More Free ATC Flights

Posted: Saturday, August 18, 2007 - 1:30
TweakFS has released another pair of free ATC-guided flights for FSX that feature Real ATC, recorded directly from the flight deck. One of the flights is an easy approach into Montreal (Dorval), the other a more complex landing at Johannesburg which comes in two flavours - Normal or Emergency. Both of these ATC modules come with a pre-flight briefing and are designed specifically for use with TweakFlight for FSX, but can also be launched as stand-alone flights via the optionally installed Desktop icons.

3D Lights Shine In FSX

Posted: Friday, August 17, 2007 - 17:15
Shockwave Productions announced it has released 3D Lights™ for FSX. According to Shockwave Production's Scott Gentile, 3D Lights™ produces fully realized 3D landing lights that cast light out into space in all twenty-one FSX default aicraft, AI aircraft, and any third-party aircraft.

For more information and to download a demo movie of this product, you're cleared to land at the Shockwave Productions website.

Don't Miss The Conference!

Posted: Friday, August 17, 2007 - 15:42
AVSIM Online and the Microsoft Flight Simulator Team are co-sponsoring what may well be this year's largest Flight Simulation gathering!

"The goal of our partnership is to provide a venue that will host an unprecedented number of Flight Sim add-on and hardware vendors," says Brett Schnepf, Community and Partner Development Manager for the Microsoft ACES Studio. "We want to give FANCON attendees the widest possible range of add-ons and hardware to check out. In other words: many shiny objects to play with!"

"The Bellevue Hilton is excited to be hosting this event for us this year," says AVSIM's Conference Manager, Robert Whitwell, "we have a huge amount of space for the vendors this year and with FSX being centre stage again there should be plenty of hands-on activities for our fans."

The AVSIM Flight Simulation Fan Convention and Exhibition (FANCON 2007) will start Friday afternoon November 9th with the traditional informal AVSIM FANCON social. The event will continue on Saturday with exhibitions, white paper sessions, and the Saturday night Awards Banquet. The Awards Banquet will include a special key note speaker, as well as the traditional AVSIM Bravo Zulu and Reader's Choice award presentations. Sunday will see more exhibitions and white papers.

Flight simulation enthusiasts from around the world will be in attendance, so here's your chance to finally meet the people behind all those voices and forum posts, as well as the AVSIM staff and members of the Microsoft ACES studio. While the FANCON 2007 is just under 3 months away, the registrations of both fans and vendors are coming in. This off-season event should help with your travel plans if you are coming from out of the area. Even if you are coming from the local area, pre-registering will help avoid the line-ups Friday evening or Saturday morning.

Don't miss this opportunity to rub elbows with some of the power houses of our hobby! Microsoft, AVSIM, other important vendors and hobbyists will all be there! Make your plans now!

HiFi Releases X Graphics SP1

Posted: Friday, August 17, 2007 - 6:27
HiFi Simulation Software has announced that Service Pack 1 for X Graphics has been officially released and is now available for download by all X Graphics users. X Graphics SP1 is HiFi's latest full-featured graphical environment enhancement package made exclusively for FSX. HiFi spokesman, Damian Clark, said this service pack brings many enhancements and refinement to the textures and user interface, and is provided to keep X Graphics as refined and up-to-date as possible. For more information on this update, set your course to the HiFi website.

Dornier Do-27 X by Digital Aviation

Posted: Friday, August 17, 2007 - 1:34
Senior staff reviewer David Wilson-Okamura updates us on Digital Aviation's Dornier Do-27 X. "As we’ll see, very little has changed in the new version for FSX. I am going to concentrate on issues that are specific to the new version of Microsoft Flight Simulator."

"What new features do you get when you upgrade the Do-27? Two words: new views. The camera system in FSX is quite powerful, and the upgraded Do-27 takes full advantage of it. Outside of the aircraft there are wing views, nose views, and tail views. Inside the cockpit, there are dedicated views for the rear cabin, both front seats and all of the control panels, and specialized views for landing and taxi."

"Why has this model, of a relatively obscure bush plane, attracted so much attention from flight simmers around the world? The variety of this package is engrossing. It comes with two basic models, A1 and B1, and eight different liveries. The youngest of these birds is forty years old now, so all of the liveries look weathered and well used. Unique details abound, and each livery has something distinctive in the cockpit: a pine-tree air freshener, an extra gauge, a missing gauge, a different-colored gauge, or a handwritten N-number on the instrument panel. After a month of flying, I am still noticing new things."

David wraps up his review with, "To summarize: the FSX version of the Dornier Do-27 is almost exactly the same as the FS2004 version. There are a bunch of new camera views, and the propeller doesn’t look right in front of clouds. Other than that, the two versions are identical. Let there be no mistake: learning to fly the Do-27 is harder than other bush planes. You have to read the manual carefully, and you have to internalize a new set of rules -- rules which, if you break them, will have consequences. That is what makes it great."

SimWords Work!

Posted: Thursday, August 16, 2007 - 23:02
In the short three weeks since AVSIM brought the SimWords system online, over 12 million ads have been served on dozens of affiliate sites around the world, including major locations on AVSIM. For pennies a day advertisers are finding an economical and effective alternative to text advertising on Google and Yahoo, with their ads focused in the flight simulation community. Affiliate web sites are making a steady income, and readers are finding products, services and websites related to their hobby. If you are interested in advertising or want to be an affiliate generating revenue for your site, check out the AVSIM SimWords system today.

History.com Dogfighting Game

Posted: Wednesday, August 15, 2007 - 17:19
Have you seen the "Dogfights" series on the History Channel and wished they'd make the series into an online playable game? Well your wish has come true! History.com has announced that their popular "Dogfights" series has been made into a game!

From History.com; "DOGFIGHTS: THE GAME re-creates the battles seen on Dogfights the series with amazing realism." If you've got what it takes to beat the opponents, then head on over to the Dogfights Website.

Just Flight Announce Flying Club - Archer III

Posted: Wednesday, August 15, 2007 - 15:07
Just Flight have announced the addition of an Archer III to their Flying Club X expansion. As their press release says, "Just Flight’s Flying Club X expansion for Flight Simulator X and 2004 has been widely praised by reviewers for raising the bar for GA aircraft simulations. Now, another top class light aircraft has joined the Flying Club fleet. The Piper PA-28-181 Archer III is one of the most popular General Aviation touring aircraft in the world.

Flying Club - Archer III comes with a full avionics suite and an extensive set of liveries. Virtual pilots can choose between UK, American, German, Swiss, Dutch and French registrations that provide a total of 25 aircraft variants.

The Archer III also comes with a set of unique tools to customise and enhance the flying experience and is expertly modelled to the highest standards thanks to detailed research on real-world aircraft.

All the Flying Club aircraft benefit from a dedicated website at www.jfflyingclub.com where pilots can share their experiences, swap tips, download additional files, liveries and other resources to enhance the features of the Flying Club series."

To get hold of this new aircraft, head over to the Just Flight website.

Bugatti Adventures from Lionheart Creations

Posted: Wednesday, August 15, 2007 - 3:06
Staff reviewer Marc Radford goes on a tear between the pylons with Lionheart Creations' Bugatti Adventures. "So what do you get with this package?" Marc asks, "8 airplanes, 2 racecars and 4 scenery packs. Plus 18 missions to utilize them all in."

"When you think of getting 8 planes and 2 cars in one package, you don’t expect to see 6 unique 2D Cockpits (couple of planes even have an IFR variant), and 6 unique VC Cockpits, not to mention the flight dynamics on all of them are different. When you fly the P100 it becomes obvious this plane had the most attention given to it. The rest of the planes offered in this package are more what I would call “extras”, not to be confused with “throw ins”."

"There was no impact on FPS in the 2D Cockpit, or in the VC Cockpit. The sounds alone of the engines are surprising, it sounds just like a crazy modified car engine. How else would a Bugatti engine sound?" Marc goes into detail of what flying in a pylon race is really like and the screenshots say a lot more than the narrative does.

Marc continues his review of the Bugatti Adventures with detailed descriptions of some of the mission included in this package as well as the different aircraft involved in each one. In conclusion of this package, he says, "Bugatti Air Racer Adventures package is an odd endeavor. The developer wants you to have fun experiencing the thrill of racing with a bunch of planes you can swap out on the fly for a great price. So you would expect with all the offerings you get here, the planes would be unrealistic and videogame like; nothing could be further from the truth in regards to the P100 series. The developer is extremely generous for what he is offering."

Just Flight Offers TrackIR Ultra

Posted: Wednesday, August 15, 2007 - 1:45
Just Flight is pleased to announce that they will be stocking Natural Point's TrackIR head-tracking device to complement their wide range of flight sim software. The latest version - the TrackIR Ultra - comes with the vector clip (for attachment to a hat) and the TrackClip which can be attached to a headset or flying helmet. There are also two free games, Battle of Britain II and RFactor (a racing game) included in the Ultra package. While TrackIR is compatible with all the major flight, train and car simulations, it can also be used in other many other games. So stop by Just Flight's hardware department when you are finished browsing their software.

Xtreme Prototypes Launches The X-15 For FS

Posted: Wednesday, August 15, 2007 - 1:22
Xtreme Prototypes Inc. is proud to announce the release of the X-15 series of add-on rocket aircraft for Microsoft® Flight Simulator 2004 and Flight Simulator X. It consists of 11 highly detailed models of the legendary North American X-15 experimental rocket plane, available in three separate packages.

The Xtreme Prototypes X-15 for Flight Simulator series of add-on rocket aircraft brings the excitement of high-speed and high-altitude flight and the challenge of an X-15 research mission to flight simulation enthusiasts and X-15 fans. Each add-on aircraft has been carefully modeled based on archive material in order to conform as closely as possible to the real-world X-15. Each model is built from more than 300 parts and shows over 60 different animations. Each X-15 add-on aircraft comes with one main instrument panel and at least seven secondary panels, either in their original black version or the later light blue-gray version. All aircraft feature more than 20 animated visual effects.

The three packages are available on CD-ROM or download and can be purchased online. For complete details about this new release, including screenshots, visit the Xtreme Prototypes website.

Active Sky X Service Pack 1 Released

Posted: Wednesday, August 15, 2007 - 1:09
HiFi has announced that Service Pack 1 for Active Sky X has been officially released and is now available for download by all Active Sky X users. Active Sky X SP1 is HiFi's latest full-featured weather simulation system made exclusively for FSX. The Service Pack addresses several issues, providing bug fixes and fine-tuning in many areas. In addition, over a dozen new enhancements and features are also provided to keep Active Sky X as refined and up-to-date as possible. All Active Sky X users can download the SP1 upgrade free of charge from HiFi's support page.

Be sure to visit HiFi Simulation Software's booth at the 2007 AVSIM Conference and Exhibition in Seattle (Bellevue), Washington 9-11 November.

Space Shuttle Takes Off

Posted: Sunday, August 12, 2007 - 18:14
Just Flight announces Space Shuttle is now available on DVD-ROM. This new add-on has been developed by the team at Captain Sim, who enlisted the skills of a Shuttle-trained Cosmonaut on the project. All six Shuttle orbiters are faithfully modelled and the systems and avionics are re-created to an extremely high level of detail. Panels include high-resolution 2D, virtual cockpit, Commander view 2D panel, HUD, exterior model animation control panel, simicons panel, radio panel and GPS panels.

Software features a video ‘launch’ to start the program and set the scene for the journey back to terra firma. Animations include payload bay doors, SRMS (Shuttle Remote Manipulator System), drag chute, radiators and landing gear. It also includes a voice package with 19 cues based on actual crew and Mission Control communications, and radio aids that provide original Space Shuttle -19°/-17° steep OGS glide slope and shallow glide slope for runway 15 and 33 at the NASA Shuttle Landing Facility (X68) in Florida. The manual features a custom tutorial prepared by Just Flight to guide virtual astronauts back to Earth. Space Shuttle has been developed for Flight Simulator X but can be used in FS2004 with certain limitations.

Megascenery X Dallas/Fort Worth from PC Aviator

Posted: Sunday, August 12, 2007 - 0:03
Staff reviewer Angelique van Campen takes us on a scenic tour of a small part of Texas with PC Aviator's MegasceneryX - Dallas/Fort Worth. The website says, "Every highway, road, interchange, street, house, factory, warehouse, mall, stadium, ball field, golf course, sand trap, playground, river and stream is visible and identifiable from your Flight Simulator skies as if you were actually there flying over the skies above Dallas/Fort Worth."

"Included in the installation you get a detailed booklet on how to use this scenery and how to make final adjustments, but you also get more then 100 pages of official charts from every airport covered in this area. You get airport diagrams, SID and STAR charts, ILS, VOR/DME, and GPS approach charts and last but not least, a full colored Sectional Chart of Dallas/Fort Worth."

"When flying at an altitude of 3000-4000 feet, you can sit, relax and enjoy the outside view. It’s astonishing! When using MegaSceneryX for IFR flights, you also get a great view of this photographic scenery. The details of this megascenery are so incredible that you can fly via roads, crossing rivers, lakes, railroads etc."

Angelique takes us on a VFR cross-coutry flight so we can see the extent of this add-on. "One thing is for sure, I’ve got an excellent impression of the VFR details from MegaSceneryX Dallas/Fort Worth scenery. The offered Dallas/Fort Worth area just covers 8000 square miles (21.0000 square kilometers), which means in combination with an IFR flight, it's a little limited."

"When flying north, passing some lakes, it’s shocking what Microsoft thinks about inland water color. It’s such a strange blue color while the MegaSceneryX gives you a truer water color, which reflects the reality. Don’t believe me? I confirmed it with Google Earth and the water color/reflection of MegaSceneryX is what is should be."

Concluding her review of MegasceneryX - Dallas/Fort Worth, Angelique comments, "My first reaction is, after a thorough review related to the question “is this a worthy add-on?” … yes, absolutely! You get an excellent product, extremely highly detailed scenery, a lot of charts and even a VFR Terminal chart. If that’s not enough, you also get the MegaCity Dallas/Forth Worth 2005 product, in case you want to swap between FS9 and FSX. Above all, it’s very frame rate friendly!"

Military AI Works Turns 1

Posted: Saturday, August 11, 2007 - 1:42
Today Military AI Works (MAIW) is celebrating its 1 year Anniversary since forming. Desmond Burrell of MAIW says, "time definately flies by, it's hard to believe it's been a full year since we formed our little group focused on bringing the FS9 community user friendly military AI freeware packages. We've been able to bring the community over 40 releases in our first year of existence and plan on bringing you many many more going into our second year." If you haven't visited their website, and are looking for Military AI aircraft, this might be a good place to for you to visit.

German Landmarks X SP1 Released

Posted: Saturday, August 11, 2007 - 1:35
Inside Aerosoft's support and FAQ sections you will find Service Pack 1 for German Landmarks X which solves some performance issues. You need to be logged on and to have your product registered to be able to access the update. You will be able to visit with the good folks from Aerosoft at AVSIM's 2007 Conference and Exhibition in November.

AVSIM Releases RSS Feeds

Posted: Friday, August 10, 2007 - 23:04
AVSIM is pleased to announce that today we brought online our RSS News Feeds system. There have been abortive attempts in the past by AVSIM to do this, but with Emma Bentley joining the AVSIM team as our RSS Feeds Manager, and some powerful backend systems, we are happy to provide this new service to our readership. If you are a dedicated RSS Feeds user, you can add the AVSIM RSS feed system to your system by going to here. We will be adding further feeds in the not too distant future.

FS2Crew Update For PMDG 737

Posted: Friday, August 10, 2007 - 17:27
FS2Crew announced it has released a Memory Enhancement Gauge file for its PMDG 737 Edition which may help some users who have experienced memory usage problems over long flights. For more information on this update, please visit the FS2Crew website.

A New Tutorial Website

Posted: Friday, August 10, 2007 - 3:47
V1 Rotate, is a new website for simmers who know about the basics of flying and who want to advance to complex addons. This website provides tutorials on complex add-ons that are out there and tries to provide easy-to-read-and-understand tutorials to get people used to complex startup procedures / flight management system etc... They don't specialise in any specific add-ons, they just make tutorials for different aircraft types which should work on any add-on. At the moment, they have tutorials for: Boeing 767, Boeing 737, Boeing FMC; Airbus A319/A320/A321, ATR 42/72, MCDonnell Douglas MD80, McDonnell Douglas FMC, Civa INS Nav System. They are continually expanding the site by adding 2-3 tutorials a month. All tutorials are available on the website and are also available as downloadable .pdf files. So head over the V1 Rotate and see if there is something new for you to learn.

SAAB JAS 39 "Gripen" from AlphaSim

Posted: Friday, August 10, 2007 - 3:20
Contributing reviewer Chris Kiehl takes a look at a unique fighter aircraft, AlphaSim's SAAB JAS 39 "Gripen". "The Gripen was designed for a multitude of missions for the Swedish military in the 1980’s, as an alternative for the Swedish Military over the American F-16 fighter and other similar aircraft."

"The 2D panel is a nicely detailed, all XML gauge setup. Three MFDs or Multi Functional Display panels, are located below the HUD. Three sub-panels are included, two of which are custom."

"The Gripen VC is quite nice from my point of view. I enjoy the features Alphasim added, and don’t mind it’s simplicity. On to the MFD panels. These panels are excellent, and are fully configurable and clickable from the VC. You can set each of them to show a different information screen, and each of the screens can show any of the five available screens, in any order."

"Alphasim’s exterior modeling is some of the best I’ve seen, and this model is no exception. Additionally, several load outs with external fuel tank and missiles are included, with a selection of nationality schemes to choose from. The tandem two-seater version is also included, and both models include detailed and animated pilot figures that can be removed on command."

"Flying these delta wing with canard configuration aircraft in FS is quite fun, and Alphasim seems to have a knack for doing it right. Flying the Gripen may present you with a challenge, like keeping it stable and flying a smooth pattern. This is definitely an aircraft you should practice in, and master. I enjoy flying the Gripen, and I’m thinking you will, too. It was a bit of a challenge at first, but what fun would it be if it were not?"

"The Alphasim Gripen performs quite nicely in every regard, except one. With the VC HUD disabled via a simple switch in the 2D or VC on the panel below the HUD, the frame rates are excellent. However, enabling the HUD does reduce the frame rates rather noticeably in all views. Other than that one small performance issue, the plane performed smoothly throughout my tests."

Chris concludes his review of the SAAB JAS 39 "Gripen" with, "I greatly enjoyed the privilege of flying another of Alphasim’s masterfully crafted modern aircraft. FSX users will be happy to hear that the aircraft is fully FSX ready. Alphasim seems to improve things each time I see one of their aircraft. If you’re a SAAB fan, or just a collector of really intriguing modern fighters, get this package."