Category: Add Ons

A New Ride: The A2A Comanche 250

Posted on by Basement Fly Guy

One of my favorite GA aircraft is the Piper Comanche. I bumped into this beauty on the ramp this Summer, and I’ve loved this airframe since.

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So I’ve coveted the A2A Comanche 250 as well, but never pulled the trigger on the purchase until today. I’m getting better at handling more powerful aircraft in the sim, and for long Alphabet Challenge flights have been using a Cirrus or the Cardinal, but the Comanche fits the bill perfectly. And in the sim at least, it’s fun to fly – although it’s a lot of power to bleed off in approach, thats for sure.

Here are some screen caps from the first PE flight earlier this evening. There’s a repaint out there very close to the real thing above, and I’ll be finding it this weekend, I think.

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REX Worldwide Airports HD Is Now Available

Posted on by Basement Fly Guy
REX Worldwide Airports HD Is Now Available

I posted about this a few days ago about this, and it’s now available. I’ll be downloading it in a few minutes and will post a report. In the meantime, Tom Tsui beat me to that punch, and while his first report isn’t exactly glowing I’m going to hope for the great work we usually see from REX.

UPDATE: REX servers are overwhelmed. I’ll try tomorrow.

Major Announcement From REX Tomorrow (10/29/16)

Posted on by Basement Fly Guy

This in my inbox today:

Dear REX Customer –

You are personally invited to join us for a Major “Unveiling” of a new product this Saturday, October 29th at 19Z  (11am PDT).

You may watch the unveiling of our new product at:  https://www.twitch.tv/adxlive

This new product will revolutionize your experience within Microsoft’s Flight Simulator X, FSX:Steam and Lockheed Martin’s Prepar3D.

We look forward to seeing you there.

Sincerely,

Reed Stough
Managing Partner
REX GAME STUDIOS, LLC.

 

Could it be Sky Force 3D? If it lives up to this promo, we can only hope, and I’ll be watching.

 

Tom Tsui Does It Again

Posted on by Basement Fly Guy

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As I noted in this post, Tom Tsui has been working on FIP engine gauges for the A2A 172 and 182. They are now done, and this mean Tom now sells a full set of gauges programmed to work specifically with these A2A aircraft. The noise you hear is the sound of many A2A / Saitek simmers simultaneously praising Tom, the Lord, The Universe, or whatever deity they favor, for the existence of FIP gauges that correctly read the data of these highly accurate yet custom-programmed aircraft. Thanks, Tom. You do really great work for our community.

As for me, I’ll be grabbing them ASAP. I’ve eagerly awaited a manifold pressure gauge for the A2A 182, and now thanks to Tom, I will have one (and can now properly fly this airplane simulating appropriate throttle / prop settings).

You may get them here.

A2A 172/182 FIP Nav Gauges

Posted on by Basement Fly Guy

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A follow-up to this post: Tom Tsui has now released the Saitek FIP nav gauges for the A2A 172 and 182. Get them here. The engine gauges are next, although Tom says it may be a month or so before they’re available. If you’ve not used his FIP gauges, I highly recommend them. They look great, work perfectly, and his support is top notch. Getting FIP instruments that work correctly with the A2A LNAV set has been a problem for some time, and Tom has fixed it. Great job, Tom.

New A2A Cessna Gauges From Tom Tsui

Posted on by Basement Fly Guy
New A2A Cessna Gauges From Tom Tsui

This morning I was happy to see that Tom Tsui at FSX Times has released a first set of Saitek FIP gauges designed specifically to work with the A2A 172 and 182. This is great news for any FIP user flying these aircraft, as they require unique coding to work with the A2A local variable set. As soon as the engine gauges are released I’ll be clicking the download link.

ForeFlight 8

Posted on by Basement Fly Guy
ForeFlight 8

While I was away ForeFlight released version 8 of its great iPad and web-based electronic flight bag. I had a chance to play with it some over the past few days, and it’s a real upgrade of an already great product. I won’t go into the details here, as Sporty’s iPad Pilot News has an extensive summary online that’s well worth reading, but it’s worth the look for both your real-world and simulated flying. This is even more true with the recent updates to ForeFlight 8 on the web, which make it an online flight planning tool at least equal to SkyVector, especially now that the route you plan online immediately syncs to your iPad.

Oh, and how does one connect ForeFlight with Prepar3d or FSX? Via the FSXFlight plugin. It costs a few bucks, but it works seamlessly.