PC Pilot Magazine, September - October 2005 Issue

NEWS -

Dodo Flight Simulations reveal another step forwards in procedures realism for Jetranger pilots and RealAir’s evergreen Marchetti SF260 gets a makeover to bring it bang up to date. There’s a new Catalina available and yet another handy FS utility from the busy developers at TweakFS.

Some interesting Houston scenery is on the way from Visual Flight and Horizon release VFR photographic scenery packages for The Netherlands and Chicago. Flight Deck Solutions have got a special piece of hardware for the well-heeled 737NG pilot and Add-On Gauges new weather gauge will embellish the FS2004 aircraft of your choice. A new adventure pack provides the ideal touring package for trips around the Greek Islands and we bury our noses in some FS literary classics on a new website which is free to access and contains more than 2,000 pages transferred from some classic sim books.

FEATURES -

The default FS2004 flight planner really could certainly benefit from an upgrade, but there’s a healthy variety of add-on planners which suit pretty much every desktop flyer’s preferences. We take a look at seven of the best and are impressed by the functionality on offer.

VFR Photographic Scenery proves ideal for discovering the many non-ICAO airfields that are missing from the FS2004 airport database; true photographic scenery restores them to the UK countryside. Another use for the scenery is to provide fascinating visual access to all those WWII airports that might have now disappeared from current aviation maps but remain clearly visible to the VFR flyer.

REVIEWS -

The realism of Falcon 4.0 has delighted jet combat simmers for years and the new Allied Force version - back in a retail box at last! - provides an impressively updated version of this classic sim with its campaign engine that still set the standard others must try and follow.

DreamFleet’s new Bonanza is surely be the GA bargain of the summer and the developer’s partnerships with various avionics specialists could well be an early sign of the way forward for FS development teams. This specially priced bargain is well worth investigating.

New Cape Canaveral scenery makes a change from more familiar airport surroundings. We explore the area around the famous Skid Strip runway and find there’s a lot more to the Space Coast than just rockets and space shuttles.

Aerosoft’s Airbus Holiday Destinations package is designed to satisfy that ‘middle ground’ of cockpit complexity that some virtual pilots clearly want these days, as well as providing three nicely modelled holiday destination airports.

Encompassing historical tales of design innovation and wartime skulduggery, luxury racing cars and air racing, futuristic fighters and plenty more besides, a new Bugatti collection has it all. If you ever thought that this famous marque only made cars, prepare to be surprised; this package will change your perceptions and is a fine example of an FS add-on developer letting his imagination off the leash.

TUTORIAL -

We’ve changed the tutorial format in this issue and will be taking off on a new series of flights in a variety of planes, from remote bush journeys and tourist trips around Europe to intercontinental hops. In this issue we take the King Air 350 on a 238-mile flight from Gibraltar to San Javier airport in Cartagena, Spain.

HARDWARE -

GoFlight have made a name for themselves with an extensive range of cockpit equipment and their new rudder pedals should please anyone looking for a solidly built all-metal set of pedals designed for the airliner pilot.

The advantages of a six-foot visual display over what you can see on a 19" monitor are all too obvious and an increasing number of sim enthusiasts are installing projector set-ups for a more expansive view of the sim world. We present a no-nonsense guide to all the features and jargon you need to get to the bottom of before reaching for your credit card - thankfully it’s all fairly straightforward