Bear's Cave The world of Flight Simulators short reviews by Steve "Bear" Cartwright I can't believe it's been a month since my last "Top Picks" posting, but it sure has and I'm sure everyone has been excited with the release of FS2002 on October 19th (at least for North America) and now finally it's beginning to show up in the rest of the world. The last month has also been pretty exciting in the AVSIM library with many many excellent uploads and surprisely enough, several excellent uploads for FS2002 already! Anyway, enough chit-chat, lets take a look at some of the notable gems I discovered:   30-October-2001 American Airlines MD-90 by Steve Reyling aa_md-90.zip aamd90_u.zip (update) md_paint.zip (repaint template for MD-90) uploaded 9-Oct-2001 1,008Kb FS2000 Aircraft ffg_md-90-30_bwianc.zip (MD-90-30 BWIA for FS2002) uploaded 30-May-2002 1,250Kb FS2002 Aircraft Since the introduction of FS2000, there have been latterly hundreds of jetliners made available and every time a new one appears, I'm still impressed or excited by something new or improved with each one—and Steve Reyling has kept that tradition going with his release of the MD-90 (affectionately referred to as "Mad Dog"). Bottom line, score another winner from those that use FSDSPro (Flight Simulator Design Studio Professional from Abacus), as this aircraft is highly detailed, with fully animated flight controls and landing gear; and yes, there are even working thrust reversers. Steve Reyling recommends (and I wholeheartedly agree) the Paul Golding MD-87 panel for this aircraft (pgmd87v1.zip in the AVSIM library) and this combination makes a very complete package. Steve has also made available an update file (this update contains improved textures, readme file that better explains the proper method for setting up the MD-90 configuration, an improved FDE for use with Paul Golding's MD-87 panel) and an additional file that contains a template for user re-paints. Nice little touch from Steve! Steve Reyling's MD-90 combined with Paul Golding's MD-87/88/90 panel are a perfect match (in the words of Forrest Gump, "...they go together like peas and carrots") and I have been operating this combination in FS2002 and so far (with some exceptions to Paul's panel) it seems to work pretty well there too. ...Bear! [Editor's Note: There's also the additional BWIA livery for FS2002 – see link reference above.]   30-October-2001 Aviat Husky A1-B by Steven Grant/Fred Choate aviat_husky.zip hsky_pnlv2.zip (panel update) uploaded 13-Oct-2001 604kb FS2000 Aircraft and panel Steven and Fred both have been giving all of us lately some really terrific bush planes (Otters and Maules, just to name a couple) and they continue their work with a Aviat Husky A1-B, which is a fascinating little workhorse of an aircraft in its own right. If you're loaded lightly, this aircraft has a take-off roll that's somewhere between a helicopter and Pilatus Porter, in other words you don't need much space! This is a great little aircraft for landing on a river sandbar, on a glacier, or on your favorite beach. Steven has even included a set of skis for that occasion when you wish to land on a snowpack or a ice covered lake (for ski operations, just hit the "/" spoiler key). This FS aircraft includes all animated parts, even rolling tires, plus there is a custom panel as well (be sure to check out their update to the Aviat Husky panel with the link noted above). So, overall another winner from Steven Grant and Fred Choate! ...Bear!     30-October-2001 Douglas DC2 UIVER Package by Rob Cappers - Fred Banting - Don Incoll - Rob Bosman - Jan Visser dc2_pack.zip uploaded 21-Oct-2001 10,100Kb FS2000 Aircraft Many months ago, Bill Rambow, Roy Chaffin, and Jan Visser released what has to be to date the finest example of the early Douglas aircraft ever conceived for Flight Simulator with their award winner, the DC-3/RD4 package. Well, Rob Cappers, Fred Banting, Don Incoll, Rob Bosman, and again Jan Visser have put together an outstanding package centered around the even earlier DC-2! Now these guys, in the readme file, explain that you shouldn't be too critical of their exterior views as this FS aircraft was designed using the older AF99 design tool and it's not going be up to the same level of detail as some later aircraft models, but personally I found their work to be very very good, despite their warnings! The flight modeling is excellent and the sound files are equally outstanding, but it's the photoreal panel and interior cockpit views that are quite extraordinary! The digital photos used by the way, are of the only flyable DC-2 in the world and they are... well... you'll just have to check it out for yourself! This FS aircraft – and aircraft like this – is frankly one of the reasons I love Flight Simulator so well! These fellows call it a package and it truly is, full sounds, outstanding panel, and there are 3 liveries included (2 liveries from KLM and 1 from TWA), so I would suggest to all that like flying the old propliners, not forget this one! ...Bear!   30-October-2001 Fleet Canuck 80 by Bill Lyons canuck80.zip uploaded 25-Oct-2001 3,396Kb FS2002 Aircraft Barely 6 days after the introduction of FS2002, Bill Lyons sent me an e-mail telling me of his latest creation for FS2002, which was available at his new website Golden Eagles, but I immediately convinced Bill to upload it into the AVSIM library so his work could be shared with all of you as well. Many of you have enjoyed Bill's work in the past with his "Cannibal Queen" Boeing Stearman and his really sweet little Cessna 120 (in wheeled, ski, and float variations), but one of Bill's unique design qualities has been that he has always included virtual panels with working gauges. Bill's latest, the Cannuck 80s, like the default aircraft in Flight Simulator 2002, each have a virtual panel; but Bill has gone Microsoft one or two better with his virtual panels, in that they are much more photorealistic and the gauges are far easier to read (I also kind of like the fact that you can see the cowling with Bill's aircraft, which you can't with the default FS aircraft). One of my favorite little items is that with the float plane's virtual panel there is a spot for you to put your favorite bmp photo! There is included a bmp photo of a bikini clad young lady, but Bill includes a tutorial in his readme file explaining how to put your own personal favorite photo there, rather that be a photo of your favorite huntin' dawg, wife or both—whatever you choose it's easy to do and it adds just that little touch of personalization that I like. Everything about either of these little Cannucks is quite extraordinary, from the visible cowling over the photorealistic virtual panel to yellowing effect on the plexiglass windows, they're perfect! These aircraft are not only the first FS aircraft I'm aware of dedicated to FS2002 as freeware, but they are simply among the very best I've seen for any version of Flight Simulator ever! So, in only the third time to date, I'm awarding Bill Lyons my "Bear Gold Award" for his extraordinary freeware aircraft set, the Cannuck 80s! ...Bear! 30-October-2001 American Eagle ERJ-140 by Nick Botamer e140_ae.zip uploaded 26-Oct-2001 733Kb FS2000 Aircraft Nick Botamer has put together a wonderful series of small jetliners with his Embraer ERJ-140/145s, the first being a 140 in American Airlines livery then with several 145s that followed—and I must say that I really like these jets. Nick has designed/optimized these jetliners to work with Bill Grabowski's ERJ panel (erj_grab.zip in the AVSIM library) and he also got Sam Chin to do up the FDE to round out the packages. Visually these aircraft are excellent, with fully animated components (including clamshell type thrust reversers and compressible gear struts), with all external views showing the now typical sharp details we've all come to expect—giving us aircraft that are as fun to look at as they are to fly. Since Nick uploaded the original ERJ in American Airlines livery I've counted at least 11 more uploads in other popular liveries, including: United Express, Luxair, Cirrus, KLM, LOT, Delta Connection, Trans World Express, Trans State, US Airways, and America West Express. ...Bear! 7-November-2001 Marambio's Base Argentine Airforce in the Antarctic by VisionReal Freeware Group vr015-04.zip uploaded 28-Oct-2001 3,050Kb FS2000 Scenery The VisionReal Freeware Group are a group of Argentine FS hobbyists that have put together a photorealistic FS scenery version of a real-world airport—and when you compare your visuals (in FS2000) of this freeware add-on to the attached jpgs (real-world photographs) included with this download, the guys at VisionReal have really hit upon the essence of Marambio's base located on our most southern continent. VisionReal used photo-realistic textures for all the airports buildings and ground textures, plus they have included icebergs in the bay along with piles of snow that has been removed from the airstrip. There are dynamic flags (Argentine National) and there are even ships located in the nearby waters; so, even though Antarctica is bit off the normal flight routes for most flight simmers, this scenery is worth a look see! Very well done fellows! ...Bear!   7-November-2001 Cessna Skyhawk 172SP in Chrome by Brandon Edwards 172chrom.zip uploaded 29-Oct-2001 3,016Kb FS2002 Aircraft Normally I would not pick a simple aircraft repaint for the Bear Cave picks and particularly most often I would not pick a simple repaint of one of the default aircraft either, but there are always exception to every rule and this repaint most certainly qualifies as an exception. Brandon credits Kevin Combs for his tutorial on how to chrome in FS2002, but this is the first aircraft I've seen with the technique applied and frankly it looks just wonderful! If you haven't had the opportunity to see how realistic the chroming effect is in FS2002, then take a look at Brandon's repainted default Cessna 172 in FS2002! ...Bear!   7-November-2001 Lockheed P-38L-5-LO version 1.2.2 by David C. Copley p38l122.zip uploaded 30-Oct-2001 778Kb FS2002 Aircraft During WWII, every country involved in that worldwide conflict had combat pilot heros; often times they were pilots that shot down 10s if not 100s of enemy aircraft. Here in the United States we hear names like Ret. General Charles "Chuck" Yeager (NA P-51D Mustang in the European theatre) with 9 confirmed kills or Maj. Gregory "Pappy" Boyington (US Marine F4U Corsair) with 7-1/2 confirmed kills, but it was those young American pilots in the Lockheed P-38 Lightenings that really had the high numbers (for the Americans in that conflict). At the top of the American list was a Minnesota farmboy by the name of Richard "Dick" Bong with the USArmy Air Corp in the South Pacific along with his infamous P-38 yellow tail that lead the Americans with 49 confirmed kills! Unlike most countries during that war, the American military would pull a pilot with high kill numbers so that he could become an instructor, back at stateside, to train the new pilots coming up and this duty befell Dick Bong once he hit 49. Unfortunately Richard was killed test flying America's first jet fighter on August 9th, 1945 (the same day the US dropped the bomb on Hiroshima) at Wendover, Utah. David C. Copley has taken the CFS2 version of the P-38 and converted it over for use in FS2002 and has included 3 liveries, a new and shiny bare-metal version, Richard Bong's "42", and Johnny Johnson's "Jane"! Now again, I normally wouldn't pick a conversion aircraft like this, but because this P-38 is quite good in CFS2 and being as David has redone them up to match two P-38s of some historical significance, I decided that I would point them out to you all! ...Bear!   7-November-2001 Spotted Bear USFS by Richard Goldstein spotbear.zip uploaded 3-Nov-2001 1,180Kb FS2002 Scenery Richard has for sometime been giving all of us Flight Simulator users some of the most outstanding and photorealistic small airport sceneries one could possibly imagine (Esclante & Hurricane, Utah – Flying M Ranch, Oregon – Darrington, Washington – Santiam Junction, Oregon – Davis, Oregon – North Cascades Airport – Big Bend, Utah)—and now Richard has continued his excellence in scenery design to one of the first scenery releases for FS2002 with his USFS Spotted Bear, Montana scenery upload. Richard's sceneries have always been very high on the immersion factor scale and I'm of the opinion that his USFS Spotted Bear grass strip is his best so far. Spotted Bear is (in real-life) fairly easy to land at and I have even found that in FS2002, landing my Boeing 737 bushplane at Spotted Bear to be a snap (I even posted some screenshots where I used an Airbus 320). You can also land the default Cessna 208 Amphibian in the nearby river, lower your gear, and then taxi up the shoreline onto the grass, no problem! I love this scenery and I would hope to see more of the Canadian and Alaska bush sceneries for FS2002 be something more like what Richard has accomplished. Simply outstanding Richard; my hat's off to you once again buddy! ...Bear! 10-November-2001 Helio Super Courier 295 Float Plane by Steven Grant & Fred Choate h295_2k2.zip uploaded 7-Nov-2001 1,860Kb FS2002 Aircraft Well, Steven & Fred once again have supplied us with another excellent bush/float plane for our FS aircraft hangers, but this version of the Helio (that they uploaded barely 7 or 8 weeks ago) has been upgraded for use within FS2002. This FS aircraft features; fully animated parts (including leading edge slats), full 360º cockpit views, custom panel, authentic splash sounds, and complete documentation (including the correct checklist for this aircraft), so this aircraft is surely at the top of my list for FS2002 bush/float planes and I'm equally as sure that it will stay there for some time. ...Bear!   10-November-2001 'Arturo Michelena' (Venezuela) International Airport by Sabino Yacobone valencia.zip uploaded 8-Nov-2001 2,030Kb FS2000 Scenery I know, I know my monthly picks are normally limited to 10 files, but I felt that this scenery warranted my having a sort of baker's 10 because of some very interesting and unique features of Sabino's airport scenery design. The first being that this is the first scenery I'm aware of that has been designed using the new NOVA 3D object design tool! I've spent almost no time flying in Venezuela, but I downloaded and installed this file with great interest, to see how finely detailed the airport and the surrounding buildings are and quite honestly I'm very impressed with Sabino's work! Installing and using this scenery does require that you download and install the NOVA dedicated textures (in the attached readme files Sabino includes the proper website links where you can download all the necessary texture files for free), but the end result is, well, the end result is worth the effort in my opinion. Sabino does include some real-world photos so you can compare between the virtual airport and real-world airport yourself and once you do I think you'll agree that Sabino did an outstanding job! ...Bear! Tell A Friend About these Reviews!   Standard Disclaimer These mini-reviews above are a subjective assessment of the work of the authors. 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