PMDG 737 NGX

Another upgrade to the sim. This time around I installed the PMDG 737 NGX aircraft. Really amazing work done by the PMDG team. The whole sim implemenation is just great and the aircraft is very easy to setup and fly. The tutorials are great and you get quickly accustomed to the procedures for setting up a flight. Right now I am flying a Norwegian Air Shuttle flight from Stockholm (ESSA) to London Gatwick (EGKK).

The future by Airbus

Airbus has created a stunning video featuring the future of flying and the experience encountered. They are now talking about flight experience rather than having been forced into a box in a small chair with minature windows like it is in todays aircrafts.
Me like it! Look at the video, it's really great.

VATSIM

I was inspired by a friend of mine to join the VATSIM network and today I make my first flight with the ATC control using the VATSIM network. I did a flight from Arlanda ESSA to Helsinki EFHK and went OK. I made a few mistakes but I finished the flight without being banned from the network. I consider that to be a good achievement :-)

METAR and TAF on your iPhone

Today I discovered a very good iPhone app. It is called AeroWeather and there is a light and a pro version available. The lite version is good enough for me since it gives me the weather and forecasts that I need for flying in my area.

Highly recommended for those of you flying and equipped with the right phone :-)

iPhone 4

I have ordered my new iPhone 4. Unfortunatelly I probably need to wait another three weeks for it to arrive. Finland does not seem to be that fortunate to get a large bunch of phones delivered from Apple. Especially not the 32Gb model that I have ordered.

The problem is that my iPhone 3G (yes the old model) is now more than two years old and the battery is no longer holding the charge as it used to. Moreover the iOS 4 update meant that the phone is now so sluggish in its behavior so it is almost unusable at times. A real pain in many situations.

Look at this video from Youtube. It really shows how sluggish it can be!

The Hudson Miracle approach

Jeppesen is among other things makers of approach plates (maps for approach and landings at airports using either instruments or visual references).

They have published an approach plate for Capt. Sullenberger's involuntary but successful emergency approach and landing on the Hudson River. Quite fun actually. Have a look at the vertical profile in the middle of the plate with markers named, Goose, Think, Focus and Splash :-)

Real DC-10 simulator

This summer I visited the Västerås airport during their annual flight show. This was great fun and there I found out that they had real simulators that can be used. See their web page for the sims (sorry for the link into an frame but they are using frames on the site).

So I intend to be there for a sim session on the DC-10. In preparation for that I got the DC-10 simulator from Commercial Level Simulations to get accustomed to the panel layouts and handle locations on the DC-10. Works pretty smoothly I say! Here are a few pictures from the CLS website on the DC-10.

The simulator is an authentic simulator previously used by Scanair when they flew DC-10s.

Here is a link to a YouTube video from the simulator