More details about Micorosft Flight released by the development team

The development team working at the Microsoft Flight title posted beginning of this month some news, as an answer to the numerous questions they received from the public. It provides some details about what to expect from the game, with accent on the question on how it will be compared to FSX and what will be the overall experience they are working to achieve.

You can read the full release on the official page of the game by going to the news section. The article is dated December 8th.

How virtual search and rescue could someday help save lifes

One of my favorite type of flying in flight simulators was conducting search and rescue missions as part of some virtual SAR organizations. I enjoyed doing search patters over sea or looking for objectives in the mountains for hours and hours in all type of weather.

As the technology progresses, maybe someday flight simulators will be used as tools to help authorities in search and rescue operations using up to date satellite imagery layered on top of the exiting mesh terrain and people from around the world could join, download the current imagery and make flights over the terrain looking for signs. Similar to what coast guard or CAP pilots do in real life.

We already saw similar technology in use when thousands of people all over the world joined to help for downed aviator Steve Fossett search using current satellite imagery of the area in which he was presumed to have crashed. They took the satellite images one by one and looked for any signs of his aircraft wrecked, marking the ones in which they saw anything suspicious. That endeavor was not successfully, the wreckage being located by traditional ways later, but nevertheless it was a good try and showed the power of technology and how it can unite people together to help a cause.

With more and more hi tech satellites, cheaper imagery, faster network speeds and powerful computers it will be easier and easier to get access to high resolution imagery. There have been already technologies developed (like Tileproxy) to display real satellite imagery in FSX and allow you to fly over.

Although maybe not something that can be implemented in a lot of cases, we can't argue that there are some advantages of some sort of satellite based SAR programs: lots of people could join the effort no matter where they are located, they could do this without weather interference and no matter if it is night or day.

Apache: Air Assault - New helicopter combat game

On November 19th, 2010 a nice new helicopter combat simulation game has been relased. It features the Apache AH64 helicopter and lets you take it on a 16 mission campaign in various landscapes along side multiplayer game. From the screenshots and videos I can tell the scenery is one of the most complex I have yet seen in a simulation, with dense vegetation and lighting effects.

Regarding the realism it seems the developers added two modes the game can be played in, which you can select at the begining of each mission in the campaign. The training mode makes flying the helicopter very easy, while the realistic mode gives you a similar to reality flying experience. The cockpit is nice, but you cannot move buttons and switches, which taking into account that this is an action game it is not that of a bad thing.

Apache: Air Assault is available for multiple platforms, such as Xbox 360, PS3, PC.

Here are some videos I found:

Trailer:


Gameplay:

New version of Plan G

A new version of the very good Plan G flight planner based on Google Maps has been released.

 New features in version 2.0:
•New Airport viewer
•New Approach viewer
•Add approach to flight plan
•Display Victor Airways
•Weather reports without FS connection
•Relative wind display
•New enhanced native ".PLG" file format with support for cross-references, passing altitudes, notes, approaches etc
•Sample plans
•Sharable bookmarks
•Display KML/KMZ files
•New Quick Planner
•Route Copy to clipboard for VAs, VATSIM etc
•Water runways display
•Detachable tool windows for expander panels
•Actual times recorded (local or zulu) an be printed on PLOGs
•Spot elevations (with optional DEM installed)
•Move aircraft to here function
•Many more UI enhancements

To view more details and download the free flight planner go to Plan G flight planning software page.

I also made a review to the first version of Plan G a while ago. You can see it here.

Did you know snakes could fly?

Me neither.... But it looks like some species are capable of short gliding flights from tree to tree, as the video below proves it. Pay close attention at the way the snake moves and flattens it body to maintain a profile trough air.

Top 10 extreme and interesting approaches to airports

I decided to make my personal top 10 when it comes to the most exciting and interesting aproaches to airports around the world. You can see a real life video of each as I manage to find them on Youtube.

10. Madeira Funchal, Portugal (LPMA)



09. Isafjordu, Iceland (BIIS)


08. London City, UK


07. Courchevel, France (LFLJ)


06. Sion, Switzerland (LSGS)


05. Kerkira, Greece (LGKR)



04. Innsbruck, Austria (LOWI)


03. Lukla, Nepal (VNLK)



02. Tegucigalpa, Honduras (MHTG)



01. Kai Tak, Hong Kong (VHHH)

PMDG 737 NGX HUD demo

PMDG seems to be getting closer and closer of releasing a great 737 NG for FSX. Proof is the latest video showing a demonstration of the revolutionary HUD (heads up display) that will be built in the 737NGX, working in the actual cockpit of the aircraft.

Besides the video their support forums give also a nice description of the features of functionality of the upcoming HUD system, supported by some cockpit screen shots of it in action.

Freeware Nemeth Design helicopters

Nemeth Design is offering a couple of their wonderful helicopters for free. Unfortunately they are only FS9 models, but if you are still using the sim and like helicopters it's a good opportunity to try them. I have flown the Sikorsky S76 and the EC120B and they are truly wonderful.

To see the free helicopters you will need to go their official site: http://www.nemethdesigns.com/freeware.html#pay01

A day in the life of air traffic around the world

A very nice video representation of the flights around the world during an entire day:

A diffrent kind of flying

First Person Speedflying - View more free videos

Speed-flying in the mountains, or also known as Ski gliding.

ENB Series Flight Simulator X or 9 - How to install and obtain cool HDR lighting tutorial

If your computer is not powerful enough to run FSX in DX10 mode with Bloom enabled, or you are bored of the default lighting in fs9, you can easily add a very cool mod either in either FSX or FS9 which adds HDR lighting and dynamic shadows to the simulator. The mod is called ENB Series and it is based on a modified version of the DX9 dll which forces HDR and many effects in games which do not support it by default. The mod was originally developed for GTA game, but works very well in both FSX and FS9.

Good part at this mod is that it improves the visual quality of Flight Simulator X or FS2004 without a heavy toll on frame rates. I could argue that the effect is even better than the one obtained if you enable Bloom and DX10 mode in FSX, but, at least on my configuration the frame  rate remains the same when ENB series is enabled. Besides the visual impact you will also notice a interesting effect, if you look at the cockpit instruments and then raise your view to the sky, you will notice how the light dims out, similar as your eye iris will close to adapt to the increase amount of light. This adds a nice effect as the simulation would have actually been a movie, and the camera would have adjusted to light when moved from the dashboard to the windshield/sky.

The image at the top shows the difference between default FSX (right) and FSX with ENB Series enabled (left).

How to install ENB Series in either FSX or FS9

1. Download the mod from the official page below. I use version 0.075.
  http://enbdev.com/download_en.htm

2. After the zip file is downloaded, extract and copy the two files (d3d9.dll and enbseries.ini) in the FSX/FS9 main folder (same place where fsx.exe/fs9.exe is located).

3. You will need to replace the config in enbseries.ini with one that is best suited for the simulator (default one is provided for GTA). Open enbseries.ini with Notepad and replace the content with the configuration. I use the one provided on this forum:
http://www.simforums.com/forums/enb-bloom-mod-nicks-cOnfig-settings_topic32482.html

Save the file after is changed!

4. Start FSX and start a flight. To start/stop the mod press anytime SHIFT+F12;


To uninstall the mod just delete the two files you copied from your simulator installation directory.

Enjoy!


Known issues:
If the ENB Series does not work in FSX or 2004 or you see black squares, clouds, etc with the mod enables, check if you have two monitors connected to the computer. This mod does not support multi monitor setup on some configuration. Just disconnect the secondary monitor and restart the simulator  and it should work.


Use the mod at your own risk. I did not encountered any issues with it but you may never know!

The coolest helicopter I have ever seen

Sikorsky X2 flying at 250 kt during a test flight. Both beautiful and fast.

More details about Microsoft Flight released

If you want to find out more details about the upcoming Flight game from Microsoft, check out the official page where some new info has been posted, which I would say gives important information’s about how this game will be.

Besides a new video episode, which is short and focus mostly one the story background, a new FAQ sections has been posted, which contains most of the important info.

It appears, from reading the section, that Microsoft did not gave up the simulation part of the game, but enhanced it with new game play options, challenges and social connectivity.

See more info on the official Microsoft Flight website.

iFly Jets - The 737NG for FS2004

One of the most sophisticated 737NG built for FS2004 is here and can be purchased from Flight1. The iFly Jets 737NG features a lot of of the systems available in the real aircraft along with ground support and pushback options.
For those who would like to see a complete list of features iFly has also made public the aircraft's operation manual one their support forums.

The product can be purchased trough download from Flight1.
More details can be found on the developers product page.

Looks like a FSX version of the aircraft is also in development.

Microsoft anounces Flight! Will it be also a simulator?

At Gamescom 2010 Microsoft anounced they are working on Flight, a new  game inspired by its old flight simulator series, which is in development since the beginning of the year.

As there are no details other that the official anouncement and a  short trailer video we are all wondering if this is going to be only a flight game or a true simulator. Microsoft has launched also a page dedicated to the new game, it can be found at the address: http://www.microsoft.com/games/flight/

Top10 Low Pass Fly By's

Compilation of very skilled military pilots performing low pass fly by's.
Source

Free VFR planning tool with maps covering entire world - Plan-G

I found very difficult in the past to find good VFR maps for my FSX flights, or a good planning tool with worldwide coverage. When I was flying in the US I usually used Skyvector, but as most of my flights are in Europe, and couldn't afford the price of proper VFR maps for all the countries I needed, I was mostly relying on the FSX flight planner to track my course.

Short time ago I came across this free VFR flight planner which will help you plan your flights, and obtain a very good VFR map no matter where in the world you are located.

Installation:

Installation is quite easy, although first you need to register on the forums to access the download page. Creating an account on the forums is easy and it takes only a few minutes to receive the activation email. After this you can login and download a 7 MB zip file containing the program. There is no installation required besides extracting the archive and copying the files in a directory of your choice, which I find good because it spares your system of different registry entries and not so necessary files.

At first run you will have to generate a database for the program, which is generated by going to Data tab and choosing Generate FSX or FS9 database, from the FSX or FS2004 scenery files. Process takes around 5 minutes. This way Plan-G will have a complete list of navigation points, airports, airways.

Interface:

Interface is very intuitive, with a tabbed like look similar to the Office suit. The map is based on Google Maps with the flight plan and navaids superimposed based on the FSX database. You can control how many elements are visible on the map using the Map settings tab.

Creating a flight plan:

Creation of a flight planner is done on the actual map, by clicking on the different waypoints. You will see informations about the flight plan in the right side of the application. When done you may save the flight plan in FSX or FS2004 format using the Save button.

Other notable features:

The program has the ability to connect to FSX/FS2004 and display real time the position on the map, as well as showing different info like winds, weather. You can also benefit from an elevation profile by downloading some external files and placing them in the program folder.

Official website.

New toys from Saitek

Saitek has launched a couple of new toys to make our flightsim experience more enjoyable. First of them is the Pro Flight Backlit Information Panel, which will provide pilots with and annunciation style informational panel during flights, showing up stuff as warnings, failures and information about aircraft systems.

Second is a brand new Throttle, pitch and mixture system similar to the ones found in Cessna, Piper or Mooney aircraft's.

They have also released a brand new type of rudder pedals under the name of Saitek Pro Flight Combat Rudder Pedals.

More informations and images on the official Saitek blog.

Fix FSX out of memory (oom) errors

I recently installed some addons that were using high definition textures in Flight Simulator X and I was getting constant oom errors.

The symptoms of FSX running out of memory were autogen spikes from the ground till the sky, blue or untextured polygons on the ground, gauges that kept freezing and very bad framerate. After these signs started to appear it was impossible to continue to play. Sometimes FSX crashed and gave an out of memory error.

My problem proved to be not the actual size of the memory (in my case 2GB of RAM and 1GB of video memory), but actually the way Windows was allocating that memory, in this case the VAS (Virtual adress space) which is the same size no matter how big the memory is. In some cases FSX needs more than it can access from the VAS. By default FSX uses up to 2GB of the VAS, while the rest remains available to the system. In some cases this is not enough for all the complex addons in FSX.

There is a way to increase the maximum available VAS for any application, incl. FSX. More details about this and the method to fix it can be found here.

Below the method to do it:

 For XP:

• Disable hidden files and folder.
• On the root C:\ you will find a file named: boot.ini
• Open boot.ini in notepad and add the following to the end of the OS boot line:

/3GB/Userva=2560

like in example below:

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINNT="Microsoft Windows XP Professsional" /fastdetect /3GB /Userva=2560

• Save and close the file;
• Reboot;

To set that back to default, simply remove the edit you made above.

Windows Vista/ Windows 7
BCDEDIT /set increaseuserva 2560

or

BCDEDIT /set increaseuserva 3072



WARNING!
It is possible to starve the operating system's slice of VAS to the point that your system will no longer boot!

If this happens, you must reboot the computer into "Safe Mode" (which bypasses the /3GB switch, and then edit your boot.ini (WinXP) or use bcdecit (Vista/7) to reduce the size of the application slice of the VAS.
Do not try this method if you don't have enough computer skills to do repair it in case something goes wrong. Use it on your own risk.

PMDG 737 NGX first screenshots

First images with interior details from the long awaited PMDG Boeing 737 NGX for FSX have been released by the PMDG staff in this thread on the Avsim forums.
They look amazing! According to PMDG we should expect this bird to be released sometimes during this year (2010).

You may also see some of the images on this forum.

Tom Clancy's HAWX

For the dogfighting fans and those who like aerial combat games I will try to present a few features of this nice combat flying game from Ubisoft, which is available for multiple platforms including PC and XBOX 360. From the start I would like to say the game does not want to be a flight simulator but more like an arcade or action game so do not expect to have all knobs and switches working in the cockpit, or the systems modeled to the last detail. There is no fuel gauge, no advanced instruments, the player does not even have to take off and land his aircraft, every mission is started in mid air. Even so I can bet you will not be bored with it and it promises a lot of fun during either the single player campaign or in multi player mode. 

My Geforce 9800GT is here

As I  anounced in the last post, I have purchased a new videocard, a Geforce 9800GT 1GB, to replace my old video card, a 9400GT.
Wow, what a big diffrence! It's the first time I can play FSX fluidly with full clouds on 1920x1080px resolution at around 25fps. Still I am not able to enable bloom without going back to 10-15fps, but who cares :)

I spent a day searching for a power source to handle the beas as the one I had barely had enough power, but it lacked some cables. The rest of the day was spent figuring out why I get so many errors and trying to complete a short flight.
It's time to buy some new addons.

CPU or video card update for higher framerate in FSX

Since the first time I put my had on a joystick and played Microsoft Flight Simulator X, performance (especially framerate) was one of my biggest problems. I like eye candy so I'm always pushing my computer configuration to the limit, after all it needs to be as real as it can.

Having this in mind I decided to scrap my old Geforce 9400 GT and buy a new video card.

I found this cool article on TomsHardware which compares FSX framerate on multiple CPU and GPU confrontations and at different quality settings. The graphics cards used in the tests are not the newest ones, but for people like me that are on a tight budget when it comes to hardware purchases, it does it's job.

Looking at the graphs, and in my pocket I ended up in deciding between a Geforce 9600GT and a Geforce 9800GT (1GB of DDR2 respectively DDR3). Combined with my E5200 processor which I just overclocked last evening at 2.78 Mhz it should hopefully give me the 20 framerates per second I dream at, while flying a complex aircraft during storm with medium/high quality clouds. Who knows maybe I will be able to even enable bloom.

Will test it and place my results as soon as I make the purchase. Keep you posted. If you have experience on a similar system please feel free to share.

New flight simulator screenshot website launched - www.mySIMSHOTS.NET

Flight simulators fans are invited to submit the best images from their virtual flights on www.mySIMSHOTS.NET website.

mySIMSHOTS.NET wants to be a portal for the flight simulators enthusiasts to share images from their virtual flights. Beside the upload  image feature the site offers the possibility to create albums, comment on images, browse the database or use the powerful search engine to find images of your favorite aircraft, airline or airport.

Images are ranked by the number of unique views and visitors have the option to see the best images of the last  month, six months, year or all time, calculated after the upload date.

In order to upload images you will simply need to create a free acount, which takes under 2 minutes to complete. 

AIRAC cycle1005 available at Navigraph

If you want to update the navigation database of  your favorite addons, AIRAC cycle 1005 is now available in the FMS Data section of the Navigraph website.

Learn to fly

Even if you only fly flight simulators the best way to do it is like real pilots do. I have discovered this nice set of training videos made available for free on the Angle of attack blog under the name Aviator 90. They are a series of 45 videos (from which 43 have been published so far) which would teach you how to fly like a pro.
They are very similar to the DVD courses that pilots preparing for their VFR or commercial rating can take and they teach you a lot of useful aviation notions from forces acting on a aircraft to flight planning, weather, maneuvers, cross country flying , emergency procedures and many more.

Along side the vast amount of information these videos present, they are also very nicely made with decent graphics and videos taken in FSX which makes watching them a real pleasure.

X-Plane 9 Mobile for iPhone review

How would it be to be able to have a flight simulator in your pocket every day? Dream no more! The team at Laminar Research managed to move simulation to your pocket with the release of the X-Plane app for iPhone, which is a miniature copy of the very realistic simulator that is available on the desktop computers, guaranteed to keep you busy and entertained during breaks or while getting bored waiting.

I recently played it on the iPhone of a friend and decided to write this short review about it. 

The X-Plane 9 Mobile app includes the following aircraft:

    * Cessna 172
    * Columbia 400
    * Piper Malibu
    * Cirrus Vision
    * Piaggio Avanti
    * Beechcraft King Air

and the following regions:

    * Innsbruck, Austria
    * Hawaii
    * Boswell Bay, Alaska
    * Southern California
    * San Francisco, California
    * Desert Sky, California

While this application is not designed to be a simulator, but more a game to play, it still keeps quite a few options from original X-Plane which can customize your flight experience. You can set the region, select the aircraft, weather, weight and many others. You even have a small map of the area containing the navaids.
And yes, you can even do instrument flights with it!

After starting the application from the iPhone menu you are already in the game on the runway which is good as you can start flying in a couple of second. To change location, aircraft and option you need to click one of the icons at the top of the screen. From the same place you can pause the simulation or change the views. For IFR fans a instrument panel is also included, but it will be full screen giving you no possibility to see the scenery.

To start flying just click on the brakes icon to disable the brakes and on the area in the right side of the screen to set the flaps. When good to go just set the throttle from the left side of the screen. The plane will start to roll on the runway. Make sure you keep the  iPhone horizontal as any tilt will cause the plane to turn as well.

When ready to take off just tilt the iPhone towards you and soon you will find yourself floating between the clouds ;)
It takes some time to get used with the controls but I managed to do a landing correctly form the first try so I would say it is pretty easy to use.

You have also the option to customize the controls and flight dynamics of the aircraft to make it easier or harder.

There are different views you can choose from (outside and inside) but the one I used most of the time was the fighter hood like below which displays most of the parameters you need.

Scenery itself is ok, considering we are talking about a phone application, and it ran very smoothly on the iPhone 3Gs that I used for testing. Same applies to the instrument panel and 3d model of the aircrafts.

I would recommend reading the article about Flying X-Plane mobile that is posted on the X-Plane.com website if you would like to find out more about how to play it.
All being said I would consider this one of the best aviation related mobile games available on the market.
Wish you  many hours of iPhone simming and take great care with the controls not to end up like me below:

Next edition of IVAO Cannonball Race

Next edition of IVAO Cannonball Race will take place on 27/02/2010 and will be held by IVAO HU Division.
More details....

Extreme aproach in Iceland - real

Found this cool approach on Youtube:



and the charts.

The approach is made at Isafjordu (BIIS) airport in Iceland with a Fokker F50.

IRIS PRO SERIES - DIAMOND STAR XLS

I am a big fan of the Garmin G1000 so I am  very happy to see a new aircraft with the  units installed in its Virtual Cockpit. I'ts the Diamond Star XLS by IRIS Flight simulation software. The 3d exterior model looks ok and the virtual cockpit event better. The product is available for purchase on simMarket and more info can be found on the official website.

Mega Airport Amsterdam for FS9 released

The new scenery for one of Europe's largest airports is available on Aerosoft online shop.

Features:
    *  All buildings and airport institutions
    * Dynamic and animated objects
    * High resolution day- and night textures
    * Photorealistic textures on buildings, vehicles, etc.
    * Docking systems
    * Fully compatible to the standard AI traffic and traffic add-ons such as MyTrafficX
    * Taxiways, apron with realistic rendered textures
    * Hundreds of taxiway- and runway signs according to original plans
    * Dynamic vehicle traffic on the airport (and surrounding) based on AESLite
    * Supports AES (Airport Enhancement Services) from version 2.06 (coming soon)
    * Manual (German / English)

Mega Airport Amsterdam Schiphol preview

Some screenshots with the Mega Airport Amsterdam Schiphol scenery still in development have been posted on the simflight.de forums. Looks very interesting but I think it is still missing some details. Looking forward to see the final product when it is completed.

Video with the Boeing 787 Dreamliner cockpit

A video tour of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner's interior including cockpit at the Boeing production plant in Everett, Wash.

CLS 767 Flight Tutorial

A flight tutorial for the CLS Boeing 767 has been released and can be downloade from CLS website.

Navigraph Airac Cycle 1002 released

Navigraph Airac Cycle 1002 has been released. More info can be found on Navigraph website.

Outerra graphics engine

Nice graphics engine for rendering the planet, currently in development.  I would love to have such tree density in a flight simulator. More details here.

Free airport and airline databases

I was working on a website project and was in need for a free open source database with airports and airlines. Here are a couple I could find:

Openflights
Provides two different csv databases, one with airports and the other with airlines. Airport database contains close to 6000 entries covering most of the big airports around the world. Airline database is quite big as well (over 9000 entries). Also the websites offers a route database. The OpenFlights Airport, Airline and Route Databases are made available under the Open Database License.

OurAirports
Largest public domain airports database I could find. Contains over 43000 airports from around the world. The files are released under public domain.

The Global Airport Database
Over 9000 airports under Common Public License.

Greatest lies in aviation (funny)

1. I’m from the FAA and I’m here to help you.

2. Me? I’ve never busted minimums.

3. We will be on time, maybe even early.

4. Pardon me, ma’am, I seem to have lost my jet keys.

5 .I have no interest in flying for the airlines.

6. I fixed it right the first time, it must have failed for other reasons.

7. All that turbulence spoiled my landing.

8. I’m a member of the mile high club.

9. I only need glasses for reading.

10. I broke out right at minimums.

11. The weather is gonna be alright; it’s clearing to VFR.

12. Don’t worry about the weight and balance — it’ll fly.

13. If we get a little lower I think we’ll see the lights.

14. I’m 22, got 6000 hours, a four year degree & 3000 hours in a Lear.

15. I’d love to have a woman co-pilot.

16. We shipped that part yesterday.

17. All you have to do is follow the book.

18. This plane outperforms the book by 20 percent.

19. We in aviation are overpaid, underworked and well respected.

20. Oh sure, no problem, I’ve got over 2000 hours in that aircraft.

21. I have 5000 hours total time, 3200 are actual instrument.

22. No need to look that up, I’ve got it all memorized.

23. Sure I can fly it — it has wings, doesn’t it?

24. We’ll be home by lunchtime.

25. Your plane will be ready by 2 o’clock.

26. I’m always glad to see the FAA.

27. We fly every day — we don’t need recurrent training.

28. It just came out of annual — how could anything be wrong?

29. I thought YOU took care of that.

30. I’ve got the field in sight.

31. I’ve got the traffic in sight.

32. Of course I know where we are.

33. I’m SURE the gear was down.

Latin VFR Sao Paulo (SBGR) scenery

Latin VFR released the Sao Paulo scenery for FSX and FS2004. It also includes 400 km of photo scenery and mesh for Sao Paulo region.

More informations

IVAO Virtual Sky magazine for Jan 2010 available

You can get the January 2010 edition of IVAO's official magazine for free from IVAO PR department page.

Guess Wilco's next aircraft and win a free license

Wilco is offering 10 free licenses of its next product which will be released in February, if you can guess what aircraft it will be after the screenshots posted on the contest page.
For details about the contest visit Wilco Publishing website.

How to obtain registration code for Gmax

For those of you interested in Gmax scenery design for Microsoft Flight Simulator here is a short guide on how to obtain the free registration code needed for Gmax to work.

1) Go to: http://www.turbosquid.com/registergmax/
2) Fill the form to create an account.
3) Check your email for the registration key. Please note it may take some hours untill it is sent, or it might be blocked by the spam filter so make sure you check Junk/Spam folder as well.

Aviation jokes

A collection of aviation jokes to lighten your day:

A Pan Am 727 waiting for start clearance in Munich overheard the following:

Lufthansa (in German): "Ground, what is our start clearance time?"
Ground (in English): "If you want an answer you must speak in English."
Lufthansa (in English): "I am a German, flying a German airplane, in Germany. Why must I speak English?"
Unknown voice from another plane (in a British accent): "Because you lost the bloody war!"

---------

Pilot to tower.

"Pilot to tower. I am 300 miles from land. 600 feet over water and running out of fuel. Please instruct! "

"Tower to pilot. Tower to pilot. Repeat after me, 'Our Father, which art in heaven...'"

-------

A blond gets on a plane and goes up to first-class.

The flight attendant tells her that she will have to move back; her ticket is not for first class. The blond says, "I'm blond, I'm beautiful, and I'm going to California."

The main flight attendant is brought in and explains that she will have to move.

The blond says, "I'm blond, I'm beautiful, and I'm going to California."

The attendants tell the pilot. He comes in and looks the situation over. He leans over and whispers something to the blond and she gets up immediately and moves out of first class.

The attendants are flabbergasted, "What did you say to her?"

"I just told her that this section of the plane doesn't go to California."

--------

I have a friend who is a pilot on a 747.I said "Hi Jack."He shot me.

--------

According to "The Australian," an airliner recently encountered severe vibration in flight.The captain decided to make an emergency landing, and switched on the seat belt sign.The vibration stopped immediately.A passenger emerged from a lavatory and explained that he had been jogging in place inside.


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It seems the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has a unique device for testing the strength of windshields on airplanes. The device is a gun that launches a dead chicken at a plane`s windshield at approximately the speed the plane flies.The theory is that if the windshield doesn`t crack from the carcass impact, it`ll survive a real collision with a bird during flight. It seems the British were very interested in this and wanted to test a windshield on a brand new, speedy locomotive they`re developing.They borrowed the FAA`s chicken launcher, loaded the chicken and fired. The ballistic chicken shattered the windshield, went through the engineer`s chair, broke an instrument panel and embedded itself in the back wall of the engine cab. The British were stunned and asked the FAA to recheck the test to see if everything was done correctly.The FAA reviewed the test thoroughly and had one recommendation: "Use a thawed chicken."


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A pilot, Michael Jordon, Bill Gates, the Pope, and a pizza delivery man were all in a plane together traveling through stormy conditions.Suddenly, the pilot came running back to the passengers and announced that lightning had hit the plane, and they were going to crash in a matter of minutes. "There are only enough parachutes for four of the five of us," he announced. "Since I`m the pilot, I get one!" After saying this, the pilot grabbed a parachute and jumped out of the plane."I`m the world`s greatest athlete," proclaimed Michael Jordon. "This world needs great athletes, so I must live." Michael Jordon then grabbed a parachute and leaped out of the plane."I`m the smarest man in the world," bragged Bill Gates. "The world needs smart men, so I must also live!" Bill Gates grabbed a parachute and jumped out of the plane.At this point, the Pope began to speak. "I have lived a long life compared to you, and you may take the last parachute. I will go down with the plane.""You don`t have to stay here! The world`s smartest man jumped out of the plane with my backpack."


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This is Captain Sinclair speaking. On behalf of my crew I`d like to welcome you aboard British Airways flight 602 from New York to London. We are currently flying at a height of 35,000 feet midway across the Atlantic."If you look out of the windows on the starboard side of the aircraft, you will observe that both the starboard engines are on fire."If you look out of the windows on the port side, you will observe that the port wing has fallen off."If you look down towards the Atlantic ocean, you will see a little yellow life raft with three people in it waving at you."That`s me your captain, the co-pilot, and one of the air stewardesses. This is a recorded message. Have a good flight!


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A military cargo plane, flying over a populated area, suddenly loses power and starts to nose down. The pilot tries to pull up, but with all their cargo, the plane is too heavy. So he yells to the soldiers in back to throw things out to make the plane lighter. They throw out a pistol. "Throw out more!" shouts the pilot. So they throw out a rifle. "More!" he cries again. They heave out a missile, and the pilot regains control.He pulls out of the dive and lands safely at an airport. They get into a jeep and drive off. Pretty soon they meet a boy on the side of the road who`s crying. They ask him why he`s crying and he says "A pistol hit me on the head!"They drive more and meet another boy who`s crying even harder. Again they ask why and the boy says, "A rifle hit me on the head!"They apologize and keep driving. They meet a boy on the sidewalk who`s laughing hysterically. They ask him, "Kid, what`s so funny?" The boy replies, "I sneezed and a house blew up!"


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Flight fifty has a pretty rough time above the ocean. Suddenly a voice comes over the intercom: "Ladies and gentlemen, please fasten your seat belts and assume crash positions. We have lost our engines and we are trying to put this baby as gentle as possible down on the water"."Oh stewardess! Are there any sharks in the ocean below?" asks a little old lady, terrified."Yes, I`m afraid there are some. But not to worry, we have a special gel in the bottle next to your chair designed especially for emergencies like this. Just rub the gel onto your arms and legs"."And if I do this, the sharks won`t eat me any more?" asks the little lady."Oh, they will eat you all right, only they won`t enjoy it so much".

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A man jumps out of an airplane with a parachute on his back. As he`s falling, he realizes hiss chute is broken. He doesn`t know anything about parachutes, but as the earth rapidly approaches, he realizes his options are limited; he takes off the parachute and tries to fix it himself on the way down. The wind is ripping past his face, he`s dropping like a rock, and at 5000 feet, another man goes shooting up past him. In desperation, the man with the chute looks up and yells, "Hey do you know anything about parachutes?!"The guy flying up looks down and yells, "No, do you know anything about gas stoves?!"

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Flight 1234, for noise abatement turn right 45 degrees..""But Center, we are at 35,000 feet, how much noise can we make up here?""Sir, have you ever heard the noise a 737 makes when it hits a 747?

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A young businessman was seated next to an elderly priest on an airplane. Having a minor technical problem at the gate and the flight being delayed, the Captain apologized and announced that the airline would be buying a free round of drinks.

When the charming and very attractive flight attendant came by, the businessman ordered a double scotch. Then she asked the priest if he would like a drink.

“Oh, no thank you,” replied the priest. “I would rather commit adultery than drink alcohol.”

Halting in mid-swallow and dribbling scotch down his front, the businessman quickly replaced his drink on the beverage cart and replied, “Excuse me, miss, I didn’t know I had a choice.”


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Taxiing down the tarmac, the DC-10 abruptly stopped, turned around and returned to the gate.

After an hour-long wait, it finally took off. A concerned passenger asked the flight attendant, "What was the problem?"

"The pilot was bothered by a noise he heard in the engine," explained the flight attendant, "and it took us a while to find a new pilot."

Saitek X65F Pro Flight System

Nice joystick from Saitek, perfect for the combat flight simulator enthusiasts and not only.

Some of the features:

• New Force Sensing stick technology with no moving parts, which takes input very similar to how the real stick does;
• Dual throtle control;
• Metal construction for durability;
• 608 total possible commands;
• 3 8-way hats and numoerous buttons;

Image taken from Saitek website.

Free aviation charts

If you need aeronautical navigation charts for use with flight simulator, here are a couple of places you can get some for free:

Skyvector.com
VFR charts for entire US, easy to use interface, flight planner.

FScharts.com
IFR charts for 22000 airports world wide, easy to use search function.

FSNordic links
Links to charts from various parts of the world

Eurocontrol
Real world up to date charts and notams for Europe. Registration is needed.

Free aviation photos

A couple of free high resolution aviation photos to use in your projects. They can be used for both free or commercial purposes.

Free aviation photos

(collection is being updated constantly)

Free flight simulators

Here is a list of some free flight simulator software available:

Flightgear
Available for multiple OS (windows, mac, linux), with multiple aircrafts and scenery for entire world. Good graphics. Quite realistic.

Aces High
Fighter simulation game. Online and offline modes. Community.

Convert knots to miles per hour

A simple rule to convert Knots to Miles per Hour and the other way around is to multiply speed in knots to 1.15 to obtain the speed in miles per hour:

mph=knots*1.15

From this:


Knots=mph/1.15

FSX Eurocopter Super Puma AS332L2 by Dirk Fassbender Review

I will start this review saying that this is probably the best freeware helicopter made so far for Flight Simulator X.
During the last couple of days I flew the Eurocopter Super Puma AS332L2 by Dirk Fassbender that has been recently launched for FSX Acceleration on Christmas Eve 2009. The helicopter is available for free download at Avsim and Hovercontrol. It works only in Acceleration and not in SP2 or earlier versions of Microsoft Flight Simulator X.

I have to say the quality of this helicopter and the complex level it was model is better than some payware models on the market. Even if the helicopter uses quite a few of FSX default gauges this is hardly noticed as they are perfectly integrated to make the cockpit look like the real thing. Besides this the cockpit has all the gauges you may want at a helicopter from the default GPS to an working autopilot modeled after the real unit. Systems are also very close to reality as far as I could tell from the material I have read about the helicopter.

The 3d model contains quite a few eye candies, including working windshield whipers that actually clean rain, realistic icing effects, multiple animations (wipers, visors, dors, survivors, search light, flir pods ...), external payload model and emergency flotation system.

This is the first helicopter I flew with an trimmer system that makes flying the helicopter very convenient and gives you some time to relax your hands from the control. Although this is good it is far from the stability that an airplane has so you still have to make adjustments to the joystick from time to time. This is where the autopilot unit comes in handy; you can use it to make a complete automatic flight from hover to instrument approach and landing. I have tested most of the features and it works quite well. The system doesn't like when you pause the game. I also had some issues when I was engaging the diferent functions, the helicopter takes some time to transition to the selected mode, during which it makes quite drastic movements. You can see below some images from a full automatic ILS approach and a hover flight using the autopilot.

When it comes to flying manually, the helicopter responds very well even to the slightest joystick movements especially during hover and low speeds. I have not flew the real thing, but the dynamics of this helicopter look very good. I took it to the extremes and it responded as I expected in each case.

The helicopter comes equipped with the default FSX GPS which is good, although I would have loved to see the real flight computer, but taking into account payware models don't have it either or have even worst implementations of the FSX GPS I would say this is something you can leave with. I could navigate very easily using the GPS unit and it did not bother me much.

What I like:
- Realistic autopilot;
- Very good VC and external model;
- Animations;
- The way it flyes;
- Trimmer gauge;
- Internal lighting of the VC;
- Wipers and icing effects.

What I don't like:

- nothing  ;)