Orbx Developer Interview

• FTX Home Page
• PNW NA Blue Home Page
• FSX Go
• FS Water Configurator
• REX (Real Environment Extreme)
• A2A Piper Cub for FSX
• Carenado

• Evernote: http://www.evernote.com/
• Handbrake: http://handbrake.fr/
• Macrium Reflect: http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.asp
• QSynergy: http://www.volker-lanz.de/en/software/qsynergy/
• CD Burner XP: http://cdburnerxp.se/
• TeraCopy: http://www.codesector.com/teracopy.php
• SuperCopier: http://supercopier.sfxteam.org/
• Notepad++: http://notepad-plus.sourceforge.net/uk/site.htm
• Ninite: http://ninite.com/
• PC Decrapifier: http://www.pcdecrapifier.com/
• Remember The Milk: http://www.rememberthemilk.com/
• Windows Live Movie Maker: http://download.live.com/moviemaker
• Alternative To: http://alternativeto.net/
• CCleaner: http://www.ccleaner.com/
• Malware Bytes: http://www.malwarebytes.org/
• SmartDefrag: http://www.iobit.com/iobitsmartdefrag.html
• DisplayFusion: http://www.binaryfortress.com/displayfusion/
• MagicISO Virtual DVD:
• http://www.magiciso.com/tutorials/miso-magicdisc-overview.htm
• CrashPlan: http://b2.crashplan.com/landing/index.html
• LogicBuy: http://www.logicbuy.com/
• LogMeIn: https://secure.logmein.com/US/products/free/

• Simple Unit Converter: http://www.softpedia.com/get/Others/Unit-Conversion/A-Simple-Unit-Converter.shtml
• TeamViewer: http://www.teamviewer.com/download/index.aspx
• PortableApps: http://portableapps.com/suite
• DropBox: http://www.dropbox.com/features
• Desktop Calendar: http://www.glenn.delahoy.com/software/index.shtml
• Rocket Dock: http://rocketdock.com/download
• CutePDF: http://www.cutepdf.com/Products/CutePDF/writer.asp
• Flight Logg: http://flightlogg.in/demo/maps.html
• AVG Free: http://free.avg.com/us-en/free-antivirus-download
• Pidgin: http://www.pidgin.im/download/windows/
• OpenOffice: http://www.openoffice.org/
• Wubi: http://wubi-installer.org/index.php
• Daemon Tools: http://www.daemon-tools.cc/eng/products/dtLite
• Flight Memory: http://www.flightmemory.com/poster/

E-Mail

PSS Concorde Patch

My name is Tony, I live in France and I recently discovered your podcast!
I do like it a lot (none of those things exist for Flight Sim french users!) I also own a french community based website for FSX called FSX-Online.com (http://www.fsx-online.com) in which I try to give most useful tips for FSX and a top freeware addons selection.
Thanks to you, I can now give plenty of tips for my french users !
Anyway, the concern of this mail was more about reacting about the latest show where you talked about the Concorde! And share with you this News :
I have worked on a mod (patch) that could give some users the ability to run the beautiful PSS Concorde under FSX.
Here are the main specs :

• Fully usable overhead buttons and click spots
• Workaround for starting engines (will be provided later in a note)
• Reheat (Afterburner) is now working: 0-75% throttle --> 0 to 106% N1, 76-100% throttle --> Afterburner engaged...
• Overall fuel consumption has been reworked to match FSX parameters!
• Effects repositioned (AB torch, smoke, …)
• Some engine specifications reworked to match real Concorde.

I hope this will bring a good news to former PSS users that switched to FSX...
This patch is still beta and has been tested under FSX SP2 and Acceleration. This is available on AVSIM or on my website !
http://library.avsim.net/download.php?DLID=145071
http://www.fsx-online.com/telechargements-fsx-avion-ligne.html (in french)
Hope this will prove useful to your listeners...
Cheers from France !

Tony (MaxWaldorf)

Orbx PNW NA Blue Released!

• The most stunning Orbx product ever!
• Superb ground textures by Matt Tomkins
• Hand-crafted landclass covers every mile
• Accurate roads, rivers, coastlines
• 10m Holgermesh for crisp definition
• Large photoreal coverage areas
• New autogen textures and objects
• Super accurate autogen annotation
• Over 450 airports upgraded, including KPAE!
• Works seamlessly with UTX
• Glaciers, lava flows, river mud flats
• Photoreal Seattle ... and MUCH MORE!

• Our episode with John and Holger, and Bill Womack: http://www.fsbreak.net/podcast/43

• Other payware sceneries to be released:
  • 7S3 Stark's Twin Oaks (Bill Womack)
  • 1S2 Darrington Muni (Orbx)

Related: FSAddon's Vancouver to be updated...

• DHC-3 and DHC-6 AI aircraft. The existing AI flightplans in Van+ reference these aircraft.
• detailed 1m satellite photoreal imagery for the entire downtown area, south shore of False Creek and the East Side and North Shore dock areas. This replaces the existing 1999 5m imagery.
• completely redone autogen for the photoreal coverage area: much more dense and accurate
• new buildings: the Vancouver Convention Centre, the Fairmont Hotel and the Living Shangri-La
• a couple of bug fixes

New Helicopter Flight Models from Hovercontrol

Helicopter Total Realism ver. 1.0 - HTR is a physics library that replaces FSX helicopter physics. You can create your own configuration files for your favorite helicopters. Helicopter Total Realism (HTR) is a program that overrides FSX FS9 flight model with a more realistic model.

All the helicopter reactions are calculated using formulas taken from different aerodynamic books. Every helicopter can be configured using a .cfg file similar to the aircraft.cfg but with custom parameters used by the application to model the physics profile.

New FSX Concorde Preview

As we’ve entered beta testing of the Concorde-X, we decided it was time we gave a first video preview of our soon-to-be-released work, which we hope will make flight sim enthusiasts and novices alike really appreciate the talent of our development team. We’ve put a lot of effort in this product, this video preview is but a token of the sophistication, modeling and visual beauty found in the FSX Concorde-X!

Area 51 C-5M Galaxy

Features

• Different MDL files for FS2004 and FSX
• Very High Detail Exterior and Interior
• Photoreal Textures
• Detailed doors and Cargo bays
• 2D Panel
• Flight Manual
• Paint Kit

ASE (ActiveSky Evolution) from HiFiSim

Active Sky Evolution is the next installment in the Active Sky series, bringing further refinement and accuracy in weather synthesis and depiction, improved smoothing, increased high-fidelity aircraft compatibility, a new graphical look and many other behind-the-scenes improvements to further increase your desktop flight and weather simulation experience!
The Active Sky series, first released in 2002, has been continually developed in effort to provide the most realistic and enjoyable weather simulation engine possible for Microsoft Flight Simulator users. Supporting both FS9 and FSX, this latest version offers tons of useful features including universal graphics add-on compatibility, graphics snapshots with weather influence, an in-flight weather display gauge, realistic wake turbulence, vertical air simulation, comprehensive weather and flight planning, full graphical mapping and much, much more.

Flightsimdealoftheday.com

http://www.flightsimdealoftheday.com
Welcome to flightsimdealoftheday.com… your opportunity to enjoy a great deal on all sorts of flight sim related products every day of the year.
Products you’ll find on offer range from older blowout titles to current hot titles at very special prices; instant downloads and boxed products; from various flight sim companies around the world. Your savings or added value can be up to as much as 80%, depending upon what’s on offer.
Deals Of The Day run for 24 hours only from 9 am to 9 am USA EST (GMT-5) or until what is on offer has sold out – whatever comes first.
We don’t tell you how many are available for each deal of the day so if you like what’s on offer we highly advise you click the buy now button right away as it could sell out at any time.
Please don’t forget to join the mailing list to receive your daily notice of what’s on offer at flightsimdealoftheday.com.
Also, you can rest assured that you are dealing with a reputable company through flightsimdealoftheday.com. It’s owned and operated by PC Aviator Inc (www.pcaviator.com) – flight simulation’s most long lived company currently in its 20th year of business.

Enjoy the exciting Flight Sim Deals we’ll bring you through flightsimdealoftheday.com and the important thing to keep in mind when you visit is…. “Don’t Miss Out!”

McPhat Studios Repaints

A few small items from Captain Sim

Wilco's Piaggio P180 II Avanti

The Pacific North West scenery winner!

Low, slow, high, swift
land like this is truly a gift
Now to my Cub, a flight I make
Hope I win this, thanks Fsbreak.

P Puget Sound

A Apple Orchards

C Cascade Mountains

I Ice-capped Volcanoes

F Fir Trees

I IFR Weather

C Columbia River

W Whistler, BC

N Numbered Airfields

Recommendations

E-Mails and Voicemails

FSX PC's

St. Barts Landing with Fly Tampa scenery

Hey Guy's, I just wanted to share with you my first attemt at making a video. I've been putting this off a long time always afraid it would just be to hard and require a lot of expensive equipment. But I discovered it's really not that hard. I downloaded the free version of Frapps, and used the built in Windows Live Moviemaker. Since this was a Carribean setting, I chose what I thought was a catchey tune for the background. And was pretty amazed how it turned out. Mabe you can urge some of your viewers / listeners who are putting it off to give it a try. I have attached a link to my video. Thanks and keep up the great work. Phil Raulston ( BigDBlue )

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=100935443275639&ref=nf

Listen Here:

Download Audio Here

Video:

Download 720P HD (911MB) | Download Low Quality (401 MB)

Official: Orbx Pacific Northwest to be released Sunday February 28th

From John of Orbx:

After 14 months of development, the region will raise the bar yet again, and marks the Orbx debut region for North America.

The price will be AU$54.95 for the download edition.

The DVD edition will be available by the end of March for AU$64.95 - all our resellers will accept pre-orders for the DVD. FSS will accept pre-pay for the download edition from tomorrow morning which gives early buyers a 24 hour exclusive period.

Orbx will release 1S2 Darrington and 7S3 Twin Oaks airports soon after the release of PNW. Those airports will also be available on DVD by the end of March.

Thanks everyone for your enthusiasm and support for PNW - we know you will love flying there!

View all of our PNW shots here!

IRIS Flight Simulation Software: "Pro Series" Diamond Star XLS

The Diamond Star is our first of a series of General Aviation aircraft from IRIS Flight Simulation Software and has been an enjoyable experience for the team from design & development, through to release.

I am also proud to announce that this is the debut design from Mr. Jose Valdez. Jose is a long time IRIS customer who has turned his talents to 3D modeling in FSDS and is responsible for the 3D mesh you see in this aircraft.

As usual, our flight modeling was contracted to the fantastic Jade Island Flight Test Center run by Pamela Brooker who has provided an enjoyable flight model which performs closely to the published specifications of the Diamond DA-40 AFM.

David Brice has been responsible for the product audio and the development of the gauges in the aircraft including providing a modified G-1000 unit developed specifically for this aircraft. Overall we?re very proud of the work done on our first G.A. aircraft and you can expect more of the same in the coming years.

"Five Minute" Flights... Our Thoughts?

This was originally posted on SimFlight, check out the entire article and all 5 flights here...

It’s a dilemma I face all the time. I need a place to fly and it needs to be quick. Like many flight simmers, I seem to always be pressed for time, or I sit down at my desk unsure of how long I’ll be able to devote to flying. I think that’s why VFR flights and GA aircraft appeal to me: they’re easy to get into the air without a lot of tinkering around. Load some fuel, passengers, cargo and maybe set up a failure or two and we’re flying. It’s also why I’m partial to flying in the Caribbean: there’s so much to see and the airports are rarely further than 30 minutes apart.

So, with that in mind, I bring you my top-five short flights (in no particular order)...

 Aerosoft Twin Otter

The De Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter is one of the most versitile aircraft ever designed. Still Canada's most successful commercial aircraft program with more than 800 built, the Twin Otter remains popular for its rugged construction and useful STOL performance.

The De Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter (aka Twotter) is one of those aircraft that should have been replaced by some new aircraft at least a decade ago. But it's not. The DHC-6 still flies and in fact the amount of registered is risen at this moment. The main reason for it is the fact it is just as much at home at the poles as it is in the tropics. It is used to maintain routes to airports up to 9000 feet and to ferry between islands. It will fly everywhere using wheels, floats or skis. It's a legend.

This STOL twin turboprop commuter airliner was in production between 1964 and 1988, with over 800 build it has been the most successful aircraft build in Canada. The model is currently been upgraded to a 400 version by Viking Air who holds the type certificate for the Twin Otter.

The high end model presented by Aerosoft and partly designed by SibWings includes all versions, and advanced avionics set. It is perfectly suited for use on some of our most favorite scenery products such as Lukla X and German Airfields 1. The gauges include two high end Bendix King systems that provide near perfect navigation and communication capabilities. Of course the original panel is also an option. One of the main design goals was to keep the memory and CPU load of this aircraft as low as possible to ensure good framerates. By keeping the number of non essential items in the models low this was achieved. The Twin Otter is only just more demanding then the very basic default aircraft of FSX!

Recommendations

Eric: Microsoft Security Essentials

Mark: FSX Scenery--Gulf Island Research (GIR)

Brendan: Drop Box

E-Mails

Comment: FSX Dual Core or Quad Core?

I found your Podcast 2 days ago and I was trying to listen to all of your episodes before I even dare to write a comment, mainly so I don't ask about something that has already been discussed, but now after listening to all of your episodes until number 12 (I've have my earbuds stuck to my ears since yesterday morning to catch up with all of the episodes as quickly as possible), but now the reason why I break the silence in such an early stage is because you show after show continue to mention that FSX uses 4 cores when this is incorrect to my knowledge, FSX used only 1 core at first lunch and up to 2 cores with accelerator even with affinity set to 15, now I am a PC enthusiast and of course I overclock my PC and for that there are several tools that help me monitor my PC's performance and while running FSX Acceleration all my monitoring software shows only 1 core working at 100% and a secondary core working sporadicly up to 50% the other cores seem to be operating at a lesser intensity and this operating cycles seem to be caused by Win7's and various programs background applications, please correct me if I am wrong, since my own little research seems to corroborate my own computer behaviour.

Yet another new Simulator (Engine)

Have you seen this video?

You should definitely check this out, it looks very promising. Maybe you could even have the guys on who are behind Outerra.

http://outerra.com/

Regards Lukas

FS9 Better than FSX?

Here are a couple screenshots from FS9. This is what I mean when I say that FS9's environment looks a bit more realistic looking than in FSX. I do agree with Mark about the PhysX in FSX thats it's alot better compared in FS9. But I am sure REX will be coming out with new updates for FS9 to try to simulate a more realistic flying experience in FS9. Also, these screenshots do not have HDR enabled. So keep that in mind. HDR plug-in is also compatible with FS9.

I love the show! keep up the great work!

http://www.mediafire.com/imageview.php?quickkey=jtlmzzmvgtn

http://www.mediafire.com/imageview.php?quickkey=nbrzvtkwjmm

Next Online Flight...

When are you guys going to fly another online flight? Your podcast after the last online flight (Sept/09) was filled with "that was fun" "I'm going to fly more online" ect. But you guys haven't flown online since...(I checked). Except Brendan, but he's anti-social, flying out of Uzbekistan or god only knows.

So how about another online flight. Maybe a IFR flight (away from ZLA) I'm a brand new S1 controller at ZHU (Houston ARTCC) and I could possibly talk these guys into staffing whatever positions necessary to provide ATC.

Something like KDEN - KIAH or KMSY - KDEN...Brendan is a controller in Denver so he should be able to talk to them and get his airspace staffed.

or maybe have two flights, one a so called "newbie flight" and another a little more advanced for the rest of us who have been into flightsim for a number of years like me (25 years) and can handle the big iron, flying interstate.

Actions speak louder than words; so, come on guys. a flight a month isn't too much to bring all the listeners together.

After all this is the "All things flightsim" podcast, but seems more of a show about add-ons.

My 2 cents

Kevin

Laptop Voicemail from Dave

• Core i7
• 4GB RAM
• Mobile GTS 360M

Which Sim? From Alex

Hi all you guys,
If i were going to use a flight simulator platform for general aviation flying, would it be logical to use x-plane or FSX? I know x-plane is more realistic in terms of aerodynamics, but the aircraft graphics are pathetic, compared to some pay-ware from FSX (carenado for example) However FSX is much more detailed in graphics, but in FSX, the aerodynamics are unrealistic because you just tell the airplane how fast it goes, how steep it can turn(as far as i know, correct me if i am wrong ;) )
Any ideas?
Cheers

Alex

Screenshot Program for FSX and FS9 on Win7

Eric, On your first video brodcast I asked if you were having trouble with screenshots on your new PC running Windows7. You said you were. Will I found one that works with both FSX and FS9. Its a program called Aeroshot Image Capture. You can download it from FSPilotShop. It's only $18.00. I've attached some screenshots taken in FSX and FS9. The program works great. You can set where to save your pics, and in what format.It uses your printsren key, and does not pause your fightsim. I gives a sound to let you know it captured your shot. Check it out.
http://www.fspilotshop.com/product_info.php?manufacturers_id=153&products_id=1594
Aeroshot Image Capture (AEF-230) = $18.00
From Phil

Airplane Recommendations

Hey Guys,
I really like your show. I would like to recommend to aircrafts, both were released on Dec 25, I don't think they were mentioned during your show. Both aircrafts are products of love.
First one is the Westland Lysander, I was captivated by its unique looks, and bought it right away. It has really amazing history - RAF used them to drop and pick up agents in France during WWII. It is easy to fly, but hard to land, great aircraft!!
http://fsaddon.eu/wpfsaddon/fsaddon-products/lysander-secret-operations/
The second one is Cessna O-1/L-19 - I just got this one today, activation process (Copy protection is not so great), but overall aircraft is very nice. http://www.sibwings.com/birddog.php

Thank you, Ilya

From the forums: SimCheck A300

Hey don't forget to mention the new Simcheck A300 airplane available from Aerosoft... truly awesome aircraft!
From BionicCrab
Aircraft Features: http://www.aerosoft.com/cgi-local/us/iboshop.cgi?showd,,11145

TweakFS Recommendation from George

USB video card + flight sim = terrible, terrible idea

Hi Eric,
Just a quick note: I can't speak for flight sim, but for X-Plane, no user should ever attempt to put any kind of X-Plane output onto a USB video card! The performance will be truly dreadful. X-Plan requires a "real" graphics card, meaning:
- A graphics card that has a high quality 3-d accelerator on it and - that graphics card has to be in a slot wide enough for x-plane to just blast it with data. PCIe x16 is really a must, PCIe x16 2.0 is even better. USB is waaaay too slow.

---

Yep...the processing has to come from somewhere. :-)
It's a very smart idea for low-end computers...where the goal is to bring down price, where the CPU is already over-powered, where casual users probably aren't even using the second CPU. It's similar to what happened with sound cards...there's just no point in shipping sound cards with DSPs any more - that DSP is one more part, $20 more of cost (and that matters now, things are so cheap) when the second core can do sound mixing with 3% of its capacity.
Of course, as flight simmers this sucks because it means the mainstream trend in hw (and what "most" new users who get a flight sim will already own) is a machine inappropriate to running FS X or x-plane. If I browse Dell's site, I can't even find the _option_ to put an ATI or NV card in most of the time, and when you do find a video card you find ...
... wait for it ...
Radeon 4350 NVideo Geforce GTS 240
(You will find the 4350 at the BOTTOM of the 4xxx list - it is the most stripped down config. Surprisingly the GTS 240 isn't the bottom of the NV barrel, but being two levels down from the "real" part, the 280, it's going to be terrible for flight sim.)
So a user who tries to build a "nice" machine before getting into flight sim is going to pay more and still get a machine that tanks. Sigh...
cheers Ben

Answer to last week's Question About Object Placing

I was listening to your show last night (great show BTW) and i heard someone was looking for a freeware object placer.
Now i use Instant scenery for my scenery design which is great if you want to spend the money
before i brought Instant scenery i got this freeware one recommend to me.
http://lc0277.nerim.net/wiki/index.php?whisplacer
it's called whisplacer, it basically just uses the object libraries you've got in your FSX installation and im sure that there is a nav becon in one of the libaries that he could use. so try it out
Cheers,
Mitchell Sale OZx Developer

From the forum: Show Suggestions from Flinty72

G'Day FSBreak Crew,
Loving the show especially the live broadcasts which I was lucky enough to catch the end of today. So I had an idea recently for the show and wanted to put it out to you guys for consideration. Not that I think the shows needs revamping but consider it a possible enhancement, if you think it is worthy...
Anyway it struck me that each of you have specific areas of great knowledge & experience within the show. Now what if each you had a dedicated segment in the show to these areas? These segments could then be included into the show in different ways, either all segments each week, fortnightly or monthly or on a rolling rotation making it a monthly cycle between each indiovidual segment.
Here is what I had in mind;

• "Eric's PC Hardware & Software Roundup" (related to flightsimming and PC performance)
• "Mark's Multisim Persepective" (X-plane, ORBITER, etc.) &/or "GA Flying Instruction Tutorial" (like the recent flying the traffic pattern video discussion)
• "Brendan's All Things Tubeliner's" (Products, Flying Tips, VA Operations)
• "Danton's Community Coverage & Super Slueth Inside Scoops" (Community & Developer Rumblings, VATSIM & Other FS Events)

Anyway let me know what you think, maybe other listeners have better ideas as well...?
Keep up the great work.

Flinty.

Recommendations

Mycockpit.org, the worlds largest community for home cockpit builders is proud to announce two new Podcasts, in association with FSBreak.net. 
 
1. "Tips And Discussions" 2nd Edition, with Ian.  In this Edition of "Tips And Discussions", we talk to the famous Ian, well know for his wonderful B737 project. In this edition we talk all about "Inputs"
 
2. "Builder Of The Month" for February 2010, Shawn Lund.   Shawn is the creator of an unique project, someone who has chosen something different, since he is not exactly a home cockpit builder but I am sure we can draw a lot of inspiration from his approach..
 
MyCockpit Podcast can be found here:  http://www.mycockpit.org/forums/content.php?8
 
Mycockpit continues in the future with further Podcast editions of "Tips And Discussions," Feature Interviews" and "Builder Of the Month" interviews 

Interview with Dhruv Kalra and Alex Unruh of XP Jets Simulations

Amazon Hamburger Flight

New Simulator Coming

• 1) Official development started on Feb 1 2010 after half a year of lawyers, recruiting staff, designs etc.

• 2) The simulator is stand alone simulator, no relations to MS flight simulator.

• 3) The simulator will be cross platform, Windows, Mac and will have support for Iphone also or any future product supported by Apple.

• 4) The simulator will contain SDK for 3rd developers and artiest.

• 5) Release date is about late 2011.

• 6) The simulator will support civilian airports and aircrafts, amazing graphics, best performance, multiplayer support and tons of options.

• 7) The simulator bundle will include few software for developers to develop their dreams and compile it for using with Sim Giants Simulator.”

Aerosoft also drops more news on the Aerosoft 

Been a tough week. After the Conference last weekend (big success in every possible way), we needed a few days to get all the hardware back our offices and connected, some of us had car troubles and were offline a few days unexpected. So forgive us for being not too active with news this week. All is back on schedule now and we got some good news for you. First of all about a possible new simulator. You know we had several meeting about this over the weekend and we promised to give you some more details. Well we are still not saying it is 100% sure but for sure we made great progress towards Aerosoft Flight Simulator 2012 (that title is provisory for now btw). A lot more pieces are in place now and we are officially investing money in it now. So from a plan it has grown into a project. And we all invite you to give your comments!

New X-Plane Scenery

• Airport/Runway/Taxiway alignment - All airports within Enhanced packages will now line up right over the imagery!
• Night lighting - As has been seen here in some earlier previews, Enhanced products will include night lighting produced by our own custom software to match the underlying terrain. This includes, but not limited to: Roads, Sports Parks, Parking Lots, proper differentiation between urban and rural areas, and more!
• Road Alignment - We have gone the extra distance here and created custom roads that are extremely accurate to true life, and we have enabled it so the underlying imagery is the road surface you see. No more flickering roads...just a lot of cars, and very little FPS impact...go ahead and crank up those roads to "Totally Insane!"...you know you want to! 

VATSIM Refreshes Website!

Recommendations

E-Mails and Voicemails

Two great Freeware Recommendations from Alan

Hi guys.
I just wanted to give a quick recommendation to a couple of freeware aircraft which have recently been released.
De Havilland Tiger Moth http://aussiex.org/forum/index.php?app=downloads&showfile=1012
Beech Bonanza V Tail http://www.simviation.com/simviation/?type=item&ID=61&page=30
Both are FSX native and are of excellent quality. I highly recommend checking them out.

Regards Alan 

E-mail from Josh

I have flown on FSX and it looks too cartoon"ish" and unrealistic. So I disagree with Mark. With all of the add-on's that I have for FS9 on top of FS Global 2010, U.T, REX2004 and GE Pro; in my own opinion, FS9 looks alot better and realistic looking then FSX.

Listen Here:

Download Audio Here

Video:

Click Here to Download (720P, 920MB)

New X-Plane Photo Scenery Concept

Here are some new screenshots from a quick test in the French Alps. This uses very accurate vegetation data to cover the whole areas, with an optimized simplification algorithm to reduce the polys complexity without loosing too much precision. The .for files will be created and optimized later with our own trees textures.

PMDG Released 747-8i/F Expansion and PMDG Refreshes Website

Built with technical input from Boeing and using the latest modeling techniques for FSX, the PMDG 747-400X -8i/F Product Model Extension adds the majestic new Boeing 747-8 variant to your existing PMDG 747-400X installation.

This high definition visual model raises the bar on large airliner modeling by showing the 747-8i and 747-8F in exquisite detail. Transparent cabin windows, fully detailed flight controls, 3D engine cores, scalloped nacelles and the incredible 747-8 wing flex are all presented in vivid detail. The model is covered with high definition textures, giving an incredibly lifelike appearance to the model, right down to the finest details.

The PMDG 747-400X -8i/F Product Model Extension will also please your ears, as we have included a new GEnx based engine sound set so that you can experience the amazing audio experience of the new GEnx engines mounted under-wing.

Price: $24.99, More Informaton (Requires PMDG 747-400X)

PMDG Has also refreshed their website!

PMDG's view on FS2004; Will Others Follow?

Posted By: Robert S. Randazzo Jan 21 2010

Captains-

We have been reading some truly ridiculous statements in this forum during the past 72hrs regarding FS2004 vs. FSX development.

I have stated PMDG's position on FS2004 a number of times, but it appears that some folks are under the misguided impression that there is a debate to be had on the topic.

There isn't.

As I have stated many times, PMDG has at our fingertips a wealth of data on current market trends for the entertainment flight simulator market. These trends for some time have been making it increasingly clear that the market for FS2004 customers is shrinking at an astonishing rate.

When analyzing the sales data available to us, we are seeing trends that make it clear that the long-awaited migration from an FS2004 centric community to one centered on FSX started in May of 2009. This trend began to accelerate rapidly in September, and has continued during the fourth quarter of 2009 and the first two weeks of 2010, leading to year-over-year increases for FSX products, and very steep declines in demand for FS2004 products.

The reasons for these trends, in our opinion, have everything to do with the steady advancement of computer hardware during the past three years combined with the performance gains seen in the conversion to Win7. In fact, the release of Win7 coincides with the VERY dramatic shift in sales performance of FSX products and a VERY dramatic decline in the sales of FS2004 products.

With these trends in mind, let me be abundantly clear on two things:

1) The future of an FS2004 based 737NG2 is doubtful at best. We will make this decision while the FSX version is in beta testing. While we do not doubt that some of you would be very interested in this product under FS2004, we are less and less certain that such a development cycle would recoup its own costs, especially when compared to the growing strength in FSX sales. One of the most critical factors that we will consider in this decision will be the projected costs in dollars and TIME to product this product in FS2004. I will be candid and tell you that right now, I am not comfortable sustaining FS2004 development- and this is based upon my review of 4Q09 trends and our considerable experience with development of complex add-ons. We will make a decision when the FSX version of this product is in beta testing, as that will allow us to evaluate against data that is current at the decision making time.

 

2) Aside from the 737NG2.0, no other PMDG product announced or in development will be considered for the FS2004 platform. This means that the Dash-8, the 777 and the recently announced 747-8 Extension will be in FSX only. I am sorry if this was not clear in our announcement from Saturday- but this has been stated before in previous discussions, so we thought it was understood.

 

Now- some folks (on both sides of the argument) have taken to becoming extremely emotional about this conversation. There is nothing emotional about the decision. It is based upon mathematics and economics.

We have seen some folks write some really off-the-wall comments in this forum of late, accusing one another of being cheap, snobby, rich, poor, smart, stupid, etc. We have also seen some folks make up information and pretend to speak with some authority on our data-based decision making.

ENOUGH. This forum is not a venue for such behavior- so please take it off-line. We are not interested in a debate about the merits of one simulator versus another- nor are we interested in a debate about whether we are making the right choice or not in consideration of your own opinion.

When making decisions we must consider what is best for the long term vitality of PMDG, and this means evaluating information in a cold, detached manner.

The numbers dictate the rules in the game of business- and the numbers DRAMATICALLY favor us simplifying our development process and focusing on the platform where our customers are heading.

Does this mean that a percentage of you will not buy one or more future products? More than likely... But sentimentality will not keep the lights on, nor will it recover development costs for products that the market is communicating quite clearly that it does not want.

So- once again, we will evaluate the future of FS2004 development as it relates to the 737NG2 in a few months. The major factors in this decision cannot be controlled by any argument here in the forum- they are controlled by the numbers we see in our systems- and MOST IMPORTANTLY by our assessment of the time and monetary costs associated with converting a project this complex to the older platform.

Aviator 90: Episodes 1 and 2 Released

A huge thanks to Chris for putting this out for people to enjoy, Aviator 90 Episode 1 and Episode 2 are now released! Interested in some great training material? Check it out! Check back every other day for a new one!

Mark's Texture Conversion program last week, how did it work?

Still need to try it out? Click Here. Let us know what sort of improvement you saw!

Discussion: Community porting FS2004 aircraft to FSX... Is it right?

A couple of weeks ago Mark recommended one of Nemeth Design's AS350 choppers in FSX format. Nemeth Designs released the chopper as Freeware in FS9 format, and a group called "Nor Cal Prop Club" converted the helicopter to FSX and re-released it as freeware, giving credit to the original developer.

Will, from our forum posted some links to other FS forums to our attention that shows some developers not happy with Nor Cal Prop Club re-releasing their work.

Link: http://www.cbfsim.org/cbfsim/cbfsBB/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=15989

Link: http://mainescenery.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=genav&action=display&thread=7332

Mark contacted Nemeth Designs, and asked their opinion on this practice, their response:

I have no problem with which Nor Cal is doing as long as they do it only with our freeware releases and they don't sell it as payware. We have no time to convert those old freeware stuffs to FSX so they just do favor to the FS community with taking the time to do that.

Carenado releases C185F Skywagon for FSX

Carenado have released their C185F Skywagon for FSX, As always, high quality designed aircraft, polygon optimized model, friendly FPS and a Control Windows new feature for controlling eyes candies (wheel chokes, bag & package, pitot cover, sights prop and tiedown ropes). Pop up Skywagon manual with performance charts and normal & emergency procedures. It also has its original instruments.

Price: $25.95

Link: http://www.carenado.com/ecommerce/buscador.php3?id_producto=80

Hardware News: EVGA's W555 Motherboard

• TWO Intel LGA 1366 Slots (For Xeon Processors)
• 12 DDR3 RAM Slots
• 7 PCI Express 16x Slots (Up to 4 16x At a time, others are 8x)

Hardware News: Matrox 3H2Go Doubles Monitors

Multiple DualHead2Go and TripleHead2Go Graphics eXpansion Module (GXM) support to drive up to four or six monitors, respectively, from a single system. A second GXM can now be connected to the secondary output of a supported dual monitor graphics card so two DualHead2Go GXMs can power up to four outputs in 2×2 or 4×1 modes, while two TripleHead2Go units can be combined to connect six displays to produce either a 3×2 or 6×1 setup.

More Info.

Great Cockpit Building Podcast From MyCockpit.org

Looking for a great series of FS related podcast just for home cockpit builders? Check out the latest releases from MyCockpit.org. One such release is an interview with Peter Dowson (Of FSUIPC), check it out here!

Recommendations

Eric: Freeware De Havilland Tiger Moth DH-82A, By Anthony Lynch

• Very high quality gauges, air model, VC, external, etc...
• Pilots have moving heads
• Hand start prop!!
• Model approved by OZx
• FREE!

Brendan: http://www.avsim.su

Mark: PLANEMAKER / BLENDER TURTORIALS - x-plane 21 part series

E-Mails and Voicemails

ArkView USB Monitor Adapter In Action

There is a video on YouTube of the Arkview USB adapter in action.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wfrl2wUxtmQ

What needs to be noted is that these are 1 to 1 devices. You can extend up to 6 monitors, but you need 1 for each monitor.

Ted

Listen Here:

Download Audio Here

Video:

B-52 From Captain Sim Released

Update on Last week's mention, the "external only" model has now been released here for € 9.99.

Mark's Secret to Improving your FSX FPS... Compress!

Website Here!

Also: TileProxy Revisited

 Honolulu International From FSDreamTeam

Honolulu International is a scenery developed for Microsoft Flight Simulator X (FSX) and Flight Simulator 2004 (FS9). It's has been created with great attention to visual quality and performance, using the latest available programming techniques, both in FSX and FS9.

The product is sold as 2 Products in One. This means, by buying one version, you will automatically get the other for free, since activation and serial codes are shared between FSX and FS9.

Features:

• Fully customized ground and runways in high resolution, both in FSX and FS9
• Ground terrain seamlessly integrated with Flight Simulator.
• Native animated inverse-kinematics based jetways in FSX.
• AES support in FS9 planned
• Animated custom ground vehicles.
• Use of the advanced material properties in FSX, like bump and specular mapping.
• Fully 3d taxiways lighting.
• Intensive use of LOD techniques in order to offer the best possible performances.
• Improved Night Effects
• High resolution building textures.
• NEW YouControl™ feature: custom airport actions with easy on-screen menu to trigger animations, events,etc ( FSX only )
• RLG Automated Guide-In System docking.

Price: 22.90 EUR, download here.

Several "teases" from PMDG

PMDG 747-400X -8i/F Product Model Extension:

• Estimated Release: January 2010. (very firm)

PMDG 737-NGX:

• Estimated Release: Mid 2010. (not firm)

PMDG Bombardier Dash-8

• Estimated Release: Late 2010 (not firm)

PMDG 777:

• Estimated Release: Late 2010/Early 2011(not firm)

X-Plane 9.42 released

X-Plane 9.42 is now available for Windows, Mac and Linux.

• No extra drag for jet engine nacelles, as was always intended.
• Rain, hail damage, birdstrikes, sun glare on scratches on the windshield should now cover all of the monitor, no matter the screen res... let me know if you find a case where this does not happen!
• Control-s in Plane-Maker to save the plane... any time. Kind of convenient.
• Fixed: Mouse won't jump when fly-by-mouse is selected.
• Fixed: Draped lit orthophotos become lit all at once.
• Fixed: Idle speed dataref works on turboprops.
• Fixed: Landing lights start off - better for panels without lan-light switches.
• Fixed: Generic text instrument works with "mechanical" lighting now.
• Fixed: Key frame table works right with generic rotary push button.
• French translation improved.

X-Plane's Austin Meyer wants to build a REAL plane!

X-Plane is doing well, but I want to see if I can push the current state of the art in HARDWARE forward a little bit as well. IF I can come up with a new plane that can benefit the aviation community, then I want to. To do this, I give you the "Laminar Research X-1 Cavallo" ("Cavallo" is Italian for "Horse").

The Objectives:

• 1: Design the plane I want to build by flying models of the above in X-Plane, submitted by multiple learned sources.

• 2: Build it and fly it hither and yon across the country for personal, business, evaluation, and marketing purposes, documenting it and blogging about it like hell.

• 3: Present the plane to the public in as much detail as possible. As I use the plane for everyday travel, document this travel for the world to see, and demonstrate the aircraft performance to as many people as possible, I will decide whether it could profitable to make more of them. Interest from other people will help drive this decision. Full documentation on the plane and unfettered home-built flying of the plane will help drive this.

• 4: Build more of them as a home-built operation. I would establish a small factory at a little-used airport in South Carolina and bring people in to build their planes on-site. Professional staff would build 49% of the plane, the customer the other 51%. All parts, jigs, tools, and staff would be in-house the moment the customer shows up. He would live at the facility and work along an assembly-line to build his plane under guidance... and then fly it home when done.

More details and prototypes here.

A new Google Earth 3D engine for your sim

One of the projects we work on is called GEVision. In the past various attempts had been made to use Google Earth scenery instead of the one included in Microsoft Flight Simulator X. Yet due to limitations in the interface technology this has never been fully achieved. GEVision will enable the use of Google Earth as a full blown 3D scenery engine.

Eventually GEVision will be a server / client solution that can connect to a wide range of applications rendering Google Earth views to multiple monitors. GEVision is already working smoothly with Microsoft Flight Simulator X and we hope to be demonstrate it in all it's glory on the Google IO conference.

More Info here!

Why Fly – New Webzine About Flying

A brand new, on-line, commercial 'web-zine' has been born. Conceived, designed and ultimately produced and launched by some friends and people many of us know (Hal Bryan and Mike Singer, both fromer MSFS gurus)! It is called Why Fly and is all about WHY we/you love FLYING (and aviation).

You can find the website here: http://www.whyfly.aero/

Items marked "Complimentary Content" can be viewed without a subscription, a Monthly subscription costs $7.95 per month.

Sample of a great article: http://www.whyfly.aero/photo-munson-outer-banks/

New Project from listener Liam

We just want to give a quick mention to a program that a listener, Liam is working one. An "in flight entertainment" program for VA owners to offer to their pilots! Here is a sample of what to expect:

If you are interested, contact Liam here.

Recommendations

Eric: 7-Zip: FREE ZIP/RAR/7Zip/ISO Extractor/Creator.

Chris: One Six Right: Great Aviation Film, Free on Hulu. (Sorry Non-US Folks, find more information on how to get this movie from their website.)

E-Mails and Voicemails

A quick way to add monitors

love the show guys. I found this on tiger direct, thought it was worth a look. I did not order one yet but will soon I hope. I'll let you know if it works out well. I'm thinking of using it for a panel display for a home cockpit. Don't think it would be good for the main view, but for gauges I think it may work out.

Any way here is the link ---> http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3921559&CatId=467

Later, Steven

3D Monitors?

Hey guys -- quick question: I had a conversation with a person who recently tried playing half-life on a 3-D monitor. She said it was unbelievable. Has anyone tried this, and if so, does it make a significant difference for FS?

3D TV's were the big story at CES this year, and I wonder if it will be the next big thing in gaming.

Thanks, Dave in Raleigh

Gear Down FS Training Videos

My name is Mike, I go by the alias of NBGZerO. I'm part of the three man group known as GearDownFS that uploaded the FSX pattern video on youtube. We are great fans of your work, and enjoy listening to your episodes, since we are very interested in whats happening in the FS community. We'd like to thank you for your hard work, and wish you good luck for 2010.

For reasons, which are unknown to me, one of us checked your Website and found our video on it. You can guess how we both almost freaked out, since we never thought that one of our videos would be posted on an established FS website. We are in the process of creating a community based platform, dedicated to show interested FS newcomers how to fly "as real as it gets". We strive to create a video series that is straight forward and easy to understand.

Having our video on your website shows us, that we are going the right way, and encourages us to work even harder. Ironically, the third team member and creator of said video is unaware at this point in time - hes on a skiing vacation in Europe.

On behalf of the entire team, I'd like to thank you. Really, thank you very much :)

Regards, Michael

http://www.geardownfs.com

Landing with gear up!

Did you read the news paper story about the pilot that landed his plane but forgot to put down the landing gear. Perhaps Mark or Danton would like to critic that one. Actually I have done that in the SIMS... Thank goodness I'm not a real pilot.

The link is as follows:

http://calgarysun.com/news/canada/2010/01/10/12410996.html

By the way, as always, a good show.

I hope they put X-Plane on the Google Nexis 1.

Alan

Intro Chris Palmer & Aviator 90

Captain Sim – B-52 BUFF Exterior Announced

• Unparalleled visual quality and realism
• Designed according to FSX standards
• DirectX 9/10 compatible

• Highly detailed and accurate Boeing B-52H Model
• 4x high resolution* textures of USAF Livery
• Hundreds of Custom Animations
• Wing Flex
• Wing Vortices
• Exhaust Smoke
• Custom Self-shade
• Custom Views
• Manual
• Repaint Kit (coming soon)
• Growing number of Free Liveries
• Exterior only**

OZx Tuscany Photoreal Updated

OZx is proud to release the expected upgrade to the version 1.1 of Tuscany!

CLS releases FSX version of their 767

• The GMAX models are FS9 native, yet compatible with FSX
• Highly detailed exterior models
• High quality interactive 3D Virtual cockpit
• 2D panel with custom gauges
• Highly detailed liveries
• Easy to read Manual
• Option for showing the wings from the interior view (wingview)
• Pushback truck (can be switched on/off for FSX)
• Air stairs. For passenger models
• Dynamic wing-flex
• Detailed flight deck when seen from the exterior
• Animations abound; Passenger doors, lugage-cargo doors, flaps, rudder, elevators
• Animations abound; undercarriage, engine fans, thrust reversers and spoilers
• High quality sound sets for RR, GE and PW engines
• Rolls Royce, Pratt and Whitney and General Electric engines modelled
• Both 767-200 and 767-300 modeled

XP Jets B777 for X-Plane Preview

FS2Crew’s new Mad Dog needs YOU! FS2Crew’s new “Voice Commander” for the Leonardo Mad Dog has entered beta testing and will be released very soon. However, FS2Crew wants to expand its Mad Dog voice set. We’re looking for men (and especially women) of all nationalities who can record their voice for the program. Please contact FS2Crew if you are interested in assisting with this project.

Flight Replica's Super Cub Released

• One complete pack for $40, includes 18 variants.
• Standard Variants, including Early and Military ($19)
• Classic Bushplanes ($20)
• Extreme Bushplanes ($22)
• Deluxe IFR Amphibious ($9)

(Not So) Odd Addon: DBS Airport GPS for FSX

Eric's $100 Kilauea Volcano Burger

Recommendations

E-Mails and Voicemails

US Air Flight 1549 Recreation

First of all, congratulations on achieving your 50th FS Break program milestone. I have been listening for almost a year and all of your programs have been a joy to listen to (and now watch). Most importantly you have greatly expanded my knowledge of flight simulator developments. I have been a devoted listener of FS Break since your 8th show as every week I download and listen to your Podcasts whether on the road or exercising in the Vicksburg Military Park. Also note that your efforts are pushing me towards many major hardware and software upgrades (FSX and X-Plane) in 2010 as you have conveyed many exciting products that have me drooling! Again congrats and thanks for your good work!
I thought FS Break listeners would be interested in the following You-Tube on the US Air Flight 1549 recreation:

(Alternative Video): 

Certainly this You Tube helps demonstrate the unique capabilities of flight simulators to clearly show such a dramatic event. Of interest in the video is what limited, or perhaps non-existing options to land at alternate airports that were available after the bird strike/fame out. Truly a miracle all survived.
As a side bar, my brother graduated the same year (1973) from the Air Force Academy as Captain Schullenburger. Presently my brother is a captain for Southwest, and as a result, I am a recipient of all of his out-dated charts and maps for use in my flightsimming. (However, that will soon end as it is my understanding that Southwest is migrating to a paper-less navigation chart flight deck.)
One fun thing I do with my flight simulator is to try and run SWA flights the same time on VATSIM while the actual SWA flight is occurring. The use of sites such as Flight Aware allows me to obtain the actual flight plans of SWA plus their actual departure. For example, SWA 1346 originates in KLAX and goes to KMDW, KMHT, KBWI, before ending in KTPA. You will find many times that when you try to keep pace in your flight simulator with the real flight, that you will start to lag behind. No doubt commercial pilots must bust butt to keep their schedules on time and to avoid delays. Anyway I highly recommend the fun exercise of trying to keep up with the real flights in your flight sim as you will find it to be a humbling experience.
In closing, many thanks for your great shows and keep up the great work,

Russ

Wilco’s Third Airline Pack Released

RealAir Beech Duke B60 1.5 Update

• Optimised LOD (Level Of Detail) models.
• Optional medium and low polygon exterior models.
• Optional mip-mapped textures.
• Animated rain-drops on the windscreen glass.
• Improved GPS HSI integration (using Reality-XP or default GPS).
• HSI Auto or Manual DTK.
• Improved ‘Cold and Dark’ function.
• Improved engine starting.
• More realistic generator gauges.

VATSIM Apres Ski Triangle Event

X-Plane comes to the Palm Pre

How far it has come...

This is a review I wrote for flightsim.com in 1997, just over 10 years ago. Take a look at it and make sure to click for the expanded views of the screen shots to see the incredible graphics. Graphics that were so good not everyone could run it.

Eric's $100 Kilauea Volcano Burger

Recommendations

E-Mails and Voicemails

Nice Tutorial on Basic Pattern Work

This is a great very BASIC demo of how to fly a left pattern... using X-Plane. He does a real good job of integrating the video with the standard pattern graphic.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7k3Nvp-OhQY
He also has a pretty good tutorial on using autopilot in X-Plane and several other tutorials.
Nice demos, easy to understand. very well done. I'm going to post these in the forums too.

Nice FS Blog

Now, I know we usually don't do these sort of plugs and stuff. But I checked out the website and I enjoyed it, plus I saw some stuff on there I had never seen before - That is what is important to me, his message:
I just like to let you know about a blog that I write for called Fsim:

http://fsim.posterous.com/

AirSimmer A320 Basic Update

- ADDED: Basic Descent Profile Calculation
- ADDED: Various LIMs and RLIMs for AP

Top FlightSim Pilot Products of 2009

2010 Predictions, 2009 Thoughts

Recommendations

Brendan: JustPlanes DVD.

E-Mails and Voicemails

E-Mail from Chris

Hey guys,
Great podcast this week. Very entertaining.
I've known Cameron for some time just by chance. The stuff he has been getting done with X-Aviation is quite impressive. I'm particularly excited about this CRJ project and I'm glad you guys took the time to get his thoughts on X-plane.
A month or so back, Cameron finally talked me into getting Xplane. Because I am an MSFS, I was very reluctant. But because of the new great stuff coming out for it, I knew that I better get into the mix now and learn a few things.
My first impressions are that there is a lot of powerful potential with X-plane in addition to some things that it flat out does better than MSFS. Naturally, each sim has it's strong points, and it's fair to say that MSFS is much more developed with 3rd party software. I believe we are about to see a wave of X-plane users. Can't wait for what the future brings!
2009 has been a really great year in Flight Simulation. Here's a list of my recommendations:

• A2A Piper Cub (with Accusim)

• Tongass Fjords

• Saitek Pro Flight Headset

• REX for FSX (and it's WX generation)

• F-16 from Aerosoft (this came out in late 2008)

I found myself very anxious to get your podcast this week. It's something I've come to really look forward to every Wednesday. With all the Christmas goings-on, it was a busy day, and I fell asleep while listening to it. I just barely got caught up today.
All the same, I'm excited for next week.
By the way, thanks for the mention and the link to Angle of Attack. You guys didn't have to do that. Thanks!
Keep up the good work.
Chris Palmer

SimReviews Reopening

Hello there i wonder if you could give out a quick mention about the re-opening of http://sim-reviews.co.uk we have been making this new website for most of 2009 and today is it's first day of opening. sim-reviews.co.uk has been around for over four years giving reviews and upto date news on the flightsim market. We would just like to know if you could help push sim-reviews in a pod cast at sometime.
All the best for 2010 Andy Medley

What was that..?

Some FSBreak episodes ago a freeware screenshot software was mentioned, who is capable of take pictures at intervals and publish them somewhere, where people can watch you fly almost in real time.
Can you remember what software is this and where to find it?
Sorry but I can't remember what exactly episode it was mentioned, but it was something between 30~39.
Answer: http://www.vacc-sag.org/?PAGE=sag_tv 

Orbx FSX Go Tweak & Launch Released

Welcome to Tweaker's Heaven! The ULTIMATE FSX Launcher.

Orbx's FSX Go puts your favourite tweaks and saved flights together into a single profile. Setting your tweaks and launching FSX with your saved flight is now done in one simple action.

• The ultimate FSX launcher application
• Add as many or few custom tweaks as you want
• Create your own master list of tweaks
• Launch your saved flights, plus apply tweaks on launch
• Launch using your own custom batch files
• Apply custom FSX splash screens
• Many more features!

Real Environment Xtreme FS2004 Service Pack released

Changes

• Added WASys icon to taskbar when in use (per user feedback)
• Added FSUIPC options to Configuration window to allow user to config custom general FSUIPC settings (per user feedback)
• Fixed cloud handling and missing clouds issue with the REX weather engine
• Fixed the cloud layer issue within the wxtemp.xml file
• Fixed reset of re-load of weather if aircraft passes weather range before auto re-load
• Fixed issue with importing FSBuild flight plans and waypoints not showing
• Fixed water environment reflections
• Fixed Cumulus 32 transparency (per user feedback)
• Fixed Cumulus 53 transparency (per user feedback)
• Fixed Restore function in Configuration window
• Fixed Ocean Water colorization and installation
• Fixed Ocean Water Set 1 (per user feedback)
• Fixed Wave Animation set 05 (per user feedback)
• Revised aircraft reflection file (per user feedback)
• Increased time before auto-loading weather into FS9 when using the REX weather engine
• Adjusted formula for winds aloft

FS(X)Pilot Is Now Freeware

Orbx Releases BOB For FSX For Free

Airshow Pilot Released from JustFlight

RealityXP GPS for X-Plane

Leveraging the latest capabilities offered with X-Plane 9.41, the Reality XP GNS 430/530 WAAS can guide you to fly your aircraft through holding patterns, procedure turns and other position-critical IFR flight procedures, with full autopilot coupling for both lateral and vertical path guidance. The new integration also permits coupling HSI LCDI and VCDI for maximum awareness during any phase of the flight. You can now fly fully coupled LPV approaches with the autopilot and experience the extra capabilities of the GNS WAAS in mission rehearsal scenarios and personal self-paced learning environments

Chicago X From Aerosoft

• Aerial image coverage (see attached Google Earth file)
• More than 2,000 major buildings included
• About 210,000 (!) autogen buildings placed realistically
• "Retro style" version of Meigs Field that was sadly demolished in 2003
• Major airports in and around the city are covered with new high res ground images (no new building structures added)
• Chicago O'Hare (including new runway layout)
• Chicago Midway
• Chicago Executive (formerly known as Palwaukee Mun)
• Schaumburg Regional
• Brookeridge Airpark (where homes are next to the runway)
• 9 heliports as start locations
• Sound effects like downtown- and highway traffic, gulls...
• Traffic on most major roads
• Low price, very good value for money
• Includes a separate Scenery Density tool
• Manual as a .pdf-File (English)

SimFlight3D Announces Spirit Of Texas

VAFlash Provides VA News

I would like to wish everyone out there a very Merry Christmas and a Happy and prosperous New Year! 2009 was a great year and we saw lots of transition at VAFlash.com.  The site was brought back from the brink of extinction partly because of the generosity of the J.A, the founder and former owner of VAFlash. We also have partnered with many new and older VAs alike and continue to give the flightsim community the very latest news in the virtual airline arena.

FS Recorder 2.0 beta released

Finally here is the first beta of FS Recorder 2.

It is now almost exactly a year since I started the complete rewrite of the code for version 2. The code has grown to more than 13000 lines (without comments and blank lines), and I spent lots of hours hacking FS9 and FSX to get the new features working.

FS Recorder 2 is rewritten from scratch. There are some exiting new features and lots of improvements in v2. Besides the new features I improved the FSX version a lot: Playback performance should be much better now, it should now be similar to the FS9 version; camera features (called advanced views in v1) are now also available in the FSX version.

I won't list all the new features here, I don't even remember all the small improvements right now. Just try the new version and read the manual, then you'll discover all of them.

IVAO’s IVAP FS9 Updated

E-Mails

Orbx PNW News from Ted

Not sure this was on Today's show... but, this is from John Venema over at Orbx
http://orbxsystems.com/forums/index.php?topic=17022.msg148377#msg148377
"We don't announce release dates at Orbx. We were hoping for a xmas release but at this stage it's looking more like January sometime, since there's still some work to do with the seasonal colouring, traffic and also the night lighting, which I just don't see getting done in time for Santa's sleigh, sorry."
 

For another show idea, you might also want to tell folks about the EAA Young Eagles program for kids ages 8 to 17.
http://www.youngeagles.org/
My daughter is 10. We'll see if she wants to take an intro flight or not and then see if she wants to join. One of the benefits is, when the youngster is a member of Young Eagles they get FREE access to Sporty's online pilot training course.
http://www.youngeagles.org/sportys_faq.pdf
I know you have several listeners of the podcast who are under 17 years of age and they might benefit from this.

Ted

Engine Failure Procedure

Absolutely love the podcast, listen every Wednesday night, litterally since day one. My names Jordan I'm a PPL from Windsor, Ontario (next to Detroit) and have been a flight simmer for since the 95' days. This message is with regards too Mark's Engine Failure Procedure. I like to shed some light on how it's done here in Canada, and would really appreciate if you posted this on the sight.
So there you are flying along in let's say a 172. Then the engine quits, what now? First thing you do is Trim from your Best-glide-speed; let's say 62kts, then you need to find where the wind is coming from, some ways of doing this would be looking at smoke from a stack at a factory, maybe look at some water if there is any around to get an idea. If all that fails you could listen to a nearby ATIS or contact TWR etc.
Now that you have Trimmed and you know where the wind is coming from, Only now can you truly find a proper "field." In this part of SW Ontario most fields run length ways from West to East, so now you will have somewhat of an idea of which direction you will be landing. Finding a good field (highway etc) involves a few simple things.
Number one, you'd like anything long, level with no powerlines and the less obstacles the better. You also want to take into account the crops/conditions (if your landing in a field). For example, if its fall and your landing you 172 on a field that has been plowed recently your probably going to kill yourself and your airplane because its so rough. If its late summer and Corn has been planted your going to have reduced depth perception because by that time Corn is 6' tall. Soybeans however work great... They provide a soft, usually level surfac to touch down on.
Now, you want to confirm that the engine has actually failed...
Why wait until now, isn't it logical to do this at the beginning instead of waiting?
No! Why? well .....because the time it takes you to figure out if the engine actually failed or if you accidently pulled the Mixture out instead of the Throttle, is time you could have spent at a higher altitude looking for a good surface to touch down on. Remeber, if at this stage you realize you screwed something up all you have to do is restart and go back up right? Makes sense doesn't it. This procedure (of finding out what happened is called a Cause Check), essentially, and memorized checklist of things to look at before you make the next step.
Ok, so here we are. Got 62 KIAS, we are TRIMMED, we know the direction of the WIND, and we also have a FIELD picked out. All the while you turing that key too ATTEMPT A RESTART of our failed engine.
It won't start! Ok, now we need to do a couple things. First I'm going to "Sqwauk" 7700 (emergency code on the transponder) so ATC knows something is wrong and can give the Emergency crews a idea of where you are. Next I'm going to contact someone. Who you contact depends on where you are. You'll get much faster assistance if you contact an ATC facility near you, you don't have to be talking to anyone. So a nearby TWR, UNICOM, or the famous 121.5, which is the universal emergency frequency, which by the way pilots are suppose to be monitoring so that when something like this does happen they can relay it back to FSS or whatever. A transmission would contain the following:

• MAYDAY MADAY MAYDAY (yes says it 3 times)
• C172 Tail Number (3 times)
• ENGINE FAILURE, 3 miles south-east of Essex, Landing in a field two miles East of Highway #3.
• MAYDAY C-GDIO OUT.

You want to tell the ATC facility who you are, where your going, what your intentions are and what the problem is. Remember the better the information, the faster the Emergency services can get to you if things go South.
Now, if you have PAX (passangers) aboard they are going to be soiling there pants, there is no denying to them (nor should you) that there is a problem with the airplane, so you want to complete the PAX BRIEF. Talkt to them like a human being, tell them that everything is fine, the airplane is having problems and you doing to have to put it down in a field in the interest of safety. Before you took off (by fed. regulations) you should have shown them how to use the fire extengishers, locations of exits, how to operate to exits etc, you do this in the pre-flight so that you don't have to do it all now, saves time right? Remember where are getting lower as a write this. The PAX Brief should sound something like this:
"Ladies and Gentlmen (lol in a big Captain voice), where are expereincing as engine failure. We are going to be landing in a field," (point it out) so they have an idea of whats going on. "If you are wearing glasses or have pen's, pencils or anything else sharp in your possesion, please put them in the seat back pocket infront of you. When the airplanes lands we will be exiting and meeting at (so and so spot) where we will wait for emergency crews." Now you get the idea right? Just talk to them.
I'm not going to get into specific Aircraft types, becuase every plane is differnet, esepically when you get into multi's. At my flight school we never had a "checlist" for engine failures. It was memorzied and that way we could keep our heads out the window and not looking a a piece of paper.
Next security, after flying over or around your field you set yourself up for an approach, set your final flaps (when landing assured). A few hundred feet before landing you want to SECURE the airplane. This involves turning everything off, from pulling the mixture too turing the battery off. Try to insure that there is no power going through the airplane when you touch down, it will make things better for ya if you acutally crash. Insure everyone has there seatbelts on, and in some models of airplanes you actually open the doors before landing so that if you do smoke the ground the doors don't jam and you can get out incase there was a fire or something. And thats pretty much it.
SUMMARY:

• BEST GLIDE SPEED
• WIND
• FIELD
• CAUSE CHECK
• ATTEMPT RESTART
• PAX BRIEF
• MAYDAY CALL
• SECURITY

FINAL WORDS: I was assuming VFR in a 172 at lets say 3500' over a non-populated area. This is a general way of following through with a "forced landing." All of these things can change depending on WX, Terrain, Aircraft Types etc etc. This may seem like a lot of information and procedures, but in the hands of a good pilot it should happen very fast, this way you can keep your eyes out the windows looking for traffic and assessing the field you may want to land in. A last tip would too anyways, no matter where you are, to have your eyes out the window looking for a field, even if the engine is working fine. Failures will NEVER EVER happen when its convient for you. Hope someone finds this interesting. Thanks........
Jordan Collins

say...I always wondered, with Mark's high level of knowledge, what ratings does he have? Commerical, ATPL? Thanks.....hey if you ever need a fill in on the show, let me know. Take Care.

FSBreak Changed Me... From Tim

Hi Everyone!
I've been a listener to the show for about a month now, and love it! I don't even mind those long 3-hour episodes because of my long commute. I'm nearly caught up with all the shows. Yes, I really did listen to them all in only about a month...!
FSBreak has really changed the way I do my simming. Here is a list of things that I now do differently compared to prior to the time I was a listener:

• I now use more than one flight sim. Before I only used FSX. Now I have reinstalled FS9 and purchased X-Plane.
• I have doubled my frame rates in FSX (average is now about 40) but I keep it locked at 30 to avoid studdering.
• I have switched from primarilly being a commercial pilot in the sim to GA.
• I once again am active on VATSIM (after a 3-year drought).
• I have purchased numerous add-ons for the sim based on the recommendations of the show hosts.

I want to thank you for producing the show, which I look forward to listening to when I am stuck in my car!

- Tim

Cameron Son, X-Aviation.com Interview about X-Plane addons and the upcoming CRJ-200

Year End Recommendations

Eric's Recommendations

Mark's Recommendations

Brendan's Recommendations

Voicemail from Chris Palmer

Listen Here:

Download Here

More information on Cascade Game Foundry

Full Article: http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=25919

Co-founder and managing director Kathie Flood spent about 15 years with Microsoft in various roles, mostly concentrated on Aces and sports titles like Project Gotham Racing 3 and 4; she's joined by co-founder and creative director Rick Selby, who spent half his 10 Microsoft years with Aces, primarily working on Train Simulator, product design and business development.

The team is comprised currently of 15 individuals: "We're a bunch of people very passionate about working on sims that can take us to the next generation," says Flood. "We loved doing that inside Microsoft, and we decided we wanted to keep doing it. It turns out there are a lot of opportunities to do things different, better... as much as we loved doing it inside Microsoft, we're having quite a lot of fun."

Resetting The Genre

Selby sees an opportunity to "step back and do a reset of what sims could be about." The genre has traditionally focused on the same elements; vehicles, for example. "We thought there's a lot more you could really do with this," says Selby.

The hardcore simulation audience is "a very loyal, viable entity for us to pursue," he says. "But I think there are some things we can build into the sim titles to give them more of a broad appeal."

For example, Flight Simulator pleased its hardcore fanbase with its detailed renditions of the nuances and details of flying. "That's all still valid," says Selby. "But what's missing is... if you start thinking about what you could do around those single-player experiences that do simulate some aspect of a life or a location, suddenly you start to see a lot more opportunities."

Flood says that traditional sims have been somewhat "intimidating" to those outside of the genre's fans, and Selby says that simplicity is definitely now a design goal for the team.

"We want stuff to be simple enough that my mom can use it," he says -- and yet it's important to offer the opportunity for a player to grow into the high level of detail traditional sim fans have always desired. "We still want to give the ability to grow into that level of caring, but not eclipse any gameplay opportunities that may exist downstream from there... those complexities can't be a barrier to [other players] enjoying the experience."

Reaching Broader Audiences

Flood envisions "sliders on reality," simulation experiences where players can customize the granularity of realism to a level that's comfortable and interesting to them. "You could turn off or tone down certain elements so that somebody who is less knowledgeable can still enjoy the fantasy of the experience."

And the idea of allowing players to control the complexity of their experience -- having further details open to them as they acclimate into the simulation -- necessarily lends itself to learning experiences, something Selby is excited about.

Another area of focus for the Cascade team is offering high-quality toolsets alongside their projects. Flood notes that traditional simulation fans have enjoyed modifying and working with toolsets to customize their experiences even when those tools aren't very good.

"Certainly, the tools that we will need to build the games ourselves... can be a much more accessible toolset, and extend the audience of people who can participate."

Closing The Gap

The challenge ahead of the Cascade team, then, is making experiences that are compelling and yet approachable -- and therefore bridge a gap Flood sees in the addressable audience.

"There's such a big gap in the game market right now between, say, the big blockbuster first-person shooters and the casual online games. We feel like sims, if done correctly, the design would be multigenerational," she explains, pointing to the broad audience that enjoys television programming on Discovery Channel and National Geographic.

"We want to tap into some of that same magic... a lot of the topics we're thinking of here have a lot of that broad appeal," she says.

Bringing The Past To The Present

To accomplish their goals, the team hopes to combine the best elements of their experience within a large corporation like Microsoft with the agility and creativity of an independent studio.

"There's something very motivating and freeing at the same time you suddenly realize you own your destiny, and you have the ability to make the decisions you need to make," says Selby. "Sometimes that's harder to do inside of a large organization."

"I spent my entire adult life at Microsoft," reflects Flood. "We loved our jobs there, so this has been very fun -- it almost feels like graduating from school."

Flood and Selby aren't ready to discuss what that next project is, but say to expect some announcements soon. In the meanwhile, they feel strongly about their team vision and that Cascade is bringing with it the important lessons from Microsoft combined with new ideas about what the simulation genre can be and who it can reach.

 

Carenado PA32R 301 Saratoga SP For FSX

• The usual features you would expect from any Carenado aircraft, but this one sports original Collins radios, Audio/Marker and ADF and also the original Altimatic IIIC (Century III) autopilot installed.

Full list of features here: http://www.carenado.com/ecommerce/buscador.php3?id_producto=78

MyTrafficX Pro5.2B Update Released

MyTraffic X Version 5.2b Professional is a giant step forward compared to previous versions and a huge leap towards fully using FSX multitude of new possibilities. All included airports and schedules are in the FSX-format. The majority of the included aircraft types is already in the new, highly optimized FSX Service Pack 2 format, pairing top optical quality with ultimate performance.

It is available as a lower cost incremental upgrade for owners of MyTrafficX, or as a full retail version.

The update is intended for previous customers of the 5.1B, 5.2 or 5.2A boxed versions.

http://secure.simmarket.com/mytraffic-x-incremental-update-from-5.1b-5.2-or-5.2a-to-5.2b-pro.phtml

MyTrafficX Lite Released

MyTraffic X is known to be leading AI traffic solution for FSX. What started in 2002 with about 100 repaints of the stock Microsoft AI aircraft and a few licensed models, grew to a giant product with 177 models, 4900 paints, 1600 simulated civil airlines, 2000 modified airports and bunches of tools for all user needs in MyTraffic X 5.2b Professional - with all the options and complexity of such a powerfull tool.

Not all users need this, many users just want it to be simple. Replace the stock airliner traffic on the aiports of their region from the fantasy airlines Microsoft installs to realistic airlines - to watch United and Frontier at Denver, Iberia in Madrid and Lufthansa in Frankfurt. Nothing to worry about, no tools but the traffic density slider that Microsoft supplies, simple install, little framerate hit.

MyTraffic X Lite is the answer to these needs. It contains a selection of 68 airliner or commuter models, 680 paints of 263 airlines. This selction has been chosen to show approximately 90% of all airliners that fly over Europe and North America, and approximately 80% of all commuters in these areas. In addition, some stock GA planes are used to populate the skies.

Since the vast majority of the users fly in these regions, the rest of the world only sees long range traffic from these countries, but no regional traffic - that is the main secret how thousands of paints could be ommitted.

Due to these limitations, it was possible to largely simplify the installation MyTraffic X Lite. Just install it and it will work, and you even can uninstall it without any thoughts once you want to go professional and update to MyTraffic Professional. Users who purchased MyTraffic Lite will get a huge rebate for MyTraffic X professional.

MyTrafficLite includes 68 aircraft models, where as MTX Pro includes 176.

http://secure.simmarket.com/b.-renk-mytraffic-x-lite.phtml

Four News Items from Aerosoft

Aerosoft Opens USA Office in Dedham, MA

Aerosoft has now opened a subsidiary in the US! Effective immediately, the office will process all American orders, which means faster and lower-cost shipping for our customers. It will also drive new sales efforts and open up new retail channels for our products. This is not only a gain for our loyal direct customers, but also a step to ensure a good and even more intensive relationship with our US and Canadian dealers and stores. Wolfgang Burchhardt will be heading the office. His background is in the gaming industry, having previously being head of development at the famous model train company Märklin. He will carry our FlightSim, TrainSim and other PC simulation product variety.

US Shipping from $6.99.

Ibiza X released (for FSX and FS2004)

This package features the complete islands of Ibiza and Formentera with photorealistic ground textures in a sensational resolution of 0.5m/pixel (FSX).

The scenery features exact coastlines, mesh and a completely new designed airport (LEIB). This add-on also includes AESLite, bringing dynamic apron traffic as well as traffic to the surroundings of the airport. In addition it also features marine traffic such as dynamic ship traffic and ferry services between Ibiza and Formentera. Static Yachts and boats can be found in the bays and beaches of Formentera.

A detailed AFCAD for AI traffic makes it a lively and highly realistic airport to fly to. This scenery is of course compatible with AES 2.04 in both FS2004 and FSX!

Link: http://www.aerosoft.com/cgi-local/us/iboshop.cgi?showd,,D11162

Lelystad X (FSX only)

Lelystad Airport is located at -12 feet in the heart of one of the main polders of The Netherlands. It is where most Dutch civilian flying schools are located and its a brilliant airport for training. This scenery has been done with great attention to detail according to the most up to date ideas on making scenery for FSX. It is very good looking but it is also extremely framerate friendly.

The Aviodrome, the aviation theme park and biggest aviation museum in the Netherlands is housed on the airport and has a large collection of aircraft, many of which are in flying condition. These are on display outside and you will be able to use the stands of the museum to park your aircraft. If you fly our Catalina for example you can exactly recreate an everyday event at Lelystad! It's the perfect airport to train your traffic circuits!

http://www.aerosoft.com/cgi-local/us/iboshop.cgi?showd,,D11164

Luxembourg Airports (FSX only)

This package includes the detailed airports of Luxembourg and the complete country with all relevant landmarks and sightseeing objects. It has detailed mesh and aerial imagery covering the terrain. All buildings on and around the airport of ELLX are photorealistic.

Through the support of the Cargolux simulation department, all ground marks and relevant signs were adopted to reflect reality. The status resembles the date of the inauguration of Terminal A, as of August 2008.

http://www.aerosoft.com/cgi-local/us/iboshop.cgi?showd,,D10989

FlightSimDaily (FlightSimX.co.uk) Merges News Into The Flight Simulator Network

I’ve been running the blog here at Flight Sim Daily (previously FlightSimX) for around 4 years now. During that time, I’ve added some 3,000 posts and our readership has continued to grow.

In recent times, however, I’ve found I wanted something a little more involved than simply posting news, which is why I created the Flight Simulator Network. The Network has seen tremendous growth over the past few months and it’s very rewarding to be a part of that site. The interaction that takes place between users on the site is fantastic, whereas the number of comments here on the blog has always been pretty low. It’s become a little like working in a vacuum here on Flight Sim Daily. A lot of work goes into it from me, but very little comes back.

http://www.flightsimulatornetwork.com/group/flightsimulatornews

Article: Why I Get 50FPS and you don't

From Mathijs Kok on the Aerosoft Forums:

In the last few weeks there has been one question that I heard most of all as I was attending the Aerosoft stand at three flightsim events. "What is the hardware this is running on?" I understand the question as I always leave the framerate indication on screen and almost never show anything below 40 fps in FSX. I was asked a few times if I could discuss this a bit more...

View the PDF Here: http://www.forum.aerosoft.com/index.php?app=core&module=attach&section=attach&attach_id=9064

A REALLY great read!

X-Plane 9.41 released

A few fixes and enhancements, update using the X-Plane updater. Full list of fixes:

• Keyboard preferences labeled in the menus.
• Multiplayer dataref fixed.
• Orthophoto scenery night lighting comes on all at once, to avoid a checkerboard effect.
• Mouse jumps to the current yoke deflection in mouse-flight mode. This will avoid sudden control deflections when flying with the mouse.
• CUSTOM_LIGHT bugs fixed in OBJ files.
• The current livery is now available in a dataref. Improved memory use with OBJs. Rosetta can be overridden via command-line. Default livery can now be picked again after a custom livery is selected. Cmd line --no_autovary option can be used to turn off dithering of urban textures. Multiplayer should not cause any problems with the FMS.
• A number of changes to make the IOS with 20 students work a bit smoother... being used at a school in Georgia to teach 20 students at once! A lot of fun, and good training.
• Should not crash on quit while text-to-speech is playing, as it could before.
• Electrical system should work fine even for planes created on the ancient old PPC macs from many years ago.
• Marker-mute command now only mutes the marker audio, and does not dim the lights as well.
• Airfoil-Maker defaults to a 10-degree linear region for the lift line, which is a much better default.
• EFIS-App should have all navaids now... more accurate for those avidynes... EFIS-App to be published soon. A few changes in the Eclipse jet avionics for FAA-certification in EFIS-App as well.
• Support for "generic" lights on airplanes (sample plane coming soon)
• More accurate amp calculation for panel lighting
• AP self test datarefs added
• Electrical System for 930 planes loads with correct generator setup
• Lighting fixed on glass artificial horizon
• "Null texture, how?" Bug fixed on NVidia/Windows Hardware.

HD Environment 2010 for FS9

HD Environment 2010 greatly enhances the overall visual appearance of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004 by replacing the default environmental, autogen, airport and runway textures with ultra-sharp, ultra-realistic HD quality textures that drastically improve visual realism with no adverse frame-rate effects whatsoever. HD Environment 2010 uses high definition textures and virtually lossless image compression to deliver an unprecedented balance of quality and performance that is sure to please any flight simmer!

Price: $14.95

More Info: http://www.hdenvironment2010.com/

Holiday Discounts and Specials for FS addons

• 10% Off All Eaglesoft Products until December 31st: http://www.eaglesoftdg.com/coupons.htm
• 30% Off Most Carenado Products until December 19th: http://www.carenado.com/ecommerce/buscador.php3?categoria=19

Captain Sim 767-300, 200, and 767F Review

767-300 Basic Features:

• Unparalleled visual quality and realism
• Designed according to FSX standards
• DirectX 9/10 compatible

Systems:

• Extensive Systems Programming
• Flight Management System (FMS)
• 2 high resolution full-screen 2D Panels
• 40+ additional 2D Panels
• New! Integrated CS Weather Radar (€9.99 value)

Exterior:

• Five highly detailed and accurate Boeing 767-300ER Models (including GE, PW and RR variants)
• High resolution textures of 14 Liveries
• Hundreds of Custom Animations
• Animation Control Panel
• Stewardess model (various airline uniforms)
• Wing Flex
• Wing Vortices
• Winglets
• Custom Self-shade
• Custom Views

Interior:

• Highly detailed VC including:
  • Flight Deck
  • Complete Passenger Cabin
  • Galley and lavatories
• Custom Self-shade
• Hundreds of custom 3D Animations
• High resolution Textures
• Custom Views
• Custom Lighting

Misc Features:

• Realistic Flight Model
• ACE - Aircraft Configuration Editor
• Authentic Sound Set
• Exclusive visual Effects
• Crew voice messages
• Extensive Manuals in 5 parts (hundreds of pages in total)

Price for 767-300 Base: 40 Euro ~$60 US

767-200 Addon Pack Basic Pack Price: 10 Euro ~$15 US

767F Basic Pack

• Includes interactive Cargo Loader

Price: 10 Euro ~$15 US

Captain Sim also offers the KC-767 refueling aircraft, and E-767 Airborne Warning and Control System aircraft. Each available separately for 10 Euro.

E-Mail

Handy iPhone Application from Rick

Hey guys, I just got an iphone and was shopping for aviation apps, and came across an interesting and handy app for the IFR pilot. It is called fltplan.com. and it tis free.

If you have an iphone or a capable internet phone you can access approach plates and sids/stars. Only works for USA airports!.

when you select an airport, all the available approach plates can be brought up on the phone's screen, and depending on the phone, can be zoomed in with great detail. It is like having you own mini EFB (electronic flight bag) for the entire US. All plates are current and updated on a regular basis.

Thanks for your time and keep up the great work!

Rick

Recommendations

Danton: X-Plane Application for iPhone/iPod Touch

Brendan: http://www.space-shuttle-mission.com

Eric: Airline Manager Facebook Application

Listen Here:

Download Here

Real Environment Extreme for FS2004 Released

Complete with the same great flight planning and weather tools that come with the FSX version. It also includes great HD 3D clouds, and more.

More screenshots and details here.

It is slightly cheaper than the FSX version, at around $35 US..

AirSimmer A320 Basic Edition Released

More details here.

QualityWings Ultimate 757 Collection Released

The Ultimate 757 Collection is the most extensive 757 Package ever created for Microsoft Flight Simulator. There is truly something for everyone. Every 757 ever to come off the line from Boeing has been reproduced for your enjoyment. And with Mid-Level systems programming, we've simplified the simming experience while providing you the look and feel that makes the Boeing 757 such a special airplane to fly.

Abacus Flight Deck 6 Released

Flight Deck, one of the world's best sellers has been TOTALLY revised and is now Flight Deck 6. Carrier-based flight is the ULTIMATE challenge in aviation! Climb into the cockpit of these super-detailed, high performance aircraft and put your piloting skills to the test. Flight Deck 6 also works with Flight Simulator 2004. We're taking you back to the basics... New to the Flight Deck series is a brush with Naval training. Not only will you experience the rush of landing on a moving carrier, but you'll get to go through the paces as a Naval cadet learning to fly combat maneuvers in the propeller trainer the T-34C Turbo Mentor. After passing with the T-34C, you will graduate to the T-45 Goshawk jet trainer where you will focus on your landing and more intense maneuvers. Landing on a heaving deck can be a white-knuckle terrifying experience for even the most seasoned Navy pilots. There's a good reason that the flight crew refers to a landing aircraft as a "recovery."

• FSX Version also includes missions and training.
• Price: $30 US

For full details, click here.

Orbx Releases Caloundra Airport for FSX

Features

• Airport in 15cm/60cm per pixel
• Made using hundreds of photos taken onsite
• Major township buildings are modeled
• Full GA AI traffic included

Video:

For full features click here!

Eaglesoft 10% Holiday Discount

Eaglesoft Christmas 2009 Discount Coupon may be used with ANY FS9 or FSX Aircraft Purchase! Eaglesoft Christmas 2009 Discount Coupon is now available.

Expires December 31st.

http://www.eaglesoftdg.com/coupons.htm

Microsoft Licenses ESP IP to Lockheed Martin

Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) and Microsoft Corp. entered into an intellectual property (IP) licensing agreement that allows Lockheed Martin to further develop the Microsoft ESP PC-based visual simulation software platform to better train warfighters for battle.

The agreement provides Lockheed Martin with access to the ESP technology portfolio enabling the company to build cost-effective simulation solutions for customized training for its worldwide customers. Lockheed Martin’s software development teams will extend the current capabilities of ESP to enable a whole new suite of innovative ESP-based solutions that will evolve beyond flight training to include ground and civil agency applications.

The Microsoft ESP IP licensing agreement builds on the existing Microsoft/Lockheed Martin Strategic Alliance to bring meaningful information technology services and products to market and continue to fuel innovation. It is also an example of Microsoft’s broader efforts to collaborate with industry through IP licensing. Microsoft ESP is a visual simulation software development platform that brings immersive games-based technology to training and decision support for commercial, government and education organizations.

X-Plane Release: Grumman G21-A Goose

The Grumman G21-A Goose is a commercial amphibian plane designed in the late 30s. The Goose was very successful and many are still flying today.New: pop-up control panels

• Switch & animation panels
• Both panels can be accessed in any view: 2D, 3D and outside view.
• Use of normal maps for superb texturing (new in X-Plane 9.40)
• Full 3D model. Interior and exterior. Virtual cockpit. (2D cockpit available)
• Fully animated: inside out outside doors, windows, engine hoods, etc .
• Use of plugin to model many systems after the real G21 Goose.

Pictures Here.

More Details.

X-Plane Release: MBB/Kawasaki BK-117

The MBB/Kawasaki BK117 is a medium twin engine utility and transport helicopter.

This X-Plane 9.40+ model is one of the most detailed aircraft you will ever find.

• Super detailed fully functional 3D cockpit
• Custom systems, including autopilot, trim, SAS, engine control, GPS and more...
• Realistic startup and shutdown
• Unique dynamic cockpit lighting
• Detailed interior and exterior
• High resolution textures with normal and specular maps
• Advanced animation of all moving parts, including rotor heads
• Realistic flight model characteristics and performance
• Flight tested by a real BK 117 crew member
• In-depth documentation

More Details.

Video: 

Amazing X-Plane CRJ-200

$100 Hamburger: Air Emergency

Download everything here!

Recommendations

Eric: KatMouse - Mouse Enhancement

http://ehiti.de/katmouse/

Request: FSX Google Earth tracker. I've tried FSX get, and have heard of FSEarth.

Mark: X-Plane P28 181

Brendan: World of AI

Listen Here:

Download Here

A2A Simulations

Join us as we talk to Scott and Cody with A2A Simulations about their history and future, and their Piper J3 Cub with AccuSim, and past and future products from them.

Recommendations

Eric: Plan-G - Free IFR and VFR Flight Planner for FS9 or FSX

http://www.tasoftware.co.uk

• Google Maps interface for rich topographical and satellite detail
• Shows airspace, airports and navaids on the map (from Flight Sim data)
• Configurable levels of detail (objects displayed) for each zoom setting
• Fully editable plans can be saved in FSX or FS9 format
• Existing FS plans can be loaded
• Reverse flight plan
• Print map and PLOG
• Customisable database of user waypoints, VRPs, airstrips etc (UK CAA VRPs, plus some OZx airstrips already defined)
• Connects to FSX via SimConnect
• Aircraft telemetry, breadcrumb trail, traffic, weather etc available when connected to FSX
• Saved flight trails can be displayed for later analysis
• Range Rings can be configured to show distance or flight time

Mark: FourFlights

Four flights is a web site that publishes 4 flights a day to find 4 different degrees of weather happening in real world locations.

Danton: Ground Environment X Europe

Ground Environment X Europe represents our new approach in texture design, incorporating high level detail graphics in the default Flight Simulator X 1-meter texture resolution format. This delivers a hi-fidelity image without using excessive disk space or processor power. Our design allows a simulation pilot to enjoy clearly defined visuals from nearly ground level up to higher altitudes.

Brendan: ZurichX airport scenery for FSX and FS9

Zürich Airport is a scenery developed for Microsoft Flight Simulator X (FSX) and Flight Simulator 2004 ( FS9 ). It's has been created with great attention to visual quality and performance, using the latest available programming techniques, both in FSX and FS9.

The product is sold as 2 Products in One. This means, by buying one version, you will automatically get the other for free, since activation and serial codes are shared between FSX and FS9.

Voicemail

X-Plane and 8 Cores from Ben

E-Mails

E-Mail from Gerry

My name is Gerry First I want to congratulate you and your team. FSBreak has grown to be a fantastic podcast of the highest quaity. You should be very proud. I have listened to every broadcast and look forward each week to the next one. I've been a flight sim fan since the very beginning and spend a lot of my flying time on Vatsim. It's hard to believe when I look back and think how excited I got flying in a wireframe environment. FS has on gotten better and better since then and I look forward to what the next generation will bring.

This is for Danton, but Eric should also go this route. As one who uses Matrox Triple Head-2-Go, I could never see myself going back to a single monitor. I don't care how large the monitor is, you still only have a narrow field of view. The additioal monitors give you an expanded view that you will not believe. And yes, you can still use your track IR. Go to Matrox web site and look at the examples they provide. Since you are building a fantastic system, you should take another look at this type of setup. You won't be sorry.

Keep up the great work. Many thanks again,

Gerry

New Bush Pilot VA

I was wondering if you guys could give my new VA a plug, I have Bill Womack as a pilot, and John from FTX, has given us his endorsement! I know you probably don't do this type of thing, but what we have is something unique!

We are the Only VA designed for A2A's J3 Piper Cub! With Hubs and FBOs located in TongassX, FTX Australia, PNG, Plum Island and the Pacific Northwest!

Our Forums are only open to pilots, but I have a few things to look at! Stop by! And give Us a Look & Shout! http://www.backcountryservicesva.com

Thank you for your time and consideration!

Blue Skies! Xflyboy Ed Cleveland

Listen Here:

Download Here

MyCockpit.org

We talk with Matt and Vybhav from the website MyCockpit.org, here are some links you might find useful!

• MyCockpit.org
• A340 Project
• XUIPC

$100 Hamburger: North Carolina Nights

Click here to download!

Click here to share your results in the FSBreak forum!

Recommendations

Danton: FTX AU 3 Disk Set

Eric: BananaBob's Kodiak PhotorealKodiak Textures Super Pack!

E-Mail

Correction from Ben

Hi Eric,

Hrm...looking at those Tom's Hardware numbers for MSFS, I can only speculate that:

- Core configuration isn't that important for MSFS because MSFS isn't bound by pixel fill rate.

Remember, core config is telling you that many hands make light work when it comes to filling in pixels on screen. But what if there are no more pixels to fill? Many hands then make many idle workers.

Looking at the Tom's hw numbers, MSFS doesn't go much past 30 fps even when bigger and bigger video cards are thrown in. Other games do see an increase.

This implies that MSFS is bound up on CPU speed or some other separate system bottleneck.

The implication of a CPU bottleneck is that a nicer video card simply won't help you much _at all_, and that money should be spent on better single core CPU performance.

This is, of course, all speculation..I have no idea what goes on inside MSFS. I can tell you for X-Plane that whether we are bound on pixel fill rate (in which case core config of the GPU matters _a lot_) or CPU (in which case throughput of a single CPU core matters) has everything to do with how the user uses the sim. Some features hit one, some hit the other.

cheers ben

 

Listen Here:

Download Here

We talk with John, Holger, and Bill about FTX and the Pacific Northwest

The A2A Simulations Piper Cub and Orbx's FTX NA Blue make the ultimate companions!

Listen to the first part of the show for an entire interview with John Venema and Holger Sandmann of Orbx Simulation Systems, creators of FTX AU and the much awaited Pacific Northwest (PNW) scenery. We also talk with Bill Womack about the Pacific Northwest region too!

If you're following this project at all, you're not going to want to miss this episode. Listen to this week's show for several surprises!

Also, Eric wanted to share just a few of his screen shots from the PNW region using FTX NA Blue, check our gallery here. Of course a huge thanks to Orbx for letting us bring this content for you.

"Around The World" Repaint Contest Winners

Over the past few weeks Aerosoft was nice enough to lend us their user base and offer a free download to anyone who did a repaint of the Carenado Mooney M-20J for the upcoming "Around The World" flight. (Check out our PBY Catalina or Discus Glider X Reviews if you need some ideas for your free download!). The grand winner got an additional two downloads (Three Total) and three runner ups got one additional download (Two total). And here are the results!!

• First Place (3 Downloads) - Kurocl
• Eric's Pick (2 Downloads) - RedEye
• Brendan's Pick (2 Downloads) - FourtyFreak
• Mark's Pick (2 Downloads) - Guenseli

All winners should be contacted shortly.

Here is the original thread!

And here are all of the entries, good work everyone!

First Place:

RedEye (Runner Up):

FourtyFreak (Runner Up):

Guenter (Runner Up):

Other Entries:

Want More AU Burger Flying?

Well, we are extending the usual $100 Hamburger updates since it took longer than usual to get the last one up. But Steve has also published a second flight which you can download here to hold you over!

Thanks Steve!

Recommendations

Danton: FSXMark07 & Fraps 2.9.

Set Up of FSBreaks's FSXMark07 Challenge!

Download: Fraps 2.9
Download: FSXMark07

1) Download and install FRAPS 2.9.

2) Configure FRAPS FPS options as follows:

A) Disable Overlay Display Hotkey

B) Set Benchmarking Hotkey to P

C) Leave "Only Update Once a Second" off

D) Set benchmark to automatically stop after 300 seconds

E) Check box to save "MinMaxAvg" statistics

3) Download FSXMark07.zip and unzip the contents into your "Documents/Flight Simulator X Files" folder

4) Under Settings in FSX, customize the Graphics settings to:

A) Target Frame Rate: Unlimited (far right)

B) Full Screen Resolution: to 1280 x (800 or 768 or 720, depending on your screen proportions) x 32

C) Advanced Animations: ON

D) Light Bloom: OFF

E) Preview DirectX 10: OFF

F) Lens Flare: ON

G) Global texture resolution: High

I) Anti-Aliasing: ON

J) Filtering: Anisotropic

5) Click OK and at main Settings window, set Aircraft, Scenery, Weather, and Traffic all to Medium High

6) Load FSX and select Free Flight

7) Click "Load", select FSXMark07 in the saved flights, and click "Fly Now"

8) When the game is ready, it will be paused. Hit "P" which will unpause the autopilot flight and start the benchmarking at the same time. Let the autopilot fly the plane!

9) After 5 minutes, the yellow FRAPS frame counter will reappear to show benchmarking is complete

10) Right click the FRAPS icon in your system tray to see your benchmarks

11) Post a screenshot of the results!

Brendan: http://www.protu-154.com/index_e.html Project Tupolev Tu-154M

Eric: Two Picks

First: FSX.cfg modification to make autogen easier to handle (Credit: John from Orbx):

This simple tweak will limit the number of autogen trees being displayed whilst still allowing you to have a high autogen slider setting.

Add the following two lines to your [TERRAIN] section in your fsx.cfg file:

 [TERRAIN]  TERRAIN_MAX_AUTOGEN_TREES_PER_CELL=1000  TERRAIN_MAX_AUTOGEN_BUILDINGS_PER_CELL=1000

E-Mails & Voice Mails

Voice Mail about "Yugo" GPU's from Ben Supnik

Thanks for the voice mail - Check out that page here!

Microsoft ESP

Are you aware the Microsoft is selling an advanced flightsimulator called Microsoft ESP? See: http://www.microsoft.com/esp/default.htm

There is also an article about it in the Jan/Feb 2009 issue of "Airliners." I will scan and forward you this article for your review.

Perhaps this is something that FS Break listeners may be interested in?

All the best and keep up the great work!

Russ Tillman

Thanks for the tip Russ - We did know about ESP, however ESP was also canned with ACES. From their website:

Microsoft has ceased further development of Microsoft® ESP™, but ESP remains available to customers and partners.  Microsoft is currently exploring 3rd party licensing options for the future of ESP and will announce details at the appropriate time.

Listen Here:

Download Here

So while trying out the Pacific Northwest scenery, all of the hosts forgot that we had a show to do this week... ;) 

Well, only kidding a little bit... This episode is a combination of two of the best moments we have had on the show so far. If you had asked me almost 1 year ago that we would have a weekly show to this date after the shut down of ACES I would have laughed and predicted we would have gone no more than a month. But so much has come out of it, and it has only made the space more interesting and more competitive. Especially when you look at sims like X-Plane, Aerosoft's new "AFS2012", and the recent "Cascase Game Foundry". But for the time being, we have developers truly pushing the boundaries of the MSFS engine, with upcoming scenery from Orbx, and addons once thought impossible like A2A Simulation's Piper Cub... I realize now this isn't the end, this is just the beginning!

Listen Here:

Download Here

FSBreak Announces World Exclusive on Orbx's new FTX Pacific Northwest Scenery

That's right, as Danton alluded to on the forum. We're happy to announce that the folks over at Orbx Simulations has graciously allowed us to have access to exclusive media copies of their newest FTX Pacific Northwest Blue scenery. We will be previewing it over the coming weeks! But for the time being, enjoy these screen shots and video from their product page:

Win a free copy of FTX PNW once it is released...

That's right! You have the change of winning One of Two free copies of FTX's PNW Scenery on DVD once it is released! Just visit our forum, in and in the FSBreak forum tell us in 25 words or less...

"I love flying in the Pacific Northwest because..."

And that is it! Whoever comes up with the best and most creative reason will be picked to win a copy!

A2A Simulation's Piper J-3 Cub with Accusim Review

Listen to this week's episode for a full review, including an in cockpit recording!

Check back shortly for the entire written review!

Videos:

Want to learn more about the Piper Cub? Check out the website here.

Danton & Steve's $100 AUD Hamburger

Sorry for the delay everyone, you can find the PDF download for the $100 Hamburger Flight HERE.

Steve was even nice enough to put together an audio clip explaining the flight, you can listen below, or download here.

Be sure to share your shots in the forum, here are some of Stevo's shots from X-Plane!

Mission Design Contest Winners

A HUGE thanks to everyone who entered our mission design contest! Everyone did a great job and we got a lot of creative ideas. Unfortunately we had to pick only two winners, and they are...

Faris Hassan, and his Tuscan Night mission for First place. And Kev Middleton and his Twister Mission for a close second. Great job everyone! First place gets to choose two items from the Aerosoft online store, and second place gets to choose one item from the Aerosoft online store. We're also submitting both mission ideas to Thorsten Reichert, who has created plenty of mission packs such as African Airstrip Adventures, for FSX for consideration for actually programming the missions.

We decided to share all of the entries we have received because many are great ideas for flights as they are, and would make great starting points for some $100 Hamburger Flights! You can view them all here, they are all in PDF format for easy printing:

First Place: Tuscan Night from Faris Hassan
Second Place: Twister Mission from Kev Middleton   

Mission 90210 From Dave
AU Air Taxi Service from Steve
Berlin Airlift from John
Canada Olympics from Maxwell Gaudet
Cascade Mountain Adventures from Luke
Corporate Pilot Mission from Bman
D.B. Cooper Flight from John
EAA Airventure Arrival from John
The Flying Anglers from Bman
Hayward Air Rally from Tory Schulz
Labor Day Flight from John
"The Living Airport" from Bert Daanje
Mountain Air Hamburger Fly-In from Tory Schulz
Wildfire Adventure from Tory Schilz
"How do I get myself into these things" from Naveen
The X-Game Pilot from Bman

Thank you to everyone who entered!

Recommendations

Mark: Snow Dog Tours
FSX Scenery--Snow Dog Tours v2.0. Includes 147 airports and seaplane bases in Alaska (AK). Includes Glacier Bay National Park.

Eric: Gazelle.com - Sell, Donate, or Recycle old electronics without having to deal with the hassle of listing them on an auction website.

Brenden: VATSIM Chart Finter

Listen Here:

Download Here

On Location at Avsim Social 2009 in Chicago, IL

 It was a blast meeting up with everyone who showed at the Avsim.com Social event in Chicago this weekend. This episode was recorded with Eric and Danton, and Brendan joining as usual over Skype!

Here are just a couple shots...

A shot with many of the folks at the Fancon Event

Danton and the setup at the hotel for recording the episode

Cirrus SR-22 & It's Glass Cockpit

Reminders

• Win up to TWO free downloads form Aerosoft, check out the mission design contest.
• We're still looking for everyone's $100 VOR Hamburger Screenshots, Post them here!
• Aircraft Painting Contest, Each Entry gets a free Aerosoft Download, Full Details Here!

 E-Mails

Hi

In the last FSBreak podcast there was a discussion about using a three monitor setup, using the Matrox Triplehead2Go adapter, versus using a single large screen, like a big LCD TV. I'd like to take the opportunity to recommend the Triplehead solution.

Here is a picture of my monitor setup:

it's three Samsung 22 inch widescreen monitors running FSX in 5040 x 1050 resolution. I set it up recently, and I've been having a fantastic time using it. Just in terms of immersion, it really adds a lot to the flightsimming experience. Add to that having the Virtual cockpit really scaled up, so you can see all the gauges clearly, and the panoramic view of the scenery, it's really something special.

There are some things to think about. The monitors have to run the same resolution. Mine are running 1680 x 1050, and that requires a monitor that supports 57hz screen refresh rate. While LCD monitors are very inexpensive at the moment, the adapter itself isn't cheap. I've heard that the new range of Eyefinity graphics cards from ATI will be able to do something similar, without using an adapter.

On the widescreen gaming forum website, there is a section with lots of information on triplehead gaming:

http://www.widescreengamingforum.com

Anyway, just wanted to share my experience.

Pharis

Congratulations to everyone who did the hamburger flight on Vatsim this weekend. I wish I could have been by my computer Saturday to join you.

I was able to carve out some FS time today however, and I just finished putting together a functional trim wheel.

It ain't pretty, but it works great, and it's very cheap to throw together--maybe even free, depending on what you've got kicking around the house.

Supplies:

• 1 coffee can
• 1 old USB mouse that was collecting dust (with scroll wheel)
• 1 wooden chopstick (free with order of Shanghai noodles)
• 1 small screw
• some scotch tape
• 1 free usb port

To get this contraption functioning like a trim wheel, all you need to do is check the"use your mouse wheel as a trim wheel" function in the miscellaneous section of a registered copy of FSUIPC. If you don't have a registered copy of FSUIPC, you can download the free "RealTrim" module (http://code.google.com/p/fscode/wiki/RealTrim) and enable "mouse wheel as trim wheel" under the "modules" menu inside the sim.

 

The only glitch I had testing the trim wheel for the first time was that the trim wheel in the VC was turning in the opposite direction I was turning my coffee can lid. I solved this by installing a free program called "X-Mouse Button Control" (http://www.highrez.co.uk/downloads/XMouseButtonControl.htm), which includes an option for inverting mouse wheel scrolling.

 

Like I say, it may not be much to look at, but it really does work great, and having a trim wheel adds a lot to the simming experience. So if you've got an extra mouse, some other junk, and about 15 minutes to slap it together, give it a try.

 

I have only recently happened upon the podcast but I LOVE IT. I am an avid Uncontrolled Airspace listener and you guys fill that niche for the Flightsim world.

I noticed that lately you guys have been "coming of age" on VATSIM...good for you! Your life is almost complete. I highly suggest taking a look at FSEconomy.com and would love to see a review of your crew's thoughts of it. Basically FSEconomy adds the ability to own, maintain, and operate aircraft, and FBOs within flightsim (FS9, FSX, X-Plane).

The best part is that it is another layer that you can add to your flightsim experience, just like VATSIM. Best of all, it is 100% free.

Here is a little blurb that I hope piques your interest:

FSEconomy is a realistic economical environment for General Aviation flight simmers! You are a "pilot for hire", and you will use various aircraft to fly passengers and/or cargo (sometimes called "jobs" or "assignments") that are scattered throughout the flight simulator world. FSE does not simulate a "scheduled airline" type of environment, thus all available assignments appear randomly, and are destined to other random airpots. As an FSE pilot, you must choose the best available aircraft for the job given the assignment and revenue. You must either rent an aircraft or use one that you own. You can choose a career on your own or you can form a group of several pilots. Groups can collectively own an aircraft and share it amongst themselves to create a realistic business income. You can also rent your aircraft to other FSEconomy pilots and earn virtual money. In addition to aircraft, FSE players can choose to jump into the business world of FBO ownership. FBOs (or Fixed-Base Operator) sell fuel, provide aircraft maintenance services, sell avionics, and can operate a small passenger terminal.

 

FSEconomy consists of a website and a small software program that interacts with Microsoft Flight Simulator 2002 (FS8), 2004 (FS9), FSX or X-Plane 9. The website is where you find assignments, rent, buy, sell, and maintain your aircraft, manage your bank account, and join or start groups. The software program (called the 'Agent' or 'Client') is what is used to connect your Flight Simulator environment with the FSE database. It will detect that you have the correct aircraft at the correct airport, calculate the proper aircraft weight* to match the job, verify the assignment to be flown, adjust the fuel quantity in your aircraft to match what the database says it has onboard, and finally, log the results after the flight.

(* Weight adjustment is optional but it will make the experience more lifelike based on your assignment. If you have 4 passengers to take on a flight then it will tell you what the aircraft weight should be to simulate those 4 passengers. This really helps you learn the difference weight makes, especially on the smaller planes.)

FSEconomy has limitations of duplicating real life. Some compromises have to be made to allow comfortable interaction with Flight Simulator. The scope of FS Economy is:

• Buying/Renting Aircraft • Buying goods • Aircraft maintenance • Landing fees • Fuel Cost • Paid assignments • Forming and managing flight groups • Building / owning an airport fuel and maintenance facility (FBO)

I hope you consider checking out the site as well as considering it for a review.

Cheers, ~Jason

 

I live in England and have been interested in aviation for 40 years, which I guess makes me one of your more mature listeners! I have been flight simming for 9 years and have recently started to learn to fly for real, thus fulfilling a life long ambition. I have listened to your podcasts from the beginning and find they add another dimension to my hobby. I find the mix of flight sim and real world flying matches my interests.

 

I have recently returned from a holiday in western Canada and was fortunate to have a flight in a de Havilland Beaver floatplane from Victoria Harbour. I have since reproduced the flight in FSX with the freeware scenery of Victoria which was referred to in a recent $100 hamburger flight. This proved a reasonable likeness to the actual flight, although I missed the reality of the radio transmissions, particularly the call from the pilot that he was going around as there was a fishing vessel in his way!- I don't often hear that at my local flying club!

 

I have a number of points which may be of interest-

1) I have recently bought the PMDG MD11. In the manual it refers to the defrag application from O&O. I downloaded a trial version of the programme and found that after using it, frame rates were dramatically improved- the standard Windows XP application does not have this effect. I am now considering buying the full version. I don't believe that you have discussed defragging on your show, but I have read a number of times that a regular defrag is necessary to keep FSX running smoothly.

 

2) Some time ago, one of your contributors talked about the imminent release of Captigame, an application for capturing video from games. I note from the Captigame website that the last news is dated April this year. Do you have any further information- is it still a goer?

 

3) On a recent episode, Mark mentioned the live atc website. You may be interested to know that there is an application called FS Chatter Live, available on flightsim.com, which acts as an interface between fsx and liveatc. I guess the advantage of this is that there is no need to open an internet browser, which on my machine drags down the frame rates. I note that it is shareware at a cost of $10 but am trialling the free demo version.

 

In conclusion, keep up the good work. I note that the shows are getting longer, but I guess you can't have too much of a good thing. However, as I tend to listen to podcasts in the car (I travel a lot with my job), I find myself hoping that I am held up on my way to clients- a reversal of my normal philosophy!

Regards

David

 

Can you guys recommend a good yoke to use on a MacPro? Did look at the new saitek Pro Flight yoke but it's windows only.

BTW, I truly enjoyed the show after the swarm event.

Thanks, Jerry

 

I enjoy yous show very much but only "stumbled" upon it a few weeks ago. When I go to the archives the several earliest shows that tried to listen to were all linked to episode 26. if you find some time could you remedy that situation?

Thanks so much,

Charles

 Recommendations

Eric: USA Sectional Charts
High quality Sectional Charts of the United States. These are updated versions of charts that I uploaded several years ago. They are JPG files that can be viewed with any image viewing program and they have also been calibrated to import automatically into FSM Moving Map by Rana Hossain.

Danton: A2A Sim3D Light Redux

Brendan: Paint.NET for FS Repaints

Listen Here:

Download Here

Aerosoft announces more details on: Aerosoft Flight Simulator 2012

Announced on Aerosoft forums on October 1st:

Gentlemen, I will make this a short and sweet post.

Last weekend we had a lot of meetings regarding the new possible simulator to be done by Aerosoft. Now first of all I got to state that we are NOT yet ready to say that there will be one. But I can say that the probability is a lot larger now. From 50% last week to 80% now. We are currently investing officially money in this project.

We are currently using the unofficial name Aerosoft Flight Simulator 2012. A brilliant name if I say so myself, we got our name (Aerosoft) in it, we got what we intend to do (Flight Simulator) in the name and we even got the release year in it. I do not expect this name to be used for the release btw, but for now lets call it AFS2012, okay?

Related: Aerosoft Simulation4U Section

Okay, not exactly brand new. But we just wanted to talk about the new Simulation4U section at Aerosoft. What are your thoughts?

Avsim Chicago Social

• Chicago O'Hare Hilton on Saturday, October 10th, 2009, at 6:00 p.m.
• If you are under the age of 21 you must be accompanied by an adult.
• RSVP with Avsim for entry.

Danton and Eric are also thinking about going... If you are going, let us know!

Also: Avsim File Library now accepting uploads!

Our tech team has been hard at work since the commencement of the AVSIM restoration to bring the website back to its previous state. We are happy to announce that as of today, our Library upload capability has been restored.

Your uploads will go through the same process as before, approved and edited by the Library Managers ans then placed on our electronic shelves for your access. Thanks to all of our Library users for their patience. Let the uploads begin....

http://avsim.com

$100 Hamburger: Palm Springs VOR

We highly recommend downloading the full document here, you will find screenshots and sectionals!

If you flew the two previous $100 Hamburger flights (Lost in Traffic, and the ZLA Swarm Event) you should now be a master of your COM radios and your Transponder. In this flight were going to learn how to use your NAV radios to navigate the airways using VORs.

What is a VOR? (VHF Omnidirectional Range)
I think this definition from the excellent website navfltsm.addr.com (Recommended by Danton) sums it up best:

 The VHF Omnidirectional Range navigation system, VOR, was probably the most significant aviation invention other than the jet engine. With it, a pilot can simply, accurately, and without ambiguity navigate from Point A to Point B.

 The widespread introduction of VORs began in the early 1950s and 50 years later it remains the primary navigation system in the overwhelming majority of aircraft.

 The basic principle of operation of the VOR is very simple: the VOR facility transmits two signals at the same time. One signal is constant in all directions, while the other is rotated about the station. The airborne equipment receives both signals, looks (electronically) at the difference between the two signals, and interprets the result as a radial from the station.

 The GPS, Global Positioning System, is making inroads onto the navigation scene and offers a flexibility unavailable with either NDB or VOR systems. However, it is supplementing these systems, not replacing them.

What is a DME? (Distance Measuring Equipment)
Aircraft use DME to determine their distance from a land-based transponder by sending and receiving pulse pairs - two pulses of fixed duration and separation. The ground stations are typically collocated with VORs, as shown in the picture above.

In short, VORs allow you to navigate to a specific location, from anywhere as long as you are in range. DME’s tell you how far away you are from a particular VOR Point.

The positives are pretty obvious over Dead Reckoning. Since a VOR transmits in ALL DIRECTIONS you can navigate to a specific geographic point from any direction. You are no longer relying on specific headings, and correcting your headings when you are off course. A DME is helpful, but not needed as we will learn in our flight.

A basic tutorial on how to tune to a VOR and navigate…
First and Foremost… Select an aircraft you are comfortable with flying, and are fairly familiar with where the instruments are at and how to operate them.

NAV Radio

VORs are activated by entering the provided frequency into your Navigation radio (In this case, NAV 1 is just right of COMM 1, and NAV 2 right below NAV 1). The Navigation radios are activated  by clicking the “Nav 1” or “Nav 2” buttons.

After tuning either of the NAV radios to a valid frequency, you will hear a Morse Code tone with the VOR’s station ID. These codes can be found on the sectional chart for that particular VOR.

It is a great idea to tune the frequencies you will need while on the ground.

Omni Bearing Selector (OBS)
After you have tuned your NAV 1 radio to the correct frequency, you will need to use your OBS knob (In the photo above, the lower left knob) to narrow on to the VOR, this is done by rotating the knob until the Arrow is pointing to your VOR. This process is done after takeoff past 1,000 feet, as VORs are only line of sight.

­­

Here is an example of a tuned OBS. In this case the VOR is facing 12 o’clock in front of my airport. This can face any direction, as long as the arrow is straight:

You will follow the OBS similar to how you would follow your heading indicator.  You may need to keep on tuning the OBS while in flight, since your orientation may change. The goal is to keep the arrow straight.

Distance Measuring Equipment (DME)
If you aircraft has DME, and the frequency you are tuning has both VOR and DME capabilities, you will see the distance away from your VOR:

In this case, we are 12.1nm from the VOR we are tracking. If the frequency does not have DME capabilities, you will not see any information here. 

Our Flight
If you were up with us during the Swarm 2009 Event, you will find this flight fairly familiar. We will be taking off from Van Nuys (KVNY) and landing at Palm Springs (KPSP). We will not be using any headings for this flight, instead you will be provided with VOR frequencies. You will need to key them in to your Navigation radio, and follow the VOR using the OBS Gauge.

Cruise Altitude: 5,000-6,000ft

Aircraft: A Single/Double Prop Aircraft that you know well

Weather: Real World Weather (15 Minutes)

-Depart: KVNY Runway 16R (Or Active Runway)

-Fly EAST, POMONA (POM) VOR/DME – Frequency 110.4

-RIVERSIDE (RAL) VOR – Frequency 112.4

-Fly through Banning Pass (Slightly North after passing RIVERSIDE VOR) while tuning to PALM SPRINGS (PSP) VOR/DME– Frequency 115.5

-Land: KPSP Active Runway

Flight Notes

1. Watch what happens when you get close to the POM VOR. You will notice that as you get closer, you will be fine tuning it more and more. Since you’re nearly on top of the VOR station, it will get very touchy when you are near it. At some point you will need to give up on fine-tuning the OBS knob and pass the VOR, I found the cutoff distance around 1.5nm or so away. When you pass the VOR, you will see your arrow flip, as the VOR is now behind you.

Remember this behavior because the second VOR (RAL) does NOT support DME, so you will need to use the sensitivity of the OBS Arrow to determine how close you are to the VOR, and when you have passed it.

2. Through the Banning Pass, you will need to adjust your altitude as needed.

3. Near the PSP VOR in real life there are many Wind Turbines. If you look up the sectional, you will see the highest windmill is 1980ft MS

Sectionals
I would encourage everyone to use the tools we have recommended over the past months such as SkyVector.com and create their own flight map.

However, here is one that you can use just to make sure you have the right idea when making your own. I’ve covered up the Headings that SkyVector puts in with their flight planning tool, as navigating using just headings would make this learning exercise worthless! This burger flight is designed to introduce you to the Nav Radios, the OBS, and the DME on your aircraft, and how to navigate using VORs, and how a VOR acts differently from a VOR/DME.

When You're Done...

Share your results in the forums!!

Review: Aerosoft's Discus Glider X

Product Information:

• Fully professional development (over 20 months).
• Ten high detail models (for example just the VC of the BT model has 146384 polygons, more than double of what FS2004 could compile) using all the FSX options.
• Highly advanced flight models that are accurate even in spins and other no standard attitudes.
• Over 100 non standard sounds (like flying with open windows, side slips, pending stalls etc) all triggered by FSX variables and conditions using Aerosoft Sound Control.
• Full working water ballast system.
• Two Static ports (with selector) to avoid problems when using the auxiliary engines.
• Dozens of non standard animations, up to elements that move under high G load.
• Very realistic flexing wings created with a new technology.
• All instruments accurate, including TEC and NETTO variometers. Not like this simplified gauges in the default glider in FSX.
• Real usable yaw string that will make coordinated flight a lot easier.
• All models include a highly realistic C4 Flight Computer that allows then pilot to calculate ideal speeds and routes.
• Includes a licensed copy of Winch X! .
• Designed with full support of Schempp-Hirth, SDI Variomers and the SOAR online glider community.
• Includes a FSX manual (English) and the actual 'real' manuals for the gliders and C4 Flight Computer (English and German)

Click for more information on the Discus Glider X from Aerosoft.

Written review by Eric:

Introduction
This product sparked our interest because at the time there were no payware gliders for FSX, so we were naturally intrigued when the Discus Glider X finally made its appearance.

We are not extremely knowledgeable in Gliders, so we are all entering the Discus with fairly clean slates when it comes to how a glider acts, and how it should fly.

As you would expect from any commercial payware, the installation process was very straightforward. Included is a copy of WinchX, a freeware program that improves FSX’s default winch system. Without WinchX you can not winch any aircraft with an engine, which poses a problem with towing two of the three discus models which have small onboard engines.

WinchX installs automatically after Discus Glider X does, and no additional configuration is needed.

Aerosoft also recommends two additional freeware programs, Cumulus X and Sim Probe which both improve the way FSX calculates thermals. It would have been really nice if Aerosoft were able to include these two programs the same way they did with WinchX – But this could be due to technical or licensing reasons. The install process for these two programs does require some configuration, but everything is outlined in their respective ReadMe files.

The Model
Three main models are included:

• B – A traditional glider with no motor.
• BT – A glider with a small motor included. You will still need to use something like WinchX to get airborne, but the motor can be deployed for getting you between thermals, or to get a little extra boost when you’re a little short from the airport.
• BM – A glider with a larger motor included. This motor is powerful enough to take off under it’s own power, and does not need a winch to get airborne. However, with WinchX you will get to your desired altitude much faster than using the motor. The documentation mentions that the “BM” model is very rare, and only 10 of these models were actually made.

It should go without saying, but don’t expect much from either the BT or the BM motors... It is a glider after all, and the motors are only designed for getting you back to the airport in one piece.

The motors are activated via a switch in the cockpit, and specific instructions must be followed to start the motor. These procedures are outlined in the product manual, and differ between the BT and the BM models.

I found the flight model itself to be truly “as real as it gets”. A lot of attention was put into creating a realistic flight model, which is extremely important in a glider as you are relying on a true to life glide ratio, and control surfaces performing as they should. The Discus Glider X has been flown and real Discus pilots have verified the flight model.

Testing the model, you can tell when the glider is performing well and when it isn’t. If you jerk the rudder left or right, you will almost feel the jerking motion in your chair as the glider violently jerks, and then side slips. It is a similar situation to the Ailerons and other control surfaces.

One thing I would love to do if given the opportunity is to fly this model with a good quality force feedback stick. If force feedback is supported, it will nearly take the amount of realism over the edge... The model behavior is so well, it is a shame that when you feel the aircraft struggling you aren’t able to feel it in your joystick.

The Sound
I would normally put the sound under “The Model”, or just stick it in a sentence somewhere... But I think the attention to detail in the Discus Glider X is deserving of its own category.

This model includes more than 100 non standard sounds. Going back to the previous section, when you make hard movements on the control surfaces, in addition to feeling it in the behavior, you can HEAR the glider slipping in the air, and it is all integrated perfectly with the aircraft model.

Considering a glider is designed to be flown without an engine (BT and BM models can obviously be excluded) you aren’t listening to the buzz of an aircraft engine... You’re hearing the wind over the wings, and your rudder, ailerons, and elevator interacting with the air racing by. The combination of the excellent flight model, and the Aerosoft sound system is a perfect match.

The Cockpit
Believe it or not, a glider is a lot more advanced than you’d think! They can have sophisticated flight computers, and gauges not typically found in your standard C172. In addition to all of the instruments, the Discus Glider X features a fully functional ballast system.

The model (B, BT, or BM) you choose dictates which virtual cockpit layout you get, and which gauges you get. But overall, you get the following gauges with the Glider X:

• Compass
• Airspeed Indicator
• Altimeter
• C4 Competition
• PDA/GPS
• TEC Variometer
• Electrical Netto Variometer
• Engine operation switch/Hobbs meter/RPM Meter
• Yaw String

Without going into each and every gauge, I will just mention that they are all very well modeled, and look realistic in the Virtual Cockpit even zoomed and at high resolutions.

The C4 Competition flight computer can surprisingly be a very complicated instrument; Aerosoft actually includes the actual manuals from the manufacture, which can be followed with this gauge.

The last gauge I will touch on is the compass... I know you’re probably laughing right now, asking Who Cares! It’s a compass... But I think that such a simple instrument is usually overlooked in most payware models, and the one included in the Discus Glider X is phenomenal. The slight movements of the aircraft are reflected in the vertical and horizontal movements of the compass while in flight... And frankly I’ve never seen anything like it in FSX – You really have to see it to appreciate it.

Documentation
As with every Aerosoft product, the documentation is overall pretty good. It goes into the functions of most of the more advanced instruments and gauges with the model – Which for anyone not familiar with some of the specialized instruments for gliders will need to read to understand what their purposes are.

Aerosoft provides basic “Getting Started” documentation – Which is about 15 pages of material not counting copyright and title pages. This is well labeled, and has many screenshots, which I found very helpful. Also provided are full flight manuals for the “B” and “BT” models, C4 Competition Flight computer, and WinchX.

However, one item missing altogether in the “Getting Started” documentation is any information on the Water Ballast system. The Flight Manual probably includes information on this – But you will have to find it in the 177 pages. There is also very little information on the C4 Competition computer system in the “Getting Started” documentation, just a paragraph on what the computer is and its basic function. While the full manual IS included, it could be a little overwhelming for new pilots.

There is also a pretty good Easter Egg in the documentation... Nice!

Nitpicking...
In my testing of the Discus Glider X, I did notice one item that could be improved on. This is in no way a deal breaker... But I think it should be mentioned..

Cabin reflections not in sync with what they should be!
See below, the reflection looks great, right?

Now if I take out the GPS/PDA, the reflection does not show this change:

...Nothing major, but it would add a little extra bit of realism if the reflection textures were refreshed for major changes – Such as the PDA and the pilot (The pilot can be toggled off and on depending on your preference). I don’t expect a different set of reflection textures to be made for every single movement in the VC (Such as moving the throttle or ballast lever), but for major changes like those mentioned above, it would be a nice addition.

Taking a couple steps back though, this model has been in development for 20 months, and the flight model was completely re- written several times... So if it comes down to putting extra time into the flight model, or the reflections, I would choose the flight model. But it would be a nice change to put in a service pack maybe? If you’ve made it this far though, and you’re interested in the Discus Glider X, don’t let this tiny bug get in the way.

Overall...
Overall, you have to ask yourself if you are a glider person or not. If soaring through the skies, riding the thermals with maybe a little bit of aerobatics tossed in sounds like a great time to you, then I would recommend the Discus Glider X without hesitation. If you have been interested in the default glider included with FSX, you will find this to be MUCH improved and a more realistic aircraft.

After flying the Discus Glider X for a few days, I went back to the default glider included with FSX – The difference is night and day. After flying this model, the default glider feels completely disconnected from the control surface, and the cockpit to be very basic at best.

I would recommend some great scenery to go with it though. A unique experience with a glider is that you have almost a full range of vision. Unlike a small GA aircraft like a C172, you don’t have the engine & prop in your vision, nor do you have the wings or passenger seat. You have uninterrupted vision from the front, side to side, and vertically. If you’re looking to explore a massive scenery expansion (Like Tongass Fjords, Switzerland Pro, Orbx FTX, etc) this glider is perfect to do that. You are able to get lower, slower, and closer than you can with any other aircraft out there.

There are a few small things that in my opinion could be tweaked (Such as the basic documentation and the reflections), and would keep me from giving this a “Perfect” rating... But it is still 99% there.

Pros:

• Top notch flight model
• Detailed, and real to life VC and instrumentation (No 2D Cockpit)
• WinchX is almost necessary, and included with this
• Sound system = Excellent
• Overall, good documentation is included
• No performance hit noticed, FPS friendly

Cons:

• Basic documentation could have been more in depth about the C4 Competition, and does not mention ballast system at all.
• Reflection issue

System Reviewed on:
Intel Core 2 Duo 3.06GHz
4GB DDR2 RAM
nVidia GeForce 8800 512MB
FSX & Windows 7

Thoughts from Danton...

Soaring in Australia
Eric, Brendan, and I take the Discus up for a joint flight around Ayres Rock in central Australia.  After winching up from the nearby airport, we circle around Uluru and then race back.

Cross Country Innsbruck to Salzburg in Austria Professional X
Flying the Discus BM model, I make the cross country trip from Innsbruck to Salzburg, beginning with a long winch tow. Despite having an engine, I take advantage of thermals and ridge lift to gain the range I need for the journey. I start to get some sense of how the C4 computer works in conjunction with the GPS and a flight plan, at least to the point of estimating my altitude at my destination to know when I have climbed high enough. The Alps are beautiful, but I am glad my glider has an engine.

Salzburg City Scenery in Austria Professional X
I return to Salzburg for some more gliding in the non-motorized version. Crossing the Salzach River, I pass over the Altstadt or “Old Town,” which is UNESCO World Heritage Site. The addon scenery is very nice. I dump my water ballast and make my way towards the Salzburg airport. On final, however, I am a little high and fast, so I deploy my speed brakes. They do the trick and get me into the proper glide slope. When flying the Discus, I recommend following Aerosoft’s advice of setting the throttle level to control the speed brakes, giving you much finer control.

Miscellaneous
I found two additional visual curiosities with the Discus. First, when panning inside the cockpit, some views show the pilot after what appears to be an extremely close shave. Second, in the unfortunate event of a crash, even the non-motorized Discus B sometimes explodes in a fireball, causing you to wonder whether the ballast tank may have been filled with avgas (although the attached screenshot doesn’t really capture the occasionally huge conflagration).

Recommendations

Eric: VFR Sectional Chart Symbols
Also IFR and IAP Chart Symbols

Brendan: Carenado Stationair Panel Upgrade

Danton: "Soaring with Flight Simulator X" Glider Resources

Bman's Home Cockpit

A huge thanks to Bman from the forums for sharing his home cockpit setup with us, check out his entire post here.

Danton is also thinking about using an LCD TV as a monitor for flight simulator, have you tried this, or have anything to say? Let us know!!

Reminder: Mission Design Contest

Just as a reminder, we are still taking submissions for the mission design contest, find out how to enter here.

Listen Here:

Download Here (MP3)

SimFlight 2009 Award Results In

To see the winners, click here!

What do you think, were you happy with the results? Let us know in the forums, or by contacting us!

AirHauler 10 Day Trial Released

The demo is limited to 10 days of use and includes almost all the features of the full release version.

It won't let you install add-on aircraft and scenery into Air Hauler, use AI pilots or upload your company statistics to the Air Hauler Portal, but otherwise includes almost all the many flexible features which have made the full program such a hit.

Click here for all information.

Thorsten Reichert, Scenery Designer & Mission Designer for Aerosoft Joins Us

A huge thanks to Thorsten for spending a little more than an hour with us, he tells us about his background of devloping for Flight Simulator, and the process of creating scenery and mission addons for FS. He has been a part of almost too many addons to name, but a few of them include African Airstrip Adventures, Flight Tales, and Bush Hawk XP!

You can also check out some of Thorsten's Freeware work here, and it has come to out attention that if would like to help with the recent Drought problems that have risen up in Kenya, you can help out by donating to the Kenya Red Cross.

FSBreak's Mission Design Contest

As a side contest, we're announcing the Mission Design/Mission Concept contest!

In this contest, you will do as much as you can twards designing the concept of a mission for FSX. This can include:

• Ideas for missions
• Story Lines for missions
• Flow Chart/Chain of Events for a mission
• Photos/Screenshot Samples
• You can even recommend scenery and/or aircraft for your mission
• More?

You can do as little or as much as you want, but the more complete your mission is the higher chance you have in winning!

Prizes include...

• 1st Place: TWO (2) items from Aerosoft's Online Shop, you are able to select any two products as long as they are in electronic/downloadable form. (IE, No Boxed Products)
• 2nd Place: ONE (1) item from Aerosoft's Online Shop, again electronic delivery only.

A HUGE thanks to Aerosoft for sponsoring the prizes for this contest!

Contest Deadlines

• You have until October 28th at Midnight, winners announced Episode 41, November 4th.

Also, there is a chance that if you mission is interesting enough, Thorsten may consider coding the mission for you and releasing it as FreeWare!

FOR FULL/UPDATED DETAILS, AND INSTRUCTIONS ON HOW TO ENTER... Please see this link to our forum!

Recommendations

Eric: The "New to the Show" section at the top of the FSBreak website for my personal picks of episodes to start out with if you're a new listener.
Brendan: HDE - High Def Cloud Textures for FS2004.
Danton: Scenery Tech's African Landclass - Replacement land class areas for Africa to make the default textures look MUCH more complex and much better.
Jordan: Wilco "E-Jet" series - Embraer 170/190 Addon

ZLA $100 Hamburger Screenshot Contest

If you are a regular to the forums, you will have seen a chance for a small reward for posting a screnshot of our recent Swarm event. Congradulations to 'FSXHD' and his screenshot of LAX in the Mini-Route!

E-Mail: Graham has some SquawkBox Tips

Good show Sir! I'm really sorry that I couldn't do the ZLA swarm this year. It sounds like I missed a great event.

Anyway, couple of things: you recommended QuteScoop, did you know that is is an offshoot of Dolomynum (for Windows) http://dlnm.net

Also, for SquawkBox users, there is some documentation on the website about the dot commands but for your info, here they are (they are a great time saver)

 

• .msg callsign message (send private message)
• .info ATCcallsign (get info from ATC callsign)
• .com1 frequency (set com1 to the frequency)
• .com2 frequency (set com2 to the frequency)
• .x nnnn (set transponder to nnnn)
• .metar ICAO (get weather for airport ICAO code)
• .wx ICAO (set weather to weajher for airport ICAO)

Cheers Graham

We're releading this week's episode a little early since it wraps up the event over the weekend, and we want to make sure it is still fresh in everyone's minds!

Listen Here:

Download Here (MP3)

Danton and Eric's First VATSIM Experience

Danton and Eric spend about 30 minutes and share their experience with starting out on VATSIM. Do you have a similar story? Share it in the forums!

Tom Solon Joins us to Wrap up ZLA Swarm 2009/Hamburger Event

A huge thanks to Tom Solon, and everyone at ZLA, and all listeners who participated in the event! I think everyone had a blast! You can hear Tom's wrap up at about 30 minutes in the show.

Check out this time lapse taken of the event just to give you an idea! The video was done by James Luen, and you can download it directly here.

Overview of group events:

• KVNY (Van Nuys) to KSAN (San Diego Intl-Lindbergh) - Standard $100 Hamburger Flight
• KBUR (Burbank) to KSNA (John Wayne)
• KVNY (Van Nuys) to KSBA (Santa Barbara)
• KVNY (Van Nuys) to KPSP (Palm Springs) - Formation Flight of 8 with 2 groups of 4.

...http://www.fsbreak.net/podcast/rss-comments-entry-5128660.xml http://www.fsbreak.net/?p=1255 ]]> Mon, 21 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0400 $$100 Hamburger $100 hamburger vatsim FSBreak Shows Vatsim ZLA cachya flight simulator history helgoland x live atc qutescoop vataware FSBreak Shows http://archive.fsbreak.net/?p=1255#comments http://www.fsbreak.net/?p=1255 www.fsbreak.net Hosted by Eric McClintock, Mark Stewart, Danton Berube, and Casey. Listen Here: Carenado PA-28-181 ARCHER II for FSX FSX features: external dynamic shadows internal dynamic shadows on VC ... FSBreak,Shows 132:29 Eric http://www.fsbreak.net/podcast/34 Wed, 16 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0400 FSBreak Shows http://archive.fsbreak.net/?p=1234#comments 977A52C7-527A-4235-B2B9-45A2115D1E3E www.fsbreak.net Hosted by Eric McClintock, Mark Stewart, Danton Berube, Nolan Welch, and Ian Elchitz. FSBreak,Shows Eric http://www.fsbreak.net/podcast/33 Wed, 09 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0400 FSBreak Shows http://archive.fsbreak.net/?p=1234#comments C7B1BAF9-676A-40B1-B19D-CEFBDE11CE7D www.fsbreak.net Hosted by Eric McClintock, Mark Stewart, Danton Berube, Brendan Farmer, and Patrick Ashley. FSBreak,Shows Eric http://www.fsbreak.net/podcast/32 Tue, 01 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0400 FSBreak Shows http://archive.fsbreak.net/?p=1234#comments 0D70952D-28CE-42B3-A25B-F8DD9AF4617E www.fsbreak.net Hosted by Eric McClintock, Mark Stewart, Danton Berube, and Casey. FSBreak,Shows Eric http://www.fsbreak.net/podcast/31 Wed, 26 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0400 FSBreak Shows http://archive.fsbreak.net/?p=1234#comments http://www.fsbreak.net/?p=1234 www.fsbreak.net Hosted by Eric McClintock, Mark Stewart, Danton Berube, and Brendan Farmer. Listen Here: Movie Talk: One Six Right The Romance of Flying is an independent film about the ... FSBreak,Shows 146:51 Eric http://www.fsbreak.net/podcast/30 Wed, 19 Aug 2009 00:06:28 -0400 FSBreak Shows http://archive.fsbreak.net/?p=1216#comments http://www.fsbreak.net/?p=1216 www.fsbreak.net Hosted by Eric McClintock, Mark Stewart, and Danton. Listen Here: FREE Airport from JustFlight! FWI La Gomera (GCGM) FREE AIRPORT FOR FSX This airport is to show off JustFlight's ... FSBreak,Shows 143:33 Eric http://www.fsbreak.net/podcast/29 Wed, 12 Aug 2009 02:25:29 -0400 FSBreak Shows http://archive.fsbreak.net/?p=1186#comments http://www.fsbreak.net/?p=1186 www.fsbreak.net Hosted by Eric McClintock, Brendan Farmer, Danton, Vybhava Srinivasan, and Josh Rice. Listen Here: FS-GS Experience Danton tells us more about his experience with FS-GS, a professional Flight ... FSBreak,Shows 137:19 Eric http://www.fsbreak.net/podcast/28 Wed, 05 Aug 2009 10:21:24 -0400 FSBreak Shows http://archive.fsbreak.net/?p=1175#comments http://www.fsbreak.net/?p=1175 www.fsbreak.net Hosted by Eric McClintock, Mark Stewart, and Brendan Farmer. Listen Here: X-Plane.com Website gets a facelift! Check it out, a lot of great and easy to find information! ... FSBreak,Shows 124:19 Eric http://www.fsbreak.net/podcast/27 Tue, 28 Jul 2009 23:44:55 -0400 FSBreak Shows http://archive.fsbreak.net/?p=1166#comments http://www.fsbreak.net/?p=1166 www.fsbreak.net Hosted by Eric McClintock, Mark Stewart, Brendan Farmer, Chris D, and Kyle Ramsey from VATSIM. Listen Here: Everything you need to know about VATSIM Well, maybe not everything... ... FSBreak,Shows 136:02 Eric http://www.fsbreak.net/podcast/26 Wed, 22 Jul 2009 01:00:30 -0400 FSBreak Shows http://archive.fsbreak.net/?p=1150#comments http://www.fsbreak.net/?p=1150 www.fsbreak.net Hosted by Eric McClintock, Mark Stewart, and Bill Womack. Listen Here: We talk scenery with Bill Womack A BIG thanks to Bill Womack (@bwomack) for spending some time ... FSBreak,Shows 101:50 Eric http://www.fsbreak.net/podcast/25 Tue, 14 Jul 2009 21:01:02 -0400 FSBreak Shows http://archive.fsbreak.net/?p=1137#comments http://www.fsbreak.net/?p=1137 www.fsbreak.net Hosted by Eric McClintock, Mark Stewart, and Mathijs Kok. Listen Here: Mathijs tell us about Aerosoft, more details on their Sim, and Piracy in FS... A big thanks ... FSBreak,Shows 142:44 Eric http://www.fsbreak.net/podcast/24 Tue, 07 Jul 2009 23:24:52 -0400 FSBreak Shows http://archive.fsbreak.net/?p=1115#comments http://www.fsbreak.net/?p=1115 www.fsbreak.net Hosted by Eric McClintock, Mark Stewart, and Matt Ford. Listen Here: Matt Ford's 737-700 Sim We'd like to thank Matt Ford for taking about 90 minutes out of ... FSBreak,Shows 116:52 Eric http://www.fsbreak.net/podcast/23 Wed, 01 Jul 2009 00:51:48 -0400 FSBreak Shows http://archive.fsbreak.net/?p=1095#comments http://www.fsbreak.net/?p=1095 www.fsbreak.net Hosted by Eric McClintock, Mark Stewart, Gavin, and Nolan. Listen Here: Avsim Cancels Fancon 2009 AVSIM's Board of Directors today voted to cancel the FANCON 2009 event. Due ... FSBreak,Shows 142:08 Eric http://www.fsbreak.net/podcast/22 Tue, 23 Jun 2009 23:29:15 -0400 FSBreak Shows http://archive.fsbreak.net/?p=1058#comments http://www.fsbreak.net/?p=1058 www.fsbreak.net Hosted by Eric McClintock, Mark Stewart, Brendan, and Austin Meyer Listen Here: Subscribe to automatically get the latest podcast: iTunes, Zune, RSS XML, E-Mail, All Other. Interview with ... FSBreak,Shows 113:26 Eric http://www.fsbreak.net/podcast/21 Wed, 17 Jun 2009 00:30:05 -0400 FSBreak Shows http://archive.fsbreak.net/?p=1026#comments http://www.fsbreak.net/?p=1026 www.fsbreak.net Hosted by Eric McClintock, and Mark Stewart Listen Here: Subscribe to automatically get the latest podcast: iTunes, Zune, RSS XML, E-Mail, All Other. Do you have a question ... FSBreak,Shows 98:23 Eric http://www.fsbreak.net/podcast/20 Wed, 10 Jun 2009 00:00:56 -0400 FSBreak Shows http://archive.fsbreak.net/?p=914#comments http://www.fsbreak.net/?p=914 www.fsbreak.net Hosted by Eric McClintock, Mark Stewart, Brendan, and Jordan. Listen Here: Subscribe to automatically get the latest podcast: iTunes, Zune, RSS XML, E-Mail, All Other. Do you have a ... FSBreak,Shows 62:11 Eric http://www.fsbreak.net/podcast/19 Tue, 02 Jun 2009 22:12:31 -0400 FSBreak Shows http://archive.fsbreak.net/?p=890#comments http://www.fsbreak.net/?p=890 www.fsbreak.net Hosted by Eric McClintock, Mark Stewart, Patrick Ashley, and Brendan. Listen Here: Subscribe to automatically get the latest podcast: iTunes, Zune, RSS XML, E-Mail, All Other. Avsim Returns? From ... FSBreak,Shows 110:14 Eric http://www.fsbreak.net/podcast/18 Mon, 25 May 2009 20:21:27 -0400 FSBreak Shows http://archive.fsbreak.net/?p=873#comments http://www.fsbreak.net/?p=873 www.fsbreak.net Note: If you downloaded the podcast before Monday at 8:30PM Eastern and got the incorrect download, please download again. Thanks! Hosted by Eric McClintock, Mark Stewart, ... FSBreak,Shows 106:12 Eric http://www.fsbreak.net/podcast/17 Tue, 19 May 2009 22:26:57 -0400 FSBreak Shows http://archive.fsbreak.net/?p=798#comments http://www.fsbreak.net/?p=798 www.fsbreak.net Hosted by Eric McClintock, Mark Stewart, and Mark Avey. Listen Here: Subscribe to automatically get the latest podcast: iTunes, Zune, RSS XML, E-Mail, All Other. Avsim.com Hacked Avsim was ... FSBreak,Shows 123:30 Eric http://www.fsbreak.net/podcast/16 Wed, 13 May 2009 00:01:20 -0400 FSBreak Shows http://archive.fsbreak.net/?p=743#comments http://www.fsbreak.net/?p=743 www.fsbreak.net Hosted by Eric McClintock, Brendan, Marty, and Jesse. Listen Here: Subscribe to automatically get the latest podcast: iTunes, Zune, RSS XML, E-Mail, All Other. Just a note! We ... FSBreak,Shows 50:13 Eric http://www.fsbreak.net/podcast/15 Wed, 06 May 2009 00:00:19 -0400 FSBreak Shows http://archive.fsbreak.net/?p=621#comments http://www.fsbreak.net/?p=621 www.fsbreak.net Hosted by Eric McClintock, Nolan, and Mark. Listen Here: Subscribe to automatically get the latest podcast: iTunes, Zune, RSS XML, E-Mail, All Other. 1958 C172 from SimFlight 3D ... FSBreak,Shows 107:38 Eric http://www.fsbreak.net/podcast/14 Tue, 28 Apr 2009 23:19:46 -0400 FSBreak Shows http://archive.fsbreak.net/?p=607#comments http://www.fsbreak.net/?p=607 www.fsbreak.net Hosted by Eric McClintock, Brendan, Patrick, Prash, and Jack. Listen Here: Subscribe to automatically get the latest podcast: iTunes, Zune, RSS XML, E-Mail, All Other. A Free Gift ... FSBreak,Shows 84:20 Eric http://www.fsbreak.net/podcast/13 Wed, 22 Apr 2009 01:07:04 -0400 FSBreak Shows http://archive.fsbreak.net/?p=585#comments http://www.fsbreak.net/?p=585 www.fsbreak.net Hosted by Eric McClintock, Richard, Mark, and Adam. Listen Here: Subscribe to automatically get the latest podcast: iTunes, Zune, RSS XML, E-Mail, All Other. FSDreamTeam's Las Vegas McCarran Features: ... FSBreak,Shows 87:20 Eric http://www.fsbreak.net/podcast/12 Wed, 15 Apr 2009 01:03:14 -0400 FSBreak Shows http://archive.fsbreak.net/?p=564#comments http://www.fsbreak.net/?p=564 www.fsbreak.net Hosted by Eric McClintock, Brendan, Mark. Listen Here: Subscribe to automatically get the latest podcast: iTunes, Zune, RSS XML, E-Mail, All Other. Our FSX PC First: Custom Built HP Intel ... FSBreak,Shows 108:16 Eric http://www.fsbreak.net/podcast/11 Tue, 07 Apr 2009 22:48:19 -0400 FSBreak Shows http://archive.fsbreak.net/?p=543#comments http://www.fsbreak.net/?p=543 www.fsbreak.net Hosted by Eric McClintock, Jordan, Brendan, Andrew, Josh, Nolan, Marty, Joe, Cam, and Adam. Listen Here: Subscribe to automatically get the latest podcast: iTunes, Zune, RSS XML, ... FSBreak,Shows 63:27 Eric http://www.fsbreak.net/podcast/10 Wed, 01 Apr 2009 02:24:59 -0400 FSBreak Shows http://archive.fsbreak.net/?p=523#comments http://www.fsbreak.net/?p=523 www.fsbreak.net Hosted by Eric McClintock, Nolan, Brendan, Marty, and Andrew. Listen Here: Subscribe to automatically get the latest podcast: iTunes, Zune, RSS XML, E-Mail, All Other. FSX Tweak: Fix ... FSBreak,Shows 76:35 Eric http://www.fsbreak.net/podcast/9 Wed, 25 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0400 FSBreak Shows http://archive.fsbreak.net/?p=460#comments http://www.fsbreak.net/?p=460 www.fsbreak.net Hosted by Eric McClintock, Nolan, Brendan, and Adam. Listen Here: Subscribe to automatically get the latest podcast: iTunes, Zune, RSS XML, E-Mail, All Other. FSX: More than 4 ... FSBreak,Shows 67:12 Eric http://www.fsbreak.net/podcast/8 Tue, 17 Mar 2009 21:54:30 -0400 FSBreak Shows http://archive.fsbreak.net/?p=424#comments http://www.fsbreak.net/?p=424 www.fsbreak.net Hosted by Eric McClintock, #38; Joe. Listen Here: Subscribe to automatically get the latest podcast: iTunes, Zune, RSS XML, E-Mail, All Other. The World's Most Expensive Home Built Flight Simulator Matthew Sheil, owner of a FSBreak,Shows 48:51 Eric http://www.fsbreak.net/podcast/2009/3/16/fsbreak-75-post-show-hardware-talk.html Mon, 16 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0400 FSBreak Shows http://archive.fsbreak.net/?p=419#comments http://www.fsbreak.net/?p=419 www.fsbreak.net Unedited Post Show Discussion! Hosted by Eric McClintock, Joe, Jon, #38; Nolan. Listen Here: Subscribe to automatically get the latest podcast: iTunes, Zune, RSS XML, E-Mail, All Other. Post Show Discussion FSBreak,Shows 17:17 Eric http://www.fsbreak.net/podcast/7 Wed, 11 Mar 2009 02:34:27 -0400 FSBreak Shows http://archive.fsbreak.net/?p=389#comments http://www.fsbreak.net/?p=389 www.fsbreak.net FSX Thunderbirds, X-Plane Beta, AVSIM Fancon, #38; More! Hosted by Eric McClintock, Joe, Jon, #38; Nolan. Listen Here: Subscribe to automatically get the latest podcast: iTunes, Zune, RSS ... FSBreak,Shows 79:49 Eric http://www.fsbreak.net/podcast/6 Wed, 04 Mar 2009 01:02:59 -0500 FSBreak Shows http://archive.fsbreak.net/?p=371#comments http://www.fsbreak.net/?p=371 www.fsbreak.net Hosted by Eric McClintock, Brendan, and Joe Listen Here: Subscribe to automatically get the latest podcast: iTunes, Zune, RSS XML, E-Mail, All Other. X-Plane Racing Coming Soon For ... FSBreak,Shows 42:22 Eric http://www.fsbreak.net/podcast/5 Wed, 25 Feb 2009 01:15:56 -0500 FSBreak Shows http://archive.fsbreak.net/?p=349#comments http://www.fsbreak.net/?p=349 www.fsbreak.net Hosted by Eric McClintock, Adam, Cam, #38; James. Listen Here: Subscribe to automatically get the latest podcast: iTunes, Zune, RSS XML, E-Mail, All Other. Free MegaScenery Earth Download ... FSBreak,Shows 43:51 Eric http://www.fsbreak.net/podcast/4 Wed, 18 Feb 2009 00:45:59 -0500 FSBreak Shows http://archive.fsbreak.net/?p=311#comments http://www.fsbreak.net/?p=311 www.fsbreak.net Hosted by Eric McClintock, Jordan G, #38; Adam J. Listen Here: Subscribe to automatically get the latest podcast: iTunes, Zune, RSS XML, E-Mail, All Other. Support Flightsim This petition ... FSBreak,Shows 49:04 Eric http://www.fsbreak.net/podcast/3 Tue, 10 Feb 2009 20:46:08 -0500 FSBreak Shows http://archive.fsbreak.net/?p=202#comments http://www.fsbreak.net/?p=202 www.fsbreak.net Hosted by Eric McClintock, Mark, and Cam. Listen Here: Subscribe to automatically get the latest podcast: iTunes, Zune, RSS XML, E-Mail, All Other. X-Plane 9.30 Beta-2 for PC/Mac ... FSBreak,Shows 52:42 Eric http://www.fsbreak.net/podcast/2 Tue, 03 Feb 2009 23:59:02 -0500 FSBreak Shows http://archive.fsbreak.net/?p=157#comments http://www.fsbreak.net/?p=157 www.fsbreak.net Hosted by Eric McClintock, Cam, and Adam. Listen Here: Subscribe to automatically get the latest podcast: iTunes, Zune, RSS XML, E-Mail, All Other. R.I.P. Paulo Emanuele... End of an ... FSBreak,Shows 30:52 Eric http://www.fsbreak.net/podcast/1 Tue, 27 Jan 2009 12:00:10 -0500 FSBreak Shows http://archive.fsbreak.net/?p=39#comments http://www.fsbreak.net/?p=39 www.fsbreak.net Hosted by Eric McClintock, Co-Hosted by Cam [Forum Profile]. Listen Here: Subscribe to automatically get the latest podcast: iTunes, RSS XML, E-Mail, All Other. Microsoft Closes ACES ... FSBreak,Shows 21:07 Eric