An AVSIM analysis of the "airfile," or flight dynamics file, from the recently released commercial Carenado Cessna 172 appears to corroborate rumors raised in recent days that the file is based on a copyrighted freeware C-172 file by Australian designer Steve Small. Carenado denies the allegations and says similarities, if any, are pure coincidence.

Allegations made this week in forums here at AVSIM and elsewhere claimed Carenado used copyrighted material from several sources in the design of the Cessna 172 Skyhawk it is now offering for sale as an add-on to the Microsoft Flight Simulator 2000 platform. As no verifiable evidence was provided to corroborate the allegations posted in the AVSIM Forums, the thread was pulled as per standing policy. A full explanation of this policy is spelled out in an AVSIM Editorial, "Just what is Piracy?" which accompanies this article. For the results of an AVSIM independent investigation into these allegations, just click here.