Everyone secretly loves flight simulation. Soaring above (or below) the clouds is a great experience, however it is generated. The iPhone and iPod touch devices, despite their small screens, are great for this sort of activity. The computing and graphics power is quite great and the accelerometer makes it quite hard to crash.

Here are my top flight sims in no particular order… unfortunately none are free, although Lite or Trainer versions might exist or become available…

X-Plane is a simulator that is absolutely physically realistic to the extent that a mobile phone can be. It presents serious options to practise or try out “proper” manoeuvres, including using excellently developed navigation on beautiful aircraft. There are terrain options, other aircraft (occasionally) and challenging runways. It uses the accelerometer to great effect. Multiplayer or not.

F.A.S.T. is an aerial combat game that is, again, very realistic, although less so. There is a social club, a multiplayer mode and an option to fight against enemies in planes with blackout-causing g-force. The satisfaction of this one can be immense – after all, it is designed to be challenging, with a name like “Fleet Air Superiority Training”. If you like missions, this is one for you.

Flight Control is about moving aircraft of various sizes and speeds to their correct helipads and runways. It’s a 2D setup but don’t be fooled – co-ordinating movements of planes of different speeds and requirements is tricky. There are several terrain modes, and the game itself is easy to use. A good value item that interacts with others over Bluetooth, WiFi or even Facebook (although that’s not live). Enjoy dragging aircraft around with your finger, then…

I would like to particularly thank the developers of these apps for their great work. Keep it up, guys!

Da poco meno di un anno anche io ho un iPhone 3g. Inutile mettermi a elencare i suoi pregi e i suoi difetti ( anche se non ce ne sono ) perchè ormai si è detto di tutto di più.

Volevo invece “stendere” una lista delle 10 applicazioni che fino ad ora ho provato e che ritengo più utili per completare questo telefono.
Tengo a precisare che sono tutte applicazioni gratuite scaricate da Apple Store e, qualora lo riteniate interessante, ancora in corso di validità (mi è capitato di leggere consigli di app che poi non ho trovato su Apple Store).

° PandoraBox – Molto utile per chi vuole tenere sotto controllo tutte (o quasi) le applicazioni dell’Apple Store. Permette di consultare molte applicazioni che in un primo momento sono a pagamento per poi diventare gratis o con un prezzo inferiore. Altrimenti si possono vedere tutte le applicazioni (a pagamento o gratis a seconda di cosa si vuole cercare) uscite sull’Apple Store nelle ultime 24 o 48 ore. Infine si possono selezionare delle applicazioni per noi “preferite” e poter così monitorare un loro eventuale cambio di prezzo. Richiede connessione 3g o WiFi.

° WordPress – Utile per tenere sempre aggiornato il nostro blog (non è il mio forte purtroppo) senza l’uso di un computer . Richiede connessione alla rete con 3g o WiFi.

° Skype – Utilissima per fare chiamate Voip. Identica all’applicazione che si scarica sul pc, richiede (ovviamente) connessione 3g o WiFi.

° TellMeWhere – Permette di fare ricerche localizzate e personalizzate nelle vostre vicinanze di 15 categorie commerciali differenti (ristoranti, bar, stazioni di servizio, librerie, ecc). In aggiunta rispetto a molti programmi simili, classifica i luoghi intorno a voi secondo i vostri gusti in modo da aiutarvi in una ricerca più veloce. Richiede connessione 3g o WiFi.

° Nimbuzz – Dopo la registrazione di un account, permette di settare altri servizi compatibili di IM, VoIP e Social Network tra cui Windows Live Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger, Skype, MySpace e Twitter. Richiede connessione 3G o WiFi

° FlashForFree – Programma in grado di aggiungere luminosità alle immagini scattate (effetto flash) in condizioni di luce scarsa. Ottima applicazione che compensa una mancanza del melafonino.

° ShareIt – Ottimo programma che permettere di collegare 2 iPhone tramite connessione Bluetooth e poter condivide foto e contatti. Inoltre consente di fare piccoli messaggi istantanei. Nessuna connessione alla rete.

° NowPlaying – Per tutti gli appassionati di cinema. Tramite localizzazione gps trova i cinema più vicini a noi, fornisce l’elenco dei film trasmessi (con relative recensioni ed eventuali commenti) con relativi orari. Richiede connessione 3g o WiFi.

° X-PlaneTrainer In breve è la versione gratuita e quindi demo del simulatore di volo più popolare e completo sul mercato.

° iScopaLite Il gioco di carte più famoso in versione iPhone. Permette di giocare una partita intera contro il melafonino. Interfaccia molto carina.

Itanhaem, SP – SDIM SDCR – (FSX)
Name: rscen_sdimsdcr_v20.zip Size: 148,208 Date: 08-28-2009 Downloads: 189
FSX Scenery–Itanhaem Airports v2.0. Scenery for the airports in the town of Itanhaem, SP, Brazil. Contains runways, taxiways, parking positions and buildings for both SDIM and SDCR airports. Gets better if used with Project Mesh X installed. By Ren Scen.
Download: http://www.flightsim.com/kdl.php?fid=138401

Je voudrais partager dans ce billet mon expérience sur la simulation de vol sur PC. En effet, durant mes (trop) longues années d’attente avant de pouvoir enfin commencer les leçons de pilotage, j’ai pas mal pratiqué les simulateurs de vol. J’ai essentiellement utilisé X-Plane que j’affectionne tout particulièrement pour le réalisme de son moteur de vol (c’est à dire que les réactions des avions sont très proches de la réalité avec ce simulateur).

Avec ce simulateur, on découvre également les joies de la personnalisation, puisqu’il est particulièrement aisé de trouver de nouveaux avions, mais également de nouveaux terrains. J’ai rapidement découvert la scène “Doubs VFR”, qui m’as permis d’ajouter à X-Plane l’aérodrome de Pontarlier. Pourvoir voler avec un simulateur sur une scène qui reproduit relativement fidèlement un aérodrome que vous connaissez, cela apporte une toute autre dimension !

Dans la rubrique de mes avions favoris sous X-Plane, il y a bien sur les classiques DR400 (incontournable !), les divers Cessna et autres Piper de toutes tailles. Dans un tout autre registre, j’ai également découvert les avions proposés sur cette page, dont un Rafale et un CAP10, qui sont tout simplement sublimes (les autres avions valent également le détours). Il y a eu également ce Mirage 2000, proposé également en livrée “Tiger Meet“, du plus bel effet ! J’avoue que j’ai relativement peu expérimenté les liners en simulateur, c’est un domaine qui m’attire un peu moins.

Puis j’ai découvert le vol réseau, génial le vol réseau ! Cela ouvre une nouvelle dimension à la simulation, puisqu’il introduit les autres avions, et aussi le contrôle aérien ! Il existe deux principaux réseaux, IVAO et VATSim, j’ai essentiellement volé sur VATSim. Cela apporte un réel plus à la simulation, puisque l’on est plus seul devant son PC, mais on évolue dans un univers beaucoup plus réaliste ! Il faut savoir qu’il existe de véritables “compagnies virtuelles” sur ces réseau de simulation, qui ont pour but de reproduire les vols de la réalité !

Je pense que c’est notamment grâce à cette expérience de vol en réseau que la phraséo ne m’as pas posé de soucis dans mon apprentissage. Car ça n’est l’air de rien, mais parler à la radio en essayant de respecter une certaine phraséo tout en pilotant n’as rien de bien évident, car dans un avion, tout demande une grande concentration lorsque l’on débute (un message radio se doit  d’être court, concis, tout en se faisant comprendre, ne pas oublier de préciser à chaque fois le destinataire, l’émmeteur, la position et les intentions – ça donne un truc du genre “Pontarlier de Fox Romeo Fox, en finale piste 20 pour un complet”). J’ai donc fait cette phase d’apprentissage de la phraséo tout en pilotant pendant sur VATSim, si bien que cela m’es venu relativement naturellement par la suite dans l’avion .

Aujourd’hui, je pilote beaucoup moins sur simulateur, moins de temps, et peut-être aussi moins d’envie, cela parait “fade” par rapport au pilotage réel . Mais peut-être que cela me reviendra un jours, qui sais !

Pour illustrer cet article, je ressort l’une des vidéos que je m’était amusée à faire lorsque je faisais du simulateur (heureusement que la piste était longue ) :

A 9.10 update to iPhone’s X-Plane version is available at the AppStore. It notably brings a better rendering (stars at night, water) and a better framerate. Use of map using touch has also been  enhanced. Details on various iPhone X-Plane games can be found here.

A 9.08 update to iPhone X-Plane is available at the AppStore. It brings support for multiplayer (that was introduced by X-Plane Racing), a better frame-rate, scenery enhancements and better physics engine.

I bought and built a new computer two weeks ago with the help of newegg.com.  Let me tell you, if you need a new computer and want a ton of power on a budget, now is the time to buy!  Comparing what I was able to purchase for $800, I would have had to spend at least twice as much to have one of the big boys assemble a system for me that was even close to as capable of a machine as I have created.  Prices have dropped substantially for PC components.  I built a computer with close to top of the line parts for around $800.  Lets get to the specs then I will tell you more details about it.

CPU:

• AMD Phenom II 920 @ 2.8 Ghz (quad core)

Video Card:

• Sapphire ATI Radeon 4870 with 1Gb gddr5 memory

Motherboard:

• Foxconn A7AD-S (it rocks!)

Ram:

• 8Gb G.Skill DDR2 800 memory (4×2Gb)

Hard Drive

• Western Digital Green 1TB

So, the part that is probably the least impressive is the hard drive, it is the green model so it is a little handicapped due to being “energy efficient” @ a slower RPM.  Let me tell you, it really isn’t a big deal though, that is not a noticeable issue.  I might order a solid state Flash based drive to install the OS and programs on it but for now I am using just the green drive.

Since this is my first new build in 4 years, I sort of went crazy!  I went big on the video car and the CPU, I dropped 8Gb in the machine and went for the whole 1Tb drive.  I also learned from the last build that one major requirement for any build is a brand name motherboard.  My last build had a Soyo board (I don’t like tiger direct, newegg is by far the best, the basically stopped making mobo’s after I ordered that piece of just and for the past four years I have struggled to keep that thing running).  This time I went with Foxconn based on it being brand name, in the $100 price range (I didn’t want to buy an over priced board)  and having a ton of great reviews!  I sort of lucked up on the CPU, I was going to do the build in late December before the Phenom II’s came out but waited because my old computer was working again.  Between Layoff fears (tomorrows topic) and the economy taking a dump (related topics of course) I was hesitant to spend the money on a new build.  I survived the second round of layoffs at Cessna so I just gave up on waiting (knowing another round of layoffs was coming… tomorrow) and decided the new computer could assist me in doing other work for my dad’s company or possible side projects such as the R/C tank I am designing (future topic).  As it turned out, the waiting helped me out a bunch!!  not only did AMD launch the Phenom II’s and reviews pop up all over but the price dropped a ton on them as well!  A processor that launched in the mid to high $200’s now cost below $200!!!  By waiting a month and a half, I was able to get a much better processor with good overclocking ability for the same price as the Phenom 9850 BE I was eyeing before.  I had been watching the Sapphire 4870 1Gb since I first decided it was time to build a computer so I was happy to finally get it so I could find out if I was right to select it.  On top of all of this, Newegg had some killer discounts and bundles!!

I installed Windows 7 beta 64bit on this one.  For games I have Supreme Commander and Counter Strike Source installed.  I intend to install SolidWorks 09 on it if/when I get a VPN set up so I can use a license from my Dad’s company.  Let me tell you I haven’t been able to find the limits of this machine!!!  I am hoping I can install solidworks soon so I can at least attempt to bring this machine to its knees.  I ran SupCom on Max settings on a dual monitor set up and this machine didn’t even flinch.  I doubt it even sped the CPU up past idle…  I guess I just need to find more intensive games…  Maybe I will install X-Plane 8 or 9…  I think that would have some affect but I am not sure how much.

I guess I should focus on Windows 7 for a bit.  Let me tell you, I never really played with Vista, I know it is a good OS (now…) but I haven’t really had a need to use it and I never had a computer that had Vista on it.  I was intending to buy a copy of Vista Ultimate 64bit with the new computer but decided to hold off.  So when Windows 7 Beta came out and the reviews were saying how good it is, I thought I would take a look.  With the new build having 8Gb I needed an OS that would support all of it.  I can tell you right now that I am extremely impressed with Window 7.  I have experienced a few issues with it (namely that I couldn’t get the WatchGuard VPN client to install which could be hardware related too..) but on the whole, I like it.  I am probably going to buy it when it comes out.  Yep, thats right, you read it, I am planning on buying Windows 7.  I do think their multiple versions scheme is a little stupid but whatever, they are the big boys, I am going to assume they know how to extort the most money out of the consumers…

So yeah, in conclusion, NewEgg.com is AWESOME!  My new computer is the Bomb!  And Computer components are to cheap to not consider building your own.

Links para download de aeronaves e cenários para o X-Plane!
Download links for X-Plane aircrafts and sceneries! Enjoy!

B737 by Benedikt Stratmann :
http://www.eadt.eu/

Embraer aircrafts for X-Plane:
http://fsbrasil.wordpress.com/2008/12/16/embraer/

Some other links:

- http://www.c74.net/xplane/ for Aircraft, e.g. Piper, Beechcraft, Cirrus, Private jets, Helicopters.
- http://www.flightsimx.co.uk/xplane/tutorial-fly-over-your-house-with-x-plane-and-g2xpl/ to make your own photographic sceneries.
- http://home.scarlet.be/~thdamman/xplane/download.html for Belgium scenery.
- http://www.nlx-plane.nl/ for The Netherlands scenery.
- http://www.x-plane.org/
- http://www.xpjets.com/
- http://xplane.andreasbenjamin.com/

For scenes, check this out:

Photosceneries of France and Switzerland:
http://xplane.overlays.dtccorp.org/

Photosceneries of Spain:
http://www.mediafire.com/xplane-es

Airports of France and Switzerland:
http://xpfr.scenery.dtccorp.org/

Lot of nice stuff here:
http://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?autocom=downloads

Brazilian Scneries for X-Plane:
http://fsbrasil.wordpress.com/category/x-plane/

***************************************
V.8 X-Plane Aircrafts:

• V8 Commuter & Regional Jets
• V8 Commuter & Regional Turboprops
• V8 Corporate & Business Jets
• V8 General Aviation Prop Singles
• V8 General Aviation Prop Twins
• V8 Heavy Metal Jets
• V8 Helicopters
• V8 Military
• V8 Panels
• V8 Other Models

***************************************
V.9 X-Plane Aircrafts:

• http://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?autocom=downloads&showcat=87

***************************************
V.7 X-Plane Aircrafts:

• http://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?autocom=downloads&showcat=15

It seems that X-plane educates aerodynamics, what to expect and think about different things. I was originally saying that I am not so interested in transonic region but rather interested in high altitude. I have been reading about these, but some little things like tinkering with X-plane can cause heureka moments.

And here is what happened:
I have a model of my twin concept in X-plane simulator (obviously, why wouldn’t I). So I set in the latest incarnation the engine critical altitude to 50000 ft (which is feasible with two turbos in cascade plus the mentioned electric turbo compounding). I used 110 hp per side (equivalent of Rotax 912ULS equipped with two turbos doing turbo normalization plus intercooler and after cooler).

I was reading Roskam couple of days ago and noticed that the transonic drag is not a problem if the speed is mach 0.2 or below or not that much above that, e.g. 0.3-0.4 is still quite fine. So I was thinking that maybe it doesn’t get that high that it would become a consideration.

So so obviously, I put the plane model to climb to 55000 ft with autopilot. I had previously added the mach meter to the hud. I came back checking how it flies after couple of tens of minutes. And oops: mach 0.56 when level at 55000 ft. The IAS was barely 100 kts. TAS was a quite a bit higher.

Then, I was thinking what happens to the Reynolds number. Indeed it gets smaller with altitude increasing. But interesting thing is what really happens, to which number it gets. I verified with atmosphere calculator, that indeed, the interesting Re range for this kind of concept with the AR=14 wing, it becomes 600000 – 1600000. That is _very_ low for an aircraft, which is full size and not a RC-model. So the low Re becomes after all a major consideration.

How a plane with AR=14 flies at 55000 ft? It requires _full_ trim aft (meaning nose high) to get the plane keep level – in this model. It became quite apparent that indeed, the tail volume coefficient is a more major concern at high altitude than at low altitude. And the control authority that felt fine at low altitude was not so fine at high altitude.

So this is what we have:
- High performance low Re airfoil is very necessary
- Cd at high lift coefficient is an important design point, the airfoil needs to be designed so that it gives high L/D at high lift coefficient rather than at low lift coefficient like for example NLF414F is targeting.
- A big tail with long enough moment arm
- Propeller with large diameter and possibly more blades than usual, e.g. 5 blades
- And of course, two turbos, intercooler, aftercooler, generator, battery, electric motor and a shaft between the prop and the engine.

Btw, my model is not yet available for download because it is not perfect, and it has couple of problems. It is very hard to get the splines right with straight sections edited by hand, and e.g. engine nacelles look really terrible at the moment. Anyway, it is a fun way for trying out things in practice.

Sorry for the holdup. Here it is =]:

Zym

X-Plane Airliner – $4.99 [iTunes Link]

If you are familiar with the original X-Plane for iPhone app (click for review), then this will feel VERY similar. The biggest change in this version is the aircraft choices. This version is all about Airliners, meaning they are jumbo jets. X-Plane Airliner includes a Boeing 777, Boeing 747, Airbus A-380 and the Boeing 787.

Upon opening X-Plane airliner, the first thing you will notice is 2 new controls. The original only had Throttle and Flaps adjustments. Airliner (I’m going to call X-Plane airliner simply “Airliner” for the rest of this review) takes those controls and adds two more: speedbrakes and trim. The cockpit view is also different from the original. It is a “Glass Cockpit” meaning that all the information you need is on a glass display.

One of the biggest additions to this version is the airports. The original has 3 airports. This version contains 98, with 42 NAVAIDS and roughly 60 by 180 miles of airspace.

By now you may be wondering if I’ll ever get to how the actual flying feels. Well….it doesn’t feel too much different from the original. The planes take a bit longer to respond to accelerometer movements because of how big they are. You also can’t do some of the loops that were possible in the original. Overall though, it feels pretty similar.

With that said, I was a bit disappointed at first because of the fact that these Airliners weren’t thrown into the original version, as was implied by the developer. He later explained that because of the iPhones memory, he couldn’t do that. (He has said he will try adding another small plane or two to the original version). I would also like to have seen bigger airports added with planes moving around on the runway and air traffic as well.

If you still haven’t bought either of the X-Plane for iPhone titles (Original, Helicopter, and Airliner), I would suggest you consider purchasing the Airliner version ONLY. I say this for a couple of reasons.
a) Its cheaper than the Original Version
b) I haven’t noticed much of a difference between the two (original and airliner) versions besides the planes. The planes do handle a bit differently and there are more airports, but other than that they seem very similar.

To sum that paragraph up, you get more for less when you purchase the Airliner Version. In fact, i have deleted the Original Version from my iPod Touch because I feel it isn’t necessary with the new Airliner Version.

I give this 4 stars out of 5.

Photos from the X-Plane for iPhone website.

Check out this link for my thoughts on the best ways to land and control your plane in X-Plane airliner. (In simpler words, its a tutorial)

macbookairman

Laminar Research has recently released two new versions of its X-Plane flight simulator for the iPhone and iPod touch; X-Plane Airliner and X-Plane Helicopter. Each can be purchased for $4.99 from the App Store — around half the price of the standard X-Plane game for iPhone.

X-Plane Background

X-Plane is an innovative application when compared to other flight simulators, as it uses a concept known as blade element theory. Rather than using lookup tables for determining the specific way an aircraft behaves, blade theory assigns independent values to every single element of an aircraft. This makes the software suitable for hardware such as the iPhone as it scales easily. Each download clocks in at under 10MB (incredibly small for a flight simulator).

X-Plane is capable of modeling complex aircraft designs easily, including helicopters, rockets, the Harrier Jump Jet, and the NASA Space Shuttle. There are three versions available for iPhone at present; the standard X-Plane release, X-Plane Airliner, and X-Plane Helicopter. This review will be focusing on the latter two versions which joined the line up in the last couple of days.

X-Plane Airliner Features

X-Plane Airliner lets you take control of four different jumbo jets. You can fly a Boeing 777, 747 or 787, or an Airbus A-380. Each of these aircraft have their differences and similarities, but the software does an excellent job of making it feel as though you really are in control of a powerful machine.

The controls for the Airliner edition take the form of a throttle, flaps, speed brakes and trim, and incorporating a full Electronic Flight Instrument System (EFIS). This full glass EFIS system, with airspeed, heading, altitude, vertical speed, Mach number, DME, and HSI is displayed in the same manner as real airliners.

While it is simple to get an aircraft off the ground, maneuvering it correctly and landing safely is somewhat more of a challenge. Tilting the iPhone controls the direction of the plane (banking left and right, or pushing the nose up and down).

You can fly between 98 airports spread over 60 x 180 miles of terrain, giving you plenty of scope for trying new areas and landing strips. The texture detail isn’t amazing, but for a 10MB download I was suitably impressed. It’s difficult to fault such an accurate flight simulator being ported to such a stripped down device.

X-Plane Helicopter Features

X-Plane Helicopter is, as the name suggests, a flight simulator for helicopters. You are able to control a lightweight Robinson R-22, the commercial Bell-206, the military Black Hawk, or the land and sea rescue ‘Sea King’. These encompass the majority of different styles of helicopter out there, providing a great range of machines to fly.

The flight-area centers around the Grand Canyon, giving you amazing views as you fly your across the various canyons and valleys. It’s a really visually appealing simulation and, according to Laminar, the software offers “the most challenging and realistic flight-models they have produced for iPhone so far.”

The controls for the helicopter version differ slightly, with the collective control being the only one to manually change. The throttle adjusts automatically, altering the engine power to maintain the desired rotor RPM as you increase the load on the rotor. As with the airliner version, tilting the iPhone controls the direction and pitch of the helicopter.

There’s no doubt that the helicopter edition offers a more challenging gameplay style, relying more on the iPhone tilt controls than the airliners. This arguably adds more depth and realism to the game and makes it my personal favorite of the two.

Future Possibilities

Laminar seem committed to improving and enhancing these miniature iPhone apps, stating:

As we update the graphics, flight, and interface technology, we will be periodically updating the various little ‘flavors’ of X-Plane for iPhone with that new technology. For example, we optimized the RAM and frame-rate for the airliner version, and those changes have been released in a standard X-Plane free-update as well. We may also import the advanced EFIS instrumentation from the airliner version to the regular version, and 2 more planes are planned for the regular version as well.

This horizontal system of innovation and change seems set to ensure that each of the small iPhone applications stay regularly updated with new features. Whichever you choose to purchase, you can be sure that you’ll benefit from the improvements to the other applications as well.

Comparable Apps

There are a number of other flight simulator applications for the iPhone which compete with X-Plane. Some examples of others to consider are:

• Armageddon Squadron – Fighter plane style missions
• Wings 2 – A flight simulator experience with slightly less realism than X-Plane
• Paper Airplane – Simple and cheesy, but fun

Please do let me know your thoughts on the new version of X-Plane. Do you feel that it provides enough entertainment for use on the iPhone, or would you prefer a flight application with more action and adventure?

Here it is:

AirFight in iTunes

Sorry for the bad quality, but this time I used a tripod =]

Zym

[Update] 9.04 is out and has inceased stablity and graphics. But what we all want is more plames. Well on his iphone site he says that two more planes are coming. Cant wait . Also X-Plane Airliner and helicopter have come out. Expect a review kn airliner, and maybe a video review of all the flying games I have.

[Update] 9.01 is out and better than ever. It’s much much sharper and it’s menus are much more organized. Also, the setting of the accelerometer is awesome. I flew upsidedown for the first time

[Update] Austin, the developer, recently announced he submitted a new version of X-Plane, 9.01, here is what he said about it,

X-Plane 9.01 for iPhone is out now, and has a number of cool improvements over 9.01:

25% frame-rate improvement! I REALLY like the increased fluidity of the sim in 9.01 thanks to this increase.
Calibration screen for phone tilt! One guy writing a review at the AppStore said he likes to fly on the couch, and wants VERTICAL to represent neutral-elevator: Fly on, couch-dude! Just go to the SETTINGS tab in the interface and set any phone angle as neutral! Now you can relax in bed or on the couch, with vertical being the reference-point for neutral-elevator, or sit up holding the phone in your lap with HORIZONTAL being the reference-point for neutral elevator, or anything in between! Set the center-point as you see fit!
Higher-contrast interface! One person said his eyes are a little weaker these days, so we contrasted the interface a bit more to make it easier for all to see! I managed to do this without making the interface look too harsh, I think.

Power and flaps set for you on the final approach selections. One guy writing a review at the AppStore was rather paniced that he had to move his thumbs 1/4″ to set the power and flaps on final.. the horror! So, X-Plane now sets 25% power and flaps automatically when you set yourself up in flight, to be more closely configured for your landing! Kind of convenient.
The interface screens are organized a hair differently… much better I think. This lets volume-control and neutral-elevator control be in their own system-config screen, with a different screen dedicated to setting your location! Kind of nicer organization.

You can see where he posted this here.

Sounds cool, hopefully apple doesn’t say no to it for being ot fun =].

X-Plane 9, created by Laminar Research, ($9.99) is a great flight simulator. Right before this came out, I was like, you know, there should be a flying game type thing, and they fulfilled my request with instant gratification. In the simulator you can take off, fly around, roll, do loopty loops, and you can land. Landing is very difficult. To control the planes, you tilt, sooo much fun.

Taking off Tutorial:

To take off you first take off the brakes, and put the throttle all the way up. then once you get up to about 85, then you bring the flap all the way down. Then when you reach about 110 you start tiling the plane up, and volla, your in the air.

Landing tutorial:

First turn off the throttle all the way. Then go down to about 1950 feet. Then you put down the flaps all the way, but make sure you keep descending, then you come in to the ground, and you just have to get a fell for how to land, and when you hit the ground, put on your brakes. Otherwise you could crash like so =]

Flying around:

Pros And Cons

Pros:

-You get to fly

-Accelerometer control

-Different times of day

-Four different planes

-Adjustable weight of planes

-Taking off and landing

-Theres going to be updates =] for free!!

Cons

-Only four planes/no helicopters or such

-Only one landscape

-Only one airport

Overall it’s a 9 out of ten

Zym

Death Gliders

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OR

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Air Force Research Laboratory’s researchers at Mesa, Ariz., unveiled the technological potential of its gaming research and development project publicly Dec. 1 during the 2008 Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation and Education Conference in Orlando, Fla. 

Members of the 711th Human Performance Wing’s Warfighter Readiness Research Division blended commercial gaming technology with military-specific databases that demonstrated quicker, less expensive ways to develop the next generation of tools for interactive military training.

The fast-track technology demonstration project began in June when two Thurgood Marshall College Fund interns joined RHA for a summer of hands-on programming experience. Their initial success formed the foundation for a project that clearly depicts how modern gaming technology can help cut development time and costs for critical military distributed mission simulations, said 2nd Lt. Luke Lisa, an aerospace engineer who leads the project.

In six months, researchers integrated high-fidelity real-world aircraft models with existing commercial-off-the-shelf, or COTS, X-Plane gaming software to create a realistic flight simulation program with rich COTS graphics.

“That’s a testimony to how fast we can develop a product with this method,” Lieutenant Lisa said.

Under a pending technology transfer agreement, RHA’s technology will also help improve the fidelity of the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency’s PC-based “RealWorld” Air Combat Environment program, said Craig Eidman, the RHA immersive environment engineering lead.

Building on the gaming industry’s competitive advancements is an approach that makes sense, said 1st Lt. Clinton Kam, an aeronautical engineer also assigned to the project.

“You have this billion-dollar gaming industry and they’re advancing the technology constantly, pushing forward the video cards, the physics cards, the processors,” Lieutenant Kam said. “So our challenge is, how can we leverage their efforts?”

Researchers are interested in how best to get military training value in a fun, aesthetically pleasing game environment that would provide genuine training effectiveness at the low cost of a computer game.

X-Plane software is known for its fluid graphics, realistic depiction of weather including volumetric (3-D) clouds, and attention to detail such as night-time ground lights and highway traffic. But its military aircraft performance is “low fidelity” relative to real aircraft characteristics and that’s where the Air Force tailoring begins.

“Fidelity is how close the flight model of an aircraft fits the real world,” Lieutenant Lisa said. “So if you are flying an F-16 (Fighting Falcon) and you’re pulling a 6G turn, how much energy do you lose in that turn? The bottom line is, the better fidelity, the more realistic the simulation.”

“You don’t want the aircraft to do things it wouldn’t actually do in real life, such as climbing faster than it’s capable of doing,” Lieutenant Kam said, otherwise the result could be “negative training” for the warfighter.

Because Air Force researchers can access validated military data not available to commercial developers, they can ensure that computer-generated military models match real-world profiles, not only for aircraft but also for attributes such as missile trajectory and radar detection. The value of this integration — in terms of fidelity and training relevance — is a new near-term opportunity to examine how games might fit into the continuum of military training methods.

Behavioral scientists already are working on methods and criteria to determine and quantify the fidelity levels required for various training scenarios and how fidelity levels correlate to training effectiveness, said Dr. Winston Bennett, a RHA training and assessment research technical adviser.

Early efforts focused on pilots, but the gaming-integration concept can apply to any scenario, including joint terminal attack controllers who rely on video feeds from an unmanned aircraft system to call in airstrikes.

The Air Force is pushing Department of Defense modeling and simulation systems toward commercial industry’s modular plug-in philosophy that offers more flexibility and user transparency, said 1st Lt. Adam Pohl, a systems engineer.

“Our first objective was an integration proof of concept, showing that tying these packages together can work,” Lieutenant Lisa said. “Now when someone approaches us with a need, they know that gaming has the potential to be leveraged as an alternative approach that saves money and helps meet the warfighters’ need faster.”

John Schutte (AFNS)

[Update] I just recirved an update from the developer. It now doesn’t crash, the icon is way better, I’ll put a pic on the bottom of the post, and you can upgrade your aircrafts. It’s much nicer.

SciFly: DogFight is a flying game with an objective! Unlike X-Plane 9(still a pretty good game) you actually try and do something. What you try to do is, all at once, try to avoid getting shot at, try to avoid flying into walls and try to shoot down your opponents. It really is a blast playing, I really get into it. There’s now an option to either roll with buttons or roll by tilting, I like the buttons more at times where I can’t have too much space =]. So some main points to the game, you can unlock things; so after you get done doggin’ it out in a round you get a certain amount of credits; you get the amount of points in that round and the some random number(it seems to me) times(multiply) the experience level you’re playing at(we’ll get to that later). So after you get these points you can go to the unlock menu and pick out what you want to unlock, each planet is 100 points, and each different aircraft is 45. Also, in 1.2 there will be global highscores for points and points per round. (BTW I currently have the highest scores, please don’t beat me =])
So onto the game play: To play, in this version you can either use the tilt to turn left and right and then touch to roll left and right, or you can make it so everything is tilt; as shown in the option screen as roll centric controls. (invert pitch is where if you tilt down it goes up; and sensitivity is how sensitive the tilting is.) So when you start playing(tap play) it takes you to a screen where you pick the type of game you want to play, either time attack or point match. Time Attack:
You have 1 minute to kill as many as possible. After you kill someone you get two points and then more time. Point Match:
You try to get a certain amount of points in a certain amount of time, more than a minute; I’m not too sure how long.

And then you go to a screen where you pick the world, and the experience level.
Worlds: Acheron: a fire world(my favorite)
Barren: Ice-Planet
Utopia: a rich water, life-filled world
Experience Levels: Recruit: Super easy to me now, although seemed hard when I first started+
Experienced: This is what I play at, the opponents actually shoot you aggressively, but it’s still not too hard.(I play on this level)
Ace: You have to be pretty good to do this, if there was such thing as negative points I’d get them here; I die real quick in this level.

And then it takes you to the ship picking. You tilt to go to the ship you want and then you tap the ship’s name
Ships: Viper: It has a machine gun weapon
Avenger: It has heat seeking missiles
Phoenix: It has a constant laser
Gladiator: Has short range powerful missiles
I’ve gotten my highest score while with avenger but I enjoy using every ship, except Phoenix, I just don’t like it.

And then you go to playing. When you play you can only shoot some many missiles, or what ever your weapon is for a certain amount of time. This is dictated by the green bar in the top right corner. You can roll left or right by tapping the left or right buttons, respectively. And then the forward arrow is a speed boost, which you can only do for so long, shown in the purple bar in the top left corner. And finally, the star shoots. When using the avenger when a target has been locked on a second circle goes around it, blue circle. In general the 1st circle shows the life of that person, yellow highest, red lowest. Also, one bar I haven’t explained, the bar in the top right corner is your health.

UPCOMING 1.3

There will be another aircraft, torch which will have a flame thrower. Picture:
Also all aircrafts will have 2 upgrade levels. And best of all, he will try to fix all the crashes possible.

Pros and Cons
Pros
-Super Fun
-Addicting
-My Fav Game!
-Flying fighting game
-3D, great graphics
-Shooting
Cons
-Crashes a little bit

Here’s my highscore:

So here’s a screenshots of my highest flight, over 30,000 feet!

And heres a screenshot of me going over 500!

And then here’s just a nice picture of me flying =]

See if you can beat my highest =]

Zym

What fun X-Plane and Slots are. X-Plane is very good. Although limited in functionality, if you’ve played it on PCs or MACs you’ll enjoy it. It suits the platform nicely. I’m sure upgrades are in process. At least I hope so.

Slots is just plain addicting. Great time killer.

Laminar Research has released a ‘mini-version’ of its hugely popular, realtime physics-based flight simulator X-Plane 9 for the iPhone (and iPod touch). How cool!!! I loved that game & now I get to play it on my iPhone!

I’m so glad that software developers have seen the potential of the iPhone. So many times in years past have we had great consoles (as in the hardware) but the software developers failed to produce anything of merit & so the console just disappeared into nothingness.

Not that the iPhone has to rely on games. It would still be hugely popular without, but when X-Plane 9 gets released on the iPhone…well, it’s just the icing on the cake!!!

Sorry, can’t talk anymore. I’ve got a flight sim to go and play…

I managed to combine 2 of my favourite things last weekend.

Austin Meyer of X-Plane fame released a pocket version of his flight simulator (first favourite thing) for the iPhone (second favourite thing).

I duly downloaded the app and wrote a review for my flight simulator site, thinking that readers would be interested, which indeed they were. However, what I didn’t envisage was not the the number of flight simulator users that would be interested, but the number of iPhone users.

The impact was impressive. My usual daily uniques come in at around 1,800 to 2,000. Within 24 hours of the post, I had received over 4,500 uniques and it’s remained at over 4,000 since. I know this will drop back at some point, but I’m enjoying it while it lasts. I’ve received a tremendous number of inbound links to the review and I’m number one on Google for a search of “x-plane iphone review”, with no effort from myself other than writing the review.

What really struck me was that all this increase in traffic was from an audience I’d not really considered before. Sure, it was also a matter of timing. I couldn’t write a review of a flight simulator for the iPhone before there WAS a flight simulator for the iPhone, but it has made me think that I can perhaps make my blog reach people outside the tight niche it currently occupies.