Tiger Moth from Just Flight & Aeroplane Heaven

Posted: Saturday, January 27, 2007 - 22:17
Sr staff reviewer Gene Davis takes us back to the days of wooden planes and cloth wings with his look at the Tiger Moth from Just Flight and Aeroplane Heaven. Powered by a single de Havilland Gipsy Major I with an inverted 4 cylinder 130hp inline engine, the Tiger Moth was considered fast for its time with a maximum speed of 109 mph and a maximum range of 302 miles.

"Once the installation process is complete, you will find an array of Moths in your hanger. They include the D.H. 82A Trainer (4 Liveries), D.H. 82A Civilian (4 liveries), and the D.H. 82C Canadian (1 Livery). Internally and externally this is a very nice plane and resembles that of its real world counterpart. Along with all of the traditional slew of moving parts, you will also notice that many of the control features of this aircraft have been modeled. For example, if you move the flight stick you can watch the control wires move underneath the cockpit. Flying the aircraft is a relative treat. The plane seems to just want to fly and is very manageable, and after putting the plane into a couple maneuvers I was hooked!"

"The add-on ships with both a 2D cockpit and a virtual cockpit, but in my opinion there is absolutely no need for a 2D cockpit with this product. It is meant to be flown from the virtual cockpit and I wouldn’t want it any other way! Gauge layout in a Moth is rather simplistic compared to aircraft of this day and age, and Aeroplane Heaven delivers on an authentic cockpit from that time period and is one of the most convincing I have seen to date, especially the gauge sets. What you need to understand about the Moth is that it is a VFR aircraft, there is no real instrumentation except for a total of 10 instruments that adorn the cockpit."

Wrapping up the Tiger Moth review, Gene remarks, "This product is a true honor to the men who flew these planes and also to the ones who designed them so long ago. It is only fitting that we, as armchair pilots, hop into our plush seats and experience something as wonderful as this, the flight of the Tiger Moth! Do I like this add-on? Yes, it is a masterful piece of work and it is ideal for FS9 and will be really good in FSX if they can patch it to work better."

KCVG Cincinnati For FSX

Posted: Saturday, January 27, 2007 - 17:11
ImagineSim follows on from their release of KCVG for FS2004 earlier this month, with the FSX version. This is their first airport for FSX and they plan to convert all of their other airports to FSX over the coming months.

Complete details including screenshots and a demo version are available at their website. A free FSX version is available to KCVG FS2004 owners.

Second Life Gets Virtual Pilots

Posted: Friday, January 26, 2007 - 14:54
If you are not familiar with Second Life, you soon will be. Second Life is a growing online "Virtual World." Much like the life simulation "The Sims," Second Life is a journey of "life" but on the internet. Flight1 has now entered that world.

Flight1 writes, "Flight1 has bought a plot of virtual land and built the “Flight1 Pilots' Club”, to allow enthusiasts to meet in the Members Bar for a virtual beer, watch Flight Sim videos and slide shows, listen to the Flight Simulation based IFC Global Network radio. Or sit back, meet other aviation enthusiasts and chat about Flight Simulation or any other topic they choose."

"In addition to the bar, the club has a large display area showing a range of Flight 1 DVD packaging in 3D, so that members and visitors can walk around and read the front and back of the boxes, click them to visit the Flight1 web pages for the products, or receive a notecard of links to independent reviews of the particular product by leading web sites. Events are also planned to give members a chance to meet and chat with key people in the Flight Simulation Community.
Membership of the club and ‘Second Life’ are both free."

Visit the Flight1 Second Life Area to go directly to the club if you are already a "Second Life resident", or if not, be automatically re-directed to the Second Life web site to register, create your 3D avatar and take a short tutorial which will teach you how to get around in-world.

January's Contributions by Cheque

Posted: Thursday, January 25, 2007 - 1:15
We'd like to thank January's donation contributors who sent us cheques and confirm their receipt.
They will be deposited with our end of month deposit.

Rotorwash Magazine No. 2

Posted: Wednesday, January 24, 2007 - 6:00
Rotorwash Magazine is a free electronic magazine that is released quarterly and dedicated to the helicopter simulation fan. In this magazine you can find all kinds of information regarding the helicopter simulation community: articles, reviews, previews, interviews as well as any type of information pertinent to the hobby.

The latest issue includes:
- The birth of a helicopter (part II): Building the Bell 222
- Internal collapsing of a team (part I): The CH-149 Struggle
- Dodosim Advanced 206
- Cloud9 Pisa Scenery
- Nemeth Designs Mi-24P
- Transitioning from FS9 to FSX
- Just Flight's Schweizer 300CBi
- Dodosim FL282 Kolibri

Hovertaxi over to the Rotorwash website and download the latest issue now.

Russian AI Traffic System Releases Aeroflot-Don

Posted: Tuesday, January 23, 2007 - 23:24
Russian AI Traffic System has announced that their first AI package has become available, it includes flightplans with all the regular and charter flights for Aeroflot-Don as well as the repaints. For more information please visit the Russian AI Traffic System homepage and have a look in the files section.

FriendlyPanels Announces Gauge Packs

Posted: Tuesday, January 23, 2007 - 23:04
GPS pack one: A Bendix and Garmin GPS navigation system collection in which you will find six GPS gauges for your FS9 and FSX aircraft. All gauges have a realistic design and functionality.

Gauge pack one v2.0: In this pack you will find fourteen gauges for your FSX and FS9 aircraft. All gauges are programmed using XML and C++ vectorial techniques to offer clear readability and realism. You can combine these gauges to customize your panels in any way you want it. For more information and the free user manuals please visit the FriendlyPanels website.

3D Glasses From Eyecessories

Posted: Tuesday, January 23, 2007 - 3:57
Staff reviewer Gavin Hendire looks at the world through rose (and green) coloured glasses. 3D glasses actually, from Eyecessories.

"In a nutshell, they are a pair of plastic glasses, not much unlike the shape of a pair of sunglasses. One lens is coloured Red and the other a sort of Green/Blue and they have been fine tuned by experts to ensure the sharpest image possible. Firstly, you need to download the NVIDIA consumer 3D stereo drivers (about 5.5Mb) and the MATCHING normal graphics driver. Further to that, the more astute of you will be thinking “but what about my ATi card?” The simple answer is that you’ll have to go and buy an NVIDIA card, as the drivers obviously don’t work with any GPU other than an NVIDIA chip."

"Don the glasses and the picture will come together but with an incredible feeling of depth. The amazing thing about these glasses is the versatility. This is not just an addon for FS, but in fact for anything you want to view on your PC in 3D."

Summing up this latest offering to the 3D world from Eyecessories, Gavin says, "I have to admit that I was blown away by the added and quite genuine feeling of depth. To say it added something to my flying is potentially the biggest understatement ever. Is it worth buying, I’d say it is. Are you getting value for money and the answer here is yes, you certainly are."

FSFlyingSchool Upgraded For FSX

Posted: Monday, January 22, 2007 - 20:37
FSInventions announced today that FSFlyingSchool is now compatible with FSX and includes a graphing system which analyzes the pilot's career performance in over 70 different areas. There is no extra cost to existing customers. Please visit the FSFlyingSchool main website for more information.

TropicalSim Releases MDPC For FSX

Posted: Monday, January 22, 2007 - 20:30
Punta Cana for FSX makes full usage of the features of FSX like moving road traffic, wet runway rain effects, moving service vehicles and carefully hand painted ground work reproducing the atmosphere of the real airport. This FSX version was reverse engineered in order to achieve full FS9 compatibility. For more information, please visit the TropicalSim website.

FSRealscenes Releases Flabob Airport

Posted: Monday, January 22, 2007 - 8:18
FSRealscenes has released their first product to the public. Flabob is a small airport in Rubidoux, California. It has a very rich history in aviation that dates as far back as 1925. For more information please visit the FSRealscenes homepage.

IRIS Releases 4 Aircaft For Free

Posted: Monday, January 22, 2007 - 8:11
The YF-22A Raptor, S-3 Viking/Shadow, A-7E Corsair II and the Tornado Version 4.2 have been released by IRIS Simulations as freeware. Finally there is a freeware Tornado that has a virtual cockpit. All of these planes were payware at one stage in time and are now free for everyone to enjoy. For more information please visit the IRIS Simulations homepage.

FS Force 2.0 For FSX

Posted: Monday, January 22, 2007 - 6:14
FS Force is an add-on module for Microsoft Flight Simulator that provides dynamic force feedback effects in response to changing flight conditions, whether you're on the ground or in the air.

On the ground, you'll feel bumps, dips, pavement grooves, sharp cornering, braking forces, hard landings and more. In the air, you'll feel realistic trim forces, and centering forces that vary with airspeed. You can also add friction and damping to the flight controls to further enhance realism. Each airplane can have it's own force feedback profile, and all forces are optional and fully customizable. Your force feedback experience can be as subtle or intensive as you like.

This program requires a force feedback joystick. Complete details are available at the FS Force Website.

The AVSIM 10 Year Anniversary Survey!

Posted: Saturday, January 20, 2007 - 3:26
In February of 2007 AVSIM will celebrate its 10th Anniversary. Frankly, we are struggling with ideas on how to celebrate this milestone event, so we would like your help. This survey asks you some pretty tough questions and we hope you are up to it. Be honest, stay focused, and by all means, don't loose sight of the goal - celebrating our 10th anniversary!

To give us your opinions on how to best celebrate why not take part in the Survey.

AeroSoft Releases Beaver DHC2 For FSX

Posted: Friday, January 19, 2007 - 17:52
The DHC2 Beaver was the best selling aircraft sold by Aerosoft online and now this aircraft is born again in a full FSX version. Totally redone to make use of all the features of the latest version of our favorite simulator, it is now available for download. Features include: