| Dutch Flight
Simulator Weekend at Schiphol, Amsterdam | |||||||
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| a report by Francois Dumas and Aidan Williams Staff Reviewers AVSIM Online! | |||||||
| Amsterdam, September 30th, 2000 | |||||||
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From the picture
above you can see that the weather was not too bad at all on September the 30th.
Too bad we were spending the day looking at computers and simulators, instead
of taking a spin in the only remaining DC-2 that still flies, which is
based at this very airport. The good news is that we will all be able to fly the DC-2
in the future, thanks to a project that Jan Visser and some other
flightsim designers have under way. The DFSO (Dutch Flight Simulator Organization), that
occupied the largest space at the convention, showed the model on the big screen! Jan
Visser is also the aircraft designer of the R4D DC-3 package you undoubtedly all are familiar with!
What you cannot tell from the
picture is that it took Aidan and me some 2 hours to find each other at Schiphol.
Aidan flew in from Cardiff (yes, that's how dedicated we are in getting you the
latest news in simming <grin>) but managed to get himself in the 'hold
circuit' in the departure hall, while I was circling in the arrival hall. And no
r/c to help us communicate! We're doing a lot better flying multiplayer together
connecting through IP than connecting in real life. But once we found our way to
the Aviodome building, we had a great day.
The exhibition
Although the Dutch Flightsim Days are relatively small -
compared to similar events elsewhere, notably the upcoming one in Birmingham, UK
- it is always a nice event. We have listed the (planned) participating groups
and organizations (with their URL's) at the end of the article. The weekend was
organized by the Friends of the Aviodome in close cooperation with the Aviodome and several organizations and clubs. The event has two main goals it seems; it is a way for non- or beginning
flight simulator enthusiasts to learn more about the hobby, it's possibilities,
the clubs and the people behind it all. And it is a meeting point for flight
simmers from all over the country (and even from abroad).
Because of the 'beginners aspect'
there are lots of clubs and individuals just showing what they do and how they
do it. These demonstrations range from the lone man that has built his own
throttle and yoke from plywood, to the very professional DFSO who do national
presentations at many events. Here you see some pictures of the DFSO group
(unfortunately the hall was a bit dark so everybody could see what was shown on
the big screens). The DFSO came complete with their own network, network
specialist, a 'mixer' who would switch between the different pc's and a
commentator who explained what was going on. The show consisted of a flight from
Boston to Amsterdam and some local flights in Holland, all managed by 3 Air
Traffic Controllers.
Novelty 1, a Douglas DC-2
Not only did the DFSO show
the flights and procedures, they also had some news; they were flying Jan
Visser's DC-2, depicting the only remaining flying specimen of this aircraft,
the predecessor of the DC-3. The real DC-2 flies with the DDA (Dutch
Dakota Association), who also have a DC-3. We can't wait to get our hands on the
DC-2, but there is still some work to be done, such as a real DC-2 panel. And
Jan Visser has his hands full with a new version of the R4D DC-3 (see incredible
screenshots on AVSIM). Unfortunately we did not manage to get a good picture of
the DC-2, but..... Jan has promised us some screenshots soon which we will share
with you together with a preview on the upcoming DC-2. Watch this space !!!!
Novelty 2, new Dutch scenery
Another novelty was the new FS2000 Netherlands Scenery, to be released around December (hopefully before Christmas!). This scenery is being developed by a large group of Dutch scenery
designers. They have a great site with preview screenshots for you to visit. The biggest novelty
in this area is the use of map data for roads, tracks and rivers
to place the ENTIRE Dutch road network into the scenery. That
leads to some stunning results in road realism, such as accurate highway intersections. Not
only are they in the right place, they really look like highways with on-ramps and
exit roads, fly-overs and accurate bends ! This is a lot different from the clunky
stuff that comes as FS2K standard. The group is also working on
all the airports, special landmarks of the little country such as the Zeeland
bridge, cities (the Pier of Scheveningen), oil rigs and other goodies. I checked out some
of the depicted airfields in reality not long ago, and I can attest that the
models look very good indeed. This is one piece of scenery that many Dutch and
European fans will be anxiously waiting for. The best thing of all is that this huge
effort is FREEWARE !! If you want more information, then click on their wonderful logo below !!!
We thought the above picture
would amuse you. It is taken on the Afsluitdijk, Holland's longest dike, on our
Dutch Tour we did on Sunday. This dike is featured in the Dutch Scenery 2000 and
you can easily land your Cessna, Beaver or any other small plane on it. This thing
is over 32 km, or 19 miles, long—no way you can miss it!
There was a lot of other nice
stuff around, such as the set-up on the picture below. It was found on many of
the "simmers" desks. Questioning one of the owners, we found that it's
of Italian design and costs about $1500. Ouch! For all you budding
"Heavy" pilots out there, this has to be the ultimate add-on.
During our visit we also took a tour of the actual museum (included in the entrance fee) and completed the visit with a few rounds along the commercial stands. Although we did not buy anything, I decided that I was going to get the Saitek joystick/throttle combo after seeing it for real. (I have it now and it works great !). We liked the event and assuming we'll have travel money we will visit again next year. Meanwhile, we will keep you updated on the upcoming releases of the DC-2 and Dutch Scenery!!
This years participants and
links to their sites (where available):
D.F.S.O. form Dordrecht NL2000 scenery team Johan Cranenburg and son: Flight Simulator Users Group HCC (FSGG) Flight Simulator Club Midden Nederland (Hilversum): Team AirKz - Beverwijk Dutch VACC Team "Enviro" F16 Tiger Meet team MLD-demo team Bram Zwet (and father) Enno Borgsteede Dutch Flight Network Werkgroep FS van de Vriendenkring Aviodome Flight & Race shop Lelystad Luchtvaart Hobby Shop Flight Base Flash Aviation Ron Norpe Orange Air Virtual airlines
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