FlightGear Newsletter June 2011

Welcome to the FlightGear Newsletter! Please help us write the next edition! Enjoy reading the latest edition!

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. So if you know about any FlightGear related projects such as for example updated scenery or aircraft, please do feel invited to add such news to the newsletter.

In the hangar

• The lightmap has been extended by a "factor property". Aircraft authors can now bind the intensity of a lightmap to a property (eg. /controls/lighting/panel-norm), making the lighting more vivid. Read more in the lightmap howto.
• JSBSim welcomed a new feature this month. Setting the (/fdm/jsbsim/)propulsion/tank[n]/external-flow-rate-pps property will either draw fuel from, or insert fuel into the respective tank. This allows one to simulate complex fuel systems, relatively easy. See Howto: Write a fuel system in JSBSim for a guid on writing such systems.

Updated aircraft

Bf-109 G14

The Messerschmitt Bf 109 now has a bump- and specmapped 3D model, a revised FDM and an improved 3D cockpit with functional controls. Apat from that the logo selection system has been added, along with some new liveries. The throttle now sets the desired manifold pressure and maintains it, even with changing altitude.

Note to livery makers: the external textures have been consolidated into one file for easier maintenance.

109-7.png 109-7.png  109-3.png 109-3.png  109-5.png 109-5.png

Boeing 747-400

Thanks to a report at the FlightGear forum, Gijs found out that there was a (eternal) fuel-leak in the 744's fuel system. This was quite a problem for long-haul flight lovers, as it severely limited the aircraft's range.

Now that system is rewritten (making use of the new JSBSim function that you can read more about earlier on in this newsletter) the fuel leak is closed! This does not only please long-haul flyers, it affects every pilot, because weight balancing is much better now.

Scenery corner

Skyline of Dubai

Gijs started modeling one of the highest, fastest changing and most interesting skylines in the world: Dubai's. The former village in the desert is nowadays home to the tallest structure in the world, the largest shopping mall and it has more supertall skyscrapers than any other city. A perfect city to discover by C172p, or one of the helis. With a great deal of challenging landing spots for the later vehicles.

So far little over 20 buildings have been modeled, some of which are currently untextured and low-poly. Nevertheless they help give you the right Dubai-feel!

Wiki updates

New articles

<DynamicArticleList>

 type=new
 count=10

</DynamicArticleList>

New aircraft articles

<DynamicArticleList>

 type=new
 count=10
 categoryRoot=Aircraft

</DynamicArticleList>

Most popular newsletters

<DynamicArticleList>

 type=hot
 count=5
 categoryRoot=FlightGear Newsletter

</DynamicArticleList>

Community news

FlightGear on youtube

The channel flightgearUK has been set up on YouTube by Liam, and will soon feature tutorials, video reviews and promotional videos of high quality to show the latest and best features in FlightGear.. It is hard currently to find any high quality videos of FlightGear (with the exception of Oscar and Skyop's channels of course), especially with the most modern of features, crisp of graphics and based primarily on Civil aviation- which other mainstream Flight Sim users seem to do well, so it is a personal ambition of of the channel to greatly improve the popularity of the sim through various media, including Audio Reviews, Git update insights, Tutorials, etc. Few videos have been added yet, and no reviews or anything other than test videos, but check out the channel at http://www.youtube.com/user/flightgearuk. Comment, Rate & Subscribe! and get the sim more popular.

Multiplayer

The Flightgear Rotor Club is kicking off it's 2nd multiplayer event on July 2, 2011. This month's event is a Combat Search and Rescue scenario, which involves going deep behind enemy lines into Laotian territory to rescue two downed airmen.

See the forum topic for more information about the event.

FlightGear events

BRT Virtual Airlines is proudly announcing that their will be event!

When : Saturday July 2nd 2011

Where: EDDF (frankfurt airport)

What Time : New York- 9:00 AM , UK & Portugal- 14:00, Berlin- 15:00, Ukraine- 16:00, Russia - 17:00 , Dehli- 19:30 , Singapore - 21:00

What : An Event. We will be flying from EDDF to EDDK . And Having Fun :)

Who: Virtual Star Alliance, BRT Virtual Airlines, Creder Nixrof Airlines, Merlion Virtual Airlines and Many More!

We reccomend FGcom.Hope to see you there!

More info @ www.brtvirtualairlines.com

Looking for ATC's .

Thank You!

Forum Post: post

And finally ...

Contributing

One of the regular thoughts expressed on the FlightGear forums is "I'd like to contribute but I don't know how to program, and I don't have the time". Unfortunately, there is a common mis-conception that contributing requires programming and lots of free time. In fact, there are a huge range of ways to contribute to the project without needing to write code or spending days working on something.

For ideas on starting to contribute to FlightGear, you may want to check out: Volunteer.

Call for volunteers

• The OpenRadar project is looking for a new maintainer.
• The FGFSPM (FlightGear Package Manager) is looking for a new maintainer.