FS2004 respectively are encourage to visit the Reality XP website for further information. All who are inteested in this new release should also check out the website.

FTX AU BLUE Service Pack 1 Released

Posted: Tuesday, May 27, 2008 - 2:58
This free download for all AU BLUE customers adds over 175 fixes and enhancements based on continual product refinement and customer feedback. Features added include complete VFR vertical obstructions including lighthouses, aerial masts, industrial smoke stacks and TV Towers, plus updates to all Orbx FTX applications to their current versions, expansion of the custom landclass areas and the consolidation of all hotfixes, freebies and FSX tweaking applications previously released. The revised user guide now also includes much improved tuning information and full details of all fixes. AU BLUE SP1 is a free download from the ftxnow.com website.

T6 Texan/Harvard from Alphasim

Posted: Saturday, May 24, 2008 - 19:56
Staff reviewer Laurie Aston revisits a favourite warbird that makes many appearances at local airshows. The T6 Texan/Harvard from Alphasim. "The North American T-6 Texan was an excellent design that served as a basic transitional combat trainer in all branches of U.S. service, as well as in other countries worldwide. Approximately 17,000 of the type were built and some 350 are still airworthy."

"This aircraft is a superb simulation of the real thing, and from the time you climb into the cockpit and start checking the switches, levers and instruments, to completing a walk around that has so much attention to detail and information all over the fuselage and wings in the form of placards and legends. The Texan/Harvard is very maneuverable, quick to respond to control inputs, and a real pleasure to fly."

"The Instrument Panels look good and all the instruments can be read and work the way they should. The 2D panel is very readable, and the Virtual Cockpit is also laid out well, with most switches and levers being mouse-movable. The night-lighting for the panels is very well rendered, and gives a really good feel to night flying, clear without being glaring, and does not affect “night vision”."

"The Pratt and Whitney R-1340-AN-1 Wasp Radial engine looks good, sounds good and performs exactly as you would expect on the simulated aircraft. The sound set provided is spot on, in my opinion, and exactly what is expected on a Texan/Harvard of this quality."

Laurie ends his review of Alphasim's T6 Texan/Harvard with a straightforward comment, "This product is a great example of the Texan/Harvard. The detail is there, the paint schemes are there, the sounds are there, and the instruments are functional and fully readable. You will not be disappointed."

Flight1 ATR Edition For FSX

Posted: Saturday, May 24, 2008 - 17:32
Bryan York of FS2Crew said, “For a while we didn’t think there was ever going to be an FSX version of FS2Crew for the Flight1 ATR due to some technical issues. However, we were able to overcome those issues and get the product to market.” FS2Crew develops custom “expansion packs” that simulate the flight, cabin and ground crew for leading 3rd party aircraft. The FSX Edition of the ATR, which allows users to simulate flying their Flight1 ATR in accordance with the same procedures used at a European airline, was significantly updated and reworked to bring the ATR in line with current FS2Crew and FSX standards. For more information on this new release, please visit the FS2Crew website.

Ground Environment X USA-Canada For FSX On DVD

Posted: Saturday, May 24, 2008 - 1:38
Ground Environment X brings all-new ground textures to FSX using aerial and satellite imagery to bring you highly realistic ground environments for FSX. Some of the features include:
- Complete coverage of the USA and Canada (including Alaska)
- 1m/pixel - 1024 x 1024 Texture Size - Hand Crafted To extreme Detail
- High Performance, extreme density and perfectly aligned autogen
- Realistic custom designed night textures
- All seasons including snowy winter
- Textures derived from licensed Arial and Satellite imagery
- Fine tuned add-ons and ongoing updates and enhancements will be made available through the built-in update feature, based on customer feedback.

Also Includes Enhanced Features such as:
- Textures have been enhanced to provide even more texture clarity.
- Enhancements to produce simulated 3D depth in texture foliage.
- New winter textures which display vegetation within the snow.
- Better season blend so seasons such as fall fade into winter and blend naturally.
- Enhanced color processing which upgrades all seasons.
- Enriched desert and flatland details, no more bland yellow deserts or flatlands.
- Structured texture layout to assist in covering all major landclass products.
- Special features for Ultimate Terrain X USA and Canada Customers.
- Completely redesigned night lighting environment.

All of the above is accomplished while keeping maximum Flight Simulator performance in mind. Also, the easy-to-use interface will provide for easy installing the new textures, and is designed with Flight1's "keep-it-simple yet powerful" philosophy. You can get Ground Environment X USA-Canada DVD Edtion for FSX today at the Flight 1 website. The price is $34.95 for the DVD version. You can also visit the dedicated Ground Environment X website.

Aerosoft Announces The Hughes H-1B “Special”

Posted: Saturday, May 24, 2008 - 1:07
This aircraft was built by Howard Hughes for just one task, breaking speed records and it held the record for top speed and the coast to coast distance for a considerable time. The model released by Aerosoft features a highly detailed Virtual Cockpit and has very innovative failure modes, from the newly designed icing model to very specific engine failures such as ‘shock cooling’. Mathijs Kok of Aerosoft warns, "The pilot will need to ‘manage’ the engine in far more detailed than is normally needed for FSX aircraft. So this is not for pilots who do not want to read a manual." Complete details can be found at the Aerosoft website. There's also a video on YouTube.

FSWidgets Releases EFBFSX Version 1.2

Posted: Saturday, May 24, 2008 - 0:54
FSWidgets has released a significant update for the Electronic Flight Bag for FSX (EFBFSX). Version 1.2 now includes support for the recently released freeware moving map - GMap for FSX (displays aircraft position in Flight Simulator X on Google Maps). It also adds Windows 120 DPI (Large Fonts) support and full Vista UAC compatibility. This update is free for current registered users. To download the update please visit the FSWidgets website.

Fighter Pilot 2 Released

Posted: Friday, May 23, 2008 - 14:21
Abacus announces their latest add-on with aircraft that have been requested by many of our users. Fighter Pilot 2 is a collection of military aircraft. It features some of the fastest, high performance and potent fighter aircraft ever developed, most of which still cruise the skies in both defensive and offensive operations.

Fighter Pilot 2 has these exciting aircraft in multiple liveries:
- F-14 Tomcat
- F-15 Eagle
- F-16 Fighting Falcon
- EA-18G Growler
- F-22 Raptor

Fighter Pilot 2 for FSX and FS2004 is available now by download for and on CD-ROM. For more information, visit the Abacus website.

PMDG Service packs

Posted: Friday, May 23, 2008 - 13:45
PMDG release Service packs for both the PMDG 747-400/400F for FS9 and the PMDG 747-400X for FSX, The FS9 update provides a significant service life boost for the venerable PMDG 747-400/400F, bringing both aircraft up to Version 1.20. This update brings in many updated features and fixes that were originally written for the FSX 747-400, while also improving the overall performance of the PMDG 747-400 with advanced optimization techniques. The FSX update brings the PMDG 747-400X product up to version 2.10, and will update any previous PMDG 747-400X to this latest version. Nearly three dozen fixes and changes are included in the update. You can see the list of updated features, both updates can be downloaded from the Service Updates page at the PMDG website.