Due to the size of the download (nearly 24mb) and considering some problems that "Tailboom" has been experiencing with his computer system, he asked that I sub for him with one of his choices for "Top 5 Picks" this week, the FSD Pilatus Porter PC-6!
Hmmmm... where to start? There occasionally comes a time when an available "freeware" download file is so good, it goes almost beyond words to describe and the FSD PC-6 Porter is most certainly one of those downloads! Over the past couple of years or more, Flightsim Developers have been responsible for some very excellent aircraft, with prior downloads for FS98 and of course more recently FS2000. Its only been a few months since FSD joined forces with Dreamfleet and gave us the finest and most accurate Cessna 172 humanly possible, now they've done it again (only this time they developed the panel on their own as Dreamfleet is quite busy on another project). The fellows responsible for the obvious hard and dedicated work on this aircraft are FSD's Jim Goldman, Steve Small, and Marco Rensen; and collaborating authors Yannick Lavigne and Fred Banting—all names very familiar to those of us that use FS2K and have ever downloaded a high quality add-on aircraft!
The real PC-6s are manufactured in Switzerland as a STOL (Short Take Off & Landing) aircraft with high altitude operation in the rugged European Alps being their primary consideration. FSD has nearly duplicated this amazing aircraft for use in FS2000 and have broken new ground in FS aircraft design in the process! Everything about the FSD Porter PC-6 is as near perfect as is most likely possible within the constraints of the programming of FS2000 or within any available PC based flight sim for that matter. From this FS aircraft's fully reversible prop (while airborne) to its fully working (compressing) gear struts... wow... this is too much fun! Within the first 4 or 5 days that I had this aircraft on my computer, I put in a good 15 to 20 hours just flying this true work of flight simulator ART! The night lighting, the texturing, the air file, the sounds, and the panel are all PERFECT! Yea... the panel! You've got to see this for yourself, everything on the panel works... works the same as in the real PC-6—and after only a couple of minutes you'll almost forget that this is a flightsim panel and aircraft!
This download, though big at 24mb, is worth every second it takes to download and then install, which is very easy and automatic. You get two complete aircraft, a parachute or jumpers version and a extended range model, each with their own panel! Steve Small informed me that they will also release a float and wheel/ski version here shortly... YES! Alaska…here I come! If you're serious about your flightsim, than this is absolutely a MUST have FS aircraft! ...Bear
Over the last week or so, a group of FS enthusiast under the name Project Opensky, have been releasing their version of the Boeing 767 in various liveries, including, as you see here, the KLM Dutch Airlines colors (one of my favorite by the way). Nearly all of the Boeing models have been duplicated, and often, for use in FS2000 and so why should this one be any different, you may ask? Well, these fellows over at Project Opensky have done an outstanding job at developing their example and I personally believe it's one of the nicest appearing 767s available (no matter what livery you happen to download, all of which are also available here at AVSIM). This FS aircraft (base model) was designed by; Misushi Yutaka and Hiroshi Igami, handling paint for the KLM livery was John Tavendale, and Flight Dynamics of the base model by Johan C Dees (a name many of you may recognize). Johan C Dees used the actual flight characteristics of a Euro-airline 767-300ER in developing his air file and the results are very very good. Flying this FS aircraft will instill a great deal of confidence in the pilot, as it's flight performance is wonderful, heavy and smooth with its control inputs and a real joy to fly! This aircraft uses the default panel from the 777 (FS2000) and the same with the sound files, so looking around for an appropriate panel (check out Eric Ernst's work for an excellent 767 panel) and/or sound files may be helpful, but not necessary.
Just to point out some of the details of this very excellent aircraft, I would be remise if I failed to mention Project Opensky's attention to detail, as this design uses a 32-sided fuselage, fully moving and animated parts (including a retracting tail skid), plus the most "round" engines I've seen yet on a Boeing FS aircraft... I wonder how they do that? Overall the texturing is smooth and delightful, it also includes the expected FS2000 night lighting effects (tail logo and fuselage splashes), but the light effect or appearance of the landing lights is really quite unique and very good looking! Best I've seen for a FS2000 aircraft. Project Opensky has a real winner with their design and I strongly suggest you download this aircraft and give it a spin!
...Bear
Kyprianos upgraded six airports in the Southeastern section of Greece with this very nice add-on. Nothing fancy, but most certainly a nice improvement over the MS default, runways only, scenery in FS2000. All six locations: Syros, Kasos, Sitia, Leros, Ikaria, and Kithira—besides being located in some rather picturesque areas of the Aegean Sea—also afford some of the more interesting or should I say, dangerous, approaches for small aircraft. Kyprianos suggests that you also add the freeware mesh scenery for Southeastern Greece (grmesh1.zip) to enhance your experience flying into these airports and I wholeheartedly agree!
Kyprianos designed the scenery for use without the need for exclude files or flatten switches, so installation is straightforward and easy, even for the novice! This FS2000 scenery enhancement was developed using standard ASD objects, and includes taxiways, buildings, radio towers, etc. I also noted that a couple of harbors, near the airports enhanced with this scenery, included a few simple items as well (a dock with a sailboat and such).
There's a lot of bang for the buck, so to speak, with this scenery add-on as the file is relatively small at only 463Kb, but you get a lot of improvements over the default in the effort! One other item of note: none of these airports (at least the ones I checked) include any kind of runway lights or night lighting! Kyprianos explains in his readme file that these airports in real-life do not have runway lights! Oh... okay, well that's at least realistic! Spend a lot of time flying in or around Greece? Then I would highly suggest Kyprianos Biris's "Greek Airfields" add-on!
...Bear
Saurlee airfield, located about 25 miles or so from Brussels, Belgium (South Airport), is a center for light aircraft, parachutists, and glider activity! Pierard has come up with a very nice and simple (sometimes... well most times, I like simple) scenery add-on for this little airfield that I like very much. In addition to trees and hangers, Pierard has also included various static aircraft (including a Porter PC-6, parked in front of the helicopter on the main ramp), 3D cars, gliders parked across the grass runway, area powerline towers, and area buildings (like a church just a couple of miles away). The main terminal building has windows that you can see into the building's interior, rather just simply looking at a bmp of a window.
Being as I live in the USA (Reno, Nevada) I find myself flying in those areas of the world I've yet to visit in real-life, so most often you can find me flying (sim) in either France, England, Germany, Switzerland, or even Belgium for that matter. Anytime I can find a enhancement scenery, particularly those that hold true to reality, I'm first in line to download it. Pierard's scenery upgrade for Saurlee Airfield is quite nice, simple, and makes Saurlee a more likely stop-over location for me now, when I'm sightseeing in Belgium! Nice work! ...Bear
Gundy's Airport is located just a stone's throw north of Tulsa, Oklahoma and was established in 1948, according to Dale Baker, author of this very fine scenery add-on! (Dale included a photograph of the sign, on entry to the real Gundy's Airport, and it confirms Dale's statement of "Est. 1948") Gundy's is appropriate for small aircraft only and includes a paved runway as well as a turf runway. Though there are no available enclosed hangers, Gundy's does provide for protection with the open style T-hangers. Dale has included several (though I didn't count them, it looks like 15 to 20, maybe more) static aircraft under the T-hangers, plus this airfield is surrounded by leafed trees, of which change (their color) with the seasons.
Most interesting is landing on Runway 17, as Dale has placed a tree directly on the runway's centerline and only about 150 feet from the runway's end! This tree appears to be about 40 feet tall, so it makes an approach from this direction very interesting indeed! Hehehe... I liked it!
Dale, as with a number of other authors, have developed scenery add-ons for many of the smaller airfields in and around the bigger cities. In nearly all cases these small field add-ons have little or no effect on frame rates, but they all go a long ways toward enhancing that immersion factor when flying in these areas. I for one, greatly encourage you scenery fellows to always consider the smaller fields, there always seems to be plenty of scenery add-ons for the big metro airports, but many times the little fields get passed over! Thanks Dale and keep up the good work! ...Bear
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