Avsim Conference Free FS-X copies to ship Nov 27

Posted: Monday, November 20, 2006 - 18:20
We are happy to announce that we have today received the copies of FS-X from Microsoft due our attendees of the recent Avsim Conference & Exhibition. Our shipping department is closed starting tomorrow due to the Thanksgiving Holidays. The copies will be mailed out promptly starting November 27th. Avsim wishes to thank all attendees for their patience.

FS-Freeflow Releases Scenery

Posted: Monday, November 20, 2006 - 17:56
FS-Freeflow announces the release of their scenery of their freeware Bahamas, Turks and Caicos for FS9. A complete replacement of the default scenery, this package features accurate shorelines, airports, land and water class, roads, and many additional detailed areas. Visit the FS-Freeflow website for more information and a link to the freeware download.

Flight Deck 4 For FSX Released

Posted: Monday, November 20, 2006 - 17:52
Abacus Software announces that Flight Deck 4 for FSX is released. All registered owners of Flight Deck 4 are eligible to download the free update to the FSX version. The Flight Deck 4 package includes: F/A-18C Hornet, F/A-18E Super Hornet, E2-C Hawkeye, S-3B Viking, SH-60 Seahawk, C-2A Greyhound, A-6B Prowler, and the USS Ronald Reagan CVN-76.

Especially for FSX, Abacus writes, "We've adjusted the flight dynamics of several aircraft, reintroduced a new E2-C Hawkeye, refined the instrumentation and tuned the catapult and cable recovery system." For more information, Catch the 3-wire and head on over to the Abacus Flight Deck 4 Website.

Virtual Radar Client 1.1 Released

Posted: Monday, November 20, 2006 - 14:01
VATSIM had announced that Virtual Radar Client (VRC) 1.1 has been released. This RADAR client can be used with the VATSIM network to simulate RADAR operations on the network. New to this version include: Virtual Tower View. VRC can now create an MSFS multiplayer session and populate it with aircraft. By connecting FS9 to this session, you can have a realistic "out-the-window" view of the airport environment. (Be sure to download the model sets if you don't already have SB3 installed.), simple radar mode; This mode is what used to be called the Ground mode in version 1.0, ground radar mode; this is a new mode which shows the callsign, aircraft type, and ground speed, park Air radar mode; This mode emulates the approach control radars used in the United Kingdom, TAAATS radar mode; This mode emulates the TAAATS system used within and around Australia, PSR radar mode; this mode provides basic "skin paint" primary radar targets without SSR information, and many more features.

For more information, Visit the developer Ross Carlson's VRC web site.

Condor Manual En Français

Posted: Sunday, November 19, 2006 - 13:13
Condor: The Competition Soaring Simulator Manual available in French. Thanks to Vincent Bové, the Manual of Condor, a very realistic simulator praised by the vast majority of soaring enthusiasts, is now available in French. For more on Condor, visit Condor or download the French Manual here.

Dornier Do-217 from AlphaSim

Posted: Sunday, November 19, 2006 - 7:47
Staff reviewer David Wilson-Okamua takes us back to the war years with a look at AlphaSim's Dornier Do-217. "Beginning in 1940 the German air force used it for several tasks, as a medium bomber, a heavy bomber, a torpedo bomber, a night fighter, and (toward the end of the war) a high-altitude spotter."

"This is a very good looking visual model. Contours are clean, textures are crisp," David says, describing the exterior model, "What I like best are the animations. In addition, there are also four moving crew members: a pilot, a navigator, and two gunners."

About the inside, "The 2D cockpit on this aircraft is quite usable, and includes one feature that the 3D cockpit doesn’t: a removable yoke. Everywhere in the cockpit, text labels are in German, but tool tips are in English. This is a good combination: it preserves realism, without sacrificing ease of use for English-language simmers. How usable is the cockpit? Gauges are all clear, and gauge movement is smooth: not RealAir smooth, but smooth."

As far as flying this aircraft gores, "On the ground and in the air, it handles like a heavier, faster, and more powerful version of the default DC-3. For ground steering, you’ll need to use differential braking or (if you’ve got them) separate throttles for right and left engine."

In summation of the Dornier Do-217, "there are lots of flightsim aircraft that can fly faster than the Do 217, reach higher altitudes, and carry heavier payloads. Few of them, however, offer such wide vistas from the cockpit. Alphasim’s reproduction of the Do 217 for Flight Simulator is a solid aircraft. I wouldn’t recommend it for IFR, but for VFR the view is hard to beat."

Dornier Do-27 from Digital Aviation

Posted: Sunday, November 19, 2006 - 6:44
Sr staff reviewer Bert Pieke takes a look at a vintage GA aircraft from Digital Aviation, the Dornier Do-27. "The Dornier Do-27 is somewhat of a collector’s airplane and has a cult-like following by its owners. It was used by various air forces for tasks such as liaison, aerial photography, air ambulance, or as a light cargo aircraft. It is also popular as a civilian plane."

"Although the configuration panel has an option to include a 2D panel, this aircraft was designed to be flown from the virtual cockpit (VC)," reports Bert, "The VC is in one word: stunning – it really re-creates this vintage aircraft with custom gauges, levers, and lots of interior detail. The exterior model is nicely detailed, with different features for the A and B model, and textures that show the wear and tear of a vintage airplane."

"This plane does not need a lot of runway to get airborne, while you are still deciding if it needs some forward pressure to get the tail wheel off the ground, it lifts off and you are airborne. The plane is flown by hand, no autopilot here, but responds nicely to control inputs and trims out fine after reducing the engine revolutions to a more comfortable level."

Bert concludes the Dornier Do-27 review with, "For vintage aircraft enthusiasts, this is a “must have” add-on. This plane will also work nicely for bush pilots, as it was designed to take off and land at small, remote airstrips. Overall, this is a welcome addition to FS9, which I would recommend highly to any aspiring GA pilot."

Exciting News From FlightDeck Solutions

Posted: Saturday, November 18, 2006 - 21:57
FlightDeck Solutions is pleased to offer a free web based conference on Saturday, November 25th starting at 12:00(EST)/17:00(UTC). Showcasing their latest technology and cost effective solutions, FDS plans to review numerous products and live demonstrations within the allotted hour. Enthusiasts of all skill levels will also have the opportunity to understand this popular hobby and ask questions of the entire FDS team at the conclusion of the event.

Registration for this event can be accessed from the FlightDeck Solutions Event webpage. Once registered, you will be provided with the location and ‘webinar’ ID that will give you access for the visual portion of the conference. For audio, FDS will be utilizing a new high speed conferencing tool from Skype™ which allows for a free worldwide audio connection over the internet. Access from any conventional landline or cell phone is also available in Canada, the United States, and in Europe (long distance charge may apply for a non-internet based connection). Audio bridge information will also be made available upon registration.

Patches From CLS Coming Your Way

Posted: Saturday, November 18, 2006 - 20:54
In a news release recieved early this morning CLS has just released FSX patches to four of their products. Making it possible for everyone to enjoy their products in FS9 as well as in FSX! The patches for the A300-600R, Beluga, A310 series and the 3-Airbus Pack are listed at our service packs webpage. Also listed is the FSX patch for our F117A NightHawk. The patches for the A340-500/600, Business Jet and Garmin avionics are due to be released in the upcoming weeks. Go get your patch now at Commercial Level Simulation.

CanUk Has Released CYYC For FS2004

Posted: Saturday, November 18, 2006 - 20:49
CYYC (Calgary International Airport) for FS2004 was created in GMAX the scenery features custom buildings, custom ground textures and night-lighting, animated airport vehicles and a complete landclass project. Stop on by CanUk Scenery for this new addition to CanUk Scenery's Canadian Airport Library.

FSPilot from Scientific Networks

Posted: Saturday, November 18, 2006 - 3:14
Staff reviewer Jeff Skyluk puts everything on Autopilot as he looks at a shareware product from Scientific Networks, FSPilot. "FSPilot is an enhanced "universal autopilot" for virtually every aircraft, including third-party add-ons, and especially including helicopters, that FS2004 supports. FSPilot also includes a digital moving-map EFIS (Electronic Flight Instrument System), a flight planner, and some extra goodies like an .MP3 player and a Snapshot photo tool."

Jeff reports that FSPilot is crammed with interesting items. Here is a list of features in FSPilot: Universal Autopilot, Helicopter Autopilot, Does not require FSUIPC, Time compression, EFIS/Navigation Screen, Low Altitude Flight, Google Earth Interface, Auto Approach, Automated Flight Plans, Inverted Autopilot, Microsoft Access Database Interface, Audio Cues, and Screen Shot capability. You can read about these features in detail within the review.

"FSPilot has a lot of features to try out. Most of them apply to what I would consider two broad categories of autopilot function: things you can do in real-time and under time-compression, and things you can do to program the autopilot in advance of the flight. FSPilot is genuinely fun for the whole family, and educational for all ages in the worlds of simulated aviation and programming."

Jeff summarizes FSPilot with, "FSPilot is a shareware utility for MSFS that provides a unique "universal autopilot" that is capable of completely controlling just about every aircraft that has been designed for Flight Simulator, including fixed-wing aircraft (propeller-driven planes and jets), helicopters, and commercial and free-ware add-ons. FSPilot also provides a programmable flight planner and a one-click navigation system that allows for setting and following waypoints on the fly. FSPilot provides control over your aircraft at time compression settings well beyond what MSFS is capable of, so that it is easy to simulate long-haul flights in a short simulation session. You can even use FSPilot to perform fully automated landings. You do not require FSUIPC to use FSPilot."

FS2Crew Releases Cessna 172 FSX Edition

Posted: Saturday, November 18, 2006 - 0:32
A press release recently submitted to Avsim stating that FS2Crew is please to announce that its popular Cessna 172 edition is now available for FSX. The 172 Edition was re-written from scratch just for FSX and features the latest FS2Crew interface system and other new features, such as random failures modeling. A discount coupon is available for pre-existing FS2Crew owners. Please stop by the FS2Crew website for more inforamtion on the FS2Crew: Cessna 172 FSX Edition.

Aerosoft Releases Budapest Scenery

Posted: Friday, November 17, 2006 - 14:51
Aerosoft is happy to announce the release of Budapest 2007. This scenery of Ferihegy International Airport, created by Andras Kozma is the latest in the Mega airport series. Budapest features: highly detailed taxiway and runway layout, with high definition textures, fully compatible with standard and third party AI-Traffic, full winter textures, full night textures, includes high density mesh of surrounding areas, includes full photographic ground texture of Budapest (so on your approaches you will get a good chance to see the layout of the city), high level of animated car and bus traffic on airport, full and detailed lighting, very high number of objects on tarmac, and optimization on every view angle so frame rates are stable and high.

For more information, visit the Aerosoft website.

Just Flight VFR Real Scenery – London Released

Posted: Friday, November 17, 2006 - 14:00
Just Flight is pleased to announce the release of the first instalment of its highly anticipated VFR Real Scenery series for Flight Simulator X. VFR Real Scenery – London is now available to download direct from Just Flight's website. At just under 1Gb it’s quite a sizeable download but this is understandable because it contains over 1200 square miles of detailed photographic scenery of the London area. The entire region within the M25 is included as well as customised night lighting and individually applied water textures.

Simflyer's Starts The "Series X" Product Line

Posted: Friday, November 17, 2006 - 2:33
The all-new GNS-SX is now available! This avionics suite features over a dozen different gauges -- some in multiple configurations -- including both the GNS530 and GNS430 units, which have been completely re-designed using the latest XML programming techniques making them fully functional in FSX while maintaining backwards compatibility with FS2004. Also included in the GNS-SX Avionics Suite are multiple audio panels, transponders the S-Tec55X and S-Tec30 Autopilots, Garmin VOR Heads and much more. Needless to say, the new gauges are extremely frame rate friendly in both the FS9 and FSX platforms. You can get more information on this product and others at the SimFlyer website.

AVSIM News Needs You!

Posted: Thursday, November 16, 2006 - 21:32
AVSIM.com is growing and we need your help! The News Crew needs to fill 2 more slots to assist our volunteers with daily news postings and file download updates on the front page. Most news editors will be required to be "on duty" for 2-4 days a month, with each "duty day" requiring an average of 30 minutes to an hour of your time.

If you think you have what it takes to join the AVSIM News crew, send us an email to jbinner@avsim.com Please include any related news-editing experience, time zone you live in, and give us an example of a current aviation simulation story. Be creative, be grammatically correct, and most importantly check your spelling! The AVSIM team has 2 slots to fill.

Cloud9 Releases Orlando Scenery

Posted: Thursday, November 16, 2006 - 16:51
cloud9 is happy to announce the release of the Orlando International Airport scenery. Following on the top quality US airports products line started with Los Angeles and including the Washington airport, the Orlando scenery is the first Flight Simulator X native product of this series. Absolutely frame rate friendly, this new scenery includes all new features allowed by FSX beside the usual high quality of all cloud9 products. Available, as all other cloud9 products, in trial version (full features, time limited), can be freely downloaded from the product page of the cloud9 web site.

Mid-November Cheque Donations

Posted: Thursday, November 16, 2006 - 5:12
Here is the latest list of donors by Cheque to AVSIM. We'd like to thank everyone for their kind contributions.
We ask that if you send a cheque, please include your email address as well so we can confirm receipt.

HJG November Website Update

Posted: Tuesday, November 14, 2006 - 22:12
This is HJG's 9th update since their reformation in April. Updates include repaints for the B707, B720, CV990, & DC8 featuring a selection of nostalgic liveries from European, Latin American, Middle Eastern & North American regions. You will also find a new and very rare B707-320 (F) freighter that has a fully animated maindeck cargo door and containers. Some other updates include a little remembered Asian operated CV990-A as well as a much sought after Canadian DC8-63. For Gary Carlson's new "VERSION 6" B707 there is a galore of repaints that have been upgraded. Last but not least HJG has released 2 brand new high quality custom soundpacks for both the CV880 & CV990 aircraft. For more information you can visit the Historic Jetliners Group website.

VFR Poland 3D Landmarks V0.21 Released

Posted: Tuesday, November 14, 2006 - 22:02
The scenery for Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004/X includes most of the Polish structures rising more than 300ft AGL as well as other interesting objects to be used for navigation purposes during VFR flights. The scenery includes the total number of 366 specific objects like: buildings, skyscrapers, power plants, towers, masts, chimneys with the wind smoke effects, cooling towers with the wind steam effects, animated wind turbines, tanks etc etc. All objects have been built with GMAX and is very FPS friendly. For more information visit the SimDesign website.