Fly Away Simulation Flight Simulator Blog

We are considering adding downloads and add-ons for The Sims and The Sims 2 here at Fly Away.

FSX Hellmann Boeing 787-9

FSX Hellmann Boeing 787-9 cargo version, including Animated Ground Servicing, with new key (see read me) made compatible for FSX by Dominique Tremblay. Model design by Camil Valiquette. Paint by Christian Wermter.

Battle of Britain 2 “Wings of Victory” recreates the fierce and famous air battles southern England in 1940. It allows the player to either act as the supreme commander of either side, or simply click “fly” and let your generals manage the war below.

As commander, you can control the war down to a single aircraft or building in a world where thousands upon thousands battle for supremacy. Thousands of targets including every plane, factory, airfield, and radar station have a specific role and impact on the progress of the war below.

As the enormous campaign plays out below, you will observe both allied and enemy flights carrying out their daily missions. You can take your commanders hat off and jump in the cockpit of the British Hurricane, Spitfire, German Messerschmitt, Stuka dive bomber, or man the gunstations of the Dornier Do17, Heinkel He111, and Ju-88 level bombers. As a pilot, all you need to do is destroy the enemy when you can and get you and your comrades home alive.

Whatever you choose, you will be amidst the relentless and endless waves of German aircraft, taking part in the most authentic historical re-creations of these amazing battles. Get ready to strap yourself in for the fight of your life.

See the screenshots and read the details at the gmxmedia website.

CENAREAL as its goal of continual improvement of its products is pleased to announce the new Belém Scenery 2005. With the addition of Belém’s historic district as a major change and its detailed 3D representation including the Ver O Peso Market, Forte Castle and Casa das Onze Janelas (house of eleven windows), the simulator pilot can now immerse themselves in a wonderful Latin-American environment. Belém’s Val de Cães is an important International Airport located at the mouth of the Amazon and was instrumental in the development of routes from Brazil to North America and the Caribbean. The scenery is free for the owners of Belém 2004 and 2003. Fly over to the CENAREAL web site for all the details and click the British/US Flag icon located at the upper right side of the home page.

Today Ruud Faber announced the release of the spring season textures for Asia. It’s a package of over 320 replacement textures for the FS2004/2 Flight Simulators. According to the release “FScene Asia is absolutely is the most exciting FScene project. It took Ruud Faber more that eight months of experiments and - of course - mastering problems to give this complex continent the best of the best. FScene Asia now adds the ultimate 3D impression of flying over the famous sawas or rice terraces. Lots of Screenshots are available at the FScene website.”

Concorde Professional is out now! A state-of-the-art simulation of the world’s greatest airliner takes to the skies in Flight Simulator 2004

The era of supersonic transportation began with Concorde. Developed as a Franco-British joint venture to be the transport of tomorrow, its shape is still distinctive and Concorde set pulses racing whenever it flew. After 28 years of commercial operation Concorde has had to take early retirement but, thanks to the development team at PSS, this aviation icon will continue to dart across the skies of Flight Simulator 2004 at 23 miles-a-minute.

Extensive animation includes nose cone and visor, landing gear, split rudder, passenger and cargo doors, elevons, engine intake ramps and thrust reverser nozzles.

Concorde Professional comes with a comprehensive 2D panel as well as a fully detailed virtual cockpit that includes high resolution gauges with reflective glass, animated control yokes, rudder pedals, throttle levers and engineer’s panel. As you’d expect, there’s an accurate flight model with re-heat effect and an authentic version of Concorde’s unique INS (Inertial Navigation System)

To help you master all this, Concorde Professional includes a 160-page printed manual and a tutorial on the CD.

Full details at the Just Flight Website. Stayed tuned to Avsim for a complete review of this product.

BBQ-Videos in conjunction with AlphaSim is proud to present two small teaser videos of upcoming AlphaSim products. The first gives a glimps of the A-3B Skywarrior with a 5.5meg video.
Download the video at http://www.bbq-videos.com/alphasim/whaleteaser.zip
The 2nd video shows the unique Saab J-37 Viggen with an 8 meg video.
The download for this is at http://www.bbq-videos.com/alphasim/teaser2.zip

For those of you who may not have heard of it, FlightGear is a complete open source Flight Simulator program that is available for download totally free of charge.The project was started by those who became disillusioned with modern commercial software and decided the time was right to develop a free alternative.
This latest version includes support for many platforms including Windows, Max OS X,Linux, FreeBSD, Solaris and sgi. Features include real time weather downloads via the internet, 3D virtual cockpits and over 20,000 airports world-wide all free and all open coded.
To check out a full list of features, see screenshots or download the entire project, visit the FlightGear website here

Home cockpit enthusiasts can now look forward to a new line of products combining the great panelware of DakenSkys with the powerful yet user-friendly new Photon USB interface from Integrated Flight Systems. The first release will be a complete B747 MCP which will consist of the following:

DakenSkys MCP panel with all switches, knobs, leds and digit displays installed.
IFS Photon USB interface - fully connected.
IFS FSCockpit software.
Power supply.

Simply install the software, plug the unit into a USB port and fly! absolutely no construction, wiring or programming is needed.
The MCP is fully compatible with Project Magenta and MSFS and will easily adapt to future third party add-ons. The software is already set up for the user but easily configurable if needed via mouse-driven menus. The unit forms the core of a family of easily integrated cockpit systems that will be forthcoming including EFIS, Radio Panels and Overhead (compatible with pmSystems).

Additional aircraft models will also be available including B737, B767, B777 and A320. Each unit is crafted with the same quality enthusiasts have come to expect from DakenSkys.Although final pricing is yet to be determined, both companies have a policy of producing quality products at competitive prices and their latest press release quotes prices “significantly lower than existing alternatives”. Product release is expected to begin in early Spring 2005, visit the Daken-Skys website at here for more details.

Richard Stefan has released the latest data in NAVData Airac 0501. The NAVData-Service was founded in the year 1999. The database contains datas of a merge between DAFIF (Digital Aeronautical Flight Information File) and real world datas in ARINC424 format. The size of all of the databases are about 130 megabyte and are stored in an Oracle9i database. The converter is a Visual Basic tool, which export the datas into the several addon formats. In order to update your FS add-ons navigation database, just download it for free here. The site includes files for users of Microsoft Flight Simulator addons like Flightmanager, FS-Navigator 4.x, EFIS98, FS-Build, PMDG 737NG, 767-Pilot in Command, A320-Pilot in Command, PSS Airbus/Boeing/Dash8, Dreamfleet B737, Eurowings Professional, FeelThere CRJ, Aviograsf A340, Flight1 ATR72-500, Squawkbox or Navdash 2.5.

Eric Rosebrock thought you might enjoy taking a look at his Cessna Flight Simulator that he has built using a real Cessna Fuselage and SimKits: He lists in detail each step of the simulator building and gives some insight where to find simulator parts, as well as, some of the hassles. He has tons of pictures located in the Gallery. For the full story click here.

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to ride the infamous NASA “Vomit Comet”? Are you one who has dreamed of rocketing into space or someone who just want a new roller-coaster-type flight? Now you can do it aboard a modified jetliner that gives passengers the sense of walking on the moon and the ability to fly like Superman. The ride can last up to two hours. Zero Gravity Corp., based in Dania Beach, Fl, is the first company to receive government approval to offer these acrobatic flights in the United States. G-Force One flies out of Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport. The cost is $2,950 per person or you can rent the entire plane is $79,500. To rent the plane from an airport other than Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International is $6,000 an hour to cover travel costs, plus regular ticket prices. The next regularly scheduled flights take place in mid-February. For more, visit them here.

Force Dynamics has launched the 301, a personal and professional motion simulator. Small enough to fit in a trailer (or game room) and running off 110AC. At the moment the 301 supports the racing simulations like Live For Speed and NASCAR 2003. Force Dynamics also plans on supporting flight simulation software such as X-Plane and Microsoft Flight Simulator. The 301 with controls and a 50” DLP projection screen retails for $24,000 in the US. So if you have some spare cash and are looking for that ultimate add-on, click here.

The development team at Ostwest has made available for download the scenery for Vilnius International Airport in the capital city of Lithuania. Features present are AI compatibility, realistic textures including the runway, static objects such as buses, cars, VOR, ILS, and aircraft parking places with true-to-life placement of taxi lines.

Now available from Shockwave Productions is their Wings of Power model of the famous fighter, the P-51 Mustang. Included are the -D and -H versions of this legendary WWII aircraft. Extremely high visual detail is combined with incredibly realistic flight modeling. The performance characteristics were developed from real flight test data and actual pilot operating manuals (which are also available for purchase). Sounds are also highly realistic including that of the Roll-Royce Merlin engine. There are special effects in lighting for night-time visuals, startup procedures and belly landing physics behavior. For more details visit here.

FS2Crew’s Bryan York mentioned that Service Release 2 is now available. SR-2 allows PMDG 800/900 Update owners to use their 600/700 models with FS2Crew. A few other enhancements are also included. SR-2 is available for download on the FS2Crew website.

The new version 2 of LFLE “Challes-les-Eaux”, which is a few kilometers from Chambéry, Savoie, France, is now available. The principal feature of this release is the area extended to 150 km² around the airport. You wil find photo scenery, seasonal effects, personalized autogen, accurate mesh, 3d objects, and thermal condition for gliders. So for a trip flying in the Alps or more information on LLH site, click here for the French version or here for the English version.

New Zealand’s Kane Milne announces that BBQ Videos released their latest video featuring the AlphaSim F-4 Phantom. This video shows all four models of this pack in various settings around the world and in different settings. The video is 3.45 minutes and is 26 meg to download at BBQ Videos.

Plane Design’s Ed Walters announced the release of their first product for MSFS - an Avro Lancastrian airliner. Developed from the legendary Lancaster bomber, the Lancastrian was the first aircraft to use London’s Heathrow airport, on Jan 1st 1946. This payware model depicts the Mk.3 version, and features a detailed external model built using original Avro drawings, a high fidelity, fully animated and clickable VC, an authentic Rolls-Royce Merlin engine soundpack, and also includes a 2d panel. A detailed description and screenshots are available on the Plane Design website.

Stefan Schaefer mentions that PILOT’S Boeing B314 - The Clipper accompanied the presentation of Martin Scorseses movie “The Aviator” in Germany last week. This movie tells the story of aviation pioneer Howard Hughes (played by Leonardo DiCaprio), the eccentric billionaire and Hollywood film mogul, famous for romancing some of the world’s most beautiful women.

Being home at the same age of history our Boeing B314 Flying Boat was the ideal companion for this movie presentation. If it hadn’t for Boeing, who knows, the innovative aircraft designer and test pilot might have constructed it himself. Fly this Add-On and put yourself back in the times of Howard Hughes! There’s more about the movie and the participation of PILOT’S Boeing B314 - The Clipper at their Clipper website.

Plane Design announces the release of their first product for MSFS - an Avro Lancastrian airliner. Developed from the legendary Lancaster bomber, the Lancastrian was the first aircraft to use London’s Heathrow airport, on Jan 1st 1946. This model depicts the Mk.3 version, and features a detailed external model built using original Avro drawings, a high fidelity, fully animated and clickable VC, an authentic Rolls-Royce Merlin engine soundpack, and also includes a 2d panel. A detailed description of the Lancastrian and screenshots are available on the Plane Design website.

ATCsimulator2 features a photorealistic simulation of an ARTS-IIIa terminal, and a STARS (Standard Terminal Automation Replacement System) mode of operation.
The long awaited ATC-SDK (Sector Development Kit) will be released in February 2005. The ATC-SDK will allow the user to create airspace of their own design, that “special” area. But it will also allow the user to edit/update existing terminal areas that come with ATCsimulator2.
The ATC-SDK will be provided free as a download to existing ATCsimulator2 users, and will become standard with the ATCsimulator2 package. Visit the ATCsimulator website for sample screen shots and more information.

Aircraft Flight Dynamics designer, Pedro Oliveira, is proud to announce version 2.2 of his scenery: Project Lisbon Photoreal (PLP). The scenery itself is a very accurate photoreal presentation of Lisbon city, Portugal, based on real photographs and GPS measurements. The scenery also includes an accurate design of Lisbon airport (LPPT), whose ground was depicted from real charts effective for year 2005, the first successful LPPT ground depiction, with accurate taxiway design, gates and aprons. The main terminal is also photoreal with every single gate accurately placed. Photoreal textures are daylight/summer. For full details and download information go to the website here.

The mighty F-4 Phantom has been recreated at AlphaSim in great detail, two models (F-4B and F-4J) are included along with four superb texture sets. The first of a trio of F-4 packages from AlphaSim, Set 1 depicts Phantoms of the US Navy. Later sets will cover the USAF/Luftwaffe and RAF/RN. Animations include - folding wings, tailhook, independent canopies, AB nozzles, drag chute and spoilers. Wingtip vortices and afterburner flame effects add to the realism. The flight dynamics are fine-tuned in accordance with the manufacturer’s data. A virtual cockpit and 2D panel with xml gauges and great ‘clickability’ complete this outstanding model set. You can see these screenshots in a larger format on their News page here. Or the complete set of thumbnails here.

ISD Project announces the release of their latest product, Rome Fiumicino 2005 (FCO/LIRF). Fiumicino is the largest and busiest airport in Italy as the Alitalia hub, and is well-served by many world airlines. The scenery features a very detailed reproduction of buildings, ground signs, taxiway markings, animated gates and fingers, safegate, marshallers. In addition, the release is fully AI compatible and includes a latest generation AFCAD allowing the simultaneous use of non-parallel runways, not to mention customized and handpainted textures to obtain the best as quality and reality.

You can get more information from the ISD Project website

RMT announces the development of Sky Routes 2005 Massive Multiplayer, designed to replace generated Microsoft Flight Simulator AI traffic with data retrieved from the Internet covering the real world in a live feed.

The forthcoming subscription service will cover all airspace in North America, providing live flight data around the clock — both airborne and ground traffic. Furthermore, concurrent users of the service will be able to communicate with each other via voice, receive ATC instructions, and feature in a pilot statistic and ranking system. The aim of the project is, according to the developers, to “[merge the] real traffic experience in [one] massive multiplayer world environment full of other flight enthusiasts”.

For more information, visit Sky Routes.

The Hellas Scenery Project (HSP), an AVSIM Partner, has released freeware scenery for FS2002 and FS2004 covering Athens - E. Venizelos Airport (ATH/LGAV). LGAV is the capital airport in Athens, Greece which replaced Hellenikon (LGAT) on March 2001, and served the Athens 2004 Olympic Games. According to the developers, this scenery has been designed so as to balance good performance with visual day & night details. For more information and to download, visit the HSP website.

Icarus Golden Age announces the release of their Macchi Castoldi 72. Features of the new release include a multi-resolution virtual cockpit with dynamic gauges and animation, moving rudder pedals, and reflective textures. For more information, visit Icarus Golden Age.

We don’t normally report doings in the real world of aviation, but this one caught our attention. Boeing is going to kill the 717 program! One of the favorites of flight simmers, especially those dedicated Boeing fans, the 717 was the short haul favorite for the future. You can read the entire story here.

Visual Flight have announced a new version of Visual Flight London cityscape. Latest release brings a detailed version of the River Thames, providing the geographically accurate base that the rest of the scenery requires. In addition to changing the course of the river, the new version traces the outline of all docks, marinas and tributaries to fit with the 3D features provided by the rest of the scenery. This is of particular interest at London City Airport where there is a drop of over 2m to the waters of the docks surrounding the runway on all sides. IN addition, the scenery can now be used by all users, not just those who have VFR Terrain or VFR Photographic Scenery as required by the existing version.

Visual Flight London contains approx 50 sq miles of detailed, custom designed, individual 3D objects including the top 100 tallest buildings, all major and historic landmarks, all bridges across the Thames, plus a superb rendition of London City Airport and the London Air Ambulance helipad on top of Royal London Hospital and over 7,500 custom designed 3D objects places all over the scenery. You can get more information here.