FSX Cirrus SR22G2/G3 Turbo Package

Posted: Saturday, August 16, 2008 - 17:21
Team Eaglesoft is pleased to announce that their Cirrus SR22G2/G3 Turbo Package for FSX is now available. Completely rebuilt to the FSX SDK using 3D Studio Max and fully FSX/SP2/DX10 compliant, the Eaglesoft Cirrus SR22G2/G3 Turbo Package includes both G2 and G3 Turbo models with all the latest features of its counterpart. Revised Avidyne Entegra Turbo Avionics and reduced FSX draw calls help this one to perform in FSX. The new Turbo flight Dynamics by Rob Young round out the package. Details and screenshots may be found in Eaglesoft's support forums and on their website.

Angle of Attack Productions Training Video

Posted: Saturday, August 16, 2008 - 12:19
Angle of Attack Productions is excited to announce the release of their Training Package for the PMDG 747-400. This DVD with 6 hours of footage packed on 3 Dual Layer DVD's can be used for both the FS9 and FSX versions of the PMDG 747-400. a wide range of systems and procedures are taught. The training also includes an in depth tutorial teaching you beginner, intermediate, and advanced techniques for flying the 747-400, for an in depth look at this product visit Angle of Attack Productions .

Space Shuttle Mission 2007 Service Pack.

Posted: Saturday, August 16, 2008 - 1:38
Service Pack 2 adds a new free mission, new cool features, improved flight model and additional systems simulation, but most significantly, it brings with it a major increase in performance. The new "fluidity" is more noticeable on especially slow PCs and laptops where the overall performance increase can be up to 300%.

STS-124 - the new mission included in the Service Pack, and the latest flown by NASA - started with an uneventful Discovery launch on May 31, 2008 and is one of the busier ISS assembly mission. It carried the Japanese ISS laboratory "Kibo" and featured three long and busy space walks around the International Space Station. STS-124 concluded with a perfect landing at the Kennedy Space Center on June 14, 2008.

The Space Shuttle Mission 2007™ is available for online purchase in downloadable format at the SSM2007 official website. The latest Demo can also be downloaded freely at the same website.

FSWidgets Release: GMap - iPhone Edition

Posted: Friday, August 15, 2008 - 13:08
FSWidgets has released the fourth member of the GMap for FSX family. This latest arrival - the iPhone Edition - runs inside what could be considered an "iPhone emulator", displaying the look and feel of Apple's iPhone with all of the functionality of previous editions of this freeware moving map system. To download GMap or browse their entire range, visit the FSWidgets site.

ATi Release 'Fastest Card In The World'

Posted: Friday, August 15, 2008 - 10:37
ATi have announced the Radeon™ HD 4870 X2: advancing visual computing ever closer to eye-definition computing gaming and cinematic experiences, it delivers a whopping 2.4 teraFLOPS of processing power. Also announced is the ATI Radeon™ HD 4850 X2 graphics card, delivering blistering performance at a compelling price point.


ATI Radeon™ claim that the new HD-4870 X2 (essentially a dual-chipped card that that only requires one PCI-E slot) will deliver up to 80 percent more performance than than the award-winning ATI Radeon™ HD 4870. The cards combine two ATI Radeon HD 4800 series GPUs with a more advanced cross-GPU connection based on the PCIe 2.0 standard plus two gigabytes of memory.

"...These technologies combine to make the ATI Radeon HD 4800 X2 series perfectly suited for the most demanding games, able to deliver astonishing frame rates at extreme resolutions and image quality settings..."

The ATI Radeon HD 4850 X2 will offer new levels of performance for under $400 and "set new performance standards" for video cards in this price range.

A video interview with ATi regarding the 4-series cards, can be streamed here.

Sherburn Aeroclub Announce Date Of 2008 Show

Posted: Friday, August 15, 2008 - 10:32
Saturday September 6th, 2008 will see the Yorkshire (UK) - based Sherburn Aeroclub holding what promises to be, a very special occasion bringing together - for the first time - a show for both real and virtual pilots. Founded earlier this year, the Sherburn Flight Simulator User Group meet on the first Saturday of every month and members bring along their own systems for people to view and use during the day. They now have over 50 members all of whom have contributed to the planning of this event.

The inaugural flightsim show took place in 2006; this year however, they have expanded the show and now for the first time, are opening a fully working hangar to hold the event.

Top names from around the flight simulation world will be there to show their latest products, from software to hardware, and trial flights in some of the club's aircraft will also be available throughout the day - weather permitting! It should be a great day out for all the family, so make a note in your diary: The 2008 Sherburn Flight Simulation Show - 'where the real world meets the virtual world, coming together as one!'

For more information on both the group and the show, visit their official site.

Free Download - Focke-Wulf Triebflugel VTOL

Posted: Friday, August 15, 2008 - 1:08
PRE-Flight RC Simulator announces the Focke-Wulf Triebflugel. The Focke-Wulf Triebflugel's tailsitter design coupled with the ramjet-powered rotor made it one of the most unique aircraft ever concieved. It had only reached wind-tunnel testing when the allied forces put an end to its development - no flying prototype was ever built. Concieved in the final months of World War II, it was thought to have been a solution to the increasing bombing raids by the allies, as well as a response to the lack of flying fields for normal aircraft operation.

The Triebflugel's main propulsion consisted of a single, large-diameter, 3-bladed rotor powered by ramjets positioned at the tip of the blades. Take-off is similar to a helicopter then the craft is nosed over to a normal attitude with the blades providing forward thrust as well as lift. The theoretical specs are impressive: 3 wingtip ramjets giving it a speed up to Mach 0.9 or about 1000kph; 2 X 30mm cannon and 2 X 20mm cannon on the nose. Designed primarily as a bomber interceptor, it would take only a few minutes to reach a high enough altitude to engage its target. Little thought seems to have been put into the landing of such an aircraft - with the pilot not seeing much of the landing wheels behind him.

This PRE-Flight model of the Triebflugel has an operating rotor, animated flames at the ramjet exhausts and even "3D" sound coming from the rotating engines. Flying the model is similar to flying a helicopter, up to the point where enough forward speed enables the model to fly more like a conventional aircraft. As in the real thing, landing is exceptionally challenging. To download this and other models and to download the PRE-Flight Demo, visit PRE-Flight RC Flight Simulator.

Integrated Simavionics Group 1 (ISG1) Upgrade

Posted: Friday, August 15, 2008 - 0:45
This upgrade (v1.5) integrates an A300-A310 style Navigation Display, an MD11/B717 style Navigation Display, and Collins Proline4 style MultiFunction display. All ISG1 gauges can be selectively mixed and matched into the aircraft/panel of your choice. This update also provides fixes for some minor reported issues. This is a free upgrade for previous ISG1 customers. ISG1 gauges are available at the Integrated Simavionics Group 1 website.

RAF Vulcan from Just Flight

Posted: Thursday, August 14, 2008 - 2:56
Staff reviewer Laure Aston reviews a piece of history that is back in the air, the RAF Vulcan from Just Flight. "The Avro Vulcan’s beautiful lines and distinctive shape make it an icon of cold-war aviation. RAF Vulcan contains a total of eighteen examples in different Squadron liveries and with different model variations, including the 2K air-to-air refueling tanker variant and those carrying the Blue Steel British nuclear cruise missile, the Shrike anti-radar missile as used in the Falklands, and the ‘project cancelled’ Sky Bolt missiles."

"Just Flight have captured this magnificent aircraft perfectly, in all its guises and colour schemes, glistening in the sun with protrusions displayed for all to see. The bomb bay opens to reveal a cavernous internal warehouse, capable of carrying enough weaponry to destroy just about anything on earth."

"The cockpit area of the Vulcan is fairly compact, and appears to be displayed faithfully by the “Just Flight” Team. The instruments that are important for flight are working properly, although not in the case of every switch and knob visible. The layout works well overall, and the views from the flight deck are exactly as per the real Vulcan, and the “Virtual Cockpit” pilot is catered for very neatly too."

"The sound department at Just Flight and Phoenix has tweaked the Bristol Siddeley (now Rolls Royce) Olympus engines to perfection, and they sound great in the FS2004 or FSX versions. The power comes in at the right time when the thrust levers are moved, the gauges read well, and the aircraft responds to changes in thrust as near as I can tell quite accurately."

"The RAF Vulcan is thoroughly recommended for anyone and everyone. It flies well, looks fantastic in the air or on the ground. Lay out a few well earned pennies knowing you have purchased a big piece of history, at a fraction of the price of a real Avro Vulcan, it will never let you down."

NVIDIA's Latest – GeForce 9800 GT and GeForce 9500 GT

Posted: Thursday, August 14, 2008 - 2:08
"Delivering the perfect combination of performance and price, the NVIDIA® GeForce® 9800 GT GPU is what hardcore simmers demand. It offers 112 processor cores, a 256 MB frame buffer, and NVIDIA PhysX™ technology that brings games to life with ultra-realistic physical interaction. Experience the power without a hefty price tag with the GeForce 9500 GT GPU. Enjoy an improved 3D experience, unmatched video-watching with PureVideo® HD, and the most horsepower ever released in a graphics card under $100 (Approximate U.S. retail price). Plus, SLI® compatibility lets you enjoy up to a 2x performance increase."

Just Released - NAS Pensacola Version 1.1

Posted: Tuesday, August 12, 2008 - 16:22
Jim Dhaenens just uploaded NAS Pensacola Version 1.1 which has something for everyone. V1.1 includes fixes to a few bugs in the first version and did some significant work on color balancing the ground textures with the surrounding FS World, whilst also adding the seaplane hangers as another parking place for the Catalinas that will be out soon.

A year after having bought their first plane (1912), the US Navy established its first airport, Station Field at the abandoned Pensacola Shipyard site southeast of the city of Pensacola, FL. All the field amounted to was a sand and clay field with asphalt taxiways on the North and East sides (most probably to prevent the field from washing into the bay during the monsoons). The Navy established the old yards as an official Naval Air Station in 1917 and it served as the USNs flying school. In 1938, the Station Field was paved and renamed 'Chevalier Field' in honor of LCDR Godfrey Chevalier who made the first underway carrier landing in the navy aboard USS Langley in an Aeromarine 39B (1922). By the late 1930's the field had 7 runways and an 1100 foot paved landing circle. It also had a blimp hanger (which will go into ver 1.2) and four large hangers on the south side of the field. There are quite a few folks out there that enjoy the "Golden Age" of aviation and this addition will give them a small corner of the Naval Aviation world to explore. I have left the option for the "Today and Tomorrow only" crowd to remove the field and everything associated with it.

Obviously, a lot of work and research has been done to bring you this add-on, and we urge you to download directly from the AVSIM Library, or even drop Jim an e-mail with a few words of encouragement and look forward to future versions.

FTX AU Traffic Released

Posted: Tuesday, August 12, 2008 - 14:50
Orbx has great pleasure in announcing the immediate availability of FTX AU Traffic V1.0, the 100% freeware AI traffic addon for Australia. This addon has been over 12 months in the making, and is built on the well respected VOZ AI 1.x series begun by Mal Walker nearly two years. With up-to-the-minute commercial airline schedules, fresh new liveries and accurate models that are more efficient and FPS-friendly than the default AI, this addon will breathe new life into all Australian airport where there is commercial airline traffic. The addon is completely self-installing and also has a control panel. Head directly to Orbx now for the ultimate in Australian AI.

Ellsworth Air Force Base from SkySim

Posted: Tuesday, August 12, 2008 - 3:16
New staff reviewer Jason McKee takes a look at Ellsworth Air Force Base from SkySim. "Ellsworth AF base was not always known as Ellsworth. When it was built in 1942, it was known as Rapid City Air Force Base. Ellsworth Air Force Base has had a long history of different aircraft stationed on the tarmac, ranging from B-17’s during WWII, B-29’s and B-52’s during the cold war era to the modern B1-B’s that are stationed there now."

"This airport is a military base, and as such, doesn’t have as much going on as a busy commercial airport would. Having said that, there is still a lot to look at around the airport. Included in the package are static and AI traffic of the B1-B and C-130 Hercules aircraft. The base layout consists of one main runway, one main taxiway and ramp areas at the northern, southern ends and a small parking area on the south-western end of the base."

"There are static B1-B’s outside of the hangers on the northern end ramps and on the outskirts of the base to the south. They look good, but to my eye, don’t quite look like the pictures I have seen. The other aircraft that is included is the C-130 Hercules, and these look really good as they look exactly like a C-130 should."

"Skysim’s depiction of ellsworth is not 100% accurate and only covers the air base itself and the base township, but it gives a good feel for the air base. The main runway textures look good and so do the taxiways. However, what is depicted in the simulator looks like a well used but well maintained air force base and the textures for the runway and taxiways look like they are modified default textures. None of the hangers are animated. There are some emergency service vehicles parked outside the rescue centre, and that is all the vehicles that are on the airport, apart from the static B1’s that are on the ramp and the northern end. The night lighting is good, with approach lighting and taxiways lit. The light towers cast good light over the ramps and getting around the base is not hard at night at all."

Jason sums up SkySim's Ellsworth Air Force Base with, "This is a nice add-on. There are a few rough edges as mentioned. But having said that, I enjoyed flying around as the default scenery looks so bare in comparison."

VoxATC and GoFlight Video

Posted: Monday, August 11, 2008 - 19:52
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A new video showcasing the interactive voice-recognition ATC program, VoxATC Deluxe, along with the cockpit-building possibilities of GoFlight modules, has been uploaded to YouTube and can be viewed at Vmax 737NG Cockpit video. Both VoxATC and GoFlight modules are available for purchase today on the Avsim Store

OnCourse Software Update ProFlight Emulator

Posted: Monday, August 11, 2008 - 14:27
OnCourse Software have just released PFE version 2.5 to address a few minor issues but primarily to add another NEW feature. Designated Parking allows you to reserve a specific gate/parking area for any airport in FS. Full details are available from their website.

Best Video Cards For The Money

Posted: Monday, August 11, 2008 - 9:57
Tom's Hardware Guide has published its August 2008 edition of the regular: ‘Best Video Cards For The Money'.

"Detailed graphics card specifications and reviews are great - that is, if you have the time to do the research. But at the end of the day, what a gamer needs is the best graphics card within a certain budget..." says Don Woligroski, at the top of the feature.

Highlighting the ‘pick of the bunch’ across the entire price range, he takes a detailed look at the latest high-end single- and dual-chip offerings from both nVidia and Ati, together with a peek into the future at upcoming cards.

Older AGP cards together with laptop chips and SLI-combo's are also covered; so if you’re looking to upgrade your hardware, you may wish to check it out at: Tom's Hardware Guide and start saving those pennies.

Core 2 Duo's To Get Faster and 'Nehalem' Officially Named

Posted: Monday, August 11, 2008 - 9:52
Intel is planning to release its latest dual-core CPU model: the 3.33GHz Core 2 Duo E8600 and with it, an update for the existing E8500 and E8400 that will see their 'steppings' change from C0 to E0.

Indications are that the new E8600 has plenty of performance potential: overclockers in Taiwan managed to boot into Windows with an air-cooled E8600 clocked at 5GHz and reached 6.25Ghz using liquid nitrogen.

Both the (sub-$200) E8400/E8500 CPU's, have been popular with overclockers with some chips being capable of reaching 4GHz on air. As with the popular G0-stepping of the Core 2 Quad Q6600, the new E0 stepping should use less power, run at lower temperatures and will be available at a fraction of the cost of the extreme Quads. Whether these high-speed Core 2 Duo's will compete favorably in terms of performance and win the hearts of the flightsim community, remains to be seen.

In addition, the Intel Corporation announced today that desktop processors based on the company's upcoming new micro-architecture (codenamed "Nehalem") will be formally branded "Intel® Core™ processor." The first products in this new family of processors, including an "Extreme Edition" version, will carry an "i7" identifier and will be formally branded as "Intel® Core™ i7 processor." This is the first of several new identifiers to come as different products launch over the next year.

Initial products based on this micro-architecture are expected to be in production in the fourth quarter of this year. The processors will feature Intel® Hyper-Threading Technology, also known as simultaneous multi-threading, and are capable of handling eight software "threads" on four processor cores.

Although FSX may not be capable of taking full advantage of this technology, hopefully future iterations will be. Together with advances in DirectX, we can reasonably look forward to flight simulation looking and performing, even better.

Orbx Releases An FTX Airport

Posted: Sunday, August 10, 2008 - 16:28
Melbourne's Tullamarine International Airport is Australia's second largest in size and traffic volume and a major gateway for trans-Pacific, Tasman and Asian international flights. FTX AU YMML is a detailed major Australian airport designed for FSX, combining 1m/pixel and 15cm/pixel ground textures for a truly remarkable experience.

YMML features over 40km sq. of surrounding photoreal suburbs, industrial estates and townships, incredibly detailed custom GMAX modeling and texturing made from thousands of photos taken at the airport, full seasonal color variations, immersive approach and area lighting systems, Nose-In-Guidance systems for gates, inverse kinetic animated aerobridges and the choice of running YMML in FSX Native Mode or Gmax 15cm Poly Mode. In another Orbx exclusive, YMML features a custom set of Real Environment Xtreme (REX) airport environment textures specially made to match the YMML ground photos. This scenery is designed to compiment the Orbx FTX AU BLUE region pack released in March 2008. Visit the Orbx website for more information.

Instructional Review - "Learn The Mad Dog"

Posted: Sunday, August 10, 2008 - 4:52
Staff reviewer Angelique van Campen goes backing into training mode as she explores the instructional package "Learn The Mad Dog". "This time no aircraft, scenery or airport review. Now it’s time for a very nice, handy and educational product … the Learn the Mad dog DVD and associated Mad Dog study guide."

"The DVD offers more than 3.5 hours of visual information of how to handle and fly the MD80. Part I provides you with detailed instruction on how to operate the aircraft's systems and controls. Each system is covered extensively to ensure you understand the function and use. Part II applies those new skills and knowledge from preflight to shutdown in a special instructional demonstration. You'll watch from the jump seat as it takes you through a complete flight scenario and explain each system's use as well as different techniques."

"While virtually moving through the cockpit, you’re guided to the overhead panel, to the captain and/or co-pilot's panels, pedestal and every detail related to this MSFS model. In other words, not only in-depth system descriptions and/or system operations are handled but it's a total virtual presentation of the MD80 aircraft. Too much information? No problem, just rewind the lesson and start again."

"The quality of the manual is good, while some pictures are directly shot in the Maddog 2006 and are of an average quality but that’s because the Maddog 2006 2D bitmaps are not always that sharp, especially panel text. As long as I can see what it is and I'm able to read the panel text it’s ok for me. Some pictures are, however, taken from a manual or are pure graphics. Those are unbelievably sharp and a pleasure to see. Almost at the end of the manual you can check your skills/knowledge with 75 multiple choice questions. As indicated, the questions are only based on the Learn the Mad Dog DVD and study guide. My conclusion is that it is a good, nice looking and educational manual, which is worth the price."

Describing the Learn The Mad Dog package, Angelique says, "It's awesome. The narrators will help you with every detail and guide right up to the landing and parking at KMCO. It’s such a realistic and an in-depth program that this visual guide is really great and improves your learning curve."

FS-Cast B17-G Flying Fortress for Flight Simulator X

Posted: Sunday, August 10, 2008 - 3:03
Francisco Sanchez-Castañer of the newly formed development team of FS-Cast has captured the B-17G Flying Fortress in all its glory. This package is loaded with all of the bells and whistles one would expect from a dedicated FSX aircraft. These features include bump & specular maps, self-shadowing , working gun turrets, dropping bombs, and is designed for use with SP2/Acceleration. For a look at the aircraft and its features visit the hanger at SkyUnlimited.