Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Midway V2 ! Without a warning !


Fly Tampa has just announced a Midway V.2 for FSX (KMDW) with interesting screens and videos ! Not Athens, Not Miami, Midway ! These guys will always find a way to surprise us.  Very few things are explained yet and we don't know for instance, if Midway 2 is US Cities Chicago compatible. Should be. Update : thanks to Manu who tell me that the FS9 version is still the V1. Apology.

Its was 5,30 PM, american hour (eastern ?) when Fly Tampa announced the news on his forum, totally ignoring my request for some news (i don't really blame them).
According to Martin, Midway is not a complete reboot like Tampa, is more of an update of the original Midway FS9 work. Fly Tampa worked with Oliver Pabst assuring the airport AES compatible. Maybe in two weeks.


http://www.flytampa.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=4709&sid=793f00d732738052763565e56f837b44




NB: Don't miss the amazing videos from Dexter11929, JerdooFlightX and Timflightx

Midway airport in Google Earth

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

2011 Hyundai Equus Review Debuts In New York



The 2011 Hyundai Equus to prove that a Lexus LS 460 in the scene by offering the best value proposition in the luxury flagship segment. We want to see how Hyundai's new range-topping model stand to-day hard day American life, and so we just added one to the Autoblog Garage Long Term.

Yes, this is a Hyundai that has an MSRP—not including a $900 freight charge—of $64,500. Yes, you read “Hyundai” and “$64,500” in the same sentence. People can quibble all day as to whether that should be the case, but as someone likes to say to me with an unassailable logic, “It is what it is.”


The things that quite luxurious for rear seat passengers, as features such as lying down power and massage functions have been added, and the rear entertainment system, refrigerator, power headrests and illuminated vanity mirrors. And yes, our car did have a lie right rear passenger seat. Check out the full list of our cars on the Monroney equipment.

Before we proceed, we must acknowledge that we have not organized as we had planned with another update on our two long-term cars - the Subaru Legacy 2.5 GT and the Volkswagen Jetta TDI Cup Street. You will hear about the good fortune in the near future so, and to fix this problem with disorder, we will update our long-term is slightly different from Equus.


There is are additional goodies for those who opt for the Equus Ultimate (there are two trim levels: Signature for $58,000 and Ultimate for $64,500), of which only two are of interest to anyone but the rear-seat occupants: the forward-view cornering camera (this, presumably, helps when trying to edge out onto a perpendicular street in that there is an image on the navigation screen of the front view with a bit on either side) and the power trunk lid (what can be said?). The other items include a rear entertainment system and increased luxuriation of the rear seats (yes, I just made that word up, but there is no other word for it: what happens when you pile lux on lux?).

2011 Hyundai EQUUS SIGNATURE KEY STANDARD FEATURES

* 4.6L DOHC Tau V8 engine
* Six-speed automatic transmission with SHIFTRONIC®
* Electro-Hydraulic Power Steering (EHPS)
* Electronically controlled air suspension with Continuous Damping Control (CDC)
* 19-inch chrome alloy wheels with P245/45R19 (front) / P275/40R19 (rear) tires
* Four-wheel disc brakes with Anti-lock Braking System (ABS) and EBD
* Electronic Stability Control (ESC) with TCS and Brake Assist
* Vehicle Stability Management (VSM) system with pre-collision warning
* Nine airbags: advanced dual front airbags, front and rear seat-mounted side-impact airbags, driver knee airbag, and roof-mounted side-curtain airbags
* Electronic active front head restraints with power controls
* Electronic seatbelt pretensioners
* Tire Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS)
* Lane Departure Warning System (LDWS)
* Smart Cruise Control
* High Intensity Discharge (HID) headlights with LED turn signal indicators
* Adaptive Front Lighting System (AFLS) with auto-leveling
* Fog lights and automatic headlights
* Front and rear parking assistance system with rearview camera
* Dual power-folding heated auto-dimming side mirrors with turn signal indicators and approach lamps
* Dual asymmetrical exhaust tips integrated with rear bumper
* Proximity key entry with push-button start
* Illuminated scuff plates, inside door handles and door armrest
* Premium leather seating surfaces and Alcantara® suede headliner
* 12-way power driver seat plus lumbar adjustment and 10-way power front passenger seat
* Driver seat massage system
* Heated and cooled front seats
* Heated, wood-trimmed and leather-wrapped steering wheel
* Power tilt-and-telescopic steering wheel
* Integrated Memory System (IMS) for driver-side seat, mirror and steering wheel
* Leather-wrapped dash and real wood interior trim
* Electroluminescent cluster (Supervision) with 3.5-inch TFT LCD screen
* Electronic parking brake with automatic vehicle hold
* Power windows with auto-down/up
* Navigation system with DIS and multimedia controller
* Apple iPad interactive owner's manual
* 608-watt Lexicon 7.1 Discrete surround-sound audio system with 17 speakers
* iPod/USB and MP3 auxiliary input jacks and iPod connection cable
* XM® Satellite Radio & NavTraffic® with trial subscription
* Bluetooth® hands-free phone system
* Dual automatic temperature control with air quality system
* Windshield-wiper deicer, rain-sensing wipers and auto-defogging windshield with humidity sensor
* Electrochromic auto-dimming inside rearview mirror with HomeLink® and compass
* Acoustic laminated windshield, front and rear side windows
* Power tilt-and-slide glass sunroof
* 60/40 power reclining and heated rear seats
* Power rear sunshade and rear side-window sunshades
* Luggage net
* Premium-grade floor mats
* Premium-grade trunk cargo mat
* First-aid kit (PIO)


EQUUS ULTIMATE ADDS ULTRA-LUXURY FEATURES

Equus Ultimate adds or replaces:

* 50/50 split rear seats (four-passenger seating) with reclining function
* First-class passenger-side rear seat: leg support and massage system
* Cooled rear seats
* Rear-seat entertainment system with eight-inch monitor
* Thermoelectric rear center console refrigerator
* Rear-seat power up/down head restraints with manual tilt
* Rear-seat illuminated vanity mirrors
* Forward-view cornering camera
* Power trunk lid

Fly too bad !


Airdailyx published a small post last friday on Fly Tampa forum. No reply since then. But to their credit, George and Martin are always quick to react and help as soon as its about custom support.
Tanpis* : "too bad..."

Enigma Sim : the B-737 on video


Enigma Simulations unveils a first screen
of his B-737-300 under Speedbird colors !

FS9 and FSX. Enigma Simulations, developers community, has released yesterday a first video showing the B-737-300SP project executing a cycle take-off - landing. This long term project will include in the last stage a VC cokpit for FSX and 2D panel for FS9. The FSX version will be native.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tDeFnHpvRU&feature=player_embedded#at=43

Palermo bellissimo


FSX. Aeroporti Palermo Falcone et Borsellino. Thomas has just upload this wonderful personal work to Avsim.com. He made it under Google Sketchup and is waiting for your comments to keep up the good work. Punta Raisi (LICJ) is an impressive airport, west of Palermo city, around important relief.

The scenery contains a lot of photoreal textures and impressive night lights. It also uses the photoreal ground textures of Mazzokan Sicilia photoreal package. According to Thomas, a FS9 version of his work could be developed but he didn't take the decision yet. We still don't know if this is a payware or something release on Avsim or Flightsim. We will try tell you this evening.




More screens on Fsdeveloper.com

Monday, March 28, 2011

CLS releasing a free Piper Arrow...


FS9 and FSX compatible. Commercial Level Simulation is releasing today a freeware ; the Piper Arrow. Process is simple, CLS explains that../..


CLS explains that you just need to add the product to basket and checkout and there will be no paiements required. The aircraft has a highly detailed 3D model, a virtual cockpit and standard animations ; landing gea retractable, opening door etc.
Also interesting, four panel styles and eight liveries.


Oh it's cool a free aircraft, but i am shure someone told you (at least once) that nothing is free in this world...

Aerosim B767-300, a year later


FSX. To point out a bad product ? Okay here's one. But i remember that Aerosim is a very talented scenery designer. The Boeing 767-300 was not targeting the hard core market neither. And remember this aircraft has been designed in 2009 and released in early 2010.


Test flight at SLLP La Paz (Latin VFR)

 
It has been a while since i am watching this aircraft in Aerosim website. Japanese people have really high skilled engineers so a voice told to myself... hmmm that aircraft must be something. Well it's not.

The good  : thanks to efficient programming, the B767-300 is really framerate friendly. I didn't see any significative fps loss. The landing gear retracting animation has a very accurate cinematic with at least 25-30 moving parts at the same time (more than the QW B-757 for instance). The aircraft seems to have a very well flight model conception although speed tends to diminish (on approach) a bit too fast. And i am telling this having comparison elements with the PMDG 747, the Quality wings B-757, the Captain Sim B-767 etc from past experiences. The MCP, the auto-land and flare are working nicely.


Very nice flaps and landing gear animations



But....the bad : its a simplistic flightplan management, using basic FS waypoints (totally out of date). The FMC has the same kind of police charts size problem seen on its B-777 and doesn't have the VNAV key.
About the package itself, the price is way too expensive (44 euros/50 dollars) and there are only two  basic liveries although we can find some private works on some websites.
The aircraft is reliable (a FS9 version had been previously designed) but, at best, it can only make a carreer in Gamespy...under minimum ATC coverage. Why ? You simply can't add a waypoint in legs page. At least, the product would had required a serious upgrade. But it's never too late as a FS aircraft can still have today a 3-4 years spin of life...


The police size bug on the FMC, a "classic".


Nice overhead with some 3D buttons but only 60 % are working,
much less than in the Quality Wings B-757,
much less than in the Captain Sim B-767.

On the MCP, charts sometimes barely visible