There are plenty of flight simulator programs on the market and, if you want to learn to fly, or are just looking for a top gaming experience, then you’re going to want to buy one of them.

Given Microsoft’s domination in many areas of software technology it’s only natural that you’ll want to check out their Flight Simulator X. It’s a very good program BUT be warned: It requires a huge amount of memory, a top-of-the-rage video card and lots and lots of hard drive space. And I’m talking lots. One reviewer on Amazon set aside 100Gb for his installation. Another couldn’t even get it to install! Don’t just take my word for it – here’s a direct quote from another Amazon reviewer:

Quote
Beware, if you do not have a stable, up-to-date, top of the line system, it will not work. If you have a computer over 1 year old running XP or Vista, it most likely will not be stable. If you cannot or do not do windows updates, you are not current. All your drivers, video/audio cards need to be current.
Your video card needs to be at least 256 Mb, 512 Mb is best. You need at least 2 Gb of memory, 4 Gb is best, with dual core and at least 2 GHz speed.
Unquote.

See what I mean?

It may therefore be worth your while investigating one of the other newly released flight simulators – Flight Pro Sim. This collaborative programming effort has been specifically designed to have moderate computer requirements and free upgrades as they become available. The sales page details all its features.

I’m now a great convert to open source programming projects. This is the third piece of OS software I’ve bought and they’ve all offered great value and great performance. If you want to get flying from your armchair without lots of PC grief, I know which one I’d choose.

flight simulator

flight simulator X

flight simulator X

For any budding pilot, a good flight simulator package is a must. Find out more about Flight Pro Sim and get into the air as quickly as possible without computer problems. http://www.flightprosimreview.com

I enjoy writing on my first blog, (http://michaeljlockwood.wordpress.com) , but politics aren’t my only interest in life.

I must admit, that I’m a Flight Simulator freak. I fell in love with it in 2004. Less than 6 months later, I found Vatsim (http://www.vatsim.net). The flight sim experience changed for me.

Those of you who know about Vatsim are already familiar with the organization. Those of you who aren’t, let me put it into a nutshell.

Vatsim is a network that allows a flightsim fanatic to not only fly with others online, but to also play the role of an ATC (air traffic controller). To say this is an amazing sight would be doing Vatsim an extreme disservice.

The nice thing about Vatsim is the sheer level of professionalism. Real pilots and controllers join the network to make the network as real as humanly possible.

I got the idea to do this blog when I considered doing a prop flight around the world. I intend to visit all 50 states, including Hawaii if I can. I’ll also try to hit a few countries more than once while I’m there.

Needless to say this is going to be quite the journey. You’ll be right there in the right seat along with me. I’ll try to have guest pilots along the way, but I can’t promise anything right now.

Blue Skies and God Bless

A partir de agora o LoadingBr vai diversificar!

Estamos disponibilizando o FSPassengers, um ad-on para o Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004.

Com ele simula-se uma companhia aérea em todas os seus aspectos. Desde a compra e manutenção de aeronaves até os serviços de bordo, incluindo-se os gastos e lucros da companhia. Ele adiciona uma espécie de co-piloto que facilita muito as operações da aeronave, porém requer um pouco de prática para utilizar.

Download pelo 4Shared na imagem abaixo.

Vous collectionnez les versions de Flight Simulator ? Vous cherchez la version sur NEC PC-8801 ? Et bien, il vous aurait fallu 46 500 yens pour l’acquérir la semaine dernières sur Yahoo! auctions, ouch !! 46 500y = 345 euros !

Many FSX pilots own Macs.  This means, that like me, you use a virtualization platform to run Windows within a partition on your MacintoshHD.   I personally use Boot Camp because it is free and I rarely need to run Mac programs in parallel with Windows.

To make a long story short, to check on the latest virtualizatoin news, I visited the blog for VMware Fusion; Team Fusion.  Boy was I surprised to see a post featuring FSX.  In a post titled MacWorld: First Look at VMWare Fusion 3, the team demonstrated the power of the virtualization graphics environment by running a demo of FSX. It appears to be mission where a CRJ makes a challenging approach to St Maarten. (Video below)

While the graphics didn’t seem to be set to a very high level, the fact that you could run Windows 7 and FSX from the Mac environment blows my mind.

Clearly the pilot flying the demonstration needs to learn how to fly.  Using the mouse to fly the CRJ is a little tough…  I hope that doesn’t mean joystick support has been left out?  I also wonder how FS2004 would look.

Anyway, I am off to buy Fusion 3.  How about you?

First Look: VMware Fusion 3

Posted using ShareThis

Im Netz gibt es ja nichts was es nicht gibt!

Eben habe ich folgenden Link gefunden… 20 Flight Simulator Books – Full Text!

Natürlich sind die alle schon etwas betagt, aber einen Blick kann man trotzdem riskieren.

Hier ist der Link

Enjoy!

And that means another heaping pile of stuff that you could spend all your money and time on, if you were so inclined. This week has been a real mixed bag of releases, so you’re sure to find something here that tickles your fancy, makes you roll your eyes, or both. So, what’s new?

Another Cub Takes to the Skies

My good buddy and long-time producer Francois Dumas released another in his budding line of aircraft under the FSAddon label. We’ve all been going a little Cub nuts lately, thanks to the offerings that are raining down fast and furious, and into this mix comes another, courtesy of Simon Smeiman. He’s done up a right nice Super Cub package that is definitely not wanting when it comes to variety! For a very modest EUR 16.50 (19.63 w/VAT), you can own not one, but seven different varieties of Super Cub, in 24 different liveries. By type, they are:

• Standard wheeled
• Floats
• Amphibian
• Large Tundra Tires
• Medium Tundra Tires
• Skis
• Aerobatic Model

Combine this with three different panel layouts, and the aicraft selection menu choices alone will take you an hour. I had a go around the Stark’s Twin Oaks area last night, and found Simon’s Super Cub to be a well-mannered little hot rod, at least compared to the Cub that I’ve gotten used to flying these past few weeks. If you’re a fan of the type, this is one to add to your collection.

Ant’s Boonah – My Kind of Scenery!

Apparently, Australia is the new powerhouse where virtual aviation is concerned. I wrote last week about the extensive new OZx freeware release, and fast on its heels another Aussie dev, Anthony “Ant” Lynch has turned out another in his “Ant’s Aussie Airports” series. This time, it’s the busy little field at Boonah. From the documentation:

Boonah is a small town about 70km SW from the centre of Brisbane and 70km W of the Gold Coast. Boonah airfield is a small, but busy, airstrip 2km south of the town of Boonah. It features a glider club and an ultralight club (the Flying Tigers). Airsport is a flying school and Scenic Rim Aviation provides scenic flights, flight training and charter.

This scenery models the airfield and provides about 9km square of photoreal ground textures. The photoreal is designed to blend with the FTX payware textures for Australia so it is recommended that you have these installed. Also recommended is the freeware OZx airfields which provides hundreds of airfields Australia wide, about 30 of which are within a 100km radius of Boonah.

Sounds like a perfect place to get some grass in your wheelwells, doesn’t it? What sold me was the screenshots, though. This guy Ant is exactly my kind of developer. More than anything else in this highly detailed little airport, I loved that he included touches like the Spitfire that’s up on jacks being restored, the two young women chatting by the FBO’s front door, and the guy washing his glider. If any of that sounds good to you, go grab it here.

A Tube, True, But Look At That VC!

Few devs have stirred up the community (for better and worse) like the Russian Captain Sim team. Love ‘em or hate ‘em, you have to admit; they have some true 3D artists in their ranks. Just recently, they released their latest major offering, the Boeing 767. It’s been a while since we had a new one of these jumbos to play with, the last being the groundbreaking Level-D version, which was a delight. This one promises to be classic CaptainSim, glories, warts, and all.

I don’t have this big bird yet, but I did pick up their 757 last Christmas during their insane $9.99 sale. If you’re an eye-candy nut, you’ll drool all over this thing. It’s just drop-dead gorgeous. Load it up at night, and feast your eyes on the virtual cockpit. Nobody does night lighting like these guys! With the disclaimer, again, that I haven’t tried the 767, I can say that the rumors I heard of low frame rates just don’t hold up on my half-decent rig. In fact, I get very smooth performance in the 757; as good as any other complex aircraft I own. If you commit the occasional tube driving, it’s something to think about… more info here.

Fly a Forgotten Cessna

The sim world is awash in Cessnas. For the most part, though, they’re the more common new varieties such as 152’s, 172’s, and 182’s. Thankfully, devs Simflight3D have taken it upon themselves to provide us with some more seminal Cessnas, such as the newly released 140 tail-dragger. Finished in shiny bare metal with flashes of color, this little bird looks like it’d make a great bush hauler. The interior is nicely textured, but the panel is a bit plain. Then again, these babies weren’t exactly stuffed with space-age avionics to begin with, so that’s probably appropriate. Tempting, very tempting. Expecially at only EUR 15.35. Man, there are some mighty good deals lately on planes.

Technically, Not FS News

I hope you didn’t think you were going to make it through this FF without a mention of Windows 7. Yup, Redmond has shoved their latest OS out the door as of this week, and it should be on store shelves now. Ordinarily, I’m loathe to upgrade my operating system, and I never (NEVER!) jump on a new release right off the bat. This time, it’s different. Microsoft offered a public beta and release candidate of Windows 7 many months ago, and I’ve been running the RC1 version on a second hard drive for a long time now. I figured I’d load it on a spare drive and occasionally check it out, while continuing to do the bulk of my work on XP.

Wrong-O. After a few days of trying the 64-bit version of Win7 out, I was fully hooked. In fact, it’s been months since I even booted into XP. Maybe it’s just the step up from a 32-bit OS to 64, but this thing screams. My boot times are faster, my system more stable, and of course I’ve got access to all 6GB of my RAM instead of a meager 3.2GB. Add it all up, and it’s a great platform for general computing, and not too shabby for FSX, either. I imagine I’ll be heading off to the computer store in the next few days to buy my full copy. If you were (rightfully) afraid to try it after the Vista train wreck, take a deep breath. It seems like the nightmare is over.

This weekend, between taking the kids to the mall, cleaning your gutters, and washing the cat… go flying!

Cathay Pacific Airbus A330

Destination: Perth International Airport to Hong Kong International Airport.

Estimated Flight Time: 7 Hours 20 Minutes

Actual Flight Time: 7 hours and 2 minutes (at gate, engines off + shutdown check-list complete)

Starting Fuel: 60%

Remaining Fuel: 12%

Aircraft: Airbus A330

Airline: Cathay Pacific

Flight Notes: Not much visibility. Performed succesful ILS approach.

For your convenience, I compiled a directory page featuring some of the top freeware add-on design teams for flight simulator.  As I find more groups, I will add them to the list.  Consider this phase one with refinement of the directory coming as I have time to update it and add detail about each group.

Flight Simulator Model Directory

If you have a favorite freeware group you would like to see on the list, please leave a comment.   Of course suggestions and feature requests are always welcome as well!

Cheers!

Historic Jetliners Group (HJG) updated their website for autumn.  Included are repaints for the 727 family, DC-8’s, and 707’s.  But there is a little bit of a surprise.

The Caravelle!  Yep, Allied FS Group joined forces with HJG to bring us the Caravelle SE-210 family.

Go grab these awesome babies over at their website.

Following the devastating loss in May of AVSIM’s File Library, a serious gap opened up in the flight simulator world.  While other freeware download sites such as Flightsim.com and Simviation.com picked up a lot of the slack, there was still something missing.  I guess you can say that AVSIM delivers a truly unique add-on flight simulator experience.

Top AVSIM Downloads as of 21:51 PST, 5oct09

Yesterday, the library opened up for uploads.  Today, there are hundreds of add-ons available for you to partake.  POSKY is uploading their 777-series, Tom Ruth has uploaded his Antonov models, and Al Wheeler even snuck in updated Central Coast scenery for MegaScenery.   So what are you waiting for, get over there and grab some add-ons!

AVSIM

Great Planes has released the new G5 Realflight and it will be here Monday.   Use this coupon code HCBRFG5  for a special discount on Realfligth G5 at www.ihobbycentral.com .
Here is their announcement: ‘The world’s most advanced R/C flight simulator, RealFlight delivers such amazing accuracy and realism that it doubles as the finest R/C flight training tool available. Now RealFlight goes beyond its famous “at-the-field” accuracy to offer combat and new multiplayer options that make Generation 5 even more fun and further increase its broad appeal. Plus all the standard features that have made RealFlight the #1 flight simulator are still here – like night flying, water takeoffs and landings, collision detection, and TruFlo Wind DynamicsTM.

G5 is packed with exciting, new enhancements!

Fly with up to 31 other pilots – using the Multiplayer and your Internet connection.
Four different combat events – test your expertise.
Six new aircraft – bringing the total aircraft to over 75.
Three new 3D flying sites – bringing the total number of sites to over 30.
Manage Multiplayer sessions – describe the airports, aircraft, activities and time limits. Invite pilots and automate the session ahead of time.
Create your own online “pilot’s license” profile – choose a name, select an avatar, and create a profile to share.
Targeting System – select a single opponent and track his movement throughout the virtual arena.
On-board cameras – add cameras and change the video angles from the controller.

First Person Video – puts you in the pilot’s seat and lets you enjoy views from the cockpit. No other simulator offers this feature.
Four different combat events

Machine Gun

Rocket

Paintball

Streamer Cut

Six new aircraft

ThunderTiger Innovator, Sopwith Pup, Sig® Senorita,
DynafliteTM Super Decathlon, Multiplex Parkmaster 3D, and Easy Star.

ThunderTiger Innovator

Sopwith Pup

Three new 3D flying sites

Boneyard

Apocalypse

Construction Site

First Person Video

First Person Video View Forward

First Person Video View Right

Targeting System”

     Realflight has been in the top 10 best selling products in all of our stores.  It looks like Realflight G5 will be a nother winner.  It will sell for $199.99 and owners of previous versiosn will be able to purchase an upgrade for about $100.   We have it on order and will be available at www.ihobbycentral.com soon.  Here is a discount coupon code for $10.00 off of Realflight G5 (full version)   HCBRFG5  .  This coupon code can be used towards the purchase of Realflight G5 when it becomes available at www.ihobbycentral.com

Bill

Vous avez déjà cassé votre tirelire en achetant votre 737 Wilco, et vous n’avez pas envie de vous abonner à Navigraph pour maintenir vos Navdatas à jour, mais votre FMC n’arrête pas de vous rappeler que vos données ne sont pas à jour.

Heureusement pour vos nerfs fatigués il y a une solution, gratuite qui plus est.
Il faut tout d’abord savoir que ces données se trouvent dans le fichier [D:\Microsoft Flight Simulator X\feelThere\Nd\nd.mbd]
N’essayez pas d’éditer ce fichier avec le bloc note vous allez au devant d’une déception majeure.Un fichier mbd est une base de données Microsoft Access qui fait partie de Microsoft Office, ce dont on se moque, mais qui est douloureusement payante ce qui est très grave . Mais, pour des modifications simples, sur des données non indexées, il existe un logiciel gratuit:MDB Viewer Plus

* Téléchargez et installez NDB Viewer Plus
* Lancez NDB Viewer
* Ouvrez le fichier nd.mbd

* Ouvrez l’onglet “config”
* Remplacez la valeur 25OCT06 par 25OCT10 par exemple

* Sauvegardez par Edit-Save

Désormais en n’étant plus obligé de cliquer sur Clear suite à l’affichage maudit jusqu’au 25 Octobre 2010 vous vous sentirez obligé de dire “Ah vraiment”

Project Opensky released a fabulous sound set for their 777 family aircraft fitted with the Rolls Royce Trent 800-series engines.  These account for 40% of all 777’s, according to POSKY. Head over to their announcement and download your 100% authentic sound set today!