FlightGear Newsletter July 2010
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We would like to emphasize that the monthly newsletter can not live without the contributions of FlightGear users and developers. Everyone (with a wiki account, free to register) can edit the newsletter and every contribution is welcome.
This month's newsletter marks a year since the first issue was written!
Development news
In the hangar
Bell P59 Airacomet and Bell 222 X
helijah created and pushed both P59 and Bell 222X onto Git. The Bell 222X FDM is still in development. More information and download at http://helijah.free.fr/flightgear/hangar.htm.
Space Ship One and White Knight
helijah has made some changes to the Space Ship One model including the FDM, adding fuselage reflection effect and separating the Space Ship One and White Knight objects. The next step is to improve the Space Ship One model by adding wheels and moving parts. After that he will try to separate the two aircraft when in flight.
Scenery corner
Night Flying at London Gatwick
The new version of London Gatwick EGKK is available and has improved textures and features. It claims to be one of the few (two?) major international airports in FG suitable for flying at night with full lighting textures on all buildings, hazard lights and approximately one hundred lighting masts. The tower even has lit instrumentation visible in the control room. Images are shown on the forum http://www.flightgear.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=8363.
The taxiways at night are complex but made easier if the official charts are downloaded from http://www.nats-uk.ead-it.com. Many taxiway and runway signs have been included to help you on your way. Additional AI ground network and AI traffic have made this into a very busy airport and a single gate at each pier has been thoughtfully reserved so you can find a parking space when you land here (see the readme file for details).
In daytime the airport is fully modelled with detailed textures and even the roofs of buildings having accurate features. Stock model jetways, cargoes and ground vehicles have been added in quantity to give an authentic look to the airport. Large areas of open air car parks are distributed around the perimeter with novel layering of textures to enhance the 3D effect of the parked cars. Similarly, woods and trees have been added in surrounding areas to add more to the overall feel of the airport. See the FG Wiki http://wiki.flightgear.org/index.php/London_Gatwick_Airport for more details of the airport.
London Gatwick EGKK may be downloaded from http://www.mediafire.com/?t2ml5ezmgwv
Aircraft review
This Month: (name of aircraft here)