FlightGear Newsletter September 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.

Scenery corner

...discovered Scenery v2.4.0 on the FTP servers, asked in the forums a question on what it is. I'll publish a compiled answer here... PH-JBO 10:00, 9 September 2011 (EDT)

No answer, no article. I'll remove this in a few days. PH-JBO 07:26, 12 September 2011 (EDT)

Airport of the month

Grain silos? The Arc of Saint Louis in red? In the distance it appears we see the Eiffel Tower? Where are we?

Carefully recreated in FlightGear, Tokyo Haneda International Airport that I stumbled upon during my trip around the world. The layout is as real as it can get. The only thing missing, work out in Tokyo Bay creating a new runway.

Visit RJTT in real or in FlightGear. Step into your c172p and fly over Tokyo, I promise amazing buildings and bridges. If you have time, take a course WSW and try to fly over Mount Fuji.

Low in polygons, any windbag causes more lag as a complete airport.

Screenshot of the month

Learjet 35-A and Mount Everest viewed from West towards East. Atlas image of the route to VNTR. I could see the direction of NDB and knew the altitude of the RW. The RW was not visible till the absolute last moment. The landing was a success.

Suggested flights

Traffic lights turn red, gates are closed. The only busy main road to the peninsula is closed and all the cars and trucks are waiting patiently. Waiting for a train to pass? No. Waiting for a plane to pass since the main road crosses a busy runway.

On both sides water and being crossed by a busy main road can only be one runway: Gibraltar airport!

One would expect an ILS installed on such a tricky runway but no, you will have to guess where it is and how far away it is. Not even an ADF points to it.

Take off from LEMG (Malaga). Go South-West and find the runway of LXGB somewhere to the right of the rock. Happy guessing!

• More amazing flights can be found here: Places to fly.

Wiki updates

New articles

• Places_to_fly A revisited wiki version of the http://www.flightgear.org/places.html page, with pictures and airport charts.

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.