The other day I was looking in a local computer store, and noticed they had quite a few shelves of FS9 addons, and gave in to temptation.  One that I got was Abacus "Extreme USA" land textures.  That one I was seriously impressed with.  Made the mountains look MUCH better, and made the terrein around my own house look a lot more familiar.  Horizons are no longer "soft" but have nice jagged mountains all around.  Very pleased with that.

Anyway, I also got Flight Deck III... I know there are some freeware things out there for the whole carrier ops thing, but I don't really wanna sit here and play around with something that I'm probably gonna screw up anyway.  lol  So, I just forked out $20 (that was burning a hole in my pocket anyway) and bought it.

Here are some screenies I took of the flight deck with some of their aircraft.  I have DEFINATELY seen better freeware airplanes out there than the ones Abacus makes... both visually and aerodynamically... but hey, I mostly got it for the carrier and my other freeware aircraft anyway.

This is my favorite of the included aircraft, the S-3A Viking.  I just love how their wings fold.  This plane flys pretty nicely... carrier launch/recovery is extremely nice and looks pretty real durring both also.  But, don't do any rolls with it, as you'll go into one of those odd FS climby-spin-things.













Pt. 2 coming soon...

Oh yes, I've already sent an order form via snail-mail... I've got a friend who wants one too so as soon as the download is avaiable I'll take whichever comes...cough... first?  lol

Anyway, I love the carrier ops on there, you can taxi all around the flight deck, fold your wings up, and as soon as you're on the cat ready to go the blast shield pops up behind you... you set the parking break, catipult (BTW the software comes with everything needed for carrier ops, including AirCab) full power, and when you're ready, just release breaks and you go sailing smoothly (but quickly) down the cat and off you go.  I think I read someplace you can even go below deck, but have yet to venture there.  I'm having too much fun right now just taking off and landing, with an occasional touch and go.  The acceleration down the cat is very smooth too and when looking from the tower view, it actually appears very realistic!  I'd only recommend flying the Viking and the Hawkeye... the others aren't that good.

As for traps... it's pretty tricky at first, but once you learn what it "should" look like for each jet, can become easier.  The stop is just as quick as the start, and is quite generous with regard to missing cables. (Thank goodness. lol) 

Oh, and one odd thing I just noticed... the Prowler has markings for the Enterprise, but the carrier is the George Washington. 

Anyway, I definately enjoy it and think it was worth the $20. 

P.S.  I'll try and post some pics of my new scenery too if anyone is interested.