Xsimreviews

Today they are mostly sceneries this time around – but first some news…

Perigee “Super Moon”

If a moonbeam wakes you up on the night of May 5th, 2012, you might want to get out of bed and take a look. This May’s full Moon is a “super Moon,” as much as 14% bigger and 30% brighter than other full Moons of 2012.

The scientific term for the phenomenon is “perigee moon.” Full Moons vary in size because of the oval shape of the Moon’s orbit. The Moon follows an elliptical path around Earth with one side (“perigee”) about 50,000 km closer than the other (“apogee”). Full Moons that occur on the perigee side of the Moon’s orbit seem extra big and bright.

Such is the case on May 5th at 11:34 pm Eastern Daylight Time when the Moon reaches perigee. Only one minute later, the Moon will line up with Earth and the sun to become brilliantly full. The timing is almost perfect.

Okay, the Moon is 14% bigger than usual, but can you really tell the difference? It’s tricky. There are no rulers floating in the sky to measure lunar diameters. Hanging high overhead with no reference points to provide a sense of scale, one full Moon can seem much like any other.

The best time to look is when the Moon is near the horizon. For reasons not fully understood by astronomers or psychologists, low-hanging Moons look unnaturally large when they beam through trees, buildings and other foreground objects. On May 5th, this Moon illusion will amplify a full Moon that’s extra-big to begin with. The swollen orb rising in the east at sunset should seem super indeed.
it’s true that a perigee full Moon brings with it extra-high “perigean tides,” but according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration this is nothing to worry about. In most places, lunar gravity at perigee pulls tide waters only a few centimeters (an inch or so) higher than usual. Local geography can amplify the effect to about 15 centimeters (six inches)–not exactly a great flood.

Super perigee Moons are actually fairly common. The Moon becomes full within a few hours of its closest approach to Earth about once a year on average. The last such coincidence occurred on March 19th, 2011, producing a full Moon that was almost 400 km closer than this one. As usual, no trouble was reported

It is also a full moon in Scorpio, that sign of Beginnings, Endings, death, destruction and marriage breakups…I bet you feel better now in knowing that…a day to stay in bed?

Credits: science@nasa / words Dr Tony Phillips

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Westjet orders the Bombardier Q400

Bombardier, which assembles the Q400 at its Downsview plant in Toronto, will deliver up to 45 planes to WestJet under a schedule that calls for new regional routes starting in the second half of 2013.

At a list price of $30 million for each turboprop, the deal’s 45-plane value totals $1.35-billion spread over six years – on the 20 firm orders, with options for 25 more Q400s.

New destinations will be unveiled by early 2013, as WestJet seeks to challenge Air Canada and affiliates such as Jazz Air in smaller markets. Jazz and Porter Airlines Inc. already have Q400s.

The Q400 will probably be configured to have 76 seats – ideal for markets deemed too small for WestJet’s Boeing 737s, which seat 119, 136 or 166 passengers, depending on the model. WestJet has flown Boeing 737s since the carrier began operations in 1996.

Credit: Dow Jones Newswires

Any paints of the westjet FJS Q400 would certainly be appreciated here folks.

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SCENERIES:

FALA Lanseria, South Africa – Cliff Jones zs-bju : FALA Lanseria

We get so little from this southern part of the world and here we have two that are very useful, the first is from South Africa just north of Jo-berg

Lanseria International Airport (IATA: HLA, ICAO: FALA) is a privately owned international airport that is situated north of Randburg and Sandton to the north-west of Johannesburg, South Africa.

The airport can handle aircraft up to the size of the Boeing 757-300.

A MSFS conversion but too to bad.

There are buildings both side of the runway, On the north-west side is the terminals and the tower.

The OpensceneryX inserts are clear and sharp that contrasts to the age of the blurry building textures.

Looking south-east to the industrial side.

Signage and maintainance hangers are quite good, but many are marginal’s demo Virgin Hanger.

There is very little OSM, and the break does show.

Lighting is standard MSFS with no G.I. (Global Illumination) HDR.

But it is one of the better ones for lighting except the Tower glows.

Signage and the south-east area lights up quite nicely.

So good average scenery, it the tower was more in tune then it would work better…

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A good companion FALA is FMEE, Sainte Marie, Saint Denis, Reunion.

Set in the Indian Ocean it is not far from South Africa and Madagascar.

FMEE L’île de la Réunion – XPFR : xpfr FMEE la Reunion

An updated scenery from our French companions.

The location is excellent, I flew over Reunion en route Perth to Jo-Berg and the island looked amazing from up there, so Reunion is a worthy destination.

I had a small problem getting this to work, I had to pull the separate folders out of the main folder to get the scenery, this was slightly messing in the fact I now have two folders that are not listed and spread out in my custom folder.

FMEE is on the north side of the island and this scenery comes with some OSM and St Denis buildings.

It is nice to have some local flavours, and french houses.

But they do show their age, that they don’t fit is with the default OSM roads also makes them look slightly odd, If they had been used in the OSM then they would have blended in far better, but instead they look very MSFS 2002.

The terminal is quite good but again no OSM around it, the cars are all parked in a grass field.

But from down here it looks fine.

Terminal and overall Lighting has no HDR and looks very MSFS.

The Hanger area is very good and so is the GA area.

Night lighting is better as well.

The houses around the airport don’t fair as well in the dark.

Over bright and no shading it shows its age.

It would be great to see a real reworking of this scenery, redo the town night textures and get St Denis to sit in better in the OSM network would turn this scenery on its head and bring up to date…The way Aerosoft fitted in Nice around LFMN shows how it should be done.

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LEAS, Castrillón, Asturias, Spain – Asiak : LEAS, Asturias

A change from the south is LEAS Asturias on the North coast of Spain.

The Region around the airport is great with many small pockets of villages and small townships, OSM here is very good as well but doesn’t go inside the airport boundaries.

The style is quite like Reunion but slightly better, It isn’t a completed work yet, and you notice a few items missing, But the underlay at least for once fits in nicely.

The terminal is not bad and missing a gateway or two, but the carpark covers are hanging a bit above the ground.

The Tower is slightly boxy and the textures are average.

Nice opensceneryX fills out the parking areas.

There are no Lighting textures to speak of and just a few lights….

But no doubt a useful file if you are sector flying around Spain or Southern France.

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Ontario CNU8 Toronto Markham – Jacques Brault : Ontario CNU8

Two more small airfields close to Toronto from Jacques.

CNU8 Toronto Markham
CNP8 Greenbank

Toronto Markham is noted as CNU8 (correct) but I found the X-Plane code was listed as NU8?

Markham Airport or Toronto/Markham Airport, (TC LID: CNU8), is a private airport operating 2.6 NM (4.8 km; 3.0 mi) north of Markham, Ontario, Canada near Toronto.

The airport is owned and operated by Markham Airport Inc. and owned by a numbered Ontario company owned by the Thomson family of Toronto. The airport is not part of the Greater Toronto Airports Authority. The airport consists of a single 2,013 ft (614 m) runway for small and private aircraft only (with night flying capabilities). The Royal Canadian Air Cadets Gliding Program uses the north side or the runway 09/27 for glider operations in the spring and fall months, and use a northern traffic pattern.

The main areas has a nice collection of buildings and offices.

A display area has CF-104 and the CF-5A.

The under rug that Jacques likes to use is in there and it is noticeable from the air.

The Second airport in this package is CNP8 Greenbank…

Some very nice Canadian buildings and Silos are spread around the crossed grass strip.

Neil Young would right at home here.

Well placed and a nice atmosphere.

Again the patterns don’t match….but both are a great addition to the series.

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LIVERY:

Another real world Carenado Piper Seneca II Livery from Steve Winslow

ZK-DCO Livery – Steve Winslow : ZK-DCO Seneca II

In some ways I like this one more than the first one from Steve, the striping around the wings looks great.

“Sporty” is the word that comes to mind, well done too.

Nice isn’t it.

Looks good on the ground as well…Thanks Steve.

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Well another few Liveries coming along tomorrow for the EADT A320 1.1….Until then, Fly Safe.

Flightime56©2012