I’ve just completed my first flight in Sim Works Studios’ Pilatus PC-12. For this inaugural flight, I flew from Bern Airport in Switzerland (LSZB) to Nice, France (LFMN) taking in some beautiful views of the Alps along the way. Here’s how the first flight went and a few first impressions of this aircraft for Microsoft Flight Simulator. Startup, taxi and takeoff I spent fair bit of time learning the start-up procedure for the PC-12. It’s not an overly complex process but there are a few quirks to doing it right. I was baffled by the generator buttons not always activating but I quickly learned ..read more

It’s time for another IL-2 campaign review and this time I’m talking about Jay Jaegermeister Yarbrough’s “Overlord” campaign featuring the P-51B Mustang and IL-2 Sturmovik: Battle of Normandy. This fifteen mission campaign puts you in the cockpit of a 354th Fighter Group P-51 around the time of Operation Overlord fighting some intense battles on the air and ground. How does the campaign play? Is it something you should buy and play yourself? Read on! Variety is the name of the game One of the things that I appreciate in a scripted campaign for the IL-2 series is variety. While Career mode prov ..read more

Long awaited in general aviation flight sim circles, Just Flight are getting close to releasing the PA-38 Tomahawk after a lengthy wait for the aircraft. Here’s the latest updates that include some great new visuals and a video that gives us a great taste for the type’s sounds. Let’s go! Dev update, visuals and sounds! One of Just Flight’s next to release products is an aircraft that was announced a couple of years ago but which as been slowly moving along with other products coming out ahead of it. Now its getting its own time to shine as Just Flight report that they moving towards testing t ..read more

It’s been a bit since I last did a multiplayer Flight Journal piece with IL-2 Sturmovik: Great Battles so let’s change that thanks to a bit of fun I had the other night flying on Combat Box. With limited time and a desire to fly something, anything, I hopped on Combat box and aimed to make a quick impact on the frontlines. A Typhoon… or at least a gust of wind Flying solo means limiting your tactics and techniques to make yourself a little less vulnerable. In practice, its a bit of a gamble that a solo fighter may sneak through where a larger formation might be more obvious. I bore this in min ..read more

It’s been a little while since I did a Community Q&A but I’m changing all that with a brand new instalment. For this Q&A, I’m talking to Jaegermeister who is one of the most prolific mission and campaign makers for the IL-2 Sturmovik series. Did you know that he has created over 100 for the series? Neither did I! His latest release is a payware campaign called Overlord which puts you in the seat of a P-51B Mustang flying for the 354th Fighter Group and I caught up with him to find out about his process for creating these campaigns and to learn a little about what is coming up next. Rea ..read more

A new product has just emerged from hardware maker VIRPIL. Their new CDT-VMAX throttle is a companion to their larger and more expensive MongoosT-50 CM3 throttle and it gives VIRPIL and customers a new option in a busy hardware marketplace. Let’s have a look! New Cadet Series VIRPIL is announcing their new Cadet Series Dual Throttle Control System or CDT-VMAX Throttle. It has many of the features and construction of the MongoosT-50 CM3 throttle (I reviewed the CM3 not too long ago) while offering it up in a smaller cheaper package. VIRPIL say that this is ideal for VR users and people with le ..read more

This week’s DCS World Weekend Newsletter is devoted to the launch of Eagle Dynamics next DCS World module: the CH-47F! Here’s the details that you need to know about this new helicopter for the series. The Chinook is coming soon Teased a little over a year ago and shown off in a few DCS World status updates, the time is approaching where Eagle Dynamics will release their latest module. DCS: CH-47F is a modern take on the classic tandem rotor helicopter first introduced in 1962 and still in service today. The modern variants feature glass panel cockpits and modern avionics capabilities, night ..read more

It looks like the marketing campaign for Orbx’s first DCS World map is moving up a gear. We’ve seen screenshots before but now we have a new coming soon teaser trailer. Let’s have a look! Just a teaser There isn’t too much here to draw from as the pre-rendered video is more of a marketing thing than gameplay or cinematic trailer. But the description under the trailer is interesting. Something BIG is coming! Get ready, because the long-awaited DCS: Kola Map is on the brink of release, promising a heart pounding experience, covering northern Norway, Sweden, Finland, Murmansk Oblast, parts of K ..read more

Long awaited and developed over the last couple of years as part of a joint project, The Gamblers is a DCS: F-16C campaign that has reached release state and is now slated to come soon. Here’s the latest information! Viper ready Baltic Dragon’s latest campaign is nearly ready to go. The joint project was developed together with The Afterburn Podcast and with Eagle Dynamics to bring us thirteen missions of Viper flying. Baltic reports that the initial mission will help get us into the aircraft but after that things ramp up quickly so you best know your Viper before jumping in. Here’s what he ha ..read more

Two big news items out of Microsoft and Asobo tonight with the release of their latest Local Legend, the Do 31 VTOL transport, as well as City Update 06 which focuses on the southwestern part of Germany. Let’s have a look! VTOL transport prototype Local Legend 15 is out and its the Dornier Do 31 prototype VTOL transport aircraft that has been developed by iniBuilds for Microsoft. This aircraft is firmly in the experimental category with the West German government in the early 1960s seeking to develop a jet-powered VTOL transport that could takeoff and land anywhere. The project didn’t pan out ..read more