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This is a very nice piece of software that replaces all of the ground vehicles in FSX and replaces them with new 3-D models.  At present the vehicles only work in airports in Germany, Sweden, Norway and Denmark and are partly animated (FSX SDK allowing).  They are also visible at nigh complete with flashing lights, etc.  The new vehicles include, fire trucks; shuttle busses, luggage loaders, tractors, fuel trucks, stair trucks and push back vehicles.  Other vehicles and other FSX areas will be added in the future.  This is a gem of an add-on for FSX and it enhances the simming experience. Read the rest of this entry »

FSADDON have released another WWII Fighter ie the GLOSTER GLADIATOR, designed specifically for FSX.  This is a biplane (the last built for the RAF) but was quickly superseded by the superior monoplane designs, eg Spitfire and Hurricane.  FSADDON have given us 3 variants, the Mk 1, the Mk II with a more powerful engine and the latter also powered another variant called the SEA Gladiator, which was used on various aircraft carriers in WWII.  This is a nice collection of a now defunct war bird that not only looked good and was also very easy to fly.

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What better way to broaden your horizons than to fly to new destinations. Polish Airports Vol 1 gives you just that type of opportunity if you’re one of those pilots that like to stick to familiar territory.  With this offering from Drzewiecki Design you get three airports; Katowice Pyrowice (EPKT), Rzeszów Jasionka (EPRZ) and Gdańsk Rebiechowo (EPGD). Read the rest of this entry »

This is the VirtualCol version of the Cessna T303 Crusader twin airplane.  It is reasonably well modelled with clean lines and you get 3 repaints in the package (plus a repaint package).  In general the instrumentation is reasonably good, nice and clear and functional, as are the default Baron sounds (internal and external), and it flies extremely well.

As I have said before the beauty of a twin engine plane is that they are usually fast (cruise 230 KIAS) and are ideal for mid-range GA flights and it is capable of both VFR and IFR.  The Interior is well designed with individual leather seats used primarily for luxury business travel.  Unfortunately it does not have facilities for loading, maintenance or repair during use, but that aside, it does handle quite nicely and it flies good distances without any problems.

It is not a great FSX plane but a lot of thought has gone into its design and it is another useful 6-seater twin.   Comparable planes would be: Beechcraft Baron, Cessna 310, Piper Aztec and Piper Seneca. Read the rest of this entry »

LatinVFR have been around doing scenery for awhile now and their products have been of superior quality. Their latest is Santiago, Chile, SCEL. Will they keep up their reputation? Read on to find out.

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Leonardo SH has given us their latest version of the Maddog… the MD-82 of the MD-80 series of airliners. Rather than take you through the various qualities of the aircraft, I’ll take you through a flight in FS9 so you can tell whether this aircraft is for you or not (FSX version available, too, read on…).

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Burkhard Renk has been producing My Traffic versions for several years, now culminating in this latest 5.3 version which is another milestone forward in producing a FSX world full of AI aircraft that you as a pilot have to interact with.  This FSX version has utilised all of the FSX programming possibilities giving a new sense of realism and practicality.   Anyone that has read my reviews know that I have had issues with AI traffic when I have reviewed airports and scenery and this program now populates all of my FSX airports with large numbers of planes that move, stop, go, taxi, and fly.  This is a great add-on for the Sim even for someone like me that only flies GA planes from small rural airfields. Read the rest of this entry »

The Boeing 767 was the first wide body twinjet produced by Boeing. Designed in tandem with the 757 they both share design features and the same flight deck.  The 767 is capable of carrying up to 375 passengers with a range of 6,590 nautical depending on the variant and the seating configuration. It is also the first wide body Boeing jet to enter service with a two person crew eliminating the need for a flight engineer. Commonly used on medium to long haul routes it has become the most popular airliner on the transatlantic runs between the United States and Europe. The first variant the 767-200 came into service in 1982 followed by the 200ER, 300, 300ER, 300F freighter and finally the 400 series in 1997. To date their have been just over 1000 aircraft ordered.

The 767 has also served in several military applications. Derived mainly from the 200 series it has been configured in both a tanker and AWACS platform.

The Captain Sim base pack is based on the 767-300ER variant Read the rest of this entry »

Mark Hurst has completed another excellent video review of the recently released UIVER Douglas DC2 for FSX. After a brief history of the DC2, Mark focuses on taxiing and crosswind operations, while covering additional aspects of the model during these procedures. The review is completed with a series of screenshots of the DC2, taken in FSX by Nick Churchill. We hope you enjoy the review, which is presented at www.screenshotartist.co.uk.

VRS have created a superb tactical multi-role fighter aircraft for FSX, building on their FS2004 model and in their word, supercharged the FS9 version with updated graphics.  It certainly shows, visually the VRS F/A18-E is an absolutely beautiful creation.

Once you get beyond the learning curve, and have read the 350++ page manual including the 90 page tutorial it becomes relatively easy to fly.  It handles extremely well, just a touch of the controls at 600KIAS and you are off into the vast unknown.

This is a stunning version of a very fast hi-tech fighting machine, and I could only access less than 10% of its complexities in this review.  If you like fast light jets, with no passengers, infinite tolerance to g-forces, complex instruments, and tons of armaments, then this is the plane for you. Read the rest of this entry »

VFR-Short Fields X is a newcomer to scenery development in FSX. They make smaller airports of Canada that are located in areas not well known to the general FS community. In this review I’ll check out their latest add-on, VFR-Short Fields PEI.

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Our hobby, flightsimming, is constantly expanding. Developers throw at us; a new aircraft here, an airport there, and every one of them, better than the last one you thought was the best. The awe can sometimes become a little tedious, as it can seem to be just more of the same. A new high in detail, in graphics, or in sound, but still just a plane, or an airport. Even excellence can become average if you are exposed to it too often.
And then, out of the blue, suddenly, without any warning, comes a little gizmo that just seem to blow all those “seen this, done that” feelings out of the water. Something different, something – that looks like it was just the thing the Flightsimulator world was missing – and it didn’t even know it.

This was the feeling I got when I first saw Flight1´s EZdok camera utility add-on. The video of the shaking cockpit blew me away. I knew at once that this was the difference between videos of real world flights, and FS flights. That the pilot´s eyes are not welded onto the plane´s structure, but moves differently than the planes reaction to external influence. Read the rest of this entry »

Every now and then a product comes out that takes you by surprise. By surprise I mean that on the surface it looks interesting and you’re not sure if it’s worth the money, but then you try it and you love it! This happened to me when a review of Flight Tracker Time To Fly Edition (TTF) by Chanticleer Software came across my desk.

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Dutch Harbor is located right next to the airport of Unalaska which is on Amaknak Island in the Aleutians off the coast of Alaska.  The port of Dutch Harbor is the home port for the Bering sea king crab fishery and the crabbing fleet featured in the television series “Deadliest Catch”.

The airport of Unalaska, PADU, has a single 3,900 ft paved runway with daily scheduled flights in and out.  The weather often does not cooperate so on average one fifth of all flights end up cancelled due to poor weather conditions. Read the rest of this entry »

Fly Tampa have been producing add-on airports for Flight simulator over a number of years.  They now have over a dozen titles covering FS2002, FS2004 and FSX, with about 6 titles for FSX.  This is version 2 of LOWW and it has been extensively upgraded.  The improvements include added terminals, car parks, hangars, aprons, taxiways, gates, etc.  .  There are other visual enhancements and the FSX version has been compiled with SP2-SDK, with DX9 mode only being supported.  The whole upgrade adds to the realistic experience in FSX.  I didn’t do any shopping in the Supermarket!! Read the rest of this entry »

FSPS Flight Simulator Manager (FSM) is more of an analyzer than a manager and I suspect 95% of the users will find it to be the same. It is an application that runs separate from FS9/FSX and feeds you data collected from flight sim’s various modules and allows you to change various aircraft settings.

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Rotterdam The Hague airport formerly known as Zestienhoven, EHRD, is located 5.6Kms northwest of the city of Rotterdam. The original airport for the city of Rotterdam had been destroyed just prior to the second world war so when it came time to consider rebuilding it was decided to do so in a new location. Zestienhoven polder was chosen as the new site, construction began in 1955 with the airport opening an 1956. In the 1970′s there were plans to close or move the airport due to stagnation and the need for more land for housing, it is also during this time that many carriers left the airport. This uncertainty continued for almost 30 years and then in the 1990′s with a resurgence in economic growth it was decided to leave the airport in it’s current location and expand it with an eye on keeping it going for at least the next century. Nowadays the majority of airline traffic consists of regional routes and business aviation. When you take into account how many passengers go through it’s facilities each year it still ranks as the third largest airport in the Netherlands after Amsterdam Schiphol and Eindhoven Airport. In 2007 just over 1 million passengers passed through it’s facilities. Read the rest of this entry »

Recently DBS Studio has released its another add-on for MS Flight Simulator – FOLLOW ME SERVICE FOR FSX. Everyone, who has ever been at an airport, must have seen that many airplanes are escorted by a little car from the gate to the runway or back from the runway to the gate. This car leads the airplane and this was shows the right way. This tool is doing the same thing, only in simulator. The logo above shows one example of such a car from Moscow Domodedovo airport Read the rest of this entry »

This review is on a product that’s six years old. Huh?! No, we are not that far behind at simFlight in our reviews. Over the last year I’ve seen many forum posts wondering where to find a good Bae 146. I came across an Aerosoft package at simMarket for the Bae 146. While checking it out I noticed that they have a package made with Eurowings that consists of the Bae 146, ATR 42/72, A319/A320, and Nice, France, scenery. So, I decided that all four of these are worth looking at again. Keep in mind when reading this that we are not looking at how good it was in 2004, but how good it is now, compared to what has been released since, and is it still worth your hard earned money in 2010.

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Before I begin let me just state that this addon requires that Bretagne VFR for FSX by FranceVFR be installed prior to installing this package. Please also read my review of Bretagne VFR for FSX. On with the review… Read the rest of this entry »