Hell you fighter jocks,The FSX Skyblazers are in need of a Right-Wingman to fly in the diamond. We are using the SectionF8 F-86 painted by Garry Smith in the colors of the 1956 USAFE Skyblazers.We are looking for adult pilots only. We are serious about formation flying, and we know that it can be done in FSX (within limits). The rest of the diamond has been practicing for about a month now, and we are pretty comfortable with turns and lineups. We've also received substantial help from a member of the FSX Thunderbirds. Soon we will progress into maneuvers. I've been fortunate enough to visit on the phone with a few of the Skyblazers who flew on the '56 team, and they were very helpful in explaining the routine to me. We are trying to stay true to how they flew. If anyone is interested in flying with us, please visit our website at www.fsxskyblazers.webs.com There is a tab there where you can fill out an application. At that point, I will reply with an e-mail to set up a time where you can fly with the diamond on a cross country. This will serve as an evaluation, and a chance for everyone to get to know one another. I look forward to hearing from some aggressive pilots, some real hunters.Here is a screen shot of one of our practices, we borrowed the right wingman from another team for this practice..... but we had to give him back :(. Let's get some applications in, so we can get that spot filled full time!Once again, our website is www.fsxskyblazers.webs.comCheck Six,Chris FSX Skyblazer #1

Here is a promotional video which one of our members created to help advertise our team, and the fact that we are still looking for a right wingman:

Is the F-86 set up for FSX?? Apparently so.......this is one of my favorite FS9 planes, but did not think it could work here......How did you make it work?? B42L8

Is the F-86 set up for FSX?? Apparently so.......this is one of my favorite FS9 planes, but did not think it could work here......How did you make it work?? B42L8

B42L8,This F-86 by Section F8 is my all time favorite plane. Very few payware aircraft are even in the same class as this free-ware. Although the SF8 bird was designed for FS2004, it can be made to work in FSX. That being said, it is a huge pain to do. If you have the base pack for 2004 installed on your FSX system, it will not work without some conversions. Section F8 released a FSX interim fix, but I'm not sure where you can find that for download. You can check the AVSIM files or the Section F8 forums for technical support in FSX. The FSX interim fix converts some textures and creates a "textures.shared" folder in the airplane folder for the SF8 bird. You must also add a "texture.cfg" file to each texture folder you have, which will point addon textures to the "texture.shared" folder. The FSX interim fix might also modify some gauges, I'm not sure. Once you have that installed, there is the "Service Pack 1" which was released for the FS2004 version. You also want to install that, it fixes the autopilot and a few other systems. Regretably, once you install the service pack, the speed brakes no longer work on a button or slider. You then have to get into the gauges.cab file and modify a .XML file to re-enable the speed brakes (a must for formation flying). There was a downloadable version on Simviation that had all of this work done by Flight Sim Nation, but it was taken down because they were not an authorized distributor of the SF8 freeware aircraft. Although this conversion process is a little daunting, I was able to do it in several hours with very little understanding of how FSX works. There are fairly well written instructions in the FSX interim fix. I also searched the forums at SectionF8.com for help. The FSX Skyblazers have obviously made these changes so we can fly the aircraft in formation, but we don't want to distribute it to anyone who isn't on our team because we've made some changes and don't want to mis-represent the SectionF8 product. That being said, we think their aircraft is just about flawless as is, and we are looking forward to a native FSX version that should come along once they finish with the payware projects they are engaged in. It was much easier to get this working in FSX before AVSIM file library went down.I suggest doing a search here, and let me know if you need any help with the install. It is a great aircraft, and after applying the FSX interim fix the frame rate problems go away, and it's a dream to fly.Best,ChrisSkyblazer#1