FEBRUARY 2006 VOLUME 10 - ISSUE 2 - This is the full magazine in digital form!
On a Wing and some Air
Get back to nature and allow it to have a bigger influence on your next flight. Peter Stark takes a look at soaring options in Microsoft Flight Simulator, where you are, at least to some degree, at the mercy of what your immediate environment throws at you. But be assured that this is some of the most exciting, the most challenging, but also the most peaceful type of flying you can undertake!
Cockpit Building Series Continues
We have more flight deck construction articles for you this month. We explore the concept of switch integration using the X-Keys hardware with Matt Edwards. Don’t miss this one if you are currently building your own flight sim rig.
“Who’s In Control” Series Continues We continue our series on the matrix of Air Traffic Control. This time out we look at the expansive coverage area that the Center Controller is usually in charge of. The challenge of ensuring aircraft separation over broad expanses is just one of the responsibilities covered.
Flying Memories: The VS-44 China Clipper
Get back to real hands on flying with this series on classic aircraft of yester-year. Join Tom Kurtz as he takes a VS-44 on a long trip from California to Hong Kong! This is what flying is really all about…
Freeware Frenzy – Expanded! In this issue’s Freeware Frenzy, we have an expanded column showcasing some of the most interesting and most downloaded freeware add-ons over the last 12 months. There is something for everyone so be sure to check it out and get your net connection warmed up!
Mud Moving in the Viper: 103 In this, the third in our series on the various methods of spreading mayhem via high technology, we will be running through the last of our F16 weapons systems. We will start with precision bombing with laser beams and then finish some good old fashioned shoot-em-up action with the Vulcan cannon.
“Playing Games” or Career Preparation? Roger Curtiss looks at the growing need/trend to operate unmanned aerial vehicles remotely in combat and reconnaissance campaigns. It’s certainly an interesting area of study/application, and one that involves the use of simulators and controls very much like the ones we use at home today.
AlphaTrainer Overview Resident X-Plane guru, Chuck Bodeen, has been working on a special project called the ‘Alpha Trainer’ for X-plane for some time. Chuck takes us behind the scenes and shows us how this software can be used efficiently and effectively for pilot training using the simulator.
From the EDITOR.. Well, if you have already read the news section this month you will know about the announcement from Microsoft regarding the next version of their popular Flight Simulator line. “Flight Simulator X”, and we’ll assume the X stands for 10 for now, is not due out until the end of 2006. Arghh, why do they put us through this torture! Just when you thought hospital waiting lists were painfully long, along comes Microsoft to add to the drama. I’m just kidding of course. Besides, how can you complain when the major player in the home flight simulation market announces a new release? It’s a cause for celebration really. We get another chance to see how far flight simulation has progressed since the last version and where it might be headed in the future, and hopefully find out that they have addressed all the little bugs in the last release and added more than a few new extras to the product.
Judging by the screenshots made available so far, it looks like the terrain engine itself has not changed a lot, except perhaps for more accurate mesh modeling, a lot of new autogen object, water rendering improvements and even birds! Yes, several screenshots show birds flying around the place. Not only do we have to avoid ground obstacles and other aircraft, but now avoid the chance of bird strikes as well. What a challenge! There also seems to be a few new aircraft, changes to weather effects and how the look and function, and perhaps even some new camera angles to delight the virtual flight sim photographers among us.
Computer Pilot will cover it all of course as new information is released from the development team, so stay tuned. In the meantime however, we will continue along with our current range of sims, which I might add, I am enjoying flying at present with some top new add-ons coming out, and new advancements for Austin Meyer’s X-Plane product, namely the new Global Scenery add-on, look very impressive indeed and betters even what Microsoft can produce in the terrain mesh department by default. I think over the next 18-36 months we will see a titanic battle between the major flight sim players as they try to outdo each other, and there is also an inkling of a new contender to the market in the coming years. Now, who said flight sim was boring, eh?
Enjoy this month’s issue of Computer Pilot. Again, there is something for just about everyone, but I’d encourage you to try new things you wouldn’t normally try in your sim world. It makes it all so much more exciting!
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