Alaska Airports Scenery

Posted: Sunday, November 5, 2006 - 23:44
Alaska Airports Scenery Enhancement Package, from FSFlightline, is compatible with Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004, A Century of Flight, and adds scenery enhancements such as hangars, cabins, buildings, cargo, and other features to over 500 land-based Alaskan airfields! Alaska Airports Scenery Enhancement focuses on the smaller Alaskan airfields that do not feature default scenery, however you will find enhancements at most mid-sized airfields as well, including military, LRRS, and industrial airfields of the Artic Circle. Bush pilots will find plenty of cargo containers waiting for them throughout Alaska, and every Alaskan pilot will find something waiting for them at almost every airfield. Alaska Airfields was created to "co-exist" with other popular Alaskan area add-ons, so some of the popular airfields found in other add-ons (i.e. Wrangell) have been left untouched. For more information, please visit: FS Flightline.

Mk XVI Spitfire from Plane Design

Posted: Sunday, November 5, 2006 - 21:05
UK staff reviewer Gavin Hendrie fittingly reviews another offering of the classic Spitfire, this time from Plane Design. "This add-on is a rendition of the Merlin 266 engined Mk XVI (Mk 16) which was designed as a low altitude fighter and identical in almost every way to the Mk IV except for the engine (the MK IV had a Merlin 66)."

Commenting on the interior of this "Spit", "The claim on the PD website is that “All virtual cockpit gauges have been created in full 3D, making them incredibly smooth and with accurate custom high resolution textures, and authentic luminous lighting effects, they are some of the best WW2 era British gauges yet seen in Flight Simulator.” The gauges are indeed very clear and easy to read and operate in a smooth manner. An often overused term around these parts is the phrase “The VC is fully functional”, but in this case it really is, right down to the gun sight. Even the adjusters for rudder pedal position can actually be operated."

Continuing with the exterior, "The package comes with 10 different paint schemes, each of which is very detailed right down to the last rivet. This is possibly one of the finest 3D models around and in terms of quality, it ranks amongst the very best of the third party commercial offerings available. The sound of the Merlin engine is almost as iconic as the shape of the Spit itself and this package doesn’t disappoint in this respect. The Merlin soundset is highly authentic. The deep, throaty roar of the Merlin is well represented here and it is quite satisfying to hear when you push the throttle forward."

Gavin comments about the flying characteristics of this aircraft, "Applying the throttle fairly gently and in line with the recommended take off settings still causes a lurch to the right, which opposite rudder initially fails to correct. All I can say is that it takes some getting used to and in the end I resorted to using very light differential braking, though I’m not sure how those without pedals will fair. The Flight Dynamics have been tested by some fairly esteemed pilots, any one of them is better placed than me to tell you that this aircraft flies and handles like the real deal. So if that’s what they say, who am I to argue?"

"Overall, this is a nice package. The sounds are great, the VC and 2D functionality is good and the performance on my machine was most agreeable, capping out at the locked 25 fps with VFR Real Scenery and Active Sky 6 running," says Gavin in his sumation of Plane Design's Spitfire. "Correctly configured it’s an absolute joy to fly although the ground handling characteristics are a pain. It’s not for the novice that’s for sure. If you’re a genuine Spitfire fan then you’ll want it in your hangar regardless and it’s worth it for the sounds, but the flight dynamics will take some mastering."

AVSIM Release FSX Survey

Posted: Sunday, November 5, 2006 - 18:25
Now that FSX has been out a while, we thought we would do a quick and simple survey of owners of either the standard or deluxe versions. A simple 10 questions long, you can take the survey here.

Legacy 600 from Wilco/FeelThere

Posted: Sunday, November 5, 2006 - 4:39
Sr Staff Reviewer Zane Gard continues his look at the world of luxury business jets with Wilco/FeelThere's PIC Embraer Legacy 600. "The Embraer Legacy 600 is the executive version of Embraer’s ERJ135/145 series of successful regional airliners and also goes by the model name ERJ-135BJ."

"The Legacy 600, their fourth release, is just as beautiful from the outside with all the smoothness and elegance the real jet has. It’s got all the animations, lighting, realistic textures and dynamic shine to keep the most dyed in the wool spot view junky happy. Open the door and step inside, the interior of the real Legacy is overflowing with jaw dropping lap of luxury. As you enter, you just stand there gawking at overstuffed leather seats, highly polished burled wood, marble countertops, a glass door galley showing off all the crystal glasses, gold inlayed trim and a walkway that winds back through three individual seating areas and it’s big… I mean BIG."

Moving up front, "The Feelthere/Wilco Legacy 600 panel adds the IRS system which is used for the heads up display (HUD in 2D mode only) and a working weather radar that is usable in both the 2D panel and the VC. Both are features new to this Legacy 600 model and there are popups for the overhead display, center console, FADEC settings, pressurization controls and zooms for the EFIS’s. From the VC, the pilot’s and copilot’s displays are independent so you can fly from either position."

Zane parks this luxury jet and comments, "Feelthere has produced another fabulous Embraer jet in the Legacy 600. If having a true luxury corporate jet, one you really can walk around from section to section in is to your liking, this is the one to get. If you held off on the ERJ-145 but were sorely tempted, I do like the Legacy 600 better than the ERJ-145 and highly recommend it."

Grants For Young Flightsim Pilots

Posted: Saturday, November 4, 2006 - 18:34
Grants/Bursaries valued at up to 500 pounds are available from the Royal Aero Club Trust to Flight Sim pilots aged between 16 and 21 wanting to convert their joystick and throttle time on simulators into a real 'hands on' flying experience. Grants applicants can select their preferred sort of flying experience from any one of the following: GA aircraft, microlight aircraft, helicopter, hangglider, paraglider, balloon or parachute. There are also grants for building and flying model aeroplanes, including indoor or outdoor flight, rotary wing and rocketry. Flight Sim pilots who apply must be British, resident in the UK, highly proficient on flight simulators and a member of a recognised local, regional or national organisation such as: a Virtual Airline, or a Computer Club, or a Youth Club, or an After School Club, etc. Visit our website, Royal Aero Club Trust, for information
and application form.

Russian AI Packages Available

Posted: Saturday, November 4, 2006 - 12:57
Russian AI Traffic System is proud to announce that they have released several packages of Russian main and smaller air companies. Packages include flightplans for Summer-06 season and all needed repaints. Now we can offer about twenty large Russian airlines like S7 Airlines, VIM Airlines, Vladivostok Avia, etc. and many russian smaller airlines like a Center-Avia, KD Avia, Izhavia, etc. All packages may be downloaded from Russian AI Traffic System and discuss them on our forum for non-Russian-speakers.

SkyDecks Boeing 737-NG Ver 3.15

Posted: Friday, November 3, 2006 - 14:18
Kevin Sparkuhl of SkyDecks Panel Design is pleased to announce the release of version 3.15 of the Boeing 737-NG panel. Kevin writes, "version 3.15 incorporates a few notable upgrades that were recently brought to our attention. In keeping with SkyDecks commitment to producing quality panel software, important changes were made at the kind suggestion of some of our valued customers. These changes are considered vital to proper functionality and is why this release was brought about so quickly."

Upgrades which were implemented into this current release are: Fuel-pump systems have been completely re-designed to allow for more accurate fuel usage. This includes the "all pumps off/cross-feed on" error which allowed the engines to continue running without consuming fuel. The MCP has been programmed to allow the flight director to issue prompts outside of the "autopilot" mode. Loaded flight plans will now show the next waypoint information within the navigation display unit. Updated the display units which were left dark when loading the panel from a saved flight situation. The display unit selection panel can now be recalled during a flight, allowing the user to switch displays on the fly. Flight Control and Spoiler switches are defaulted to the "on" position during cold and dark start situations.

All customers of the SkyDecks Boeing 737-NG, v3 panel will be able to upgrade to v3.15 by using their current registration and product key file. Documentation within the download provides further details about upgrading your software if you're not familiar with doing so. For additional details and product screenshots, please visit the SkyDecks website.

Eaglesoft Cirrus For FSX

Posted: Friday, November 3, 2006 - 14:13
Team Eaglesoft is pleased to announce that their Cirrus SR22 G2 1.5 Package for FSX is now available for purchase! Current owners of original FS9 Cirrus SR22 G2 1.0 may download a 30% Discount Coupon from the Coupon Page. This extended time 30% Discount Coupon for original FS9 Cirrus SR22 G2 1.0 owners may be used to purchase Cirrus SR22 G2 1.5 Package for FSX through Christmas 2006! Eaglesoft Discount Coupons are designed to help their customers make the transition from FS9 to FSX. See the Coupon Page for more on the Discount Coupons.

Carenado Announces FS-X Patch

Posted: Friday, November 3, 2006 - 1:26
Carenado has released a patch that allows the installation of FS2004 aircraft on the new FSX. This patch could be used for any aircraft developed by Carenado.

The patch is a permanent software. Users should use it every time after installing a Carenado's aircraft developed for FS2004 on FSX. It can be found for free at the “Update and Patches” section of the Carenado Website(Only 60Kb). This patch allows previously owned FS2004 aircraft developed by Carenado to run in FSX as it was on FS2004. It does not add any new features to FSX.

Fly the Airbus A380 - Version 2

Posted: Thursday, November 2, 2006 - 18:56
Airbus Industries has positioned their A380 as the way to comfortably move more than 600 passengers up to 8000 miles. Weighing more than a million pounds, its four powerful Rolls Royce engines generates enough thrust to travel at speeds up to Mach .89. Already sixteen airlines have placed orders for more than 175 of these monster aircraft that are now scheduled to fly in 2008.

You can be flying the A380 sooner. Abacus is proud to announce the release of our new Fly the Airbus A380 V2 add-on, to be available for both Microsoft FSX and FS2004 beginning Friday, November 3rd. This is our second of many add-ons planned for the new FSX Flight Simulator.

Fly the Airbus A380 V2 features four different models of the A380: 700, 800, 800f and 900; 3D virtual cockpits; a brand new simplified FMC that makes flying the A380 aircraft a breeze; and scenery of the Toulouse-Blagnac Airport where final assembly of the A380 takes place.

The Fly the Airbus A380 V2 liveries include:

Airbus House Colors
Singapore Airlines
Lufthansa
Quantas
KLM
China Southern
Air France
Virgin Atlantic
Thai
British Airways
Korean Airlines
Dragon Air

Fly the Airbus A380 will be available on CD-ROM from software dealers nationwide and is also available beginning today for convenient download delivery. Registered users of V1 of Fly the Airbus A380 are eligibile for either a free or low-cost upgrade to V2. For more information about Fly the Airbus A380 V2, please visit Abacus.

Perfect Flight Releases Airbus 321 Lufthansa For FSX

Posted: Wednesday, November 1, 2006 - 20:24
Now available from Perfect Flight is FSX Missions - Airbus 321 Lufthansa. FSX Missions is a new series of products designed exclusively for Flight Simulator X and for all Pilots who want real airline experience. As a new Airbus 321 Captain for Lufthansa airline you have now fifteen flights assignments in your Pilot Logbook. Missions include short, middle and long range flights. All Flights are subsequent, as in real life. Your goal in each mission is to complete your scheduled flight following the assigned flightplan. Land at the correct Airport and you will receive a SUCCESS message, as usual in FSX Missions feature Product includes:

Airbus 321 in Lufthansa livery
Reworked stereo engines sounds
15 new Missions for your Flight Simulator X
Presaved flights with GPS armed
Complete Flight Briefing
Airport Facility (frequency, runways and ILS description)
Charts and Maps for any Airport included in the Missions.

For more information you can visit the Perfect Flight homepage.

WoP II: WWII Fighters Update v1.2 Released

Posted: Tuesday, October 31, 2006 - 20:48
Shockwave Productions has released update 1.2 for WWII Fighters. For the different planes in the package the following updates have been done:

A6M5 Zero
Updated 3D model fuselage and canopy frame and wing profile.
Added non-reflective gauges set.

P47 Thunderbolt
Rocket icon now appears on 2D panel to remove or show rockets
Adjusted P47 wing chord tip thickness

Messerschmitt Bf109
Reversed the east-west directions of the magnetic compass
Corrected some cockpit's typos
Corrected texture mapping on the slats, antenna, and horizontal stabilizer
Minor fixes
New E3 internal and external model
New E4/Trop internal and external model
New Reflector Gunsight
New 3D elements (wheels, openings)
New paints by ICDP

Supermarine Spitfire MkIa
New Reflector Gunsight
New cockpit's plaques
Reversed landing gear indicator positions
Generator switch turns both generator and battery on / off
Reversed mixture lever (back = RICH)

General
All aircraft now have fully-castoring, realistic tailwheel steering
All aircraft now have very realistic Mach effects as they dive through high Mach numbers, which differ from the effects of dynamic pressure. Overspeed behavior at high Mach numbers will differ from overspeed at high indicated airspeeds.

CSS Releases Free Demo Of Weather Maker RX

Posted: Tuesday, October 31, 2006 - 7:55
Calibre Software Solutions is pleased to announce the release of the free demo version of Weather Maker RX. This demo version of the next generation of Weather Maker is limited to the area of weather around KBHM - Birmingham, Alabama USA. Thus, you may only fly in that area for now to view the weather. Weather Maker RX is compatible with Microsoft's FS9 and FSX. For operation with FS9 you must have installed FSUIPC 3.7.0+ and for FSX you must have FSUIPC 4 installed. You must also have the .Net framework 2.0 installed. Weather Maker RX is the easiest, yet robust Weather Engine that includes the new AMWE (Accurate Meteorological Weather Engine) using real meteorological equations and formulas. Yet the weather engine is completely integrated with in its new WNX-50 Weather DataLink Radar gauge offering the first graphical view of the weather situation around you. Weather Maker RX when released will be the start of long line of Weather Add-ons for Flight Simulator 9 and X from Calibre Software Solutions. Give the demo a test drive or see our screenshots by visiting the Calibre Software Solutions website.

Ultimate Terrain Europe from Flight 1

Posted: Monday, October 30, 2006 - 19:30
Staff reviewer David Wilson-Okamura takes us on a tour of "the continent" with Flight 1's Ultimate Terrain Europe. "Ultimate Terrain Europe (UTE) is the third product in Allen Kriesman’s Ultimate Terrain (UT) series and the last one for FS9."

"UT products include their own land- and water-class, which is superior to the one that ships with the sim," reports David, "The default landclass is somewhat crude and leaves out thousands of small towns and villages around the world. The make-up of cities that it does reproduce is also very generic, and is based on the notion of a typical city has a high-density core at the center and suburbs around the edge. UT cities are more nuanced. Are there better, more accurate landclasses than UT? For the whole coverage area, no."

"UTE, like other products in the UT series, has little effect on framerates. However, in cities with dense road networks, there is a tendency to blurring. That is annoying. Some of it, I suspect, is perceptual: with UT you look at the ground more because there’s more to see, and as a result, you notice more when the sim’s rendering engine falls behind. In my experience, both with this product and with UT USA, there is really only one thing you need to do: disable all roads except major roads, especially in the cities. With all roads turned on, a densely populated city looks like a plateful of noodles. Turn off the minor roads and the city will immediately look better than it did with the roads turned on. Don’t worry, “major roads only” is still a lot of roads."

In wrapping up Ultimate Terrain Europe, "UTE is the biggest UT package so far and, at US$40 for the download and US$45 for the DVD, the most expensive as well. In my view, a product doesn’t have to be perfect in order to be great. UT Europe isn’t perfect, but it is one of the great scenery products for FS9."

Microsoft FSX Support Site

Posted: Saturday, October 28, 2006 - 20:53
Microsoft has gone online with FSX Support. As reports and problems start to come in, they have got their support site, inside of Microsoft Support, up and running, with regular updates on problems and issues encoutered by users. Check out the Microsoft FSX support site for more details.

FSPilot For FSX Now Available

Posted: Saturday, October 28, 2006 - 20:08
FSXPilot is a standalone Simconnect client application and the first addon out which offers unlimited point and click navigation of all aircrafts in FSX. In addition, FSXP enables ILS autolaning of FSX planes, aerobatics from flight plans, displays extended aircraft (sim and real time, ETA, fuel, fuel zero time, miles flewn, minutes online, ambient and ground wind) and METAR infos (local and at given airport). All parameters are written to a MS Access database automatically. Google earth connector, a JPG and GIF single button screenshot camera and a command line MP3 player round up the feature list. FSXP now has a much increased helicopter slow-fly performance - ideal for mastering the new missions and exploring the amazing sights of Flight Simulator X. Please visit FSXPilot for more information.

FS2Crew: FSX 747 Edition Released!

Posted: Saturday, October 28, 2006 - 16:35
FS2Crew is pleased to announce that its first “FSX Only” product is now available for download. The Default FSX 747 Edition of FS2Crew retains the functionality of the PMDG 747 Edition of FS2Crew with respect to co-pilot, cabin, ground and company interaction. FS2Crew allows you to fly just like a real airline pilot from the Captain’s perspective. It makes your FSX experience much more immersive and realistic. Moreover, this new edition of FS2Crew also adds new functionality to the FSX 747, such as a realistic APU unit and Packs panel. Most interestingly, FS2Crew was able to take advantage of FSX’s new ability to model a realistic Tiller that works independently of the rudder. Other exciting features include:

- Over 70 world cities to choose from to make custom PA’s to your passengers.
- Numerous selectable ATC callsigns ranging from Northwest to Air France.
- An international Start/Pushback crew with regional accents for the UK, the US/Canada, France/Quebec, Spain/Latin America and Germany. Please vist FS2Crew's Website for additional information and product ordering.

VFR Photographic Scenery

Posted: Friday, October 27, 2006 - 22:22
The original VFR Photographic Scenery, created by the team at Horizon Simulation (in association with Visual Flight), for the first time put the real world into Microsoft Flight Simulator. Horizon has again joined forces with the UK's leading aerial photography supplier, Getmapping PLC, to bring you the next generation of this landmark scenery, a demo of which is now available for download. The demo provides high definition photographic scenery (1.2m/pixel) and unparalleled 10m terrain mesh for approximately 650 km2 of Snowdonia National Park and North West Wales. To download, visit Horizon Simulation.

Eaglesoft Cirrus SR22 G2 Free Upgrade

Posted: Friday, October 27, 2006 - 22:20
Team Eaglesoft is pleased to announce the promised Free Upgrade for their Cirrus SR22 G2 for FS9 is now available by re-downloading and re-installing using your existing key and password! This Cirrus SR22 G2 Free Upgrade for FS9 adds two new 2006 Cirrus GTS Gold and Silver Liveries and fixes a few minor issues in the Eaglesoft Avidyne Entegra MFD fuel usage display, adds Vatsim Traffic to MFD, improves STEC 55X autopilot HDG/NAV operation and multiple Direct To operation, along with other minor improvements overall. This Cirrus SR22 Free Upgrade for FS9 will not work in FSX. Work continues on development of a full-fledged FSX Version and we will announce when that is available.

Fly the Boeing 787 Dreamliner

Posted: Friday, October 27, 2006 - 22:18
With more than 400 units now on order from airlines around the world, the Boeing 787 looks to be a true "next generation" aircraft. Although it's not scheduled to enter service until 2008, the Dreamliner will carry 300 passengers up to 8000 miles at Mach .85. It's high tech design will make it the most fuel efficient jetliner in the skies.

Fly the Boeing 787 Dreamliner features another great visual model, new 2D and 3D virtual cockpits and a brand new FMC that makes flying this advanced aircraft a breeze.

The Fly the Boeing 787 Dreamliner liveries include several virtual airline color schemes as well as pending operators of the type. For more information about Fly the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, please visit Abacus.