Fly Away Simulation Flight Simulator Blog

Sascha Felix has announced the release of version 7.35 of his popular FlightSim Commander, navigational tool and moving map for Flight Simulator 2004. The new features of this version include flight plans in PMDG format, saving of route segments such as departure and arrival routes as well as various options for manipulating the GPS window and the flight plan table. An upgrade file for this new version can be downloaded here.

SIM HGS has been developed by Auxiliary Sim Gauges and ddited by Perfect Flight and is now available for FS2004. At the beginning the HUD (Head up display) was reserved for Military aircrafts. They are now available for commercial airplanes. And for the enthusiasts of Flight Simulator 2004, SimHGS now is available for your commercial airplanes. The products include: Speed indicator, Wind direction, Wind speed indicated in knots, On Ground indicator, Altitude query indicator, Altitude Hold indicator, MCP Indicators, V1, Vr, V2 Indicators that can be adjust, and Gear Up indicator after the take off. You can easily using SimHGS in any FS2004 installed aircraft For more info visit here.

Level-D Simulations has released the Operations Manual for their soon to be released 767 product. This is the manual that will ship in the actual product. This manual can be used to gain an understanding of the features, specifications, and proper operations of this add-on product for FS2004. The manual (in PDF format) is available for free in the download section of Level-D Simulations.

This long-awaited four-model Westland Sea King package includes the HAR Mk.3 of the Royal Air Force, both the HAR Mk.5 and the AEW Mk.2 of the Royal Navy and the Mk.48 of the Royal Belgian Air Force. The model includes a virtual cockpit created from using close-up photographs of the real thing and some very detailed external textures. Flight dynamics have been approved by a real-world Sea King instructor and are claimed to be very true to life - the model is however, very easy to fly. Life-like crew figures add to the realism and a winchman’s viewpoint is provided when in panel view. You can check out some screenshots and get more information via the recently updated Alpha Sim website here.

FriendlyPanels announce the release of their third pack of 2D panels for FS2004. The pack contains two 2D Panels for the Boeing 737-400 and Boeing 777-300 as provided with FS2004, with carefully designed layouts to include the maximun number of gauges in the main window, saving you the boring task of being opening and closing windows continuously to access gauges or functions, and also mantaining the gauges layout in the panel as close to that in the real aircraft as possible.

For more information, visit FriendlyPanels.

This is a non-commercial site called Misty Moorings, Inc. and is run by the fans and enthusiasts of Misty Fjords. It comes complete with a Real Estate Office (Scenery Addons), and Environmental Office (FSE addons), a picture gallery, Tool Shed (EZ-Landmark, FSNav files) and even a library to browse real facts about Misty Fjords. It has a working forum for contributors and visitors are welcome. Visit them here.

Chris Arrington has posted some further previews of his upcoming Airport Environment Upgrade Version 7 release on the Avsim screenshots forum. You can see the shape of things to come with Chris’ series of very popular enhancements to the FS2004 airport environment here

The amazing tilt-rotor troop transporter has been modelled for FS2004 in its US Marines guise, the MV-22B. The rotors are fully animated on the flaps keypress and can be rotated through the full range - vertical for a slow ‘hover’ (30kts min.) to horizontal for the more convential cruise. The rear ramp and crew entry door open to reveal a detailed interior, a detailed virtual cockpit is included with authentic stick and rotor tilt controls and co-pilot figure. A viewpoint back into the fully detailed rear cabin is available and a custom turboprop soundset is also included. The low-speed flying capability coupled with great manouverability, immersive sounds and a very wide field of view makes this a great sight-seeing machine, but it still retains a good top speed (275kts ASL) to get you around.
Visit AlphaSim for details.

Dreamscenery is proud to announce you that a huge scenery for the city of Indianapolis and vicinity has been released for your enjoyment.

Indianapolis 2005 photorealistically covers all the city of Indianapolis and sorrounding area (about 3500 sq. kms), which includes cities like Greenwood, Noblesville, Shelbyville, Carmel, Fishers among others. The scenery for this city and its main airport has not been done like this before, at least none of its dimensions. It tries to match the real thing and how this area looks like in real life as close as possible.

Here is a list of what this scenery does include.

-Photoreal terrain textures made of 4.8m/px. aerial images. Covering around 3500 sq kms of Indianapolis and sorroundings.
-Photoreal seasonal textures.
-Photoreal night textures
-A complete representation of Indianapolis airport KIND which includes:
-All the airport terminals (International main terminal, Fedex, etc.).
-Dynamic Jetways in main terminal and ex United Facility Hub (frequency controlled).
-Terminal ground facility vehicles in both, main terminal as well as in Fedex cargo area (frequency controlled).
-All the airport hangars, most of them with frequency controlled opening doors
-Taxiway and runway signage
-Both the current and the new control tower (which in real life is aimed to be commissioned in 2005).
-Static objects
-Dynamic scenery (airport ground vehicles as well as cars coming and going away from the airport drop off area.
-Real buildings and vegetation around the airport zone (hotels, industrial, etc.) making you feel like being there.
-Almost all of the town’s real buildings of 12 and more stories as well as many of those of less than 12 stories.
-Famous landmarks all around the city. (Soldiers & Sailors monument, Artsgarden, Indianapolis speedway, Indiana Statehouse etc.)
-Bridges over the White river.
-Autogen scenery of buildings and vegetation in Indianapolis and sorrounding cities (each building manually placed in their correct positions, trying to match the real location of each one and architecture of the zone). It has been made in a way that doesn´t seriously affect frame rates.

For more information visit Dreamscenery direct.

ICARUS has released the Reggiane 2005 Sagittario which once was described as “the most beautiful fighter of the Axis”. In fact,the Sagittario was a really beautiful airplane, with a clean and fascinating shape, but it was limited by a slow production during the war.The aircraft is now on sale here.

PC Aviator Inc, publisher of MegaScenery scenery for Microsoft Flight Simulator, announced the release of a new scenery product line titled MegaCITY USA 2005. In the Press Release, PC Aviatior says, “Where MegaScenery brings users large areas of photorealistic scenery using satellite imagery at 5 meters per pixel, MegaCITY USA 2005 will have Flight Simulator pilots soaring the skies above major US cities that have been created from higher resolution aerial photographs at 1 and 2 foot per pixel resolution. Consumers need to understand that Flight Simulator 2004 itself only displays at a maximum resolution of 5 meters per pixel however since the source images were taken at the higher resolution a lot of this detail is retained even after resampling to 5 meters per pixel.

The end result is much clearer and crisper urban landscapes for PC flying where a lot of intricate detail is visible right down to the level of individual trees on golf courses. Cities and their surrounding areas look just like they do in real life as MegaCity scenery replaces the generic tiled scenery native to Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004 with high resolution images of the actual cities.”

PC Aviator Inc plans to release a number of cities throughout 2005 with the first two titles to be released before the end of January 2005. The first title will be MegaCity San Francisco and the second has not yet been announced. MegaCITY USA 2005 was created by Aerosoft Australia Pty Ltd, developers of MegaScenery. As a result, MegaCITY has all of the advanced and unique features delivered in their MegaScenery titles including Night Scenery, high resolution underlying mesh terrain, Winter Snow Scenery (where appropriate), real water bodies and relocation and realignment of default Flight Simulator objects. MegaCITY titles will be available on CD-ROM and will be priced at $24.95US. The first title - MegaCITY San Francisco will ship on 24 January 2005. More information, including the recently released screenshots, and an opportunity to preorder direct, is available for viewing here.