Seattle Airports X is the most complete, up-to-date, affordable and performance-friendly scenery package of five airports in the Seattle metropolitan area, Washington state, USA. This product is compatible with FSX, P3D and FSW. Reviewer Augusto Ferreira liked the five included airports enough that he considers the scenery a must-have for anyone flying the Pacific Northwest. (Also see our review of the X-Plane version)

As we do each year around this time, we look back at some of our favorite reviews and repost them as "gift guides" to give you ideas for your favorite flightsimmer, or for yourself! The Transall C-160 from Flight1 and JSS Simulations comes with fully working systems including pressurization, highly detailed static elements including wheel chocks and pitot covers, 3D pilots and even a simulated discharge procedure. Reviewer Bill Stack puts the plane through its paces.

Reviewer Rohan Nair takes a look at the VMAX 777 Worldliner Professional Extended Pack, the only Boeing 777 currently available for X-Plane 11. The developers have created a number of high quality jetliners for X-Plane with this one originally being released some six years ago. The latest update does still show its age a bit but still offers a lot of features and is a decent simulator of the big jet.

In this review Michael Hayward takes a look at the second release from Orbx in their CityScene range of products, CityScene Barcelona for FSX and Prepar3D. Created by Allen Kriesman, the scenery is incredibly detailed and brings the city to life with accurate and detailed buildings (thousands of them), vegetation, roads, important landmarks and so on.

The 690B Commander for X-Plane 11 from Carenado is a speedy turboprop aircraft that makes for a comfortable ride for a business executive. Reviewer Sean McLeod found the plane to be a splendid addition to his hangar. He enjoyed the luxurious interior and the flight characteristics of the plane.

The rudder may be somewhat overlooked as an aircraft control but having proper rudder pedals can actually make your flight simulator time much more real. Airline pilot Tony Vallillo puts the Thrustmaster Pendular Rudder System to the test -- the first time he's had simulator rudders -- and finds they add much more to the experience than expected. Though probably too pricey for some, they are well worth it for the serious sim pilot.

VSKYLABS has created a very nice version of a little training helicopter created by a former Eurocopter engineer. The Guimbal Cabri G2 will make a nice addition to your X-Plane hangar, reports reviewer Paul Mort. The copter looks and feels right and is a great model for novice rotary flyers.

One advantage of FSX being around for so long is that even the less well-known aircraft get modeled. One example is the Handley-Page Hampden for FSX from Virtavia, a British bomber that was important in the early years of WWII. Though now an older model, reviewer Peter Watkins still found a lot to like--enough so that he even has created several repaints of his own.

In October this year, the Flight Sim Show returned to the UK, and was bigger and better than ever before. With over 1800 attendees and nearly 40 exhibitors attending, it was the largest UK show ever. In much the same way as last year's show, Michael Hayward was luckily enough to be able to interview some of the largest developers on the simulator scene, with many questions poised by you, the flightsim community.

Reviewer Paul Mort takes a quick look at some of his favorite X-Plane freeware. With so many good add-ons available he had a tough time limiting things to just three, but found some worthy candidates. Included are Airport Environment X, plus the Piper Super Cub by Alex Jenns and the Graz Airport scenery by Stefan Verjee-Lorenz.