Tailboom's Corner The world outside your plane short reviews by Craig 'Tailboom' Snyder [Editor's Note: Bonus edition! While Steve Cartwright continued to fill in for Tailboom this week, Craig 'Tailboom' Snyder suddenly emerged (albeit with quite a cold). So this week we have seven mini-reviews! (all but three were separate picks). This week we again feature a selection for Fly! as well as the FS2000 regulars. Tailboom concludes with his two additional picks.] Bearracing leads off: This last week we saw over 110 file uploads here at AVSIM, including files for FU3, X-Plane, FLY, FS98, and FS2000! So you think it's easy to pick just 5 from that many uploads...? Even considering the number of uploads, choosing my pick of the best 5 was easier this week than you might expect! So here it goes...! 07-Jan-01 Hawker V88 for Fly! by Peter Roberts & Rob Young hawkerv88.zip uploaded on 01-Jan-01 1,452Kb Fly! Well, almost the very first upload for the new year is this beautiful Hawker V88 Corporate Jet from Peter Roberts and Rob Young, for FLY! All of the flight testing was handled by Peter Sidoli and the flight modeling is as you would expect from these guys, superb! According to Rob, the previous versions of this aircraft that they had uploaded, was downloaded over 30,000 times... that's a lot, so there must be something here... you think? With this download you get two aircraft, the RAF HS125 "Dominie" version and the USAF Hawker 800 c29a version (the USAF Hawker is painted in a green/gray camouflage). Rob's readme file went into detail about all the time and effort that was spent to see that the flight modeling was as good as is possible, but rather than bore you with those details, I will tell you my impressions! As soon as I took off, I was met with a smooth as silk flight, all inputs are met with a smooth and confidence inspiring return, in all aspects of flight. Rob and the boys did an outstanding job on getting the flight dynamics as close to real as is possible within the limits of a PC flight sim... this is really nice work guys! It's very important (as with all of the downloads that you install) that you read the documents and readme files with these aircraft! Rob gives you some pointers on where to set your realism and trim settings; that will save you a lot of time in the long run! Follow Rob's directions, then go fly... that's all there is to it! Another fine aircraft from Rob Young ...Bear 07-Jan-01 Chilko Lake, British Columbia by Jim Faircloth chilkolk.zip uploaded 01-Jan-01 801Kb FS2000 07-Jan-01 Bottom Lake, British Columbia by Jim Faircloth bottomlk.zip uploaded 06-Jan-01 503Kb FS2000 Jim Faircloth, no rookie to my weekly "Top 5 Picks" with his prior bush scenery add-on, Tsuniah Lake Resort, has uploaded excellent bush scenery add-ons or enhancements this last week! The first was Chilko Lake, just 5 miles from Tsuniah Lake Resort, and Bottom Lake (a fictitious location, but a very neat bush strip nonetheless) at the upper end of a very deep and spectacular gorge! His intention with Bottom Lake was to add a nice stopover when traveling from Chilko or Tsuniah to Vancouver, British Columbia. Chilko Lake is a default FS2000 location, but Jim has greatly enhanced this small dirt strip with lots of trees, an abundance of wildlife, hanger, static aircraft, and a really beautiful lodge with associated log cabins. There's a tie-off dock for your float-plane, if that's what you arrive in, but be careful of several Canadian Geese floating nearby. Installation of this scenery does call for the installation of exclude and flatten switch files, but there's nothing to that for the experienced scenery installer. Bottom Lake is, as mentioned above, a fictitious location; but this was the ideal location to have a small dirt strip placed, considering the dramatic scenery nearby! According to Jim's readme file, the dirt/gravel strip located here is adequate, even for heavy twins and small jets... hmm? That's probably true, but only if you approach from the water's side! You'll need a Beaver, Cub, or Porter if your approach is from the gorge end! In addition to the dirt strip there is a float hanger, dock, houseboats, and lodge (with a couple of log cabins)... plus there are some deer and elk roaming around, so be careful! Again a pair of excellent bush sceneries from Jim Faircloth for our good neighbor to the North! ...Bear 07-Jan-01 McGehee's Catfish Airport (T40) by Dale Baker t40.zip uploaded 03-Jan-01 279Kb FS2000 McGehee's Catfish Airport, located at Marietta, Oklahoma is another in the very fine series of Oklahoma airport sceneries from Dale Baker! McGehee's Catfish Airport is a default location in FS2000 and like most small airports is very boring (I mean that the airport rendering in FS2000 is boring, I wasn't referring to the real airport or to the town of Marietta), but Dale has been busy giving all of us some really neat and excellent sceneries to add some realism to flying in Oklahoma! He continues with this very excellent rendering, lots of trees, static aircraft and 3D cars in the parking lot, plus a rendering of the McGehee Catfish Restaurant! Hmm... I wonder what the main fare is on their menu? The location of McGehee's is in the South Central part of the State and Dale's directions are "...just north of the Red River and about 5 miles west of I-35.."! This airport has a single turf runway and sports lights for night operations. Installation is normal and does requre the installation of exclude and flatten switches, but nothing to it! This is No 7 in Dale's Oklahoma series sceneries and according to his readme file, he plans on continuing, I hope he does...these are very nice! ...Bear 07-Jan-01 Welcome to Lake Horton by Don Moser lake_horton.zip uploaded 06-Jan-01 1,355Kb FS2000 07-Jan-01 Welcome to North View by Don Moser north_view.zip uploaded 06-Jan-01 581Kb FS2000 Well, Don Moser (Mr. Alaska), has done it again with two bush scenery uploads this last week! The first was Lake Horton, which is roughly halfway between Fairbanks and Nome, Alaska or about 95 miles from Galena, AK (on a 123º heading). Lake Horton has a 2100 foot dirt/gravel runway with a nice lake suitable for that floatplane of your's as well. Each time Don has uploaded a new scenery, it seems, he's come up with a new wrinkle—and this time he's got the lake freezing over in Winter and the runway is covered in snow as well! The trees follow the seasons, displaying their color in the Autumn and losing their leaves in Winter, but their natural green returns in the Spring time! As usual, watch out for local critters on landing and as Don would probably say, "...stop on by and have a cup of coffee, we'll keep the fire going for ya all!" Don's second scenery, North View, is just 13 miles from Stampede, AK or 75 miles from Fairbanks (on a heading of 226º) and like all his others, has lots of trees, wildlife, and a log cabin scattered along the dirt/gravel runway. Unfortunately though, those of you flying a float plane will have to pass this location by, as there is no river or lake nearby! For all you bush pilots out there, here's two more excellent sceneries from Don Moser! ...Bear 07-Jan-01 Let L-13 Blanik Glider by CVA Design l13_2k.zip uploaded 06-Jan-01 1,351Kb FS2000 07-Jan-01 LF-107 Lunak by CVA Design lunak2k.zip uploaded 06-Jan-01 1,412Kb FS2000 07-Jan-01 VT116 Orlik 2 by CVA Design vt116.zip uploaded 06-Jan-01 1,638Kb FS2000 Hmmm..., you know, I almost overlooked these, as gliders are not something I can say I've ever flown, ridden in, or even flown in FS2000 for that matter, but I'm sure glad I downloaded an installed these aircraft, wow... what a kick in the pants! There were 3 uploads of gliders from CVA Design this last week; all 3 are a real joy to fly and their appearance is on equal to anything I've seen recently! All three gliders depicted by these FS aircraft are gliders originally produced in Czechoslovak and are the Let L-13 Blanik, LF-107 Lunak, and the VT116 Orlik 2! Each of these FS aircraft has an extensive document file, telling of each aircraft's history and giving some excellent pointers on flying a glider. Installation is automatic and with a simple click of the mouse, you have your gliders in your flight sim. To get airborne, you can either use the "slew" mode, or you can take-off in a conventional powered aircraft and fly to altitude, then switch to one of these very excellent aircraft. I would suggest that once you've got some altitude, ready to fly with your glider, save this as a flight! Then the next time you want to fly a glider, you're already set at altitude... that's all there is to it! I spent most of my time flying the Let L-13 Blanik, but they all feature a moving pilot, 3D virtual cockpit, photorealistic 2D panel, reflective plexiglass canopies, and metric gauges. Flying and just listening to the sound of the wind, while looking through the plexiglass canopy is very moving and awe inspiring! These aircraft are very easy to fly and when you tire of that Boeing/Airbus or the exhaust rap from your Beaver... try a little silence for a change, in what has to be the closest thing to pure flight yet! This is what Wilbur and Orville were trying to achieve! I'm done... I'm going to go and fly one of these really great gliders. Download one of these aircraft tonight, then go and really enjoy your flight sim experience like you never have! ...Bear 6-Jan-01 Sabena Boeing 737-429 by Abdurrahman Gundogmas sabena.zip uploaded 02-Jan-01 489kb FS2000 6-Jan-01 Lufthansa Boeing 737-430 by Abdurrahman Gundogmas lufthansa.zip uploaded 02-Jan-01 451kb FS2000 6-Jan-01 Alitalia Boeing 737-400 by Abdurrahman Gundogmas alitalia.zip uploaded 03-Jan-01 488kb FS2000 6-Jan-01 Anitolia Boeing 737-4Q8 by Abdurrahman Gundogmas anatolia.zip uploaded 03-Jan-01 490kb FS2000 Hi Guys I'm back! And I'd like to introduce ya'll to the work of Abdurrahman Gundogmus. http://www.fsturk.com Turkish Aviation Pages. Abdurrahman has done about 18 different repaints of the default 737-400. And if I may say so VERY well done repaints. Good enough to stand alone, and that's how they're bundled, as a stand-alone 737, not just the textures. Which inevitably leads to another heap'n help'n of sim soup. Grab one of the myriad panels available for the 737, perhaps a different sound pack. And you might rename one of PF's new 737-300 air.files to use with one of these, couldn't hurt. Or of course you could just use the textures to get rid of the (IMO) hideous Orbit livery. Your choice, and with the flexibilty of the way they are packaged, lots of options are available. ...t'BOOM 07-Jan-01 MARS Arctic Research Station V1.0 by Richrd Hogen marsbas1.zip uploaded on 04-Jan-01 1,417kb FS2000 First let's get the official title out of the way; FS2000 Rendition of the Mars Arctic Research Station of the Mars Society/NASA Haughton Mars Project (HMP) Devon Island, Nunavut Territory, Canada. Whew, that's a mouthful! And as you can tell by the title it's a real place. And the testing going on will be applied to manned Mars expeditions. This is seasonal scenery, in that the real MARS Hab and Base Camp are only occupied in the summer season, so in other seasons in FS you will only see the Hab, and the landing strip. Along with the Hab, tents, three wheelers, a polar bear watchdog, there is someone testing a prototype Mars spacesuit. You have to find him/her, just to add to the enjoyment of this scenery. I like scenery that has hidden stuff—kind of adds to the immersion effect. Richard has included many pics of the real Mars base and they let you see how well done this scenery is. Look close at some of the objects and you'll see what I mean—be sure and see the 3-wheelers up close. Nuff, said, I have some search'n to do, I wanna see the prototype spacesuit... C'ya ...t'BOOM Tell A Friend About these Reviews!   Standard Disclaimer These reviews above are a subjective assessment of the work of the authors. There is no connection between the product author and the reviewer, and we feel this review is unbiased and truly reflects the performance of the product in the simming environment. This disclaimer is posted here in order provide you with background information on the reviewer and connections that may exist between him/her and the contributing party. © 2001 - AVSIM Online All Rights Reserved