Bear's Cave The world of Flight Simulators short reviews by Steve "Bear" Cartwright 05-Mar-2001 Kai Tak 2000, Version 3 by Thomas Kwong kaitak.zip uploaded 25-Feb-2001 5,908Kb FS2000 Thomas has given us all 2 versions (enhancements) of his excellent Kai Tak scenery over the last several months and unfortunately, he states in his readme file, this will be his last for FS2000! This is due to an accident where he lost all of his source files, so he will begin again from scratch, for FS2002 and/or FLY2! Kai Tak is of course that notorious airport located at Hong Kong and though it's actually been closed for some years now, Thomas has kept it alive for all of us flight simmers to enjoy! Thomas's latest of this truly amazing scenery, and amazing airport, is even further enhanced than his previous versions and now includes photorealistic buildings, ships in the harbor, cargo terminal at Kwai Chung, inner and outer markers, perimeter fencing, plus many other little features or details! This airport had to have been one of the most difficult airports to land at that I could imagine, oh it's easy in a Cessna or a light twin, but try it in 400 tons of Boeing 747-400!!! What a kick! If you haven't loaded up Thomas's "Kai Tak" scenery before, then here may be your last chance for FS2000 and one other thing, be sure to disable or click on the "ignore crash" box in the aircraft realism menu! So you think I'm joking huh...! Hehehehe, just wait until you try it! In addition, I might also suggest that you call ahead for a citywide evacuation prior to your first attempt at landing here! ...Bear! 05-Mar-2001 Private Boeing 727-100 With Winglets N110BE by Bill Alicea b727-100pri.zip uploaded 26-Feb-2001 726Kb FS2000 Using FSDS – Bill Alicea, Kevin Trinkle, and Sam Chin have come up with an original Boeing 727-100, the first I've seen in Private Ownership livery! Over 1800 of the real Boeing 727s were built and put into service, though the vast majority were the larger/longer -200 series, rather than this shorter -100 series aircraft. The original Boeing 727 is easily one of the most popular jetliners ever built! Bill's work has yielded a very sharp and quite attractive version of this very popular Boeing aircraft, which also includes small winglets (much like the new Business 737 from Boeing). This aircraft does depend on default sounds and panel, but nonetheless it's still worth a look, as it is very beautiful! Sam Chin handled the FDE and this baby is a real joy to fly—docile, yet responsive! All parts are animated and I've noticed a large number of screenshots already showing up in the Screenshot Forum (here at AVSIM) with this aircraft! I'm a little surprised that Abacus missed this one for their "Corporate Pilot" series?? Well, I'm sure you've already got about a bazillion Boeings, but if flying an excellent example of the 100 series 727 – in private livery interest's you – then here it is! Besides, those winglets are really "cool baby"! ...Bear! 04-Mar-2001 Lockheed P-38L-5-LO by David C. Copley p38ldcc1.zip uploaded 28-Feb-2001 361Kb Combat Flight Simulator Well, this is the first aircraft, intended for CFS2, that I've picked for my weekly "Top 5 Picks" and... it is a good one! David has taken the default P-38 and reworked it fairly extensively, including some tweaking of the air file or at least something, because you can feel some improvement with David's P-38 over the default '38 Lightening! Power off turn-ins are a little better (maybe more responsive is a better word) and the roll-rate seems slower somehow, over the default. Now I just need to get a dual throttle yoke so that I can use differential engine power for yawing into those enemy fighters! (that was one of those combat tricks that Richard Bong used against the enemy fighters he fought against in World War II!) During the war (WWII), most of the P-38 aircraft in the Pacific had bare metal textures – instead of the camouflage of the default CFS aircraft – and David has done a really nice job at bringing back that original look of the P-38 and its flying characteristics appear to have been improved slightly too! (the panel and sounds are all default CFS2.) In my first "Quick Combat" with this aircraft, I downed two Zekes quicker than you can say "Kelly Johnson" (Kelly Johnson was the designer of the U2, the SR-71, and before that, the P-38). So, check out the AVSIM library for this historic and very accurate appearing air combat aircraft; I'm sure you'll like it! ...Bear! 05-Mar-2001 Mooney M-20R Ovation 2 by Tim Samuel ovat2_v10.zip uploaded 3-Mar-2001 3,621Kb FLY! There's been but a few high quality freeware aircraft to become available for FLY so far, save for the very fine aircraft from Rob Young and a couple of other re-paints; that was until now! This week we saw two completely new aircraft—aircraft intended solely for FLY or FLY2K—hit the library (the other was an Embraer 120, but the author requested that no reviews be applied at this time, as it's in "extreme beta" for the moment). Tim Samual has released this really wonderful little Mooney Ovation 2, fast – efficient, and a pretty good looker too! Tim has spent nearly 5 months preparing this aircraft for release and the wait was worth it as this is just what the doctor ordered! The Mooney Ovation is one of the fastest singles in its class (mid-altitude, single engine, normally aspirated performance aircraft and this aircraft can cruise at 190kts) and Tim has now given the FLY fans something that fits below the Piper Chieftain, yet quicker an more powerful than the Cessna 172! This aircraft comes complete with its own original panel, detailed interior, and detailed exterior views! This Mooney's new panel is based on actual photographs taken from a real life Mooney Ovation and is very accurate, as is expected when using aircraft in FLY—and as everyone would also expect, it includes a very accurate flight model as well! If you're a FLY fan, then this is a must have aircraft to include in your inventory, so jump on into AVSIM's library and download this jewel today, if you already haven't! ...Bear! 05-Mar-2001 Grumman G21 Goose Version 0.5 Beta by Markus Brunner goose.zip uploaded 3-Mar-2001 3,474Kb Flight Unlimited 3 In the mid to late 1930s, the Grumman Aircraft Company produced one of the world's all time great, and easily one of the most recognizable aircraft ever – the Grumman G21 "Goose"! Though this aircraft went out of production in the 1940s, some 60 years ago, there are still a few small regional and charter services using these timeless masterpieces! There are many classic examples of this aircraft in museums world-wide, including the Smithsonian in Washington DC! Markus Brunner states that he converted a FS98 model of the Goose over to this very fine example for FU3, and the results are a very accurate and flying aircraft. The paint is in the 1940's era military colors, which Markus has done very accurately as well. Markus further explains in his readme file that there are a couple of known issues (sounds and the lack of 2D or 3D cockpit views), but these are relatively minor compared to the opportunity to enjoy this aircraft in Flight Unlimited 3! So, if Flight Unlimited 3 is your sim of choice, then I would suggest you download this aircraft an go flying into some Northwest backwoods lake or river! Today! ...Bear! 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