Yet, before we get down to business, here are a couple of links to flight simulation news that did get their own individual articles.
- Volanta v1.10.2 Brings Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 Support, Quality-of-Life Changes, & More
- Airport Hero Centrair 20th Anniversary Edition Announced for Nintendo Switch
You can check out all the news below.
Maitland Airport Announced for Microsoft Flight Simulator
Orbx announced Maitland Airport (YMND) in Australia, known among other things as the base of Paul Bennet Airshows and the Wolf Pitts, which is also coming from Orbx.
The scenery will include the following features. Incidentally, reading between the lines, there also seems to be a tease for a vintage TBM Avenger in the midst.
- Full 3d custom modeled airport to the highest quality and accuracy
- Paul Bennet’s hangar was meticulously modeled and textured to reflect every real-world element and detail
- Highly detailed ground markings, including taxiways, roads, and car parks.
- Custom animated hangars that open and close based on proximity
- Improved terraforming and ground textures for further real-world accuracy.
- Additional parking bays throughout the airport
- Custom approach, runway, and apron lighting
- Improved vegetation and grass foliage
- Optimized for increased performance
Wolf Pitts for Microsoft Flight Simulator Gets New Video Teaching You Aerobatics
Speaking of the Wolf Pitts, Orbx also posted new videos teaching the aerobatics it can accomplish before its release.
You can find the full playlist with previous videos on YouTube.
R66 Sound Immersion Add-On Released for Microsoft Flight Simulator
A sound add-on for the R66 by Cowansim has been released, created by Immersive Audio. You can find it on Orbx Direct for $10.68 including the following features.
- All sounds are derived from 96khz, 24-bit recordings.
- Over 240MB of high-quality sounds and long loops for big audio variations.
- All sound details covered, including:
- Completely authentic startup, shutdown, idle, and full-throttle N1 sounds.
- Completely authentic sounds of cyclic, collective, and pedal movements.
- All buttons, switches, knobs, levers, and door sounds, are derived from the cleanest in-cockpit recordings.
- Battery/gyro and air conditioner, including authentic spool up and down, with circuit breaker sound.
- Battery sound depends on voltage.
- Authentic cockpit vibration sounds during slow-speed hovering.
- Dynamic blade slap sounds depending on various factors, tweaked after real R66 pilot inputs.
- Rotor blades noise that changes based on collective/blade angle.
- Completely authentic open door(s) sound environment. It’s not a classic switch from internal to external sound mix.
- Sounds of dust particles hitting the airframe on takeoff and landings, for better perception of AGL and enhanced flying audio immersion.
- Rotor sounds are reflected off the ground at really low altitudes.
- Don’t leave the door open during takeoff and especially flight, it will get very loud! Wind noises depend on blade angle and aircraft speed.
- The rotor blade sound matches the blade’s RPM during startup and shutdown.
- Authentic transmission whine, especially audible after shutdown.
- Low RPM and ELT warning alarms.
- Scrape sounds if you love to destroy the paint on the landing skids. It will tell you how good or bad your takeoffs and landings are.
- Seatbelt On/Off sounds, activating in the appropriate moments.
- Airframe vibration low-frequency noise, depending on the rotor stress level/blade angle.
- Engine cooldown sounds. Don’t touch any hot parts!
- Touchdown thumps, depending on vertical speed.
- Fully authentic exterior sounds that change dynamically depending on distance, speed, altitude, and viewing angles.
- If you get close to external views of the helicopter during flight, you will hear an authentic wind sound hitting the camera microphones/observer.
- Police radio chatter can be activated via a “reserved” cockpit switch.
- Dynamic windshield rain sounds, depending on the amount of rain and wind hitting the windshield.
Incidentally, the helicopter itself is currently discounted by nearly 50% for the next three days.
Doctor Fernando Piragine Niveyro Released for Microsoft Flight Simulator
Towersoft released an overhauled rendition of its Doctor Fernando Piragine Niveyro International Airport (SARC) in Argentina. It’s available on Simmarket for $16.35.
It includes the following features:
- Autogen Area.
- Custom Airport Objects.
- Dynamic Lighting (Apron, parking, hangars and airport access).
- ILS Runway 20 (distances corrections)
- Inside terminal modeling upgrade.
- GSX Pro compatibility.
If you’d like to get into flight simulation but you’re perhaps a bit intimidated by its apparent complexity, you can read our introductory guide, alongside the second episode focusing on installing add-ons, and another showcasing the basic instruments.
You can also read more flight simulation news in the previous roundup article.