Reviews (by Richardt Raymond)

Review of Danish Airfields X - Tunø Created by VidanDesign. Tunø is a small Danish island located in the Kattegat Sea near the second largest city of Aarhus. The island is only a total of 3.52 square kilometers, the largest and actually the only town on the island is Tunø By and the population is 118 people (figures from 2011) – as addition there are about 80 summer vacation homes on the island, so during the summer period the population increases significantly and this especially during the annual Tunø-Festival, which is a jazz and folk music festival that had its 25th anniversary back in 2011. The island is a nature preservation and has very strict regulations towards any environmental hazards, which means that there are e.g. no cars or trucks on the island. The way to get around on the island is either to walk, use a bike or take the taxi tractor. Traveling to Tunø is only possible by the ferry, which has daily departures from Hov to Tunø harbor (takes about 1 hour) or by using your own pleasure boat. On the island there is also located a very small, privately owned airfield. This airfield is however closed for public use and supports only a few pilots and their aircrafts (in total only 8 aircrafts). The airfield was originally founded back in 1976 and it was then just a grass field that was rented from a nearby farmer. The pilots who use the airfield are all owners of some of the summer vacation homes and the ownership of the airfield is today one of the summer vacation home owners. They started this airfield because this was an easier and quicker way for them to travel to their summer vacation homes. The airfield has one grass runway 07/25 with a total length of only 307 meters (app 1,000 feet) and with a width of just 14 meters. The elevation is about 20 feet AMSL and there is no radio frequency active for this airfield. To land at Tunø airfield you will defiantly need an aircraft with high STOL performance and still be very careful, since there are trees on both sides of the runway and at the southern end of the runway there is a drastic drop of 6-7 meters down to sea level. There are no based aircrafts at the airfield but the aircrafts used today by the summer vacation home owners, are primarily the MS Ralley 180 and small Cessna aircrafts. Specs: • Name Tunø Airfield • Type Private • Operator Finn Schou • Owner Finn Schou • ICAO None • Elevation 20’ AMSL • Radio None • Runway 07/25 Grass 1,000’ x 46’ Before I start this review I have to inform that I was part of the beta-testing group, but that will not have any impact on my rating. I personally know Tunø airfield and Tunø Island and I have visited the island several times. Every time I visited the island I flew together with the owner of the airfield, which is close to the only way to get access to use the airfield. I received this add-on scenery directly from VidanDesign and the download went without any issues. The connection to the download server was really good so to download the complete scenery file of about 207 Mb only took about a minute or so. The installation also went perfectly – I just activated the included installation wizard, which then took care of the entire installation for me. The installation was completed within just a few seconds. Since I am running FSX on Win7 I sometimes have to manually activate the scenery after the installation process has completed - this I also had to do with the Tunø Scenery but this is just a small detail. How to manually activate the scenery within FSX for Win7 users are clearly described in the included manual. Included in this add-on scenery is also a VidanDesign seasoning tool that can be found in the Start-menu. Using this tool enables the simmer to select specific seasoning textures that will create a more realistic scenery within summer, fall and winter time. Also included is a manual that is very well written and features various specific information as installation, FSX optimal slider settings, compatibility, finding Tunø, support etc. After the installation was completed I opened up my FSX and setup a flight from Tunø airfield using ORBXs “Bob” – this enabled me to view the island from a person’s view walking around the entire island. This add-on is not just the airfield scenery but actually the entire island of Tunø including the airfield, the town, the harbor, the forest and the summer vacation homes etc. I started by walking around the airfield and wow – this really looks great and very true to my own experience of Tunø airfield in real life. The airfield is very small and surrounded with trees and bushes on both sides of the runway, which give the airfield a quite unique atmosphere. This is spiced up with the fact that when you park the aircraft at the “grass apron” you are just a few meters from one of the summer vacation home areas. The airfield features a grass runway and a grass parking area with included FSX parking spots. There are no buildings or clubhouse etc. but instead VidanDesign has nicely modeled a tractor, put in an animated wind direction vane, signs at the crossing road, some environmental materials as pallets etc. together with some static aircrafts and very realistic vegetation, which all adds to increase the experience. There is a road crossing the runway at the northern end and this is also included in the scenery together with the steep slope the runway has at the southern end. The usable part of the runway is between the road at the northern end, to the crossing tree line at the southern end which is where the runway begins the steep slope of 6-7 meters down to sea level. The elevation is very well made and adds to the realism when trying to land or do a take-off from this very small airfield. After viewing the airfield I continued to the nearby area with some of the summer vacation homes. The buildings are very well made and they defiantly look like vacation homes. They are not replicas of the real vacations homes but still created down to even very small details. VidanDesign has furthermore included some flag poles in some of the gardens together with various scenic materials that contribute to create a very realistic environment and the unique atmosphere that surrounds an area with only vacation homes. The textures used are superb and the nature that surrounds the vacation homes is perfect. Walking from this area down to the fine beach I also discovered some kayaks laying there ready to be used – this is a really nice detail. Actually when walking on the beach in the evening I also found some lighted bonfires which again just added to the overall experience of the scenery. Walking around on the runway and parking area really gave me a superb and very realistic feeling of being there again in real life. The unique atmosphere you find around summer vacation homes is directly transferred and combined with the uniqueness that surrounds these small airfields. Excellent – this is really very true to real life. I now set my course towards the town and harbor which is located on the opposite side of the island. On the walk to there I had the opportunity to really enjoy the scenery close up. The various buildings / farms that I walked past are all very well made and very detailed. They are covered with good quality textures and placed according to the elevation of the island. The elevation is also a feature that I find to be excellent for this island scenery. The south-eastern coast line has a high elevation which creates a small cliff-like scenery when viewed from a boat or the beach and this is also created within this scenery. I could also see and feel the curves when walking over the farm fields and it is really well created. Arriving to Tunø town I now saw new buildings – these were more like town buildings and again created very nicely with good quality textures and featured even very small details. Before arriving to the harbor I passed the church – this church actually has a special feature in real life. At night the church tower is a fully working light house. This is also created in this scenery and at night you can see the light shine very clearly. I finally arrived at the heart of the island – the harbor. Here I found the ferry, the pleasure boats and again some very detailed and true to real life harbor buildings. The piers at the harbor are also created and resemble the real piers very well with the stone block foundation. Taking a view around the harbor at night I found that the area was nicely illuminated including the pleasure boats, the ferry and the surround buildings. I also checked the area for cars or trucks just to see if there were any hidden, but no – I found none which is perfect. Another included detail that I noticed was animated birds and dolphins and various static people and animals – this was not just at the town but also at several other locations on the island as e.g. the areas with the vacation homes. I finally took a walk to the area just north to the town where another area with vacation homes is located. Here I found the same high standard of buildings again created down to very small details and covered with good quality textures as with the area next to the airfield. I had now finished my tour around the island and I was ready to explore the island from a pilots view. I set up a flight from Tunø airfield in a small Cessna C172, weather settings on fair with no wind, and I taxied from the parking area to take-off on runway 25. The reason for why I choose runway 25 instead of 07, was simply because if I were to make take-off at runway 07, I would be restricted to have a person placed at the road crossing the northern part of the runway, to stop potential traffic. Since I was alone on this flight I selected the runway 25 instead. When ready for take-off I set my flaps and applied the wheel brakes, throttling up the engine and verifying the rpms increasing. When reaching 75% I released the wheel brakes and blasted down the runway – damn this runway was narrow and short! Just before I passed the parking area I started lifting the nose and I got airborne at the tree line only a few meters before the runway starts the very aggressive slope down to sea level. The take-off was just as I remembered it from real life. This airfield is certainly not for amateurs or rookies – you need to be a very experienced pilot and flying a plane with very high STOL performance to be able to use this small strip. I can just imagine how difficult it would be to land actually any aircraft on the strip in stormy weather conditions – short, narrow and a wet grass runway – that would not be a good idea. After take-off I climbed to 1000’ and toured the island – the island is very small so a complete tour is finished within a few minutes, but I got a chance of viewing the areas with the summer vacation homes from the air, and these all looked very realistic. I also toured the town and harbor for a while and what I saw, was a really excellent created scenery filled with detail after detail – I especially liked the pleasure boat area but in general also the complete harbor area with the piers that was created superbly. I of course also like the fact that VidanDesign has included the ferry and at the same time not just used a library ferry, but actually tried to model and create the ferry according to the real life ferry used from Hov to Tunø. After enjoying the scenery I started my prep on landing the aircraft again – The weather conditions was the same as when I took off, so I sat the course towards the airfield. I flew around it a couple of times before entering a right hand pattern for runway 25. Landing a Cessna C172 is quite easy since I have done so many times, but landing the aircraft on a strip this narrow and so short was a bit scary. I touched down just a few meters after passing the road and almost immediately applied the wheel brakes. No worries though – I came to a full stop before the slope and now taxied to the parking area. One thing that was crystal clear to me after making this take-off and landing at Tunø was that to be able to use this airfield does require certain skills and a very steady hand on the controls and a cool focused mind. I also tried doing take-offs and landing with weather settings on gray and rainy with wind direction +-25 degrees on the runway and with gust of maximum 15 knots. These settings already made it very tricky to make the take-off, but even more intense to do the landing, and if the conditions were to be even worse, I would recommend to re-direct to another airport. My conclusion for this scenery is that what Vidandesign has created here, is excellent and very true to real life. I know that since this is an island that I have a personal interest in, I could be a bit colored from that fact, but I do try to be as objective as possible. I think that the atmosphere that is created at the town, the vacation homes areas and the airfield is awesome and it really gave me a feeling of me visiting this island again. The scenery is created with good quality textures, detailed buildings, included animations and still, I didn’t get any negative impact on my computers performance. I had the FPS slider set on unlimited and my other FSX sliders set accordingly to VidanDesign’s recommendations and I found absolutely no issues at all. This scenery is excellent and if you enjoy GA flight to small island airfields then I would certainly recommend this scenery. Typically it could be GA’s flying to their vacation homes as in real life. The price of this beautiful island scenery is only EUR 8,95 at SimMarket and is in my opinion a very low price for a scenery this well made. If I should rate the scenery it would be 5/5 stars, but since I have been part of the beta-testing group that would probably be a bit unfair – still I would certainly recommend fellow simmers to purchase this excellent island scenery. I will let my included pictures confirm my rating so that you can really see how awesome and true to real life, this scenery really is. To view additional pictures taken during the test, please visit my Facebook page Rays Aviation – the page is a public page and everyone is welcome. Rays Aviation Please visit my Facebook page or website to see all the pictures!

Review of McDonnell Douglas AV-8B Harrier II PLUS incl GR7 & GR9 Created by Razbam. The Harrier II PLUS is a single seated, high winged, single engine, VSTOL, ground attack military aircraft built by McDonnell Douglas (now Boeing) since the late 1970s. The aircraft is a second-generation vertical/short takeoff and landing aircraft and is a redesign of the earlier AV-8A/C. The Harrier II, designated AV-8B, is the final member of the Harrier family that started with the Hawker Siddeley P.1127 from the 1960s, that later developed into the AV-8A/C. The aircraft features upgrades as 7 hard points instead of 5, structural and aerodynamic refinements, an elevated cockpit, added radar and night attack capabilities and various other upgrades. This aircraft is one of the most famous VSTOL aircraft of all times and have participated in numerous conflicts around the globe as the Gulf War, the war in Iraq and also in Afghanistan. The USMC expects to operate the Harrier until 2030 where it most likely will be succeeded by the Lockheed Martin F-35B. The GR-variants are the British versions of the Harrier II, which considerably differs from the AV-8B in terms of avionics, armament and counter measures. Basics I received this add-on directly from Razbam and the download went quickly and without any connection errors or other issues. The connection to Razbams download server is good, so the download of the 2 files (total 837Mb), did not take much more than a minute or two. When the download had completed I started the installation process. This was also very easy, simply just activate the included installation wizard and that will take care of the entire installation – very user friendly installation wizard. The complete installation of both files was completed within a minute and I was now ready to verify that the installation had proceeded correctly. I checked my FSX Airplane folder and found the aircraft perfectly place there. I hereafter opened up FSX and went into my virtual hangar to see how the installation had proceeded here. I found the Harrier(s) perfectly placed in the Razbam folder in my virtual hangar. I quickly noticed that there of course was the AV-8B version together with the GR7 and GR9, but also that both the GR7 and GR9 each had an A-version, so the total was 5 different versions. Furthermore I also found a huge number of included liveries for each version. In total I found 31 liveries which is a lot of liveries, and they are all placed correctly after each other in the Razbam folder in my virtual hangar. Additional there are also included two AI aircrafts. One is the KC-130 tanker that is included with the first installation (AV-8B) and the second is the Vickers VC10 tanker included in the GR-series. Both aircrafts are to be used for aerial re-fueling which is a feature that Razbam has integrated into the Harriers. Before starting a flight with the Harriers I would certainly recommend to read the included and very comprehensive manuals. There are a manual for both the AV-8B and a separate manual for the GR-series since these aircrafts are not completely identical in regards to e.g. the cockpit. To get the aircrafts flying you can skim the manuals, but if you want to take the Harriers to the next level and fly them as realistically as possible, you will need to read the manual quite thoroughly since this aircraft is a very complex aircraft and also due to that Razbam has been able to include a great many specific features. To get the best and most realistic experience of the Harriers, I would recommend to read the sections regarding VSTOL, Short field take-offs, Aerial re-fueling and working the droppable objects as bombs, gun etc but before you can complete this you also need to read how to use the TACAN which can be used to locate the tankers. Also included in the manuals is a very comprehensive checklist that can be followed perfectly step by step. In total the two manuals covers almost the entire usage of the Harriers including specs, descriptions, checklists and guides etc and it fills up a whopping 198 pages. The manuals can be found by entering the Razbam folder in your Start Menu. Included are also 3 paint kit options - one for the AV-8B, one for the GR7-9 and also one for the KC-130 tanker aircraft. This is excellent since this provides the simmer with the possibility to create and include his/hers own liveries. Also included are a loading/configuration manager where the simmer can select the configuration of the aircraft. Model I started my test with an external walk around the aircraft. The models are very well made and features a huge number of very specific Harrier details like the elevated cockpit, the wheels mounted beneath each wing, the unique tail design, the exhaustion nozzles etc. - everything is created down to even very small details and the appearance of the models are very realistic. The models are covered with high quality textures and liveries that represent their real world counterparts superbly. Included is also several animations such as wheels rotating, nose wheel steering, gear up/down, gear suspension, canopy open/close, control surfaces, flaps, speedbrake, exhaustion nozzles etc. All animations are very smooth and appear to be as in real life. This including that when using e.g. the exhaustion nozzles, the flaps will also move accordingly to the nozzle settings. Another animation is the re-fueling capability where the re-fueling probe is also animated and controlled from the cockpit together with an AI re-fueling tanker, so that the simmer now has the possibility to do an aerial re-fueling. The tanker can be requested during flight and will fly a designated pattern starting 50nmi ahead of your position. To track and find the tanker is easily done with the help from the TACAN system.. The models also feature a superb addition for military aircrafts, which is the animation of firing the gun and droppable objects as various bombs or missiles – this really adds to the realism of being a Harrier pilot. Since the ammunition for e.g. the gun actually has a weight programmed, the aircrafts weight/balance will change when firing the gun – This is indeed a superb detail well worth mentioning. To fire the gun or use A/A ordnances simply just use your tricker button – these animations are a HOTAS configuration and needs no additional input in the virtual cockpit. (HOTAS = Hands On Throttle And Stick). Included effects are various lights as strobe, beacon, wing tip, landing and taxi lights etc. which are all very well created and feature a very clean and crystal clear shine. Another effect that is included is the smoke effect from the engine which is most visible during vertical take-offs or vertical landings. The smoke effect is fair and very realistic. Actually Razbam has included another feature which is a fuel dump effect that can be executed from the virtual cockpit. If you need to dump some fuel, this feature is also created and is visible as vapor like trails coming from the wing tips. I also noticed that when flying the Harriers and making aggressive turns or control surface changes, meaning pulling some G’s, I saw a vapor effect in several levels on top of the wings – superb detail indeed.! Cockpit After viewing the external part of the model I continued directly into the cockpit. There is no 2D cockpit included only a virtual cockpit, but this virtual cockpit is very well made and includes all the features that you would find in a 2D cockpit. I know that there are simmers that will only use a 2D cockpit, but I would still recommend them to try this awesome virtual cockpit. The virtual cockpit is created perfectly and is very much in accordance with the real world Harrier cockpit both in regards to layout, instrumentation, systems etc – please notice that the virtual cockpit of the AV-8B and the GR-series is not 100% the same which is correct and true to real life. That is also why there is a manual for both the AV-8B and also one for the GR-series. The virtual cockpit is a modern age glass cockpit featuring detailed MPCDs (Multi Purpose Color Displays) with in-depth integration and functionality. These are located on each side of the main console and are fully operational. The virtual cockpit does also feature a few basic analogue instruments primarily used as back-up instruments – these are located on the center console. A modern age military cockpit as this one also features the HUD (Heads Up Display) that are fully integrated with the systems and shows various information like standard flight information but also a fully operating radar with A/A and A/G modes that are able to lock and track the target into the interception. This combined with the animation of e.g. the gun or missiles really add a lot of realism to the overall flight experience and to the experience of being a real Harrier pilot. The virtual cockpit furthermore features the Tactical Navigation Computer together with detailed and very realistic navigational instruments, a working armament panel that is integrated with the animations of the weapons and a very realistic gun sight - all located in front of the pilot. On the left and right side there are located panels containing autopilot, throttle quadrant, oxygen control, electrical panel, radios etc. These side panels are also very well made and the location of the buttons and switches etc is very true to the images that I could find of the real side panels. The textures used are of high quality and the depth performance is an awesome 3D experience. I used the TrackerIR5 for my test with the Harrier and the experience that I got was exceptional and extremely realistic. The virtual cockpit is indeed created with an eye for the details and I found only a few switches which was not animated or had any programming to a function or similar. This is a 99% fully working and operating virtual cockpit with a great finish. Clicking the buttons or using the switches felt very real and to support that Razbam have of course also included sound files for these animations. All in all I found the virtual cockpit to contain a very realistic atmosphere of being a real Harrier pilot. Viewing around the virtual cockpit I found a huge number of animations as the flight controls, various levers as the throttle, gear and nozzle control, buttons, switches, encoders and the canopy open/close etc - all done to a high perfection. I also noticed that the pilots head was animated - this I could of course not see when being inside the virtual cockpit, but selecting the view 45 degrees behind the cockpit I discovered it. A small detail that I also noticed was the reflections in the mirrors. I have quite often seen that this image in the mirrors would just be a static image, but in the Harrier package here, this image was fluently and moving according to the pitch and bank angles of the aircraft. Sound The sound set included in the model is fair and quite realistic. I compared it to various sound files that I was able to find on the internet, and the resemblance was okay. It is like a standard jet sound but with a nice deeper roar that adds to the realism. The sound is high quality and is clean and clear. I tested the sound in both ordinary stereo, 2.1 stereo with a subwoofer and in a complete 7.1 surround sound setup. It worked perfectly with each setting both internally and externally. Flight characteristics The flight dynamics or flight characteristics are close to what I had expected from a military jet. I have of course never flown this aircraft in real life so I cannot confirm how realistic they actually are. However I can compare my virtual experience with the specs, data and general aerodynamics together with my real life flight experience, and by doing this I found the Harrier to be overall very realistic. The Harrier moves very quickly on the control surfaces and has the jet engine delay when spooling the engine. Applying the speedbrake does provide a draft which impacts the IAS and even though the Harrier is a VSTOL aircraft it can of course still stall. When entering a stall with the Harrier the aircraft just starts to loose altitude, there is no reaction from the aircraft to either drop the nose, shake or wobble – this I find to not be that realistic, but I cannot confirm it. Handling the aircraft on the ground is fairly easy. If needed, then the aircraft can turn on a dime and if you need to stop the aircraft quickly, the brakes are very efficient at low speeds – however applying the brakes with maximum power, will have an impact on the gear and the suspension and you will experience and wawe-effect. During normal take-offs or short field take-offs, are like take-offs with other military jets. The aircraft lies steady on the runway and is very easy to control blasting down the runway for take-off. Flying an approach with flaps and gear down does change the flight characteristics as it should, and the aircraft still remains perfectly controllable and steady. One thing that is important to remember is that the aircrafts wheel brakes are not very efficient at higher speeds, and should not be used just after touchdown if the landing is a normal procedure landing. An idea I tried was to turn the exhaustion nozzle all the way around as far as it can – since the aircraft has a 5 degree nose up as standard position, the exhaustion nozzle will be vertical already at 85 degrees, but since you can turn it even more it can then be used as a form of reverse thrusters to a certain small level. This solution is of course not recommended and is not a standard procedure, but I did get a little effect from it. Vertical take-off was a bit of a challenge at first. Here I would recommend to carefully reading the manual before trying it. What I experienced was that I had problems applying full power when the nozzle lever was at 85 degrees – meaning that I could not generate enough thrust for a vertical take-off. This issue was due to two reasons – first reason was because I had overloaded the aircraft and therefore the weight of the aircraft was higher than the thrust that could be generated. The second reason was because I use a twin throttle quadrant where I had programmed throttle lever one for engine one and throttle lever two for engine two. This will or can in some cases have a negative impact flying the Harrier, so I had to change the programming to be throttle lever one to all throttle axis and throttle lever two to be propeller pitch, which in the Harrier controls the nozzle movement. After making these changes I finally got the Harrier to do the famous vertical take-off. Another thing in regards to doing a vertical take-off is, remember to turn the nose into the wind if any, otherwise the aircraft will most certainly be very difficult to handle. I also tested the hover mode where I could let the autopilot fly the Harrier for me – this was also very interesting and a bit strange but it really helped med ease up and trusting the systems better. Aerial re-fueling was tricky but most certainly a superb addition for flying military aircrafts. Included in the AV-8B package is a C-130 tanker and in the GR7/9 package there is the VC-10 tanker, so that the simmer now gets the possibility to do an actual simulated aerial re-fueling. To do this I would recommend to thoroughly read the manual since it can be very, if not almost impossible, to locate the tanker without the input from the manual. First call the tanker – this is no problem but to locate the tanker will require the usage of the TACAN system. In FSX there is no TACAN system available - to overcome this issue Razbam has emulated the TACAN system by using the actual VOR system instead and then included a frequency convert matrix. Conclusion Excellent, superb, awesome and very innovative. This is defiantly the best Harrier add-on package that I have ever flown in any flight simulator. I find it to be very realistic and I love that there are so many additional features included as e.g. the aerial re-fueling and the ability of firing weapons that will impact the flight dynamics of the aircraft. There are a few bugs as e.g. the waypoint counter which cycles forward when approaching a change of course and sometimes also skips the next waypoint. This however I find to be very small issue and it will not have any impact on my overall rating. The models are perfectly created and true to the real life aircrafts. They feature the unique look of the real Harrier and are covered with high quality textures. There are a huge number of liveries included that are created very detailed according to the real aircrafts paint schemes and the models furthermore features superbly many animations and effects. The virtual cockpit is close to 100% realistic and 99% of buttons, switches, controls and systems etc is animated and fully working. The textures used in the virtual cockpit are high quality textures and the depth performance is superb. The clean and smooth edges create a perfect finish and the atmosphere created is awesome. Furthermore the add-on also features a great sound set with both engine sound and objects sounds. I rate this add-on package from Razbam with a full 5/5 stars rating and the Rays Aviation Gold Award. I thank Razbam for their contribution to the flightsim community, with this excellent and awesome modern age military aircraft package. This is the best Harrier add-on for flight simulator available in my opinion, and I will of course recommend my fellow simmers to it out. If you like to fly military aircrafts, then this is certainly an aircraft worth trying out. Rays Aviation

Review of McDonnell Douglas AV-8B Harrier II PLUS incl GR7 & GR9 Created by Razbam. The Harrier II PLUS is a single seated, high winged, single engine, VSTOL, ground attack military aircraft built by McDonnell Douglas (now Boeing) since the late 1970s. The aircraft is a second-generation vertical/short takeoff and landing aircraft and is a redesign of the earlier AV-8A/C. The Harrier II, designated AV-8B, is the final member of the Harrier family that started with the Hawker Siddeley P.1127 from the 1960s, that later developed into the AV-8A/C. The aircraft features upgrades as 7 hard points instead of 5, structural and aerodynamic refinements, an elevated cockpit, added radar and night attack capabilities and various other upgrades. This aircraft is one of the most famous VSTOL aircraft of all times and have participated in numerous conflicts around the globe as the Gulf War, the war in Iraq and also in Afghanistan. The USMC expects to operate the Harrier until 2030 where it most likely will be succeeded by the Lockheed Martin F-35B. The GR-variants are the British versions of the Harrier II, which considerably differs from the AV-8B in terms of avionics, armament and counter measures. Basics I received this add-on directly from Razbam and the download went quickly and without any connection errors or other issues. The connection to Razbams download server is good, so the download of the 2 files (total 837Mb), did not take much more than a minute or two. When the download had completed I started the installation process. This was also very easy, simply just activate the included installation wizard and that will take care of the entire installation – very user friendly installation wizard. The complete installation of both files was completed within a minute and I was now ready to verify that the installation had proceeded correctly. I checked my FSX Airplane folder and found the aircraft perfectly place there. I hereafter opened up FSX and went into my virtual hangar to see how the installation had proceeded here. I found the Harrier(s) perfectly placed in the Razbam folder in my virtual hangar. I quickly noticed that there of course was the AV-8B version together with the GR7 and GR9, but also that both the GR7 and GR9 each had an A-version, so the total was 5 different versions. Furthermore I also found a huge number of included liveries for each version. In total I found 31 liveries which is a lot of liveries, and they are all placed correctly after each other in the Razbam folder in my virtual hangar. Additional there are also included two AI aircrafts. One is the KC-130 tanker that is included with the first installation (AV-8B) and the second is the Vickers VC10 tanker included in the GR-series. Both aircrafts are to be used for aerial re-fueling which is a feature that Razbam has integrated into the Harriers. Before starting a flight with the Harriers I would certainly recommend to read the included and very comprehensive manuals. There are a manual for both the AV-8B and a separate manual for the GR-series since these aircrafts are not completely identical in regards to e.g. the cockpit. To get the aircrafts flying you can skim the manuals, but if you want to take the Harriers to the next level and fly them as realistically as possible, you will need to read the manual quite thoroughly since this aircraft is a very complex aircraft and also due to that Razbam has been able to include a great many specific features. To get the best and most realistic experience of the Harriers, I would recommend to read the sections regarding VSTOL, Short field take-offs, Aerial re-fueling and working the droppable objects as bombs, gun etc but before you can complete this you also need to read how to use the TACAN which can be used to locate the tankers. Also included in the manuals is a very comprehensive checklist that can be followed perfectly step by step. In total the two manuals covers almost the entire usage of the Harriers including specs, descriptions, checklists and guides etc and it fills up a whopping 198 pages. The manuals can be found by entering the Razbam folder in your Start Menu. Included are also 3 paint kit options - one for the AV-8B, one for the GR7-9 and also one for the KC-130 tanker aircraft. This is excellent since this provides the simmer with the possibility to create and include his/hers own liveries. Also included are a loading/configuration manager where the simmer can select the configuration of the aircraft. Model I started my test with an external walk around the aircraft. The models are very well made and features a huge number of very specific Harrier details like the elevated cockpit, the wheels mounted beneath each wing, the unique tail design, the exhaustion nozzles etc. - everything is created down to even very small details and the appearance of the models are very realistic. The models are covered with high quality textures and liveries that represent their real world counterparts superbly. Included is also several animations such as wheels rotating, nose wheel steering, gear up/down, gear suspension, canopy open/close, control surfaces, flaps, speedbrake, exhaustion nozzles etc. All animations are very smooth and appear to be as in real life. This including that when using e.g. the exhaustion nozzles, the flaps will also move accordingly to the nozzle settings. Another animation is the re-fueling capability where the re-fueling probe is also animated and controlled from the cockpit together with an AI re-fueling tanker, so that the simmer now has the possibility to do an aerial re-fueling. The tanker can be requested during flight and will fly a designated pattern starting 50nmi ahead of your position. To track and find the tanker is easily done with the help from the TACAN system.. The models also feature a superb addition for military aircrafts, which is the animation of firing the gun and droppable objects as various bombs or missiles – this really adds to the realism of being a Harrier pilot. Since the ammunition for e.g. the gun actually has a weight programmed, the aircrafts weight/balance will change when firing the gun – This is indeed a superb detail well worth mentioning. To fire the gun or use A/A ordnances simply just use your tricker button – these animations are a HOTAS configuration and needs no additional input in the virtual cockpit. (HOTAS = Hands On Throttle And Stick). Included effects are various lights as strobe, beacon, wing tip, landing and taxi lights etc. which are all very well created and feature a very clean and crystal clear shine. Another effect that is included is the smoke effect from the engine which is most visible during vertical take-offs or vertical landings. The smoke effect is fair and very realistic. Actually Razbam has included another feature which is a fuel dump effect that can be executed from the virtual cockpit. If you need to dump some fuel, this feature is also created and is visible as vapor like trails coming from the wing tips. I also noticed that when flying the Harriers and making aggressive turns or control surface changes, meaning pulling some G’s, I saw a vapor effect in several levels on top of the wings – superb detail indeed.! Cockpit After viewing the external part of the model I continued directly into the cockpit. There is no 2D cockpit included only a virtual cockpit, but this virtual cockpit is very well made and includes all the features that you would find in a 2D cockpit. I know that there are simmers that will only use a 2D cockpit, but I would still recommend them to try this awesome virtual cockpit. The virtual cockpit is created perfectly and is very much in accordance with the real world Harrier cockpit both in regards to layout, instrumentation, systems etc – please notice that the virtual cockpit of the AV-8B and the GR-series is not 100% the same which is correct and true to real life. That is also why there is a manual for both the AV-8B and also one for the GR-series. The virtual cockpit is a modern age glass cockpit featuring detailed MPCDs (Multi Purpose Color Displays) with in-depth integration and functionality. These are located on each side of the main console and are fully operational. The virtual cockpit does also feature a few basic analogue instruments primarily used as back-up instruments – these are located on the center console. A modern age military cockpit as this one also features the HUD (Heads Up Display) that are fully integrated with the systems and shows various information like standard flight information but also a fully operating radar with A/A and A/G modes that are able to lock and track the target into the interception. This combined with the animation of e.g. the gun or missiles really add a lot of realism to the overall flight experience and to the experience of being a real Harrier pilot. The virtual cockpit furthermore features the Tactical Navigation Computer together with detailed and very realistic navigational instruments, a working armament panel that is integrated with the animations of the weapons and a very realistic gun sight - all located in front of the pilot. On the left and right side there are located panels containing autopilot, throttle quadrant, oxygen control, electrical panel, radios etc. These side panels are also very well made and the location of the buttons and switches etc is very true to the images that I could find of the real side panels. The textures used are of high quality and the depth performance is an awesome 3D experience. I used the TrackerIR5 for my test with the Harrier and the experience that I got was exceptional and extremely realistic. The virtual cockpit is indeed created with an eye for the details and I found only a few switches which was not animated or had any programming to a function or similar. This is a 99% fully working and operating virtual cockpit with a great finish. Clicking the buttons or using the switches felt very real and to support that Razbam have of course also included sound files for these animations. All in all I found the virtual cockpit to contain a very realistic atmosphere of being a real Harrier pilot. Viewing around the virtual cockpit I found a huge number of animations as the flight controls, various levers as the throttle, gear and nozzle control, buttons, switches, encoders and the canopy open/close etc - all done to a high perfection. I also noticed that the pilots head was animated - this I could of course not see when being inside the virtual cockpit, but selecting the view 45 degrees behind the cockpit I discovered it. A small detail that I also noticed was the reflections in the mirrors. I have quite often seen that this image in the mirrors would just be a static image, but in the Harrier package here, this image was fluently and moving according to the pitch and bank angles of the aircraft. Sound The sound set included in the model is fair and quite realistic. I compared it to various sound files that I was able to find on the internet, and the resemblance was okay. It is like a standard jet sound but with a nice deeper roar that adds to the realism. The sound is high quality and is clean and clear. I tested the sound in both ordinary stereo, 2.1 stereo with a subwoofer and in a complete 7.1 surround sound setup. It worked perfectly with each setting both internally and externally. Flight characteristics The flight dynamics or flight characteristics are close to what I had expected from a military jet. I have of course never flown this aircraft in real life so I cannot confirm how realistic they actually are. However I can compare my virtual experience with the specs, data and general aerodynamics together with my real life flight experience, and by doing this I found the Harrier to be overall very realistic. The Harrier moves very quickly on the control surfaces and has the jet engine delay when spooling the engine. Applying the speedbrake does provide a draft which impacts the IAS and even though the Harrier is a VSTOL aircraft it can of course still stall. When entering a stall with the Harrier the aircraft just starts to loose altitude, there is no reaction from the aircraft to either drop the nose, shake or wobble – this I find to not be that realistic, but I cannot confirm it. Handling the aircraft on the ground is fairly easy. If needed, then the aircraft can turn on a dime and if you need to stop the aircraft quickly, the brakes are very efficient at low speeds – however applying the brakes with maximum power, will have an impact on the gear and the suspension and you will experience and wawe-effect. During normal take-offs or short field take-offs, are like take-offs with other military jets. The aircraft lies steady on the runway and is very easy to control blasting down the runway for take-off. Flying an approach with flaps and gear down does change the flight characteristics as it should, and the aircraft still remains perfectly controllable and steady. One thing that is important to remember is that the aircrafts wheel brakes are not very efficient at higher speeds, and should not be used just after touchdown if the landing is a normal procedure landing. An idea I tried was to turn the exhaustion nozzle all the way around as far as it can – since the aircraft has a 5 degree nose up as standard position, the exhaustion nozzle will be vertical already at 85 degrees, but since you can turn it even more it can then be used as a form of reverse thrusters to a certain small level. This solution is of course not recommended and is not a standard procedure, but I did get a little effect from it. Vertical take-off was a bit of a challenge at first. Here I would recommend to carefully reading the manual before trying it. What I experienced was that I had problems applying full power when the nozzle lever was at 85 degrees – meaning that I could not generate enough thrust for a vertical take-off. This issue was due to two reasons – first reason was because I had overloaded the aircraft and therefore the weight of the aircraft was higher than the thrust that could be generated. The second reason was because I use a twin throttle quadrant where I had programmed throttle lever one for engine one and throttle lever two for engine two. This will or can in some cases have a negative impact flying the Harrier, so I had to change the programming to be throttle lever one to all throttle axis and throttle lever two to be propeller pitch, which in the Harrier controls the nozzle movement. After making these changes I finally got the Harrier to do the famous vertical take-off. Another thing in regards to doing a vertical take-off is, remember to turn the nose into the wind if any, otherwise the aircraft will most certainly be very difficult to handle. I also tested the hover mode where I could let the autopilot fly the Harrier for me – this was also very interesting and a bit strange but it really helped med ease up and trusting the systems better. Aerial re-fueling was tricky but most certainly a superb addition for flying military aircrafts. Included in the AV-8B package is a C-130 tanker and in the GR7/9 package there is the VC-10 tanker, so that the simmer now gets the possibility to do an actual simulated aerial re-fueling. To do this I would recommend to thoroughly read the manual since it can be very, if not almost impossible, to locate the tanker without the input from the manual. First call the tanker – this is no problem but to locate the tanker will require the usage of the TACAN system. In FSX there is no TACAN system available - to overcome this issue Razbam has emulated the TACAN system by using the actual VOR system instead and then included a frequency convert matrix. Conclusion Excellent, superb, awesome and very innovative. This is defiantly the best Harrier add-on package that I have ever flown in any flight simulator. I find it to be very realistic and I love that there are so many additional features included as e.g. the aerial re-fueling and the ability of firing weapons that will impact the flight dynamics of the aircraft. There are a few bugs as e.g. the waypoint counter which cycles forward when approaching a change of course and sometimes also skips the next waypoint. This however I find to be very small issue and it will not have any impact on my overall rating. The models are perfectly created and true to the real life aircrafts. They feature the unique look of the real Harrier and are covered with high quality textures. There are a huge number of liveries included that are created very detailed according to the real aircrafts paint schemes and the models furthermore features superbly many animations and effects. The virtual cockpit is close to 100% realistic and 99% of buttons, switches, controls and systems etc is animated and fully working. The textures used in the virtual cockpit are high quality textures and the depth performance is superb. The clean and smooth edges create a perfect finish and the atmosphere created is awesome. Furthermore the add-on also features a great sound set with both engine sound and objects sounds. I rate this add-on package from Razbam with a full 5/5 stars rating and the Rays Aviation Gold Award. I thank Razbam for their contribution to the flightsim community, with this excellent and awesome modern age military aircraft package. This is the best Harrier add-on for flight simulator available in my opinion, and I will of course recommend my fellow simmers to it out. If you like to fly military aircrafts, then this is certainly an aircraft worth trying out. Rays Aviation

Review of Danish Airfields X – Sønderborg Airport Created by VidanDesign. Sønderborg Airport is a Danish medium size AFIS airport located in the southern part of Jutland in Denmark only 7 km from Sønderborg city. The airport is currently operated by Sønderborg municipality but the advisory board and the council has decided that the airport within a near future, should change status to be a bi-national airport supporting both the southern part of Denmark and the northern part of Germany (Flensburg). About 350 people work at Sønderborg airport or at the companies located at the airport which is Alsie Express, Amicos, BenAir, Climb2, DAT, Skyways and several others. There are between 15 and 30 commercial aircrafts based at Sønderborg airport together with 6 GA aircraft used primarily by the aero club and for training. Currently there is no helicopter service but during the summer of 2013, Sønderborg airport will start up a course and training for commercial helicopter pilots. There are 10-15,000 flight operations per year which equals to a total of app. 80,000 passengers going through the terminal per year. The total number of people that Sønderborg airport supports are 980.000 people where 60% is located in Denmark and the remaining 40% is located in Flensburg, Germany. The airport features one runway 14/32 with an asphalt surface and a length of 5,895 feet – the elevation is 7 meters AMSL and the ICAO code is EKSB. The Sønderborg X scenery package is a scenery with a file size of about 289Mb that covers the entire EKSB Sønderborg Airport with both airport buildings, surroundings and lights placed in the water at the end of the runway. The installation was very simple and went with ease and without any issues. I just activated the included installation wizard and that took care of the entire installation. That said, after the installation was completed I had to manually activate the scenery in the FSX scenery library, but this was very easy to do and no issue at all. If you don't know how to, then this is described in details in the included manual on page 4 - also a specific explanation for Win7 users. The installation wizard did not only install the add-on scenery but also a seasoning tool that enables the simmer to select specific texture sets for either summer, fall or winter. This is an excellent tool that is very user friendly and really provides the simmer with a better set of textures to be used when flying the scenery in various seasons. The included manual / guide is a PDF file with 14 pages describing various user information and also general airport information. I would recommend to read or skim the manual before using the scenery just to be sure to get the best from the scenery. You can get answers for a lot of the standard FAQs just by reading the manual, and the manual is written very well and very understandable. After setting the season and reading the manual I started up FSX and took “Bob” for a walk around the scenery. By using “Bob” (orbx) I was able to walk around the entire scenery to view all the details that VidanDesign has included in this scenery package. On my secondary monitor I had Google-Earth running so that I was able to check and verify the correct location etc of the buildings, fences, refueling station etc. Walking through this scenery was an incredible experience indeed – it became very quickly clear to me, that VidanDesign has really put in a lot of time and effort in creating this airport to be as realistic as possible, and VidanDesign has succeeded perfectly in my opinion. The scenery is very realistic and features the specific and unique buildings that are at EKSB in real life. Everything is handcrafted and the detailing is awesome. Where ever I turned my view I continuously found more and again more new details inform of e.g. signs, vehicles, fences, other airport material, buildings, pallets, container etc. It was indeed a true pleasure to walk around this amazing and very detailed scenery. When I viewed the scenery from above using the default Bell206B, I could easily verify the location of all buildings according to the image I had from Google Earth. The location of all buildings were superb, actually I could see that the scenery contained a building that was not on Google Earth, but that was due to that the image on Google Earth was taken before EKSB started the construction of this new building. This I have confirmed from other pictures taken from EKSB. I really like the unique details that VidanDesign has created to give the buildings a realistic look and bring the scenery alive by creating an atmosphere. The buildings features e.g. corrosion, miscolors, algae etc and that is some really nice details which VidanDesign has been able to create perfectly. I now turned my focus to the parking lot – there are actually 2 parking lots which seem to be very realistic. I have never been at EKSB in real life, but I could see that VidanDesign again had a full focus on the realism. The parking lot is created with good textures and features of course vehicles, but also very specific signs, light poles with lights activated at night, marking on the asphalt that resembles the real life markings and fences etc. Walking the parking lot gave me a very realistic experience of arriving to EKSB as a passenger before entering the terminal building. Going to the opposite side of the terminal building I now found myself located on the apron. The apron is also very well made with good quality ground textures, realistic and true to real life markings and of course various airport material, vehicles and static aircrafts. Walking out the terminal and turning left towards the hangars I quickly set my focus on the main hangar. I saw a sign on the right side of the hangar door/port saying that to open the port please set NAV2 on frequency 112,00 and wait 30 seconds – this I of course tried and YES, the hangar door/port was actually animated so that I now could enter a very realistic hangar bay. This was a very surprising feature and very well made – now, it could be even better if I could also select a parking spot to be inside the hangar, but that is not included. I continued the walk on the apron and saw additional buildings that again was made to a high level of quality, good quality textures and a stunning detailing. There were not only included these very beautiful buildings but also a refueling station including a refueling truck etc, and when I turned my view to the other apron side of the terminal I there found a shed, additional buildings including the firefighting truck, car etc. I also noticed that the person inside the tower was actually animated – superb detail! After spending a lot of time on the apron I walked past the emergency building and turned right – I now found myself at the GA parking area where there were included a lot of various static aircrafts + actually also a static person looking towards the runway – nice detail. Another really awesome detail that is included is the old renovated farm buildings at the corner of the airport. These buildings are created perfectly and merged into the scenery beautifully. I verified these buildings on Google Earth also, and everything is perfectly placed. I had now walked the entire scenery several times and was continuously stunned by the details – I just kept on finding more details that all contributed to a exceptional realistic experience of this unique Danish airport. I now decided to get a closer look at the taxi and runways – the textures used are very realistic and good quality and I especially like the markings on the runway. I checked every inch of the runway against the images from Google Earth and the resemblance was really remarkable. All markings was as the images of the real life runway, and when taking a closer look, I could also see the cracks in the surface and the roughness that the runway edges has – all in all a really superb taxi and runway where VidanDesign again have had the full focus and an eye for the details. Included in the scenery is of course AI traffic which also contributes to add life and atmosphere to the scenery. The airport scenery has a night illumination which is true to real life and which features a soft light from a distance, but when walking the scenery the lights are clear and bright and gives the simmer a really realistic night environment. All light poles are illuminated, there are lights above the hangar doors, various lights at the taxi and runway, lights inside the terminal building and inside some of the other buildings/hangars. It looks very realistic and peaceful and when arriving to Sønderborg airport during the dusk or night, the experience I got of this airport was indeed very realistic. My conclusion of this scenery is that the scenery is very well made with an eye for the details. It features special and very unique buildings, a complete airport environment in regards to signs, fences, markings on asphalt, static vehicles, static aircrafts, specific airport vehicles, passenger staircase, containers, pallets etc which all contributes to a realistic environment, and of course the most important feature – a very realistic atmosphere. AI traffic and the possibility to access the main hangar is just some of the many superb additions this scenery has, but even though this scenery is completely filled with all these cool features and details it has absolutely no impact on the frame rates. I am very impressed by this scenery which is created by VidanDesign and rate it a full house of 5/5-Stars. Only one thing missing was more animated people walking around the scenery, but I did notice that there were several animated bird flying around which also contributed to add life to the scenery. I thank VidanDesign for creating and contributing to the flightsim community with this excellent and true to real life airport scenery – This is in my opinion one of the best sceneries of Danish airports made for flight simulator, so if you like Danish GA flight, then I would most certainly recommend purchasing this product. Rays Aviation

Review of Douglas A-4 Skyhawk Produced by Virtavia. The Douglas A-4 Skyhawk is a single seated, one engine ground attack, fighter and adversary aircraft built by Douglas Aircraft Company (later McDonnell Douglas). Designed for the US Navy with capability to land and take-off on carriers, and with the possibility to deliver nuclear weapons on enemy targets. It was the replacement of the Douglas AD (A-1) Skyraider. The original A-4 flew its first flight back in 1954 and started service in 1956. The Skyhawks played key roles in wars as the Vietnam War, the Yom Kippur War and the Falklands War, and now after more than 50 years, the aircraft is still in active service of non-US users but has been retired from the US Navy since 2003. I received this add-on aircraft directly from Virtavia and after the download had completed I started the installation process which is very user friendly. All that needs to be done is to activate the installation wizard and that will take care of the rest. The installation did not take more than half a minute or so, and when completed I opened up my FSX folders to verify that the installation process had completed successfully. Of course it had and I found the A-4 files perfectly placed in my FSX SimObjects Aircraft library. Hereafter I opened up my FSX and went into my virtual hangar. I found the Skyhawk perfectly placed together with other add-on aircrafts that I have from Virtavia. I quickly discovered that this add-on actually consists of several versions as the E and F model and also included are various liveries to make it perfect. One thing was a superb surprise and that was the liveries of the Skyhawk used in the movie Top Gun as the adversary aircraft flown by Tom Skerritt – nick name Jester. This was a very nice surprise because I often link this aircraft to that specific movie and now I suddenly had the opportunity to actually fly the aggressor aircraft – Cool! The base models used are the A-4E and A-4F together with sub-variants and in regards to liveries you have both USN, USMC, two versions of the adversary, a Blue Angel and the RAN. The package also includes several different loadouts as bomb, missile and tank versions and to spice this all up to the next level, Virtavia have actually created tailored flight dynamics for 22 specific loadouts. The various loadouts can be toggled off using the “Jettison” switch in the cockpit to simulate weapons used when returning back to base. E.g. the rocket pods will still appear but with the nose cone gone and the rocket absent. This is really impressive and now the simmer has the opportunity to actually feel the difference of flying a clean aircraft compared to e.g. a fully loaded aircraft with heavy bombs and fuel tanks. Together with this add-on aircraft is also included a 44-page manual which is very well written and to get the most out flying and understanding the Skyhawk, I would of course suggest to read or skim the manual. There are quite a few tips and descriptions that I found useful as e.g. how to get the APG-53A Radar to work. Virtavia have created a fully working APG-53A Radar with multiple modes and functions which is a really good feature. I started my test with a tour around the aircraft just to get a feeling of the model. The model is indeed very well made with a huge number of details. The textures used are high quality textures of 2048 pixel bump-mapped and the finish of the aircraft was really stunning. Complete clean, sharp and very realistic modeling. I compared the model to pictures that I could find on the internet of the real Skyhawks and the resemblance was remarkable. Virtavia has nailed this aircraft spot-on and it is really very impressively made. Very realistic looking with various characteristically features as e.g. the very tall nose wheel gear. The model features furthermore several animations such as nose wheel steering, suspension, wheels turning, flaps, control surfaces, gear, canopy, speed brake and much more. Together with all this the model also features some effects as a really nice lighting with clean, clear and bright lights placed very accurately in accordance with the real Skyhawks and also a good smoke effect which I find to be very important in such an old military jet – that just contributes to create the best realism. The Skyhawk also features an accurate paint-chipped Skyhawk access ladder that appears on shutdown and wingfold keypress, with a custom aluminium ladder for the Blue Angels model. As extra Virtavia has also created a fully working auto-spoiler on the later variants, which would be used when landing on a runway, but not on a carrier and also a fuel dump feature which causes a faint fuel trail to emit from the fuel dump vent. Going from the outside to the inside of the Skyhawk I now found a stunning virtual cockpit. The virtual cockpit is completely made with all details, clickable switches and buttons that actually are linked to the various systems as e.g. a switchable gunsight. Virtavia has also included a high quality sound set for these switches and buttons that are very realistic. Multiple animations as e.g. the controls, very impressive and smooth 3D gauges and instruments that are super realistic and again very high quality textures are used to create a perfect looking virtual cockpit. A superb depth is created in the virtual cockpit and I am very impressed by the quality of the details that Virtavia has included here. The finish is absolutely awesome and the feeling that I got when sitting in this virtual cockpit was truly very realistic. The atmosphere was very realistic both when preparing the aircraft for flight, when starting up the aircraft and also when flying the aircraft. I was very curious about one specific thing that I find very important when using a virtual cockpit and that was the view of the wings from the cockpit. This was of course also created to a high perfection. I could easily see the wings when turning my head towards them and this really increases the overall realism greatly in my opinion. A 2D panel is not included but I don’t think that simmers would need it anyway since this virtual cockpit is so very well made. As extra the Skyhawk also features a fully working catapult bridle and hold back assemblies, but to use this you will need the FSX Acceleration Pack. The sound set included is very realistic and I of course compared it to various sound files that I could find on the internet. I actually also discovered that Virtavia has included a sound file for the wheel brakes which are very well made and really gives the simmer that extra experience of being in a real Skyhawk. I tested the sound set in both stereo, 2.1 and 7.1 surround sound and it all worked perfectly. The flight dynamics are all very realistic as far as what I could imagine, this even though that I haven’t flown this aircraft in real life, but in accordance with standard aerodynamics and the specs on the datasheet for this aircraft, I would say that they are very realistic. Overall this is an aircraft add-on of very high quality that features a huge number of details, a very realistic and accurate model(s) and a superb virtual cockpit with an awesome finish. Great depth and super smooth 3D gauges and instruments just to spice it all up. Virtavia has with this add-on really focused on the details and provides the simmer with a monster of an aircraft that are made with the eye for the details and to a high level of perfection. I rate this add-on aircraft with 5/5-stars and awards it with the Rays Aviation Gold Award. I thank Virtavia for contributing to the flightsim community with this excellent old classic bird that they have created to this high level of perfection. Rays Aviation www.RaysAviation.Mono.Net

Test of Sindal X Airfield Produced by VIDANdesign. Sindal airfield is a small Danish airfield located in the northern part of Jutland Denmark. The location is between Hjørring, Hirtshals and Frederikshavn. The airfield was founded back in 1976 when the 4 regions (Hirtshals, Hjørring, Frederikshavn and Sindal) formed an agreement to establish a new airport with a runway made by asphalt. Sindal is a partly manned airfield – during opening hours there is one staff member available at the control tower and outside the opening hours the airfield is an unmanned airfield within aerial class G. The runway is an 1199m long and 30m wide asphalt runway with direction 08/26 and with an elevation of 92’ (28m) AMSL. I purchased this add-on through SimMarket and the payment and download went perfectly. There was a great connection to the download server so the download was quick and went completely without any problems. The installation also went as expected, easy and quick. All I had to do was to activate the installation wizard, which by the way was very good and user friendly, and when activated the installation wizard did the rest – no need for any manual corrections. After the installation was completed I opened up my FSX folders to check that the file was placed correctly and of course it was. Then I opened up my FSX and started a flight from Sindal airfield, this just to verify that the scenery actually also was working and the installation had completed as expected – here I discovered that the scenery actually wasn’t installed correctly because the scenery that I started my flight in, was just the original default scenery. Quite strange I thought but I quickly saw that it was simply just because the scenery was not assigned to FSX in the Scenery Library. This I now did manually and hereafter everything was perfect and I was ready to enjoy this new and exciting scenery. Before I purchased this add-on scenery I visited Sindal airfield in real life, just to see how the airfield looked in real life. When I discovered that VIDANdesign was creating this scenery I thought that this was a scenery that I just had to have and to get the most out of the experience with the add-on scenery, I wanted to see the airfield with my own eyes – then it would also be easier for me to review the scenery afterwards. I set up a helicopter flight from the airfield and started my tour around the complete area. The difference between the default Sindal scenery and this VIDANdesign Sindal scenery is huge and every single building is now perfectly modeled and placed with an extreme accuracy. All building, materials, vehicles etc are all created with an eye for the details, with a great texture quality and a superb finish – and all this without it having an impact on my computers performance. One detail followed the next detail and the next detail etc and when I lifted my view furthermore I discovered that it was actually not only the airport buildings that were created but also nearby farm buildings etc which just improved my experience and the overall picture I got of this add-on. Very cool details indeed! It is very easy to see that VIDANdesign has put in a lot of energy and time to get all the buildings, vehicles and materials etc made to this very high level of perfection and VIDANdesign has succeeded 110%. Everything is extremely realistic and filled with a huge amount of details together with e perfect finish. I like the fact that VIDANdesign creates the buildings 100% as they look in real life and not just uses standard buildings from a library or similar. Everything looks to be hand-crafted which is a huge plus. This scenery is not only a static scenery, there are also included AI traffic and some animated gates for a hangar that activates when the simmer uses a specific frequency on the VOR2 radio – this also contributes to make the scenery even more complete and gave me as a simmer an extra awesome experience of this airfield. The various details are many but as examples can be mentioned signs, cars on the parking lot, roads, various ground material, grass, special marking on the buildings, crates and boxes in the hangars and also reflections in the glass door at the terminal building. Everything looks superb and when I compare this scenery with the real Sindal that I visited this summer, the resemblance was for me outstanding. This is indeed a super detailed and realistic scenery. The runway has been given a giant face lift when compared to the default version and this just improves the overall realism and completes the scenery even more. The textures used here are very realistic and combining that with the edge around the runway and the various other details as lights etc you get in total a scenery of a very high quality. The lighting at the airport is also made with an eye for the details and this for both the lights around the runway, but also lights in the terminal building, at the parking spot and at the various hangars etc. Sindal X is indeed created within the same high level of quality that you know it from e.g. the Herning X scenery and it was a truly pleasure to use and review this scenery. If you take a look at the price of this scenery you will only be surprised – actually very surprised since the Sindal X scenery costs less that 10 Euro on SimMarket and has a quality level similar to other add-on sceneries that costs 25-30 Euro. If you talk about the price versus the quality VIDANdesign could easily ask for a higher price for this very beautiful scenery in my opinion. On my helicopter tour around the scenery I also discovered that the control tower was almost completely furnished internally or that was what it looked like – and this again tells me a lot about VIDANdesign and that he really wants to get all details put into his sceneries. I could also see that the reflections in the glass doors at the terminals parking lot side, reflected persons and the other glass doors that were on the terminals other side – again a really awesome detail. Since my first flight from the Sindal X scenery I have flown from Herning X to Sindal X several times and in various aircrafts. In real life I am used to fly the Diamond HK-36 Super Dimona but the closest similar aircraft in my virtual hangar is the AeroSoft Diamond DA-20 Katana. When I do this flight it is very realistic to arrive and depart from Sindal airfield! – the scenery is excellent and completely filled with eye candy. Overall this is a very beautiful scenery that has a very high level of quality. Special made buildings with great textures, lots and lots of details and a superb finish and everything is placed with precision. Furthermore the runway is covered with realistic textures and you have grass, plants etc that all contributes to a complete scenery. Various animations and AI traffic combined with night lighting and static vehicles and material provides the simmer with an extra ordinary awesome experience and this even without it having any impact on my computers performance. I recommend other simmers to buy this add-on scenery and if you are already a fan of Danish airfields then this is a Must Have scenery – I rate this add-on with 4/5 beautiful stars and thanks VIDANdesign for contributing to the flightsim community with this great and very detailed scenery. I can’t wait to see what the next project will be. Rays Aviation

Test of MacauX Airport Scenery Produced by AA Sceneries / Thai Creations. Macau International Airport is situated at the eastern end of Taipa island and is the only airport in Macau to operate commercial and international flights. The airport was opened back in 1995 and received the ICAO-code VMMC. Macau International Airport is a common transfer point for people traveling between the mainland of China and Taiwan. The airport is also used as a passenger hub for various destinations in Southeast Asia. Macau has a separate customs territory from the mainland of China and as in Hong Kong, Macau has its own immigration policies which means that all travelers coming to this airport will need to go through the immigration and customs inspections for international flights. The capacity of this airport is designed to be 6 million passengers per year with estimated processing capacity of up to 2,000 passengers per hour. There are no restrictions in regards to night curfew and the apron consists of 24 parking spaces, 4 jetways and a total of 10 gates. The apron, main terminal and traffic control facilities are all located on the island of Taipa, but the runway is built on a strip of reclaimed land in the sea and connected to the apron by 2 causeways. The runway 34 is ILS CAT II equipped and is capable of handling aircrafts like the Boeing B747 and Antonov AN124 which forms a vital freight link between local manufactures and overseas markets. I received this scenery directly from AA Sceneries and the download went quick an easy and without any problems. The installation was a bit of a challenge at first, because this scenery package didn’t have an installer / wizard that could be activated, so everything had to be done manually. This however was not that complicated and the support from AA Sceneries was superb. After a few minutes I had the complete scenery package installed and was ready for the fun part. Please note that if you purchase this scenery from SimMarket, then there will be an installer / wizard included in the download, and you don’t have to install manually. I opened up FSX and set up a helicopter flight from the Macau Airport, so that I could tour the complete airport scenery and surrounding areas with the bridges and the unique buildings at Macau city. The scenery is a huge scenery with an enormous amount of very specific details. There are lots and again lots of unique buildings that all are superbly modeled and covered with good texture without it actually having an impact on your frames. The scenery consists of the complete airport including terminal, parking, control tower and causeways to the runway, which is built on a strip of reclaimed land in the sea quite a distance from the apron. Also included in the scenery are the bridges and the city of Macau again modeled with some of the very unique buildings that can be found in Macau in real life. The finish is very good and the accuracy of the various buildings etc is also very precise according to the images I could get from Google-Earth. The airport scenery has a very complex and indeed very well made dynamic airport scenery with multiple various moving airport vehicles and included AI traffic. The AI traffic however, has a specific limitation which is that you need to turn off the “aircraft cast shadow on the ground” effect to get the AI traffic to work. I don’t quite know why these things are related, but this issue is described in the included manual, and therefore something that you can easily do something about. The manual included is good and will provide you with answers for the most FAQs. Together with the very complex dynamic airport scenery there are also a huge number of various static airport vehicles, trolleys, material etc and a nice modeled small marina. Also included in the scenery are multiple animations like the carousel next to the terminal etc. When looking at the complete scenery and hereby also looking at the AI vehicle traffic on the roads I also discovered that there are done a very nice job by actually getting the cars, busses and trucks to actually drive on the various bridges. I know that this is something that can be difficult to animate in FSX and I often see that the traffic just plumbs to the water. This is very well made in this scenery, and it is very easy to see that there has been much focus on making the scenery as real as possible and the developers of this scenery has really had an eye for the details and have made an almost overwhelming amount of details. To complete the scenery, there are also created multiple ships and boats to give the scenery even more realism. Huge tankers / container ships together with ferries and smaller leisure boats. All in all a very detailed sea scenery which I think really completes the scenery perfectly. There is no specific sound set for the scenery – the sounds that you hear are the various traffic of both the AI traffic airplanes and the dynamic airport vehicles. When you taxi to the runway you are in for a very special ride. It is quite amazing to taxi down one of the causeways to the runway, and when you reach the land strip with the runway you can also find a very well modeled fire-truck station with fire-trucks placed both inside the station but also outside. This was again a very nice detail and I am quite amazed by the level of details and complexity this scenery has. The lighting of the airport at night is as you could expect – perfect and the elimination of the buildings both at the airport but also in the city are also superb. The textures that cover this scenery are all very good and do not impact your frames heavily. The runway can however appear a little blurry on the centerline when making the take-off, but this is just a small detail. The water surrounding the scenery I think is also made especially for this scenery which I find as really nice, but it does look a bit strange when combining it with the use of REX Overdrive for FSX. I think it could have something to do with my REX settings, but still I think the boarders of deepwater versus shallow waters are unfortunately not that well made. I like the fact that the scenery is made with the eye for the detail and that all buildings are made especially for this scenery and are not just various default buildings placed around the airport. I did encounter a small issue with the boarders for some of the buildings, where I crashed into the building even though I actually was not that close to the building. Also when you do taxi in this scenery it is very important to watch out for the dynamic airport vehicles driving around the airport – if you taxi out in front of them, they will not stop, but simply just crash into you. It is not a huge issue, but something that I think is worth mentioning but actually this does add extra realism, because you also now do need to focus on the ground traffic and not just taxi ahead. I have now tested the scenery for many hours and used various aircrafts as commercial airliners, helicopters and smaller civilian props and the airport works perfectly for all classes of aircrafts and I find the scenery a delight and much fun to use. Normally I set my flights to Hong Kong when flying to this part of the world, but now this has changed. I like the scenery very much and I am continuously stunned by all the details the scenery contains. My conclusion for this scenery is that I find the complete scenery to be very well made, with good texture quality, a huge number of animations and effect, precision placement of buildings etc and all in all a great scenery that I do recommend fellow simmers to try out. You get a scenery filled up with very detailed and special created buildings to fit the reality of the real Macau airport and city and together with this you get a super complex and well made dynamic airport scenery with a huge number of various vehicles, trolleys and materials. I rate the scenery with 4/5-stars and thank AA Sceneries and Thai Creations for contributing the flightsim community with this excellent scenery. If you would like to see video clips of this scenery, then please visit my youtube channel Rays Aviation or use the link on my website www.RaysAviation.Mono.Net (found under Reviews) – the scenery is represented both as a video specifically made for this scenery and as the second part of the Captain Sim C-130 X-perience video. Rays Aviation www.RaysAviation.Mono.Net

Test of Boeing B727 Captain Produced by Captain Sim The Boeing B727 is a three engine, mid size, narrow body jet airliner built by Boeing Commercial Airplanes since the early 1960’ies. It was intended for short to medium range flights and can carry 149-189 passengers in a range of 2,400 to 2,770 nmi. The B727 features 3 Pratt & Whitney JT8D engines and shares the design of the upper fuselage cross-section and cockpit from the B707 quad jet airliner. The aircraft has been sold to various airline companies around the world but primarily for forwarding agencies as FedEx etc. The last B727 was completed back in 1984, but some are still in service. I received this add-on directly from Captain Sim and the download went perfectly. No issues at all and even though this was a huge file, then the download didn’t take more than a couple of minutes. The internet connection to/from the Captain Sim server is really good. Also the installation went without any issues. I just applied the installation wizard and that was more or less all I had to do. The wizard is very user friendly and all you actually needs to do is to active the wizard and paste your code. Easy and quick like all the other installations I have tried from Captain Sim. After the installation I opened FSX to verify if the installation had been successful. I filtered to the folder of Captain Sim add-ons and here the B727 was very nicely installed with individual pictures corresponding to the right aircrafts. A total of 10 liveries was included in the base pack which I think is a number that are better than average. First I started with an outside view-around to get a complete view of the entire aircraft. The model made here by Captain Sim is very well made with a lot of details and animations. The Aircraft is picture perfect in my opinion and just to verify, I found a lot of pictures from real B727’s and compared them to the model. They proved me right – The model is extremely similar to the real B727s. The model is covered by high quality textures and there are animations as various control surfaces, gears + suspension, spoilers, flaps, wheels turning, doors, reverse thruster and many more. They are all very realistic made and fits the model perfectly. After checking out the B727 from the outside I went inside. Here I started at the very beautiful virtual cabin that is included in this aircraft. This cabin is of the same quality as the B707 and is very well made with good texture quality and various animations as e.g. the internal doors and exits. When you view the virtual cabin you do get a feeling of really being inside an aircraft and that I like very much. The virtual cabin was a lot of fun checking out, but I continued to the cockpit and found a superb well made virtual cockpit. It resembles the B707 cockpit which it also should, but with differences like of course the throttle etc (B727 only has 3 engines compared to the four engine B707). The virtual cockpit is filled with high quality textures, lots and lots of animations like various controls, buttons and other systems, great depth and a very cool finish. The cockpit appears to be old and used, which for me is perfect. The B727 is an old and used aircraft so that just adds to even more realism. I find the cockpit to be very realistic and just to verify I found several pictures on the internet and compared them to this virtual cockpit. The precision that Captain Sim has done in regards to placing everything correctly is quite stunning and the quality of the goggles are very good. The sound set used for this aircraft is quite well made. It resembles the real unique sound of the B727 perfectly. I tested it both internally and externally and also from the tower, and the sound set was excellent no matter which view I chose. The sound is clear and clean and can be used both with stereo and 7.1 surround sound. I find the sound set very authentic and did compare it to sound clips that I found on the internet. Very well made indeed. I tested this aircraft on two flights – the first flight was to check the ground handling, take-off, in flight and landings with this aircraft and also to get used to it. The second test flight was more to test the aircrafts flight characteristic during foul weather, and to do the second test flight I had to get used to the aircraft by flying the first test flight. To handle this old and heavy aircraft on the ground was actually not that difficult. It handles like most other heavy jets and even though the 3 engines are all placed at the tail section you don’t feel that when taxiing. The engines are not that efficient so you do need to add quite a lot of throttle to get the aircraft rolling. The B727 are quick on the steering (nose wheel) and is very steady going down the taxiway. The brakes are very efficient, so if you need to stop urgently, then you are able to do that. Doing the take-off with the B727 was quite similar to doing the take-off with other elder aircrafts that size. The take-off roll is quite long due to the fact that the engines are not that efficient, but that does not matter because the aircraft is so easy to control going down the runway. I had absolutely no problems keeping the aircraft on the runway, and at V2 I started to raise the nose. A few seconds later I was airborne and started my climb. Flying this aircraft is easy – I just had to remember that I couldn't climb as fast as I wanted to. The aircraft handles very well and is okay fast on all control surfaces. The view from the cockpit is superb and I very quickly got the feeling of this aircraft. When flying it you don’t feel it as being a heavy aircraft – it is actually very elegant and you do feel that this aircraft was built to fly. However I find it a bit unique when doing the take-off. It felt very heavy in the rear so I had to be very careful raising the nose, so that I didn’t rotate to fast and hereby smashing the tail into the runway. That of course goes for all types of aircrafts, but somehow this felt a bit different – I could image similar with e.g. the DC-10 and the MD-11. Landing this aircraft was as I expected – I was convinced that it would be much like landing the B707 and yes it was. You sit in a cockpit that is 90% the same as the B707 and the view from the captain’s seat is exactly the same as the B707. The B727 has very good flaps and hereby reducing the landing speed – together with that you also have very efficient spoilers and wheel brakes, so you don’t have to use all the runway (normally) – this equals to that I had more time to focus on making a nice soft landing with a good proper flare instead of just smashing the wheels in the runway and applying the brakes. During the final I got the aircraft trimmed perfectly and I had no issues at all. The aircraft is very steady and even though I had applied full flaps, the aircraft was still quite quick on the controls. After touchdown on the main wheels I applied the spoilers and when the nose wheel hit the concrete I applied the reverse thrusters. I didn’t apply the wheel brake before my speed was below 80 knots – it was simply not necessary. The second test flight was more of a challenge. I had set the weather theme on a thunderstorm with wind coming from -45 degrees from headwind blowing at 20 knots gusting to 30 knots. I had set the turbolens on severe and applied rain. This was a scenario which actually was very much fun but also very challenging. I tried several take-offs and landings and practice do make perfect. After spending about 1½ hours on flying concentrated under these conditions I believe that I mastered it very well. I have all my settings on as real as it gets, and I managed to land the aircraft without any damages every single time. The flight characteristic for the B727 under these conditions do change which they also should. You need to be extra careful and concentrated and remember to keep a little extra airspeed on the aircraft – here I refer to specifically during low altitude turns to e.g. your final, because when you have these conditions your IAS can vary very much and this could result in a wing stall = spin. With this Captain Sim product you get a really well made model of high quality. A great virtual cockpit with many details and animation and a sound set that is very authentic and fit the model perfectly. If you are to the old classic airliners then this aircraft is a must – it is very realistic and very beautiful made. I rate this add-on 4/5-stars. Thanks to Captain Sim for this very beautiful old classic aircraft. You have done a superb job by creating the B727 so realistic. Rays Aviation

Test of Boeing B707 Captain Produced by Captain Sim. Boeing B707 is a 4-engine, narrow body, mid size jet airliner built by Boeing Commercial Airplanes since the late 1950’ies. It has the capacity to carry 140 to 202 passengers for a range of 3,680 to 3,735 nmi (6.820-6.917km) The B707 was the first aircraft to be commercially successful even though it was not the first jetliner, and this helped establishing Boeing as one of the largest manufactures of passenger aircrafts. This was also the beginning of Boeings 7x7 series which now has reached the B787. The aircraft was sold to both commercial airline companies and the military who found use of the B707 as e.g. aerial tanker, VIP and surveillance aircraft. I received this add-on package directly from Captain including both the Base pack and all expansion packs which covers the B707-300, B707-300C, VC-137 and the E-3 Sentry AWACS. All in all you here get a complete package with a total of 22 liveries and the possibility to download additional liveries. I did hope that there would be the KC-135 Stratotanker in one of the packages because that is actually an aircraft that I have been inside in real life, but maybe that will be as an additional expansion pack. The download went without any problems – A great connection to/from the Captain Sim server made it possible for me to download all packages within just a few minutes. After the download was completed I started the installation of all packages (came separately) and even though I had to install 4 separate packages, the installation went unbelievably fast. I had absolutely no problems by installing all packages – I just used the installation wizard and that was it. It took me probably about 2 minutes all-in-all. I have to say that my experience with the installation of Captain Sim products are that, installation is extremely simple, fast and very user friendly. The wizard finds all information by itself except for the codes of course. After the download and installation I opened FSX to check if everything was placed as it should and of course it was. All liveries were nicely placed in the folder of Captain Sim together with the other Captain Sim product that I have. This package of the B707 Captain is the FSX version of the Legendary 707 back from FS9 which was put on the market back in 2004. I would say that the 2 versions do look a lot like each other, but no doubt that the Captain (FSX version) is an improved version of the elder Legendary 707. As an additional feature you also receives a separate program which includes an install wizard for additional liveries and a loading/seating configuration manager, so that you your self can choose how much cargo or how many passengers you want to have on your flight – you can also choose how the seating of the passenger should be - e.g. all in one side if you want, but that would probably not be the best solution. There is of course also included a comprehensive manual which can be downloaded directly from the Captain Sim website. I started viewing the model from the outside and discovered that Captain Sim had modeled the B707 to perfection. When looking at the different expansion packs, you can really see all details that are for each model, and Captain Sim has really captured every single little detail and put it into this model. You have high quality textures without it having an impact on your frames. Lots and lots of animations as e.g. doors, control surfaces, gear + suspension and many others, you have an incredible well modeled finish and a huge number of various effect as lights and engine smoke, which all contributes to a very high level of realism. After the outside view-around I went inside the B707 – Here I checked out the B707-300 passenger version and found a really well made virtual cabin, which I actually also did expect to find. You have a complete virtual cabin with seats, isles, galleys, toilets etc and in the virtual cabin you will also find various animations as toilet doors, the cockpit door and exits etc. The virtual cabin is really well made with good textures and has a very nice depth and finish – again without it having an impact on your frames. You can choose several different views in the virtual cabin area, and no matter which view I chose, the visual impact for me was stunning. It was like being inside a real aircraft cabin because Captain Sim has put in so many details – I just love that! When I finished the view of the virtual cabin I of course continued the exploration of the inside of the B707 and went to the cockpit. Here I found a superb virtual cockpit. Great textures, perfect depth, lots and lots of animations as e.g. buttons and controls and the realism was remarkable. The finish was really outstanding and I like the fact that Captain Sim has made the cockpit to look old and used, which for me is very important when flying an old bird like this one. It is very clear that Captain Sim has put a lot of effort into making this virtual cockpit as real as possible, and they have in my opinion succeeded perfectly. I compared the external model together with the virtual cockpit with pictures of the real B707 and here Captain Sim has really captured every detail of the aircraft. The resemblance between pictures of the real B707 and this model is simply put outstanding. I would say that this model is for me pure eye candy and a delight to fly. Ending the internal view-around I now tuned in my testing on the sound set. This model is equipped with a high quality sound set both internal and external with various environmental sounds providing even more realism to the model. I tested the sound set both as std stereo but also in 7.1 surround sound and found no problem using 7.1. The sound set is very clean and clear and according to videos I found on youtube, I would say that the sound set is also very accurate and fits the model perfectly. I started my flight tests with a flight from John F. Kennedy Intl, New York, USA (KJFK) going to O’Hare Intl, Chicago, Illinois, USA (KORD). On this flight I tested ground handling, take-off, in flight and landings, all with weather theme set on fair weather. To taxi this huge old bird was no problem. You of course have the factors that this is a jet and that it is big and heavy, but besides that it is like taxiing with smaller aircrafts. It resembles the B737 a lot regarding the taxi, so if you are already used to taxi the B737, then you would have no problems with this B707. It reacts quickly on your control inputs and lies steady on the taxiway. The brakes are quite efficient, so you will have absolutely no problem stopping the aircraft quickly if necessary. When I reached the runway I prepared for take-off, gave full throttle and started rolling. The B707 is also very easy to control during the take-off roll. Very steady and still react quickly on the control inputs I gave to keep the aircraft centered on the runway. At V2 I started raising the nose and a few seconds later I was airborne. This is indeed an old aircraft and that I did feel when making the take-off roll. The engines are not as efficient as in newer aircrafts so gaining enough speed to lift off, did take the most of the runway but it was of course not a problem which could be dangerous. During take-off I also got a chance of looking at the smoke effect, and included in this model is a very well made smoke effect coming from all four engines. The smoke varies according to the level of thrust and is very realistic. I flew the climb and descent including the landing on manual, and even though this is an old bird, it handles very well during flight. The aircraft is built with huge wings and a slight V-shape giving the B707 good natured flight characteristics. The B707 has quite large control surfaces so the aircraft reacts fairly quickly on both the rudder, elevator and ailerons. Landing this old aircraft was actually quite easy. I thought that with such an old aircraft you really need to fly it all the way, but no – applying the flaps and lowering the gears didn’t impact the flight characteristics in a bad way. I of course had to apply additional thrust, but the aircraft was extremely steady on the glide slope, and I made a perfect touch down on my first try. The spoilers, the reverse thrusters and the wheel brakes combined contributed to a short ground roll, and I think I only used about half of the runway before exiting to the taxiway. I did try out a second scenario with landing the B707 where the touchdown was with 250 knot and without using the spoilers or the reverse thrusters = I only applied the wheel brakes. I touched down at the threshold but was unable to stop the aircrafts before I ran out of runway – this I think was an okay detail, because if this had been real life I also do think that the wheel brakes would not be able to stop this aircraft in these conditions. After this flight I wanted to test the aircraft in foul weather during landings, so I setup different scenarios with e.g. fog, rain, snow, thunderstorm and combined these settings with various winds gusting up to 30 knots. I tested the settings both at daytime and nighttime. My conclusion after these test flight is that even though you setup a scenario with heavy rain, thunderstorm and +- 45 degrees and 20 knots of headwind gusting to 30 knots, I was still able to land the B707 without major problems. The aircraft is indeed very good natured and you can fly it very slow on final due to the huge wings and very effective flaps, so when landing in conditions like above I found that I had plenty of runway and thereby had more time to focus on making a proper touchdown. Overall you here get an add-on of high quality as you always do with Captain Sim products. You get an aircraft that are modeled to perfection with high texture quality, a huge number of details, effects and animations. You get a fully working virtual cockpit with superb depth and finish together with a very nice modeled virtual cabin. Great sound set and a really well made smoke effect. I rate this aircraft with a full 4.5/5-stars rating and thanks Captain Sim for providing this very beautiful aircraft to the flightsim community. Rays Aviation

Test of Lockheed C-130 Hercules X-perience Produced by Captain Sim. The C-130 Hercules is a four engine turboprop transport aircraft originally designed and built by Lockheed now Lockheed Martin back in the 1950’ies. It was primarily built for the military to transport cargo or troops but later on it was also produced as a civilian aircraft. Even today over 40 models serve in more than 60 nations and the C-130 is part of the elite family of aircrafts, that has remained in continuous production for more than 50 years. The roles that the C-130 has today are many – everything from various military operations to medical evacuation, search and rescue and aerial firefighting. I received this add-on directly from Captain Sim and the download went perfect as usual. A great connection to the Captain Sim server resulted in a very fast download and this even though I here downloaded the complete version of the C-130 including all expansion packs. The installation also went without any issues – I just applied the installation wizard which then did the rest very quickly and without problems or delays. The installation wizard is very user friendly, and I have only good experiences with installing Captain Sim products. After the installation was completed I opened FSX to verify that the installation had gone as it should and that the C-130 was installed in the right folder. I filtered to my Captain Sim folder, and yes – of course the C-130 was perfectly placed. When you install the complete package you get multiple models which in total include 26 liveries, so I now had a lot to choose from. I like the fact that I get so many different liveries – they just adds to more realism and a better flight experience because it is a lot easier to imagine yourself flying a specific aircraft with a specific livery, if the livery in the add-on is there. This aircraft from Captain Sim is actually not a new aircraft to the flightsim world. It was published back in 2007, so my expectations for the quality from back then was limited compared to what I in fact did expect of a payware add-on of today. Here I was proven wrong – even though this is an add-on with the age of 5 years it still ranks at the very top – and it is still today the very best C-130 aircraft made for flightsimulator ever in my opinion. I started my view around on the outside of this legendary aircraft and I was simply put, stunned by the level of detail found on this aircraft. The various aircraft models are filled with very specific details, animations and effect that fits the individual model perfectly – I compared some of the models to pictures of the real version, and Captain Sim really hit spot-on with all models. I am very impressed by the quality I here experience, and especially because I didn’t expect such a great quality in an add-on from 2007. There are high quality textures covering the complete aircraft. Multiple animations as the various control surfaces, gear, suspension, doors, ramps etc and it is all made with a superb precision. The models look very realistic and it is easy to notice that Captain Sim really has put a tremendous amount of energy into creating this legendary bird as real as possible. After the external view around I continued inside the C-130. Here I found a very well made virtual cargo area again with a huge number of details. I know that this is something that Captain Sim also do put a lot of time into creating in their never aircrafts, but they have also done it in this C-130. Here you have high quality textures and a superb finish. Even though the cargo area was quite interesting I continued into the cockpit. Here Captain Sim has created both a 2D cockpit and a virtual cockpit. The 2D cockpit is what I would call a photo-realistic cockpit with a lot of animations, functions and details. The 2D cockpit is very well made and I like that the gauges are really taken care of meaning that they are also of high quality. The virtual cockpit is my favorite cockpit in all aircrafts because I here can experience the real atmosphere if the virtual cockpit is made correctly. Captain Sim has here also done a fantastic job by creating a superb realistic virtual cockpit where you have all your instruments of very high quality and they are all placed with a level of precision which is outstanding. The textures of the virtual cockpit are of course also of very high quality and the depth and finish is over the top. The feeling and the experience I got using this virtual cockpit was way more then I had imagined before the start of this review. So many details and animations I really didn’t expect to find in this C-130. The next review point was the sound set, and here Captain Sim has provided this add-on with a very realistic sound set. The sound of the C-130 I have heard many times since this bird is still in active service in Denmark, but just to verify I found several sound files on youtube and compared them to the sound set for this add-on. The sound set was spot-on! I tested the sound set both in stereo and in 7.1 surround sound and both worked perfectly. As extra I noticed that this C-130 also have a very cool smoke effect coming from all four engines – the smoke effect of course varies when using different throttle settings and this is indeed also very well made. This contributed to make the model even more realistic. I tested this aircraft on 3 flights. The first was a flight where I tested the ground handling, the take-off, general flight characteristic and landings. I flew in French Polynesian with base from Faa’ Intl, Tahiti (NTAA) – Handling the C-130 on the ground is fairly easy. I had to get used to the view from the C-130 cockpit, but I very quickly got the hang of it. I would say that if you are used to taxi e.g. the default LearJet, then this should not be any problem. Approaching the runway I got ready for take-off. This aircraft is built with the possibility for short take-off and landing, so I didn’t need that much runway. When applying full throttle you can really feel the aircraft gaining speed and during the take-off roll I got to experience how stable and easy the C-130 was blasting down the runway. You have 100% steering with the nose wheel or rudder (depending on your speed) and the C-130 is very quick to respond to my control inputs. After a short take-off roll I reached the V2 and raised the nose 10 degrees – a few seconds later I was airborne. The C-130 is a small but heavy bird but still very maneuverable. It responds very quickly on all control surfaces and doesn’t need that much attention to control the aircraft. The C-130 flies very well. It is extremely steady if you trim it properly, and then you can focus on the navigation or simply just enjoying the view of the scenery or this very beautiful made virtual cockpit. Landing the C-130 was a different thing …well… it was actually very easy because you can fly the bird at such a low speed so that you don’t have to worry about running out of runway and put your focus on landing it as softly as possible. However I experienced that I had to get used to the view from the captains seat of this aircraft. Somehow it was different then what I was used to, but after a few tries, then I had absolutely no problems landing the C-130 at all. The second test flight was to try the short runway take-off and landing. Here I went to Herning Airfield, Denmark (EKHG) that has a 1200m (app 3900’) asphalt runway. I set the weather conditions to knots headwind and applied full throttle. No problem, I was able to get airborne with very little use of the runway. Now came the landing and now I had to focus more on setting the wheels down at the threshold, then making the perfect flare. I discovered that you don’t need to stress out when you have 1200m runway ahead – The C-130 doesn’t need such a long runway for landing so I actually had time for making the perfect flaring and setting the C-130 down very softly. Now I was very keen to the aircraft and could relax when flying it, so I decided to challenge myself a bit, and set up a scenario with the weather theme as thunderstorm with heavy winds and rain. Take-off was no problem because the take-off roll was so short, but the landing was indeed a challenge. I had set the wind direction to be coming from -65 degrees = coming from my left side, but not as directly crosswind. Keeping the course on final did mean that I had to lower the left wing and put the nose up against the wind meaning flying like a helicopter towards the runway, but the real challenge came when I was flaring the C-130. Here I now had to flare the aircraft almost sideways and with the left wing lower than the right – fortunately the C-130 is a high winged aircraft, so this never became critical. It was indeed a challenge, but I managed to make a proper landing in my first try, but this is certainly something that I could need some practice doing. I had a lot of fun trying this out several times, and at the end I became very familiar with this aircraft under these conditions. Overall you here get an add-on of extremely high quality and that even though it was published back in 2007. The models are very realistic with high quality textures, many details, animations and effect. You both get a 2D and a virtual cockpit also of very high quality with superb textures, realistic instruments, super depth and a great finish. To support all this, you also get a perfect sound set that can be used both with 7.1 surround sound or stereo as standard. All this you get without it even having any impact on your frames! I rate this superb aircraft 5/5-stars and thank Captain Sim for creating the C-130 to the perfection that they have. It is truly the very best C-130 that I have ever seen or tried for flightsimulator. Rays Aviation

Test of General Dynamics F-111 Aardvark Produced by Virtavia. The F-111 Aardvark is a twin engine, two crew, medium-range interdictor and tactical strike aircraft built by General Dynamics since the early 1960s. It also filled out the roles as strategical bomber, reconnaissance and electronic warfare in its various versions. Several technologies that we know today were pioneered on the F-111 Aardvard as e.g. the variable-sweep wings and the afterburning turbofans engines. The F-111 remained in active service in the US Air Force until being replaced by the F-15E Strike Eagle and B-1B Lancer in the 1990s, but continued active service in the Australian Air Force until December 2010. I received this aircraft directly from Virtavia. The download and installation went perfectly as usual and it was a delight to use the installation wizard. It is very fast and very user friendly so I had absolutely no problems and the aircraft was installed in no time. After the installation was completed I opened FSX to check if everything was installed correctly and to check if the aircraft was placed properly in the folder of Virtavia. Of course everything was installed perfectly and I found the aircraft in the Virtavia folder together with 19 liveries which is a lot, and this I like very much. Also the mini pictures are pictures of the corresponding aircrafts and not just a single picture to cover them all – Super! Included is of course also a manual of 64 pages which describes most of the FAQ’s I could think of. I started viewing the aircraft from the outside and this Virtavia aircraft is as I expected. Very high quality as I now have seen multiple times from Virtavia. The model is very well made with clean surfaces, lots of details and animations, very realistic, high quality textures, a great finish and a superb afterburner effect. This was also what I had expected and Virtavia had really made this aircraft to perfection. The model has animations such as gear + suspension, wheels turning, canopy, control surfaces, wing sweep, flaps etc and Virtavia have also animated the internal part of the exhaustion that opens / closes depending on thrust levels – very cool detail. The F-111 model also features a great light effect and of course the superb flame effect when applying the afterburner and to this Virtavia has also put in a really nice smoke effect. After my view around the outside of the Aardvark I jumped into the cockpit. Here Virtavia has made a really realistic virtual cockpit again with high quality textures. The depth is awesome and the finish is super. The cockpit is made to look old which I like a lot because this really is an old aircraft and therefore it should look old and used. Virtavia has animated extremely many buttons and included multiple systems as e.g. the bombing / targeting system that the navigator uses. Also the controls etc are animated and when I sit in this aircraft I really do feel like being in a real military jet from the days without a glass cockpit. Since this is an old jet the cockpit is mostly equipped with analogue instruments, and it is a delight to see that Virtavia has put so much energy into creating a perfect cockpit atmosphere. The sound set used in this model is also of high quality. The sound it very clear and clean and works perfectly both in stereo and 7.1 surround sound. The sound is very realistic both outside the aircraft but also inside the cockpit and it really adds to even more realism. The sound for the afterburner is superb – a deep roar as in the B-1B and this gave me a sensational feeling when blasting down the runway. You have a model of perfection, a virtual cockpit so realistic and a sound set that matches everything – this equals a really awesome experience for me. Taking a look at the flight characteristics I found that the Aardvark was extremely fast on the control surfaces, but still very easy to fly. I tried both low and high level flying at various speeds, and no matter what I tried I always had completely control of the aircraft. The Aardvark is a military jet and therefore it is also built to fly aerobatics – this is also very well made in this model, and you can without any problems do more or less every single maneuver that I know of. Together with these superb flying characteristics the aircraft also has two very powerful engines, so that you easily can reach speeds of Mach 2. I made 3 test flights with the Aardvark. The first test flight was a flight to check out the ground handling, the take-off, standard ferry flight and landings, all in fair weather. The ground handling of the Aardvark is as I expected – very easy. You can turn the aircraft on a dime and it reacts very quickly on your control inputs of e.g. the nose wheel. You don’t have to master e.g. the B737 to be able to taxi with the Aardvark – if you can taxi a Cessna I think you quite quickly could learn to taxi this bird too. Take-off is a lot of fun in this aircraft. I tried to make a slow take-off without the use of the afterburners and this was easy – I of course used a lot of the runway but I found the aircraft to be very steady and easy to handle during the take-off roll. After this “slow” take-off I decided to also try a take-off with the use of full afterburners, and this is what I find as fun. Applying full throttle, blasting down the runway getting my speed to be a lot higher than minimum, then lifting off by rotating 90 degrees and up I went. The aircraft is equipped with 2 extremely powerful engines, so I just kept on climbing until I reached 50000’ where I leveled out. Flying the aircraft in ferry mode is also easy – as mentioned earlier the aircraft is fast on the control surfaces but still very steady, so you don’t have to use much energy to keep the aircraft on route. The maximum airspeed of the Aardvark is very high so you have the possibility to make a rapid descent if needed. To land this aircraft in fair weather is also quite simple – the Aardvark is an aircraft that is built on the edge of being unstable, but is actually very good natured and therefore quite easy to fly. The approach and final I flew perfectly the first time and found the aircraft to be very steady here also. After touchdown I kept the nose wheel up until my speed reached a minimum and the nose came down slowly by itself. I used a lot of runway to make a perfect landing, but if I had to, then I could easily land this aircraft on half the length of the runway. On the second test flight I wanted to fly the Aardvark as if I were on a mission. I took off from Karup AFB, Denmark (EKKA) a summer morning at 04:00 with the weather theme set on foggy weather. My mission was to fly from Karup AFB to bomb the “Storebæltbro” (the bridge that stretches between Funen and Zealand). After take-off I sat the course towards Tirsstrup Airport (EKAH) and climbed to 15000’. When reaching EKAH I changed the course to be in a straight line from EKAH to the bombing target and descended to 50’ above sea level. About 10 nmi before I arrived at the bombing target I climbed into bombing position and blasted over the bridge with Mach 0,7 delivering the bombs. After a confirmed hit I climbed to 40000’ and returned to base. This was an incredible flight for me. Flying in an F-111 so well made, combined with a realistic mission was really a sensational experience and this is absolutely not the last time I will try that! My third test flight was to test the Aardvark under various weather conditions. I wanted to test the handling and flying characteristic of the aircraft in foul weather and set up different scenarios as e.g. fog, rain, thunderstorm etc and combined that with various winds of 20 knots gusting to 30 knots. I found that the Aardvark still was very easy to fly, but now I of course had to be more in control of the aircrafts, but controlling and landing the aircraft under these conditions was still durable. This is an aircraft that you can quickly learn to fly and I believe that simmers on various levels will be able to fly this bird. This F-111 applies to all simmers that enjoys flying military jets and I found the aircraft to be much fun. Overall you here get an add-on of very high quality. The model is perfectly made with many details, animations and effects. The virtual cockpit is simply put outstanding and the sound set is superb. The quality of the textures both in the virtual cockpit and on the model is of a very high quality and the finish is awesome. This is an add-on at the top of the scale and I rate it 5/5-stars. Thanks to Virtavia for bringing this superb, high quality add-on to the flightsim community. The level of quality you provide in your add-ons are really high and I recommend fellow simmers to buy Virtavia products – you are sure to get very high quality and value for your money. Rays Aviation

Test of Boeing CH-47D Chinook Produced by Virtavia. The Boeing CH-47 Chinook is a twin engine, tandem rotor, heavy-lift helicopter originally built by Boeing Vertol back in the early 1960’s (today Boeing Rotorcraft Systems). It is primarily used by the military but there are also manufactured civilian versions and is sold to 16 nations. The primary military roles include troop movement, artillery emplacement and battlefield resupply. It has a huge internal cargo area, a wide loading ramp and three external cargo hooks which can carry up to 26,000 pounds of external payload as containers, bulldozers or e.g. jeeps. I got this add-on directly from Virtavia, and as usual the download went perfectly without any issues. The installation was also quick and easy and without any issues. Just use the installation wizard and that will do the rest. When I had installed the CH-47 I opened FSX to view the helicopter and to see if everything was placed correctly, and of course it was. I filtered to the Virtavia folder and here the helicopter was perfectly placed with 3 liveries which actually are 3 versions. You get the US Army version where Virtavia has also included 2 soldiers in the back. These soldiers are very detailed and to be honest some of the very best that I have ever seen in Flightsim. I have previously seen other modeled people in some aircrafts, but not near this level of detail. The second model is the RAF version the HC-1B which actually is a CH-47C model, and the third version is the Australian Army Aviation Corps version. Included in this package is also a manual which I found to be very useful. After checking the installation I started an external view-around of the helicopter. This is a very well made helicopter that looks completely like the real Chinook. You have a model filled with high quality textures and a lot of details which I very much appreciate because that really contributes to an added realism. The finish is also very good and as far as I could see, the accuracy of the many details are very high – I compared the model to pictures of real Chinook’s on the internet and the match was perfect. You will also see several animations on the external part of the helicopter as e.g. the wheels moving and the suspension on the wheels when touching down. Also you have door and cargo ramp animations as well as the twin rotors that also bend downward when the rotors are at a standstill. Indeed a very nice detail! I have seen and tried out quite a lot of Chinook’s as freeware, and there is no question – This one is much better and you will quickly notice that you here have a quality product. After the external view-around I went inside the helicopter, and here I found both a nice virtual cargo/troop area and a very nice virtual cockpit. The cargo/troop area is well made with good textures and details - overall better than average. Hereafter I went into the cockpit and found a superb virtual cockpit. This was the old style cockpit with analogue instruments which fits this helicopter perfectly because it is an old helicopter. Virtavia has also built the virtual cockpit to look old regarding the frames etc and I just love that! In the virtual cockpit you will also find a lot of animations like controls, instruments and clickable buttons and I have to say that sitting in this virtual cockpit really gave me a superb feeling of actually being in a real Chinook cockpit. I have never tried to be in a real Chinook cockpit, but when I compared this virtual cockpit to pictures of the real cockpit, I have to say Wow – this is really well made and I can see that Virtavia has put in a lot of effort to create this virtual cockpit as real as possible, and they have done a very well job. There is a great depth in the virtual cockpit, high quality textures are used and the finish here is super. I continued my test and now concentrated on the sound set. This is a sound set which I think was made especially for this helicopter and it is indeed very good. You have a deep chopper sound and actual you have it in stereo because you on this helicopter have two rotors instead on one. There is no question that when you hear this sound, you know that this is a huge helicopter coming towards you. I almost got the chills when I tested this sound set on the helicopter at fly-by view mode. I tested the sound both internally and externally and also from a distance, and this is really a super cool sound set you get with this model. I again compared it to sound files that I found on youtube, and the resemblance was outstanding. I tested the sound in both ordinary stereo but also in 7.1 surround sound and both worked perfect. I have previously tested other add-ons from other companies, where the 7.1 created a sound issue, but that was not the case with this Chinook – it worked perfectly. Overall this add-on is of a very high quality with many details and with a superb finish. It is very easy to see that Virtavia really has put in a lot of time and effort to make it as real as possible. Even though this helicopter has so many details and high quality textures, it didn’t have any impact on my frames, and that is very positive. My first test flight was from the Princess Juliana Airport (TNCM) on the island of St. Maarten in the Caribbean. Here I wanted to test ground handling, take-off, general flight dynamics and landings in the Chinook. I started up the Chinook and checked the controls, called the tower and got clearance to taxi to active runway. To taxi the Chinook is easy – just move your flight controls forward to start taxi and then you can either control the helicopter by using the “rudder” function with your pedals or the “aileron” function using your stick/yoke. When I got to the runway I got take-off clearance from the tower. I slowly applied throttle and lifted this heavy helicopter off the ground. I started a hover at 10’ and turned the helicopter with the rudder function, 360 degrees over the runway just to get a feeling of the sensitivity of the pedals. Hereafter I gained a little airspeed and flew from the one end of the runway to the other, this was to get the feeling of the sensitivity of the stick and also to get a feeling of how quickly I could get my airspeed down to 0 knots. I also flew a little backwards just to try it and I did these cruises over the runway for 10 or 15 minutes, and when I felt comfortable with the Chinook, I applied full throttle and lowered the nose to gain airspeed and off I went. I now toured the island testing the helicopter in both slow and low angle turns – going to quick and high angle turns and in general just testing different ways of flying the helicopter. The flight dynamics are quite accurate in regards to what I had expected. The helicopter reacts very quickly on my control inputs and is actually not that difficult to fly. You do need to understand that this is a huge helicopter and it does have limits, but when you begin to understand how this bird flies and what it can do and not do, you will love flying it. I tested the landings at the second airport on St. Maarten – Grand Case Airport (TFFG). To land a Chinook can on the other hand be a little tricky, but practice makes perfect, and this is also the case with the Chinook. When you have landed this helicopter a few times you quite quickly get the feeling of how to do it – I would say that you should be able to land the helicopter on a runway within just a few tries at the beginning, but to make a spot landing with this helicopter, will acquire a lot of practice, and you need to be very patient in the beginning. My second test flight was from the US Airfield Bagram (OAIX) near Kabul in Afghanistan. This flight was to simulate a real mission of flying troops to a specific destination “under the radar” – I setup the flight to be an early morning where the weather conditions were calm winds and light fog. Here I didn’t taxi to the runway, but took off just outside the hangar. I sat the cruise altitude to be 150’ above ground level with maximum airspeed and flew the helicopter on manual the whole time. This was very much fun to fly this big bird at such a low level where the terrain is so up and down. This kind of flying does contribute to get familiar to the helicopter very fast – you learn only to use small corrections because the helicopter is so sensitive but after flying like this for about 15 minutes, you are totally tuned in on the helicopter. When arriving to the destination in the middle of no-where I opened the cargo ramp and sat the helicopter smoothly but quickly on the ground, unloaded all troops and quickly took off again and headed back to base. This was a flight that could have been real, and this was indeed very much fun. After spending more and more time in this helicopter I love it more and more. I decided to have a third test flight to test the flight dynamics of the helicopter in various weather conditions, which is something I try for almost all add-ons. Here I used the Airfield at Alice Springs (YBAS) in Australia. I sat up weather conditions as fog, thunderstorm, gray and rainy etc and spiced it all up with various winds with gusting of 15-30 knots coming as +- 45 degrees and up to full cross wind. I spend about one whole hour testing the helicopter under these conditions, and even though it’s a big helicopter, it is actually quite sensitive towards foul weather. It was indeed challenging but also very much fun – but to land the Chinook in e.g. a thunderstorm is difficult. One might say that to land a helicopter shouldn’t be a problem because you don’t need to worry about the helicopter stalling as in regular aircrafts, and that is partly correct, but you instead have other issues that are more difficult in the helicopter than a regular aircraft. It did take me a lot of tries to land the helicopter in the thunderstorm with severe cross wind settings, but at the end I learned to land it quite okay on the runway. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to make a spot landing in these conditions, but hey – I am not a professional Chinook pilot. This helicopter can be flown by simmers on all levels. If you are not familiar with helicopters, then I would suggest you wait, and got some practice in the Robinson R22 or the Bell 206B, but if you are already familiar with the EH-101 Merlin, then no problem! Overall you here have a helicopter of very high quality and with many details. A superb sound set that matches the helicopter perfectly and a model where you get both a virtual cockpit and a virtual cargo/troop area with good textures and a nice finish. I rate this helicopter with 4/5 stars because I really find it very good. Thank you Virtavia for providing the flightsim community with this great add-on which I think it the best CH-47 Chinook add-on available today. Rays Aviation

Test of Embraer E175/195 Produced by FeelThere. The Embraer E175 and E195 are both part of the Embraer E-Jet series. They are narrow-body, twin engine, medium range jet airliners built by the Brazilian aerospace company Embraer since the start of the 21st century. The first flight was February 19th 2002 and they hereafter went into production and started service in March 2004 at LOT Polish Airlines. As per January 2012 there are built in total 802 aircraft of the E-Jet series and they are sold to various airline companies around the world - e.g. KLM, Air Canada and many others. They are also built and sold to the military and also to corporate use as well. I received this add-on directly from FeelThere, and the download went without any issues. The connection to the FeelThere server was okay, but since the file is rather large it of course to a little while to download. Installation was quite simple – just follow the installation wizard that does it all for you. Well I discovered that the installation wizard could not find the right location of my FSX so this I had to help it with, but besides that I had no issues. The installation did not take much more than a couple of minutes, so this was very nice. On my system I run Win7 and I don’t know if the wizard is 100% compatible with Win7, because at the end of the installation process I got an error – this I just ignored and the aircrafts works perfectly, so if it really was an error or not, I can’t say. After installation I opened FSX to check if everything was installed and placed correctly – No problem here - The E175 and E195 was both placed perfectly in the folder of FeelThere add-ons. When you purchase this add-on you get both the E175 and the E195 version, but unfortunately only with the house colors - If you want additional liveries you have to purchase that through FeelThere. Together with this add-on package you also get a comprehensive manual with a total of 128 pages – this is very nice and I found it very useful. The E-175/195 is modern jet airliners and they have so many functions and systems so it is indeed a good idea to browse through it before start. You also get a program for selecting your preferred starting cycle – here I mean that you can choose to e.g. cold/dark where you have to make the complete start-up of the aircraft before you can get flying, or you can choose engines running ready for taxi etc. This feature is very nice indeed because now the aircraft applies to a larger segment of simmers – both professionals and regular simmers. Also included was a loading manager. I started with an external view around and what I saw was a really beautiful aircraft. High texture quality, many details, clean lines, lots of animations and as far as I could see, everything was modeled and placed perfectly. I used pictures from the internet to verify the model against the real aircraft and the resemblance was remarkable. FeelThere has really created a superb model of both the E175 and the E195. You get animations as control surfaces, doors, flaps, gear + suspension, reverse thrusters and much more and all at a level of extremely high quality. Going from the outside to the inside I quickly discovered that both models contained more than just an ordinary cockpit. You get a 2D cockpit, a virtual cockpit and also a virtual cabin – very nice. The 2D cockpit is a photo-real cockpit with all systems working. Together with that you also get a lot of animated switches etc so all in all the 2D cockpit is really good. After checking out the 2D cockpit I went into the virtual cockpit which is my preferred cockpit. Here you defiantly get a superb cockpit again with a high level of quality. You have a great depth, high quality textures, a huge number of animations, fully working systems and a great finish. The instruments are very nicely modeled and animated and it is a delight to use this glass cockpit. This is indeed a superb virtual cockpit and compared to pictures of the real thing, then this was really well made, and the accuracy of everything was perfect. When I was finished enjoying the beautiful virtual cockpit I went into the cabin area. Here you get a full modeled virtual cabin which is quite good. Textures are okay but I have to say that it was unfortunately not the best virtual cockpit that I have seen, but still okay. The sound set of this aircraft is in my opinion outstanding. You have a superb engine sound where you can really hear the special sound that the E175/195 has. The reverse thrust sounds are also great and together with this you also get a comprehensive environmental sound set where e.g. you can also hear the draft that the spoilers make when applying them in flight. Superb detail! I tested the sound sets both external and internal but also from tower view and found that it was great no matter where I tested it. Normally I only test the sound set in stereo, but since I got the 7.1 surround sound headset, I also test that. There are no issues at all in using 7.1 surround with this add-on, so this was an extra plus. I discovered that this model also contains a huge number of different call outs – this is really excellent and contributes to an added realism. You have standard call-outs regarding warning or altitude at final, but I also noticed that you have the cabin crew informing the passengers that we have now arrived at our destination and so on. This was something that I didn’t expect and really a superb detail. Overall you here get an add-on of high quality in regards to textures, accuracy, details and animations for both the model and both cockpits. The sound is great and is filled with additional environmental sounds that I think are perfect. This level of quality did have an impact on my frames but not heavily, so I would say no problem. I just tuned my other settings a bit down, and then I had absolutely no issues left. My first test flight was a flight from Schiphol International (EHAM) Amsterdam, the Netherlands to Billund International (EKBI), Denmark. On this flight I wanted to test taxi, take-off, general flight dynamics and landing. This setup was actually a flight that I as a passenger have flown, so for me it was a lot of fun to fly the trip now in the cockpit. I got the taxi clearance from the tower and started my push-back while setting the autopilot and getting the engines up and running. After push-back I started my taxi to the active runway. To taxi the E-175/195 is absolutely no problem. If you are familiar with twin jets, then you will not have any problem with the E-175/195. I would say that it resembles something in between the B737 and the Learjet. When I reached the active runway I got take-off clearance from the tower and taxied out on the runway. I had set the flaps and trimmed the aircraft to take-off positions and slowly applied full throttle. The E-175/195 is quite easy to control on the take-off roll because it reacts very quickly on my control inputs. The engines are very efficient and it didn’t take much time to reach the V2 speed. I rotated to +10 degrees, got airborne and raised the gears. This was indeed a superb feeling to get this bird off the ground and into its right element. The E175/195 is very fast and firm on the control surfaces – hereby making it quite easy to fly on manual. The climb went well, the aircraft lies very steady in the air and you very quickly get a feeling of the aircraft which is good. I switched on the autopilot and made the rest of the climb and cruise flying on autopilot. The autopilot is fairly simple to use, but you do need to take a moment to get to learn it. It does not function completely like the Boeing styles as e.g. the B737, but still it’s very user friendly and easy to use. About 150 nmi from EKBI I started my decent – here I flew the first part on autopilot, but switched over to manual flight when reaching the altitude of 15000’. I wanted to test the effect of the spoilers so I decided to apply them and make a steep descent from 15000’ to 10000’. The spoilers are okay efficient, but what I noticed more was the included sound set of the drag that the spoilers made. This was excellent – not many add-ons have this sound feature, and that was really something that I had missed. I went directly on a long final when reaching EKBI, set the flaps and lowered the gear. Now I could suddenly feel the enormous drag that the gear and full flaps make, and I really have to increase throttle to keep the airspeed up. This is of cause something you will get used to, but it varies from aircraft to aircraft. I touched down smoothly on the runway 09 in Billund and taxied to gate. After this very interesting flight I wanted to test it again, but now under stressed conditions. I set up various weather conditions as fog, rain, thunderstorm etc and spiced it all up with winds coming from various directions and with severe gusting. To land the E175/195 in conditions as the fog or rain, was absolutely not a problem – you have a lot of modern instruments which are easy to use, and I had no issues at all with these settings. Then I tried the thunderstorm with wind coming at +90 degrees = direct crosswind from the right and with severe gusts. This was a bit of a challenge, and I admit that I actually had to make 2 “Go-Arounds”. To be fair I will say that to make a “Go-Around” is far better than making a landing with a potential danger of crashing, so it didn’t hurt me that much. I flew these settings for about an hour, and after this I was 110% familiar with the aircraft. This is an aircraft that can be flown by simmers on all levels, but FeelThere has made the add-on so well that they have expanded the segment of flightsimmers to include professional also. This e.g. due to that you can chose a complete start up if selecting the aircraft to start as cold and dark etc. My conclusion to this add-on is that I here experienced an add-on of very high quality. You have a superb model with a very realistic virtual cockpit. A lot of details, animations, effect and additional systems/programs + a very advanced sound set with environmental sound details which are not seen in many add-ons. I rate this E175/195 with a rating of 4.5/5 stars which equals to advance Payware which I believe that it is and thanks FeelThere for creating this exceptionally beautiful and perfect aircraft that I think we have missed for flightsimulator. Rays Aviation

Test of Boeing B767 Captain Produced by Captain Sim Boeing B767 is a twin engine, wide body, mid-size jet airliner built by Boeing Commercial Airplanes since the early 1980s. The development occurred in tandem with the B757 resulting in shared design features which allows pilots to obtain a common type rating to operate both aircrafts. Depending on variant the B767 is equipped with either General Electric, Pratt & Whitney or Rolls-Royce engines and the capacity varies from 181 to 375 persons with a range from 3,850nmi to 6,385nmi (7.130 – 11.825km). The B767 was the first wide-body Boeing to be configurated with a two-crew glass cockpit and is built both for commercial and military use. I received this add-on directly from Captain Sim and download went as usual, very quickly and without any problems – Super connection to/from the Captain Sim server which means a lot, especially because I downloaded both the base pack and all expansion packs. Installation was also like other products from Captains Sim, very easy, quick and user friendly – just apply the installation wizard and that’s it. After installation I of cause opened FSX to check if everything was placed as it should be and of cause it was. It is really easy to install expansion packs from Captain Sim, the wizard does it all – very nice. The B767 liveries was all placed very nicely in the Captain Sim folder – Included is 20 liveries which I think it superb, and all the mini pictures are of cause of the variant it corresponds to, and not just one picture that covers them all. Since I have all expansion packs I have both the commercial versions (200 and 300), the freight versions and the two military versions as the tanker and the AWACS. Normally I would be very satisfied with just the commercial and freighter version, but to also have the two military versions is over the top – I have never been into the KC-10 in real life, however I have been in the older tanker the B707 (KC-135), so it was a little like looking back on that experience which I of cause will never forget. I started the external view-around and I have to say that Captain Sim really have an eye for the details. The model is so very well made with a huge number of details and animations that I was quite stunned. I noticed that the B767 had already won several awards, so my expectations was of cause high, but I was still surprised by the level of quality I was looking at. As far as I could see, the model is a perfect version of the real B767 and Captain Sim has animated everything possible in my opinion. All from standard control surfaces to doors, spoilers, gear etc and that with a level of detail like the B737 from Captain Sim. The texture quality is superb, the finish is excellent and if you combine this really beautiful B767 model with the accuracy of perfection and the added views, it equals a perfect model. I simply just love it. When I was finished viewing the B767 from the outside, I went inside and started in one of the commercial version. The first I noticed was a complete modeled virtual cabin. Everything was modeled and animated. There were featured both a first class/ business class section and standard class. Also the crew areas were modeled in both the aft, mid and front end of the B767. I tried moving the mouse around and quickly discovered that you also have multiple animations here – e.g. you can open/close the exits with the use of the handle. You can also open/close the door to the toilet and to the cockpit and I also saw that you can open/close the luggage compartments – so many animations and details – Wow. After spending quite some time trying out everything I could find in the virtual cabin, I decided to go to the cockpit. Here you get a very well made virtual cockpit and as an addition, you also get a 2D cockpit which I thing is very beautiful made. Taking a look at the virtual cockpit you here have a very nice cockpit, with lots and lots of animated buttons and other systems. The overhead and pedestal were both completely animated and of cause you also have the complex instrument panel, which is modeled to perfection. If you would like, you can also change seat and hereby fly the B767 from the first officer’s seat. The texture quality is again high, the finish is superb and you have a really good depth in this virtual cockpit. The level of details that I found outside the B767 is also inside, and both in the virtual cabin and also here in the virtual cockpit. I have tried to find pictures of the real B767 cockpits and then compared them to the virtual cockpit – I have to say they are very accurate and very well made. Everything is placed as in real life, and you have multiple systems all working perfectly. Overall the model is really amazing with the huge number of details and animations. This combined with the high quality textures, the accuracy and the superb finish gives the simmer a truly sensational add-on. Only one thing – It did hurt my frame rates badly. I have a high-end computer and still I got some issues when combining this add-on with heavy detailed sceneries, but that I could of cause do something about – and after tuning my settings a little down, I had absolutely no issues anymore. The sound set used is very good – you have a very realistic spooling of the engines including the reverse thrusters and a huge number of small environmental sounds, which all contributes to an added realism. My first test flight was a flight from Toronto/Pearson Intl (CYYZ), Ontario, Canada to Juneau Intl (PAJN), Alaska, USA in the B767 commercial version using the livery Air Canada. Here I wanted to test the ground handling, take-off, in flight and landing of this huge B767 and I also wanted to test the autopilot and general test of the onboard systems. To taxi this huge beast was in the beginning a bit of a challenge even though I was quite familiar with the B737. This aircraft is a lot bigger and also a lot heavier, so when taxiing please have that in mind. The brakes are very efficient so you don’t have any issues if you want to stop the aircraft quickly, but when turning the aircraft you need to remember that this indeed is a long aircraft, so to keep the aircraft on the taxiway you need to calculate your turns. After a while you get used to this and if you already are used to taxi with e.g. the B747 I don’t think you will have any issues with it. Taking off was very simple – set the flaps, release the brakes and apply full throttle. The aircraft is very steady going down the runway, and you have 100% control. At V2 I started to rotate, and when reaching 10 degrees of pitch I was already airborne. The first couple of times that I made take-offs I rotated a bit fast, which gave me a warning indicator. I would imagine this warning indicator was to indicate that the tail could hit the runway before I got airborne if I didn’t change my rotating speed. Very good detail! After take-off I started my climb to 34000’ which I had set as my cruising altitude – The first 15000’ I climbed on manual to get a feeling of the aircraft and then switched over to the autopilot. The B767 is very easy to fly both on manual and also on autopilot. The aircraft reacts very quickly on the control surfaces and does not fell that heavy when flying. The engines have a huge amount of power, so you have no problems climbing within realistic pitch rates. I made a quite steep decent when I arrived to Juneau – this was to try out the spoiler effect and this is animated quite well. You can really see the airspeed going down quickly when applying the spoilers, and if you together with the spoilers also apply full flaps and gear down, you have absolutely no problem by descending rapidly. This was a cool experience and when I reach an altitude of 5000’ I started the long final to Juneau. To land the B767 was actually no issue at all. I was after this flight already very familiar with the aircraft, and I have previously also flown various heavy aircrafts, so I didn’t see any issues. I touched down perfectly at the threshold and applied reverse thrust and spoilers to reduce the ground roll – actually I didn’t use the wheel brakes until I taxied of the runway… it wasn’t necessary. I saw that there were also a livery of Qantas and this livery I just had to try. I set up my second test flight from Kingsford Smith Intl (YSSY), Sydney, New South Wales%

Test of Boeing B767 Captain Produced by Captain Sim Boeing B767 is a twin engine, wide body, mid-size jet airliner built by Boeing Commercial Airplanes since the early 1980s. The development occurred in tandem with the B757 resulting in shared design features which allows pilots to obtain a common type rating to operate both aircrafts. Depending on variant the B767 is equipped with either General Electric, Pratt & Whitney or Rolls-Royce engines and the capacity varies from 181 to 375 persons with a range from 3,850nmi to 6,385nmi (7.130 – 11.825km). The B767 was the first wide-body Boeing to be configurated with a two-crew glass cockpit and is built both for commercial and military use. I received this add-on directly from Captain Sim and download went as usual, very quickly and without any problems – Super connection to/from the Captain Sim server which means a lot, especially because I downloaded both the base pack and all expansion packs. Installation was also like other products from Captains Sim, very easy, quick and user friendly – just apply the installation wizard and that’s it. After installation I of cause opened FSX to check if everything was placed as it should be and of cause it was. It is really easy to install expansion packs from Captain Sim, the wizard does it all – very nice. The B767 liveries was all placed very nicely in the Captain Sim folder – Included is 20 liveries which I think it superb, and all the mini pictures are of cause of the variant it corresponds to, and not just one picture that covers them all. Since I have all expansion packs I have both the commercial versions (200 and 300), the freight versions and the two military versions as the tanker and the AWACS. Normally I would be very satisfied with just the commercial and freighter version, but to also have the two military versions is over the top – I have never been into the KC-10 in real life, however I have been in the older tanker the B707 (KC-135), so it was a little like looking back on that experience which I of cause will never forget. I started the external view-around and I have to say that Captain Sim really have an eye for the details. The model is so very well made with a huge number of details and animations that I was quite stunned. I noticed that the B767 had already won several awards, so my expectations was of cause high, but I was still surprised by the level of quality I was looking at. As far as I could see, the model is a perfect version of the real B767 and Captain Sim has animated everything possible in my opinion. All from standard control surfaces to doors, spoilers, gear etc and that with a level of detail like the B737 from Captain Sim. The texture quality is superb, the finish is excellent and if you combine thi

Test of Boeing B767 Captain Produced by Captain Sim Boeing B767 is a twin engine, wide body, mid-size jet airliner built by Boeing Commercial Airplanes since the early 1980s. The development occurred in tandem with the B757 resulting in shared design features which allows pilots to obtain a common type rating to operate both aircrafts. Depending on variant the B767 is equipped with either General Electric, Pratt & Whitney or Rolls-Royce engines and the capacity varies from 181 to 375 persons with a range from 3,850nmi to 6,385nmi (7.130 – 11.825km). The B767 was the first wide-body Boeing to be configurated with a two-crew glass cockpit and is built both for commercial and military use. I received this add-on directly from Captain Sim and download went as usual, very quickly and without any problems – Super connection to/from the Captain Sim server which means a lot, especially because I downloaded both the base pack and all expansion packs. Installation was also like other products from Captains Sim, very easy, quick and user friendly – just apply the installation wizard and that’s it. After installation I of cause opened FSX to check if everything was placed as it should be and of cause it was. It is really easy to install expansion packs from Captain Sim, the wizard does it all – very nice. The B767 liveries was all placed very nicely in the

Test of Westland / Sikorsky SH-3 Sea King (S-61) Produced by Virtavia. The Sikorsky SH-3 Sea King is a twin engined, five bladed, heavy helicopter originally built by Sikorsky, but also built on license by Westland, Agusta and Mitsubishi. It was introduced in 1961 where it served the US Navy as the first ASW (anti-submarine warfare) helicopter, but was later more known as a SAR (search and rescue) helicopter. The helicopter is still today in service in many countries, and up until 2010 it was also still in service in Denmark, but was here replaced by the more modern Westland EH-101 Merlin. The sea King was also built as civilian versions which were designated as the S-61L and S-61N. The original Sikorsky version was equipped with two General Electric T58 turboshaft engines each with 1350Hk but Westland chose a different engine – the Rolls-Royce Gnome turboshaft. Also the American president has a Sea King designated as Marina One. Specs • Produced by Sikorsky/Westland • First Flight March 11th 1959 • Introduction 1961 • Role ASW / SAR / Utility helicopter • Status A few still in service • Primary Users o US Navy o Italian Navy o Brazilian Navy o Japan Maritime Self Defense This helicopter I got directly from Virtavia, and as usual the download was very fast – super connection to / from Virtavias server, so it did not take a long time to download which I of cause appreciate a lot. The installation of the helicopter was also quick and easy as you know it from Virtavia products. Just follow the install wizard and that is all you have to do, so this was indeed very user friendly which I think is very important. After installation I opened FSX to check if I could find the Sea King and if the installation wizard had done the job correctly – of cause it had. The helicopter was perfectly placed into the folder of Virtavia Products, and I could also see that you with this add-on actually receive several liveries. I think I counted 21 liveries which are very good, and all the mini pictures are showing the specific helicopter versions and not just one picture to show them all. Also included was a 21 pages manual –very nice indeed. First I started by viewing the helicopter from the outside. Again Virtavia has made a superb model with high quality textures, a lot of details and animations and overall an add-on of perfection. The finish is superb and the result is stunning, and it didn’t even impact my frames. When the engines are off and the rotor are at a standstill you can even see the rotor blades bending downward at the tips, due to the weight and length of them – this was very nice to discover and for me very important detail. All versions were made to perfection and I will have to rate the model and exterior as a level in the high end for sure. I continued the external views and looked at the gear. When the gear is raised a small part of the gear is still visible and this is also important because this is also how it looks in real life. I also like the fact that Virtavia has animated the “tail” wheel to turn when you turn the helicopter during taxi – again a nice detail. I have seen the Sea King almost on a daily basis at my home, because I lived very close to the military airport where these helicopters were stationed. I have also been inside a Sea King multiple times, so I know this helicopter quite well and have to say it has a special place in my heart – it remind me of the time where I was younger. After checking out the helicopter from the outside I decided to go inside. Here I just thought that I would find a virtual cockpit, but very quickly discovered, of cause the virtual cockpit, but also a very well made “cabin” or cargo area. This I had not expected so this was indeed a super nice surprise and I was actually quite stunned by the level of detail and energy put into this. Very good quality in textures and a huge number of details – it was just like being there again – it was just as I remembered it to be. After this surprise I went into the virtual cockpit. You need to remember that this is an old helicopter, so the instrumentation is different then what people normally are used to see today. You have a quite simple virtual cockpit with many analogue instruments (before the use of glass cockpits) and Virtavia has made this cockpit with the looks as used. I like that very much and for me it is very important to have a virtual cockpit that really looks like to real deal, and where you could feel the realism – this was very nicely made in this Sea King. You find a lot of animated buttons, controls and instruments. The virtual cockpit is made with very good texture quality, great depth and a very nice finish. When sitting in the pilot seat you do feel like being in a real Sea King. You can also from the cockpit see the main rotor blades spinning and I also noticed that when looking at the Sea King from e.g. tower view with weather sat on fair = with cumulus clouds, I could still see the rotor blades spinning. This I have had some issues with in FSX – but this primarily with freeware add-ons, where the rotor blades were wiped out by the clouds – so this was again a nice surprise. The sound set included in the package is very good – both internally and externally and e.g. gear etc. It is very realistic with its very distinct roaring sound of the two engines and these 5 huge rotor blades spinning. You can really hear that this is defiantly a huge helicopter with a lot of power. My first test flight was from Herning Airport (EKHG), Denmark using VIDANdesigns Herning X scenery. This is the actual airport that I myself flew from for more than 10 years and I have here seen the Sea King on multiple occasions. On this flight I wanted to test ground handling, take-off, flight and landing. I started at the parking area in front of the tower and started taxiing to the active runway (that day it was 27) – to taxi this helicopter was absolutely no problem. You can turn the helicopter on a nickel and it reacts quickly on your control inputs. One thing I started wondering about was, that I didn’t need to apply any additional throttle / pitch to start the taxi, just simply move the stick forward was enough. I have not been able to verify if that is entirely accurate, but when looking at real Sea Kings and their rotation on the rotor at idle, I could imagine that it could be accurate – at least when taxiing on concrete. When I got the the active runway I started my take-off slowly. I lifted off the ground and held the helicopter at an altitude at about 5’, then slowly turning 360 degrees and keeping the altitude and position over the runway, just to get a feeling of the helicopter and see how fast it reacted on control inputs. This is indeed a huge helicopter and I would think that it was a bit slow on the controls, but that was not the case. It was quick and actually not that difficult to control. I have several times tried the default EH-101 Merlin, and that one had given me some problems, but this helicopter was very different. Nice and easy to control. After a few minutes at the altitude of 5’ I started to climb and gain airspeed. I climbed to 1500’ and turned right to course 350 and toured the area around the airport making both quick and slow turns – testing the “rudder” function in the tail rotor and climb/decent with airspeed of 0 = hovering. This is really a helicopter that has a superb reaction time – not as you might think of a helicopter this size. It turns quick and easily and is in general very easy to fly. Of cause if you are not use to fly helicopters, then don’t start with this one. I would say that if you can fly the EH-101 Merlin, than this helicopter would be no problem – maybe just spend one hour of getting familiar with it. This helicopter is the first helicopter ever built with the capability to land on water, which you can very easily see on the body of the helicopter – it is shaped much like a boat. This capability I of cause had to check, so I sat the course for the lake at Sunds. I flew over the lake and slowly decended to 5’ and started hovering – then I slowly landed on the lake and YES – the capability is indeed also included in this helicopter – This was great! I tried this a couple of times before I sat the course for the airport again to make an approach and landing. I decided not to land on the runway and taxi to parking, but instead try to land at the parking. This would of cause be more difficult because I now had to set the helicopter down very precisely instead of just on a huge runway. It was a challenge yes, but just remember to take everything slowly and not get overexcited – then it turned out to be quite easy. The helicopter is very easy to control, and hovers very well so this I managed to do in the first try. This was really an experience with great success. On my second test flight I wanted to make as a hospital transport flight. This was a typical mission for the Danish Sea Kings and I thought it could be fun. I started out from home base which was Karup AFB (EKKA), Denmark and flew to a fictive car crash near the city of Aarhus on the eastern coast of Jutland – Here I landed near the accident, got the injured person onboard and took off with the course for Copenhagen. Normally the helicopter would land of the roof of the Copenhagen hospital, but this I haven’t a scenery for, so I landed on the grass next to the hospital. After getting the injured person out of the helicopter, I again took-off and sat the course for home base. On the flight back I generated a fictive distress call, and now sat up a new mission as a SAR (Search and Rescue mission) – this was also one of the missions that was very common for the Danish Sea Kings. This mission took me to the waters between Jutland and Funen where a boat had capsized. Now I had to hover only a few feet above sea level and very close to the boat to pick up the sailors. When that was done I sat course for the hospital in Aarhus and landed on the grass next to the entrance – hereafter I took off and flew back to home base. This second test flight was incredible – it was much fun to fly this helicopter on similar missions as the real Sea Kings. This could be an idea for possible missions for this helicopter, if someone would be interested in creating them. I decided to make a third test flight in a remote part of Denmark – I took off from Kangerlussuaq (BGSF) Airport, Greenland – alias Søndre Strømfjord, and toured the scenic land shapes below. The flight was to get a better feeling with the helicopter when flying in different weather conditions. I now tested take-offs, flights and landings with weather conditions as thunderstorm with wind on severe, rainy weather, low visibility and also flight at night. The helicopter is huge and heavy and therefore the different weather conditions didn’t have a huge impact on the reaction and flying characteristics, but I have to say it was a challenge to land in a thunderstorm with the wind on severe. I was not able the first many times to land at a parking spot with this weather setting, but after a while with success on landing on the runway, I finally got the helicopter perfectly down on the parking spot. This was very cool and indeed a challenge, but when you finally master the spot landing in a thunderstorm, you get a truly nice feeling inside of you. This Sea King is absolutely worth a try and I believe that simmers on all levels will be able to fly it. I think this is the very best Sea King ever made for flightsimulator and I of cause recommend it. I have now flown it for about 10-12 hours and this is most defiantly a helicopter that I will keep on using. I know that I might be a little colored by the fact that I have a personal link to this specific helicopter, but never the less this was an absolute delight to fly and I thank Virtavia for this very beautiful and superb helicopter. Overall you here have a helicopter of high quality in regards to details, accuracy, sound, modeling and finish. A superb virtual cockpit with a very detailed back area and a very accurate model with a sound set that matches the helicopter. I did not check out sound files on youtube for this helicopter, because I have heard it on almost a daily basis in real life, and I must say that Virtavia has done a really superb job. I rate this helicopter 5/5-stars and will be looking forward for additional add-ons from Virtavia. The quality you get here are as a standard much better than average, so I would never hesitate buying add-ons from Virtavia. I have now tried several add-ons, and they are all better than average. Rays Aviation

Test of Boeing C-17A GlobeMaster III Produced by Virtavia. C-17A GlobeMaster III is a 4-engined, high winged heavy military cargo aircraft built by Boeing (former McDonnell Douglas). This aircraft is the newest heavy transport aircraft in the US Air Force and has been in active service since 1993. The idea with the C-17 was that it should have a capability to transport large amounts of cargo as e.g. material, personal or other cargo. Furthermore it also had to have the capability of landing on smaller and simple airfields and also be able to drop cargo from the air just as the baby brother the C-130 Hercules. The crew is a 3 persons crew and the loading capacity is 170,900 lb (app. 75 ton). The cargo could be either material as tanks or other vehicles or troops – e.g. 102 parachuting troops. A very special feature that the C-17 has is the special built engines that are able to open their sides to provide backward thrust. This can help the C-17 to come to a full stop after touchdown in maximum 9 seconds. The pilots can also activate this feature and hereby making the C-17 taxi backwards with up to 20 mph (30 km/t) if necessary. Specs: • Produced by Boeing (McDonnell Douglas) • First Flight 15th of September 1991 • Introduction 14th of July 1993 • Role Strategic/Tactic Transport Aircraft • Status In production & active service • Built +232 (June 2011) • Unit Cost US$ 218 million (2007) • Primary Users: o US Air Force o Royal Air Force (RAF) o Royal Australian Air Force o Royal Canadian Air Force I got this add-on directly from Virtavia. Both download and installation went without any problems. The download was quick and the installation was easy and fast – very user friendly – just follow the installation wizard. Included in this add-on you also get a manual of 29 pages, where you can get answers for most FAQs. Normally I would suggest viewing a manual if it is included to eliminate possible understanding issues - this however is no issue with this add-on. After installation I opened FSX to see the results here. Everything looked perfect and the aircraft was nicely found in the selection of Virtavia. I also noticed that with this add-on you get several variants, all from the original grays to the green raw version. This is a huge plus in my book. Taking a look at the model externally, you will find a superb model with clean lines, high texture quality, a huge number of animations and the eye for the detail, quality which I now have experienced on multiple add-ons from Virtavia. The model externally is indeed the very best C-17 model that I currently have seen for FSX, and I find this model very realistic. The animations you find are e.g. control surfaces, the special reverse thrusts, windscreen wipers, spoilers, entrance for cockpit (latter), cargo door and many others. Now going inside the C-17 you start in the enormous cargo area which is done quite okay. The finish is not as good as on the external side, but it is okay and you get the feeling of being inside a huge cargo area. Internally you will also find both a 2D and 3D (virtual) cockpit. The 2D cockpit I normally don’t use, but the 2D cockpit here is extremely well made with a very nice texture quality and a super finish. Regarding the virtual cockpit, then this is also a cockpit that Virtavia has put a lot of effort into. You have a good depth, a lot of details, nice finish and a lot of animated buttons, switches and systems. You can yourself select the views on all the LCD’s which I think is a very nice detail and this adds a lot of realism to this virtual cockpit. The textures are okay and the complexity of the virtual cockpit is what could be expected. You quite quickly get the idea of where things are located and how to use them, and the overall for the virtual cockpit is better than average. An extra feature in the virtual cockpit is also the heads-up display as the real C-17 also has. This feature contributes to gain even more realism and combine that with the fact that a C-17 is controlled by a stick and not a yoke, and that this feature is actually also modeled, ads up to that the virtual cockpit gets a very good grade. The sound set put into this model is also good. I don’t find it with the WOW-effect as in e.g. the B-1B, but the sound fits the model, it is clear and you get a nice roar when applying full throttle. Taking a look from the tower when the C-17 is taking off, I saw no smoke effect from the engines. This I normally would find missing, but since this aircraft is equipped with very modern engines, the smoke would also be very much reduced, so this is a really good thought from Virtavia. My first test flight was from Whidbey I NAS (KNUW), Oak Harbor, Washington, USA. Here I wanted to test ground handling, spooling of the engines, take-off and landing and general flight dynamics. The C-17 is a huge and very heavy aircraft, but actually very easy to control on the ground. If you can taxi with a B737, than you will have absolutely no issues by taxiing with the C-17. Going down the runway with full throttle and keeping the aircraft on the runway was easy – it is a huge and heavy aircraft and lies very steady on the runway even though you have light crosswind. The C-17 has a very large rudder and going down the runway you will very quickly be able to use the rudder instead of wheel brakes. Usage of wheel brakes during take-off is not a good thing. In flight the aircraft reacts very quickly on all control surfaces. The spoilers do indeed work, but I do think that the effect is set low compared to how big the spoilers are – however this I do not know for a fact because I have never tried to fly a real C-17. When sitting in the captain’s seat I normally like to view the wing, but in the C17 this is not possible. The aircraft is a high winged aircraft where the wings are placed a long way back on the fuselage and therefore not possible to see from the captains seat… well I could stretch as much as to see the lights on the wingtip and that’s fair. The C-17 is very easy to fly - just trim the aircraft properly and you can fly it almost without your hands on the controls. The autopilot is a bit different than what I am used to, but not to worry, you will get the hang of it very quickly. Mostly it is the same as in e.g. a B737 but with some small changes. I cheated a little and used GoFlights MCP-PRO which by the way function perfectly with this C-17. To land this aircraft is not tricky, but if you’re not used to heavy jets, then this will be a challenge. A huge plus when coming in for landing is that your indicated airspeed can be kept low due to the large wings and the very effective flaps. This really gives the simmer a fair chance, and therefore I would say that this aircraft could be flown by simmers on all levels. My second test flight was from Karup AFB (EKKA), Denmark and was a test of stalls both straight out and during turn, aggressive climbs and decents and flying with engine(s) down. Straight out stall with low pitch angle was a piece of cake and also straight out stall with high pitch angle was no problem. The C-17 just lowered the nose slowly and gained the airspeed needed to continue flying. Then to the test of the stall during turns which can be very critical. Many pilots have over the years crashed because they stalled and went into a spin during a turn either just after take-off or going from base to final –this was the reason for why I wanted to find out how the C-17 reacted when forced into a stall during a turn. To my surprise the aircraft is a very good natured aircraft when coming to possible spin – no need for a recovery because the aircraft handles this itself. When reaching the stall speed the aircraft simply just lowers the nose to gain airspeed and you can without any problem control the ailerons to level out the wings. I did a little history check and found out that only a few crashes with real C-17’s has occurred and none was identified as due to a stall, so this conclusion that the aircraft is a very good natured aircraft regarding stall, I would say is very accurate. Providing full throttle you can really make a very aggressive climb in this aircraft – more than I normally would think – it actually reminded me a little of my days as a glider pilot during a winch launch. Going from climb to aggressive decent applying full spoilers (are very big) and throttling down to idle, you can also here get a rapidly decent if necessary, and these two characteristics I think are very useful for the military flying on the edge of enemy territory. You can quickly climb or decent just above the airport, and not have to use a lot of space and thereby potentially being exposed to enemy missiles or similar danger. Third test flight was from Trondheim Vaernes (ENVA), Norway and was just to test the take-off and landings in different weather conditions and with various wind directions and I spiced it all up by the time set on morning, day, dusk and night. An aircraft like this one is very heavy and very steady even though you are on final with wind gusting to over 30 knots. Changing to crosswind, then now you can really use this aircrafts big rudder when flaring the aircraft. You of cause don’t use the rudder much on final – here it is more to move the nose into the wind as correction and level the wind side wing a bit down. This C-17 is the very best C-17 aircraft that I have tried for flight simulator to this date. The model is of a very high quality and accuracy with multiple animations and details. Virtavia has once again provided a superb add-on that I can only advice other simmers to buy. I have tried a lot of C-17’s as freeware versions, and trust me – they are nothing compared to this one. Overall this is an aircraft with a high level of modeling and I will rate this C-17 with 4 out of 5-stars which equals to Advanced Payware Level – I thank Virtavia for this really superb C-17 - very well done – this is most certainly an aircraft I will use many times in the future and it has a special place in my virtual hangar. Rays Aviation www.RaysAviation.Mono.Net Variants C-17A was the original military cargo version. C17A”ER” is the unofficial name for the C-17A with extended Range. This was gained by adding quantity to the center wing tank. This upgrade was not in production until 2001 with Block 13. C-17B is only on the drawing board. The new design contains e.g. double-slotted flaps, an addition to the main wheels, more powerful engines and additional systems to support take-off and landing on shorter airfields. Specifications In General: Crew 3 persons (2 pilots and 1 load master) Capacity 134 troops on palletized seats or 102 troops on standard center line seats or App. 75 ton of cargo Payload 170,900 lb (77.519kg) Length 174 ft (53m) Wingspan 169,8 ft (51,75m) Height 55,1 ft (16,8m) Wing Area 3,800 ft2 (353m2) Empty Weight 282,500 lb (128.100kg) Max Weight 585,000 lb (265.350kg) Power Plants 4 x Pratt & Whitney F117-PW-100 Turbofans with 40,440 lbf (180kN) each Fuel Capacity 35,546 US gal (134.556L) Performance Cruise Speed Mach 0,76 (450 knots, 515 mph, 830 km/t) Range 2.420 nmi (2,785 mi, 4.482 km) Service Ceiling 45,000 ft (13.716m) Max Wing Load 150 lb/ft2 (750kg/m2) Minimum Thrust 0,277 Take-off at MTOW 7,600 ft (2.316 m) Landing Distance 3,500 ft (1.060 m)

Test of Rockwell B-1B Lancer Produced by Virtavia The Rockwell B-1B Lancer is a four-engine strategic military bomber equipped with variable-sweep wing technology and with a maximum speed of Mach 1.25. Original design was first envisioned in the 1960s as a supersonic, high altitude bomber with sufficient range and payload to replace the B-52 Stratofortress. The original replacement for the B-52 was the supersonic B-70 Valkyrie which had a maximum speed of Mach 3 and was able to fly in altitudes similar to the U-2 Spy plane. However when the Sovjet Union developed the ground-to-air missile SAM the US Air Force changed the strategy to the B-1. They developed the B-model for low level penetration and where now able to take advantage of the ground surface as camouflache (terrain masking). By using low level penetration you now avoided the SAM missiles which were of no use at low altitudes. Rockwell (now Boeing) built in total 100 B-1B’s but ended the production due to the enormous unit cost that these aircrafts represent. App. US$ 280 million (1998 currency) I got this add-on directly from Virtavia – download went without any problems and with a quite good and stable connection. Installation was easy and very user friendly – just follow the install wizard. I downloaded and installed the complete package in less than 10 minutes. Together with this add-on you also get a 37 pages manual, so if you were to have any questions, you already have a lot of information described. This is indeed a huge plus. When I opened FSX to find the B-1B I got a pleasant surprise. Virtavia has included a lot of repaints for this model. You have multiple camou versions and also the original gray versions. Lots of repaints which I think is very nice indeed. The Model is very nicely made, and if you start with an external view-around you will quickly notice how many fine details that Virtavia has modeled. The textures used are of high quality and the aircraft appears really nice. As far as I could see, Virtavia has animated everything possible. You get all the standards as gear, spoilers, control surfaces etc, but you also get the wing sweep, the moving exhaust blades and the latter for boarding the B-1B. The model is equipped with a very cool afterburner effect which really contributes to add more realism to this model and you now realize that you are dealing with a huge beast of an aircraft. Going inside the B-1B you find a very well made virtual cockpit and you can once again see that Virtavia wants and do get, lots and lots of details and animations into the model. You get a virtual cockpit with a super well made depth and what I really like is the fact that this is an elder aircraft and Virtavia has modeled the virtual cockpit as an elder cockpit instead of a brand new one. Again this is a very good detail. Furthermore you have a lot of buttons that actually has a function and are animated and ready for use. Well made systems, high texture quality and a super nice finish. However I do have a small minus regarding the virtual cockpit – well it is not actually the cockpit, but the view from the cockpit. Normally you would be able to see the left wing from the captain’s seat, if the wing was in e.g. landing position, but the wing is not visible. You can see the light on the wingtip but not the wing. I know it is a small detail, but I think it is worth mentioning. I have previously tested the Alpha Sims B-1B Lancer for FSX, and this model here from Virtavia is an upgraded version of the old B-1B. This new version is years in front of the old version, and if you have the old version, I would defiantly suggest that you change to this new and modern version. The old version was okay and got a review rating of 3.5/5 stars but the added details in the new version is absolutely superb. E.g. you had empty bomb bays in the old version, but here in this version you have bomb bays filled with era-specific ordnances which are indeed a very cool detail. You also have an auto-deployed slipstream baffle plate to complete the updated version. The sound set used is also very good – Virtavia has equipped this B-1B with a fantastic roar, especially when activating the afterburner. You don’t have any doubts that something big and heavy are coming towards you. The sound set is superb both internally and externally. I have compared the sound set with several youtube videos and I can confirm that Virtavia has done an excellent job here. To create a sound set that matches your model is very very important in my opinion. However I do miss some sound effect when taxiing and going down the runway either at take-off or landing. You do have a quite good touch-down sound effect, but after touch-down the effect sounds stop. What I miss here is the sound of the ground roll, the wheels turning on the concrete, the suspension that is shaking etc. I know this also is just a small detail, but these small effects add to even more realism. The first test flight was from Edwards AFB (KEDW), California, USA. Here I tested different systems, start-up, taxi, take-off, climb, cruise, decent and landing. You get an incredible superb feeling when starting up this aircraft. The engines that start to roar one by one, and then you apply some thrust to start the taxiing – Yes man – All I now need is a bass shaker underneath my chair, then it would be perfect. The B-1B is quite easy to handle during taxi. You can turn it like a caterpillar and this even though you have an aircraft with a length of 146 feet and with a weight of app. 326.000 lbs. The aircraft is very stable and calm during taxi, but you do need to remember that when taxiing such a heavy aircraft it will have an impact on the reaction time when applying the brakes. Furthermore the cockpit is located high above the concrete, but this is actually not an issue when taxiing, but more when landing. You do need to flare the aircraft sooner then you normally would flying smaller aircrafts. Also the pilots are located in front on the nose wheel, which means that you need to calculate your turns when taxiing otherwise you will not be able to keep the aircraft on the taxiway. If you are used to fly and taxi with larger jet airliners as Boeing or Airbus I don’t think this would be an issue. Take-off and climb went perfectly. When spooling the engines to maximum and applying the afterburner, the engines begins to roar very violent which I love, but you only gain speed slowly in the beginning, but that is no problem because the B-1B is so easy and stable to control going down the runway. When I got into the air I started a manual climb to get a feeling of the aircraft. The B-1B reacts very quickly on the control surfaces and you quickly get a feeling that you are one with the aircraft. To fly this bird is actually very easy. It stays where you place it and if you change your pitch or course, the aircraft turns steadily. It reacts quickly on the ailerons and elevator but when turning it turns smoothly. You can also fly the aircraft on autopilot, but that I think is actually much more challenging than manual flight. This could however be because I’m not that familiar with this autopilot. The autopilot is placed to the left of the captain just below the glare wing, and the first officer has also one place to the right and again just below the glare wing. After using this autopilot a few times, you of cause do get used to it, and it would be an advantage on longer flights, but if you trim the aircraft properly, you don’t have much use of the autopilot – the aircraft is really that steady when flying. After flying for about one hour I started my approach to Edwards AFB. The approach and landing cycle went without any problems, but when I reached the final I felt that this was indeed an aircraft that I wasn’t used to fly. Again you need to remember the size of this bird – you cannot just make a Cessna landing and throwing the aircraft down on the runway – No – with a weight this big you need to set it down smoothly otherwise you could end up with damaged gears or what could be even worse. To land this B-1B was a challenge and I have to say I was really concentrated the first couple of times that I tried that. If you are a newbie within flightsimming I would not recommend to start with this aircraft. I have my self flown the B747 a lot (virtually) and are very familiar with it, and still I find it challenging to make a proper landing with this B-1B. This I do find to be very positive. My second test flight was from Nellis AFB (KLSV), Nevada, USA. Here I wanted to test take-off and landings in different weather conditions and with wind coming from various direction and with different wind speeds. To spice it all up I also tested both morning, day, dusk and night flight. I think I flew for more than two hours just making take-off and landings. I probably made 12-15 where some was just touch and go’s. This was indeed a very good exercise and it helped me getting familiar with the B-1B. What I discovered was that no matter which settings I chose, I found the aircraft easy to fly. The wind and rain does not have a huge impact on the B-1B and it just flies perfectly stable. Of cause the setting with thunderstorm and cross wind with busts of severe was a bigger challenge then clear weather and no wind, but when you have landed 7-8 times without issues, then a little thunderstorm should not be a big problem anymore. The third test flight became a mission instead. A low level penetration as the B-1B is built to do. To do this I had to go all the way down to the treetops to feel the ground and to gain the terrain masking. I started out from Karup AFB (EKKA), Denmark, with a take-off to the east 270 degrees. After take-off I climbed to my cruise level of 40.000’ and continued flying out over the North Sea. When I reached the cruise altitude I turned 120 degrees to the right and sat my course towards Skagen. I wanted to attack the small airstrip on the island of Anholt, but I wanted to come in from Skagen side instead of just going directly to Anholt from Karup. When I reached Skagen I made a aggressive decent down to +60’ MSL and with an indicated airspeed (IAS) of Mach 0.91 (app. 700 mph). I sat the course directly at Anholt and the route was just next to the island of Læsø. A few seconds later I could see Anholt in the horizon and again just a few seconds later I flew over the airstrip with full throttle with a radio altitude of not more the 100’ – WOW – cool, this was indeed a superb adrenalin kick. I sat the throttle to idle and climbed to 15.000’ with a new course directly back to Karup. This mission was flown with settings of fair weather, wind calm and the time of day and season was an early summer morning. After testing this magnificent aircraft I can only say that I am completely satisfied with it. It is worth every penny and I will recommend all simmers to try out this new and improved modern version of the legendary Rockwell B-1B Lancer. It does beat the old version multiple times. Even though I found a few minuses , Virtavia has done a superb job on this model and created an perfect add-on. If you do like military aircrafts then this model is a “Must Have” in your virtual hangar. It is indeed a sure winner and is now placed for good in my own virtual hangar. I rate this B-1B with 4.5/5 stars and thank Virtavia for creating this very beautiful and superb add-on. As a future project I would very much like to see a payware version / quality of the B-2 Spirit, however there is just a little problem with that which is that no one, except for a few people, has seen the real virtual cockpit, and therefore it will be a challenge to model it. But it could be cool to have both aircrafts in my virtual hangar – This was just an idea. Rays Aviation Variants B-1A was the original B-1 design with variable-sweep wings and a maximum speed of Mach 2.2 – 4 prototypes were built but the aircraft was never put into actual production. B-1B is the B-1 design specified to reduce the aircrafts radar signature and optimized for low level penetration with a maximum speed of Mach 1.25. There were built in total 100 aircrafts, but due to the huge unit cost of more than US$ 280 million, the production was cancelled. B-1R is the new version, but it has not yet started production. This is an updated version of the B-1B with more advanced radar systems, air-to-air missiles and new Pratt & Whitney F119 engines. This version will have a maximum speed of Mach 2.2 but with a minimized range of about 20% Specifications B-1B In general: Crew 4 Load ability 56.700kg (125,000lb) (internal & external combined) Length 44,5m (146 ft) Width Extended = 41,8m (137 ft) Swept = 24,1m (79 ft) Height 10,4m (34 ft) Wing Square 181,2m2 (1,950 ft2) Airfoil NA69-190-2 Empty Weight 87,100kg (192,000lb) Max take-off Weight 216,400 kg (326,000lb) Engines 4 x General Electric F101-GE-102 forstærkede turbofans Dry thrust 69.9kN hver (14,600 lbf) Incl efterbrænder 136,92 kN hver (30,780 lbf) Fuel Capacity 10.000 US gal (38.000L) for 1-3 interne våben bays hver Performance: Max Speed High alt= M1,25 (721 kts / 830 mph / 1340 kmh at 50000ft (15000m) Low alt= M0,92 (700 mph / 1130 kmh at 200 ft (60m) Range 11998km (6478nmi eller 7456 mi) Combat Range 5543km (2993nmi eller 3445 mi) Service Ceeling 18000m (60 000 ft) Wing Load 816 kg/m2 (167 lb/ft2) Weapons: 6 external hard points each with a load capability of 22700kg (50 000 lb) plus 3 internal cargo sloths each with a load capability of 34000kg (75 000 lb) o 84× Mk-82 Air inflatable retarder (AIR) general purpose (GP) bombs o 81× Mk-82 low drag general purpose (LDGP) bombs o 84× Mk-62 Quick strike sea mines o 24× Mk-65 naval mines o 30× CBU-87/89/CBU-97 Cluster Bomb Units (CBU) o 30× CBU-103/104/105 Wind Corrected Munitions Dispenser (WCMD) CBUs o 24× GBU-31 JDAM GPS guided bombs (Mk-84 GP or BLU-109 warhead) o 15× GBU-38 JDAM GPS guided bombs (Mk-82 GP warhead) o 48x GBU-38 JDAM (using rotary launcher mounted multiple ejector racks) o 48x GBU-54 LaserJDAM (using rotary launcher mounted multiple ejector racks) o 24× Mk-84 general purpose bombs o 12× AGM-154 Joint Standoff Weapon (JSOW) o 96× or 144× GBU-39 Small Diameter Bomb GPS guided bombs (not fielded on B-1 yet) o 24× AGM-158 Joint Air to Surface Standoff Munitions (JASSM) o 24× B61 nuclear variable-yield gravity bombs (no longer carried) o 24x B83 nuclear gravity bombs (no longer carried) Avionics • 1×AN/APQ-164 forward-looking offensive passive phased-array radar • 1× AN/ALQ-161 radar warning and defensive jamming equipment • 1× AN/ASQ-184 defensive management system • 1× Lockheed Martin Sniper XR targeting pod (optional)