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Bear's Cave
The world of Flight Simulators
short reviews by Steve "Bear" Cartwright
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18-Dec-00
Welcome to Pavlofs Pass
by Don Moser
pavlofs_pass.zip
uploaded 11-Dec-00
591Kb
FS2000
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Well, Don has done it again! A another great little "Bush Scenery" for Alaska and as before this scenery makes for an interesting stop over when you're traveling down the Alaska Peninsula and headed for the Aleutian Islands. Pavlofs Pass is located a little under 50 miles from Cold Bay and is situated on a small mountain pass, like its name implies, and there are slightly higher ridges at either end of its 2100 foot gravel runway.
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Getting in or out of Pavlofs Pass is easy, even in a light twin, so the need of the appropriate bush plane is not necessary. About midway down the runway is a nice appearing log cabin and parking area, with a J3 parked in the trees. Be careful of the rather tall radio tower during any flybys thought! Off center from one end of the runway is an old style "fire" watchtower, complete with stairs and all!
One of the nice things about Don's bush sceneries is that that he scatters the evergreen trees in a random fashion, much like it is in the real world, rather than just lining them up in neat rows. Scattered among the evergreen trees are also some Maple and Aspen so you do get some color in the fall season! If bush flying and bush scenery is your thing, it most certainly is for me, then you must download Don's latest! ...Bear!
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18-Dec-00
B747-SP Alitalia
by Roberto Vigetti
747-sp.zip uploaded 12-Dec-00
953Kb
FLY!
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In 1975 Boeing introduced the 747SP (Special Performance) version of their now "Classic" 747! The SP version of the 747 always turned heads at airports around the world because of its unusually short fuselage length as compared to its overall size and I believe was more deserving of the nickname "Fat Albert", more so than the 737 was!
Roberto Vigetti, of Italy, has taken the TRI dynamic Boeing 747SP and converted it for use, after re-painting in the Alitalia livery and applying his flight modeling work based on Marco Bianchetti's downloadable flight and speed manual for the 747SP. All the sounds are default B747 from FLY and are quite good, as anyone using FLY can attest!
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For his panel, Roberto started with a Stephan Grille photorealistic (FS98) panel and converted that for use in FLY! Overall the panel looks authentic, nice appearing, and is fairly functional (minus the original 747's engineer's panel though). The autopilot is all default FLY "Hawker", but is limited to a single unit for both the pilot and co-pilot, as it is with the original Boeing aircraft! (Due to some limitations with this panel, Roberto was unable to include the start-up for all 4 engines, but that shouldn't detour you away from downloading this aircraft.)
Flying this aircraft is easy and typical for an aircraft of this size and weight, though I did find the trim adjustment to be slightly twitchy or sensitive, but certainly not anymore sensitive than it is for any other aircraft. With all the different PC based flight sims I use, the trim set seems overly sensitive on almost every aircraft; with every sim I've flown, the sensitivity with this aircraft appears less then most.
If you want to add a Boeing "Heavy" to your aircraft list, then take a look at Roberto's work, not bad, not bad at all! ...Bear!
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18-Dec-00
PALERMO/Punta Raisi Airport
by Marcello Lugari
licj2k2.zip uploaded 16-Dec-00
1027Kb
FS2000
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Punta Raisi Airport, located at the city of Palermo, on the island of Sicily (Italy) in the Mediterranean Sea, is one of the principal stops for many airlines on International flights between Africa and many points in Europe!
The default (FS2000) Punta Raisi Airport is rather sparse and devoid of all but a couple of runways and a couple of buildings, but that's typical. Marcello has come up with a scenery package add-on that includes proper photorealistic buildings, static aircraft, improved taxiways, enhanced night lighting, even a complete emergency vehicle garage (complete with fire protection equipment on the move). In addition there are greatly improved runway markers along with the European style nav antennas.
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The best part of Marcello's scenery has to be the tire marks on the runway though, truly outstanding and very realistic appearing! Marcello has even exceeded most commercial scenery I have with his runway tire marks! Installation is straight-forward and no exclude nor flatten switches needed! Overall an excellent scenery add-on for FS2000; if flying the Med is your cup of tea, then installing Marcello Lugari's Punta Raisi Airport scenery should be next on your list. ...Bear!
This is a true "package," including two complete aircraft (Reeve Aleutian Airways & Eastern Airlines), with custom panels, and sounds, plus a scenery install file for Dutch Harbor and Sandy Point in the Aleutian Islands (Unalaska).
In light of the recent announcement by Reeves that they've filed "chapter 11" bankruptcy, the VIP Group, Kenneth Kerr, and a host of others had opted to make available, as freeware, a beta version of their Lockheed L-188 Electra from their upcoming CD! With these aircraft, which include photo textures and full animation by W.C. Schulz, The Cielo Company/VIP Group, & Erik Ellis, AVAG, there are a host of nice features and a pretty impressive flight model too! The panel (VIP Group) with custom gauges and cockpit views, is very nicely done and is very accurate as to the real panel in the L-188.
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It's important that you read the aircraft readme files, due to some special instructions for start-up (remember these are considered a beta release), but once you've fired up all four of the turbo-props on the only American built 4-engined turboprop intended for civilian use, you can relive the now defunct air routes of these two airlines. Two airlines that will soon be nothing other than a memory! It took a highly skilled and experienced pilot to bring one of these aircraft safely into wintertime Dutch Harbor or into the Zelivova airbase at Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky in Siberia or where ever they flew in the lands of the midnight sun! These airlines will be missed!
This is a wonderful package deal and you would be shortchanging yourself if you don't download and fly either of these wonderful aircraft soon! ...Bear!
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18-Dec-00
Sikorsky CH53 Israeli Airforce
by Michael Vader/Shlomo Hakim
Ch53_iaf.zip uploaded 17-Dec-00
2,660KB
FS2000
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The Sikorsky CH53 has been widely used by the USMC, NATO, and several countries, including Israel. Called 'Yass'oor' (Albatross) by the Israeli Airforces, it is considered an "assault" helicopter than can deliver heavy weapons and soldiers directly to where they're needed in a forward combat area. This aircraft (helicopter) is very big and very strong, even capable of withstanding landings at up to 450 feet per second (descent speeds)! With this latest FS2000 upload, Michael Vader has attempted to duplicate the panel (his area of responsibility) and being as Michael is a former pilot of the CH53 and is currently a reservist in the German Army, his panel is quite good! Shlomo Hakim did the flight modeling and worked on the texturing—this helo is every bit as realistic looking and flight stable as the real thing!
Once installed (installation is straight forward and typical for a FS2000 aircraft), a quick check of FPS (frame rates) showed no noticeable difference between this aircraft or panel from the MS default aircraft, hmmm... nice, yet surprising considering all of its detail!
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First of all this helo is a real hoot to fly! Michael and Shlomo have gone out of their way to be sure that this FS aircraft is as stable and easy to fly as the real thing. This helo is "BIG" and your visibility on landing is very restricted. According to the readme file, so is the real thing; that's why a crewmember, standing at the door, yells out the altitude during landing. Considering this, Michael has included an altitude callout as you're landing with this really neat aircraft as well! Even with minimum helo experience in FS2000, anyone should become fairly proficient in a short time; why even I was able to land on top of the World Trade Center in New York City, after a couple of attempts, that is... hehe! The texturing, flight modeling, panel, well they're all great and they seem as good as you could expect for a PC based flight sim! Try it, you'll like it! ...Bear!
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