In Memory; Hillaire du Berrier, Fred Gage, Ray Hanna

VFR

Real Scenery

Scenery Expansion for MS Flight Simulator X

Publisher: Just Flight

Developer: GeoPerspectives

As we all know, originally everybody flew by sight and sight alone. Although today’s PC based flight simulators are extremely sophisticated, they still lack in realism when wishing to just jump in and fly. Once suitably settled down you will not easily be able to fly from A to B by visuals alone. Yes I know you got the compass and a feel for dead reckoning, certainly a must for any pilot. But when it comes to the real freedom and experience, VFR is the thing.

Just Flight does some excellent work by providing affordable simulations for all that want and do fly, either privately or professionally. So I am not surprised to experience the level of realism when flying with this must have add-on. Mind you, you will need 1 Giga of RAM and a sturdy graphics card, but would you have a simulator without? Additionally you will need a hefty portion of your hard drive. Volume 1: South East England will occupy 12 GB alone. I have since moved all of my FS software and databases to an external box of 250 Giga and things are working just fine.

Taking off East from Heathrow I was able to navigate to Manston by the general topographics picked up below along with a guesstimate of a compass bearing. I didn’t want much more help from my navigation experience as the test was to see if I could fly that distance without referring to the compass. A Heathrow departure will allow you to immediately glue yourself to the Thames which is unmistakeable and will get you off in the right direction for a greater part of the way. You can see it snake through London and fly over the approach light of London City airport. Depending on the weather you have set yourself up with, the ride will be a great experience. I used a DC-3 which is my type rating and we cruised at about 100 MPH and enjoyed the sights. After leaving the Thames estuary behind, you follow the coastline and watch for a town called Margate, then turn due south, Manston should be in sight, swing out over the channel and line up…..

All in all, even of you fly IFR; using a package like this will enhance the experience. Your approaches will become more memorable. Coastlines are individually re-worked for accuracy. The runways are correctly aligned so it’s all there to use and enjoy. Water features are superb, great for seaplane touch and go. The package uses the latest 25cm digital aerial imaging from GeoPerspedctives. As outlined above, this is a must have. Especially if you fly in the UK or are planning to visit us.

Manston Airport; Situated off B2050 via A253 / Former RAF Base / Currently being mainly used by growing Cargo business / Small Terminal Building with extensive passenger & VIP Facilities / Lounge, Bar & Cafeteria / A new Passenger Terminal is under construction which will have an eventual capacity of 5 million passengers

DEMO

Capt. James van Etten

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