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Tag: Peter Hayes

Review: MyTraffic X V5.3 Professional

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.

Review: FlyTampa’s Vienna LOWW V2

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

Review: AO Monastir X

Aerosoft are well known for their quality add-on software for FSX including major airports throughout the world. In FSX Monastir (DTMB) is a very sterile place with very few features, but install Aerosoft Monastir X and watch the transformation into something that is full of accurate detail.

Review: Iris Pro Series – Diamond Star XLS

The IRIS Diamond Star DA40 XLS is a reasonable model of this new style type of GA plane ie made from composite materials with radical design features. It looks good and flies very well and it has its own sounds which are unique to this plane. In general terms the instruments are good, being specially developed for the Iris DA40 they are clear and functional with a few minor niggles. The DA40 has a range of over 700nm so it is quite useful for those 4 to 5 hour flights and at a cruise of around 150KIAS, it’s no slouch. Being equipped with a “glass cockpit” ie the G100 it can be flown for both VFR and IFR flight. In terms of performance, size and design you would have to compare the DA40 to the Cirrus SR20, the Columbia C400 (much faster) with the choice coming down to personal preference and how fast that you want to get there. The Interior looks a little flat, I would have expected more detail in the seating but there are 2 interior colours available (as in the real deal). As I have noted on several previous occasions, it does not have facilities for loading, maintenance or repair during use, and that would have made it a much better plane in my opinion. This is the first GA plane developed by IRIS FSS and it shows great promise for the future. In the words of Flying Officer KITE: “Jolly good show” (courtesy of the BBC).

Review: PIS – Atolls of Tuvalu

In FSX there are several “neglected” scenery areas where the geography is a little sparse, the Atolls of Tuvalu is one of these areas and the developers of PNG/Raw Grit have redressed that with this remarkable piece of software. It covers most of the Atolls of Tuvalu, and includes airfields, seaplane docks and helipads. This is bush flying at its best with white sand beaches, crashing waves, abundant tropical trees, local vegetation, tons of custom objects, lots of background noise, animated animals and birds and AI ships aplenty. Tuvalu is approximately 2500nm NE of Australia or approx 2000nm SW of Hawaii and the nearest country that has flights into Tuvalu is Fiji, so let us hope that PIS will model this next. Although most of the airfields are at sea level it is still a great place to navigate, and it is ideal for VFR flying. Every time you open this scenery you will discover something new.

Review: DS – FSX Powerboats

This is quite a good set of powerboats (aka as speed boats) and it brings something different to FSX, in that you can now explore the scenery at sea level, and you can “fly” without ever leaving the ground (or water). The boats are well modelled; they look very nice in the Sim and have little effect on performance. The sounds are good, typical of a powerboat of this genre. Although there are 3 models and 10 variants the cockpit instruments do not vary very much, but thet are comprehensive for a power boat. They seem to have unique instruments as well as using the default GPS and GA radio stack. The instructions on how to configure and pilot the boats are comprehensive and need to be followed to ensure success. For something totally different you can’t go beyond these boats.

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