Bearracing

In the mid-1970s, while turning onto final at Sacramento Exc., I heard a very loud bang come from my nose (Aero Commander Twin) just as I flipped the gear down switch. Though the gear sounded like it had cycled correctly, I got "no green" (light) for the nose gear and hydraulic oil was spreading over the windscreen. A go-around was called for and I subsquently asked the tower for a visual on my nosegear and though they confirmed my nose gear was down, they had no way of determining if it was locked or not. I recycled the gear, but still no nosegear green light, so I landed on the mains and gently allowed the aircraft to settle on the nose gear and it held, no problem. What had actually occured was that I had had a mid-air collision with a Canada Air B-1RD (Canadian Goose) the goose had struck the nose of the aircraft (leaving a massive dent in the nose section) and the hydraulic oil was in fact goose blood. On another occasion I had a seagull strike the left wheel cover on a Cessna 182, though the damage was very minimal, the seagull didn't fair so well!Once, while flying a 70 hp Piper Cub, I flew circles around a soaring Bald Eagle, that appeared to simply ignore the noisy aircraft flying around him.I can't even begin to guess how many times I've seen geese or ducks flying in formation pass above or below me while we've been flying cross-country.In Homer, Seward, Skagway, and particularly in Haines, Alaska the incidence of civil aircraft collisions with Bald Eagles is almost epidemic. In the late summer months, Haines is the wintering home to thousands and thousands of these once protected birds and this combined with the high number of civil aircraft operating in the area its a wonder the problem isn't worse than it is!Bear!

>>I fly in real life and never ever saw a single bird from the cockpit.<<I confess, I haven't logged that many hours in real life (1,200 to 1,400 or so), but I must say that I've seen litterly hundreds of birds while flying. I even on one occasion had to make an emergency landing (Sacramento) because of a wayward Canadian Goose.Bear!

At the AVSIM conference, the representatives from MSFS were merely showing the kinds of technology they are evaluating and they were quite clear that their presentation concerned the technology only and not anything that would or wouldn't be included with FS10. The team members (MSFS team) can not nor will they discuss anything about any future versions of Flight Simulator or if there will even be another, but you can assume that there will be. From everything I've seen, FSCOF is still selling very well, and I would speculate that its sales are being maintained at sufficient levels giving the team a bit of a breather, allowing them to spend more time on a number of possible improvements. Sometime or somewhere this idea that Microsoft has a well established rule, about when each version of Flight Simulator will be released, got started (approximately every 2 years, give or take a few months), but this is in reality not true. If you go back to the time during the release of FS98 and all versions since, the marketing climate at that time was what drove the MSFS team to release FS and not some obituary tradition.Just a few months following the release of FS98, the first version of FLY! was released and that sim looked great, especially the screenshots on their packaging. FLY! was initially quite successful (sales) and it was obvious that Microsoft needed to do something to maintain their market share. Their answer to FLY! was of course FS2000, which was visually light years ahead of FS98. Rather FS2000 was better looking than FLY! is irrelevant, but the screenshots on the original packaging gave it an appearance that it was superior, plus they (MS) offered a helicopter and jetliners, where FLY! did not. The sales of FS2000 were brisk and there were all appearances they (MS) would maintain their market share, but FS2000 was too far ahead of its time and performance issues were paramount among the various simulation forums. Most don't remember that FLY! was having similar issues, as the technology needed to drive both FLY! and FS2000 exceeded the available hardware. As the rumors of FLY II surfaced, the MSFS team prepared a new updated version of Flight Simulator (FS2002) that would not only correct the errors of FS2000, but would also include some new ideas (new texturing and autogen specifically being just two improvements among several) and coinciding with the hardware technology, which had also advanced sufficiently to cover the enhancements. FS2002 was delayed several months on its release, due to 9/11, and it wasn't until February (I think or it may have been sooner) of 2002. It was barely 16 or 17 months later, July or August of 2003, that Microsoft released FS2004, but this was to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the Wright Brothers first flight celebrations in the fall of that year.In my private conversations with the MSFS group, attending the AVSIM conference, we discussed the demographics of the purchasers of Flight Simulator and such, but any discussions concerning future versions was treated as, ..don't ask, don't tell! I didn't (ask) and they didn't (tell). So, is any of the technologies shown at the conference going to be in FS10, I haven't a clue, though I would suspect it is highly doubtful.Bear!

I would say you have a very good start, but I can offer a few suggestions that may fit your request.BAe Systems Hawk by DSB Designs (iris_goshawk.zip, iris_hawk100.zip, iris_hawk200.zip, iris_hawk5060.zip, and iris_hawkt1a.zip in AVSIM library)Atlas Impala (Aermacchi MB326) (gv_impala_2_pack.zip in AVSIM library)Cheetah E by Thinus Pretorius (cheetahe.zip in AVSIM library)Dassault Mirage IIICJ (mirage_iiicj.zip in AVSIM library)de Havilland DASH8 Longnose C-142 "Gonzo" by Premier Aircraft Design (ct142caf.zip in AVSIM library)Aermacchi MB339 PAN by Dino Dino Cattaneo (mb339p11.zip in AVSIM library)Mirage111EZ by Thinus Pretorius (mirage111ez.zip in AVSIM library)Stratojet B-47 by Bill Holker (b47_collection_files.zip in AVSIM library)US Navy C-2A Greyhound by Rick Sasala & Paul Holstein (c2a_greyhound.zip in AVSIM library)Boeing E-3 Awacs, E-6 Mercury, E-8 J-STARS by David Anthoney Lawrence & Rok Dolenec (e_special_electronics_usaf_package.zip in AVSIM library)Canberra - RB57F by Bill Holker (rb-57f.zip in AVSIM library)Dassault Mirage 2000N by Roland Laborie (mir2000n.zip in AVSIM library)Sukhoi Su-34 Strike Flanker by Bowe Tyson (su_34.zip in AVSIM library)Boeing B-52 by Yaetsu Yoshimitsu & Hiroaki Kubota (b52dgh_x.zip in AVSIM library)McDonnell Douglas F-4B Phantom II (f4b_vf84.zip in AVSIM library)Boeing KC-135E Stratotanker (kc135e_1.zip in AVSIM library)RAF Nimrod MR2 (nimrod.zip in AVSIM library)Sukhoi Su-11 'Fishpot-C' (su-11.zip in AVSIM library)Bell-Boeing Osprey V-22 (osprey_v22.zip in AVSIM library)Sukhoi Su-9 'Fishpot-B' (su-9_ussr4.zip in AVSIM library)Seagul G-2 (Galeb) (galeb_11.zip in AVSIM library)Tupolev Tu-95KM "Bear" (tu95zh.zip in AVSIM library)Navy Hawker Hunter (huntpak5.zip in AVSIM libraryHawker Hunter FGA9 (huntpak4.zip in AVSIM libraryHawker Hunter F6 (huntpak3.zip in AVSIM libraryHawker Hunter F1 and F4 (huntpak2.zip in AVSIM libraryHawker Hunter WB188 (huntpak1.zip in AVSIM library)Martin XB-51 "Panther" (fs9xb-51_145124.zip in AVSIM library)Boeing KC-97G Tanker (kc97g2k4.zip in AVSIM library)Avro Shackleton Mk3 (avroshackletonmk3v1.zip in AVSIM library)Also try the following website:http://www.simviation.com/downloads.html where I would start by viewing the newest files first for the section titled "Military"!Bear!

Andreas,The available choices out there are quite numerous, as can be noted from the response you are getting.Its my opinion you can find just about anything you want and you probably won't be disappointed with any of them.PaywareFSD International:Commander 115TCPiper Navajo PantherPilatus PC-6 PorterPiper SenecaAerostarPiper Cheyenne 400(future planned release of the Avanti P180 and the Cessna 337 Skymaster)Flight 1 Software:Cessna 152Cessna Skyhawk 172RCessna 310Cessna 421Cessna CardinalPiper Meridan 2004Piper ArcherCessna 441 Conquest IIRealAir SimulationsAmerican Champion ScoutAmerican Champion DecathlonSIAI Marchetti SF.260CarenadoPiper Cherokee 180FPiper Archer IIPiper DakotaCessna 210 Centurion IIBeechcraft Bonanza F33ABeechcraft Bonanza V35Beechcraft Mentor T34BEaglesoftCessna Citation II/SPCessna Citation XCessna Citation CJ1Raytheon Beechjet 400ARaytheon Hawker 400XPRaytheon Beechjet 400A PremierFreewareMilton Shupe & companyAero Commanders 500, 500S Shrike, 520, 560, 680RealAir SimulationsCessna 172SPMikko Maliniemi (and group)Valmet L-70 VinkaMaule M-7-260 (available at Nordic Sim site and picked as freeware aircraft of the year and winner of the AVSIM BravoZulu award)Pitts S-1SPitts S-1S SpecialPitts S-2SPitts S-1EPitts S-2S "Bulldog"Cessna 206 Stationair 6 II AmphibianCessna 185 OH-DAK on skisCessna 185 OH-DAK on floatsLong Island ClassicsL-16A AeroncaMarco RavanelloAFG Pilatus PC-12Ole Egholm, John Woodward, Roger Austli, Tero HeikkinenPiper Cherokee 140Guidee Francois-DenisCessna 206 Stationair IIJohn Woodward, Brian Gladden, & groupLake Amphibian Turbo 270I'm sure there are more that can be added, but these are the ones I am sure of that just might fit into your desires.Bear!

Because if you just took the AVSIM survey then you took the survey from last year, when FS9-COF was not available yet. We've yet to post the 2003 survey!Bear!

Egads......! :-zhelpI need help all right and considering I've got the majority (or so I thought) of my add-on aircraft zipped away in a hanger (folder, I'm really surprised where I am so far?No wonder it takes 1.7 days for my "select aircraft" menu to come up? :-lolBear!http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/51466.jpg

I see that a couple of posters did touch on the misconception that Ferdy has between "Free Software" and "Freeware" (as we call it). By description, Freeware in the Flight Sim community is not software at all, but is better defined as "art" and would fall under the general blanket of a copyright as it would apply to recorded music, video, a painting, sculpture, published article or editorial, book, photograph, and yes, even a screenshot from Flight Simulator of mine is covered under that type of copyright. The IP Ferdy is using states that the files uploaded must be free of copyright and I'm sure that our friend at FSPlanet has incorrectly told them that because the files he steals are Free Software, they are to be considered public domain. I suppose it could be claimed that Ferdy's lack of communication skills in the English language are the root of his misunderstanding, though I suspect this is not the case.I have no doubt that Ferdy understands the difference between Free Software and Freeware, but it would not be to his advantage to admit his understanding of the difference in any public or private fashion.In the end, Ferdy is working off the assumption that there is little if anything anyone can do about it (and from any kind of court or legal action he's probably right), but in small ways a few people complaining and writing to his IP server and advertisers can eventually have an effect. Some may even state that they could care less what goes on at FSPlanet and they may even be reading this and will go right on downloading from that site. Those individuals are most likely someone who has never designed an FS aircraft or done a repaint and certainly have never uploaded a file representing some form of work they have done on their own. I say to you that you had better start caring and protecting your hobby, because if enough of this file stealing goes on, eventually all of our freeware designers and artist will disappear and then where will you go for that latest freeware scenery, aircraft, panel, or repaint you've been waiting for?Steve (Bear) Cartwright

Michael,My problem sounds very similar, as my beginnings of the lockups were well before I had installed Flight Simulator and ironically, the person that has been helping me on the problem, suggested that my CPU may be the source of the problem. I'm sure you understand how frustrating it is to have to repower the system and all that entails as for the time involved trying to fly or whatever. I did reinstall my yoke drivers this morning, which so far seems to have helped a great deal, but we'll see. I've also passed on the information (to my friend) about the other suggestions noted here. One consideration I may try is to upgrade my mother board and CPU (maybe a Pentium4 3.2Ghz or so), as a last resort, but we'll try some of the other suggestions first. Thanks for the ideas from all that responded.Steve (Bear) Cartwright

In preparation for the installation of FS2004, I upgraded my system (new 19" monitor and a 128mb ATI Pro 9700 video card). Immediately following the installation of the video card I began having serious lockup problems. Eventually we (my neighbor) got my system working acceptably, but after installing FS2004, the lockup problems once again appeared, though they now occur only in FS2004. The lockups are total, as no rebooting is possible, only a full powerdown and repowering of my system will return it to operation. Initially the lockups occurred with everything (Train Simulator, Wordpad, etc.), but after I returned my system to CompUSA (who had installed the ATI card) and I presume they had installed the latest drivers, the lockups only occur now with FS2004. There is no set pattern to the lockups, as they may occur on the setup screen or after 30 minutes of flight, but of every 50 attempts to fly in FS2004, the lockups occur in 45 to 48 of those times. I'm very sure the problems relate to my hardware configuration, as I've not heard of any similar problems by anyone with a similar setup as mine, but the problems I've having have caused me to curtail my weekly Bear Picks and my reviews now require 5 to 10 times as long to do, because I constantly have to repower my system and defrag my harddrive everytime it locks up. Its very frustrating, as I'm sure you could imagine, but I was hoping maybe someone can offer some ideas. Over the weekend (Oct 10 to 13), I had a friend come by, who is a software specialist by trade, who spent a very frustating couple of days with me, but despite all his efforts the problem is still with me. My system specs are:AMD 1.2Ghz processor128MB ATI PRO 9700 video card (3.7 drivers)44GB harddrive512MB SDRAM ram133 motherboardWin98SE operation systemSteve (Bear) Cartwright

I know, I know, this is not the correct forum for this, but I didn't feel anyone would read it if I posted it elsewhere:Monday, September 8, 2003First day of qualifing for this weekend's Reno National Championship Air Racing began and there were a couple of surprises.Skip Holm (flying the highly modified P-51 Mustang "Dago Red") set a "first" day qualifing record of 492.722 mph (single lap average speed). Skip Holm (Calabasas, CA) also holds the official lap record of 497.211 (set in 2002).In a seperate qualifing attempt, Mike Brown (Hawker Sea-Fury out of Carson City, NV), clocked an unofficial 508.021 speed. On the run, Mike had a catastropic engine failure rounding pylon 7 (a connecting rod exited the engine cowling), so Mike correctly pulled up to gain altitude but did cross the line. Pulling up immediately canceled the attempt, but his speed was recorded. With his cockpit filled with smoke, Mike called in a mayday and after opening the canopy (to clear the smoke) executed a safe landing.Steve Dilda (Memphis, Tenn.) averted disaster as he clipped pylon 3 with his port side wingtip (AT-6 Texan), losing the outer 3 inches of wing, Steve managed a safe emergency landing.Larry Lechner (Buena Vista, Colo.) had the propeller explode on his Formula One aircraft and Larry managed to land very long on runway 14, but after running out of runway and into the Nevada desert, Larry cart-wheeled into a deep ravine, destroying the aircraft. Larry received serious injuries included two broken ankles. Larry is listed in serious but stable condition at Washoe Medical Hospital. In 1981, this same aircraft (Chuck Wentworth piloting) suffered a similar mishap with its propeller, but the vibration of the lost prop ripped the engine loose and Chuck Wentworth landed safely with the entire engine assembly dragging the ground between the main landing gear struts, a rather spectacular sight I might say!The highly popular unlimited aircraft "Rare Bear" and "Strega" have yet to take to the air, though they are expected to do so on Tuesday.Steve (Bear) Cartwright

Jason,You will also note that we had uploaded those aircraft (with Bill's permission) into the AVSIM library back a few weeks ago as well(as FS2004 Original Aircraft).Bear!

Justin,I understand what you're saying, but you have to remember that we (AVSIM) have new people joining AVSIM every day and lets not forget those that only come to AVSIM.com on an occasion, we want those people to have a fair opportunity to hear of the event too. For those that come to AVSIM every day, then yes it may seem like overkill, but it would be unfair to all those that have been working very hard to make this an event worth coming to, if we don't keep putting up reminders, not to mention making those flight simmers aware of the event I pointed out previously. Bear!

Will,On the business card I have for one of the individuals that is Program Manager for Microsoft's Flight Simulator, it states the following:MicrosoftEntertainment Business UnitSimulations Product UnitXXXXX XXXXXXXProgram ManagerYet its marketed through their gaming divisions, so I don't know is it a game, is it a simulation, is it both, or is it neither?Bear!

Glenn,The new 208 does get up on the step, but its not really very pronounced, it was just that I was intentionly looking for it when I was testing for the review. You're also very correct about all of the float planes (FS2002) failing to get that nose high attitude when you first start moving through the water. I once took off from Hood Lake (Anchorage) in a loaded Beaver (I was in the backseat) and for a moment I thought our pilot was going to sink the Beaver's tail, but once he got a bit of speed it seemed to level off pretty good.Bear!

Tom,If you have read my section of the AVSIM review of FS2004, many of your questions are answered there. MS has thought to include all of the gauges for the Concorde, F4U Corsair, and the Camel in the gauge folder for FS2004. There is now a conflict involving the display of the gauges for the Camel, but the Corsair works perfectly (and frankly, as I stated in the AVSIM review, I'm very surprised that the Corsair was dropped from FS2002).As for CFS2 aircraft, I'm a huge fan of these warbird types and so far everything I liked from CFS2/FS2002 (3rd party too) works great in FS2004.CFS3 aircraft are NOT compatable with either FS2002 or FS2004, as they now use a totally different development process, though there have been a couple of conversions from CFS3 over to FS2002/FS2004, but I'm unaware of what is required to do so.At the end of the AVSIM review of FS2004 Century of Flight, I've also included a short list of 21 different aircraft from the AVSIM library, that were originally intended for FS2002, that seem to work in FS2004 reasonably well.Bear!

Dave,Yes, I would have to say that all the COF taildraggers are pretty good in my estimation.Bear!

Dave,I have a bit of experience with various taildraggers (Cub, SuperCub, Taylorcraft, Stearman, Luscombe, etc.) and if you think the FS2004 Cub is screwy on the ground, just try to taxi a real-life Cub in a crosswind! Very interesting experience I must say. I do believe that the word "terrified" was coined from those pilots after their first attempt at landing a Cub in a crosswind.A former (retired) British Airways Concorde Captain was quoted as saying, "..if you can fly a Cub you can fly the Concorde, but the reverse is not necessarily true!"Bear!

Glenn,When I tested each of the aircraft in FS2004, I had a distinct advantage over the average simmer or anyone else on our review team. I had installed FS2004 on my computer where I have Train Simulator and FS2002 stayed on its own system from before.What this allowed me to do was have both FS2004 & FS2002 running at exactly the same moment (both of my system specs are very similar, with the same brand of yoke, a Saitek 3D Cyborg "Gold" as well). The systems are sitting in such a way, I simply slide over to one or the other in midflight. What this did was permit me to directly compare the flight modeling of the default aircraft between FS2004 and FS2002 at the exact same moment and anytime I thought I noted a difference, an improvement, or whatever, I would know in seconds if my hunch or impressions were correct.I do have my single-engine sea rating and I must say, in the real-world, it takes more time learning how to taxi on water, under control, than it does to take-off or land. With the 208 in FS2002, I had noted several problems, failure of the aircraft to get upon the step on your takeoff run and most importantly, too much float suction was dialed in. It required (FS2002) near full power to get the 208 to move (taxi) and when it did it only wanted to accelerate. If you reduced power at all, the 208 only wanted to come back to a full stop. You couldn't get the power set to any reasonable point where the FS2002 208 when move slowly through the water.With the 208 in FS2004, I found that by applying enough power to initiate movement and then immediately reducing the power settings you can move through the water at very slow speeds and control of that speed, by gently changing throttle settings, is now possible.This technique or ability to control the 208 in water takes time and lots of practice and interestingly enough, it does in the real world as well.On takeoff, the FS2002 208 would accelerate without ever coming upon the step and once flying speed had been reached, it would just stick to the water. When using the elevators to finally get airborne, the FS2002 208 had a habit of just jumping (usually nose high) into the air.The FS2004 208, now accelerates normally, but once you reach between 30 and 35 knots, you can feel the aircraft lift up on the floats and achieve a more level atitude (getting up on the step of the floats feels just like this in real life). With no wind (in FS2004) you can bump the trim slightly, once you've achieved flying speed, and the FS2004 208 will simply fly off the water with a minimum of jumping.Don't get me wrong either, the 208 in FS2004 is still not perfect, but its airfile has been noticeably improved over its predecessor (now if we could just get MS to put some floats on the Cub).Bear!

Stone,Don't forget to apply the brakes while twisting the rudder for differential braking.Also, I use the Saitek 3D Cyborg joystick w/throttle and twist grip (paid $29.95 at CompUSA) and it has reversable controls (left or right hand throttle and hand grip) constructed with reasonable quality of feel and appearance.Bear!

Mike,My system is considerably less powerful than yours, so my settings are vastly reduced from what you probably can run at, but I found that using the default display settings to work best for me. With FS2000/FS2002, Microsoft only gave you the choices of 3 or 4 default display settings (low, medium, high, I think were the choices), but FS2004 gives you several options and I've had the best results using "medium high" on my system. I keep my fps locked at 16 and when I watch the live fps it pretty much stays at 15.9 fps (limited up against my 16 fps lock). With my setting at the default "medium high" FS2004 stays very smooth and fluid, but if I attempt anything higher, I start to notice things, so for flying its "medium high" for screenshots its "ultra high"!You might try experimenting with the default display settings until you get the maximum detail without sacrificing smoothness.My system:custom built unit:AMD 1.2Ghz processor512MB SDRAM128MB ATI 9700 Pro video card133 motherboardBear!

>I eagerly ran out and bought my copy of FS 2004 yesterday and>within the last 24 hours I've run into a BUNCH of problems.>>I have YET to be able to sucessfully complete an IFR flight. >I attempted to fly IFR from Seattle WA to San Francisco CA and>after setting up the flight and getting IFR clearance, FS2004>never listed the command to request takeoff, essentially>voiding the flight.>>On another IFR flight from LAX (Los Angeles) to Las Vegas,>McCarrin International, FS2004 directed me to turn WEST (over>the ocean) and never gave me any other vectors!!!!!!!!>>I've also had freezes and crashes.>>My advice... WAIT until these issues are addressed.I've been using FS2004 for about 5 or 6 weeks now and though I have no doubt that you've had the problems you stated, I may have a couple of answers for you. About a month ago I too tried a IFR flight from Seattle to SFO and as you, at first, I did not get the command list for requesting take-off clearance, until I noticed I had taxied to 34R when I should have taxied to 34L as I was cleared for. So, in the end it was my fault not FS2004's.I've only flown a half dozen IFR flights in FS2004 so far and haven't run into that problem of being vectored out into never-never land, but it occurred many times for me with FS2002.Haven't had any freezes or crashes related to FS2004, though I was having a lockup problem after I installed my new video card (ATI 9700 Pro 128MB), but the lockups were occurring even before I installed FS2004.Despite my having a fairly weak, old, and frail system (custom built: AMD 1.2Ghz, 512MB SDRAM, 128MB ATI 9700 Pro video card, running on Win98SE), FS2004 runs very well for me, so far, and whatever issues I've found are quite minor and don't involve anything that I would consider requires a patch.Just because I haven't had any problems, doesn't mean that others won't, as there's just too many variables with all the mix and matched systems being used, so FS2004 is bound to not work on some of them.I would suggest that anyone having problems try to remain calm and rather than point fingers at the top of one's voice (as I would like to do sometimes, :-lol), just post a list of your problems or difficulties here in the forums and hopefully someone can help you through them.I don't think any one person has all the answers (I certainly don't), but there's a lot of smart people wandering about these forums, and surely one of them can offer you or anyone needing it some assistance.Bear!

JimmiG,Sorry to disappoint you, but I've been running FS2004 for well over a month (for the AVSIM review) and have logged nearly 100 hours of flight-time to date on my system (AMD 1.2Ghz, ATI 9700 Pro 128MB, 512MB SDRAM, and 133 motherboard). Not one single problem you've listed have I experienced!I was experiencing a lockup problem, but that was occurring before I ever installed FS2004! That has subsequently been corrected (drivers).Bear!

Peter,I tried Ed's textures, but unfortunately MS has renamed all the water texture files and so Ed's water texture sets do not work in FS2004.Bear!

Kevin,You'll notice this specific subject was mentioned in our just posted AVSIM review of FS2004. My own comments concerning this has been that unlike the prior versions of FS, where the water was basically generic of the whole world, now it is either very right or very wrong and there doesn't seem to be any middle ground. The weird thing is that the water color will change quite dramatically depending on atmosphere conditions and time of year.Bear!