Editorial

The waves crash in a loud cacophony of sound, spray and mist. Children laugh with glee as they run from the surf as it spills out, chasing them up the beach. Their parents gather under brightly lit beach umbrellas, sipping Caribs, the popular local blend of watermelon and raspberry rum with a touch of bitters, enjoying another lazy sun-splashed day on Maho Beach.

There is a new flight simulation packages that I'm sure thousands of you may have heard.  It goes by the name of Pro Flight Simulator.  Pro Flight Simulator isn't really that new at all, in fact, it's a re-brand of a flight sim package you may have been using for years.

Where were you when Steve Jobs died? Years ago, that same question was asked when John Kennedy was shot.

Worldwide, the sadness and grief was the same. A giant in our midst was no longer with us.

Boom! BOOM!  That was the incredible double sonic boom of the majestic Concorde supersonic aircraft breaking the sound barrier. If it came in low as you watched in awe, the noise would make your bones rattle.  The Concorde was perhaps the sexiest, most exciting airplane in the history of aviation. It was a joint venture between British Airways and Air France that had its maiden voyage in 1969 but began commercial service in 1976. After a crash in 2000 in Paris, traveler interest in the plane began to diminish and in April of 2003, both airlines announced they would discontinue service.

There are always films about planes, or set in planes, or heavily featuring planes. But why?

First of all -- there is something undeniably dramatic about flight, in itself. For most of us, life is quite predictable. We live within the confines of the walls of our houses, our offices, and the coffee shop down the road. Even when we go on holiday, we sit by the pool, we lay on the beach, and we go to friendly restaurants.

On the evening of October 21st, 1978, a 20-year-old pilot named Frederick Valentich left Melbourne in a Cessna 182L bound for King Island, sitting in the middle of the Bass Strait south of Australia. Visibility was fine and the wind was blowing easy.

If you are a developer, professional or otherwise, you want your creations safe from being sold or copied by others.  Recently I have seen and reported an infringement of another’s creations. The person(s) in question took an Aircraft from Alpha Sim and is including it in Scenery they created for sale! I have since reported this to Alpha Sim  and they were very glad that there is someone looking out for there interest and the same goes for Captain Sim; both are investigating these thefts of intellectual material.

James Abbey, a resident editor at Fly Away Simulation explains in his editorial, how easy it can be to create your own add-ons for flight simulator.  He starts with: I am in no way putting down the sim stores or good companies who create some good products. Have you ever wanted that special scenery and did not have the money for it or went to an area and wanted to add objects to it?

Not too long after Pop’s death, I was in the gallery one afternoon. It had been quiet that day and I wasn’t really in the mood to do much, and I couldn’t get airplanes off my mind. No matter what I did to change the subject in my head, the images returned with greater persistence. I could hear them taking off with their engines pulsing at full tilt as they zoomed overhead. Whether real or imagined, I could even smell kerosene as the vapors of the distantly departed jets drifted lazily in our direction.

Inspired by airplanes as a little boy back in the 50s, I'd look up to the sky every time I would hear the sound of a piston engine overhead. Living close to Toronto's Downsview (de Havilland) Airforce Base (CYZD). The old de Havilland, birthplace to the famous Beaver and Otter, now home to Bombardier Aerospace. I still live there, and the little airport in the "burbs" is slowly becoming a park in the city, but still manufactures some aircraft and is home to The Canadian Air & Space Museum.

It may surprise you when or if you discover simulators available for your enjoyment. The purpose of this document is to introduce you to at least one other. Contrary to popular belief, these simulators are not necessarily a “waste of valuable time”. If used to their full extent, they can become very good tools and learning aids. I have discovered two such simulation programs and I want to present them both to you for consideration.

I became fascinated with aircraft when I was old enough to know what an aircraft was. When visiting libraries, I would read as much material I could get my hands on regarding flight and the construction of aircraft.

Many people want flight simulator to be as close as possible to real life, this is why PC Pilots are searching for moving seats, vibrating joysticks and other enhancements, however people tend to forget about the business side of real life. On one hand people want to experience not only "the real deal", but on the other hand the industry cannot be fully simulated without the business end. This is why I would like to share my expirience with FS Passengers (for Flight simulator 9/2004) and FS Passengers X(for Flight Simulator X).

Having had the distillation of experience flying in the real world and flying by simulation, I have to say that each has its own advantage. There really is nothing quite like reality; the smell of the leather, the synchronized sound of those engines, the smell of hot metal and oils as they work in symphony and the thrill of thrust as you are full throttle down the runway approaching pushback and rotation, and the pure satisfaction of sticking the perfect landing.

A WW2 P-51 Mustang crashed Thursday at Stellar Airpark in Arizona, killing the pilot. The cause of the crash remains under investigation, but witnesses said the aircraft seemed to have engine problems before it struck a wall and cartwheeled into a hangar where it burst into flames. But such cold facts don't convey the emotion associated with the aircraft from the glory years of aviation and the pilots that flew them.

It is very surprising that Flight Simulator 2004 is still a strong entity in the Flight Simulation world! I have recently dived back in to this program, head first and I am having a blast with it! I still love Flight Simulator X and not with standings its Quirks and fatal errors and run time errors on line, it is still a good program!

There is no doubt that flight simulators are at their very best in today’s technologically revolving world. No longer do we have to sit and stare at the killer black and white 8 bit graphics that ruled our worlds in the eighties. Nowadays simulators contain practically everything from realistic weather effects to full moving parts; all in a hopeful effort to encompass that “real plane feel.” Although according to some, this may not be enough.

I determined never to fly again after my first ride with my Pop in the old Tri-Pacer he had rented. He was a crackerjack pilot. I was just six years old and petrified of having nothing but air for a thousand feet between us and the ground below. After a few “almost” takeoffs, I conjured up the courage, mostly out of humiliation, to go up and around the pattern with Pop. I held on for dear life, but managed to survive the experience.

Does constantly flipping between multiple windows on your flight simulator make you dizzier than a ride on a tilt-a-whirl? Give your brain a break and invest in a dual monitor set-up. 

Flight simulation has come a long way and with the use of latest software flight simulation products, it is getting better each day. Flight simulation makes use of computers to simulate the effects of flying in an aircraft. Advanced software programs such as FlightGear, Microsoft Flight Simulator, X-Plane, Flight Simulator, etc. These software programs try to make the experience as close as possible to the real time flying experience. Flight simulator technology is being perfected to meet the demands of thousands of flight simulation enthusiasts.

With his debut article, Michael Dugas takes a look at the history of the Falcon Series and examines how far the community development of this title has progressed over the past few years. 

Recently well-known aircraft designer Shigeru Tanaka and his wife enjoyed a three day trip to Hokkaido that included two airline flights (Boeing 737 and Boeing 777) as well as a visit to the Chitose Museum Of Dreaming Flyers. He has decided to share his experiences with other flight simmers and more can be found here.

To celebrate and commiserate the end of the great Concorde and to reflect on its great history, we have created a selection of interesting and very informing resources availible related to Concorde. From history, technical information to images and news pieces and informational material, this is a complete editorial on this wonderful aircraft. Click on Read More or click here to see the resources.

I'm sure we all remember the classic versions of Flight Simulator; FS3 back in the 80's, FS5 in '93; well, the dedicated 'simmers among us do anyway. Flight Simulator turned with the release of FS98. As FS98 was released, developers started to produce add-ons faster than ever before, FS portal sites opened their doors and the dawn of the Flight Simulator world as we know it began. Click here to read Ryan Barclay's complete opinion editorial of the 'Future of Flight Sim.