Visit Aerosoft's Lisbon 2008, the main airport of Portugals capital. Michael Kopatz recreated the airport up to the smallest detail incl. all buildings and installations, docking systems and all the features you expected from a modern scenery development in FS2004. Available from simMarket now.

Friendly Panels' new FMC-CDU Pack2 for FS9 and FSX is a jetliner FMC style navigation system collection. "....This FMC pack 2 contains six FMC gauges (three for FS9 and three for FSX), all of them imitating the look of real aircraft FMCs, as Bombardier CRJ, DASH or ATR....". Available here on simMarket of course.

After the X1 adventures Combat Planes now too has published an 'adventure' on simMarket. These are in fact FSX 'Missions' and only usable on FSX. This one is called  F/A 18 Adventures and adds 10 new missions to the Acceleration Pack (required !). Available from simMarket here.

Phil Taylor of MS has listed some flavors that currently exist in FSX add-ons, caused by the TOOLS that add-on makers use to build their products. Since there have been so many iterations of FSX over the past 18 months, with associated different SDK's, this may help you understand.

Aero Files offer Aeroshot, a screenshot program that allows screenshots from FS2004, FSX, X-Plane and many other programs. In stead of the default (giant!) .bmp files resulting from the 'on-board' FSX screenshot function, you can now save your shots in various (smaller) file formats. Get it at simMarket.

X1 Software has released two more of their FSX Missions Packs on simMarket. The first is Alaska Adventures, found here, and the second is called Northern Adventures, found here. They contain 12 and 16 FSX missions respectively. FSX only of course.

Here is a 'recce' aircraft that was used by the Polish Air Force back in 1931, originally designed and built by 'Plage i Laśkiewicz' in Lublin. Michal Puto has built it for FSX to make it come back to life. It comes with wheels and floats ! Available from Michal's webpage.

Synchro Soft has released a soundset for the DeHavilland Twin Otter. This could be a nice addition to your Aerosoft Twin Otter if you want to change the sound of the engines. Available from simMarket here.

DBS Studio and Simlandmarks are now open for free download of the original version of Yak-40 AI model for FS2004, previously released at 2005 as freeware. Description, screenshots and download link are present at the official DBS Studio site.

IYP continues to expand and now includes the full control (and checklists) of the Australian Simulation Glasair III aircraft. The Glasair comes in full FS2004 and FSX versions and is a wonderful little GA plane. Michelle, your gentle co-pilot from IYP, now helps you fly so you can admire the landscape! IYP info can be found here!

In his excitement Chris may have forgotten to mention it here, but our Monthly Screenshot Competition is re-instated and alive and well again. You can find the rules and post your favorite 'on-topic' screenshots here...... and win great prizes in the process of course !!!

One of our readers did some research on one of the major Flight Simulator free downloads sites and came up with this interesting opinion: ".......I recently did a search at flightsim.com on the number of uploads by Flight Simulator version.
The number of uploads might be a good proxy for the how popular each version is.....".

Jacky Brouze from Switzerland has brought the FS community many freeware tools in the past. In spite of his love-hate relationship with Microsoft and his venturing into X-Plane territory he has published a few new utilities for FSX now too! 'Unfortunately' they are all in French, but very valuable nonetheless.

AlphaSim reports that their SR-71 is now avalable in full FSX SP2 spec. "......There are many all-new features including a new model, textures and of course full FSX compatiblity with bump-mapping, self-shadowing and bloom effect. For FSX (SP1, SP2/Accel) only....". Check their news page.

Stewart Wirrel of Virtual Skies announced today: "On Sunday 4th May at 1100z, the launch of the world’s latest flight simulation environment, Virtual Skies is finally here. 

9 months in the making, this new organization sports a range of in-house developers, enthusiastic young controllers, industry based managers and a management list to be proud of. Visit the Virtual Skies website

Announced today by AlphaSim: "This groundbreaking package features both the glazed-nose B-24D and the turret-nosed B-24G/J variants and five super-detailed texture sets which depict bare-metal, desert and olive drab schemes, all with carefully-drawn authentic nose art. This model package also debuts the AlphaSim 'Visual Load Editor' (VLE), a unique in-game graphical user interface where you can toggle on and off parts of the model such as the crew and bombload (aircraft weight will be updated automatically as bombs are loaded or unloaded)". Visit the Alphasim website for screenshots and purchase options.

Hilbert Hagedoorn reviews the Hiper Type R Mk-II 680W Power Supply. This PSU will catch your attention with it's extremely 'out there' paint job and then .. when you look at the front side of the PSU, you'll spot 8 USB connectors. And all that is it next to being an actual PSU. Another advantage, despite the fact that the PSU is rated 680 Watts it can actually peak at 890 Watt, and actually is s more energy friendly product. Read the full review

Nizar Thabti of RealOps says: "Experience Frankfurt's real-world traffic on May, 10th 2008

As real as it gets - 6 hours - up to 20 controllers - 400 flights available.

Time has come again! Simulate with us, on the 10th of May, from 1600 to 2200 UTC, during full 6 hours, the real-world traffic of a busy saturday afternoon. If you would like to take flight simulation a step further and fly according to a real-world flight schedule and flightplan, using the aircraft type which is used the real-world leg, then this event will be yours!"

You can visit the RealOps website here.

Ultimate GA released today the Challenger AI Package with a brand new model. This freeware AI package can be downloaded from the Avsim File Library  For the FS9 version look for "ultimate_challenger_fs9.zip " and for the FSX version search for "ultimate_challenger_fsx.zip"

FSWidgets is pleased to announce the release of a new freeware moving map. GMap for FSX displays your current position in Flight Simulator X on Google Maps, the wonderful online mapping solution developed by the famous search engine (Note: Google Maps should not be confused with Google Earth - the 3D virtual globe application). GMap is a stand-alone application, no additional files or software are required. It combines the existing technologies of Google Maps API, JavaScript, SimConnect and the Internet Explorer 7 plug-in to show your current FSX aircraft position, allowing you to also display FSX (and FS9) flight plans right on the map.
Download this free moving map here

HiFi Simulation Software announces that XPax Service Pack 1 officially released today!  All known issues have been solved and several improvements have been made. This is a recommended update for all XPax users. Visit HiFi Sim's support page now to download this service pack!  All new customers purchasing XPax will not be required to download the update as it is included in the new full download. XPax is a multimedia passenger simulation experience for Flight Simulator 9 and Flight Simulator X.  For more information please visit HiFi's website.

Larry of Learn The Mad Dog, announced today: "We are very pleased to announce that the much anticipated Learn the Mad Dog training package is now available for order. The first of its kind, Learn the Mad Dog focuses on the MD-82’s systems in detail. Featuring over 3.5 hours of systems and flight training, Learn the Mad Dog is professionally narrated and based on actual aircraft reference documentation. Please visit www.learnthemaddog.com to order or for more information.

Exciting Simulations announced today: "We, at Exciting Simulations are proud and honored to have our Space Shuttle Mission 2007™ simulator on the prestigious BBC Sky at Night magazine cover CD. Beyond getting an exciting and leading Astronomy magazine, the BBC Sky at Night May issue subscribers and customers are also getting the Space Shuttle Mission 2007™ simulator at a special, time-limited discounted price."
Check the following link for more information about the BBC Sky at Night magazine:

 

Guru3D's Hilbert Hagedorn has been busy. In his latest article, he reviews the XfX GeForce 9600 GT 512MB graphics card: "NVIDIA's GeForce 9600 GT based products have been around for about two months now. At release time it was already loaded with features and great performance for the money. But for those of you who decided to wait a little before purchasing this product, I can only say bravo. Because at this very moment prices are dropping, the 'OC', thus special edition versions are widely available bringing even more value..." Read the full review here

There's a new FS9 plane in the simMarket shop! It is the light and very manoeuverable Cessna 188 agricultural airplane made by Cera.
In the 60s Cessna decided to expand their line of light aircraft by entering the agricultural aircraft market.
The Cessna 188 was first flown on 19 February 1965. The aircraft was certified and entered production in February 1966 with 241 aircraft delivered the first year. The initial design of the Cessna 188 was so successful that over its 17-year production the basic airframe remained unchanged and sold an amazing 3967 units in four variants.

For more details and how to buy, please visit the simMarket shop.

The Guru of 3D team anounced today: "Rivatuner has been updated towards version 2.09 In this release we have included a huge number of new stuff to keep you busy, obviously GeForce 9x00 support has been added as well as ForceWare 175.xx and Catalyst 8.4 support. RivaTuner is a complete powerful tweaking environment, providing you everything you may need to tune NVIDIA GPU based display adapters." Visit Guru3D.com for more information.

DBS Studio Team announced today: "DBS Studio and Simlandmarks proudly present an FSX version of the Yak-40 AI model which original FS9 version was released in 2005 as freeware. The new model utilizes the same bitmap layout making the existing liveries designed for FS9 model are fully compatible with the new model. Model is completely redesigned to take a full advantage of the new native FSX MDL format. With this product DBS Studio and Simlandmarks started the new series of the professionally designed AI models for FSX.

You can buy this product from simMarket

We would like to know how important a 2D panel is to you when a full Virtual Cockpit is delivered with an addon aircraft?

Most addon aircraft theses days come with a full virtual Cockpit included, by popular demand you could say. When this is the case you still get your usual 2D panel delivered as well but do you still use it? do you need the 2D panel if 3D/VC is also included?

Let us know by clicking one of the options in the newest poll!

Iain Gallagher of Scotflight says: "Announcing the latest scenery product from Scotflight, the RAF COLLECTION features highly detailed scenery for the three currently active RAF Stations in Scotland, namely RAF Kinloss, RAF Leuchars and RAF Lossiemouth.
Together with the scenery Scotflight already has made available for Scotland through its' existing products for FS2004 and FSX, this new package further enhances your flying experience in a land of mountains, lochs, islands and rugged coastline. Full details of the features and a gallery of screenshots are available at www.scotflightscenery.com

Mark Verschaeren of Flight Illusion says: "X-plane and Flight Illusion are proud to announce the upcoming development of an interface to drive Flight Illusion gauges directly from X-plane. Many X-plane pilots and cockpit builders have asked since years if there would ever be a driver for these gauges. X-plane developer Austin Meyer is even doing better by adding direct support for flight Illusion hardware into X-plane."
For more information visit their website at www.flightillusion.com .