FSX Missions; Delta 737

Posted: Friday, December 29, 2006 - 20:41
Perfect Flight has just released FSX MISSIONS 737 DELTA for Flight Simulator X. As a new Delta Air Lines 737-800 Captain you now have fifteen flights assignments in your Pilot Logbook. Missions includes short, middle and long range flights. Your goal in each mission is to complete your scheduled flight following the assigned flight plan. Land at the correct airport and you will receive a success message. Product includes: Boeing 737-800 in Delta livery, Reworked stereo engines sound, 15 new missions for your Flight Simulator X, presaved flights with GPS armed, complete flight briefing, airport facility (frequency, runways and ILS description), FS-X radar gauge included in the main panel. For more info visit Perfect Flight's website.

AFCS III now shipping from the Avsim Store

Posted: Friday, December 29, 2006 - 14:08
ADVERTISEMENT:
The Avsim Store has the AFCS III Advanced Flight Control Yoke System in stock for immediate shipment. This yoke is specifically designed for the heavy feel of an actual aircraft yoke. We are so convinced that you will be satisfied with its quality that we offer a 100% money back guarantee for 30 days. No plastic housing or base is to be found in the AFCS yoke control system. The entire unit is built of high impact steel and aluminum. A C-clamp style mounting system allows for easy desktop mounting of the yoke. Order yours today from the Avsim Store

Space Shuttle For FS9

Posted: Friday, December 29, 2006 - 2:55
Captain Sim is pleased to announce the release of the Space Shuttle expansion version for FS9! Features list, free manuals and screen shots are available at Captain Sim.

FScene Collection Goes Disk!

Posted: Friday, December 29, 2006 - 2:54
The complete FScene collection for FS9 is now available on CD. Ruud Faber writes, "The CD brings the complete world-covering set of replacement textures on a colorful CD at the same price as the download version. For those who have no fast internet connection this will be great news." The CD contains ground textures in all seasons and for all continents. This is the definite FScene version for FS2004 (FS9). For more information, visit FScene.

December's Donations by Cheque

Posted: Wednesday, December 27, 2006 - 20:06
Simmers who have made donations to AVSIM via cheque in December, we thank you. All the cheques will be deposited this week.

Kathryn Whitwell - AVSIM Financial Officer

Schweizer S300C from Just Flight

Posted: Tuesday, December 26, 2006 - 20:56
Contributing reviewer Chris Kiehl hops around in Just Flight's Schweizer S300C. "The new Schweizer 300CBi from Just Flight is an excellent rendition of this light utility helicopter and is something to be seen."

"The external model on this aircraft is great and the level of detail on this helicopter is amazing. From being able to see fine control wires, the classic orange engine air ducts, to the engine and transmission drive belt; the realism of the detail is shocking. You can also clearly see the Lycoming four cylinder engine, if you know what you're looking for. It seems so immaculately done that you literally believe you are looking at a real life Schweizer 300CBi."

As far as the cockpit goes, Chris says, "the 2D panel is extremely well done and very easy to use. The gauges on it are very crisp and have a smooth update to them. All of your important and useful flight information and switches are present here, and almost every switch or knob is clickable. The virtual cockpit gives an insane amount of immersion. From every angle in the virtual cockpit, it looks very convincingly real. The cockpit seems so sharp and believable, and the sounds seem to come alive on my speakers and subwoofers. All of the gauges are clear, crisp, and very legible at 1.00 zoom, and some of the smaller ones become hard to read at 0.75 zoom. Simply an excellent VC."

"The flight dynamics are done with extreme high fidelity. This helicopter handles almost exactly within the parameters stated in the manual, faithfully recreating speeds and handling nuances. Once you're used to how a simulator helicopter handles, this will come more easily. You will find this helicopter is easily managed after gently lifting off and getting airborne, and flying it will fine tune your helicopter skills."

Chris' summary of the Schweizer S300 is brief and to the point, "This helicopter is a great addition. Overall I simply enjoyed this ‘whirlybird’. If you're a helicopter fan, this is for you."

Project Open Sky Releases 747SP

Posted: Monday, December 25, 2006 - 18:13
Project Open Sky team announces the release of Boeing 747SP. The first release in the new 747v4 series. This model is made for FS2004 and has some XML coded animations.

These include: 1.Flex Wings 2.Body gear steering under 15kt above 1kt. 3.Nose gear steering under 60kt above 1kt. 4.Rudder lock under 60kt above 1kt. 5.Ground spoiler only works on ground. 6.Low speed aileron locks at high speed.

For information on the updates and re-paints, please visit the Project Open Sky website.

US National Park Series from Georender

Posted: Monday, December 25, 2006 - 6:16
Senior staff reviewer Brian Fletcher takes us on a tour of two US National Parks, Yellowstone and Grand Tetons, as presented by Georender. Yellowstone National Park, located in Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho, is the world’s first and oldest national park. Yellowstone spans across over 2.2 million acres, most of which resides in Wyoming, and is home to nearly 10,000 hot springs and geysers, which totals 62% of the world’s hot springs and geysers. South of Yellowstone lays Grand Teton National Park, which is named after the highest mountain in the range at 13,770 feet, and the second highest in the state of Wyoming, Grand Teton. This park covers 309,995 acres, much of which is made up of the Teton Range.

"My first experience with Georender’s Yellowstone scenery enhancement began at West Yellowstone airport (KWYS), the recommended starting location for touring the park. I immediately noticed three major improvements over the default scenery, including the more defined landscape, better ground textures, and relevant scenery objects, such as the geysers. I also noticed several effects that would otherwise not exist, such as the hot springs, geysers (when active), chimney smoke from the lodge, and more. The highlight of Yellowstone, at least in my opinion, is the Old Faithful area. This includes a number of buildings, vehicles, bleachers for watching the geyser, a herd of buffalo, and of course, Old Faithful itself."

"The Grand Teton National Park scenery has the same types of enhancements with the mesh and terrain textures that Yellowstone has, but is focused even more so on these features and less on the geothermal objects, buildings, and effects than Yellowstone. Many of the features of Grand Teton listed in the introduction to this review are included in Georender’s version, but undoubtedly the grandfather of them all is the Grand Teton mountain range itself, which is leaps and bounds above the default scenery with its towering defined peaks and jagged terrain."

Brian comments, "One of the many impressive features of Georender’s Yellowstone and Grand Teton scenery add-ons is that you do not need to have your scenery settings maxed out in order to enjoy enhanced realism. In fact, it is recommended that you do not push the sliders too hard in order to prevent excessive loading times and a case of the stutters, plus the scenery receives only minimal improvements by doing so, as compared to the frame rates you will save by using Georender’s recommended settings."

With the expanse of these two areas to cover, Brian descibes in detail an outing he flew in both areas. He states in his summary, "These first two offerings from Georender’s U.S. Parks Series have certainly lived up to my expectations and then some. The improvement over the default scenery is massive, especially with the geothermal effects throughout the parks, the tremendously improved terrain textures, and the increased definition in the mesh. The countless autogen and various scenery objects, most of which are very well detailed, also add to my satisfaction for both of these products, as does the fact that the area covered is large enough to keep me busy hunting for more treasures for a while to come. It is virtually impossible for me to have examined every square inch of these add-ons in a timely manner, so you might want to ask what other points of interest exist, and if there are any glaring issues that I have not encountered. All in all, I am very pleased with these products and have had a great time reviewing them, but it is always wise to get a second opinion."

Happy Holidays to All

Posted: Sunday, December 24, 2006 - 15:55
The AVSIM staff would like to wish all of our readers, friends and advertisers, happy holidays! Each year, we look back and are amazed at the growth of the AVSIM community. Over the last ten years we have made countless friends around the world and truly appreciate your continued patronage of AVSIM. To all simmers around the world, may your new year be full of peace and prosperity. Please do have a happy holiday!

Free Upgrade For Condor Soaring

Posted: Sunday, December 24, 2006 - 2:26
Patch 10 for Condor The Competition Soaring Simulator is now available as a free upgrade. The main new features are : a more realistic winch launch that works also in multiplayer, a new Zlin 226 tow plane, an improved dual core processors compatibility, a tweaked flight model for better stall feedback, a new flutter model, an option to print flight plan, a support for 3rd party instrument using UDP outpout and motion platforms, and much more.

You can download Patch 10 at the Condor Soaring website.

A Free Gift From A Fan

Posted: Sunday, December 24, 2006 - 2:19
AVSIM reader and sim fan Bruce Blaney asked if AVSIM would be interested in posting a "freebie" for other simmers to use. I said "Pass it along and we'll see if it might be of use to our other readers." It turned out to be his own personal "Pilot's Operating Handbook". I was in awe that Bruce would offer up this nice piece of work for our readers to use, and I hope that you will enjoy Bruce's "gift" to us all. Bruce says, "feel free to edit it to your own personal liking" and I ask that if you pass this on to another simmer who is not an AVSIM reader, please give Bruce credit where credit is due.

Bruce introduces his POH with, "I have been working on this project for over 2 years now. The original version started with just 4 pages, and as I came across the great information available around the internet and in books, I started arranging it in a more cohesive fashion, and in an order that made sense while flying… now it's many pages! Hopefully, now, instead of trying to remember where you saw something pertaining to a particular phase of flight such as a Rule of Thumb for Descent, it will now be in the appropriate section of the Personal POH, or you can plug a new one in where you think it belongs. Please feel free to change it in any way."

Skydecks 737NG Panel Reviewed

Posted: Sunday, December 24, 2006 - 1:42
New staff reviewer David Rogers kicks off his first review with Skydecks 737NG Panel. "According to the Sky-Decks team, you get a high quality 737NG Panel with all new gauges for the most realistic flight simulation experience. Sky-Deck also provides within the download, a freeware 737 aircraft already configured and set-up to use this Panel."

"We are clearly dealing with a fine looking panel. Clicking the appropriate sim icon brings up the overhead panel. And what an overhead this is! The rest of the sub panels are similarly accessed from the sim icons and reveal equally pleasant renditions of their counterparts from the real plane. An initial look around the main panel, and especially the MCP (Mode Control Panel), reveals my first area of disappointment in the Sky-Decks Panel - the functionality and realism of the overhead panel is not extended to the MCP, Autopilot, or FMA (flight mode annunciations), shown on the Primary Flying Display."

"An area of realism that does mirror the actual NG aircraft is the fact that you can choose to fly with Boeing’s Full or Compact layouts for the Primary Flying and Navigation Displays. On loading an aircraft that uses the panel, you are presented with a pop-up option box where the selection is made." David summarizes this add-on with, "The Sky-Decks 737NG Panel gives the virtual flyer a stunning looking panel to fly from, along with some nice touches such as an announcement panel and highly functional overhead. Main panel functionality is not on par with the most advanced complex simulations but as an upgrade from the default FS2004 airliner panels, or for use with freeware models, this add-on packs a punch and represents good value for money."

Aerosoft's AES Expands

Posted: Saturday, December 23, 2006 - 16:20
Aerosoft announces more airports, some for free, for their Airport Enhancement Services. These airports are added:

Simwings: LEPA (Palma de Mallorca), LEBL (Barcelona, LEMH (Mahon), LEIB (Ibiza)

German Airports : EDDS (Stuttgart), EDDH (Hamburg), EDDW (Bremen),EDDL (Dusseldorf), EDLH (Moenchengladbach)

FlyTampa : LOWW (Vienna)

Visit Aerosoft's product page for more information.

MS to Ship FS Deluxe Next Week

Posted: Saturday, December 23, 2006 - 14:33
Shawn Firminger, Aces Studio Manager for Microsoft, has informed us that the FSX Deluxe copies intended for the AVSIM Conference attendees will be shipped and should arrive at AVSIM's fulfillment center next week. If that happens as planned, AVSIM will in turn ship out those units to qualifying participants of the Convention starting on January 2nd. You can read more about this here along with an update from Brett Schnepf, FSX Community Manager.

CaptainSim Releases Space Shuttle

Posted: Saturday, December 23, 2006 - 8:47
CaptainSim has released their Space Shuttle. What you will find in this release is all the OV-series Orbiters. It features amongst other things a high resolution 2D commander panel, VC, hud, 33 custom modeled animations and a payload bay. For more information please visit the CaptainSim website.

RealAirSimulations Releases SF260 For FSX

Posted: Saturday, December 23, 2006 - 8:41
RealAir Simulations has just released the Marchetti SF260 for FSX. This model includes both full and upgrade versions. The release sports a complete -from the ground up- re-design of the graphics, gauges, panels, flight model, sounds and effects to enable the SF260 to take advantage of all of FSX's new features. This includes stereo sound effects, true 3d gauges an improved spin and side slip, highly detailed bump mapped wings and multiple panel views amongst other things. For more information please visit the RealAirSimulations homepage.

CLS Releases FSX Patch For A340

Posted: Saturday, December 23, 2006 - 8:36
Commercial Level Simulations has released the FSX patch for the A340-500/600. The patch is free for current customers and is available via the Commercial Level Simulations homepage.