VOLUME 14 ISSUE 2

FEBRUARY/MARCH 2010
USA $7.95
CANADA $9.95
AUSTRALIA $9.85 (INC. GST)
A PC AVIATOR PUBLICATION

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CPM. V14I2

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Choose=>Buy=>Download=>Fly!

Imagine.... being able to pick and choose any areas of the world that you want to fly
in photo-real detail with Microsoft Flight Simulator X.
Imagine.... being able order those parts of the world, here and now, for less than 1 cent per square mile.
Imagine.... being able to download that area immediately after purchase, installing it and then flying that
scenery within the hour.
Imagine.... that technology being available right here and now....
Well, you no longer need to imagine... it is here and now... and its MegaSceneryEarth!
Go To The MegaSceneryEarth Website Right Now To Start Choosing Your
Favorite Places To Fly In HyperReal Detail!

[Link]
2009 PC Aviator Inc. Aerosoft Australia Pty Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

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From the EDITOR

WELCOME TO THE FEBRUARY/MARCH 2010 ISSUE!
I didnt get a chance to say it earlier but Happy New Year to all! Hopefully there was some nice
holiday gifts in the form of flight sim gear or software that came your way?
I managed to upgrade my PC here in my usual two year cycle, although this time I think it was
more like 3 years, at least it felt like that. Flight Simulator X was struggling a little on my Pentium
D (the first dual core processor made) on an older motherboard with 2Gb DDR memory and a
9800GT video card.
The new system, which is still slowly coming together now has an Intel Core i5-750 CPU, a new
P55 chipset motherboard and 4Gb of DDR3 RAM. I still have the 9800GT video card in use while
the new Radeon 5850 is enroute. I must say that even with the processor, motherboard and
memory change alone, FSX is a totally new flight simulator. I can actually set most things to near
maximum and still get framerates well into the 40s and 50s in dense urban areas, with detailed
clouds and plenty of AI air, land and sea traffic enabled. I must admit I didnt expect such a
large boost with a CPU and memory upgrade alone, but obviously FSX thrives on multi-core
processors, especially quad-core CPUs like the Core i5 and similar. And the Core i5 is not even the
fastest processor out there, with the Core i7 being top of the pops (at present). And all this for
well under $900 Australian Dollars (including the video card). Not bad.
Of course, now that I have this nice new system which runs FSX very well, I am putting many
more hours into the logbook and finally getting to some of those more detailed missions that
couldnt be easily flown before because of poor performance. It is amazing how a boost in
system speed makes flight simming exponentially more fun and enjoyable.
Consider an upgrade if you are getting frustrated with FS performance on your older machine. It
is well worth it. And to help with that, this issue we have another edition of Doug Hortons FSX
Benchmarking series to help you decide what to look for and what to buy! Enjoy this issue now
back to FSX missions for me and figuring out why the Tokyo Executive Helo mission wont seem
to kick start itself once loaded?

Publisher: Robert Ferraro

Editor: Dean Bielanowski
Editorial Assistant: Roger Curtiss
Layout & Design: Tony Liatos
Contributors In This Issue: Dean Bielanowski, John Achor,
Chuck Bodeen, Rob Scott, Gene Davis, David Wilson-Okamura,
Roger Curtiss, Doug Horton, Mike Ray, Al Pelletier
Subscription Managers: Australia: Adrian Lazzarotto
USA: Mark Jakubowski
Editorial Submissions: Please address editorial matter
to The Editor at editor@[Link] or to the office
closest to you listed at the bottom of this page.

Dean Bielanowski
Editor

Advertising Inquiries: PC Aviator Inc.

Phone: 843-716-1616. Email: advertising@[Link]
Website: [Link]

Supplement
your reading in Computer Pilot Magazine

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For subscribers
Renew your subscriptions on-line
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Bookmark our web site and visit it frequently.

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US Distribution: Ingram Periodicals, International
Periodical Distributors, Media Solutions
Printed By: The RL Bryan Company (USA).
Disclaimer: Any information, advice, maps, charts, tables
and other information published in this magazine is exclusively
for use with PC flight simulations. The publisher does not
accept any liability for any accident or incident arising from any
information conveyed or implied in this publication.
Copyright: Copyright 2010 The PC Aviator Pty Ltd
Incorporating PC Aviator Inc. All rights reserved. None of
the information in this magazine may be reproduced in any
form or stored via any electronic means without the express
permission of the publisher.
Cover Price: USA.: $7.95. Australia: $9.85*. Canada: $9.95.
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Other International Subscriptions
Asia/Pacific Region: Ph: +61-3-9553-1955
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ISSN: 1324-7336
Published by: PC Aviator The Flight Simulation Company

V14I2

[Link]
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Customer #: 7056038
Return Undeliverable Canadian Addresses to:
PC Aviator, inc., PO Box 15907, Surfside Beach, SC 29587, U.S.A.
Computer Pilot Volume 14 issue 2, February/March 2010 (ISSN 1324-7336) is published bi-monthly by
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Australian Office: The PC Aviator Pty Ltd

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* Recommended Retail Price only
Computer Pilot is an international magazine, proudly
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of America.

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30

CONCTOEN
CONN
TTETSNSTS
TEN
16. NEWS AND NEW RELEA
SES
ALL THE LATEST NEWS AND

MINI REVIEWS

NEW RELEASES SINCE OUR

LAST ISSUE.

29 MEGA AIRPORT LISBON

X
65 UH-1 HUEY

MAXI REVIEWS

37 LOTUS SIM L-39 ALBATRO

S
46 JUST FLIGHTS FLYING CLU
B2
58 FIRST CLASS SIMULATIONS
EUROFIGHTER

37

& EUROCOPTER

20 FUN & CHALLENGING

NIGHT AIRPORTS
IF YOU DONT HAVE A

BASIC UNDERSTANDING AND

THE CAPABILITY
OF INSTRUMENT FLYING, YOU
HAVE NO BUSINESS OUT THER
E AT
NIGHT. WITH THAT OUT OF
THE WAY, LETS CHECK OUT
A NUMBER
OF RUNWAYS AROUND THE
WORLD AND HOW THEY LOO
K FROM THE
AIR AT NIGHT.

30 AUSTRALIAN AIR ADVE

NTURES PART II
WELCOME BACK TO THE FINA
L INST

ALMENT OF MY AUSSIE
ADVENTURE USING THE FTX
SCENERY. AS BEFORE, I WILL
GUIDE YOU
THROUGH SOME FLIGHTS THA
T I THINK YOU WILL FIND ENJO
YABLE
AND WILL SHOW OFF THIS SCEN
ERY. I HOPE THAT THE OPPORT
BETWEEN THE TWO INSTALM
UNITY
ENTS HAS GIVEN YOU AMP
LE TIME TO
COMPLETE THE PREVIOUS FLIG
HTS, AND MAYBE EVEN FIND
A FEW OF
YOUR OWN ALONG THE WAY
.

42 ENHANCED GOOGLE EA
RTH
THERE ARE

A NUMBER OF WAYS TO USE

THE NOW-FAMOUS GOOGL
EARTH TO ENLARGE UPON
E
YOUR PLEASURE OF FLIGHT
SIMULATION.
OFF-THE-SHELF GOOGLE EAR
TH COMES WITH SATELLITE
WEATHER,
WEATHER RADAR, HURRICA
NES, CURRENT CONDITIONS,
AND
FORECASTS - THESE FEATURE
S CAN BE TURNED ON OR OFF
AT WILL.
AND THERES MORE!

54

54 VIRTUAL AIRLINE REVIE

W PACIFIC AIRWAYS
AFTER FLYING AROUND IN
FS FOR

SEVERAL MONTHS MANY YEA

AGO, IT OCCURRED TO ME
RS
THAT I WAS ONLY FLYING THE
SAME FEW
ROUTES IN THE SAME AIRCRAFT
OVER AND OVER AGAIN. I NEE
SOMETHING NEW I CAME
DED
ACROSS PACIFIC AIRWAYS,
AND THE REST,
AS THEY SAY, WAS HISTORY
!

66 BENCHMARKING FSX
- PART III
WITH A VARIETY OF

HARDWARE, SETTINGS, AND

FSX CONFIGURATIONS,
INCLUDING MANY REPEATED
TESTS, DOUG HORTON CON
DUCTED
OVER 150 FSXMARK07 TEST
RUNS TO FIND OUT WHAT HAR
DWARE
COMBINATIONS GIVE THE BEST
RESULTS IN FSX.

74 HORTONS HINTS FOR

FSX DOUBLE FEATURE
ITS ANOTHER DAILY DOUBLE
AS DOU

G HORTON SEARCHES OUT

BEST AND COOLEST TIPS, TRIC
THE
KS AND HINTS FOR FLIGHT SIMU
X FANS. GET THE MOST OUT
LATOR
YOUR SIMULATOR WITH THIS
HANDY
EXTENDED FEATURE.

82 UP, UP & AWAY!

FLIGHT PLANNING FOR EX
CITEMENT
LETS FACE IT, AFTER A WHI
LE FLYIN

90

G TO THE SAME AIRPORTS CAN

BECOME A BIT TIRESOME. PERH
APS THERE IS TOO MUCH PRED
TO THE WHOLE THING. IN ORD
ICTABILITY
ER TO SHAKE THINGS UP A
BIT YOU MAY
NEED TO PUT FORTH SOME
EFFORT AND WORK AT IT A
BIT.
OUR INTENT IS
TO GIVE YOU SOME IDEAS TO
SPICE UP YOUR FLYING.

86 THE RADAR ALTIMETE

R

MIKE RAY OFFERS A UNIQUE

LOOK AT THE FUNCTION AND
USE OF THE
RADAR ALTIMETER SYSTEM
AND GAUGE IN USE IN MAN
Y COMMERCIAL
AIRCRAFT AND HELICOPTERS
.

90 ROUND ROBIN ADVENT

URES
THIS

MONTH WE ARE FLYING FOR

DHL (OR ANY OTHER CARGO
WE ARE GOING TO TAKE SOM
COMPANY).
E WINE FROM PORTUGAL TO
THE ISLANDS OF
MADEIRA, THEN SOUTH TO
THE GRAND CANARIA ISLAND,
AND COME BACK
WITH A FULL LOAD OF FRUI
T FROM THE CANARY ISLANDS
.

REGULAR FEATURES:
50 PULLOUT POSTER

ANSETT B727 RETRO SCHEME

62 FREEWARE FRENZY

THE BEST FREEWARE, FOUND

73 INBOX

AND REVIEWED!

YOUR LETTERS AND COMMEN

TS.

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VR AIRCRAFT OFFER
MULTI-FUNCTION AVIONICS
FOR SIMMERS

S
W
E
N

US CITIES X: CHICAGO
NOW AVAILABLE

VR Aircraft, manufacturers of quality, realistic flight controls and avionics

systems for flight simulators have recently released their new AV1000
multi-function avionics panel for Flight Simulator users.
The VR Aircraft AV1000 Simulator Avionics panels offer the ultimate
in realism, flexibility, mobility, and cost-effective flight training! Utilizing
encoders and tactile buttons, this panel interfaces directly with Microsoft
Flight Simulator 2004 and FSX.
The AV1000 avionics panel is an all-inclusive navigation and aircraft condition
panel including a full feature Garmin 1000 simulator. The unit is easily
mounted in your cockpit panel, or used as a standalone unit. Requires one
video output on your flight simulator computer. AV1000 includes software
and instructions for an easy installation to Flight Simulator 2004 or FSX.

Flight Simmers with a few years of sim experience

under their belts will likely be very familiar with the city
of Chicago, having been the host startup airport city
for Microsoft Flight Simulator for many releases. Now,
courtesy of Aerosoft Germany, Chicago gets its most
realistic makeover ever with the release of US Cities X:
Chicago for Flight Simulator X.

This scenery will bring you Chicago with as much detail as

you never have seen before. In this scenery there are hints to
the past as it includes Merrill C Meigs field and (optional) a
glimpse of the future as you are able to see the Chicago Spire, a
skyscraper in development that will put Chicago back at the top
of skyscraper cities. Based on an extensive aerial image it will
have all the major buildings and landmarks plus all the airports
and heliports that are inside the covered areas.
It is clearly intended to fill the gap between the default scenery
and very high dense city scenery such as Manhattan X, London
VFR or Venice X.

FEATURES:
Full function G1000 Simulator.
Multiple function EICAS.
Single and Twin Engine configurations.
Simple mounting.
Includes LCD panel assembly.
Full IFR training capabilities.
Simple USB interface.
Includes custom software package.
The AV1000 has a retail price of US$1795, but you are getting a lot
of bang for your buck in this system. You can view more details and
images of the AV1000, plus other VR Aircraft hardware at
[Link]

[Link] 16

FEATURES:
Aerial imagery coverage.
More than 2000 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 OHare (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.
The package is available via download now from popular flight sim
download stores and retails for around US$18.50.
Check [Link] for further details.

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INTEL LAUNCHES NEW INTEL

2010 CORE PROCESSOR FAMILY
LINEUP
CPU manufacturer, Intel, is offering a suite of new processors in 2010
designed to meet the needs of any budget, and any speed! Over 20 new
processors will be offered in various forms and simmers will be able to
choose from multi-core processors from the Core i3, Core i5 and Core i7
families for their next desktop flight simulation processor.
Smart Technology
Imagine having a processor smart enough to know when your PC needs a
little more juice. Intel Turbo Boost Technology gives you speed when you
need it and delivers energy efficiency when you dont. Also available on
select models of the all new 2010 Intel Core processor family, Intel
HD Graphics provides superb visual performance for sharper images, richer
color, and life-like audio and video.
Smart Speed
Were all multitaskers. We edit photos, send email, watch video, sync our
iPods*and we want to do it all at once. Now we can. Intel Hyperthreading Technology lets your processor work on two tasks at the same time.
Smart Investment
A new PC today opens more doors tomorrow. The all new Intel Core
processors adapt to your needs now and down the road. So you wont just
keep up. Youll get ahead.

The Intel Core i3 desktop processors will retail starting at just

US$113. The Core i5 processors have a starting price of US$176 and
Core i7 embedded processors start at US$278.
It is quite amazing what speed boosts you can achieve in Flight
Simulator when upgrading from a single core processor to a multicore CPU and good quality memory. Check out more information
on the new Core i3, i5 and i7 lines at [Link]

S
E
T
LA

17

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S
W
E
N

FLIGHT DECK 6
CONFIRMED AND
READY TO FLY

BE AN AIRSHOW PILOT!

Not long after we hinted at a possible new version of the Flight Deck
series being released, the actual product appeared and was even ready
to ship! A well-kept secret from Abacus indeed. Now Flight Deck 6 is
available to purchase for around US$30 and offers a newly designed
carrier flying environment for FSX and FS2004.

Just Flight now offer, in boxed version, the chance to fly in

a virtual airshow with their latest Flight Simulator X addon, Airshow Pilot.

How accurate is your flying? Can you keep headings, altitudes

and fly near-perfect maneuvers? Nows your perfect chance
to prove you are the best! Airshow Pilot is all about accurate,
precision flying at air shows, whether in an aerobatic Extra, a
passenger airliner or a Hawk fast jet trainer - in fact you can fly
any aircraft that you have installed in FSX!
Whether you want to perform Loops, Cuban Eights, Rolls and
Immelmanns in a dedicated aerobatic aircraft like the Extra, fly a
fast and low display pass along the crowd line in an huge Airbus
or perform in an Arrow or Diamond formation in a Hawk trainer
(using a Learjet panel), Airshow Pilot is guaranteed to give you a
whole new perspective on aircraft handling.

In the tradition of the five versions that preceded, the new Flight
Deck 6 once again delivers the challenge of aircraft carrier operations.
This new version comes with significant enhancements that keep the
Flight Deck series one of the most compelling add-ons for both Flight
Simulator FSX and FS2004.
Youll begin your jockey training in the T-34 Mentor, a sprightly turboprop at Pensacola.
Youll progress to the jet-powered T-45 Goshawk at Corpus Christi.
Finally, youll climb into the F/A-18C Hornet as you meet the challenge
of aircraft carrier launches and recoveries from the deck of your new
home base, the modern carrier - USS Harry S Truman.
Another achievement is the inclusion of missions not only for FSX but
interactive, voice guided missions for FS2004 based on technology
from Matthias Schill. With its powerful catapults be airborne in just
a few hundred feet. For recovery, the steel cable is set to catch your
tailhook to bring your aircraft to a screeching halt.
Like previous releases, Flight Deck 6 promises to be a top seller and
it looks better than ever. Head to [Link] or your
favorite sim retailer and grab your copy today!

[Link] 18

Learn via the in-built training feature, practice and then test your
flying skills against AI competitors on your PC or compete online
with real Airshow Pilot competitors. Refine your flying skills during
a full calendar of events. Exclusive tracking software records your
flights for you to review and will evaluate and rate your skills. You
are also able to download other competitors flights and play them
back! Competition results are ranked throughout a season and every
pilot will receive a world ranking - trophies are reserved for only the
best pilots in each category!
During competitions the airfield will be filled with air show crowds - people,
tents, booths, cars, display aircraft and much more. You can even hear the
crowd noise! Airshow Pilot also includes the tools for you to design air show
aerobatic events, flight programs and even airport populations!
Airshow Pilot is available now on DVD disc format from all good flight sim
retailers. It is priced at US$41.99.

1/13/2010 [Link] PM

DISCOVER EUROPE WITH FIRST

CLASS SIMULATIONS
Hot on the heels of Around the World in 80 Flights and Pole to Pole, the
team at First Class Simulations continue their series of highly popular
flight adventure packages with the announcement of Discover Europe.
Fully included in the package is a detailed rendition of the Piper Pacer
which First Class Simulations state has been carefully crafted by a team
of professional enthusiasts to be the ideal accompaniment to the journey.
Offering both maneuverability and benign handling characteristics the
Pacer is a stable platform that is particularly well suited to the role of a
sightseeing aircraft. The package invites us to take an Alpine adventure,
to put our piloting skills to the test over the Pyrenees.

Following the tour affords the opportunity to visit Paris, Rome,

Madrid, Venice, Prague, Warsaw, Vienna, and a whole host of
countries and cities that reflect the multicultural tapestry of the
continent. With a range of flights for both novice and seasoned
aviators the developers hope that there is something for everyone,
from challenging approaches to a leisurely Mediterranean descent
into the playground resorts of the rich and famous.
The adventure is supported by lavish extras including a tourists
guide to all the destinations visited, detailed pilots notes, a
comprehensive briefing and a tutorial for the included Piper
aircraft.
Discover Europe is compatible with FS2004 and FSX and retails for
around 25 Pounds. Check [Link] or your
favorite sim retailer for availability.

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T
S
E
LAT
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ight
gAnFlying
Flying
y
g
Airports
p
s
Funght
d ChgaAirp
llensports
ging t
BY JOHN ACHOR

remember my first night flight during pilot

training. First, the instructors sat us down
and drilled into our heads its dangerous out
there when the sun goes down. They convinced us,
especially about an electrical failure the engine
would still be functioning, but little else would be,
and when the battery ran down, it would be dark

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and lonely up there. Internally lighted instruments

were years in the future. The basic instruments had
a couple of posts which held red peanut bulbs per
instrument. Also available was a flashlight attached
to the aircrafts electrical system by a coiled cord.
It was about two inches in diameter and four inches
long. That light remained in cockpits for decades.

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sts
g

Having cheated death landing after hurling out bodies through

the pitch black, we came to realize that there is a charm and beauty
to night flying like no other. The flight simulator is forgiving, real
lif
life may not be. To this day, I believe there is no such thing as Night
V
VF
VFR. If you dont have a basic understanding and the capability of
in
instrument flying, you have no business out there at night. If you
ddont believe this, watch my continuing column, I learned about
do
flyying from that and Ill include a war story that may change your
m
mind.
With that out of the way, lets check out a number of runways
around the world and how they look from the air in FS2004 at night.
I used default scenery throughout for this story so lets hop into our
Learjet 45 and get airborne.

OUR NIGHTTIME JOURNEY BEGINS

Well start on the southern California (USA) coast just north of the
border with Mexico. Arriving from the east we cross the Laguna and
El Cajon mountains and drop down toward San Diego International
Airport (KSAN) also known as Lindberg Field.
Ive flown into San Diego several times on commercial flights,
and landing to the west (Runway 28) the final approach is between
buildings as high as the flight path. Lets take a look at FS2004 on a
ten mile final into KSAN at night (Figure 1).

FIGURE 3

Its still dark outside, so well head about 200 miles northeast
to Las Vegas, Nevada (USA). The primary airport is McCarran
International Airport (KLAS). Back in the day, when I went through
some advanced training in the U.S. Air Force, it was called a Field.
During my short lived career as a fighter pilot I trained across town
at Nellis Air Force Base, the home of the U.S.A.F. Thunderbird
demonstration team. I trained in the F-100A Super Saber, the first
U.S. fighter that was capable of going supersonic in level flight.
Who couldnt visit Las Vegas and not check out the Strip where
you can see many of the gambling casinos and where the casino
owners are happy to separate you and your money. Runway 25R at
McCarran is off the nose (Figure 4) and the Vegas Strip is visible in
the distance right of the nose.
Heading for the Strip, I turn to a northerly heading for a good look
at the casinos (Figure 5).

FIGURE 1

Wave to the nice folks in those buildings in Figure 2, were

about five miles from the runway and Im certainly glad its VFR out
there. After an uneventful approach, in Figure 3, were about to touch
down on Runway 28.

FIGURE 4

FIGURE 2

FIGURE 5

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In Figure 6, Im at the north end of the strip and make a pylon turn
around the Stratosphere Tower.
I finish my 180 turn to the south, and in Figure 7 I head back down
Las Vegas Boulevard with the Stratosphere off my left wing and the
casinos along the Strip stretching out ahead of me.

FIGURE 9

WERE HEADING FOR THE EAST COAST OF

THE U.S.
FIGURE 6

I decided to do a fly-over at Chicagos OHare (KORD) airport

about 1500 miles along the road from Las Vegas. Since I had the warp
drive engaged, it took only seconds to arrive here. Thats OHare dead
on the nose in Figure 10 and in Figure 11 Im almost over the field
and the terminal is visible.

FIGURE 7

The nearest casino on the right in Figure 8 is the MGM Grand. Its
easy to tell this is from a few years ago the sign in front of the
MGM says the headline show is Siegfried & Roy and their tiger act.
Roy was attacked by one of the tigers in the act in October 2003 and
only recently have they tried a comeback. The vertical searchlight just
left of the nose comes from the Luxor Casino.

FIGURE 10

Figure 9 gives us our last view of Las Vegas, looking at my plane

as I turn to an easterly heading. The Strip is behind me and McCarran
airport is to the right.

FIGURE 11

Im continuing my flight eastward and am about to go feet wet

over Lake Michigan in Figure 12. How many of you can identify the
airport that is above the fourth fuselage window?

FIGURE 8

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Hint: This once was the default airport in Microsoft Flight

Simulator for years at least until the mayor of Chicago had the
runway dug up. (Answer: Meigs Field - KCGX).
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A few miles later (Figure 15) and were over Kennedy

International Airport (KJFK) and the terminal is clearly visible in
Figure 16.

FIGURE 12

Another 300 miles along our flight path Im swinging over

Washington Dulles (KIAD) just outside Washington D.C. (USA) in
Figure 13. Wow, traveling at warp speed, Ive got plenty of fuel to
make my next stop. I turn about forty-five degrees to the left and head
for New York City (USA).

FIGURE 15

FIGURE 16

FIGURE 13

ACROSS THE WIDE ATLANTIC

In Figure 14, I dropped down to about 1000 feet to give everyone
in the back a better view of the city of New York as we arrive. The
Statue of Liberty is just above the right wing tip with the southern tip
of Manhattan Island on the nose. The body of water running off at 10
oclock to the plane is the Hudson River. Thats where Captain Sully
Sullenberger put his Airbus down on the river saving all one-hundred
and fifty-five on board.

FIGURE 14

Scotty, give me all you got; Im going to need Warp 9 to make

it all the way to Orly Airport (LFPO). Paris, France is 3100 miles
away. Here (Figure 17), Im nearly on top of Orly. I will maintain
the same heading toward the bigger airport straight ahead. In Figure
18, you can see Le Bourget Airport (LFPB) off the left wing. Charles
Lindbergh landed at Le Bourget in 1927 after his solo flight across
the Atlantic. About fifteen miles ahead is Charles De Gaulle Airport
(LFPG).

FIGURE 17

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FIGURE 18

FIGURE 21

Charles De Gaulle Airport has four east-west runways. In Figure 19

you can see the northern pair is directly in front of the left wing tip,
and the other pair is at two oclock to the plane.
Well swing right and take a closer look at the southern pair of
runways. Ive lined up with Runway 08R and the terminal is visible
in Figure 20.
Abeam the terminal (Figure 21); it really stands out at night. I
suppose its time to head for another major airport. As we leave
Paris lets take a look at a couple of sights that are familiar to almost
everyone.
In Figure 22 the Arc de Triomphe is just below the nose of our
Learjet (lower left in the image) while the Eiffel Tower is at two
oclock to the plane.

FIGURE 22

From Paris, we turn northeast and head into Germany and toward
Tempelhof Airport (EDDI). This will only be a trip of around 450
miles so warp speed wont be required. As we arrive at the airport
you can see the terminal, the area just in front of a ninety-degree arc
of city lights at the top of Figure 23. Wed best not try to land here;
the airport was closed in October 2008. Tempelhof has its share of
history. One of the more famous events was being the terminus for the
Berlin Airlift when ground access was denied to the city of Berlin.

FIGURE 19

FIGURE 23

FIGURE 20

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I head almost due north on the way to another Berlin airport. Five
miles away at Alexanderplatz, the Berlin (Fernsehturm) Tower is
clearly visible in Figure 24 bisecting the left wing. This 1200 foot
tower serves the TV industry.
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A few more miles down the river and a little north we find probably
the most well known UK airport; Heathrow/London (EGLL). I line
up between the parallel east-west 12,000 foot runways as I approach
the airport in Figure 27. Heathrow is twenty miles west of London.
Figure 28 puts us on top of the field and the immense terminal
complex stands out in the night. Plans are afoot for Heathrow that
include a third runway and another terminal.

FIGURE 24

Another eight miles down the road; I fly over Tegel Airport
(EDDT). I wanted to see this unusual terminal. In Figure 25 you can
see it was built in a hexagonal shape to reduce the walking distance
from airplane to exit, etc. I thought I was correct, but used the internet
to confirm that a hexagon is a six-sided geometric figure (long time
since high school Geometry).

FIGURE 25

LETS LEAVE CONTINENTAL EUROPE

FIGURE 27

FIGURE 28

A FIVE THOUSAND MILE LEG

Picking up a westerly heading I aim our plane at London, England. I

hit the coast over the Thames River and follow it to London City Airport
(EGLC). Set in downtown London, this runway provides a sporty
approach and landing. Located a short distance from the north shore of
the Thames River, its located in a built up area and the runway is just
under 5000 feet. The runway is immediately in front of the right wing
(Figure 26). The round green building off the nose is the Millennium
Dome which was constructed for the year 2000 celebrations.

Its time to use the warp drive again. Taking a great circle route to the
southeast from the UK, we find ourselves at a dot in the ocean the
Indian Ocean that is. Diego Garcia Navy (FJDG) is billed at the largest
atoll in the world. That said, its still a pretty small area south of India.
Figure 29, a screen shot from FS Discover, shows the red airplane over
Diego Garcia. The atoll is south of India and the northeast corner of
Australia can be seen in the lower right of the image.

FIGURE 26

FIGURE 29

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I used the Top Down view in FS2004 to show the layout of the atoll
itself in Figure 30. The runway is visible on the upper left leg of the
U-shaped island.
Im passing over runway 13/31 at Diego Garcia in Figure 31.
Way back in the day when I was still flying for the U.S. Air Force
we heard whispered rumors about Diego Garcia. To this day I have
no idea whether spooky things went on there or whether it was just
a lousy assignment.

Following the southern coast line of Australia, Im south of

Melbourne and as I turn north, I can see the lights, lower right corner
of Figure 33, defining the entrance to Half Moon Harbor. From 3,000
feet I can pick out the airport glow in the distance, below the left wing
are the lights from the city of Melbourne.

FIGURE 33

FIGURE 30

FIGURE 31

On closer inspection, you can see in Figure 34 the airport as a dark

spot in the middle of the city. I drop down to 1,500 feet for a better
look at the airport.

FIGURE 34

ANOTHER LONG OVER-WATER LEG AND MORE

Im heading for the Australian Continent. It will be around 2800
miles to landfall and another twelve miles inland on the southwestern
coast to arrive at Perth (YPPH) shown in Figure 32. We still have a
continent to cross and its about 1700 miles to Essendon (YMEN).

FIGURE 32

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Figure 35 gives you a better view of the airport showing how the
field is totally surrounded by the city itself.

FIGURE 35

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LAST LEG
I take up a northeast heading and proceed to Sydney, about 360
miles away. Well do a bit of sightseeing before arriving at KingsfordSmith International Airport (YSSY). As I approach Sydney Harbor
I drop down to 125 feet and line up for a good view of the Sydney
Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge (Figure 36). The
soaring roof line of the Opera House is on the far left, while the twin
towers of the bridge loom ahead on either side of the aircraft nose.
Good thing the towers are well illuminated at night or I couldnt
execute the next maneuver.
FIGURE 37

Whew! Under the bridge and didnt scoop up any water from the
Harbour. I pop up to 1500 feet, turn to a southerly heading and aim
for the airport about five miles ahead (Figure 38). The runways at
Kingsford-Smith are just visible in the top left corner of the image.
The parallel north-south runways (16/34) and a single east-west
(07/25) are visible in Figure 39. Im over runway 16R and 16L is at
the left side of the image. The twin terminal areas also show quite
nicely against the darkness.
FIGURE 36

In Figure 37, you can see Im lined up with the middle of the bridge
span and well scoot under it. I bet we rocked the boat as I passed
over the top of that schooner just below us.

I received clearance for a closed left traffic pattern back to

runway 16R and Im on final in Figure 40. Oops. Im pretty close to
touchdown, better lower the landing gear.
In Figure 41, gear and flaps down, Im coming over the threshold
for a full stop landing.
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Im landing to the south, so the Domestic terminal is left of the

plane (Figure 42)
The International terminal is to my right (Figure 43).
I taxi back north to the west ramp and park our Learjet at the
Qantas Freight terminal (Figure 44). No authorities are there to greet
us, so I may escape any penalties for the bridge stunt.

FIGURE 38

FIGURE 42

FIGURE 39

FIGURE 43

FIGURE 40

FIGURE 44

A FINAL WORD

FIGURE 41

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Ive only scratched the surface looking at a few airports around the
world at night. I still enjoy night time scenery and often set the flight
simulator Time feature to hours of darkness. Its also fun to set the time
just before sunset or just before sunrise and watch the scenery change.
Check out the views of stars and the moon when flying at night. Take a
look at the spooky night time hours and decide for yourself whether
you get satisfaction from hurtling through the pitch black. 4
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MINI-REVIEW

AEROSOFT MEGA AIRPORT LISBON X

BY ROB SCOTT

isbon airport is one of the largest airports

in Southern Europe and serves as the
main base-hub of the national Portuguese
airline TAP-Air Portugal. In 2007 it handled
over 13 million passengers and 80,000 tonnes
of cargo. Aerosoft have now brought this
airport to FSX in stunning high detail as a
200mb download (420mb installed). After
downloading the scenery, installation is a
breeze and you will be up and running in a
matter of minutes. The airport is the latest in
the Mega Airport range and stands up well
against some of the other more detailed Mega
Airports despite it being a smaller airport.
This is good news for simmers on a lower spec
PC as frame rates are excellent, even when
the airport is fully populated with AI traffic.
The airport ground textures are based upon a
high detail aerial image and all the buildings,
taxiways, lighting, docking systems etc of
the real airport have been recreated with
exacting detail. The textures on the buildings

and vehicles are all photo-realistic. Scattered

around the airport are lots of additional objects
such as baggage carts, vehicles and road signs.
These may not seem very significant but when
they are all combined with the AI aircraft
and static aircraft (which can be deactivated)
the airport really comes to life. Exploring the
airport will reveal details which may not be
noticed straight away; hiding away in the
TAP-Air Portugal hangar is an aircraft being
serviced; on the outside of the airport are the
road signs leading up to the terminal entrance
and the car parks are populated with vehicles.
All these small details add up to create a
fantastic and atmospheric airport.
If you enjoy the airport during the day, you are
in for a treat at night. This is one of the few
airports which I prefer flying into at night; the
lighting effects and textures are stunning. The
night lighting is spot on and creates that strange
atmosphere that an airport gives off at night; its

neither too bright not too dark. The advantage

of flying at night is that the frame rates are even
higher than during the day, but you dont lose any
of the detail. Owners of Ultimate Terrain Europe
and Aerosofts AES will be pleased to know that
the airport is fully compatible with both products.
The one minor fault I encountered when using
this scenery was that the aircraft sometimes
bounced around on the taxiway. Whilst not a
major problem this is something that I have not
encountered with other Mega Airport titles.
I enjoyed using this scenery and it is another
fantastic addition to the Mega Airport range.
Aerosoft has set some high standards over the last
few months and this package continues that trend.
FS9 users who own the download version of
Lisbon 2008 (via Aerosofts online shop) are
eligible for a free FSX download. Also available in
boxed DVD format for US$29.99.

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Australian Air Adventures

PART TWO
BY ROB SCOTT

elcome back to the final installment of

my Aussie Adventure using the FTX
scenery. As before, I will guide you
through some flights that I think you will find
enjoyable and will show off this scenery. I hope
that the time between the two installments has
given you ample time to complete the previous
flights, and maybe even find a few of your own

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along the way. If you have installed the OZx

freeware airfields then you will have already
discovered some fantastic places to fly in and out
of; why not send in some of your favorite flights to
Computer Pilot? The majority of the population
live along the coast, so its not surprising that these
areas are the most built up, but the areas which
are not populated are fantastic to explore by air....

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MURKY WATERS LEADING TO THE SEA

LOOKING FORWARD TO THIS ONE

PICKING MY WAY THROUGH THE ISLANDS

BARRIER REEF

FLIGHT 1: THE GREAT BARRIER REEF

BATTLING THE ELEMENTS

The Great Barrier Reef is a World Heritage listed site and one of the most famous
tourist attractions in Australia. The best way to explore the Barrier Reef is underwater,
but you can still have a lot of fun exploring it from above where you can appreciate
how large it is. This flight departs from Cooktown and arrives at Hamilton Island and
is just over 350 miles. The flight plan is not included in the downloads section and I
flew direct as this took me straight down the coast passing over Cairns and Townsville
along the way. I opted to use the Piper Seneca for this flight as its quick cruise speed
would cover the distance in just under two hours. Navigation for this flight is as easy
as it gets, after departing from Cooktown turn towards the coast and head south. Dont
forget to pay attention to the other scenery along the way as soon after departure you
will be able to see the Black Mountain National Park as you fly down past Rossville,
Bloomfield and Wonga. Even though the main purpose of this flight is to explore the
Great Barrier Reef, dont neglect the scenery on the other side of the aircraft and feel
free to make frequent detours to explore the beaches and ports along the coastline.
Before you know it, Cairns will pop up out of the greenery. If you are enjoying the
flight take time to fly a few circuits around the area and take some (virtual) snaps.
After Cairns, the coastline begins to curve a little and move away from the Barrier
Reef. The next decision is up to you; either follow the coastline or head out over the
sea to follow the Barrier Reef. If you take the coast road youll be able to view the
Hinchinbrook Island National Park as you follow the Bruce Highway south towards
Hamilton Island. Next up on the list of big cities to fly over is Townsville, try and pick
out the Dairy Farmers Stadium where the North Queensland Cowboys Rugby League
team play. After Townsville its not far until our destination comes into view. There are
a couple of ways to handle this approach. You can opt for the boring straight in or take
some more time to explore the little islands surrounding the airfield and pick your way
through them before you land. Ill leave it up to you!
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THIS AREA IS BETTER WHEN THE SUN IS UP

AMAZING LANDSCAPE

WATCH THOSE HILLS

FLIGHT 2: GEORGE TOWN HOBART

WHERE TO NEXT?

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This flight will allow you to explore Tasmania which lies off the coast of Melbourne.
The flight will take you south towards Hobart over the green low-lying areas and the
mountainous areas in the middle of the island. The flight distance is approximately 120
miles and I opted to use the Cessna 182RG as I wanted to fly this one nice and slow to
take in the scenery. After departure, follow the river which runs inland as this will lead
you to the first waypoint of Launceston. Climb to 5500 feet to give you enough clearance
over the mountainous terrain up ahead. As you approach Launceston you will be able
to see the Ben Lomond National Park at your 11 oclock and the mountains will begin
to rise on your right. After leaving Launceston fly due south over Cramps Bay, Morass
Bay and Lake Sorell. The three lakes are all close together so you shouldnt have much
trouble picking them out. Before long you will be able to see the coastline, so contact
Hobart ATC and begin to descend to land once you are clear of the higher terrain. After
landing, why not try the Hobart-Lake Pedder flight from the last issue again?
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EXPLORING THE BAY

VERY SCENIC APPROACH

FLIGHT 3: AVALON
PHILLIP ISLAND

FEELS AS THOUGH IT'S GETTING COLDER

GREAT COLORS

This flight was probably one of my

favorites. I departed just as the sun was
rising and zig-zagged my way through
the Melbourne airspace before making a
landing on the gravel strip at Phillip Island.
The flight is only 120 miles and I used
the Mooney Bravo just to make sure I had
enough speed to keep out of the way of
the heavies flying into Melbourne. I would
strongly recommend flying this flight at
dawn so that you can enjoy the way the
colours of the scenery change as the sun
rises. The first part of the flight is nice and
easy; just follow the bay around until you
are near Tyabb airfield. If you get lost, tune
into the Cowes NDB on 275.0 which is very
close to your destination. Once you have
passed Tyabb youll be able to see the French
Island National Park. Fly around it and as
you turn back towards the sea, you should
be able to see the airport. Be careful that you
pick out the gravel strip to land on and not
the road which runs close to the airport.
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FIELDS, LOTS OF FIELDS

ANYONE FOR A GAME

INTENSE COLORS

FLIGHT 4: YARRAM MANGALORE

This next flight departs a little further south than where you last
landed at Philip Island and will fly over most of the same terrain, but
that doesnt mean its not an enjoyable flight. When you depart from
Yarram, assuming you have taken off from Runway 23, fly straight
ahead over Sunday Island and Le Trobe Island and make a slight left
turn and follow the coastline around the headland before picking up
the Meeniyan Promontory Road. Over the Corner Inlet Marine and
Coastal Park, you may even find another airstrip to land at if you keep
your eyes peeled. Once you have left the sea behind, tune into the
Melbourne VOR on 114.10 and fly straight to it. If you have flown
the previous flight some of this scenery will seem familiar! After
taking some time to explore the city of Melbourne, fly towards Eildon
and the Lake Eildon National Park which is easy to pick out as it is
surrounded by water, rather like a moat around a castle. The lake is
used for water activities such as power boating and water skiing, but
be careful around the park area as deer hunting is permitted in some
sections. Whilst you are exploring Lake Eildon tune in your ADF to
the Mangalore NDB on 254.0 and when you are ready, begin your
final approach. This flight is just under 240 miles so you may want to
consider using an aircraft which covers the ground a little quicker if
you are short on time.
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VERY FLAT, BUT IT STILL LOOKS GOOD

OFF WE GO

FLIGHT 5: ALDINGA PORT PIRIE

NICE PLACE TO TAKE A FLOAT PLANE

I like this trip because it took me from the greener

areas of Southern Australia toward the oranges and
reds of Western Australia. It was great to see the
colors begin to change in such a short space of time.
Rather than fly the direct route straight up the coast,
I decided to depart from Aldinga and fly towards
Ardrossan, then head off over the water towards
Lucky Bay and approach Port Pirie from the west.
Once you have flown past Lucky Bay you will see the
colors begin to change to the fantastic oranges and
reds I mentioned earlier. You might want to consider
departing about 30-45 minutes before the sun sets
for this flight. If you are following the flight plan you
will be approaching Whyalla before you realize it,
Whyallas webpage boasts that they have 300 days of
sun per year and the friendly locals make it the ideal
place to live. To a Pommy like me, that seems very
appealing! Once you have flown over Whyalla you
will soon be able to see the airfield at Port Pirie, so
descend down to pattern altitude and make a landing
before enjoying the sunset from the bar.
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SPECTACULAR VISUALS FROM ALTITUDE

I THINK IM LOST!

FLIGHT 6: BUNBURY SOUTHERN CROSS

ANOTHER RACE TRACK

This is the final flight of my Aussie Adventure and will take around 2 hours to complete. The
flight heads north toward Perth and then inland to the Southern Cross. If you are using the OZx
airfields, Bunbury is one at the airfields which have been given some treatment. After departure,
I kept nice and low to take a closer look of the scenery which remains pin sharp at any altitude.
Heading away from Bunbury, you will pass over several racetracks and it is up to you how you
get to Perth. I flew inland with the coastline always in sight so that I didnt get lost, and before
long I could pick out the sprawling urbanization of Perth and was able to venture further inland.
Flying up the coast you will be flying over lots of urban areas on the left with the fields and
greenery on your right. As you fly inland away from Perth towards Southern Cross, the greens
become much more intense as you approach the John Forrest National Park. After passing over
the national park the land becomes much flatter and once you pass over the Narembeen NDB
finding Southern Cross is quite easy as it is nestled between a few lakes which are laid out in a
horse shoe shape.
I hope that you have enjoyed reading this article as much as I have enjoyed writing it and
exploring Australia. I have always wanted to visit Australia, and whilst I cannot get there in
person just yet, FSX and FTX are the next best thing. If you want to explore Australia some
more, check out the FTX forums ([Link] where there are lots more
flight plans and even an adventure flying around Australia which stretches to nearly 200 flights
and 20,000 miles! ([Link]

IT'S A RACE AGAINST THE SUN

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Acknowledgements
John Venema at Orbx for donating the FTX scenery for this article ([Link]
Just Flight for donating the following during the course of the article:
Carenado Cessna U206G Stationair [Link]
Carenado Cessna 152 [Link]
Carenado Mooney [Link]
Carenado Cessna 182RG [Link]
Flying Club Duchess [Link]
PC Aviator for donating the Carenado Piper Seneca
[Link]
The environment textures were generated using Real Environment Extreme 2
[Link]
OZx freeware airfields [Link]
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W
E
I
V
REL-39 Albatros
4

REVIEW
BY DAVID WILSON-OKAMURA

he L-39 Albatros, by Lotus Simulations, is one

of the most polished and innovative products
I have seen yet for Flight Simulator X. First,
though, a few words about the real-world aircraft
that its based on. The Albatros (spelled, as here,
with just one s) is a jet trainer designed in the late
1960s by the Czech company Aero Vodochody,
when Czech industry was still under Soviet
direction. Intended for use in all of the Warsaw
Pact air forces, the L-39 became the most popular
jet trainer ever produced. Today, the Soviet Union

and the Warsaw Pact are both dissolved, but forty

years after the L-39 made its first test flight, in
1968, there are almost three thousand still flying.
Most of these are in service as military trainers:
the L-39 is now used by thirty air forces around
the world, not only in former Soviet-bloc countries
such as Georgia, but also in Africa, East Asia,
and the Middle East. In civilian life, the Albatros
competes at the annual Reno Air Races. In Europe,
Breitling sponsors an L-39 aerobatics team, as
does Frys Electronics in America.

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If you want to buy an Albatros in real life, it will cost you about
US$300k up-front and then about $40k per annum for maintenance,
insurance, hangar fees, and inspections. Thats on top of fuel, which
the Albatros burns through at about 20 gallons per hour.
Or, for US$45, you can buy the payware model from Lotus
Simulations. Thats still on the high end of what Im usually willing to
pay, but after flying the Albatros for more than a month, Im pleased
with my purchase.

Installation and Documentation

The download is about 170 Mb, and requires a license key to

unlock. An installer program copies over all the files, so run that and
youre ready to fly. If youre in a hurry, you can start the L-39 with
Control-E. (The real sequence, using the included checklist, takes
about ninety seconds, but most of that is just waiting for the motor
to spool up.) Theres no FMC to programthe real Albatros doesnt
even have an autopilot, and neither does the modelbut you at
least need to read p. 19 of the user manual, the section thats titled
Know This Or Die. The rest of the manual, which goes to 120
pages, is written in the same light-hearted but informative style.
This is one of the best add-on manuals Ive seen. Its attractively laid
out, with illustrations of all the systems and gauges; color profiles of
the included liveries; detailed instructions for how to join or host a
multiplayer session; flight notes for take-off, cruise, approach, and
landing; guidance on aerobatics; flight checklists; and emergency
procedures. Unlike some manuals, which are content merely to label
gauges, this one explains how to interpret what you see and what it
normally reads.

External Model

Despite the name, theres no mistaking the Albatros for a bird, fish,
squid, or anything organic. My favorite is the dorsal view, looking
down, but thats a feature of the original plane, which is reproduced
lovingly in the sim. In addition to all of the standard animations, the
model sports some that are specific to the L-39. This is a jet trainer,
so the instructor has his own cockpit behind the pilots, complete
with separate canopy; both cockpits have retractable steps for
ingress and egress. On the underside of the aircraft, there is also
a ram air turbine (RAT) that you wont see unless the main power
goes outin which case, the RAT will extend down and the blades
will spin to generate electricity. Textures are up to, but not above,
the standard for most payware. Bump mapping, though, is above
average, and highlights the rivets and plates on the planes fuselage
without making them stand out too much. A paint kit is available and
numerous, high-quality repaints can be found at [Link] and
[Link]; some of them are featured in my screenshots.
Exploding flares were part of the original model, but turned out
to cause problems in multiplayer. A patch is expected to restore the
flares, but wont be available until after my deadline has passed; for
current status, check the Lotus Simulations website.
The most innovative features of the external model are dynamic
icingin sub-zero conditions, ice accumulates visibly on the nose,
tail, wings, and windscreenand custom lighting. The landing lights
are similar to the 3D Lights product from A2A Simulations (which
sells for US$17 and can be added to most aircraft models, default
or payware). The beacon and anti-collision lights are less showy, but
theyre the first ones Ive seen in Flight Simulator that dont just glow
but also illuminate the ground (or, if theyre close enough, other
aircraft).

In addition to the manual (which you can download free, no

purchase necessary, from the Lotus Simulations website), there is
also a three-part video tutorial on YouTube. The video takes about
twenty-five minutes and covers cockpit orientation, engine start-up,
taxi, and take-off. More tutorials are planned, but the existing ones
are more than adequate to get off the ground and show prospective
customers what the virtual cockpit looks like in flight.

INSTRU

ON THE GROUND

DORSAL VIEW

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Virtual Cockpit

What sold me on this model in the first place was the virtual
cockpit. (There is no 2D panel.) Despite the real aircraft being
almost four decades old, the modeled cockpits are all clean. Those
who prefer a weathered look will be disappointed, but not (I think)
actually displeased. Even up close, the quality of textures and
modeling is very high. In my screenshots, for example, notice the
scratches and 3D bolts in the windscreen.
The L-39 was manufactured in the early 1970s, so most of the
gauges are steam. The only exceptions are the various condition
lights, the retrofitted GPS (which is default), and the radio stack. The
radio stack has the same functionality as the modern defaults, but
looks slicker and uses the RealAir system of tuning radios: that is,
you increase a frequency by dragging up on a knob, and decrease it
by dragging down. This is handy, because you dont have to hover
the mouse in one placesomething that can be difficult if you use
TrackIR.
The remaining gauges are all recreated in 3D, as part of the
cockpit model. Thats more work for the developer, but it looks
betterthe parts of each gauge are sharper and cast shadowsand,
more importantly, it performs better. Frame rates are higher and
gauge needles move more smoothly than 2D gauges. This is another
technique that was pioneered by RealAir and is now being adopted
more widely, especially for GA planes, military fighters, and some
helicopters. Its not the only feature that I look for in a premium
model, but its near the top of my list.

PILOT AND INSTRUCTOR

For night flying, there are two colors of gauge lighting, white and
red; the red lighting is to preserve the pilots night vision. There is
also a cockpit flood light.
The Albatros was designed for use by Soviet-bloc air forces so,
except for the altimeter (which registers in feet), all gauges are
metric. Thinking about your airspeed in kilometers per hour (KPH),
rather than knots or miles per hour, takes some getting used, but
everyone who tries it seems to manage all right. Dividing KPH by two
will give a rough idea of your airspeed in knots, which is useful so
long as you keep in mind that it is a rough idea. But since all of the
checklist speeds are given in KPH as well, you end up thinking in KPH
anyway. Another feature of the Soviet-style instrument panel is an
artificial horizon that displays pitch and bank separately. According to
the manual, this is more convenient for aerobatics. Im not enough of
an aerobat to judge, but it does make the panel more exotic, without
making it less functional.
My favorite VC feature, apart from the smooth 3D gauges, is
canopy icing and animated raindrops. We had raindrops in FS2004,
but they were supposed to be impossible in FSX. Apparently thats
not so, but to date this is the only model that has them.

CANOPIES OPEN, STAIRS

DOWN

INSTRUCTORS COCKPIT

ND

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Sound

The sounds in this model were provided by Christoffer Petersen

of Turbine Sound Studios and Douglas S. Dawson. In addition to
the flaps, jet engine, and landing gear, they include some special
effects in the cockpit. The canopy opens and closes in stereo (so
that you can hear the hinge on the right, followed by the lock on
the left), and when it seals you can hear the hiss of pressurized air.
In tight maneuvers you can hear the pilots G-suit expanding; and if
you forget to turn on the oxygen, you will begin to hear your own
labored breathing.

Flight and Systems Modeling

As much as was practical for a plane that can be flown in shared

cockpit modesomething well comment on in a minuteall of the
L-39s original systems have been modeled here, including the Saphir
starter turbine, the ram air turbine (for emergency power), backup
hydraulics for the landing gear and flaps, retractable barber poles on
nose and wings (to indicate gear and flap status), flap speed limits
(the slats will retract automatically if you exceed 300 KPH), engine
temperature limits (the power plant will automatically shut down if
it gets too hot; or, if you disable that safeguard, melt), and oxygen
for the pilot. If you fly above 18,000 feet and forget to turn on the
oxygen, you will black out after three minutes and crash. This is
realistic in one wayyou do need oxygen up therebut unrealistic
in anotheran aircraft that has been trimmed for level flight wont
go into a dive as soon as the pilot falls asleep; and when you descend
into denser air, its even possible that you might wake up in time to
save the ship! On balance, though, I prefer an excess of (simulated)
danger to no danger at all.

Im not a real pilot of anything, so my comments on the flight

model will be descriptive rather than evaluative. The virtual Albatros,
like its real-world counterpart, is capable of all the standard aerobatic
maneuvers, except flying upside down (which it can only do for 20
seconds before the engine flames out). In climb and at cruise, the
Albatros is a joy to fly; and its not difficult to land, so long as you
keep your speed up. This means planning ahead: the low-thrust
engine spools up slowly, so the only way to build up speed right
away is to (a) point the nose at the ground, which you cant very well
do if youre already getting ready to land, or (b) retract the air brake
(if you had the foresight to extend it in the first place). In a trainer,
this kind of behavior should count as a bug, no? But in a model
(which is what were judging here), it counts as a feature, because
its characteristic of the real aircraft.

NIGHT LIGHTING

WING VIEWS FOR SCENERY

FINAL APPROACH
SPEED BRAKES OUT ON

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ICE

Multiplayer

Except for the sounds, everything in this product was modeled

by one person: Mike Johnson. According to the Lotus Simulations
website, Johnson never flies FSX unless hes flying in multiplayer,
especially racing and aerobatics. This influenced the design
specifications in two ways.

ICE ACCUMULATIONS

First, the model had to produce high frame rates. On my rig (an
Intel quad-core running at 2.4 GHz with four gigs of RAM and Nvidia
8800GT graphics card), its smoother than most of the payware Ive
reviewed, but less smooth than the single-engine models produced
by RealAir, the Classics Hangar Fw-190, or the A2A P-47. If you need
more smoothness, theres a special multiplayer model that will trade
visual detail for extra frame rates.
Second, the model had to be flyable in shared-cockpit mode: a
feature of the default aircraft in FSX but not of most payware. The
real Albatros is a trainer, so the modeled Albatros has two cockpits:
one for the pilot and one for the instructor. In some versions, the
pilots cockpit has an animated hood, for IFR practice, and the
instructors cockpit has an extra panel to simulate instrument failures.

Conclusion

DETAIL
TEXTURE

G
P MAPPIN
AND BUM

Lotus is a new developer and this product, its first at-bat, is a grand
slam. Theres nothing in the model that isnt polished; and there are
several features that, so far as I know, are unique in FSX. Some, such as
raindrops on the canopy, are cosmetic; others, such as icing and dual
cockpits, have obvious and immediate applications for pilot training.
Dont buy it for bush flying (the engine spools up too slowly) or for
long hauls (it burns through its fuel supply too quickly). But the model
is a good balance of eye candy and frame rates, with speed for racing,
nimbleness for aerobatics, and premium gauges for IFR. Its also fun. 4

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ENHANCED GOOGLE EARTH

BY CHUCK BODEEN
THERE ARE A NUMBER OF WAYS TO USE THE NOW-FAMOUS GOOGLE EARTH TO
ENLARGE UPON YOUR PLEASURE OF FLIGHT SIMULATION. OFF-THE-SHELF GOOGLE
EARTH ([Link]) COMES WITH SATELLITE WEATHER,
WEATHER RADAR, HURRICANES, CURRENT CONDITIONS, AND FORECASTS
- THESE FEATURES CAN BE TURNED ON OR OFF AT WILL. IF USING REAL
WEATHER WITH FSX OR X-PLANE AND YOU CANT FIND A BAD
STORM, JUST LOOK AT GOOGLE EARTH AND YOU CAN FIND WHAT
YOU WANT ANYWHERE ON EARTH.

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In late 2006 public access to any updated files was removed, so the
3D images and the errors in numerical values cannot be changed. But
with a current sectional or TAC superimposed over the terrain you
can see the floors and ceilings without the numerical errors.
Footnote: *Digital Aeronautical Flight Information File maintained
by NGA (National Geospatia- Intelligence Agency)

GOOGLE EARTH IMAGE OF THE UNITED STATES ON THE DAY THAT I WAS
WRITING THIS ARTICLE SHOWS BAD WEATHER ACROSS MOST OF THE
SOUTHEAST. THE DAY BEFORE, THE SPACE SHUTTLE WAS FORCED TO
LAND AT EDWARDS AFB RATHER THAN AT THE KENNEDY SPACE CENTER.

Charts and Route Planning

From [Link]/maps/Sectionals/Aero_Charts_nl.kml you can,
at no cost, load United States sectionals, terminal area charts, flyways,
and 3D controlled airspace into Google Earth just by clicking on the
link. Only one of these may be shown at a time. The airspace images
are very good you can see under and over the layers. When you
mouse click on an area within a controlled space a balloon pops up
showing the ATC frequency, the floor, and the ceiling. Unfortunately,
there are many areas where the numeric values shown are in error.
Atlanta (KATL) is, perhaps, one of the worst examples. While a few
of the numerical values for floors are correct, most are marked as
10,000 feet even for the core at the center of the field where it
should be SFC. This and all other sources of controlled airspace
for Google Earth use a DAFIF* database.

THIS [Link] FLYWAY CHART FOR KLAS IS SUPERIMPOSED

DIRECTLY OVER THE GOOGLE EARTH IMAGE OF THE LAS VEGAS
AIRPORT. THE DOTTED LINES WITH AIRPLANES REPRESENT THE PATHS
INTO AND OUT OF THE CLASS B AIRSPACE.

A multitude of services which include the ability to plot a flight route

on Google Earth can be found at [Link]. Five levels
of membership ranging in cost from free to $249.95 per year provide
different degrees of access. The GoogleTicks, as they are called, are
free to the two highest levels and cost about $5 each for Basic and EAA
(Experimental Aircraft Association) members. A GoogleTick includes:
A line showing the route.
All airfields, navaids and waypoints close to the route.
NOTAMs close to the route.
Any of these may be turned on or off.

THE SECTIONAL FOR THE AREA AROUND KATL CLEARLY SHOWS THAT
THE FLOORS OF THE CONTROLLED AIRSPACE HAVE VARYING VALUES.
YET IN THE GOOGLE EARTH IMAGES, THE FLOORS OF ALL SECTIONS
ARE MARKED 10000 FEET. THIS IS ESPECIALLY NOTICEABLE IN THAT THE
CENTER SECTION OF EVERY CLASS B AIRSPACE SHOULD BE MARKED
SFC FOR SURFACE.

WITH AEROPLANNER, STEP (1) IS TO DESCRIBE THE ROUTE. HERE IT IS

FROM KJFK TO KMVY VIA TWO FIXES. IN STEP (2) THE ROUTE IS PLOTTED,
SHOWING THE SIX AREAS THAT WILL BE OVERLAID. THE RESULT (3) IN
GOOGLE EARTH SHOWS THE ORIGIN, DESTINATION, THE TWO FIXES,
AND THE ROUTE. IN THIS CASE, I ALSO ASKED FOR ANY AIRPORT WITHIN
10 NM OF THE ROUTE THAT HAS A RUNWAY LONGER THAN 5000 FEET.

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Routes are set up easily using Flight Explorer at

[Link]. This is a free service, but you must
register with your email address and a password. Once the route
is established, you ask for a briefing and there is an option to send
information to Google Earth where the flight path, waypoints, and
NOTAMs within 25nm of the route can be displayed.

USING FLIGHT EXPLORER FROM [Link] YOU CAN

SET UP A FLIGHT FROM KRIC TO KLGA SPECIFYING FIXES AND VECTOR
ROUTES TO BE FOLLOWED ALONG THE WAY. SEVERAL FIXES THAT
HAPPEN TO BE ON V229 AND V44 ARE ADDED IN THE INFORMATION
THAT IS SENT TO GOOGLE EARTH ALTHOUGH YOU MAY TURN OFF ANY
OF THESE.

Another source of sectionals and TACs that can be used with

Google Earth is from [Link] where a single chart costs
$3.95 or a whole set sells for $29.95 on DVD. If you want to keep
up with all the FAA changes, the DVD with a years updates will set
you back $99.95.
Each of the concepts described above may be used simultaneously.
Furthermore, rather than just exploring Google Earth by moving
your viewpoint there are ways you can fly through the enhanced
view using the Google Earth flight simulator, X-Plane, or FSX.

Google Earth Flight Simulator

At the top of the Google Earth screen, click on Tools and then
on Enter Flight Simulator. At this point you can select either
the F-16 or the Cirrus SR-22 to fly. Except for the speed and
climb rate, you wouldnt really know what airplane you have
because your view is limited to straight ahead with a HUD (
Heads Up Display). There is a short list of international airports,

IN PREPARATION TO FLY THE GOOGLE EARTH SIMULATOR, FIRST FIND

THE RUNWAY. ON THE LEFT THE EYE ALTITUDE IS 2439 FEET. ON THE
RIGHT IT IS 2311 FEET. THE AIRPORT ELEVATION IS 2282, BUT GOOGLE
EARTH WONT TAKE YOU ALL THE WAY DOWN. START THE SIMULATOR
AND YOURE READY TO TAKE OFF. YOU CAN ALSO START IN THE AIR AT
ANY POINT AND AT ANY ALTITUDE IF YOU LIKE.

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the default being Kathmandu (VNKT) Runway 02. You can

scroll to another airport if you like. If you have a joystick, leave it
enabled, and then click Start Flight. You will find yourself on
the selected runway ready to take off.
If you delay your launch of the flight sim, you can actually go to any
airport in the world by locating it in G.E. and then rotating the view
so that the runway you want is vertical on the screen. Get the runway
numbers centered and then zoom in until the eye height is as low as it
will go. Finally, enter the flight simulator. You will be ready for takeoff.

IN THE GOOGLE EARTH FLIGHT SIMULATOR THE SR-22 IS

APPROACHING THE CONTROLLED AIRSPACE AT ATLANTIC CITY (KACY)
AT AN ALTITUDE OF 1366 MSL. THE GROUND UNDER THE PLANE IS
AT 71 FEET ABOVE SEA LEVEL. THE CEILING OF THE AIRSPACE IS AT
4100 FEET AND THE FLOOR OF THE OUTSIDE RING IS AT 1300 FEET A
LITTLE LOWER THAN THE AIRPLANE. THE MAGENTA LINE IS THE ROUTE
PLANNED FROM KRIC TO KLGA.

FSX
Luciano Napolitanos FS Earth is an interface between Flight Simulator
X and Google Earth. You can follow the flights of your plane as well
as those of AI and multiplayer aircraft in real time. Flight plans created
by FSX or other means can be shown. Course predictions for the next
period of time are also shown. The program works on a single computer
running FSX and Google Earth together, or, on two networked
computers running respectively FSX (master) and Google Earth (slave).
Many options are available for fine tuning the performance. Luciano
says FS Earth is very useful for scenery designers to cross-check the
position of scenery objects against Google Earths satellite images. A
version for Flight Simulator 2004 is available also.
The free trial version works only around Anchorage, Alaska, (PANC
/ ANC) for a maximum of five minutes per flight session. A serial
number may be purchased for US$16.95 from [Link]
it/ which will allow the program to be used for the entire world, for
unlimited time.

FS EARTH ALLOWS BOTH ROUTES AND FLIGHT PATHS TO BE SEEN

ON GOOGLE EARTH FOR YOUR PLANE AS WELL AS FOR AI AND
MULTIPLAYER SHIPS. WHEN YOU SWITCH TO THE VIEW FROM THE
COCKPIT YOU SEE GOOGLE EARTH SCENERY.

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Jrgen Haible has created MyFsGoogleEarth, a program similar to

FS Earth but for MSFS 2004. Go to [Link] from
which you can download [Link], [Link], and the documentation for both. There are other MSFS
enhancing downloads there as well. You can see the current position
of your aircraft and of the surrounding AI traffic. There are several
steps you need to install the free product and get it running. Haible
explains all of this on his web site. The discussion covers the initial
setup of the system on a single computer, but you can also read about
using multiple machines. The process may seem to be rather lengthy,
but it is well worth the effort.

X-Plane
Xplage by Chris Kern, allows the X-Plane flight simulator to be
linked to Google Earth. You can find it at [Link]/code/
[Link]. Xplage sends two KML files to
Google Earth one for the top-down and one for a perspective view in
which the eye may be thought of as being right in front of the airplane
and pointing slightly downward. The system requires a bit of time for
setup, but you should find no conflict between the KML files it sends
to G.E. and those from the route generators or the 3D controlled space
images. The program is freeware.

QUICK REVIEW

In order to fly in controlled airspace you must have clearance or

contact with ATC. The definitions of the different kinds of controlled
space vary from country to country. In the U.S., Class B is around
large airports, Class C is around medium sized airports, and Class D
is for smaller facilities as long as there is a tower.
The FAA likes to say that controlled airspace around an airport
resembles a wedding cake stacked upside down and centered on
an airport. Typically, the outer ring for Class B airspace may have
a radius of 20 to 30 nm. There may be extensions or cut-outs of
any ring due to local terrain, traffic patterns, or other nearby or
overlapping airports. The best wedding cake example is at KCLE,
Cleveland, Ohio, but even there, a small notch in the center layer
allows traffic at a private use airport, Gilbert (49OH), to avoid having
to contact the ATC at KCLE. Perhaps the least like a wedding cake is
at KSAN, San Diego, California.

IDEAL CLASS B AIRSPACE

SAN DIEGO CLASS B AIRSPACE

The San Diego cake looks as if someone dropped it. There are 11
layers with the same floors and ceilings, but 21 separate areas. Most
astonishing is the fact that none of the areas has any part of a circle
they are all polygons with (mostly) straight sides.

ON THE TOP IS A GOOGLE EARTH FLIGHT IN THE STATE OF NEW

MEXICO FROM SOCORRO (KONM) TO SANTA FE (KSAF) VIA THREE
OTHER AIRPORTS. THE GREEN AREAS ARE RESTRICTED AIRSPACE. ON
THE BOTTOM IN X-PLANE WE ARE ABOVE THE CONTROLLED AIRSPACE
AROUND KABQ, AND BELOW THE PLANNED ROUTE. I ADDED ARROWS
TO THE ROUTE TO MAKE IT EASIER TO SEE THE DIRECTION OF FLIGHT.

Now you know how you can have the wonderful Google Earth
satellite images for scenery and fly with your favorite simulator.

Flight plans consist of departure and destination airports and a route

of flight. The route may be a list of waypoints or a mixture of
waypoints and federal airways. The waypoints are things like VORs,
NDBs, and fixes. A fix is a point defined by latitude and longitude.
Some fixes are intersections of federal airways. Each federal airway
is based on a centerline that extends from one navaid or intersection
to another navaid or fix. If you want a federal airway to be part of
your route, you must be bounded by navaids or fixes that are on that
airway. Federal airways are noted on sectional and terminal area
charts from [Link] which you can superimpose on Google Earth.
You can find the navaids and fixes on X-Plane maps. The Flight
Management System instruments on X-Plane actually work so you
can tell the autopilot to follow the same route you have set up for
display in Google Earth. With FSX, you can set up departure and
destination airports and the program will select a route for you.
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W
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REFlying Club 2
REVIEW

BY ROGER CURTISS

ouldnt it be nice to have an all-in-one

package offering some aircraft for both
new pilots and experienced aviators as
well as a home airport where you can fly without
commercial activity to hem you in?
The folks at Just Flight have taken their company
name to heart once again and put together
something that comes pretty close to offering that
environment. Flying Club 2 is, as its name suggests,
a follow up tocan you guess?yep, Flying Club!
That program was a combination of 5 light aircraft
and an English airfield from which to enjoy them.

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Based either on the success of FC or the fact that they had a few
additional aircraft models sitting around, Just Flight has released
this program as an add-on for FSX and FS9. It offers three aircraft;
the Piper Archer III, Beech Duchess and Robinson R44 helicopter.
Beyond that, the title of Flying Club is a loose one as there really is
no central theme tying the aircraft together, although the FSX version
also includes a detailed Denham Aerodrome as a scenery add-on. In
essence, this appears to be a collection of aircraft and a previously
released scenery enhancement. Not that there is anything wrong
with that. This is basically the same formula as was brought forth in
Flying Club which bundled 5 aircraft and a treatment of a different
small airfield.
The package is delivered as a boxed version only containing one
DVD. There may be those who disdain mailed versions instead of
downloads but in this case it is a good thing since the package also
includes an 84 page Club Handbook that is worth a read and
having it in a hard copy makes it more likely that people will do that.

ARCHER AT DENH
AM

ARCHER 2D

Here are the minimum specifications to run the program:

FSX (Acceleration, SP2 and DX 10 Preview compatible) or FS9
3.0 GHz PC or any Dual Core
1.0 Gb RAM
512Mb graphics card
Windows Vista/XP
1.0Gb hard drive space
I loaded the contents into both FS9 and FSX to get a full feel
for what is offered. It was a matter of a series of clicks and each
version installed in less than 4 minutes. Interestingly, the R44 is the
biggest component of both installations and it is over twice the size
of the other two offerings in the FS9 version. The DVD includes the
FSX Service Packs 1 and 2 as well as a neat video from Just Flight
demonstrating the White-Waltham airfield that is available from them
for purchase and provides a grass airstrip with the same countryside
feel as the Denham aerodrome.
I also went to the Just Flight website and found a 14.4 Mb service
pack for the Duchess which I downloaded and installed as well.

Piper Archer III

ARCHER

VC

This is a beautiful rendition of the airplane with excellent external

modeling and a well rendered instrument panel. All of the gauges
are clear and readable. Curiously, there is a GPS unit in the radio
stack that is modeled after the simplified unit that was first installed
in the airplane. Turning it on activates a self-test page followed by
a 3 line information page. That is all this unit does- clicking on the
display calls up the default FS GPS in a separate window. I have flown
Archers and this one displays most of the good mannerisms of its fullsized cousins. However, be prepared to use a healthy amount of nose
down elevator trim when adding flaps as there is a strong tendency
to balloon which can start to ruin a perfectly fine landing approach.

Beech Duchess

I have to say this is my favorite of the package and quite a sweet

airplane as well. It handles nicely, is very responsive to the control
inputs and is extremely stable. I was particularly impressed by the
instrument panel. When viewing the main instrument display clicking
on the glare shield cowling summons a small block dubbed the
Cockpit Navigator in the windshield that allows you to select 11 sub
panels to open for additional instruments and switches. Everything
functions as it should except the cockpit heater blower switch does
not actually do anything-but it can be flicked on and off if you so
desire. One oddity on the main instrument panel is what appear to
be adhesive bandages on two sides of the attitude indicator and
the ADF indicator. The only function I could surmise is that they
are velcro pieces to hold cover devices for partial panel instrument
training. Just Flight confirmed this and I suggested they consider
adding clickable covers if another update is issued.

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IMATION

ING AN
DUCHESS PARK

DUCHESS NIGHT CO
CKPIT

Robinson R44

DUCHESS AT DENHAM

R44 AT DENHAM

DUCHESS

VC

TAKEOFF
ROBINSON R44 READY FOR

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I have never been very good at flying the helicopters in FS.

Unfortunately, this model is no exception. But that is not Just
Flights fault, it is simply that I am a poor rotorcraft pilot who
has not yet taken the time to learn to finesse the machine.
The handbook provides excellent instruction for chopper pilots
including a tutorial flight narrative to introduce the new pilot to
the subtleties of the R44. I plan to use this flight model to try and
make me a helo driver.

Sounds

Each aircraft has its own unique soundset and all are quite good.
I could say more about this but it is not necessary. If I could find
one complaint it is that the landing gear extension and retraction
on the Duchess could not be heard from the cockpit necessitating
calling up the appropriate sub panel to confirm that the lights were
3 green or extinguished. If that is how it is in the real version then
kudos to the Beechcraft engineers for making it so quiet.

DENHAM

The Handbook

I said earlier that the handbook was a most welcome addition

and this one is pretty well edited. The 84-page book is divided
into 7 useful sections with a very brief 2 pages of introduction and
installation instructions. There is even a section titled How to
Access the Aircraft which, aside from a few extraneous question
marks, should guarantee that at least THAT question does not
show up in the Just Flight forums. (And just to be sure the same
instructions are reproduced twice more in the handbook-once
three pages later in the Archer section and again in the R44
section).
The remainder of the handbook details the panel layouts, click
spots and instructions on how to operate the radios and GPS. This
handbook should answer the vast majority of questions and is
quite thorough.

Conclusion

Flying Club 2 would be an excellent choice for

someone who is a new flight simulator user. It can be
paired with both FS9 and FSX so if one has difficulty
getting FSX to perform superbly (as in-fast frame rates)
it can be used in FS9 with very little reduction in the
fidelity of the models save, of course the loss of a
detailed EGLD. The selection of aircraft is also a great
combination for a new pilot. The Archer is a bit heavier
and faster than an entry level Cessna 152 or Piper
Tomahawk and the Duchess and R44 cannot be beat
for their suitability as introductions to multi-engine and
rotor winged aircraft respectively.
The Flying Club 2 package is delivered with a
purchase price of US$45.00 and with the additional
bonus of the FSX Denham aerodrome that amounts to
an economical way to enhance ones stable of aircraft.

Denham Aerodrome

The Denham airport (EGLD) is located a very few miles north of

London Heathrow and features two runways- the asphalt 6/24 and
an intersecting grass runway 12/30. As stated earlier this feature
is only present in the FSX version. The FS9 depiction shows the
runways but lacks the added detail of hangars, vehicles, parked
airplanes and people-both static and animated. The handbook
offers a few suggestions on the optimum setup of the scenery
control sliders to achieve full detail or better performance and
there are options to enable/disable many of the effects to further
customize the experience. While I am a big fan of accurate airports
in FS I dont spend a lot of time sitting in the airplane while its
parked or viewing the area from the external views so frankly,
much of the bells and whistles of the aerodrome are lost on me
but it does make it better than arriving in a ghost town and is a
nice addition to the package.
EGLD has the added feature of seasonal texturing. When the
FS calendar is set for December and January there will be snow
on the airfield.

Just Flight seems to have hit on a formula that

works well for them (if the original FC had not
been profitable one doubts they would have gone
to the trouble of issuing FC2) and for us. It is not
inconceivable that the series could continue- the
various permutations of aircraft and scenery provide
practically an unlimited combination- and perhaps
they could be persuaded to expand the airport offerings to areas
beyond England.
While it is always difficult (at least for me) to attempt to predict
developments in flight simulation consider the possibility that the
concept could be expanded to make it truly a flying club. Perhaps
a way could be found to restrict a pilot from flying the clubs twin
engine planes until a certain number of hours have been logged in
the singles. Or deny a pilot the opportunity to solo in a helicopter
until getting a sign off from a club instructor. Im just spitballing
here but there does seem to be some latitude for experimenting
with the concept.
Until such a time as crazy ideas like these take hold we will have
the type of flight club packages that Just Flight and others prepare
for us - a compilation of aircraft and airport with no real underlying
theme but as long as they are of the same high quality as FC2,
future versions will certainly be welcomed.
Flying Club 2 is available from the Just Flight website and
PC Aviator. 4

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50

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Ansett Australia Retro 727

Screenshot by Dean Bielanowski

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W
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V
RVAEFLYFLYING

WITH PACIFIC AIRWAYS

REVIEW

BY ROB SCOTT

fter flying around in FS for several months

many years ago, it occurred to me that I was
only flying the same few routes in the same
aircraft over and over again. I tried to venture into a
different area of the world, but always found myself
coming back to flying in the default aircraft from my
home airport (Leeds Bradford EGNM). After reading
through an FS related book I discovered that there
was a whole new world out there on the internet with

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3rd party add-ons and something which sounded very

interesting, a virtual airline. After much more reading
and surfing the net I decided to give it a go, and was
hugely disappointed as I was very restricted in how
often I could fly (2 flights per day) and the lack of
activity in the forums. So I left and then went back to
flying from Leeds Bradford in the default Cessna.
Then FS changed forever for me.

CPM. V14I2

1/13/2010 [Link] PM

In a flight sim mag there was an article focussing on virtual

airlines, specifically Pacific Airways ([Link]). The
article put the airline across very favorably, so rather sceptically
I decided to give it another go and signed up to the London Hub.
The fleet is hugely diverse ranging from the B1900D up to the
mighty 747 and A340 in the Millennium Club (more on that later).
The airline caters to passenger and cargo operations. If there was a
route I wanted to fly that wasnt listed or I wanted to fly a normal
route with a different category of aircraft, the ever friendly hub
staff would create a one of a kind charter for me to be able to fly the
route. There is also an express division, float plane operations and a
helicopter division.

The friendliness of the staff is something that runs throughout the

airline, and also the sister airline American Flight Airways (flying under
the alliance of The American Pacific Group or APG). This is in no
small part due to the very active forums which are the lifeblood of the
airline. As soon as I joined up I signed up for the forums and introduced
myself, hoping that I would get more response than my previous VA
outing. Within a few hours there were several friendly replies to my
thread with each person offering help should I need it. Thats another
thing that is so good about the staff and pilots with each airline, there is
always someone on hand who can help with your problem, and if they
cant they will probably know someone who can. After less than a week
I was feeling right at home here and was really enjoying myself.
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As with most VAs there is a structure in place so that you are not
permitted to fly the larger aircraft until you have progressed up the
ranks by flying a set number of hours. However, this is not as bad as it
seems as you only need to fly 40 hours to be certified to fly the whole
range of aircraft. The aircraft and flights are grouped into 5 categories
where category 1 flights use aircraft like the B1900D and category 5
flights use the 747. The fleet is very diverse without having too many
aircraft. The thing which attracted me at first was the flexibility which
the airline allowed. I can fly the flights whenever I want and am not
stuck to specific days and I only had to log 1 flight per month to stay
active and (within reason) I could fly any flight I wanted to due to
the charter division. If you are unable to fly for an extended period of
time you are able to go on LOA so that you will not be deleted from
the roster.
Pacific Airways has 7 hubs in Seattle, Miami, Denver, Chicago,
New York, Los Angeles and London with cities such as London using
all the major airports in the city (Heathrow, Gatwick, London City,
Stanstead and Luton). The sister airline American Flight Airways
(AFA) has 6 domestic US hubs in Atlanta, Dallas, Detroit, Phoenix,
San Francisco, and Washington as well as international hubs in
Australia and Latin America. There is also a mini-hub in India which
was set up as a joint operation by Pacific Airways London and AFA
Australia a few years ago. As I write this article, AFA Latin America
and PAY Miami have just opened up a new mini cargo hub in
Santiago, Chile to stretch the route network even further.

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Currently there are well in excess of 2000 flights within APG, so

you will never be stuck for somewhere to fly and coupled with the
ever busy charter center, you will never be bored. The charters can
range from something simple such as taking some holiday makers
from Gatwick down to Malaga in a 757 to a huge around the world
charter in the Cessna Caravan (yes there is someone who has done
that!). No matter what you request from the hub staff, they will bend
over backwards to help you. After all, if you are not enjoying flying
with the airline then you arent very likely to fly.
What happens when you want to take a break from flying in your
hub and fly from another one for a few weeks? Not a problem, just
head on over to that hub and fly their routes (either PAY or AFA)
then come back to your own hub when you are ready. If the grass
really is greener on the other side, you can transfer hubs. You can
easily see what routes are available from each hub before you
decide to fly from there thanks to the very easy to use flight database
system on the website. Just fill in where you want to fly from and
with which category or aircraft and its all displayed in a matter of
seconds for you.
Ive already mentioned the exceptional forum community; it
stretches even further than that with the online events which are
organized on a weekly basis. Each week there are several online
events held on the VATSIM network, the biggest being VATSIM
Sunday which regularly attracts a huge amount of pilots from both
AFA and PAY. These events are advertised well in advance so
you can pick and choose which ones you attend. The events coordinator will also try to arrange ATC in the area to make the flight
much more realistic. The beauty of the online events is that the
normal flight line rules are relaxed to enable you to attend. If the
destination is Bremerton and you are currently based in Jamaica,
you dont have to fly in from there (unless you want to) but you
can just fly in from a nearby airfield if you want and still log the
flight. These events have really taken off in recent times (pun
intended) and many firm friendships have been created just by the
online events.
And that leads me onto another great aspect of Virtual Airline
flying, the friendships you form. Thanks to Pacific Airways I
have made many friends, some which are in England, others from
as far away as Australia. There is even a thread in the forums for
people to announce where they are going to be, on the off chance
that someone else from the airline will be in the same place at the
same time, such as passing through an airport on a connecting
flight. The community spirit is fantastic and will never die no
matter what happens.
What about development of the airline? If the airline stands still as
everything around it progresses, it will get left behind. Fortunately
the staff team is dedicated and will not let this happen. If a new
payware model comes out for one of our fleet, you can bet that within
a few weeks (sometimes days) there will be a Pacific Airways livery
painted on it. The staff members are constantly in contact with the
pilots asking them what they would like to see implemented into the
airline to help keep it better than the rest. There are regular requests
from pilots on the forums asking why cant we have this aircraft in
the fleet etc... Each request will be responded to in a professional and
friendly manner. Even though the airline is hugely flexible, before a
new aircraft is added it will go through a careful selection process and
will usually replace an outgoing aircraft to keep the fleet size realistic.
Currently the fleet is compatible with both FS9 and FSX thanks to
the excellent work being doing by our fleet team; there are even still
some FS2002 models out there!

As with any airline there are rules and regulations; in order to join up
a potential pilot must read through the short pilot hand-book and pass a
short entrance exam (its quite easy really). The handbook sets out the
rules and regulations in a clear and concise manner, and if pilots are
ever in any doubt they will invariably refer to their hub staff or a forum
post. The staff do make regular audits of the log-books of each pilot in
their hub, so if someone is not flying within the rules and regulations
they will sort out the problem with the pilot directly. Its very rare that
problems do occur, but when they do they are easily and quickly sorted.
What happens when you have reached the 40 hour mark and are
able to fly every aircraft in the fleet? What is there to aim for? As
you fly more hours you will get a higher ranking, up to the highest
accolade in the airline of ATP Senior Commander which is achieved
after you pass 1000 hours. After reaching this landmark you are
granted entry into the American Pacific Group Millennium Club
where you will be given several new aircraft with a nice shiny livery
on them to be used on special charter routes. Currently there are 4
aircraft in the fleet (B747sp, A340, Connie and Concorde) all with the
same great livery on them. There are plenty of pilots who are in the
Millennium Club which shows that even after passing the required 40
hours to be able to fly the whole fleet, people still keep flying because
they love the airline so much.
Why not come and have a look at what we can offer you? Weve been
around for almost 12 years now so we must be doing something right!
Rob Scott PAY8156
London Hub Director
Millennium Club President
[Link] 4
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W
E
I
V
RE

Eurofighter Typhoon
& Eurocopter Tiger

REVIEW

BY GENE DAVIS

ny time a software add-on touts two

products for the price of one I am usually
pretty quick about picking it up and this
time around the guys over at First Class Simulations
have brought us yet another interesting blend of
aircraft in one add-on. This time we get to climb
into the cockpits of the Eurofighter Typhoon and
the Eurocopter Tiger! Two unique military aircraft
that derive from a different part of the world and
myself, being mostly an American Plane flyer,
welcome the change and the challenge of learning
something new.

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Whats In the Box?

The Typhoon and Tiger package comes in boxed format and can
be had from just about any software outlet that sells MSFS addons. The package itself costs US$34.95 and if you do the math that
is about 17 bucks and some cents per add-on which really is a good
deal for each.
Installation is simple, as with all of the First Class Simulation titles.
Simply insert the disk and choose which simulation you want to install
the add-on into and away you go. Being that this add-on will allow
itself to be installed into either FSX or FS9 I tend to question whether
the Typhoon and the Tiger are true FSX models or whether they are
actually FS9 models ported over to work in FSX? It would seem the
latter is true. If so, this is not always a bad thing, but I think the box
should be clear about what you are buying if this is indeed the case.

CPM. V14I2

1/13/2010 [Link] PM

Included in this package for the Typhoon are 22 variants based on

actual squadron markings from the many European nations that use
this aircraft. Some of these nations include Germany, Great Britain,
Australia and France.
The Eurocopter Tiger includes 5 different variants that cover the
helicopters use in armed recon, air to air combat, or as a UHT tank
killer. I was a little surprised that there wasnt more to choose from
when it came to the Tiger, but what is there is adequate and does
give the virtual pilot a good taste of the Tiger flare.
What I also like about this package is that you can fly in virtual
formation with other Eurofighters and this is done by adding extra
basic models to the main aircraft model while in flight. I would
have definitely liked to have seen this option available with the
Tiger as well because it would have made some of the flying a little
more interesting. This is rather impressive because it doesnt slow
the computer down at all and at times your formation will move
depending on what maneuver you are attempting.

Flying the Eurofighter Typhoon

Externally the Typhoon is magnificent as it incorporates all of the

moving parts we have come to expect from add-ons like this, but
where this plane would have to impress me is how it flies from the
cockpit and what features it would incorporate to make it a valuable
asset to my military hangar. Each Typhoon comes with its own
weapon loadout and incorporates all phases of missions that this jet
is used for.
The sound is relatively good from both the interior and exterior
perspective, but I would have like to have seen more from within the
cockpit especially when it comes to the old bitching Betty. It uses
the default pull up sound files which is odd because after all, this is
a European fighter!

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Climbing into the cockpit was a bit of a let-down for me as I was

expecting more in the graphics department, especially where the
avionics were concerned. The virtual cockpit is built around a photoreal bitmap that places the three main displays out in front of you.
The bitmap actually blends in well with the rest of the jet and is
adequate for what it is. I really do wish they had put more work into
the actual design of the virtual cockpit and its functionality especially
when you take other add-ons of this type into consideration, for
example the Lotus L-39 Albatross is by far one of the most advanced
models I have seen to date and there arent many that even come
close in comparison in terms of functionality.

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The displays are partially functional and do allow the pilot to

switch through some of the planes features, but I found much
of the switching had to be done through the 2D panel rather
than from the virtual cockpit. I found the displays to be more of a
decoration than anything useful as the included Head Up Display
offers more useful value.
Flying the Typhoon is fun as the plane is as quick and responsive
as I expected it to be and it can be used for both carrier operations
and land operations as well. Formation flying in the Typhoon is a lot
of fun and you can use this mode to create your own simulated air
show performance.

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1/13/2010 [Link] PM

Another great feature that comes with the Typhoon is how it

reacts to things like braking. As I was taxiing around my virtual air
show I found that as I neared a turn off the main runway I braked
and applied too much turn causing the Typhoon to actually tilt off
its axis! As it came back down you could literally see the weight of
the aircraft putting stress on the landing gear. I tend to like little
things like that when it comes to military planes as it adds to the
realism factor quite markedly.

Flying the Tiger

The Tigers external model is quite good and when compared to

other helicopter add-ons out on the market it competes well. The
external model is ripe with extra features and has a slew of moving
parts. The one thing I found externally that I didnt like was the
appearance of the crew. They just were not convincing and given
the state of add-ons today I think more could have been done here.
I think what impressed me the most was the fluidness in the way
helicopter performed; the blade movement is convincing, as is the
Tigers sound.
The flight deck on this one also proved to be a little lacking, but
I did find it more functional than the Typhoons offering. Why?
I couldnt tell you, but it just seemed to have more functional
systems available from the virtual cockpit and didnt really require a
lot of switching to the 2D panel like the Typhoon required.

Conclusion

If you were to take this add-on and break it up into two different
add-ons at little more than US$17 a piece I would say that you are
definitely getting your moneys worth. But, if you are looking for a
sim like the Lotus L-39 then this package definitely will not fit the
bill. This is a good basic aircraft package that includes two beautifully
created European fighters and if you can just accept them for what
they are (good visual models with basic flight decks) then you will
definitely enjoy them. 4

I was pleasantly surprised at how well the Tiger handled during

flight as it was quick and responsive and didnt overwhelm the
pilot with extra systems to manage when airborne. This is a
decent chopper and makes for a good first run entry into the FSX
helicopter world if you have never tried flying them before, but for
those of us that spend a great deal of time flying choppers in FSX
this one will feel pretty basic.
I found the chopper relatively easy to land and take off as well
as fly, but what amazed me the most is how it responded to other
forces like braking or windy conditions. For example, when sitting
on the tarmac and taxiing, once you apply the brakes you visually
see the effect of the brakes being applied and how it affects
the shocks in the wheel struts. From a dead stop hover I had to
counteract the wind forces by applying torque to keep it straight
and level to compensate for the drift.

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FREEWAREFRENZY

TOP DOWNLOADS AT A PRICE THAT IS HARD TO BEAT!

FREEWARE EXPLORERS THIS ISSUE: David Wilson-Okamura

y popular demand, Freeware Frenzy has returned to Computer Pilot magazine!

Every 2nd issue, we will track down the best freeware downloads available for a wide variety of civilian and combat
simulators. Every add-on mentioned in this column can be yours for FREE (Internet connection required) thanks to the
great community of freeware developers devoting their time to creating awesome simulation masterpieces. We salute you!

PW SCENERIES

Author: Paul Wheeler

File size: about 2 Mb each
Available from: [Link]

PW SCENERIES

SZD-30 PIRAT GLIDER - FSX AIRCRAFT

At least once every month, someone on the forums announces the death of flight sim
freeware. Ive been writing the Frenzies for three years now, and Ive never once been
stumped for new material. Theres always something new, and theres often something
old that Ive overlooked. How did I miss these? I ask myself. The PW Sceneries are
an example. Since January 2009, Paul Wheeler has been releasing freeware scenery
for the Caribbean islands. So far, hes done Grenada (volume 1); the Grenadines, St.
Vincent and Barbados (volume 2); St. Lucia and Martinique (volume 3); Dominica
and Guadeloupe (volume 4). Next up, according to his forum, will be all the islands
immediately north of Guadeloupe: Montserrat, Antigua, Redonda, St Kitts, Nevis,
Barbuda, St Eustatius, Saba, St Barthelemy, St Maarten, Scrub Island, Dog Island,
Sombrero and all the small islets in between. Ten volumes are planned altogether,
with coverage for the whole Caribbean. Wheeler uses objects from the default scenery
library, so the downloads are very small. But each one features moving traffic, rivers and
streams, accurate land usage, and detailed coastlines. On my mid-range PC, frame rates
are good even in heavy cloud. (It helps that the islands are surrounded by water.) Even
if you dont normally fly hereand I didnt used togive one of these a try, maybe
starting with volume 4, and see if you dont get the whole set.

Authors: Michal Puto, Michal Krawczyk, Doug Dawson, Damian Szymczyk

Filename: [Link]
Available from: [Link] (under author empeck), [Link]

SZD-30 PIRAT

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File size: 30 Mb

Since FSX came out three years ago, the sport of virtual soaring has been racing forward.
Weve already featured a couple of gliders and a utility, CumulusX! by Peter Lrkens,
that produces thermals, marks them with clouds, and even generates ridge lift. This latest
offering, by a team in Poland, is a wooden glider from the mid-1960s. Unlike modern
gliders, which are made of synthetic materials, the Pirat isnt certified for aerobatics, but
its a pleasure to fly. The model is FSX-native and comes with three paint schemes. The
wooden wings arent as supple as those of the modern default glider, though they do flex.
Where this model really stands out is in the cockpit, which has pin-sharp textures and
custom gauges, including a total energy variometer. The gauges are 3D, which means
they not only look better, but also move more smoothly than the 2D gauges in the default
glider. There is also a brand-new, easy-to-use winch gauge, which can launch the glider
without the use of slewing or a tow-plane.

CPM. V14I2
V14I1

1/13/2010 [Link] PM

CLEMENCEAU - FSX AIRCRAFT CARRIER

File size: 26 Mb

Author: Sylvain Parouty

Filename: VEH_Clemenceau_V2-[Link]
Available from: [Link], [Link]/sonny3/RFN/
In the last Frenzy, we described a couple of new carrier addons: Dino Cattaneos freeware Tomcat and Javier Thrawn
Fernandezs model of the U.S.S. Nimitz and Eisenhower (uss_
nimitz_ike.zip). Several weeks later, after we had already
gone to press, Sylvain Parouty released a new version of his
French aircraft carrier, the Clemenceau. Even if you already
have the Nimitz, get Le Clem. The design of the French
boat is different (as youd expect), but the model has some
new features as well. For example, off the port side theres
a helicopter bobbing up and down in the wind. The optical
landing system is animated and moves into place when your
plane attaches to the catapult. Theres an animated shooting
officer; and when you look back after leaving the deck,
youll see steam from the catapult. Version 2 is available at
[Link], but I recommend that you look for version
2.05, which includes some missing textures; if its not up yet
on [Link], you can get it from Sonnys virtual French
navy, whose website address is listed above.

CLEMENCEAU

CARRIER TRACKS VOLUMES 1 AND 2 - FSX CARRIER TRAFFIC

[Link]

File size: 4 Mb

Author: David Wilson-Okamura

Filename:
Available from: [Link], [Link] (under author dswo)
The Nimitz and the Clemenceau were both intended to be
used with the freeware program AICarriers2 by Lamont Clark
([Link] in the [Link] file library). This little
gem can place fleets or single ships, moving or stationary,
anywhere you fly, while you are flying; weve mentioned
it here a couple of times before. Unfortunately, some users
cant seem to install it; also, the boats disappear when you
reload the sim, so you cant save a flight on deck. To get
around these problems, I used another program by Clark,
AI Boat Traffic Compiler, to put the carriers on a regular
schedule: one that doesnt change when you reload Flight
Simulator, and doesnt require AICarriers2. Because carriers
are, by their nature, military vessels, I mainly chose routes
near and around naval and marine corps air stations in
California, Florida, Texas, Hawaii, Cuba, and Japan. For the
French carrier, I created a Mediterranean route that travels
from Marseille to Nice. Then, I added some purely scenic
routes in Hawaii and the Caribbean. For each route, I also
created a saved situation that will allow you to begin a flight
(if you choose) on the carrier deck instead of on land.

CARRIER TRACKS

FOUR CARRIER SCENERY - FSX CARRIER SCENERY

Filename: [Link]

FOUR CARRIER SCENERY

File size: 55 Mb

Author: Timothy Marson

Available from: [Link]
What about multiplayer? AI traffic is disabled in multiplayer
sessions, so the methods described so far wont work.
However, it is possible to make the carrier into scenery; and
scenery wont go away, even in multiplayer. Timothy Marson
has set up carrier fleets, starring the U.S.S. Nimitz as modeled
by Javier Fernandez, in four locations: Miramar, California;
Oceana, Florida; Pensacola, Florida; and Yokosuka, Japan. The
carriers dont move, and for the catapults to operate you need
another freeware add-on (described in the documentation).
But the arrestor cables work, so you can land; and the carriers
also have navigational beacons: NDB, so that you can find
them, and a localizer, to line up with the deck. Best of all,
the carrier will be visible and land-able to everyone in your
multiplayer session.

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SOUTHERN AFRICA - X-PLANE, FS2002, FS2004, FSX SCENERY

File size: various

Available from: [Link], [Link]

SOUTHERN AFRICA

TUSCANY NORTH PHOTOREAL X - FSX SCENERY

BOEING 7072 ORION - FSX AIRCRAFT

Author: Tim Piglet Conrad

Filenames: [Link]

BOEING 7072 ORION

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Filenames: various

Heres another party that I arrived late at; this one started in
2002. To date, the Aeroworx team has made airports, bush strips,
harbors, dams, terrain mesh, landclass, custom objects, roads,
railroads, power lines, rivers, waterfalls, game parks, resorts,
and realistic shorelines. The coverage area includes Namibia,
Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, and South Africa. A complete
list of whats availableand whats obsoletecan be found
at [Link]. One thing thats still missing, for most of
the coverage area, is up-to-date landclass; for this, the team
recommends Africa Landclass by Jim Keir ([Link] in the avsim.
com file library), which was made for FS2004, covers all of Africa,
and still works in FSX.

Authors: Maurizio G., Antonio C., Dario Bortot, Holger Sandmann

NORTHERN TUSCANY

Author: Aeroworx SA

File size: 887 Mb

Available from: [Link]

Several Frenzies ago we featured OZx Grand Canyon, with

photoreal textures, custom autogen, and a revamped airport.
Now, one year later, the same team is back with photoreal scenery
for northern Tuscany, including Pisa, the islands of Elba, Pianosa,
and Capraia, and high-detail terrain mesh for the Apuan Alps.
Photoscenery isnt new, but this one has some features that are
rare in freeware. First, the level of detail: 1 meter per pixel, which
is about five times the maximum resolution that was possible in
FS2004. Second, night lighting (many photoscenery projects go
black after dark). Finally, custom autogen and 3D objects. Take
off from Pisas main airport, San Giusto (LIRP) and youll see new
buildings all over the city, as well as autogen trees lining the river.
As with the Grand Canyon scenery (still available from the same
website), the download is a two-step process. The first step is a
small installer file, about 1 Mb in size, which then retrieves the
much larger scenery file. Dont worry, it sounds more complicated
than it is: just be ready for the two-part download.

File size: 21 Mb

Available from: [Link]

It almost wouldnt be a Frenzy without one of Tim Piglet

Conrads Peculiar Planes. This time we feature the Boeing 7072
Orion from Arthur C. Clarke and Stanley Kubricks 2001: A Space
Odyssey (1968). This is the Pan Am space clipper in which Dr.
Heywood R. Floyd travels to rendezvous with Space Station 5, en
route to investigate a black monolith that has just been discovered
on the moon. Forty years after Clarke and Kubrick wrote the
screenplay, Pan Am is bankrupt and there is no moon base, but
the Orion is still a looker. Once upon a time, you could purchase
plastic models of the Orion, but Piglets model is free and actually
flies (in Flight Simulator). It includes a virtual cockpit (using gauges
from the Acceleration add-on), custom engine effects, a passenger
cabin, and three different liveries: Pan Am, Japan Airlines, and
decommissioned (to use for what, arms smuggling?). Whereas
in FS2004, the maximum altitude was just under 100 thousand
feet, in FSX its 100 million feet. Also, the virtual world is round
now instead of flat. As a result, its now possible to fly a model
into space. Over on the Sim-Outhouse forum, where Piglet hangs
out, there was an extended discussion of how to get the Orion
up there; you can follow it at [Link]
sohforums/[Link]?t=16786. Or you can do what I did
and just scare the neighbors flying at Mach 3.

V14I1
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1/13/2010 [Link] PM

MINI-REVIEW

BELL UH-1 HUEY

BY GENE DAVIS

f there is any one helicopter for FSX that I

would want, it would definitely have to be
the UH-1 Huey. The UH-1 Huey helicopter
is probably best known for its military role in
Vietnam, I mean as long as I can remember any
documentary or movie that involves the conflict
in Vietnam usually includes this helicopter in one
way or another!
Well, the guys over at Nemeth Designs and MILVIZ
have since brought this magnificent chopper into
reality as a complete add-on for Flight Simulator X.
This package will let you hear that distinct sound
that only a UH-1 Huey can make and it will take
you on a virtual tour in a chopper that has been
designed from the ground up to model that of its
real world counterpart.
The UH-1 Huey
The UH-1 modeled in this add-on is based on the
Model 204 and 205 of the Huey design and are
classified as UH-1C (Model 204) and the UH1D(Model 205). The package includes both the C

and D models of the Huey UH-1 and includes both

the M21 and M22 sub-systems for each, leaving
the pilot with two different paints for each model.
The visual detail from the outside to the inside
of the chopper is quite good and represents the
chopper well. The designers spared nothing when
creating the external model as every conceivable
part is visible and moves correctly.

First Time Out

Flying the UH-1 Huey for the first time out was a lot
of fun, mainly because I had to really test myself on
how to get going from a cold start. With a little cockpit
familiarization and a quick glance at the checklists I did
get her fired up the first time, but did I keep it running
long enough to get in the air? No! Another quick check
and realizing that I had not flipped the necessary switches
to keep the engine running I was finally up and flying.

Climbing into the cockpit you will be greeted by a

relatively functional virtual cockpit and a complete
3D rendition of the rear compartment. The only
thing missing are crew members! The panel is
reasonable although there are one or two displays
that appear to do nothing, or very little.

I found the chopper to be quick and responsive and really

a lot of fun to fly at low altitude. As I have always said
with helicopters and any Flight Simulator, you really have
to have a feel for the chopper and I think the guys over
at MILVIZ have a done a great job with the UH-1 in that
respect.

It wouldnt be a Huey if it didnt have that

unmistakable Whoop Whoop sound they are
famous for and I can say with a great deal of
admiration for the developers that they have
definitely delivered on the sound department. Even
interior warning sounds are modeled too.

Wrap It Up Already!
If you are a helicopter nut like I am or if you are looking
to get into helicopters with FSX than this one is for you.
It is one of the most interesting helos I have seen to date
for FSX. The Huey retails for US$35 and is available from
selected flight sim download stores online.

UH-1D

MODIFIED C COCKPIT

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THE ORIGINAL COCKPIT

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3
T
R
PA

UPGRADING PROCESSORS
BY DOUG HORTON

revious FSX benchmarking tests were

published in the January and October/
November 2009 issues of this magazine. The
results of these tests suggested that users wishing to
upgrade their Flight Simulator performance should
focus on upgrading the processor and associated
memory (and likely motherboard), as well as using
a recent generation graphics card. A new graphics
card is particularly important for providing the
headroom to run large or multiple monitors.
Fortunately for upgraders, new generations of
processors, memory, and graphics cards are being
produced with improved performance at prices no
higher and sometimes lower than costs of previous
hardware generations.

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Before embarking on tests for this third FSX benchmarking article,

I read several forums to learn what other users were experiencing
with various hardware upgrades. In spite of how simple it is to
run standardized benchmark tests, such as with Gary Dunnes
free FSXMark07 procedure, most forum postings report opinions
on performance without citing quantitative test results. In several
instances, I posted feedback suggesting that forum participants
conduct FSXMark07 tests, which require only five minutes per
run, but my requests garnered no responses. Thus, nearly all FSX
performance claims posted on forums are only guesstimates
of whether performance is improved with various hardware and
software upgrades. With a variety of hardware, settings, and FSX
configurations, including many repeated tests, I conducted over 150
FSXMark07 test runs for this article.

Core i7 Processors
Intel Core i7-900 series processors include many design changes
from previous generations, including a new caching arrangement,
integrated memory controller, and Quick Path Interconnect in place
of a front side bus. The former FSB frequency now corresponds to the
host or base clock (BLCK) frequency. This frequency is used by the
processor to set the frequencies of four major functions of an i7-900
series processor, with the following relationships, as depicted in the
accompanying schematic:
Memory frequency = BCLK x memory multiplier (k1)
Uncore (replaces North Bridge) = BCLK x uncore multiplier (k2)
CPU frequency = BCLK x CPU multiplier (k3)
QPI frequency = BCLK x QPI multiplier (k4)

Previous Test Results

After testing four generations of Nvidia-based graphics cards, four
overclocking speeds of an Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 processor, and
both multiple and large monitors for the two previous articles in this
series, I concluded that FSX performance, as indicated by framerates,
is highly proportional to processor clock speeds, which for the
previous tests was equal to the front side bus times the processor
multiplier times the number of cores.
The accompanying graph shows the general form of results from
Part 1 of this series; namely, increasing performance with higher CPU
clock speeds, with representative samples of the four most recent
generations of NVIDIA graphics cards.

SCHEMATIC OF CORE I7-900 SERIES PROCESSOR MULTIPLIER

RELATIONSHIPS

GENERAL FORM OF RESULTS FROM VARYING CPU SPEED WITH FOUR

GENERATIONS OF GRAPHICS CARDS

In the second benchmarking article, I reported that the headroom of

NVIDIA graphics cards such as the GTX 260 and 280 allow operation
of multiple and large (30 at a resolution of 2560 x 1600) monitors
with no effect on framerates compared to operation with a single 21
monitor at a resolution of 1600 x 1200, even though more than twice as
many pixels are rendered per unit time for the larger monitor.
Initially, I thought about upgrading the processor in my existing
socket 775 motherboard, without the need to obtain new memory
or graphics card, but after reading others reports, I wondered if
the Hyperthreading, Turbo Boost, triple channel memory, Quick
Path Interconnect, and other improved features of the new Intel i7
processor series might be a better alternative.

The four multipliers are completely independent, except that the

Uncore multiplier should be at least twice as high as the memory
multiplier. The default BCLK frequency for all Core i7-900 series
processors equals 133MHz. The table below shows multipliers and
nominal processor frequencies for the current Core i7-900 series.
Since I began work on this article, Intel has added i5 and additional i7
models, which incorporate additional design changes. Some of these
processors may yield FSX performance improvements and require
possibly less expensive socket 1156 motherboards and memory,
compared to i7-900 series hardware.
Processor

Multiplier

Freq., GHz

QPI Rate, GT/s List Price*

i7-975 Extreme
i7-965 Extreme
i7-960
i7-950
i7-940
i7-920

25
24
24
23
22
20

3.33
3.20
3.20
3.06
2.93
2.66

6.40
6.40
4.80
4.80
4.80
4.80

$999
$999
$562
$562
Note 1
$284

* in quantity, USD
1. The i7-940 is discontinued
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Well defer specifics of overclocking to a future article, but its

important to note that base clock multipliers are upwardly locked for
the non-extreme processors, so overclocking must be accomplished
by increasing the host/base clock frequency. For the extreme
processors, multipliers are generally unlocked, and overclocking
can be accomplished by increasing the host/base clock frequency;
however, some motherboards also limit upward adjustment of the
Extreme processors, including the motherboard tested for this article,
though I discovered a workaround.

GHz with Turbo on, along with memory set for 1600 MHz. Next,
I downloaded and installed several tools for monitoring system
operation and temperatures, tracking framerates, and importantly, the
procedure files for standardized testing.

Test Monitoring Tools

To observe processor multiplier, speed, and temperatures, as well
as Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) temperature, I downloaded and
instaled RealTemp 3.40. This freeware utility is available at http://
[Link]/downloads/1691/Real_Temp_3.[Link].

All i7-900 series processors include several important features that

might increase FSX performance:
Hyperthreading technology adds four virtual cores to the four
physical cores, to enable highly threaded applications to get
more work done in parallel.
Turbo Boost provides an increase in processor multiplier as
the processor load increases. As implemented in the i7-900
series processors, if only one core is loaded, its multiplier is
increased by two. If all cores are loaded, the multiplier of each
is increased by one.
Smart Cache provides a higher-performance, more efficient
cache subsystem, which Intel reports is optimized for industry
leading multi-threaded games.

Test System
With continued hardware support from NVIDIA and new hardware
support by Intel and Corsair, I built a new system for conducting the
tests reported in this article. My test system included the following
key components:

Corsair memory, 2 x 3GB triple channel DDR3 1600 MHz

Corsair HX850 premium modular power supply
Dell 3007WFP 30 monitor, operated at 2560 x 1600 resolution
Intel Core i7-940 and i7-975 processors with included coolers
tested separately
Intel DX58SO motherboard socket 1366 and X58 chipset

REALTEMP UTILITY SHOWING FULL LOAD OPERATION

OF I7-940 PROCESSOR

To observe a variety of processor, motherboard, memory, graphics,

and system parameters, I used the free CPU-Z utility, which is
available at [Link]

While this article was being prepared, i7-940 processors were

discontinued and Intel released i7-870, i7-860, and i5-750 processors,
which employ socket 1156 motherboards and two channel memory.
These may be less expensive solutions for obtaining processor speeds
in the same range as the lower numbered i7-900 series processors.
With the i7-940 processor installed, I initially loaded Vista Home
Premium 64-bit SP1 onto the new system. After installing motherboard
drivers and downloading close to 100 updates to Vista, including
service packs one and two, I updated the motherboard BIOS, which
enabled running the memory at 1600 mHz instead of the 1066 mHz
that is native to the i7-940 processor, or 1366 GHz that is native to the
i7-975. Next, I loaded FSX and Acceleration Pack onto the hard drive.
Eventually, I moved the operating system from a hard drive to a 160GB
solid state drive and moved FSX to an 80GB solid state drive, and Ill
report on this new hardware in Part 4 of this benchmarking series.
At this point, I studied the BIOS and reviewed key settings, such
as the processor multipliers and related parameters. Initial tests
were conducted with default BIOS settings for the i7-940 processor:
multiplier of 22 and host clock speed of 133 gHz, which provides a
nominal processor speed of 2.93 GHz with Turbo off and up to 3.07
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CPU-Z UTILITY SHOWING OVERCLOCKED OPERATION OF I7-975, WITH

A TURBO MULTIPLIER OF 31 AND PROCESSOR SPEED OF 4.13 GHZ.

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To accurately track and log framerate performance for each test

run, I used FRAPS version 3.0.3, which is available at [Link].
com. After its started, this utility is coordinated with the P (Pause)
key so that unpausing and pausing the test flight also starts and stops
FRAPS framerate counting.

To make apples to apples comparisons, I saved my [Link] and

[Link] files with new names, so that when I ran FSX the next
time, it generated default [Link] and [Link] files. Additionally,
in the same folder where [Link] is found, I temporarily renamed exe.
xml and [Link], so that I would have not other add-on programs
running with FSX. Thus, my FSX installation was out of the box,
along the Acceleration Pack installed. Finally, I loaded FSXMark07s
Global [Link] file from within FSX, which sets 38 entries in the
[Link] file, and I began a long series of test flights.

Test Results i7-940 Processor

FRAPS PREFERENCES INTERFACE FOR FRAMERATE MEASUREMENT

To easily verify or modify BIOS settings, I used the Intel Desktop

Control Center, with which some settings changes do not require
rebooting. There are also monitoring functions, tests, and system
display features. An Auto-Tune function sequentially tests and sets
overclocking parameters, and well see results from this feature in a
follow-on article.
RETAIL PACKAGE FOR I7 SERIES PROCESSORS AND FAN,
EXCEPT EXTREME VERSIONS

I began testing with the now-discontinued i7-940 processsor and its

default cooler. Though I conducted many more tests than shown, here
are results from the most significant tests:

DESKTOP CONTROL CENTER UTILITY PROVIDED WITH

INTEL DX58SO MOTHERBOARD

The FSXMark07 benchmarking includes a standardized

configuration for FSX display settings, as well as a saved 5-minute
autopilot flight over the Seattle, Washington area. This flight
challenges FSX performance with a variety of scenery, terrain, water
effects, autogen scenery, airports, and AI aircraft and boat traffic.
Follow the simple installation, setup, and procedure instructions in the
[Link] file, which can be downloaded from the [Link] file
library at [Link] The
instructions also cover how to set up FRAPS and run the test flight.

Test Results Baseline

To establish a baseline, recall that in the first two parts of this
series, using the FSXMark07 procedure and its Global High
configuration for FSX, I recorded framerates of about 24-27 fps with
a Q6600 processor overclocked to 3.0 GHz. The lower end of this
range was obtained with my heavily-added-onto FSX installation,
while the higher end was obtained with default [Link] and scenery.
cfg files (default display settings and no add-on scenery active), as
well as no add-on dlls or exes operating.

SETTINGS AND COMMENTS

CORE SPEED, MAX. FPS

Default multiplier of 22; hyperthreading

on and turbo off

22 x 133.34 = 2.93

32.5

23 x 133.34 = 3.07

34.2

Hyperthreading off, turbo on (result: FSX

does not benefit from hyperthreading)
23 x 133.34 = 3.07

34.2

Overclock host frequency from 133 to 150,

otherwise default settings
23 x 150 = 3.45

39.4

Overclock host frequency to 160, memory

at 1600

23 x 160 = 3.68

43.2

Overclock host frequency to 170, memory

at 1360

23 x 170 = 3.91

43.2

Host frequency at 170, memory reset to

1600 (memory speed helps)

23 x 170 = 3.91

45.8

Default multiplier of 22, hyperthreading

on and turbo on (increases performance
by ratio of 23/22)

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The overall results for this processor are:

Significantly, framerates improved from 24-27 FPS to 34+, a
gain of about 33%, from the Q6600 to the i7-940 at the same
processor frequency. This is a likely benefit of i7-900 series
architecture, motherboard performance, faster memory,
improved caching, and/or other features.
Hyperthreading was not recognized by FSX and unfortunately
made no difference in performance.
Turbo Boost increased framerates by the ratio of i7-940
multipliers with and without Turbo Boost 23/22 a bit less
than 5%.
Memory speed made a difference, in limited testing.
With the tested motherboard, I could not increase the host clock
multiplier higher than the default setting of 22, nor could I change
the turbo multiplier higher than 24 for core 1 and 23 for cores 24, so overclocking was accomplished by increasing the host clock
frequency, along with a few other adjustments. For tests with
hyperthreading on, Turbo Boost on (23x), and memory at 1600, the
accompanying graph shows framerate results versus core frequency.
The test results are nearly linear, as expected.

GRAPH OF I7-940 FRAMERATE TEST RESULTS VERSUS PROCESSOR

FREQUENCY

With the i7-975 Extreme processor and DX58SO motherboard, I

was unable to increase the processor multiplier above the default 25,
and this was surprising, because a friends Gigabyte motherboard
allows increasing this multiplier. However, this only matters in the
case of Turbo Boost off, because theres a workaround. Unlike with
the i7-940, I was able to increase the turbo multipliers for each i7-975
core, and with heavy processor loading by running FSX, the processor
operated at the turbo multiplier settings, though parameters such as
core voltage may need to be increased for stability. Overclocking
and heat dissipation raise the issue of processor coolers, and its
significant that the cooler furnished with the i7-975 is more heavy
duty than the i7-940 cooler. Again, more on this in a future article.
Here are the significant test results for the i7-975 processor:

SETTINGS AND COMMENTS

CORE SPEED, MAX.

FPS

Default settings, except Turbo off,

memory at 1600, cpu multiplier at 25

3.33

40.2

Same except Turbo on, with turbo

multiplier at 26 for all cores.

3.47

41.6

Same, except increase turbo

multipliers to 28

3.73

44.2

Same, except increase turbo

multipliers to 30 and increase Vcore
from 1.2 to 1.30 volts

4.0

46.3

Set power plan to High performance,

which keeps multipliers at 30 small
effect.

4.00

46.6

Same, except set Vcore to 1.35 and

change turbo multipliers to 31

4.13

47.3

Again, the framerate performance increased linearly with the

processor speed, consistent with the i7-940 results, though default and
overclocked frequencies are higher than with the i7-940.

Test Results i7-975 Processor

RETAIL PACKAGE FOR I7 SERIES EXTREME PROCESSORS

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GRAPH OF I7-975 FRAMERATE TEST RESULTS VERSUS

PROCESSOR FREQUENCY

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Test Results i7-920 (Emulated)

Though I was unable to test an i7-920 processor, I was able to
emulate its performance with the i7-975 by setting its processor
multiplier downward from 25 to 20; setting Turbo multipliers to
22, 21, 21, 21 for cores one to four, respectively; and changing the
QPI rate from 6.4 GT/s to 4.8 GT/s. The emulated default i7-920
performance with Turbo on provided an average framerate of 34.2,
but this is about the same result as with the i7-940 processor default
settings, so its possible that the lower multipliers set into the i7-975
to emulate the i7-920 are not completely utilized.

Conclusions
There was a significant framerate performance improvement (about
33%) in moving from the Core 2 Quad Q6600 processor to either
of two i7-900 series processors tested for this article at the same
processor clock rate. This technology gain is impressive, whether
credited to the i7-900 series processor architecture, socket 1366
motherboard efficiency, triple channel memory, improved caching, or
other features. This is good news for users thinking about upgrading
to i7 series processors.
Consistent with previous test results, processor clock speed is the
principal determinant of FSX framerate performance. A significant
feature of the i7-900 series, hyperthreading, which provides four
virtual cores in addition to four physical cores, to provide eight
processing threads, is not recognized by FSX. An optimistic
hypothesis that the hyperthreading feature might double FSX
framerates is unfortunately not fulfilled.
Because it provides a dynamically (though small) increase
in processor multipliers for each core, the Turbo Boost feature
increases framerates by 4-5%, in proportion to turbo multiplier to
default multiplier settings. The default performance of the top price
i7-975 and base model i7-920 processors differ in FSX performance
by the ratio of their processor multipliers, 25 to 20 (25%), with
Turbo Boost off, or with Turbo Boost on and all four cores loaded,
26 to 21 (23.8%).
Though operating FSX with a powerful and expensive processor,
including overclocking, can provide great framerate performance,
the second article in this series highlighted the fact that changes in
FSX scenery, texture, water, AI traffic, and other display settings can
improve performance significantly. For example, from the Global
High settings used in these tests, I made three changes in the FSX
Settings, Scenery tab:

Scenery complexity, from Dense to Normal

Autogen density, from Normal to Sparce
Water effects, from Med 2.x to High 1.x

When tested with the i7-975 processor default settings, these

modest settings changes increased framerate performance by 23.6%,
which is close to the multiplier ratio of i7-975 to i7-920 processors,
so what can be done with a much greater hardware investment can be
alternatively accomplished with reduced FSX settings. On the other
hand, for users wanting to see maximum FSX performance, such as
with Ultra High display settings, money is well spent on purchasing
the highest clock speed processor you can afford, along with
applicable motherboard and memory, though current processor prices
appear to increase faster than the corresponding performance gains.

In a future issue, well explore the impact of upgrading the

operating system from Vista to Windows 7, plus discuss overclocking
processors, third-party processor coolers, and comparison of solid
state and hard disk drives for Windows and FSX loading time and
performance.

Affinity Mask Setting

Many forum postings suggest that an [Link] Affinity Mask setting
ensures that newer multicore and/or hyperthreaded CPU features
are fully used by FSX, though service packs releases and/or the
Acceleration Pack were intended to make this setting unnecessary.
As above, none of the users reporting their opinions have conducted
stardardized benchmarking tests. The Affinity Mask format is:
[JobScheduler]
AffinityMask=15
//where n= number of cores scheduled
// 1 = 1 core
1000
// 3 = 2 cores
1100
// 7 = 3 cores
1110
// 15 = 4 cores
1111
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My testing indicates that adding the Affinity Mask setting to the

[Link] file is unnecessary with the Acceleration Pack. In fact, its
possibly detrimental, as framerate results were more variable with the
setting added. This finding suggests that i7 processors do a better job
of managing their operation than trying to manage the processor with
an [Link] setting.

To try your first benchmarking run, start FSX and load the
benchmarking flight file, [Link], which will place you in
the default Bombardier CRJ700, in the air, just north of downtown
Seattle, paused in virtual cockpit mode, with some nice 3D scattered
clouds in the area, as shown in the accompanying image. Click
Options, Settings, and Load the Global High configuration file.

Summary of Benchmarking Procedure

Open and minimize the FRAPS interface, and note the framerate
display in the upper right-hand corner of the screen. Important: click
your mouse on the FSX screen to bring it in focus, wait about five
seconds for the mouse cursor image to disappear, and then press the
P keystroke to simultaneously start the benchmark flight and the
FRAPS framerate logging, after which the FRAPS framerate display
will display a green box and then disappear within a few seconds.

Download [Link] from [Link], read the

instructions, download FRAPS from [Link], install
as directed, and make the FRAPS settings recommended in the
FSXMark07 instructions.

VIEW AT BEGINNING OF BENCHMARKING FLIGHT

During the flight, do not touch the mouse or keyboard, as doing so

will reduce the framerate. The flight runs a flight plan on autopilot and
auto throttle, which flies the CRJ700 past downtown Seattle, Boeing
Field, Sea-Tac International Airport, and then turns southeastward
toward Auburn Municipal Airport (S50), with Mt. Rainier in the
distance. Enjoy the scenery during 5-minute flight until you see the
framerate display reappear with a momentary red stop box around
the average framerate number. Not to worry if you miss seeing this
number, because FRAPS calculates and stores the framerate results
file in its /Benchmarks folder.
To set up for another run in FSX, without hitting the P key,
reload the flight from the FSX menu, or copy and use a shortcut on
your desktop to C:\Users\(username)\Documents\Flight Simulator
X Files\[Link]. This action should reload the flight while
keeping FSX and FRAPS coordinated, and if so, youll see the yellow
FRAPS display after the reload. The accompanying image shows
sample results from one run, from file FSX (date and time stamp)
[Link]. If desired, you can copy results to a new spreadsheet
and plot results in relation to computer and FSX settings.

SAMPLE FRAPS RESULTS FROM ONE FSX BENCHMARKING RUN

Occasionally, FSX and FRAPS can become unsynchronized

between the Pause commands, with FRAPS continuing to count
framerates and generating summary files, so if necessary after
the flight is reloaded, stop and restart FRAPS. If you find FRAPS
results files with less than 300 seconds shown it will show
300000 millisecond in the spreadsheet file, these are from these
unsynchronized pauses, and they should be deleted.

VIEW AFTER FIVE MINUTES OF BENCHMARKING FLIGHT, WITH MT.

RAINIER IN DISTANCE LEFT OF CENTER

72

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Because of variations in benchmarking results, for each test

condition, I ran each trial at least five times and calculated the average
framerate for that set. I accepted run if there was relatively close
agreement with other runs, but if I saw a noticeable difference in
one test of a particular set, I added one or more additional runs and
calculated the average of all runs. I noticed that the first run of each
set was about 10% lower, suggesting that the first run does not benefit
from subsequent caching. If I suspected that incidental computer
activity such as a scheduled hard drive backup, Windows Defender
or antivirus scan, hard drive indexing, or other anomaly produced an
outlier data point, I ignored that run in calculating the average for
that set. 4
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Subject:

My Home Flight Sim

Good Morning Computer Pilot People,

Ive been a subscriber to your great magazine for as long as Ive known
about it... and look forward to receiving it, and reading the many
interesting articles about all kinds of things aviation ... and of course
buying all the various bits and pieces that appeal to me.
After reading the article of a home Flight Sim setup in the last magazine,
Ive forwarded some pictures Ive taken of my own setup. Doing an
Instrument rating at the moment, I find my flight sim an invaluable tool
to bring my skills up to the required standard as I progress through the
training. Also, if Im going on a flight somewhere Ive never been before,
I can do the flight plan, fly the mission on Flight Sim, and then do the
real thing the next day.
I have three 19 screens of the 4 x 3 type, two have died already, and Ive
had them replaced under warranty, so I have a spare just in case it happens
again. They are a reputable brand too, so that was rather surprising.
I have the Matrox TrippleHead2go, a sound system that includes a woofer,
CH products Control Yoke and Saitek Pedals for rudder and brakes.

ILOT
are
Phil W OMPUTER P !
TH C XTENSION
N
O
M
/E
12
WINS BSCRIPTION
SU
Living in Brisbane Australia, I have a grandson, who can fly the Extra 300s
underneath our main city bridge upside down, do an outside loop, and fit
between two city buildings while so doing.
It would be great, if Matrox brought out a Quintiple Head2go, as 5
screens would really give a fantastic effect.
Id commend my friend Barry too, who is a Guru on things computer
and Flight Sim, and has given me such a lot of time, tweaking my system
so that it flies just right.
At our aero club, we have a new Glass Cockpit G1000 Cessna 172, and
after flying it on FSX first, and becoming fully familiar with everything, the
actual Flight Check only needed to be quite short, so it saved me some
dollars!
Keep up the good work ...
Phil Ware
Queensland, Australia.

Subject:

Cessna Citation Mustang

Congratulations to Al Pelletier on his article praising the new Cessna

Citation (Mustang).

the two of them blending together, we have an amazing hobby which we

will be able to take to our graves.

Many of us who have been with Flight Simulator for a few years are
stimulated by the development of the new Hi-Tech simulations which
are being produced today. It is another step up in our quest for reality
and another step up from the old technology which has now become
Ho-Hum to those seeking expansion to our hobby.

After reading about the Cessna Mustang, it is not hard to imagine

that one will get the same challenge from this aircraft which I am
looking forward to receiving soon. The Garmin 1000 GPS, alone,
is enough of a challenge which I have gained some knowledge
from past use and I look forward to sitting in the pilots seat of
the Mustang with all this new technology before me and to work
systematically through all its features.

I have recently downloaded the VRS F18E Superbug for FS9 and have
been engrossed in the new technology in that simulation. It gets the
old grey matter stirred up (aged 72) and is a long term challenge to
achieve mastery over every aspect of this amazing fighting machine.
Not only are the new aircraft stirring the blood in our veins, but the new
scenery packages go hand in hand to bring reality even closer and with

Bring it on!
Mike Posford
Coffs Harbour, Australia.

Write To Computer Pilot INBOX

If you have something you want to share with fellow flight simulator enthusiasts, then Computer Pilot INBOX is the place to be heard. Each issue, well choose the best
letter as the letter of the month and reward that reader with a prize!
The easiest and quickest way to submit your letters is by e-mail to: inbox@[Link]

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HORTONS HINTS for FLIGHTsimX

BY DOUG HORTON

his issue of Hints focuses on airport facilities

data (AFD) file editors sometimes called
AFCAD programs after Lee Swordys
pioneering but no-longer-maintained AFD editor. Two
free or donation and one commercial editor allow
simple or complex modifications of default airports,
providing for extremely realistic scenery additions
or editing of airports in both FS2004 and FSX. I
offer this information in hopes of seeing more AFD
(AFCAD) files posted for favorite airports.
Airport Facilities Data (AFD) Editors

As a passenger on a United Airlines flight, I recently experienced

landing on the new northernmost runway 9L/27R at OHare
International Airport. Noting that several other construction projects
have been completed as part of an ongoing major expansion and
updating of OHare, I looked at how, for FSX, I might add the new
runway, redesignate the original east-west runways, extend the length
of newly designated 10/28 (old 9R/27L), plus add, modify, and
rename many new and revised taxiways.
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The tools I needed were an airport diagram of KORD, aerial

mapping from Google Earth and Bing Maps, and an AFD
editor. Working from an existing add-on AFD file provided with
FSDreamTeams extremely realistic scenery for OHare, I was able
to perform most of what I wanted to do. Remaining for this project
is setting up approaches for the new runway and modifying existing
approaches. Still, what Ive modified in the AFD files is fully
functional for landings and takeoffs by AI aircraft, for which Im
currently using Ultimate Traffic 2.

EXTENDED WEST END AND ADDED TAXIWAYS FOR RUNWAY 10/28

(FORMERLY 9R/27L)

Two of the three editors are available to edit AFD files in both
FS2004 and FSX. AFD information is provided for all default airports
in FSX in a series of numbered folders in the \(your FSX folder)\
scenery\world\ folder, for FSX, with filenames of the form APX?????.
bgl. Though these files can be decompiled into *.xml files, manually
edited, and recompiled with [Link], which is found in the
FSX SDK \Environment Kit\ BGL Compiler\ folder, the procedure is
quite tedious. Working with AFD editors provides visual editing and
is significantly easier!
The editors dont actually edit the default AFD files, which remain
intact. Instead, the output of the three editors is a new *.bgl file that
is placed in a higher layer of your [Link] file than the default
AFD files. Though these are commonly called AFCAD files, the more
appropriate term is AFD files. When FSX (or FS2004) starts, or you
move your aircraft to a particular airport, information in the new AFD
file produced by one of the editors will selectively use and/or replace
information in the related default AFD file.
AIRPORT DIAGRAM OF OHARE INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT (KORD)

Airport Design Editor

Airport Design Editor (ADE) is a complete editor for airport
facilities data, and beginning with version 1.45, ADE supports both
FS2004 (FS9) and FSX. Author Jon Scruffyduck Masterson says
this new functionality means that FS9 airport developers now have
access to most of the ADE functionality that has been available to
FSX airport designers. In particular, this includes the Approach
Designer and all the other tools that allow users to work with
buildings, signs, etc. The only area not currently supported for FS9
is terrain elements such as land class, roads, etc. Work has also been
accomplished to make importing of existing AFCAD files into ADE
as easy as possible. Current features of ADE include:

ADE DISPLAY OF KORD AFD FILE, MODIFIED FOR NEW AND RENAMED
RUNWAYS AND TAXIWAYS.

Airport Facilities Design

CAD style design of airports including all the facilities such as
runways, aprons, taxiways, fencing, parking spots with parking
types and airline codes, etc.
Navigation aids
Flexible background images that make it possible to use different
types of images to guide the design of your airport
Real time connection to FSX
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Terrain
Flattens, exclusions, land and water class
Sloping polygons
Roads, streams, utilities and railroads
Scenery Object and Buildings
Display of default buildings, making it easy to move, delete or
replace them
Library Object Manager that allows users to manage library
objects; most objects in FSX are available for you to place in your
airport.
Easy means of saving and copying generic buildings from one
airport to another
Approach Design
Edit existing FSX airport approaches or create new ones based on
published approach charts.
A graphical interface mimics the display found on the FSX GPS.
Real time display and fault checking as the approach is designed.
The approach is drawn as it will show in the GPS, and any
problems will be highlighted.
An interesting feature of ADE is that it saves airport data in an
*.ade file separately from compiling the data into a *.bgl file. This
allows a measure of security if corruption of data might occur. ADE
can be downloaded from [Link]
[Link]. ADE is donationware and an optional button is
provided on the downloads interface page for donating $5.00 US to
support continuing development of the program.

FSX Planner
FSX Planner is a free or donation product, abbreviated as FSXP,
which is produced by author Russell Hodgson of zBlueSoftware
LLC. FSXP is available at [Link]
According to the author, FSXP is a full featured graphical editing
tool, which is intended to allow its users to easily modify all aspects
of FSX airports, both visible and invisible. The modifiable, visible
parts of an airport include everything from the runways and taxiways
to the taxiway signs, windsocks, and scenery objects, for example.
The modifiable, unseen parts of an airport include everything from the
airport services and fuel triggers to the communication frequencies
and navigation information, including instrument approaches.

EDITING SCREEN FOR FSXP, WITH PROPERTIES FOR ONE PARKING SPOT
DISPLAY ON LEFT SIDE

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FSXP features include:

All displays updated in real time
Runways markings, lights and navigation aids
Taxiways, taxiway nodes, and markings
Taxiway designations
Taxiway signs, with unique taxiway sign wizard
Tower viewpoint and scenery objects
Parking spot types and airline codes
Vehicle parking spots and paths
Start locations
Helipads
Scenery objects
Fuel triggers, to make fueling facility functional
Connects to FSX on either local or remote machines
Displays the exact plane or helicopter from FSX so you can see the
scale and heading
Place the mouse exactly where the plane is in FSX
Place the plane in FSX exactly where the mouse is
Make the plane in FSX auto-follow the mouse
Make the mouse auto-follow the plane in FSX
Communication Frequencies
Approaches transitions, main approach, and missed approach legs
Navaids VOR, NDB, ILS, DME, glide slopes, marker beacons,
windsocks
Realistic nighttime lighting display
Edit airport services, such as fuel types available
Apron polygons and edge lights
Moving jetways
Boundary and blast fences
Background images
Exclusion rectangles
Airport reference point
Error checking
Airport clean-up options
Specify compiling options
As an example of an advanced feature, FSXP includes the
capability of adding a background image to the airport being edited
by providing a shortcut for linking directly to a Google Earth aerial
image of the airport. The accompanying screen image shows the map
view of FSX Planner with a captured background image behind the
airport data. If you look closely at the image, you can see that the
default FSX runways are aligned well with the aerial photo, though
there are several taxiways and aprons that could be moved to align
better with the real airport features.

FSX PLANNER MAP VIEW WITH AERIAL PHOTO BACKGROUND IMAGE BELOW

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Its great to see the degree of detail and sophistication thats present
in FSX Planner, from an author who is new to Flight Simulator within
the past three years, and well look forward to ongoing development
of this program.

For FSX only:

Vehicle parking spots and paths
Moving jetways
Boundary and blast fences

Airport Facilitator X

One of the most interesting features of AFX is the FS Preview

function, which enables seeing the airport being edited, along with
facilities data live and AI traffic in FS. If top-down view is selected
in FS, the view will closely resemble the AFX map view, and it will
show parking spots, apron taxi paths, and all other features projected
onto the FS scenery. After starting AFX, then FS, this feature is started
by selecting View, and then Preview in FS. The accompanying image
shows an elevated 2D cockpit view, without the control panel. Note the
AI aircraft in parking spots that are color-coded by airline.

Airport Facilitator X (AFX) is a commercial product by Flight1,

which currently sells for $29.95 US. Program look and operation
is very similar to the freeware AFCAD program authored by Lee
Swordy for FS2002 and FS2004, so AFX will be very familiar in
operation to those who worked with AFCAD.
AFX features are fully explained at [Link]
asp?product=afxv1 and include the capability to add or edit:
Airport reference point
Tower viewpoint
Runways with markings and runway lights
Taxiways with designators, apron paths, and nodes
Parking spots with optional airline assignments
Apron polygons and edge lights
Start locations
Helipads
Taxiway signs
Comm frequencies
Navaids (VOR, NDB, ILS components)
Exclusion rectangles can also exclude autogen scenery

An issue with AFX (in all versions through 1.08) is that it does not
support all FSX AFD features. Consequently, when opening an AFD file
generated another program, such as ADE or FSXP, it will notify the user
that it is stripping out the unsupported features and advise saving the
resulting AFX-generated file with another name and placing it in a layer
above the other file. In operation, FSX will first read the default AFD
information, replace default features with features in the first AFD file, if
any the one initially opened in AFX and then it will replace features
in that file with those in the newly saved AFX file. Hopefully, AFX will
someday support all FSX AFD features (at least those supported by AFX
and FSXP) and this extra-step procedure will be unnecessary.

AFXS FS PREVIEW FEATURE SHOWN AT FSDREAMTEAMS OHARE INTL AIRPORT, WITH AI AIRCRAFT FROM ULTIMATE TRAFFIC 2

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HORTONS HINTS for FLIGHTsimX

BY DOUG HORTON

eres another collection of hints for FSX,

gathered from various sources, including
my own trials and discoveries in flying the
program. The first hint deals with the surprising and
important fact that at least with Intel Core i7
series processors and Vista Home Premium, its easy
to accidentally degrade the processor performance
(and FSX framerate) by about half! Youll also learn
how easy it is to find by date and flight number the
flight plans of commercial airlines flying to, from, or
within the U.S., which makes it easy to recreate these
flights in Flight Simulator.
Accidentally Degrading Processor
Performance
During the benchmarking exercises described elsewhere in
this issue, I learned that a simple change Windows settings can
inconspicuously degrade Intel Core i7 and perhaps other processor
performance by 50%. In terms of FSX performance, this results in a
nearly 50% reduction in framerates, and this could be one reason for
many users experiencing low FSX framerates.
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The system I was testing when this occurred included an Intel

DX58SO Extreme motherboard with an i7-940 mid-range processor.
This processor and motherboard combination includes aggressive
energy management features, and during normal operation, the
processor multiplier changes in response the processor workload.
The multiplier times the base clock rate, which is analogous to the
front side bus speed on older systems, equals the processor clock
speed. Previous benchmarking exercises, as described in the January
and October-November 2009 issues of Computer Pilot, have shown
that with other settings constant, FSX framerate performance is
directly proportional to the processor clock speed. Thus, with i7 series
processors and other parameters constant, FSX framerate is directly
proportional to the processor multiplier.

REALTEMP UTILITY SHOWING PROCESSOR SPEED OF 1600.06 MHZ WITH

MULTIPLIER OF 12 TIMES BASE CLOCK RATE OF 133.34

Users can adjust the processor multiplier and other settings in the
BIOS, as well as with the Intel Desktop Control Center software. I spent
hours adjusting BIOS settings, and I even reloaded the BIOS. Though the
BIOS continued to show the multiplier set at 22 and Turbo multiplier at
23, RealTemp continued to show the multiplier at 12. I then called Intel
Technical Support to find a solution, though this issue was apparently not
in the support knowledge base, and the recommended solution did not
fix the problem. Finally, I found the solution by searching the Internet
and recalling actions Id taken the previous day, before the downward
performance change.

REALTEMP UTILITY SHOWING PROCESSOR SPEED OF 3066.77 MHZ WITH

MULTIPLIER OF 23 TIMES BASE CLOCK RATE OF 133.34

During several days of testing FSX performance with various

settings, Id noticed that the i7-940 processor multiplier usually
cycled between a low of 12 and Turbo setting of 23. The nominal
multiplier is 22 for this processor, which increases to 23 with the
Turbo feature enabled in the BIOS. To observe this behavior, I used
RealTemp 3.40 to track processor performance and temperatures,
as well as Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) temperature. This
freeware utility is available at [Link]
downloads/1691/Real_Temp_3.[Link].
After a midday break and adjustment of a few Windows settings
related to the Sleep feature, I noticed that the processor multiplier
seemed to be locked at 12, regardless of processor load. In turn, this
resulted in FSX framerates that were nearly 50% below what Id been
seeing during several days of previous testing. I wondered if something
had gone wrong with the processor or motherboard BIOS settings.

One of my actions the previous day was opening the Power Options
feature in the Windows Vista Home Premium Control Panel to adjust
the sleep times of my monitor and system. Being conscious of computer
energy use, and the reduced fan speeds and noise I might experience,
Id changed the power profile setting from the default Balanced plan
to the Power Saver plan. Quite inconspicuously, this set the maximum
processor state to 50%. This was what caused the i7-940 processor to
hold a multiplier of 12 instead of cycling between 12 and 23. The default
settings for the three default power plans for Vista Home Premium are
shown in the accompanying images.
Id seen these minimum and maximum percentages when editing
Power Options in the system Ive been running for several years,
though I incorrectly presumed these settings are related only to when
the computer automatically powers down in the Sleep mode. To fix the
problem, I simply changed the power plan back to Balanced, which
changed the maximum processor power state setting to 100%. Thereafter,
the processor resumed its normal behavior of varying the multiplier with
load, moving up to 23 under significant load with Turbo enabled. Note
that I could also have selected either Balanced or High Performance,
both of which default to 100% maximum processor state, or I could have
manually adjusted the maximum to 100% in the Power Saver plan.
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There is some good news here, because after this incident,

I experimented with setting both the minimum and maximum
processor power states to 100%, which are the default settings for
the High Performance plan. This caused the i7 processor to remain
at the turbo multiplier of 23 instead of cycling between 12 and 23,
with the result that framerate performance increased by about 3%.
This small increase is likely the result of removing the lag between
when the computing load increases and when the processor
multiplier increases. In hindsight, because I was attempting to
achieve high framerates, setting High Performance would have
been the best setting.

VISTA HOME PREMIUM PROCESSOR STATES FOR BALANCED POWER PLAN

Just for curiosity, I explored the processor power plan settings

with my older system, which includes Vista Home Premium with
an ASUS P5E motherboard and Intel Core 2 Quad 6600 processor.
Setting the processor power state maximum to 50% had visible
effect. The multiplier remained at its usual setting of 9, which
in this case is multiplied by the default front side bus speed of
266. I also checked the default settings on a new laptop with
Windows 7, and it appears that the default maximum percentage
for all power option plans is 100%, so this issue should not occur
with Window 7 unless the user changes the maximum setting to
something below 100%. My advice is be careful what settings you
adjust in Windows, because there can be significant unintended
consequences.

Recreating Commercial Flights in FS

After four enjoyable days in Las Vegas, my wife and I flew as
passengers on United Airlines flight 417 from Las Vegas McCarran
(KLAS) to Chicago OHare (KORD) last fall. One of the reasons
I like to travel on United is that most captains enable live ATC
communications on the aircrafts entertainment system, and its
interesting to listen to whats happening, and heres a sample of
what I learned from listening to ATC at the beginning of this flight.

VISTA HOME PREMIUM PROCESSOR STATES FOR POWER SAVER PLAN

VISTA HOME PREMIUM PROCESSOR STATES FOR

HIGH PERFORMANCE POWER PLAN

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The Ground controller issued taxi instructions for KLAS runway

25R, and after the aircraft was cleared into position on the runway,
I heard the familiar cleared for takeoff clearance from Tower,
but there was no direction in the takeoff clearance such as depart
straight out or depart on a particular course. As a general aviation
private pilot, its usual to receive course direction as part of the
takeoff clearance. Soon after takeoff, the aircraft was turning
and climbing, and the view on a clear afternoon was spectacular.
As the airplane was turned northerly and then northeasterly, we
were able to see and identify most of the large hotels, some of
which wed visited. During these climbing turns, there still was
no clearance direction from Tower or subsequently, Departure
controllers, for courses or altitudes. How could this be? How did
the pilots know what to do, and how were they cleared for what
they were doing?
The simple answer is that the flight had been cleared for a
Departure Procedure, and neither courses nor altitudes needed to
be directed by Tower and Departure. To verify this the morning
after I arrived home in the Chicago area, I browsed to www.
[Link], entered information for United flight 417, and a
list of recent flight dates was provided, including the date of our
flight. The filed route for our flight was shown as STAAV4 BCE
J100 EKR CYS FOD J94 DBQ JVL JVL5. Notice that the route
begins with STAAV4 and BCE. To see this Departure Procedure, I
browsed to [Link], selected the Airports tab, and then I
entered KLAS. After the page for KLAS displayed, I was able to
find download link for the STAAV4 departure, and I downloaded
both pages 1 and 2, as displayed in the accompanying images.
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DEPARTURE PROCEDURE STAAV FOUR, PAGE 1

With takeoff from runway 25R, the aircraft was flown, on the
STAAV Four departure, with transition to BCE, on initial heading of
255 to LEELN, 332 to TOMIS, 032 to BATIS, 054 to MEDOE,
074 to STAAV, 076 to TRALR, and then 031 to the Bryce Canyon
(BCE) VOR, with altitudes as shown in the accompanying diagram
and route description. After BCE, the filed route was via J100 to
EKR, direct to the CYS and FOD VORs, via J94 to the DBQ VOR,
and then direct to the JVL VOR for transition to the JVL5 Standard
Terminal Arrival Route (STAR).

STANDARD DEPARTURE STAAV FOUR, PAGE 2

You can use [Link] and [Link] to replay

the details of any commercial flight in the USA, including a view of
the track, and you can see the filed flight plan for any fight departing
from or arriving in the USA, though the track may not be complete or
accurate for international flights. 4

UNITED FLIGHT 417 TRACK WITH STAAV4 DEPARTURE AND JVL5 ARRIVAL
FROM [Link]

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U
U
ND

!
t
n
e
m
e
t
i
c
x
E
r
o
f
g
n
Flight Planni

BY ROGER CURTISS

ets face it, after a while flying to the same

airports can become a bit tiresome. Perhaps
there is too much predictability to the whole
thing. One way to perk things up for those who have
an internet connection is to enable the simulator
to use real world weather. That adds a dose of
unpredictability but actually, the weather in most
places is simply not all that bad most of the time
so even this will not consistently get you conditions
to make your palms sweat No, in order to shake
things up a bit you may need to put forth some effort
and work at it a bit. My intent is to give you some
ideas to spice up your flying.

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Breaking it down, there are three adjustable components to a flight:

1. Location
2. Weather
3. Aircraft
Altering any of these can generate an experience that takes you just
beyond your comfort level. Making adjustments to more than one of
these variables in a single flight can keep you very busy and eliminate
any humdrum notions you may have about flying (as if!).
A studied look at each component in turn will explore the
possibilities they offer.

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Location
We are fortunate to have an entire global database at our command
simply by virtue of using flight simulation programs. There are
thousands of airports out there and a surprising number of them
are depicted in the programs along with the terrain (or waterway)
where they are located. It is a pretty good bet that you could throw a
dart at a map and find an airport in flight sim near the point of your
pointwhich, come to think of it is not a bad way to find a new place
to fly to.
Opportunities to learn about new airports abound.
Here are a few examples:
I recently read a brief news item that the Russian aircraft
manufacturer Sukhoi was taking its new Superjet 100 regional jet
to the Shirak Airport in Gyumri, Armenia for high-altitude trials.
The explanation was that the airport is at 5000 elevation, tucked
between mountains with takeoffs and landings only permitted
from the south to the 10,500 foot runway. This sounded intriguing
so I checked and found Shirak airport (UGEL). As I departed
from UGEL I could not help but notice how nicely detailed were
the buildings of Gyumri. Quite a neat setting.
Mike Ray, the Guru of Boeing Jets (my appellation for himnot his) in his Flying the Boeing 700 Series book describes
the VOR/DME Rwy 1 approach into Guatemala City Airport
(MGGT). It requires tight airspeed and altitude control in
mountainous terrain and at the initial visual acquisition of the
runway the aircraft may be below the proper approach angle.
The pilot must maintain altitude until the PAPI lights change
to the desired 2 white/2 red configuration before continuing the
descent. The runway is relatively short (for the airport elevation)
so the landing must be precise. Sure enough, MGGT is also
displayed in FS9 with a big airport and scenic surroundings.
It was reported in Aviation Week & Space Technology magazine
in 2008 that Air China had begun 757 service to Linzhi Airport
(ZUNZ) in Tibet. This airport is situated at 9760 elevation in a
mountain valley only 1 mile wide surrounded by 25,000+ peaks
in an area that receives rain an average of 300 days a year. Air
China utilizes a customized Required Navigation Performance
(RNP) approach that starts at FL300 and requires the aircraft to
execute a series of precise turns in the descent for a short straightin final. Unfortunately, this airport was opened in 2004 and is
not depicted in either FS9 or FSX but my point is that you may
hear about airports and then check them out. None of these are
airports to which I would even attempt to fly had I not been made
aware of them.
There are many other airports whose geographical location requires
a precise approach with little room for deviation due to terrain.
Innsbruck, Austria (LOWI) comes to mind as well as the approach
to Aspen Colorados Pitkin County airport (KASE). The famous
checkerboard approach to Hong Kongs Kai Tak airport (VHHX) also
requires very careful piloting.
Planning a flight to these or any other location is also made
relatively easy by utilizing the flight planning feature of the simulator
program or a variety of third party offerings such as FS Navigator
and FS Flight Keeper. Additionally there are a wide number of
commercial flight planners available. Also online are various free
resources including [Link] and [Link]. These
sites offer access to actual flight routes filed and flown by commercial
flights or in the case of vroute, submitted by contributors.

Aircraft vs. Airport

When I was taking my flight training my home airport had a 5000
runway. This made it easy to correct for a botched landing approach
(theoretically of course, not that I ever had such a problem) but also
had the undesirable effect of making even a 3000 runway seem small
even though my Cessna 152 truly needed less than 1000 to make a
successful landing.
But one way to test oneself is to go beyond the comfort factor of a
known runway and experiment with takeoffs and landings at a small
runway or upping the aircraft size to fly into an airport at the limit of
that aircrafts performance ability.
One such challenge can be found in the Netherland Antilles.
This island chain is a popular destination for pilots and airplane
watchers as the well known approach to the St. Maarten Princess
Juliana airport lies directly over a beach just outside the airport
fence. However, if you head 25 miles south of St. Maarten there
is the Juancho E Yrausquin airport (SABA). This is reported to
be the shortest commercial runway in the world with a length of
only 1300. In order to operate on it in flight sim you will have to
cheat a little as the runway is closed and marked with a yellow X
at each end.
But one need not visit an exotic location in order to test the
limits. That same 5000 runway from which I learned was a
seemingly endless expanse of concrete for a C152 but try landing
a lightly loaded 727 or 737 there and suddenly the pucker factor
has been increased greatly. Also be aware that at some airports
there might be enough room to land but insufficient runway to
depart- in which case you might have to dismantle the airplane to
move it somewhere else.
It is also not just aircraft size vs. airport size that can make things
challenging. Try operating a basic trainer from Leadville Colorado
(KLXV) or San Rafael in Peru (SPRF). What do these airports have
in common? Leadville, at 9925 MSL is the highest elevation airport
in the USA. San Rafael at 14422 has the distinction of being the
worlds highest-even though it is an 8700 dirt runway.
Making a visit to SPRF in flight sim can be quite intimidating,
to say the least. There is a terrain mesh error as the airport sits
at the bottom of a rather steep and very narrow bowl. Takeoffs,
while tricky can be made. There is a small notch taking off to the
northwest that allows enough altitude gain flying straight ahead to
clear the valley walls and it can be nerve wracking to do so while
watching the altimeter needle approach 16,000. Landings are
another matter altogether. I tried approaching the valley as low and
slow as I could but it is not possible to dive into the bowl and keep
the airspeed from climbing. Once in the bowl there is simply not
enough room to lose the airspeed by circling. Working within the
limitations of high altitude airports is hard enough and it is a shame
this anomaly spoils the effect.

Weather
In real life flying a pilot can control what airplane to fly and
where to fly it but weather is the big unknown and uncontrollable
variable. In that regard, flight simmers have a distinct advantage in
that in addition to the first two, the weather is also something we
can dictate. And with that power comes the ability to do all sorts
of interesting things (We also have the advantage of being able to
hit pause -or not- and take a restroom break, but I digress) with
just a few limitations due to the ability of the computer to generate
weather phenomena.
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777 ON APPROACH TO GUAM

OH!

CLIMBING OUT OF THE HOLE SVAS

SHOULD CLEAR THE WALL AS LONG AS THE LANDING GEAR IS UP

GUATEMALA CITY

TRINIDAD IN THE HOLE AT SPRF. THE PROPE

J-3 CUB APPROACHING N54 IN NEVADA

WHAT IS IN THE HOLE

LEFT BASE TO SABA

YIKES

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Flight Simulator comes equipped with a pretty good weather

generating system and other articles have explored the nuances of
that. In addition, there are commercial weather programs as well,
Active Sky and FS Meteo being two of the most popular. All of
these weather generators allow the creation of a wide variety of
weather situations and effects as well as downloading current real
world weather conditions and (in the case of the commercial addons) the opportunity to use historical weather data to re-create a
particular weather condition.
The sheer number of variables; wind, precipitation type
and amount, cloud type and coverage, turbulence, visibility,
temperature and icing conditions can be combined in practically
limitless permutations to change the flight. With this tool even
a short hop between two well traveled airports can become an
unexpected adventure.
The true benefit of this ability is that the conditions can be
ramped up to meet and then push the pilots comfort zone. Start
with reduced visibility to minimize cheating on basic instrument
approaches. Once the approaches can be flown with regular
precision dial up the drama by adding precipitation and then wind.
Changing either the wind speed or direction or a combination of the
two can have considerable effect on the flight path and control and
power inputs necessary to achieve the desired results.
As you can see, this incremental application of increasing
complexity of weather can take quite a few flights to master. Then,
once you can fly in a strong crosswind in minimum visibility try the
whole thing again but with a different aircraft. This is all part of the
lifetime of learning that is flying.

Been There-Done That

So- you are a true commander of the skies able to land anything
from a glider to an A380 in any weather condition. OK Captain,
now go back to each aircraft, start disabling one system at a time
and do it all again. Things will be a bit different if you are operating
on one less engine than you started with, or without flaps or with
that fancy FMS or autopilot on the fritz.
All of a sudden you have gone from same old, same old to
there will never be enough time to fly all the possibilities and
that is certainly a good position to be in. And even if you somehow
managed to put aside everything else in your life and devote
yourself strictly to flight simulation by the time you achieved
absolute proficiency some developer will have come up with a new
idea to add to the mix.

Not a Do-it-Yourselfer?
For those who simply cannot or do not want to make their own
adventures there is the work of Michael Doherty. In 2004, Doherty
began compiling adventures consisting of approaches into some of
the trickiest and nastiest airports he could find in FS9 and posting
them on Avsim and [Link]. He calls them Dohertys
Difficult and Dangerous Approaches and there are 71 volumes of
them. With each file containing at least 10 approaches that amounts
to over 700 interesting approaches. While some will have you
tightening your seat belt others are more basic, but all are designed
to add to the diversity of the simming experience and help you hone
your skills.
The flights are installed in the Select Flight menu of FS9 with
a brief description of each exercise stating the runway length
and elevation and each file consists of a video segment that takes

about 6 minutes to fly if done properly. Selecting a flight loads

the file and it places you in the specified aircraft on the initial
approach to the airport. The GPS screen is open showing the
airport location and from there the pilot needs to get his bearings
and continue the approach.
I tried a few of them from Volume 63 and the most difficult aspect
was quickly getting the situational awareness to guide the airplane.
The approaches I attempted were to a range of airports- a 1200
grass strip (that I had a big problem finding) in California to an
800 concrete runway in Nevada and the 10,000 runway in Guam.
Aircraft ranged from the J-3 Cub to the 777. These approaches
are challenging either due to terrain, wind or weather and a great
workout for any pilot. The short duration keeps you busy and the
need to envelop yourself rapidly in the situation is a lot of fun.
As an added bonus, the volume of 10 flights was only a 785kb
download so installing the entire series should not put an undue
strain for disk space on any decent computer.
A search on Avsim found the filename doherty_s_difficult_&_
dangerous_approaches_vol_01_thru_63.zip that contains Volumes
1 thru 63 in a single download. It is only 9 Mb and that should be
a good start for anyone interested in these files. Also found was file
[Link] This is an Excel spreadsheet index of all 71 volumes.
I highly recommend them.
While searching the Avsim files for Dohertys approaches I found
a 3 part series of files as well by Steve Cartwright. These are called
Crossing North America Flight Adventures and together provide
VFR flight plans and links to freeware aircraft to fly a series of
scenic flights from Pt. Hope, Alaska via the Western US mountain
states to Cancun, Mexico. The three file sets contain 30 flights and
covered over 3700 miles. It does not appear that Cartwright finished
the project and I do not know where the last flight ended but it does
cover some very scenic land areas. Cartwrights description notes
state that his inspiration was part Doherty and part David Dossiere
who created Hopping Round the World.
That series was produced from 2003 to 2005 and ultimately
consisted of 79 adventure pack downloads utilizing a wide variety
of aircraft (with sources for them listed in his readme notes) that
amounted to a total of 796 takeoffs and landings and 150,314
miles traveled.
As this list makes clear there are many ways to fly to new places
and discovering them is simply a matter of paying attention to
information readily available. There simply is no way anyone could
ever get bored in flight simulation. So what are you waiting for?
Get going and visit some new places in some different airplanes and
keep the cobwebs from forming on your computer or in your mind.
** As if these were not enough ways to stimulate your interest I
have two more suggestions before concluding:
Fly online. The presence of live ATC and other traffic can spice
things up a bit. If you want to make it even more interesting
join the throngs at an online event (there are at least one or two
of them every week) where you must listen for your callsign in
the midst of rapid fire communications by ATC while headed
somewhere you may never have previously been.
Trust your Computer Pilot writers. This magazine
occasionally publishes articles on dangerous approaches and
offers airports that feature them. 4
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ROUNDROBINADVENTURE
MADEIRA AND GRAND CANARIA

BY AL PELLETIER
If you have undertaken previous Round Robins, skip the next
paragraph, jump right in, and have fun. For those who are new to
this, Round Robins are published with the intent of having flight
simmers fly, look at the scenery, refresh our geography, practice our
cross country navigation, perform approaches at different airports
all over the world, and have some FUN. In the message, you will be
receiving info like: airport departure and runway number, VORs and
NDBs enroute, two or three middle airport destinations, for VFR or
INST approach, and back to your point of departure (Round Robin).
You will also be given ILS and LOM freq., minimums, procedures
etc. and a little background on the geography of the area. After
you fly a few of these, you will have a much better command and
understanding of the different types of published procedures. You
will learn to handle a lot of information in a very short time, while
still maintaining control of your aircraft.

ound Robin adventure Madeira and Grand Canaria:

This month we are flying for DHL (or any other cargo
company). We are going to take some wine from
Portugal to the islands of Madeira, then south to the Grand
Canaria island, and come back with a full load of fruit from
the Canary Islands. Madeira is a Portuguese archipelago in
the mid Atlantic Ocean approximately 540nm S/W of Lisbon.
Madeira is part of Portugal and the European Union. The
Islas Canarias or Canary Islands are a Spanish archipelago
located between 50 to 260nm due west of Morocco. The
Islands are a Spanish Autonomous Community with over
two million people. Grand Canaria, itself, is one of the most
populated islands of the Gran Canarias or Great Canary
islands. The Islands economy is based on tourism and tropical
agriculture, primarily bananas and tobacco. Now you know
what your cargo will be on the way back!
I have uploaded some great charts at the Computer Pilots web site, so
dont miss out and download them. Again, some very rare and special
charts are included for this one. Dont miss them

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Great add-ons for this flight:

(Most freeware files can be found at [Link] or

[Link])

Aircraft and Panel (Payware):

I used the Captain Sim Boeing 757 Freighter in DHL livery.

[Link] and also available at
[Link] for both FSX and FS2004. I can tell you that it is
one Awesome package.

Scenery (Payware):

I was fortunate to receive the very impressive scenery addon:

The Wonderful Madeiras from Aerosoft Germany.
You can find it at [Link]. If you do purchase this
software package, download the Madeira Islands Improvement
pack by Pedro Oliveira at [Link]. Do a search for
Madeira.
Land Class and textures addons from FS Genesis located at:
[Link] Flight Sim just isnt the same without
these. They are available for both FS9 and FSX

Scenery (Freeware):

I also found another superb freeware scenery package of the Grand

Canaria Airport at [Link] Do a search for Canarias. This
scenery was done by the CanarySim team.
I found some scenery for Lisbon by Sergio Jorge at
[Link] Look for [Link]

Flight Planning (Payware):

I have finally acquired the FlightSim Commander 8.5 flight planning

software, for both FS2004 and FSX. I will now upload the flight
plans in FSCommander format as well as FSNavigator. Using
FSCommander gives me the option to upload some very colorful and
accurate navigation maps.

CAPT SIM 757 FREIGHTER

(A lot of notes regarding ATC will pertain only to FS2002\FS2004\

FSX users)
May I suggest, that you READ the route a couple of times before
starting out, so that youll have the flight plan fairly clear in your mind.
Especially in a fast medium or large jet aircraft, there isnt much time to
spare and definitely no room for errors.
The scenario and tasking for this exercise: We are flying for DHL cargo
and we have been tasked to take a full load of wine to the Madeira
Islands and then on to Grand Canaria to ferry a load of tropical fruit
back to Lisbon on our return trip. I flew a Boeing 757-200F for my
flight. It could also be flown with the default Boeing [Link] route can
also be flown in FS2002/FS2004/FSX or any other flight simulator with
the necessary NAVAIDS and scenery.

MADEIRA ROUND ROBIN MAP WITH ROUTE

Round Robin Adventure:

LISBON (LPPT)>>>>
MADEIRA (LPMA) >>>>
GRAND CANARIA (GCLP) >>>>
LISBON (LPPT)
Approx total distance 1650nm
NOTE: For the purpose of these exercises, we will assume that we are
receiving Radar vectors to different VORs or ILS interception points.
In the Real world of today, aircraft usually receive vectors to the
interception points, to ensure proper separation. Im also assuming that
you will have a good look at the Approach plates for each segment.
One more note. If you are using ATC for take off, taxi and landings,
you might be given different RWY or taxi way, depending on the
weather. You might even input the whole trip in a FS flight plan and fly
it that way.

BEGIN
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First leg:
Lisbon (LISBOA) Portugal (LPPT)>>>
Madeira Islands (LPMA)
Approx 530nm
Select Lisbon or LISBOA under AIRPORTS/Portugal ramp cargo.
Month of January. Time 0650L. Weather at your discretion.
Dial in the ESPICHEL (ESP) VOR\DME frequency 112.50 and
set course 237 on NAV1. Also tune in the CAPARICA (CP) NDB
frequency 389 on your ADF.
Taxi to and T/O (Take off) RWY 21, climb RWY heading to the CP
NDB, followed by a left turn to track the ESP VOR to on top and
continue climbing to 35,000 (FL350).
On top the ESP VOR, turn right HDG 237, and establish on the 237
radial of the ESP VOR. We are now on AIRWAYS UN975 to the
NARTA ISEC (Intersection).
Over the NARTA ISEC keep HDG 237. Dial in and track (upon
reception) the PORTO SANTO (SNT) VOR\DME frequency 114.90
to on top.
100nm out of (before) the SNT VOR, begin descent to 4000. (for
some reason I was only able to get 100nm VOR range during this
entire route)
During descent, dial in the FUNCHAL (FUN) VOR/DME frequency
112.20 on NAV1.
Over the SNT VOR turn left HDG 230, descend to 1500 and track
the FUN VOR\DME to on top.
Prepare your aircraft for final approach. Reduce to approach speed.
Over the FUN VOR turn right HDG 238 at an altitude of 1500.
Continue with a visual approach. (I have included an NDB approach
chart to RWY 23, that can be downloaded, if you want to fly an
instrument approach).
5nm back, final landing checks. You are cleared for a full stop to
RWY 23 at Madeira Intl Airport (Elevation 193, RWY length 9127).
Check gear down.
Land at Madeira and take first available left to terminal. (I used the
farthest building to the west for the Cargo ramp)

757 TAXIING AT MADEIRA

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Second leg:
MADEIRA (LPMA)>>>
GRAND CANARIA (GCLP)
Approx 350nm

Your airplane should be parked at the Madeira ramp.

Month January. Clock 1200L.
Weather at your discretion. I used real weather.
Dial in the FUNCHAL (FUN) VOR/DME frequency 112.20 on NAV1.
Also dial in the GRAN CANARIA (GDV) VOR/DME frequency
112.90 on NAV2.
Taxi to and T/O RWY 5. Climb RWY heading to the FUN VOR and
continue climbing to 31,000 (FL310).
On top the FUN VOR turn right HDG 135 to the KEKOS ISEC which
is located at FUN135/30.1nm.
Over KEKOS turn right HDG 180 to establish on AIRWAYS UN745
at FL310.
At the BIMBO ISEC, UN745 becomes UN749 because of the control
area change.
NOTE: The Madeira control area is a 100nm radius of the Puerto
Santo VOR, then it changes to the Grand Canarias control center, and
in our case it happens over the BIMBO ISEC. I have uploaded a map
to that effect. This is just nice to know information and not necessary
for the trip, but just to explain why the change in the AIRWAYS
designation.
Over the BIMBO ISEC continue on HDG 180 to the GURKA, KASAS
and NERVO ISEC.
115nm out of the GVD VOR begin descent to 6000.
Over the GDV VOR turn right HDG 189. Dial in and track the GRAN
CANARIA (LPC) VOR\DME frequency 115.0 to on top and descend
to 5000.
Enroute, dial in the LOC-ILP frequency 109.9 and set course 029
on your NAV1 OBI in preparation for an ILS to RWY 03L at Grand
Canaria (GCLP) airport (actual course 029, elevation 77, RWY length
10,171).
Over the LPC VOR turn left HD 145 and descend to 3000. Maintain
until 13nm out of LPC to the D167ZX ISEC followed by a right hand
turn to HDG 311 to the F103L ISEC to intercept the LOC.
Prepare your aircraft for landing
5nm back, final landing checks. You are cleared for a full stop to
RWY 03L. Check gear down and locked.
\
Land at Gran Canaria and take first available left taxi to the cargo ramp
located at the south hand of the terminal area.

757 IN DESCENT TO GRAND CANARIA

OVER THE VOR AT GRAND CANARIA

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Third leg:
CANARIA (GCLP)>>> LISBON (LPPT)
Approx 735nm
Month of January. Clock 1900L, for a night return flight. Weather at
your discretion.
Dial in the GRAN CANARIA (GDV) VOR\DME frequency 112.90
and set course 026 on your NAV1 OBI.
Taxi to and T/O RWY 3L. Climb RWY heading to 37,000 (FL370)
to the ISORU ISEC to establish on the 026 radial of the GDV VOR.
(ISORU is 34nm out of the GDV VOR).
Over ISORU turn right HDG 026 to maintain on the 026 radial of
GDV. We are now riding on AIRWAYS UN873 all the way to the
SAMAR ISEC located at GDV026/176nm.
Over the SAMAR ISEC turn right HDG 043 all the way to
the BAROK ISEC (378nm ahead) via the MITLA, NEVEL and
BENTU ISECs.
Over the BAROK ISEC turn left HDG 021 and begin descent to
5000. Dial in and track the ESPICHEL (ESP) VOR\DME frequency
112.50 on reception.
Enroute, dial in the LOC-LI frequency 109.1 and set course 028 on
your NAV1 OBI. Also tune in the CAPARICA (CP) NDB frequency
389 on your ADF in preparation for an ILS to RWY 03 at Lisbon
(actual course 028, elevation 374 and RWY length 12,484).
Over the ESP VOR turn left HDG 359 and descend to 3000. Reduce
airspeed and prepare your aircraft for final approach.
Home the CP NDB to on top. (On top at 3000 altitude)
On top the NDB turn right HDG 032 and intercept the LOC for final
approach.
5nm back, final landing checks. You are cleared for a full stop to
RWY 03 at Lisbon. Check gear down and locked.
Land at LISBON airport and take first available right to cargo ramp
located at the far North East area of the airport.
Welcome home and Good Job!!
END

IN DESCENT TO GRAND CANARIA ISLAND

CAPT SIM BOEING 757F

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GCLP TO LPPT FLIGHT PLAN FS COMMANDER

TIP: I use Google maps ([Link]) to help

me with terminal information and to give me a very
good look at the airport, along with the location of
passenger terminal. Doesnt work for all of them,
but does most of the time. Try it for the Lisbon and
Madeira airport. Amazing!
NOTE 1: I am still using FS2004 to write my articles.
The route was checked with Abacuss Co-Pilot 3.5
and FlightSim Commander 8.5 for accuracy in FSX.
My sincere thanks to Abacus and the Flight Sim
Commander team.
Als thank you box:

Without the help and generosity from the people below and our
payware/freeware designers, I couldnt write these articles. So my
sincere thanks to all those and to [Link] and [Link]

MADEIRA TO GRAND CANARIA FLIGHT PLAN

FLIGHT SIM COMMANDER

1. Quotes and photos from Airways magazine are courtesy of and with
permission of the Editor. Many thanks!
2. Chris Squire for test flying the route. Chris is a retired military pilot with
over 12,000 hours of flying time.
3. I used a combination of FSNavigator (sadly no longer available), Abacus
Co-Pilot (for FSX) and FlightSim
Commander for my flight planning and maps. Courtesy of Simmarket.
com and [Link].
4. Justin Tyme ([Link]) terrain textures that make my writing so
much more enjoyable.
5. Miguel Blaufuks of [Link] for the copy of Flight Sim
Commander 8.5 flight planning program.
([Link]) Thanks Miguel!!
6. The CanarySim team for the freeware version of Grand Canarias
7. PCAviator for the great selection of Flight Sim software addons.
([Link])
8. Thanks to Tanya, and the Captain Sim team, for providing me with the
great Boeing 757-200F airplane. [Link]
Cheers and keep on reading Computer Pilot
Dont forget to download the maps from [Link].
I have uploaded some great high resolution maps for your enjoyment!
Al 4

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April/May 2010

WIN A SUBSCRIPTION
LearJet Around the World

Following on from Lane Kolblys 2009 article on the 10,000 mile wide
Cessna trip and learning to fly, Lane is back documenting his recent trip
around the globe in a Bombardier LearJet. You can follow along and re-trace
the route in Flight Simulator.

Operating the PMDG JS4100

PMDGs newest aircraft offering is the JS4100 twin turboprop passenger

liner, and it is already a best-selling package. The aircraft is quite detailed
and can be tricky for the newer pilot to master. Rob Scott offers an in depth
look and tutorial on operating the JS4100 in the next issue.

Aircraft Spotlight: The F-16 Falcon

Several developers/publishers offer the F-16 Falcon as add-on packages for

Microsoft Flight Simulator. David Wilson-Okamura has found several of the
best available and offers an informational-style comparison on the best F-16
offerings currently available.

I Learned About Flying From That

Bartow Air Base (Florida, USA) became our main operating base after
surviving the Bamboo Bomber (Piper, PA-18 Super Cub). The North
American, T-6G Texan at Bartow was to be our home for the next five
or so months. John Achor continues his series on learning to fly various
aircraft next issue.

to Computer Pilot Magazine

Have something to say about the flight simulation hobby? The flight
simulation community, or just a rant or rave about anything simulation
or aviation related?
Send your letters of 400 words or less to inbox@[Link]
for your chance to win a free 12 month (6 issue) subscription or extension if you already subscribe to Computer Pilot. Each issue we will
choose the best letters with the best angle/take on a flight simulation
topic and publish them in our Inbox column.

Have Your Say!

Many articles appearing in Computer Pilot magazine are a direct result

of your emails and feedback. If you have a topic you would like us to
cover, or just have some general constructive magazine feedback, let us
know and we will do our best to address your request/feedback. Send
your comments, article ideas or suggestions to...

editor@[Link]
While we may not be able to personally answer them all, we do read
every email and take your feedback onboard for planning of future
issues. Its your way to make an impact on the content and direction of
the magazine!

Trevor Thom Is Back!

Last issue we featured Trevor Thom as one of our new contributors. Next
issue he is serving up another article to tickle your interest and enhance your
knowledge in aviation and flight simulation. The problem is that even we do
not know yet what it will be about Oh the anticipation!

Reviews

We have planned reviews of these great new flight simulation products:

FSFlyingSchool 2010 Book: Air Combat Maneuvers
Fokker 50 for FS2004 C-5M Galaxy

PLUS
Chicago to Maine, and Back

Doug Horton delivers his experience on flying from Chicago to Maine, and
back, in a recent real world flying trip he completed. Flight plans and routes
will be on offer to recreate this journey in Flight Simulator.

Hortons Hints for Flight Simulator X

More hints, tips and tricks for FSX pilots.

AND EVEN MORE WITH

Pullout Poster

More quality aviation images to decorate your walls.

News & New Releases

The latest news information from around the flight sim world.

Landing April 2010

Subscribe online now at [Link] to have your magazines

home delivered for 6, 12 or 18 issue periods

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Stop and think for just a moment...

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aircraft in the sky, the greater was
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