I don't remember to have ever heard of JustSim before, but judging from the screenshots and the following video, this team seems to be doing a good job. From their ovens comes a freshly baked, beautiful Spanish destination, for FSX and P3D, Girona - Costa Brava. Check it out HERE.
Freshly cooked from Just Flight, comes a nice little simulation of a modified version of the interwar F3F-1 fighter bomber from Grumman, dubbed the GulfHawk II, for FSX and P3D. Accurate flight dynamics, authentic animated VC, choice of electric or cartridge starts, just to name a few features...sounds good LINK
Big deal, big event. The first 727 jet to take to the skies, which has been under restoration for the last 25 years, will fly again, for the last time. It'll depart the Museum of Flight's Restoration Center and Reserve Collection at Paine Field, Everett, Washington, bound for the Museum, at Boeing Field. Read the whole story here.
Aeroplane Heaven (through Just Flight) have released their brand new de Havilland DH.104 simulation for FSX and P3D. It includes both the Dove (short haul airliner) and Devon (military version) variants. In addition to the high level of realism, it appears there's plenty of diversity too, many variations (eg. in terms of instrumentation) of each model being simulated. Generous doses of realism and diversity stuffed into the same simulation can't be a bad thing Cool stuff indeed! Click on the image to go to its page on JF.
Simple, straightforward, promising. Forget RAM air turbines, ditching, finding an airstrip to land your stricken plane, sometimes, you just gotta fight fatal accidents the hard way.
The default timezone of the website is set to GMT, and if you live in parts of the world with different time zones (CET for instance), you will be shown erroneous dates and times across the website. For instance, the date and time on which you, or somebody else wrote a forum post, uploaded a screenshot or added a comment will be displayed erroneously (the wrong date and time) in places such as the forum threads or the activity feed on the main page.
To have the correct date and time displayed across the site, you need to set the timezone of your area, this is a very straight forward process, as follows (if needed, click on the pictures to see them in full resolution):
Hover the cursor over your username found on the top bar, and a drop down menu will pop up, now click on "Options".
On the "Settings" panel you've been presented with, click on "Forum Settings"
On the first of the 2 panels that have showed up, there is an option labeled "Zeitzone", the German word for "Timezone", click on its corresponding button to open the drop down menu and from that list, select the city that has the same timezone as your location. Next, click on the button labeled "Save settings" of this panel.
Now you should have correct values of date and time displayed across the site.
I'm rather ashamed to post this in the news section as I'm almost a month late reporting on this, but hey, considering how detached from the FS world I've been lately, I'm surprised I stumbled upon this thing so quickly after all...so what is this thing?
First things first; a year ago, I wrote down my thoughts here on the then brand new Soft Clouds textures for FSX and P3D from REX, and in putting my 2 cents in, I was actually more than generous with that product...in that I awarded it plenty of "black dots". At best, I just didn't see any major improvement (if any) brought by that addon in the FSX and P3D worlds. My whole "mini-review" was based on screenshots made by others, as I didn't (and don't) own neither FSX nor P3D, I also stated that even if I did own FSX or P3D, I wouldn't go for purchasing Soft Clouds to check them out myself, as I just wasn't impressed at all by what I saw in the screenshots.
But guess what?
Last December, days before Christmas, REX released an FS9 version of Soft Clouds... I'm always glad when I see new addons being developed for my beloved immortal sim, but given its failure to impress me last year, Soft Clouds shouldn't be the addon that gives my hand the virus...you know...that virus that makes your hand wanna reach for the credit card and pimp your FS. But still...for whatever reason, now that there's an FS9 version of Soft Cloudies, I'm tempted to try 'em out. They say it improves the fog effects among others...I wonder if there are things you cannot really see in screenshots, but only in the sim...hmmm, I'll think about it...but if I do get them, I promise to review them! See them here and here.
Wow, that looks like serious fun, (the screenies speak for themselves) but all a die-hard FS9er like me can do is sit and drool Danke sehr for the headsup, mein Freund!
The amazing folks at HJG had been planning a major update of their Boeing 727 fleet of simulations for more than a year now (I mentioned it in this article a year ago). Personally, I've been anxiously waiting for this upgrade ever since, constantly checking back on their website.
Well, on the 28th of this month, they finally started to release their improved 727s, and the reason I say "started" is because this is only the first of a total of 3 stages in which their 727 update is to be released, the other 2 stages being scheduled for release at a later date. This first stage of updates brings us new 727-200 3D models which greatly expands the already diversified 727-200 flightline offered by HJG, in other words, many more versions of the 727-200 are now available (such as winglet-equipped models). These new models are accompanied by new flight dynamics and new/updated panels to match them. New and updated panels are also available for 727-100. Updated 727-100 models are to be released in the next stages of the update.
For more info and the official announcement, hit this link.
Milton Shupe and his team are known for the multitude of high quality freeware aircraft they've developed over many years, mostly classic/small aircraft - fighters, liners and utility planes. Personally, until now, I haven't been fully aware of just how actively Milton's team is still developing. There are many recent (no more than 2 years old) simulations released by the group of which I wasn't aware. And best of all, they stubbornly refuse to let down the FS9 folks.
But the latest iron bird to roll off this group's production line (released on the 5th of September) is one whose absence on the FS stage has been clearly felt among the fans of classic irons - the Lockheed Lodestar, a passenger airplane of the WWII era. Milton and co' Lodestar package includes both civilian and military versions of this wonderful aircraft, all in the usual superb detail and fidelity that Milton and his team are known for. It comes complete with virtual cockpit and cabin, custom sounds and gauges. And yes, it is available for both FS2004 and FSX. Being a rather endowed simulation, it requires patience in actually getting the grips on how to properly fly this thing, you'd really miss a lot if you were to just hop in, max the throttle and pull the stick, as I was to find out when I took it for a spin. Both versions (FS9 and FSX) are available here on FlightSim.com (if the link doesn't work, search FlightSim.com' file library, via File Library > Advanced Search, for "milton shupe lodestar" and check the "Complete aircraft with model, panel, sound" box to filter the unwanted results).
Now, a few snaps from my maiden flight with the Lodestar, in FS9:
Am loving the virtual cockpit...
...as well as the cabin
Been doing this for many years, and I still appreciate a good wingview in FS
He, thank you Mr Gate, matter fact, I was busy keeping an eye on earthlings getting too close to our outer solar system headquarters, with their New Horizons thingie
Hold on tight, get ready to be blown away by the wave of amazement...'cuz I'm about to present to you my newly acquired JOYSTICK, to use with my FS. I can already feel your envy
So far, my use of joystick for flight simming has been limited, I've mainly relied on Mouse As Yoke, but I feel like the time has come for me too to start using the stick on a regular basis, and since my old joystick was dying, I got a new one, the 1 n only... Genius MaxFighter F-23U, very basic as you can see, very cheap too, but it's all I need. I completely forgot how awesome it feels like to simfly...with the joystick... You know, there is this special feeling when you're capable of finding great joy in things most other people in your field of interest used to find the same amount of joy eons ago Same goes (in my case) for various addons, and the simulator itself (FS9). Got my new stick just in time for the end of my FS hibernation...
It seems my FS hibernation only lasted a little over a month, the urge to get back into the cockpit is just too great but I did need this short break, now FS feels so much more pleasurable. For starters, I take it slowly, I just did a couple tests with the good ol' Fokker F27, which I intend to fly next. Did my best to fire it up as realistically as possible from cold and dead, and perform the climb out, just as realistic. I guess I did pretty good, considering I've hibernated for over a month
I've backdated my FS (mainly AI traffic) and from now on until...some point in the future, I intend to go RETRO and only fly in the 80s, this is something I've been wanting to do for about a year or so. Long time since I last flew the oldies....I even got myself a new joystick (get ready to be amazed ) to use from now on. Till I'm truly back in the air, here's a few insights into my short test flight with the Friendship; cold and dead...I mean cold and dark startup followed by departure from Debrecen, Hugary:
About to wake up the Darts
All well
I'm already engulfed by that rewarding feeling one experiences upon getting everything right on a complex simulation (such as this wonderful freeware F27 by Fraser McKay)
Hehe, yeah I know, the urge to get back into the virtual cockpit is already intense but I'll still ignore it for a while, the FS experience being so much more delightful after a period of...abstinence It's almost as if I'm new to FS and I experience that "primordial" joy of "the first contact" all over again, but at the same time being armed with all the knowledge and experience gathered over the years.
Hello dear air colleagues, As you may have noticed, my FS activity, here on FSK, as well as on the other FS communities I enjoy, has reduced to almost...no activity at all. Just wanted to let you know I'm still alive but I'm taking an indefinite break from flight simulation, I feel like I need to refresh my mind a bit and that FS is gonna be much more fun after some time off. You can read more here about what determined me to take this break, but keep in mind that this was just the spark that lit the fire...so to speak...I would've needed this pause anyway. I'll still be around during my FS hibernation, albeit I'll keep a low profile So, till I'm back, hold my seat in the cockpit and have a great time in the air, both simulated and real!
I've been using the Premier Aircraft Design Dornier 328JET for some time now, a very lite interpretation of the real craft, all the while, not being aware there was a 328JET panel, by Alex Jorda, in the Avsim Library, with a plethora of systems modeled, pretty darn realistic. So I downloaded it, coupled it to Mike Stone's 328Jet model (thinking it's a superior 3D model to the PAD one), but I was soon to realize Mike's model looks like anything but a 328JET. So I dropped that model and went back to the PAD one, to which I coupled the new panel and which does look better, despite having the landing gear doors wrongly modeled. However, it wasn't really a "just-merge-and-fly" operation, there was quite a lot of work to be done before the new simulation could be declared airworthy.
1st, the panel was designed for widescreen monitors (my screen is a normal, 4:3 one), so it looks stretched on a monitor like mine, which meant I had to edit some lines in the panel cfg to resize the panel windows so that it fits a 4:3 monitor. Pretty easy, but that was not all, I also had to actually modify a panel bitmap, lengthen it, rebuild it, modify it, alter it, transform a one-windowed panel into a 2-windowed one...yeah..lots of developer work for someone like me, never in my life have I sweated so much working on an FS panel
After getting the panel to look the way I wanted to, I noticed a problem with the handling characteristics of the PAD model, a problem I hadn't been aware of up until that point; the tendency to bank excessively during taxi turns. Took me some times to realize there's a fix for just that, over at the Premier Aircraft Design site (probably because it says it's only for the prop version of the aircraft, and not for the jet too, even though it works just as well on the jet). Me applied the fix, me was glad to see the problem was gone. However after a few test flights, I had the feeling that the flight characteristics of Mike Stone's model, which I had flight tested before, were considerably better than the ones of the PAD model, so I then applied the FDE of Mike's model to my new simulation.
So in the end, I ended up with probably the best 328JET simulation for FS2004, born from the merger of Alex Jorda's panel + PAD' 3D model + Mike Stone's FDE + some other modifications I carried out. I like my new Dornie' birdie, I been thinking of buying Virtualcol's 328JET for FS9, but now I'm not so sure I still want to do it, this panel appears to have far more systems simulated.
Nuff talkin, enjoy some screenshots from my first flight with my brand new Dornier 328JET, from KBNA to KMYR:
Boarding at Nashville
Great Plains down there, indeed...
Sailing through the ocean of clouds
Got the strobe
And this is the piece of resistance, the one n only...the panel
Passing underneath a thick blanket of leaden clouds
In case you don't know it yet, you can vote on what the next project of Captain Sim should be.
Basically, there's a very long list of different aircraft types, and you can choose your top 3 favorite aircraft from that list, that you'd like Captain Sim to develop, and submit the choice as a vote. You can also choose the same aircraft type in all 3 instances. Not only will you have a say in the next CS project, but you'll also automatically join those having a chance to finally be among the 3 lucky folks randomly selected by Captain Sim to receive a free copy of any of their simulations (you get to choose your prize).
So at the end of the day, there's no excuse for you not to VOTE HERE.
My personal, unbiased opinion: It makes a nice difference compared to default FS9, but after so many years since FS9 came out, tons of similar addons, both freeware and payware, have been developed, most of them far surpassing this one. These days, if one wants to develop such an addon, I think it no longer makes sense to show us their product makes the sim look better than default, that used to apply ages ago, now, a developer must leave the impression their addon does a better job not just compared to the bare sim, but also compared to existent similar products. I'd say this "Water and Cloud V2" has arrived way too late at the party. Just my 2 eurocents, that's all! BTW, those clouds sure look more solid, but does that necessarily mean they're more realistic at the same time? LINK
Hello, welcome to the April 2015 edition! For April, I'd like to see VFR flights flown with aircraft that are built for anything but VFR flights. Let us see some unconventional VFR action. It could be an airliner flying low and slow in a valley, a bomber following rivers at low altitude...the more creative the better, good luck!