Features

Orbx design efforts lately have produced a lot of scenery for Great Britain, and Leeds Bradford Airport for X-Plane is just one example. Reviewer Paul Mort had been eagerly awaiting this one, as it's not far from where he lives. He was not disappointed in Orbx's efforts and gave it his highest rating.

Author Ian Radcliffe has been flightsimming for a long time -- since 1984 and FS2 on a Commodore 64. In an effort to give something back after all these years of enjoyment, Ian has offered a series of articles that will offer hints, insights and suggestions to enrich the flight simulator experience. Here is the second one, with a discussion on handling forced landings plus an challenging trip through the high mountains of South America.

Prepar3D pilots who enjoy flying truly large aircraft will enjoy the C-17A Globemaster III from Virtavia. Being a military plane, it also has performance unlike an airliner which makes for some interesting flying. Reviewer Ray Andersen found that he liked the aircraft very much, with high quality textures, an accurate model and an abundance of details.

Now that the holidays are behind us, we're back to offering you a new Where In The World? challenge from Ron Blehm. Those who tried last time did well deducing the tropical location. The new location this month is literally the end of the line...can you figure out where?

There's so much good freeware out there that we don't review nearly enough of it, but today's review by Andy Barter takes a look at a nice Prepar3D v4 scenery of KGEG Spokane International Airport by Brett Delana. Brett has been a long-time creator of scenery, back to the FS2004 days. This scenery brings KGEG to life with an accurate layout and custom designed buildings.

Unlike computer games, flight simulators do not have a set path or goal so users have to figure out for themselves what to do with their sims. There are many answers to this, such as joining a virtual airline and in this presentation Sherman Kaplan presents a set of float plane flights the he and friends at DC3 Airways have developed. If you like wilderness flying and landing on water this just may be for you.

Kenneth J. Kerr continues his series of product recommendations for those with an older system. This time he reviews the De Havilland DHC-1 Chipmunk created for FSX by Just Flight. This plane has a personal connection, including a first flight as a young air cadet, and proves to be a great addition to any flightsim hangar.

There are quite a few add-ons that change the entire look of the flight simulator world. the Orbx contribution to this idea is Global Buildings HD, which provide high definition textures to the default buildings used throughout the world. According to reviewer MrYorkiesWorld the quality is impressive and it does it without affecting frame rates and with features like regional accuracy.

Author Ron Blehm knows a young woman pilot in Washington State who shares her flight training and flying adventures online and through videos. His idea was that it would be fun for flight simmers to join in on her adventures, flying the same routes and sharing their experiences. This is the first article in the series and introduces the flights and the sharing concepts.