CLS, Service Pack 2 For Airbus 330/340

Posted: Friday, December 7, 2007 - 13:22
Commercial Level Simulations is pleased to announce that we have released Service Pack 2 for the A330/A340 product. The service pack can be download at the CLS website. New customers will find the Service pack already integrated in the new base package!

757 PRO From Just Flight

Posted: Friday, December 7, 2007 - 4:05
Just Flight is pleased to announce that they have now released, by download, the long-awaited 757 Professional for Flight Simulator 2004.

Commenting on this release, Just Flight's Paul Hyslop said: "We were hoping to release an FSX/FS2004 version of 757 Professional by now. Unfortunately this probably won't be possible and so we have decided instead to release an FS2004-only version. Currently we've got no plans to upgrade this title to FSX compatibility - this release is purely to satisfy the healthy demand from the many customers who tell us they are still using the older sim."

This 757 expansion has been developed by the experts at PSS for FS2004 and is a professional simulation in every sense of the word. It comes in both the -200 and -300 variants and an impressive selection of over 60 different airline liveries from around the globe. The 757 is acknowledged throughout the world as the leader in short to medium-range operations. It flies routes from under 100 to over 4,000 miles apart and now desktop pilots can enjoy the same fantastic flexibility.

Unleash The Fork-Tailed Devil

Posted: Thursday, December 6, 2007 - 1:02
Just Flight is very pleased to announce that its eagerly-anticipated P-38 Lightning is now taking to the simulated skies. The full download package is available now exclusively from Just Flight's website and a boxed version on DVD-ROM will be released very soon.

A high quality version of Lockheed's iconic high altitude fighter/recon aircraft has long been sought after by flight sim enthusiasts. Now their prayers are answered with this superb Lightning pack for Flight Simulator X and 2004, created by the classic aircraft experts at Aeroplane Heaven. The level of detail is second to none and among the many variants included are the aircraft of three Lightning legends - Antoine de St Exupery, Major Richard Bong and W/Cdr Adrian Warburton.

Flight models, sounds and paint schemes are all created to a very high level of accuracy and authenticity and P-38 Lightning is set to take its place with the other classics in the Just Flight hangar. Here's how Just Flight describes the features in this release," Innovative features include drop tanks that can be jettisoned, detailed gun and camera bays, removable gunsight for improved vision in cockpits and even working gun and cannon effects. Cockpits are a revelation, with all major and minor controls capable of operation by mouse and virtually every lever, switch and wheel is reproduced. Gauges are set in authentic housings and use the unique 'Liqui-Drive' system to guarantee smooth operation. This aeroplane can be started and flown correctly by the numbers from a 'cold and dark' cockpit. The release includes the P-38F and P-38J variants with a total of 17 different liveries, including the recently restored 'Glacier Girl'."

Active Sky X Service Pack 2 Released

Posted: Thursday, December 6, 2007 - 0:46
This upgrade pack focuses on wind shifts and visibility depiction improvements, as well as fixing several bugs and adding some new enhanced functionality. In testing, an estimated 80% average reduction in wind shift frequency and intensity has been realized, with 100% wind shift reduction in many cases. New data smoothing, directional control, special FSX interface techniques and layer manipulation has finally made this possible. With the new Visibility Graduation feature, the FS haze layer is eliminated and a more realistic visibility representation is offered. Visibility gradually clears as you climb to higher altitudes and returns to reported conditions as you descend. Fog layer Simulation is also offered which will visually depict areas of low visibility by injecting low stratus cloud layers. Complete details can be found at the Active Sky X website.

Flight Sim Research Paper

Posted: Wednesday, December 5, 2007 - 14:29
The use of PC-based flight simulators in the entertainment and aviation industries continues to grow strongly. PC-based sims are being used more and more to support aspects of flight training. But is this a good thing? What are the issues, advantages and pitfalls of using $90 software to learn how to fly real aircraft? A paper released by Nic D'Alessandro reviews research on this topic and examines these questions in detail. The paper also discusses how PC-based sims can be used more effectively to improve aspects of aviation training. This will be of interest to desktop simmers who dream of flying for real one day, right through to flight instructors and commercial/IFR pilots who use simulators to support their work. Nic D'Alessandro is an elearning / educational design professional, has a Private Pilots License, and has been using desktop simulators for over 20 years. He has recently completed construction of a full-size fixed-base Boeing737NG simulator and is an active member of cockpit building and VATSIM online communities. The pdf file can be found at the bottom of the Insite Solutions webpage.

Heinkel He-111H from AlphaSim

Posted: Wednesday, December 5, 2007 - 2:46
Staff reviewer Marc Radford reviews another of AlphaSim's releases. This time the Heinkel He-111H medium bomber. "The Heinkel He 111 H variant saw more action then any other version during WWII, however it did not take long for the plane's performance to be superceded by the enemy."

"What we get are three unique models and four texture schemes. The models are quite impressive visually which is what you would expect from AlphaSim. After seeing many screen shots of AlphaSim products before, and reviewing two of them, I know to expect a high quality model just like the Hienkel He 111."

"I love a plane which my first attempts of taking off results in numerous crashes; this way I feel that the dynamics and attention to the check list are important, which is always a thumbs up for me. The historical information of the Heinkel He 111 always pointed to an aircraft that was underpowered, in this simulation it is no different, requiring very sensitive inputs to both yoke and trim on initial takeoff and climb; this is both initially frustrating and rewarding when you finally get the hang of it."

"As expected from AlphaSim, the fps performance is great in both 2D Cockpit and VC Cockpit views, my fps rarely dropped below the 25 fps. Given my very average machine specification, I think this runs excellent on my machine and looks great also."

Marc concludes his review and test flights of the Heinkel He-111 with, "If you are familiar with AlphaSim products already, the Heinkel He 111 is a great piece of work all around and would make a nice addition to your hangers. The Heinkel He-111 really is a quality plane in visuals and flight dynamics, and if you are looking for a quality representation of that bird, here it is from AlphaSim."

Super/Turbo Viking from Lionheart Creations

Posted: Monday, December 3, 2007 - 5:16
Staff reviewer Angelique van Campen returns from a short break with a look at Lionheart Creations Super/Turbo Viking. "This is the famous American 'Corvette' of General Aviation in the USA, the Bellanca Super Viking. Equipped in both regular fuel aspiration, and in turbocharged, this aircraft could cruise at 250 MPH."

"When you see the different 2D panels you could think; that’s a simple and straightforward design. Well, the real cockpit is also very simple, straightforward and not equipped with all those funny things you will see with Beechcraft or modern Cessna models. In general, although there’s always something to find, when I compare this cockpit with real pictures, it looks very real."

"What’s applicable for the 2D cockpit panels – black, grey, wood and dark green – is, of course, also applicable for the VC look. The VC panels look great. It’s so sharp, I've never seen instruments and other numbers/text that sharp. The only thing that looks a little cartoonish are some knobs and selectors on the lower brown (wood) instrument panel."

"When looking at the external model, my first impression was not that positive. I didn’t see any rivets or ribs on, for example, the wings. But after contacting Lionheart Creations I was informed that the real Viking looks like that. One of the reasons for the high performance of this aircraft."

"When I consulted Lionheart Creations, I was informed that a real pilot joined the team, tested the MSFS model and compared it with his real Super Viking experience. With that in mind, and the size of the aircraft in complexity compared to large commercial aircraft, I think the result is very real." At this point, Angelique conducts a detailed test flight of the aircraft and really puts it through its paces. She wraps up this review with, "when I take everything into account including the flight dynamics I can only say, the Lionheart Creations Super Viking models represent the real aircraft as close as possible."

New Article from Capt Mike Ray

Posted: Sunday, December 2, 2007 - 19:07
Computer Pilot magazine, Captain Mike Ray and FSVisions have teamed up again to present two additional articles as a free download. The latest article has been uploaded to the server and is ready to be downloaded for your reading pleasure. This article is about the favorite combat flightsim of Captain Ray. As usual the article is very pleasant to read and has a lot of illustrations. The page containing the articles is written in Dutch and English, so if you haven't already downloaded this complete series, scroll down to the various links and enjoy.

Instant Scenery from Flight 1

Posted: Saturday, December 1, 2007 - 21:54
Staff reviewer Allen Lavigne creates a better, more accurate landscape to fly over with Flight 1's Instant Scenery. "Placement applications with earlier FS versions are available, and some are freeware, yet, for FSX, this is the only one that I’ve seen so far."

Allen explains in step-by-step detail of how to manipulate the objects and thumbnails within this scenery utility. He notes that reading the manual is a necessity to get the most out of this program. Allen comments on how various objects can be brought into the utility from outside the program (like the AVSIM library), be saved and even shared with your fellow simmers.
Instant scenery is compatible with other 3rd party products like FSDiscover, as well as Microsoft's Acceleration Pack.

Allen concludes this short, to the point review of Instant Scenery with, "what you get with Instant Scenery, is a tool to place objects including individual custom, FSX, and autogen objects, and to save your results in a bgl file that can be shared freely on the internet while respecting any authorship of custom objects and model libraries. It allows for the creation of your own model libraries and the creation of thumbnails for preview of batches of other developer’s or your own libraries. It can be linked to an installed version of FSDiscover to mark points of interest in FSX, and you can also use Instant Scenery to hide obstructive autogen."

JetPakNG for 2004 Now Freeware

Posted: Saturday, December 1, 2007 - 11:18
Jet around like James Bond, JetPakNG is now freeware THINGS-TO-COME have released their once payware product JetPakNG on an unprepared public,You can download yours for free with registration at the Things to Come Website.

Flight1 Releases MOD for Ground Environment X

Posted: Saturday, December 1, 2007 - 2:11
Flight 1 and Anthony Vos today have released the free Southwest USA/Grand Canyon plug-in for Ground Environment X USA-Canada. This modification is modeled after the desert colors of the Southwest USA. The plug-in includes coverage of the Grand Canyon also. This free plug-in is optional for all Ground Environment X USA-Canada customers, and it requires the previous installation of Update 2 for Ground Environment X USA-Canada. To access this plug-in, users should click the Update button in the Ground Environment X main program interface. Once installed, the optional Southwest textures will be listed in the main screen. For more information on Ground Environment X USA-Canada, please visit the Flight 1 website.

B25 "Briefing Time" - Revisited

Posted: Saturday, December 1, 2007 - 2:05
Senior staff reviewer Alexis Esguerra revisits an aircraft that has been updated for FS2004. Mid-Atlantic Air Museum's B-25J "Briefing Time". "Back in 2003, MAAM presented the flightsim community with a flyable rendition of ‘Briefing Time’, a package that earned its own accolades for excellence. Four years later, ‘Briefing Time’ is back on the market, all complete and ready to load onto FS2004."

"‘Briefing Time’, when released, caused quite a stir when she came to the hard drive’s of our PC’s. In this reviewer’s humble opinion, there has been no MSFS equal to the venerable Mitchell medium bomber. Of course, it does kind of help during the development of any software package to have unlimited access to the real McCoy. With ‘Briefing Time’ at their disposal, MAAM was able to explore every square inch, every sound, and every nuance of the plane they were creating for MSFS."

"While somewhat dated by today’s standards, the visuals are still amazing in their detail and accuracy. This is especially true of the olive-drab version, against which there is no shortage of reference material to compare against. Inside and out, ‘Briefing Time’ simply takes your breath away. The engine sound set is outstanding. We’re talking a virtual clone of what you’d hear from the Pennsylvania based Mitchell, from startup to shutdown."

"I expected a medium bomber to be somewhat heavy, but still have the ability to be thrown about the sky, and it showed in ‘Briefing Time’. It says a lot about the simulated flight model when you can mimic the real-life aero braking maneuver MAAM pilots uses in the real thing."

In summation, "‘Briefing Time’ transitions nicely to FS2004, and shouldn’t disappoint those who haven’t yet found this beautiful gem of an add-on. Despite it’s age, ‘Briefing Time’ still posses tremendous strength in every aspect that counts. No other Mitchell package that I’m aware of can touch it in terms of visual and audio accuracy, and I’m fairly confidant (considering the source) that the same can be said about the flight model."

New Products From Aerosoft

Posted: Friday, November 30, 2007 - 18:33
Venice X - Time for an add-on that is just beautiful, one that even your partner will enjoy watching. Venice X is hardly revolutionary, as this is the third version done by Andras Kozma, but like before this is a shining example of what the current sim, FSX, can do. Using the latest developments like bump maps and speculars (not used a lot for scenery to this moment) he pictures the city as it really is. Intricate details and subtle colors combined with a huge amount of animated traffic (water taxi's etc) make the ancient city come to life. The two nearby airports (Tessera and San Nicolo) are both included in great detail making this a complete package. The speed has to be seen to be believed. Aerosoft has shown several times that an inexpensive PC can get a solid 20 fps over the whole scenery at settings that show ALL the details. No objects that pop up, no fuzzy far away objects.

Box Releases - German Airfields - Island Hopping as well as the Dornier D0-27 and Seahawk & Jayhawk have been released in a boxed version. All the details about these and all of the Aerosoft titles can be found on their website.

AlphaSim Releases RAF Alconbury

Posted: Friday, November 30, 2007 - 18:01
The Cambridgeshire USAF/RAF base is depicted in the 1980's, featuring busy AI operations with F-4C Phantoms, C-130E's and U-2R's are active around at the base and in the air, all are very high quality AI and fully animated. Static a/c include the C-5 Galaxy and the F-5E Tiger II 'Aggressor'. This is an all-new scenery, not an update and is for FSX and FS2004 only.COmplete details can be found on the AlphaSim home page.

AVSIM Promotions, Congratulations!

Posted: Friday, November 30, 2007 - 17:39
AVSIM is happy to announce some key promotions in the AVSIM Staff. The following are effective immediately: