DC-9 Series from Sky Simulations

Posted: Friday, November 6, 2009 - 1:08
Staff reviewer Roger Curtiss takes a look at an aircraft that we've all prbably flown on, the DC-9 Series from Sky Simulations. "The DC-9 is one of the last of the true “pilot’s airplanes”. It was designed and built in the 1960s when jet aircraft were still a relatively new concept and there were no such things as flight management systems, VNAV, LNAV or GPS navigation."

"Attention to detail abounds with this offering. You get five different variations of the DC-9, the original -10 model, -21, 31, 41 and 51. Differences amongst the models relate mostly to size. It took me three sessions before I could manage to get all the switches in the correct positions in order to start the engines…and truth be told, even though I followed the checklist instructions as closely as I could, I had to cheat and use CTRL+E."

"The 2D panel provided me the best overview of most of the instruments. I found the virtual cockpit, while beautifully detailed, does not allow panning with ease to see needed dials and switches. The instructions for cockpit setup are thorough and demanding but once engine start can be achieved, the reward is a terrific sound mix."

"Aircraft handling was all too quirky for my appreciation. I had considerable difficulty in attempting to maintain level flight at airspeeds of 180 kts or less even with flaps extended. Pitch control movement at that configuration would result in airspeed changes and level flight could only be maintained through constant power adjustments. I was also having a problem with stabilizer trim repeatedly resetting itself to full nose down. This necessitated having to keep the throttle pedestal window opened when using the 2D cockpit."

"If you want to experience 1960s era jet flight in a realistic setting then Sky Simulations' DC-9 Series is an excellent choice. This airplane must be piloted and flown throughout every phase of flight and if nothing else it teaches the importance of strict adherence to checklists. This is going to be an airplane that will need to be learned to be operated with any degree of precision and being able to do so will be a reward for the computer pilot as this is anything but a push button airplane and its operation is very much a reflection of the pilot’s ability."

Eiresim Dublin Airport For FS 2004

Posted: Thursday, November 5, 2009 - 14:44
Eiresim Dublin 2009 Scenery for FS2004 has just been released, 2 years in the making and includes all major developments including Pier D and Terminal 2. Visit the Eiresim Website for more details.

ESDG Citation X Extreme V2.0 For FSX

Posted: Thursday, November 5, 2009 - 14:35
Eageloft Development Group releases their Citation X Extreme V2.0 with Full FMS and Navigraph Support for FSX/SP2. This aircraft is released to market with their Navdata Service Upgrade enabled. FSX Citation X Extreme V2.0 now supports updateable Navigraph FMS Database under the Eaglesoft Banner which allows custom format Database updates which provide the basis for SID/STAR/IAP routines going forward. More information is available here at the Product Homepage and Screenshot Gallery .

FSC Motorized Throttle Driver Update

Posted: Thursday, November 5, 2009 - 14:29
A new driver for FSC Motorized Throttle Quadrant is available, the new driver compatible with FS2004 and FSX lets you interface the throttle quadrant to Flight Simulator via memory offsets in addition to the methods already used in previous releases. This improves the compatibility with third party glass cockpit software and with add-on aircrafts. To download the new driver, please consult their Homepage .

New Titles From The Avsim Store

Posted: Monday, November 2, 2009 - 14:11
The Avsim Store has a great selection of instant download products.
From Carenado, you can get the latest PA-28 Archer II, the Mooney 20-J , the C172N Skyhawk and others.
From Wilco we have the Boeing 777and the CRJ Regional Jet.

From Aerosoft, we have just added My Traffic 2010. It is the latest version of the popular and successful My Traffic series. Uncompromisingly optimized for the Microsoft Flight Simulator X, this product provides realistic air traffic in the air and on the ground and is controlled by artificial intelligence, for more than 8200 airports.
More than 140 aircraft models were newly designed for FSX with in a never-before-seen detail for AI-planes. Nearly all current airliners, most commuter aircraft and civil freighters are included. My Traffic 2010 generates more than 800,000 flight a day, worldwide.

Also we have a few GoFlight black modules left: Some GF-T8 toggle switch modules and some GF-P8 Pushbutton modules. We remind you that GoFlight is now shipping its modules in grey color. The black modules have the same features as the grey modules. They are offered at a heavily discounted price so they are a great opportunity for anyone who wants to start their its own cockpit.

Visit the Avsim store today.

MegaSceneryEarth: Arizona for FS-X

Posted: Sunday, November 1, 2009 - 23:25
Now Fly The Grand Canyon And Arizona State With MegaSceneryEarth

MegaSceneryEarh announces the latest addition to their FS-X range - Arizona State.

You get to fly 90,000+ Square miles of challenging and picturesque desert terrain where a VFR flight is a VFR flight. It'll challenge even the most experienced VFR pilot. That could be part of the reason that Arizona is the flight training capital of the world.

You'll get to venture above and "in" the most amazing sculpture that nature has ever carved - the Grand Canyon. Not just a portion it but the entire canyon. You won't believe it until you fly it! Even if you're not interested in the rest of the Arizona area, you can still obtain the Grand Canyon on it's own (7,000 square miles).

There's the city of Phoenix which boasts the world's 6th busiest international airport with over 36 million passengers.

Numerous national national forests, and lots and lots of fascinating terrain make adding Arizona to your MegaSceneryEarth collection a must.

For more information go to the MegaSceneryEarth site.

Free Upgrade For FSD P38 Lightning

Posted: Sunday, November 1, 2009 - 21:09
Flight Sim Developers and MilViz have released an additional P38 variation free of charge to their recent collection of the Lockeed P 38, the K now joins their J & L versions , The Lockheed P-38K-1-LO is now nearly forgotten, only the original test mule was photographed.
This aircraft was the benchmark against which all other variants of the P-38 Lightning must be compared, simply said it was the best performing Lightning ever to take to the sky. Lockheed decided that they would install the Hamilton Standard hydraulic propellers on one of the factory test "mules", and the XP-38K born, the "mule" was an extensively modified P-38E, the original intercoolers were replaced with the newer type introduced on the J model.
The new propellers were not the only design changes made in the search for greater performance. This airframe was configured for the Allison V1710F-15 powerplants which were rated at over 1,875 bhp in War Emergency Power (as compared to 1,725 bhp for the V1710F-17 in the P-38L). This was the only P-38 so configured. The potent combination of the engine/propeller promised excellent performance.
Head over to the FSD P38 Download Page for the updated installer if you already have the package and get your free “ K “ , as well a HD Video is now available to look over the “ Definitive Lightning “ .

Feature Article - McPhat Studios

Posted: Sunday, November 1, 2009 - 17:25
Staff reviewer Tim Capps writes a feature report about McPhat Studios. "McPhat artists are the Dutch masters of flight sim painting. And when I say they are artists, I’m not using journalistic license. They are temperamentally driven to produce beautiful and accurate graphics in ever-increasing detail."

"At first, McPhat used developers’ standard paint kits. Now, they build their own, which means months of work before they can even start a paint. Back when low-res kits reduced details to something resembling the slurry in the bottom of your cereal bowl, they were not that important. But UHDT is crisply merciless. Before a McPhat airplane can say “I’m ready for my close-up, Mr. DeMille,” artists have spent months poring over pictures at Airliners.net, getting every decal and rivet just right, building their own kit, and only then painting the thing."

"Detail has exceeded the capacity of one person to do everything and still keep the production line rolling. McPhat invented a new standard to go with their techniques. 100-199 pixels per meter is High Definition. (Most of what you see from developers does not approach anywhere near this.) 200 and up is Ultra High Definition. While this means better-looking airplanes, it does impact freeware production. Since they are developing custom kits to get the detail people expect, they simply cannot keep up with the level of freeware releases they had when they were using the developers’ stock kits."

"What sets McPhat apart is that they have reached a high level of artistry and technical accomplishment while meeting deadlines on very large commercial projects. Like it or not, they are a recognized economic factor in the payware community, not because they have a clever image or memorable name, but because they do excellent and timely work. There are few people you can confidently call the best. McPhat is the best commercial painting studio in the flight simming today. They are laps ahead of the competition due to their studio system, experience and talent."

Massive Scenery for FSX - The American West

Posted: Saturday, October 31, 2009 - 16:17
Sim-Savvy.com announces the release of Massive Scenery for FSX - The American West. Over one million square miles of Photoreal scenery including the states of Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming. 155 gigabytes of Photoreal Scenery delivered on a 500G USB hard drive. International orders are discounted to cover tariff costs. Shipping is Free to all locations. State samples and screenshots can be found at the newly structured website.

FS Global 2010 Released

Posted: Saturday, October 31, 2009 - 16:12
"Leave the previous version behind" says Pilot's FSim as FS Global 2010 goes beyond SRTM and its limited coverage between 60°N and 60°S. It goes beyond the current SRTM resolution of LOD9 (76m). Here are some of the improvements: LOD12 (FS-Mesh- and sourcedata in 9m resolution!) for Hawaii (complete)and the southwest of the US, south of 38°N and west of 108°W (ca. Mesa Verde -> Point Reyes); High Quality Coverage of North America: nationwide LOD11 (19m); Greenland, Iceland and Scandinavia in LOD 9 (76m; standard SRTM resolution); huge areas in the north of Russia in LOD9; Antarctica in LOD8: sophisticated new algorithms for correct views of ridges and peaks (most of them should have been higher and will now be nearer to actual value); Airport-Patches for prominent problem areas; and a tool for the user to correct wrong airport elevations. Find the complete details on the Pilot's FSim website.

Universal TCAS system for FSX/2004.

Posted: Saturday, October 31, 2009 - 15:54
TCAS (Traffic Collision Avoidance System) prevents pilots from mid-air collisions. DBS Universal TCAS system is designed to be used with any aircraft in FS9 or FSX. As a universal system DBS TCAS can be simply added to any aircraft as a standalone popup window or adapted to a specific panel throught editing the xml gauge.

The installation package contains predefined configuration to some aircraft supplied with Flight Simulator like the Boeing 737-400, Beechcraft King Air 350 and some others. On some predefined configuration, DBS TCAS replaces the default variometer and provides displaying traffic situation, resolution advisory and vertical speed of aircraft. The TCAS system is created as an interface and has a wide range of adapting to panels. Detailed instructions for developers about the installation of the TCAS system to custom aircraft will be coming soon in their Support section. Complete details can be found on the DBS Studio website.

ImagineSim Releases VHHH Hong Kong For FS2004

Posted: Saturday, October 31, 2009 - 15:48
Imaginesim has released Hong Kong International (Chek Lap Kok), the multi award winning airport at the beating heart of the Far East. VHHH was opened in 1998 to replace the infamous Kai Tak and the entire airport area is built on an enormous artificial platform created by levelling two islands and reclaiming huge areas of the seabed. Chek Lap Kok operates one of the world's largest passenger terminal buildings and 90 airlines fly to over 150 cities across the globe - nearly 50 million passengers annually. It is also the second busiest in the world in terms of cargo traffic, handling over 3.5 million tons each year. The airport model has also sparked interest from one of the world's commercial simulator manufacturers so you can be sure of a realistic and immersive experience.

This scenery add-on features custom made ground textures and runways, terminal, cargo and hangar buildings rendered to 5cm per pixel scale, an interactive docking system to park you right on your mark, taxiways with highly realistic concrete textures, full airport taxiway and runway signage, 3D approach lighting and full ILS navigation. Also included are hundreds of airport vehicles and ground personnel, aircraft can be found parked at custom textured parking positions, all hangars, cargo and airport auxiliary buildings are modeled, there is even a complete perimeter fence under the steady gaze of security cameras.

Its available now at the ImagineSim website along with screenshots and a demo version.

737 Voice Commander Edition For FS9

Posted: Saturday, October 31, 2009 - 15:45
Not only has FS2Crew released the FS9 version of their B737 Voice Commander, bu they have also updated the FSX 737 Voice Commander Edition to Version 2.0. Featuring 9 different human recorded voice sets, the 737 Voice Commander is a realistic flight crew simulation that allows users to communicate with their crew using advanced Speech Recognition Technology. For more info, please taxi over to the FS2Crew website.

Captain Sim 767 Freighter Expansion Released

Posted: Friday, October 30, 2009 - 14:37
Captain Sim announce the release of the 767 Freighter Expansion Model to their series of 767 Captain products , for complete details and screenshots please visit the Captain Sim Homepage

Super 80 High Definition Texture Set Released

Posted: Friday, October 30, 2009 - 14:31
McPhat Studios has released another set of classic liveries for the Flight 1 / Cool Sky Super 80. This time with great looking high-definition liveries Aerolineas Argentinas, Alaska Airlines, USAir, JAL, plus much more.
World Airliners 2 brings you an additional ten-special Ultra High Definition Texture sets, with a pixel per meter ratio of 253 and are four times as detailed as the stock Super 80 textures.
For more information please visit the product page at McPhat Studios .

Dash 8-300 Training Edition from Majestic Software

Posted: Friday, October 30, 2009 - 2:20
Staff review Marlon Carter heads to the classroom and then into the cockpit for some hands-on training with Majestic Software's Dash 8-300 Training Edition. "Due to its complexity, the developer has created 3 versions of the aircraft. The Pilot edition, the Pro edition and the Training edition."

"In this review we will take a closer look at the features of the training edition which is the most advanced of their Dash8-Q300 series and is intended as a training aid for professional pilots and technicians, as well as the CBT system’s familiarization and demonstrations. The training edition is a former AIRLINE edition, which was already in use for some time in the numerous flight schools for pilots and technicians training. This edition provides the full range of failures in every aircraft system using the included instructor station, as well as our new guide on how to utilize the capabilities of this software to prepare for the recurrent pilot proficiency checks. The training edition supports a full hardware enabled cockpit, and can be used to build home cockpits of various complexities from the ground up."

After taking the aircraft for a series of checkrides, Marlon conludes, "The Majestic Software Dash 8-300 Training Edition is quite a unique product. Never before have I come across an add-on for any home flight simulator that is so in-depth and practical for real life use. If you ask me, this product has perhaps been grossly underrated. The scenarios that can be created are almost endless and it surely creates some excitement to those uneventful flights when you have a friend cut your engines on final while in IMC conditions. I honestly recommend having this aircraft or its lesser priced versions added to your flight sim hangar."

Ship Console Now Available

Posted: Wednesday, October 28, 2009 - 14:47
Whether you are an expert sailor or a hobbyist, this control unit brings reality to your hands as you manoeuvre your ship with the same ease as if you were onboard.

The Ship Console is compatible with almost every boat simulation software on the market. Buttons, throttles and steering bar can be easily assigned to any simulator function through the configuration menu of your simulator. SHip Console is even compatible with MSFS (FSX or FS9) and its boat add-ons.

Complete details, pictures and the console's features can be found at the SimWare website.

Contrails Pro V 1.01

Posted: Tuesday, October 27, 2009 - 17:22
FlightSimTools has released an update to Contrails Pro, a module for FSX and FS9 that adds realistic contrails to AI aircraft. The update improves the frame rates and solves some display problems in FSX. Contrails Pro comes with its own optimized display engine, which displays contrails with unprecedented detail while keeping high frame rates.

Just like in the real world, contrails will slowly dissipate in the air and will glow in red during sunrise or sunset. There are excellent customization options allowing you to specify the contrail length, density, dispersion and a few other settings.

For more information and a free demo version, please visit Contrails Pro .

US Cities: San Francisco

Posted: Tuesday, October 27, 2009 - 1:35
Staff reviewer Jason McKee heads to the "City by the Bay" with a look at Aerosoft's US Cities San Francisco. "Aerosoft has published a series of cities from the USA; these are designed as enhancements of the default cityscape, and as such only cover a small area and only include one season and no night textures. Also they have been designed to be less frame rate intensive than the mega city or VFR series."

"As this is a city only product the airport is not covered. The buildings of the downtown area look to be placed correctly and look very good. The great thing about this product is that you can scale the amount of objects displayed to suit your system. The ground bitmap is not a super high resolution, and as such the ground does suffer from this. However, from 1000’ up it is not that noticeable but you do notice the textures on the ground and buildings are blurry when you get close."

"US Cities San Francisco sits nicely between the default and a mega city like London VFR X and such; it is less expensive yet doesn’t lack detail. I think the majority will be happy with the coverage and realism offered."

Greenland Airstrips Pack 1 Released.

Posted: Tuesday, October 27, 2009 - 0:44
This package gives you 9 more airstrips to land on around Greenland. These airstrips are fictional, and do not exists in real life. Free to download to their registeres members and registration is free. Find out more about Greenland Airstrips at the FlightSim Greenland website.