Lukla airport owes its existence to the fact it is located close to Mount Everest and that most climbers use it as the first station in the attempt to scale this massive mountain. Flying into Lukla --which is the highest airport with scheduled airline flights in the world-- is dangerous and complex even in perfect weather. Taking off from the very short runway with an engine that probably delivers a lot less power then you would hope for, is only possible because the runway ends with a 3000 feet drop into the valley below.

Aerosoft developed a detailed scenery for this very interesting airport. It features the Lukla airfield itself with its short and sloping runway, high definition mesh for the entire area and superb mesh/textures of Mt. Everest Mountain. Also included in the package are base camps on the mountain, two additional airstrips and extensive documentation. The Lukla - Mount Everest scenery by Aerosoft Online is available for EUR 17.20.

To celebrate the release of two of Australia's finest freeware scenery packages, Murrayfield 2006 and VOZ 1.1, AusFlightSim in association with the Virtual VFR Flying Club are pleased to announce the "Murrayfield VFR Experience". You're invited to fly along with members of these great Aussie flight simulation communities into, out of and around Murrayfield, taking in some of the fantasic scenery as developed by the Westsim Design Group and the team from Vista Australis.

Choose your favourite GA plane and try your hand at VFR flight in Australia's great Western state, hoping between airfields such as Jandakot, Serpentine, Cunderdin, Albany and Bunbury. The event will take place in April 27, 2006 between 10:00 and 14:00 UTC. More information, airport charts and download links for the recommended freeware add-ons are available at the FS Station Forums.

 Event details: FS Station - Forums

PMDG founder Capt. Robert Randazzo published today some information about the products they are currently working on. The most surprising (and exciting!) announcement was that PMDG is working on an Airbus A320 model, compatible with Flight Sim X and with fully simuated Fly-By-Wire systems! We can expect the A320 to be developed with the same accuracy and detail of their previous products. He also adds that more Airbus models might come after the PMDG A320!

Talking about Flight Simulator X, the PMDG 747-400/747-400F will be made compatible with the new simulator, but costumers will be charged for that update. The PMDG MD-11 --which is to be released before FSX-- will also be updated. We also learn from Randazzo's report that PMDG is working on an entirely new 737NG line, which will be FSX-compatible and will include all the latest technologies they have developed for the 747-400. More information on the upcoming PMDG products for Flight Simulator can be found at the PMDG Forums.

 PMDG Forums: What's Coming from PMDG?
 FS Station: Flight Tutorial - PMDG 737NG

Captain Sim reports that the '757 Captain' Version 1.1 is available and includes many new features, fixes and enhancements. The virtual cockpit was remodelled to match the B757 layout and some systems are now fully functional: yaw dumper, pitot heat, engine start and ignition, etc. The external model received some minor animation and texture fixes, the ACE was updated to support future products of the '757 Captain' line and the soundset was greatly improved. Full changelog and download instructions are available at Captain Sim's website.

 Changelog: Captain Sim - Product Page