July 2007

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Just Flight have announced that the latest installment of their Traffic series - Traffic X - is due for an Autumn release:

You heard it here first! We’re pleased to officially announce that Traffic X, the latest instalment in our celebrated Traffic series, is set for release this autumn.

Traffic X will be released both on DVD-ROM and as a Download.

Eight years and five versions of Flight Simulator have flown by since Just Flight published the first instalment in its legendary Traffic series. Now the latest version - for FSX - is on its way and Traffic X is set to become the new benchmark for Artificial Intelligence traffic expansions.

Traffic X will include over 1,600 different aircraft variants based on 65 aircraft models that are designed to the highest level of detail and painted in a dazzling variety of airline liveries and paint schemes from around the world. They can all be seen flying, landing, taxiing, parking and taking off at airports large and small.

However, there is a LOT more than just aircraft in the package. Take a trip over to the In Development section of the website to read the full list in the More Info section. Make sure you have plenty of spare time – it’s a very long list!

You’ll also find a great selecion of ‘work in progress’ screenshots!

Existing owners of Traffic 2005 and Traffic (DVD and Download) will be offered a very generous discount to upgrade their current programs to Traffic X specification. More details of this offer will be provided once the official release date is announced.

Just Flight have announced that the latest edition to their Flying Club range - the Piper Archer III - will be released next week for Flight Simulator X and Flight Simulator 9:

Our new Piper Archer III for FSX and FS2004  - the latest addition to the Flying Club hangar - has been in development for a while now, and we’re pleased to announce that the aircraft will be rolled out of the Just Flight hangar early next week.

The PA 28-181 Archer III, one of the most popular GA touring aircraft in the World, will initially be released only as a Download.

The aircraft comes with a complete and authentic avionics suite and an extensive set of liveries - you can fly with UK, American, German, Swiss, Dutch and French registrations - and there is a total of 25 aircraft variations to fly.

The aircraft is supplied with a set of unique tools to customise and enhance your flying experience - see the product page for screenshots and all the details.

Peter Dowson has released version 4.152 of FSUIPC for Flight Simulator X, which is available from the Schiratti web site.  This is being defined as a “New Full release”, although I can’t see a list of changes anywhere.

FSUIPC is used by a lot of third party add-ons in its unregistered form to allow communication between the add-on and the simulator. This is always the first thing I add after installing the sim. Amongst other things, in the registered version you can do neat stuff like apply visibility limits, which provides for a much more realistic view of the world.

It’s a very interesting time to be involved in flight simulation. One thing I’ve really noticed recently is the blurring of the line between commercial and “fun” simulators. We’ve recently seen Cirrus using X-Plane to effectively demo their new personal jet, and now Wilco have made an announcement that “Belgian’s Defense 15th Wing Air Transport now uses feelThere/Wilco ERJ 145 Pilot in Command for flight deck procedures teaching to pilots.”. There are also other examples of this kind.

This is fantastic news for all of us as fans of flight simulation. Now that “personal” simulators are starting to get used by professionals (I know they almost always have been to some extent, but not to the degree they are now), I can see add-on developers adding even more realism to already great products. They effectively now have two markets. They have a huge market of dedicated fans, but also a small, but potentially very lucrative market of commercial entities using their add-ons for real-world training.

I think it’s going to be a fun ride - enjoy the flight

If the stats for FlightSimX are anything to go by, Saitek’s new Pro Yoke and Throttle (see announcement here) is going to be a top seller for them. FlightSimX is getting about 300 - 400 page views daily purely from people looking for details about the new hardware. As the release date gets closer, I can only see this getting more popular.

I wonder how CH Products are feeling about this? They’ve had a long term monopoly on yokes and throttles for simulator fans. Could there be a price drop coming soon from them?

As it looks like it’s going to be a winner for Saitek, I’ve added a new poll which you can find at the bottom left of the site, or you can check the results here. Go cast your vote now!

Also, if you intend to purchase the Yoke and/or Throttle, don’t forget you can pre-order them from SimWare Simulations.

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