Today's Headlines

The AVSIM Online News:

Flight of the Kiwi

Posted: Tuesday, March 16, 2010 - 14:23
Kiwis are a bird that can't fly - - - but in 1969 Cliff Tait showed the world that one Kiwi could fly. Setting out as a one-man mission to publicize New Zealand to the world, Cliff and his New Zealand made plane ended up making history. No one had ever attempted to fly solo around the world in such a tiny one-engine plane before. Cliffs book "Flight of the Kiwi" recounts every detail of the flight that captured the attention of the whole world. On the human side, it tells of the warm generosity of those that helped Cliff, especially the world-wide brotherhood of radio "hams" operators and of the maddening obstruction of others particularly the Russian officials who denied Cliff permission to land forcing him to break his flight. Above all, this is a stirring story of one mans bravery facing immense odds and winning. Visit Cliffs Website and read his history making book... and now you can also download the Aircraft Miss Jacy.

Tuesday's Files On Short Final

Posted: Tuesday, March 16, 2010 - 14:15
Flight Simulator X - Aircraft Repaints, Textures and Modifications
Republic of Bulgaria, Airbus A319-111 by Marco Fischbach, Project Airbus
PIA Boeing 737-900 F1 Special by Ahmed Ahsen / Irfan Khan(Virtual PIA/WWW.VPIA.ORG)

Flight Simulator X - AFCAD Files
Albany Intl - KALB - New York by Ray Smith

Flight Simulator X - AI Aircraft
Shetland Gov BN2 Islander by Symon Long

Flight Simulator X - Scenery
Milos Airport LGML by Manuel Seiwald

Flight Simulator 2004 - Aircraft Repaints, Textures and Modifications
Citation X 2.0 Fictional Quiksilver Textures by Inaki Lopez
Continental Eco Skies Boeing 737-800 by will larmour
Olympic Airways Boeing 757-200 by Cinthia Gutierrez Sanchez
Cessna 182Q Skylane II (LV-BAG) by Cinthia Gutierrez Sanchez

Flight Simulator 2004 - AI Aircraft
Thai International Boeing 744 Retro HS-TGP "Thepprasit" by Carlo Priori
Shetland Gov. BN2 Islander by Symon Long
USAF E-9A Widget, 82nd ATRS by Graham King

Flight Simulator 2004 - Scenery
Performance Update for Merrill C Meigs Field Airport KCGX by Flyscenery.org Development Group
Portugal by Toni Agramont
Sardegna Island by Toni Agramont
Puerto Rico by Toni Agramont

Flight Simulator 2004 - Utilities
Manuals for the Airbus A330/340 by Guy Sterges

Miscellaneous Files - Miscellaneous Files
PilotenPost_0 by Joost Visser

LHS Pécs Pogány LHPP For FS9

Posted: Monday, March 15, 2010 - 15:36
LHPP for FS2004 Pécs Pogány LHPP is one of the five international airports in Hungary, located 10 km from Pécs the fifth largest city in Hungary and is located on the slopes of the Mecsek mountains in the south-west of the country.

LHSimulations contacted the management of the aiport and they allowed them to visit the airport and take as many Photos as needed to create a very detailed scenery with absolute fidelity, LHPP for FS2004 is the second freeware production from LHS and they plan to continue with versions for FSX and X plane.

Ground Environment X Europe from Flight 1

Posted: Sunday, March 14, 2010 - 20:15
Staff reviewer Allen Lavigne does some landscaping with Flight 1's Ground Environment X Europe. It's hard to put environmental scenery into words when the actual product is all about the pictures (scenery). Therefore, Allen reports, "in order to suggest just how much improvement you might expect to see after going from generic FSX textures to the enhanced GEX for Europe (with and without Ultimate Traffic's landclass and roads), I am posting a limited bunch of snapshots from just a few European locations in an effort to cover most common varieties."

"Without taking snapshots of each and every modification (more than 6000 files are affected), I tried to show a representative sample of the some of the various textures I encountered while experiencing GEX for Europe. Overall, I found the textures to blend nicely from one tile to the next."

FS9 Piper Saratoga from Carenado

Posted: Sunday, March 14, 2010 - 19:14
Staff reviewer Chris Kiehl looks at the FS9 version of Carenado's Piper PA-32 Saratoga. "Piper is a name that just about any aviation enthusiast knows. Why? The famous and historic line of aircraft ranges from the venerable Cubs and Super Cubs, to the Archers and Warriors, to the Arrows and Saratogas."

"The 2D panel here is different than anything I’ve seen. There is no main 2D panel when you first use the aircraft, but only a black rectangle at the top center of the screen with three subpanel options. You can also bring up 2D versions of each main gauge, like the six-pack gauges. With this aircraft, we have a huge winner in nearly every virtual cockpit regard. Most every gauge is legible and crisp, and just about every switch or gauge knob or flight control you could play with is clickable, and has actual functionality."

"One word to describe the external model. Exquisite. I can’t see a single missed detail, and the lines are crisp and convincing. Several textures are included, and there is probably something for everyone in that department. This is another part of the Saratoga that deserves high praise due to the texture detail."

"Flying the Saratoga was a joy. Flying the Saratoga is like flying, well, a Piper. Not that’s it’s a boring plane to fly, but Pipers are known for being relatively forgiving. If the Saratoga’s purpose fits your need, then you won’t mind how she flies one bit. Performance is stellar, as it always is with Carenado creations. Very low impact on frame rates."

"Carenado's Saratoga is definitely a winner of a package, you can’t steer wrong going with another Carenado Piper to add to your fleet. I’m recommending this plane to any GA fan, and for Piper fans it is a must."

Cessna 185F Skywagon from Carenado

Posted: Saturday, March 13, 2010 - 18:47
Staff reviewer Philip Wilson looks at Carenado's Cessna 185F Skywagon. "The Skywagon was a move to upgrade the 180 to put it in a class by itself — which was redundant because that's where it was already. Initially when introduced in 1961, the six-place 185 had 260 hp but, by 1966, the Continental 0-470 had been heaved out in favor of an 0-520 of 300 horses. The airplane was produced until 1981."

"While trying to come up with the correct words to describe the models and textures, words like Completely Amazing, or Breathtakingly Accurate didn’t seem quite adequate. Although true, the aircraft are so much more. It’s funny how the smallest details make the greatest difference, and it seems as though Carenado didn’t miss a single thing. The external textures are another fine example of high quality workmanship which has become a Carenado trademark. From any angle, the different models are truly beautiful."

"The Skywagon is a workhorse, and earns its keep in some of the most rugged country in the world. Carenado’s models are indeed working class machines and don’t have the latest in glass cockpits, nor should they have. What you do get is a highly accurate panel that is perfect for back country flying. The interior comes in different colors and material, meaning cloth and leather. I really like the fact the seats were worn and stained in places, much like real bush planes. The panels are well designed and realistic to look at, with gauges and placards legible and clear up close."

"The sound file for this aircraft was recorded from actual C-185’s, which is to say it doesn’t get any more real. I can say with confidence Carenado got the airfile right. Whether you’re hanging by the prop climbing out of a narrow ravine, or carefully winding your way down to a postage stamp size landing area, it feels right."

"The Carenado C-185F is without a doubt the most realistic and highest quality rendition of this venerable aircraft to date. I highly recommend this package; it’s a must have for any bush plane enthusiasts."

Challenges Over The Rockies

Posted: Saturday, March 13, 2010 - 17:25
Just Flight has released a new pack of nine missions for FSX available by download. Put your flying skills to the test saving lives in a Search & Rescue mission, race against the clock in timed events, and execute difficult landings in challenging weather conditions.

The nine missions include many custom features, dozens of voiceover recordings, ATC and custom scenery objects such as aircraft, helicopters, fuel trucks and emergency vehicles. For complete details visit the Just Flight's Challenge over the Rockies product page and while you're there, you can try out the Demo (5.2Mb) for this latest release.

Meigs Field Released

Posted: Saturday, March 13, 2010 - 1:35
Flyscenery releases their long awaited Meigs Field Airport. The legendary airport, where it all started, has been recreated with high level of detail and consists of two scenery version eras, 1999 version and 2003 version, a first in FS.

Pacific Northwest Demo

Posted: Saturday, March 13, 2010 - 1:10
Orbx is pleased to announce the immediate availability of its free demo of FTX Pacific Northwest. The demo area covers over 7,000 square miles of the Olympic Peninsula during spring season and includes all the FTX features from the full version, including upgraded default airports, roads, rivers, coastlines, 3D night lighting, photoreal mountain peaks, custom autogen, the FTX Central tool and much more. The demo is completely time-unlimited and obligation free.

Ultimate Traffic 2 - Power Pack Released

Posted: Saturday, March 13, 2010 - 0:55
Flight1 announces the official release of the Ultimate Traffic 2 Power Pack: a FREE add-on to Flight1's Ultimate Traffic 2 product for FSX. The Power Pack is an easy to use tool to that allows you to compile and import add-on schedules, create new schedules from scratch, modify or create airport identifiers, plus much more. Below you will find a few highlights of what the UT2 Power Pack provides:

Create Add-on Schedules Manually - The UT2 Power Pack includes the ability for users to manually create their own schedules from the ground up, one flight at a time. Users will be able to add smaller airlines that are not available on popular flight sim sites, special event schedules such as special military flights, charter airlines, virtual airlines, and/or use it to schedule GA traffic at your local airport. Virtual Airlines will especially find the tool to be a great utility because they can add their complete schedules to the FSX world.

Import Download Schedules - UT2 Power Pack users can import classic BGL style schedules, with the help of AIFPC or TTools, to create schedules and AI aircraft activity that is not already included with the software.

Airport Modification - UT2 Power Pack features an airport modification tool that will allow users, who have add-on airports that were not included originally with the FSX release, to add/modify these airports so UT2 can handle the AI Traffic scheduled to them.

Share Add-on Schedules - The UT2 Power Pack enables users in the Ultimate Traffic 2 community to share newly created schedules with others.

British Airways Virtual General Conference Meeting

Posted: Friday, March 12, 2010 - 18:13
2010, sees one of the Internet's Premier Virtual Airlines, British Airways Virtual , celebrate 10 years in existence! The only UK virtual airline to be formally ratified by it's real world counterpart, British Airways Virtual are holding their first General Conference Meeting (GCM) in late May .

Members are attending from as far away as Lima in Peru, Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, Spain and Finland, and at least three attending are serving line pilots with their respective real world airlines, all meeting face-to-face with the pilot members over three-course banquet dinner and an after-dinner entertainment event, including an awards ceremony and speeches from some very Special Guests invited to speak at the event.

VATSIM St. Patrick's Event

Posted: Friday, March 12, 2010 - 17:58
VATSIM, hold their annual St. Patrick's event on Sunday 14th March which will see Irish airports fully staffed from 1600Z to 2200Z, giving pilots a great chance to try out Eiresim's new Dublin and Shannon sceneries. VATeir are also celebrating 10 years since the formation of the Irish vACC, and to mark this they will be holding a draw after the event where pilots will have the chance to win 1 of 10 prizes.

Aerosoft's 8th German FlightSim Conference

Posted: Friday, March 12, 2010 - 0:23
On March 13th, Aerosoft will hold their 8th German FlightSim Conference. For the first time this conference will take place at the Flugwerft of the Deutsche Museum in Oberschleißheim near Munich. Starting next year, the conference will rotate annually between Paderborn-Lippstadt and Oberschleißheim.

A growing interest in the flight sim hobby has also seen a rise in national and international exhibitors and developers coming to the show, making this a special event for all simmers who would like firsthand news on upcoming developments. Organisations, clubs, virtual airlines, forum providers and companies from the flight simulator industry will present their newest products and services at their own stands.

Exhibitors like Flight1, Digital Aviation, VATSIM, IVAO, SimWare, Apollo Software, Aviasoft, Cockpit Sonic, FS Magazin, FDS Simulator Cockpit can be found in attendance at this conference. Apart of visiting these exhibitors, in the Lilienthal Hall several seminars like "Complexity of today's scenery design in FSX", "The paperless Cockpit" or "SimCheck A300" are held and remember, this is just a small collection of what's coming up. Additionally, in co-operation with the museum, guided tours are offered through the museum exhibition. If you would like to take on this opportunity, you will need to register as it will include a charge of €5.00.

Finally, at the end of the day there's the traditional Captain´s Dinner, which will take place in the evening from 07:00 PM at the "Hotel Huberwirt" in Eiching. Reservations for the Captain's dinner as well as other information is available on the dedicated Aerosoft German Flight Simulator Conference website. The admission for this FlightSim event cost you no more than €6,00 for adults or €3,00 for children from the age of 6 to 15 years. Additional information is available about the Deutsches Museum Flugwerft Schleissheim.

AVSIM fans are asked to keep an eye out for Senior Staff Reviewer Angelique van Campen. She will be there to report on the Conference and will have a report published here after the conference. Look for her in her staff shirt and say hi.

Ultra Light Challenge from Roussillon Aero

Posted: Thursday, March 11, 2010 - 15:30
Roussillon Aero Simulation, presents its latest Ultra Light challenge. Fly onboard the Aircreation ultra-light from Millau to Carcassonne in Southern France. The top three pilots stand to win a prize.

For more information on this challenge visit Roussillon Aero Simulation's website.

X-1 from Xtreme Prototypes

Posted: Thursday, March 11, 2010 - 1:59
Staff reviewer Xavier Noche reaches for the stars with Xtreme Prototypes X-1. "Xtreme Prototypes proposes the second generation of Bell Aircrafts X1 rocket planes. This aircraft came after the first generation that broke mach 1, with the aim to reach beyond mach 2 and 90 000ft. The real aircraft reached Mach 2.44 and 90 440 ft. 3 of these airplanes X-1A, B and D were build and the 4th one X-1C was planned but never built."

"The X-1 SG from Xtreme Prototypes simulates all 4 models: X-1A or D without launch Boeing B-29, X-1A or D with launch B-29, X-1B without B-29 and X-1C without B-29. The X-1A and D models are the same. The X-1B is not very different from A and D. All the models are nice and full of details."

"The panel is technically unique as all the gauge shapes are in the interior model, not in the panel. This aircraft has a true 3D panel, meaning 3D gauges, not flat 2D gauges projected on a 3D panel: every single switch, nut, screw or washer is modeled in 3D! Even the needles of the gauges are 3D! The result is just astounding."

"The X-1 can be either classically started by taking off from the ground, though that only happened once in 42 flights, or dropped from a B-29 at an altitude above 40 000 ft. On top of this, several pre-defined flights start at a high altitude without drop. he B-29 only appears when the drop switch is armed (middle position). This B-29 exterior is fairly detailed in the exterior. The next level of challenge, after controlling the aircraft in all flight phases in normal operations, is to master the emergency situations."

"Xtreme Prototypes X-1 is a beautiful aircraft with unique performance and an amazing full 3D panel; a challenge to control in most phases of flight (but what else would you expect from an extreme prototype?). It pushes the limits of both your skills and FS capabilities."

Instant Mission Maker Update

Posted: Thursday, March 11, 2010 - 0:33
Flight 1 is pleased to announce an update for Instant Mission Maker to version 1.03. The update contains several new features and bugfixes. Instant Mission Maker is an easy to use tool for making Flight Simulator X missions. It offers a very intuitive GUI, live preview and editing of many mission objects directly in FSX, and can also instantly generate random missions.

Falco For X-Plane Released

Posted: Tuesday, March 9, 2010 - 14:56
X-Aviation is proud to announce the release of the most complete GA single simulation in X-Plane and we believe you will find it to be an enjoyable and immersive experience. If you enjoy GA flying or need a good GA to practice scanning skills on while working the radios and other controls, then this Falco needs to be in your flight sim folder.

Their version of the Falco is on the cutting edge of X-Plane technology, offering the first 100% fully interactive cockpit in 3D. Every knob, button and switch is manipulatable in 3D and 98% of the aircraft functions exactly as it does in reality....even the circuit breakers might trip under certain circumstances! Also included is another x-plane first, a simulation of the Garmin GTX330 transponder to make your online flying experiences more realistic than could be done previously. You can even download the manual from the Garmin website to learn to operate it...it's that realistic. There is a full complement of IFR instrumentation and a full-featured autopilot to make things easier on those long cross-country flights.

Most x-plane users have gotten so used to the inaccurate idiosyncracies of X-Plane, that they do not even know what they're missing....well it's time to get things right! We've highlighted a lot of these features in a tour video. If you're looking to just get started with X-Plane, this it the plane to do it with.

Flight1 Software Ultimate Traffic 2 – Boxed Edition

Posted: Tuesday, March 9, 2010 - 13:21
Ultimate Traffic 2 is now boarding..., Re-designed from the ground up, Ultimate Traffic 2 provides Microsoft Flight Simulator X users the definitive AI-traffic upgrade, and still is the only package out there that provides computer traffic based on real airlines, flying on real schedules and now using realistic routings too!
There are over 1 million flight hours of commercial traffic and a further 2.5 million flight hours of general aviation flights– with vast flexibility and customisation on what you see and where. The all-new DX10 aircraft models give unparalleled frame-rates compared to other packages and you can even select a flight from the departure board and fly it yourself if you want!
So now you don’t just have to watch out for traffic, you can BE the traffic!
Ultimate Traffic 2 boxed edition is available from all good retailers, from the local hobby shop to high street chain stores. The boxed version and the download version (using Flight1’s popular e-commerce system) are also both available direct from Flight One Software .

It's Your Plane - Part 2

Posted: Tuesday, March 9, 2010 - 1:32
Staff reviewer Roger Curtiss wraps up his look at Pacific Feelings Media's "It's Your Plane". "In Part 1 of my review of Its Your Plane (IYP), I mentioned that there were too many features to be covered in one review and that this would be a multi-part treatment of the product."

"It's Your Plane also offers many additional enhancements. Specifically mentioned were: Interactive Help; 3 ATC Modes; SmartStart; and Come Fly with Me." This is a remarkable product that provides great value for the investment and has so much to offer that anyone is bound to find at least one aspect (beyond the fact that your keyboard becomes obsolete while flying with IYP) that will substantially add to the flight simulation experience.

Help Wanted - Sky Blue Radio

Posted: Tuesday, March 9, 2010 - 0:45
Sky Blue Radio needs your help with some beta testing with the next generation of Wee Tune Beastie! Wee Tune Beastie is one avenue for listening to the station either stand alone or via your cockpit com2 radio on 123.450. We need the first 20 people that send an email to info@skyblueradio.com with their Sky Blue Radio registration address will be eligible for the final beta testing before release candidate 1… Sky Blue Radio, Sounding GREAT at any altitude.

New from GoFlight: Multi-Engine Starter Module

Posted: Monday, March 8, 2010 - 19:03
The GoFlight Multi-Engine Start Module from GoFlight is designed to realistically model the ENGINE START section of the overhead panel on a 737, 757, 767, 777 or any other airliner. For sim enthusiasts who enjoy including "checklist" engine start procedures at the beginning of their flights, the GF-MESM is the perfect addition to the personal sim cockpit. And for those sim pilots who prefer to simply "start up and go", simplified engine start functions, as well as many other cockpit functions, can be assigned to the module controls.
The Multi-Engine Starter Module control complement includes: