DreamFleet and Reality XP Release Piper Dakota

Posted: Saturday, December 15, 2007 - 23:14
Based on the real Piper Dakota N8086N owned by DreamFleet's founder Lou Betti the DreamFleet Dakota is the first ever FS GA aircraft to feature a complete set of Reality XP's new "Gauge XTreme". RXP's Garmin GNS430, GMA340 Audio Panel, and GTX327 Transponder are also included, these gauges feature completely dimmable gauge backlighting running Flight Line T and Flight Line N gauges in both the 2D panels and Virtual Cockpit. Those who purchase the Dakota for FS9 will be entitled to receive the the Full Spec FSX version, and the rare Piper turbo Dakota in final production. For complete details and a look at the real thing visit DreamFleets Dakota Homepage.

New Review - FSFlyingSchool

Posted: Saturday, December 15, 2007 - 23:01
Senior staff reviewer Jeff Shyluk goes back to school to break some bad habits while exploring FlyingSchool. "This a useful product that simulates having a Flight Instructor along with you as you fly in FSX, FS2004, or FS2002."

"It provides a simulated flight instructor who watches over how you handle your aircraft from taxi to final touchdown, and who can grade your performance. As well, your flight data can be logged and even uploaded onto the Internet so you can see how you compare with other sim pilots."

"FSFS is capable of using a wide variety of aircraft including large passenger jets as well as single-propeller General Aviation planes. It cannot use acrobatic aircraft, gliders, or helicopters, though. If your favourite aircraft is not supported directly by FSFS, it’s very easy to add it using a simple performance editor included with the program. "

"The instructor follows the progress of your flight from your initial taxi to after your final touchdown. He or she will talk to you as you fly, letting you know when you are doing something wrong or unsafe, and sometimes offering constructive flight tips. The most interaction comes during the landing phase, which can either be a VFR (Visual Flight Rules) or an IFR (Instrument Flight Rules) landing. Afterwards, you are graded on several aspects of your flight performance."

"The FSFlyingSchool application runs smoothly and without any major bugs. It does require a reasonably fast computer system, and it works best if you fly using high-quality flight controls like a yoke, throttle, and rudder pedals. The instructor voices are recorded at a low audio resolution, but are acceptably realistic for use in a sim cockpit. All of the instructors speak clearly and their comments are easy to understand. The user is free to modify the instructors in FSFS, including recording their own voices, if they wish."

"A fast-learning student pilot will quickly understand the importance of planning the landing sequence in advance. Even a few circuits with an FSFS instructor should help you settle into a good rhythm for making acceptable landings. Now that I’ve spent some hours with FSFS, I find that I am working some of the bad sim-flying habits out of my system, and I think I am getting better at aviation simulation in general."

Jeff's final word about FSFlyingSchool is "if you believe that you are ready for more realistic and more disciplined sim aviation, then FSFlyingSchool is worth checking out. You can try before you buy with the FSFS demo download, which means that you can easily see if this interesting program is right for you."

FSX-SP2 is available for download!

Posted: Saturday, December 15, 2007 - 12:41
Phil Taylors Blog. is the place to get your copy of SP2. Released today the Aces Team has gifted the Flight Sim Community with their hard work getting the latest improvements out in time for the holidays. Thanks to the entire team and Phil in particular for keeping us up to date in the forums and helping in to bridge the gap between Aces and its fanbase , Happy Holidays all and thanks for the gift !

Pilatus PC-12 for FSX

Posted: Saturday, December 15, 2007 - 11:47
In a news submission sent to Avsim today Flight One Software announced the release of their Pilatus PC-12 for FSX. The new FSX package is a complete overhaul of thier FS2004 version, the package offers several different configurations that include: commuter, executive, cargo, and multimission surveillance.The features of this release include an updated FSX exterior model with specular lighting and bump mapping, dual Garmin 430 GPSs replace the single KLN90B,Garmin MX200 Color MFD and an upgraded EHSI with Map mode and range scale from 2nm-50nm. For further details about this release visit Flight One Software .

Piper Twin Comanche from Eaglesoft

Posted: Saturday, December 15, 2007 - 0:06
Staff reviewer Angelique van Campen tours around the southern Florida area again, but this time in Eaglesoft's Twin Comanche. "The Piper PA-30 and PA-39 Twin Comanche are a twin-engine development of the PA-24 Comanche single-engine aircraft. The Twin Comanche is the most fuel efficient aircraft in its class."

About the interior, Angelique comments, "I love the 2D view. Eaglesoft offers an IFR and VFR look. From the IFR panel, the lower part with all the switches is removed, which results in a lowering of the panel itself, so you’ve got more outside visibility and that’s then known as the VFR panel. When we start the VC, you can see it's different than the 2D panel, but looking to the quality, there’s hardly any difference. In other words, the VC startup panel looks as great and sharp as the 2D version."

From the outside, "when we look at specific details of the aircraft, I’m surprised about those tiny things. For example; looking underneath the fuselage/wings, clearly can be seen the oil leak strips along the engine pylon to the wing surface. Generally, the whole look is very good, with lots of details."

Angelique continues her review by putting the Twin Comanche through its paces while on a test flight. Her conclusion reads, "after I spend lots of hours flying and looking around with the Piper PA-30, I can say that it’s one of my favorites. The 2D is offered in an IFR and VFR panel although there are hardly any differences. The instruments look great, they are sharp and this is especially important for the VC model. I can advise you to buy this Eaglesoft product."

Prop Plane from CLS

Posted: Friday, December 14, 2007 - 3:50
Commercial Level Simulations is very pleased to announce the release of our first propellor aircraft! The Piper Arrow is a small, but very fun aircraft for flying in both FS9 and FSX. (including FSX acceleration DX9 mode). The aircraft comes with 8 color variations, 4 different cockpit color styles and of course both exterior model and virtual cockpit!

AlphaSim F-86F Sabre Released

Posted: Friday, December 14, 2007 - 3:42
The iconic Sabre has been recreated in stunning form for both FS2004 and FSX. The package contains a single variant, the famous F-86F. The textures in both sims are second to none - no mapped-on photos here, just hand-drawn craftmanship at its best (base model and textures by Wiek Luijken), every rivet is reproduced, even the drop tanks can be dropped and the pilot ejects. FSX users of course get the added third dimension of bump mapping, plus self-shadowing and full SP2 compliance. The high quality extends to the cockpit - both panel and v-c are amazingly detailed and realistic. Flight dynamics have been extensively tested and will not disappiont even the most hard-core Sabre fan. Effects and sounds both bring more life and realism to this tidy must-have package. For FSX and FS2004 only. Details and screenshots on the AlphaSim home page.

Flight Alps South Autogen Pack

Posted: Wednesday, December 12, 2007 - 14:22
France VFR is proud to announce its latest release in the Flight Alps Series : the second part for the Flight Alps South Basepack, the Flight Alps South AutogenPack. This pack has only been available under subscription until now on France VFR’s web-site and is now fully completed in its commercial version. This new add-on is complementary to the South Alps Basepack (required) of the same scenery that enhances considerably the treated zone with a full Autogen for the Alps region including trees, houses, buildings, industrial plants with more than 4 million objects meticulously placed in their right place throughout 16 000 km². Specific textures for the alpine area are also included.

This scenery is the last one that completes the Alps scenery: from the North to the South within the Basepacks and Autogen. You can fully enjoy your flight within a level of realism never before attained in this region. You can download the full version of Flight Alps South Autogen at France VFR’s web-site.

New Sim Website Announces First Release

Posted: Tuesday, December 11, 2007 - 14:36
Skysim is a new UK company who are producing add-ons for FSX and FS2004. They are going to specialize in the jet heritage area with particular reference to the Cold-War aircraft of the USA, UK and USSR. Skysim have debuted by releasing the deHavilland Sea Vixen, a British carrier fighter from the 1960's. Complete details about this release and other items this vendor has available can be found at the Skysim website.

Mexican Airport For FS9/FSX

Posted: Tuesday, December 11, 2007 - 1:07
The new generation of Mexican Airports for Flight Simulator X and 2004 have a new volume available, "Airports of MeXico North", with a huge coverage (20 high detailed airports, including Los Cabos, Tijuana, Mazatlan, Monterrey, Hermosillo and many more!) a mix of LOD 9-10 Mesh terrain and the main buildings and avenues for Monterrey City, for more information please go to the FlyMex website.

Product Category Survey

Posted: Tuesday, December 11, 2007 - 1:05
Pamela Nelson from Dreamflyer (a motion simulator seen at the 2007 AVSIM FanCon), is conducting a short survey in the flight simulation market and new product interest. Pam remarks, "The benefit to participants is: get to share your opinion (who doesn’t want to do that!?), and, after completing the survey, enter an email address for a draw to win a Dreamflyer hat. The survey will be available for the next few weeks. The link to the invitation is www.corporatestrategies.ca. From there, the participants need only to click on the SURVEY link to give consent and start the survey. The survey should only take about 10 minutes." Perhaps your comments on what you're looking for in the future of flight sim may become a reality as a result of your marketing survey input.

FSX Mission Pack - Flight Tales 1 from Aerosoft

Posted: Sunday, December 9, 2007 - 19:45
Staff reviewer Mike Miraglia explores more FSX missions to fly with Aerosoft's Mission Pack - Flight Tales 1. "In this offering you will be tasked to compete in a challenging head-to-head air race, navigate through some of the worst weather FSX has to offer, perform hair-raising stunts, takeoff in a Beaver in less-than-optimal circumstances, and much more. 10 missions are included along with a bonus tutorial mission which will help you to prepare for what’s to come."

"Three beginner category missions kick off this pack, the first being the aforementioned tutorial. You will then move on to a scavenger hunt, and test your skills gliding above the Australian countryside. Two missions await you at the intermediate level, one involving some serious racing action, and another that lets you run wild performing stunts and aerobatics. Moving on to the more advanced missions, you will be tasked to complete four quests, including a harrowing ride through the Swiss Alps, an unusual mission with the Beaver, humanitarian efforts, search and rescue, and even some good ol' bush flying."

Mike's review goes into great detail about all 10 missions. Reflecting on some do's and dont's from his experiences,as well as describing the various options within each mission. "It should come as no surprise that I had a blast inspecting Mission Pack - Flight Tales 1", says Mike, "I believe that this package is a good investment, not only because of the endless hours of entertainment it offers, but also because each mission invites you back for more, even after successful completion. If you enjoy the new mission feature in FSX and would like to add more adventure, purpose, and excitement to your simming routine, than you need to set course for Aerosoft’s website."

Another Scenery Goes Freeware

Posted: Sunday, December 9, 2007 - 16:54
Now you can download FREE scenery of the western Russian airport Kaliningrad - Khrabrovo (UMKK). This scenery was payware before, but now the developers have decided to publish it for free at the Russian AI Traffic System web-site. There a FS9 and FSX versions. All animation of ground staff and ground vehicles are included.

"Pavelow" & "Helix" from AlphaSim

Posted: Sunday, December 9, 2007 - 3:09
Senior staff reviewer Gene Davis goes east and west while flying two helos from AlphaSim, the MH-53J "Pavelow" and the Ka-27/32 "Helix". "Alphasim continues to release high quality choppers for both FSX and FS9. Here are two more well crafted models to test your flying skills in the world that is Flight Simulator."

"The Alphasim Pavelow comes with 4 different military paint schemes and ships with a complete sound package. The exterior model is one of the best helicopters I have seen from the folks over at Alphasim, as well as one of the best out there on the market. The cockpit is what I have come to expect from Alphasim. It is not so complicated that you need to know where everything is and I find it to be just right for my needs, as flying a chopper of this size would require a great deal of input from both the pilot and copilot. Flying the Pavelow is fun, though it doesn’t offer a highly complicated flight model. The sounds are very good and capture the Pavelow quite remarkably."

"The Helix comes packed with five different liveries that pretty much covers its worldwide use. Climbing into the Helix is impressive and reflects its Russian design throughout. I was impressed with the main cockpit except for the design of the overhead panel. Flying the Helix is a trip in FSX, both sim’s for that matter, but it really does perform well in FSX. Its ease of flight and ability to get the feeling of what the chopper is doing in FSX is really what makes this a great add-on. Russian choppers have a sound all their own and this particular add-on really does reflect a nicely designed sound package."

Concluding this dual review of the Pavelow and the Helix, Gene comments, "Alphasim has been at the forefront of military aircraft design and we have seen an increased development of helicopter add-ons from them. If you’re a rotor head junkie like I am, you definitely have to have these."

SimTube FanCon 2007 Video

Posted: Friday, December 7, 2007 - 23:18
As announced earlier, AVSIM.com and SimTube.com have teamed up to bring you the very best in Flight Sim videos. The first installment of this partnership is the FanCon 2007 Official Video.

Here is your chance to see what all went down at the show this year. Head on over to SimTube to check it out!

Flight One Releases Cockpit Chatter

Posted: Friday, December 7, 2007 - 23:15
Flight One Software has released a new experience for Flight Simulator X pilots called Cockpit Chatter. Control aircraft systems, talk to a virtual copilot, interactively run aircraft checklists, and enhance your flight experience with just your voice, all with no training required.

Speak to your copilot just like you would on a real aircraft, telling him to set the flaps, raise the gear, tune the radios, or set the autopilot functions. Interactively run a checklist with command and response; just like a real aircraft captain. Natural speech phraseology and speaker independent technology will never leave you feeling alone in the cockpit again. For more information on Cockpit Chatter, please visit Flight1.

TweakFS Releases FSX Aircraft ToolBox

Posted: Friday, December 7, 2007 - 23:12
TweakFS has released a new aircraft utility entitled FSX Aircraft ToolBox. This utility will appeal to developers, power-users or any "virtual aircraft engineers" who often need (or just want!) to delve into their FSX aircraft files and apply their "virtual wrench", but who also wish to do it safely with a one-click restore option.

The main features include an FSX aircraft viewer, aircraft explorer, an integrated file manager anchored at the FSX folder, a CFG/HTM code editor, a thumbnail creator and much more. It can also be used to manage the fleet by backing up entire aircraft folders, enabling and disabling aircraft groups, tweaking many items as well as creating high-quality thumbnails used in the FSX aircraft selection dialog. For a more detailed description, screen shots and a free demo visit TweakFS.

FS2Crew Compilation Release

Posted: Friday, December 7, 2007 - 23:10
FS2Crew, a developer of airline crew simulations for FS9 and FSX, is proud to announce the release of Flight Crew X. Flight Crew X is a compilation/bundle product that includes all version of FS2Crew released between 1 November 2004 and 1 November 2007. It was released in conjunction with FS2Crew’s 3rd year anniversary celebrations. Please visit FS2Crew for more information.

Shockwave 3D Lights Redux

Posted: Friday, December 7, 2007 - 19:21
Shockwave Productions is pleased to announce their 3D Lights Redux. Features include: Over 40 new lighting effects including strobes, beacons, navigation, and runway lights. Fully-realized 3D landing lights actually cast light into space. Microsoft Acceleration Expansion pack is also supported. Included lights of vintage, halogen, and modern xenon lights. Installs into all Twenty-four Microsoft FSX aircraft. Entire new effects suite results in realistic night time environment. For more information visit Shockwave Lights.

FSFlyingSchool Version 1.8 Released

Posted: Friday, December 7, 2007 - 19:16
FSInventions announces a new version of its FSFlyingSchool add-on for FSX and FS2004. Version 1.8 introduces several new features which are free to existing customers and new users alike. Features include: Failure Events Reported in Log Book. Failures which occurred during flight are now reported in detail in the log book, listing the instrument or system involved and the time at which the failure occurred. In addition, if a failed instrument or system should start working again, because the pilot has chosen the option of ‘loose wire’ failures, this is also listed. Pilots can see if they correctly diagnosed systems which failed during flight and may even discover a few they missed.


Next Waypoint Announced; when a waypoint in a flight plan is reached, your instructor will announce this as usual, but will now also announce the number, name, distance and heading of the next waypoint.

NAV1 ILS Runway Details Announced; if the aircraft’s NAV1 radio is tuned to a runway ILS, instructors will announce this with reference to the NAVAID at the runway and also which specific runway has been selected. This helps the pilot confirm that the correct ILS signal is being received and is a convenient reminder of where to land!

Run Up Checks; pre-flight checks have been enhanced to include run up checks. The instructor will confirm when this has been done correctly.

To find out more, watch movies, download demo, etc, visit the FSFlyingSchool website.