Astrasim Expo - Flight Simulation Shows & Events

If you're a pilot, you have to wear a flight suit.

You have to get comfortable in tight spaces while wearing 40 pounds of gear. You learn how to target with the display on your $100,000 helmet and visor. Night-vision goggles will help you fly in the dark.

You'd better get some time in a flight simulator so you know how to retract landing gear, bank and fire your cannons.

A lot of simulated flights crashed upside down or in the Great Salt Lake as the "Wish Kids" — participating in a Make-A-Wish Foundation event Thursday — took turns in Air Force F-16 simulators.

And they loved every minute of it.

Matthew Goodworth, of Logan, even climbed in for another round of taking off, flying and crashing. Some of the boys have already had their "wishes" granted by the foundation, which serves children with life-threatening diseases.

But Thursday's event at Hill was an "enhancement" for boys who had listed aviation or military as interests.

It was perfect for Travis Groberg, 16, of Midway, who was diagnosed with leukemia when he was 13.

It was November 2007, and Groberg has been sick with fevers and exhaustion. His kidneys began to fail. And then the diagnosis came.

For three years, he has been undergoing chemotherapy at Primary Children's Medical Center. His kidneys are working, and doctors predict his treatments will be complete in six months.

Groberg's wish was to restore a 1978 Camaro Z28. He has it. It just needs an engine. But when he's older, he would love to join Special Forces or the Air Force.

Sitting in a cockpit and wearing a flight suit and night-vision goggles felt pretty good, Groberg said.

With the lights off in the dark room, "you could see everything," he said.

When an opportunity like Hill's "Pilot for a day" program comes up, the foundation rounds up Wish Kids and their families for a daylong treat with pilots, security forces and everyone who makes the Air Force tick, said Capt. Roberto Flammia.

"It's more like 'Air Force for a day,' " Flammia said Thursday.

The boys say military working dogs in action and watched a private demonstration of F-16 airpower by Viper West. They ate meals with pilots, tried on their gear and took home their very own flight suits.

They saw the inside of the 421st Fighter Squadron — The Black Widows — lounge, known as The Web.

"They (the base) have been phenomenal," said Christine McAtee, Make-A-Wish's director of community outreach.

Source: Deseret News By Joseph M Dougherty

Having attended last weekend’s summer sim 2010 and knowing how hard John Marshall worked to attract companies to get on board and attend the show I was really pleased for John that the visitor numbers were nearly 4.000 over the weekend.

Some people might say that they were not all flight simmers, this is a true statement, but were would any industry be without trying to attract new customers into our hobby.

I run a FS group with over 50 members most of which are shall we say past there sell by date (sorry Guys). But there is very little interest from the younger generation, so by going to places where you know the foot fall will be high and with aviation interested people what more do you the publishers and hardware manufacturers want?

John Crossland
Sherburn Aero Club Flight Simulation Group

Mechanics going through Boeing Co.'s 25-day training course for its coming 787 Dreamliner learn to fix all kinds of problems, from broken lights in the cabin to major glitches with its flight controls. One thing they won't soon do: touch one of the planes.

Using both laptop and desktop computers inside a classroom festooned with huge wall-mounted diagrams, airline mechanics will train on a system that displays an interactive 787 cockpit, as well as a 3-D exterior of the plane. Using a mouse, the mechanics can "walk" around the jet, open virtual maintenance access panels and go inside the plane to repair and replace parts.

Like most new jetliners, the Dreamliner is an electronic tour de force, with computer networking cards as likely to need troubleshooting as mechanical parts. Boeing has made the training for the much-delayed jet as virtual as its first deliveries, now scheduled for sometime in the first quarter of 2011.

At the end of the course, the mechanics get all training materials on a tiny memory stick. Once they are in the field staring up at an actual Dreamliner, they will also use laptop PCs to diagnose and solve real problems with the planes, Boeing says.

Boeing executives admit a maintenance course that doesn't involve interacting with an actual airplane raised a few eyebrows. "We had a lot of talks with the regulatory agencies, and they were definitely a bit skeptical at first," says Don Reiter, a senior manager at Boeing's flight-training unit. "But once we brought them in here and showed them how the interactive program works, they all signed off on it."

A Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman said the agency for years has agreed to permit computer-based training.

Last Thursday, hours before the company announced yet another delivery delay of the troubled Dreamliner, Boeing officially launched the jet's training program. It will eventually train thousands of mechanics, pilots and flight attendants who will operate the 787 after it enters service.

Along with the boxy, full-motion flight simulator that is a staple of modern flight-training programs, Boeing introduced a host of other new computer-based training tools. A cabin mock-up teaches flight attendants how to operate everything from cabin lights to a Dreamliner's passenger door during an emergency.

For pilots and mechanics, gone are the thousands of pages of flight and maintenance manuals in favor of laptop tablet PCs and memory-storage sticks.

Boeing has already established eight Dreamliner "training suites," including in London, Seattle, Shanghai, Singapore and Tokyo, home of launch customer All Nippon Airways Co.

Boeing executives responsible for the training programs said they have taken advantage of the continuing 787 delays to finalize their own courses and materials. "A lot of what we're doing today is waiting for the airplanes in flight test," says Sherry Carbary, vice president of Boeing's training and flight services unit. "We've had to get data from those actual airplanes" to determine how the training devices should be calibrated, she said.

More than 140 Boeing instructor pilots have been certified to fly the Dreamliner, though most of those have trained only on a simulator. Only a handful of test pilots get to regularly fly the real thing until it receives final certification from the FAA.

The Dreamliner was designed with Boeing's successful 777 widebody in mind, says Mike Carriker, the Dreamliner's chief test pilot and an aeronautical engineer who had a hand in designing how the 787 should fly.

The cockpit layout and overhead switches are arranged in a way that would be familiar to current 777 pilots. That allows pilots already certified on the 777 to transition into the Dreamliner cockpit after only five days of classroom and simulator training, the company says. For pilots coming from other modern Boeing jets, the transition training is 13 days. Pilots with no Boeing flight experience need roughly three weeks of training to get Dreamliner certified.

To accommodate the thousands of pilots from the 56 airlines that have ordered more than 850 of the largely carbon-fiber composite jets, Boeing has taken a page from its customers and developed a system akin to mileage-reward points. Every customer who takes delivery of a Dreamliner gets a certain number of points to use on pilot training.

The value of those points depends on a variety of factors such as the time of day the airline requests the simulator and how much training its pilots need.

Before hopping into the costly full-motion simulator, prospective 787 pilots receive initial training on a suite of computers and get hundreds of pages of training documentation on tablet PC devices. They then move to a mocked-up cockpit with flat-panel monitors and touch-screen displays to learn the basics of handling the plane before heading into the full-motion flight simulator.

In the full-motion simulation, pilots practice emergency procedures in a replica cockpit that mimics a variety of locales and weather situations. At the end of the course, the pilots receive a USB flash drive that contains all of the Dreamliner flying manuals and the students' own notes jotted down during training with a stylus directly onto electronic manual pages.

Source: Wall Street Journal By Peter Sanders

aB Simulation & Think Out Of Box announce a joint global venture releasing the worlds first affordable dome display for 2D & 3D content, for Gamers and Simulation no more bezels, no more limited field of view or complex head tracking systems. 180 degrees horizontal / 90 degrees vertical FOV with 4 different sizes to choose from.

 For Movie lovers, you have not experienced 3D until you have experienced it in the TOOB “The International 3D Society said it was the best immersive 3D experience yet, better than anything on the market today” Pricing TBC confirmed at launch, please register at Think Out Of Box to get the latest pricing and press release information. 

We have a number of key partner agreements in both the gaming & media industries and as such will offer the worlds first dome display bundles, projectors, custom made PCs & media centres, software, content, all of which will carry the Think Out Of Box certified logos giving our customer confidence that we have tested and taken the guess work out of their purchase.

Stay tuned to Astrasim Expo as we will have some exclusive news to bring you on this item shortly! 

Just when you thought it could not get any better, we had a further 2,031 visitors to our show on Sunday. It certainly proved that flight simulation is as strong today as it was over 25 years ago.

Car parking was at a premium as more and more people came along to visit Summer Sim 2010.  A great family day out for everyone.

The exhibitors had a wonderful time talking and demonstrating their wares and with a surprise visit towards the end of the day by the one and only James May! Which put even more smiles on the already happy crowds.

Away from the main arena we had a special showing of the Virtual Blue Angels which was held in the conference room, around 150 visitors watched their 2010 display which left many saying at the end, how do they do that?

We will bring you more info from our show over the coming days, you can now view some of the pictures taken in our photo gallery.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who helped in making this show a great success, which includes the  RAF Museum, Exhibitors and of course the 3,831 visitors who I'm certain enjoyed every single minute.

Astrasim Expo will return in 2011 

What a day! The sun shone and people came out in force to our event at RAF Museum Cosford, officials at the museum told us late on Saturday evening that 1,800 visitors had come along to Summer Sim 2010.

The good news is they expect even more to visit on Sunday, we will wait and see......

Everyone concerned had a great time either discussing flight sim or actually flying one of the many systems on offer.

Away from the main event arena, we introduced the Virtual Blue Angels and around 100 people arrived at the conference room to see their amazing 2010 aerobatic display.

On Sunday we have our major prize draw to be held at 14:00 with over 20 fantastic prizes including a flight in a PA-28 Warrior!

Doors open once again at 10:00am please come along and join in the fun, it is completely FREE admission for all.

Some images from day 1 can be found in our photo gallery!

We will bring a full report on the show later in the week....

Just Flight will be officially launching the MD-81/82 at Summer Sim 2010

The MD-81/82 evolved from the DC-9 airliner and is used on short to medium length routes. With its T-tail, rear-mounted jet engines and long slender fuselage, the MD81/82 is a distinctive aircraft which can be seen at many airports all over the globe. 

The experts at Commercial Level Simulations have worked their magic to produce superb looking models of the aircraft for FSX in 15 authentic liveries.

Summer Sim 2010 is to be held at the RAF Museum Cosford on Saturday August 28th and Sunday August 29th: Doors open at 10:00am

We can announce today that you will be able to see the Virtual Blue Angels at this year's event. They have put together a brand new display for 2010 and Summer Sim will be the very first time this has been seen anywhere worldwide! 
 
This is extreme flight simulation and the dedicated pilots put in many hours of practice to perform the stunning manoeuvres displayed in their aerobatic show. 

Bob Tyler is the commanding officer of the Blue Angels. He says "Now celebrating our 6th Anniversary, The Virtual Blue Angels, LLC. are a group of enthusiastic flight simulation pilots who strive to be the best of the best among the flight sim community. We aim to emulate the dedication and professionalism of the real Blue Angels through our videos, screenshots, and live shows"

The Virtual Blue Angels were formed in January of 2004, and have been going strong ever since. Our members live all across North America from East Coast to West Coast, from Texas to Canada; as well as one member from Australia. Highlights include our Summer '06 movie, our Rollin' '08 movie and participating in the 2005, 2007, 2008, & 2009 Virtual Festival of Aerobatic Teams (VFAT) as well as the 2008 and 2009 Low Land Tiger Meet (LLTM) live events. In 2009 they had the distinct privilege to fly in a LAN meet which was attended by several members of the Blue Angels themselves.

Now to appear at RAF Museum Cosford, don't miss the 2010 Virtual Blue Angels.

Summer Sim 2010 opens its doors at 10:00am on Saturday 28th August.

We can reveal today another great attraction at this years event. The Prop Cockpit Trainer is being flown in and will be on display at the show.

The VRinsight Prop Cockpit Trainer is a realistic propeller type cockpit training device with full control and instrument display system for VFR/IFR flight. The Prop Cockpit Trainer is the most affordable training device for student pilots and on-line pilots to fly anytime anywhere.

Required : one free 2.0 USB port and one free DVI/VGA video port. Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004 & Microsoft Flight Simulator X compatible.

Features :

• Single engine cockpit trainer
• Aluminum yoke
• Engine start Magnetos (5-positions)
• Landing Gear
• 3 Axis lever
• Flap switch
• Solid cast aluminum powder coated yoke
• Full metal housing
• Metal feet included
• One year warranty
• Realistic Radio panel & GPS.

GAUGES ON THE PANEL :

• SPEED indicator
• ATTITUDE indicator with position bar setting rotary knob
• ALTIMETER with BARO setting rotary knob
• TURN COORDINATOR
• HEADING indicator with heading bug and gyro rotary knob
• VERTICAL SPEED indicator
• VOR1 indicator with OBS rotary knob
• VOR2 indicator with OBS rotary knob
• ADF indicator with HDG rotary knob
• FUEL gauge
• Manifold pressure gauge
• TACHOMETER
• CLOCK
• GPS with push buttons and rotary knob (GPS500 model)

RADIO PANEL :

• Red color 7-segments and tact switches
• Luminous tact switched
• Integrated unit with all radio stack units ; COM ½, NAV ½, ADF, DME, TRANSPONDER, ANTO-PILOT unit

SWITCH PANEL :

• Engine start magnetos switch : 5 positions
• Battery switches
• Avionics master switch
• Fuel boost pump switches
• Light switches : BCN, LAND, TAXI, NAV, STROBE
• Pitot heat switch
• Pitch / Trim wheel with status indicator FNDs.
• 3 Axis lever : Throttle, Fuel mixture, Propeller pitch
• Flap lever
• Fuel tank selector
• Landing gear switch with position indicator lights.

Stay tuned as the build up to Summer Sim 2010 continues.

As Summer Sim 2010 approaches we can announce a world exclusive!

VFR Airfields 3 will be officially launched at our show on August 28th. Published by Playsims, this new scenery is a must for every flight simulation enthusiast.

UK2000 VFR Airfields Volume3 includes 73 airfields in northern England and Wales. This geographical area is the same as the 'Gen-X' VFR photographic ground scenery released by Horizon simulation software. Although designed to fit in to 'Gen-X', users do NOT need this to use this product, how ever I would recommend it for the ultimate visual experience.

Each airfields is made to a high standard with photo real textures in many places. A lot of the airfields are totally new, but some parts are imported from previous work but updated in many ways. Designed specially for FSX, the scenery uses a lot of the FSX objects and effects, like moving road traffic, flying birds and conventional 'AFD' taxiways and runways.

The scenery is compatible with FSX SP1, Acceleration and SP2 variants.

UK2000 VFR airfields is the most comprehensive set of UK Airfield scenery ever made for FS, Volume 3 concludes this collection with even more specificly made objects, including several new static aircraft models. Each airfield is made to latest charts and the buildings accurately placed on aerial photos.

Full airfield listing

Andreas
Arclid
Ashcroft
Bagby
Barton
Beverley-LinleyHill
Blackpool
Breighton
Brough
Bucknall
Burn
Caenarfon
Cark
Carlisle
ChurchFenton
CoalAston
Coningsby
Currock Hill
Dishforth
Doncaster-Sheffield
Durham-Tees-Valley
Eddsfield
Elvington
Eshott
Fadmoor
Fishburn
Full Sutton
Gamston-Retford
Garton_Field
Glassonby
Hawarden
Hollym
Huddersfield
Humberside
Ince
Isle of Man
Jurby
Kirkbride
Leconfield
Leeds
Leeming
Linton-On-Ouse
Liverpool
Manchester
Millfield
Mona
Neatherthorpe
Newcastle
North Coates
Oxenhope
Peterlee
Pocklington
Rossall Field
Sandtoft
Scampton
Sheffield_City
Sherburn-In-Elmet
Skegness
South Cave
St Michaels
Strubby Glider
Strubby North
Sturgate
Topcliff
Valley
Waddington
Walney Island
Walton Wood
Warton
Wickenby
Wombleton
Woodford
Woodvale
York-Rufforth West
York-Rufforth East

Come along to Summer Sim 2010 for one of the most eagerly awaited titles to be released for Microsoft FSX this year!