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---- SIM-SAMURAI NEWS AND UPDATES ----
 
Attention all pilots! PBS broadcasting is hosting "Aircraft Night" every Tuesday in July on the show called NOVA!
The first episode was called "Missing In Mig Alley"
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/warplanes/

Every Thursday night in July on the Military Channel check out the "Great Planes" series starting with the SR-71 Blackbird!
http://military.discovery.com/tv-schedules/series.html?paid=52.15848.127974.95.3

Set Your TiVo's  and DVR's  Its a great month for tele-aviation!


XS-1 SIM STATION REVIEW ON SKYBLUE RADIO!



---- SUMMER 2010 UPDATES! ----
Thank you to everyone who is helping make SimSamurai.net a success. I have received alot of exciting emails from customers stating how satisfied they are with the UGTAFS and Blueprint sets.  I have been so busy with regular life that I haven't had as much time as I'd like to dedicate to the website but am dedicating every evening of July to bring out the rest of the plan sets that I want to offer. Please see the DIY Sim Cockpits link for the latest flight simulator news as I have released the long awaited LX-1 and am thrilled with how it has turned out! 

In other news I am building a few PC's for some devout simulists and am also building my own new PC based on the EVGA 4x Classified and i7 940 chipset.  My current 790i Digital and Q9550, while quite robust, has not lived up to my expectations in regards to multi-GPU management and non-sli operation.  Its a great system BUT has some limits due to only having two PCIe V2.0 slots and a single PCIe V1.0 slot. Because of its BIOS I have to run my two matching GTS 250's in slots 1 & 2 leaving my GTX 285 in slot 3 and therefore cannot take full advantage of the capabilities of the hungry GTX 285 2gb card.  So if you are wanting to build a system to run at least 3 video cards in non SLI I suggest you find one which has all v2.0 PCIe slots!!!

Because of this minor set back I have not been making all the videos I had planned out over the past two months but assure you that this new 4x Classified set-up will make your tail spin! I had considered the Gigabyte UD9 because of its new SATA III / USB 3.0 capabilities but the 4x Classy is now half as much and has more features that are "FS PC" friendly such as the ability to disable the PCIe slots for video card troubleshooting! Thats a biggie for me! Besides, our SATA II drives are plenty fast and it will be a long time until average USB controllers move up to a USB 3.0 status. While the UD9 is certainly "future friendly" it would be at least 2 years before you could really take advantage of these new features....So 4x Classy it is!

With moving up to an XL-ATX motherboard I am also building a fully customized computer case with dimensions of 11" x 21" x 25" which is made to fit in my XS-1 in the same place my current PC is. Once complete it too will be available as a plan set and guarantee it will be the best PC case you will ever need for FS.  Because of the limited cases available I opted to purchase the new massive HPTX motherboard tray from MountainMods.com. Thus this new flight simulator PC case will serve me well into the future if I ever decide to upgrade up to the SR-2!

In final news I am working on re-creating the SimSamurai.net website in another CMS such as WordPress and will be adding many additional pages including a blog so that my weekly rants and raves such as this can be spread out across the blogosphere!

Thanks to all for your patience, patronage, and support !

---- ULTIMATE QUICK-START TUTORIALS! ----

I have released two free professionally scripted tutorials on key functions for Flight Simulator 9 and FSX.  The first is a 13 page tutorial on how to properly set up FS-Inn for VATSIM.  It is highly detailed and includes very important things like how to map your push to talk buttons and transponder ident function as well as how to correctly assign your aircraft ICAO.
It is basically several combined excerpts from the UGTAFS. 

Secondly released is a 15 page tutorial for the FSUIPC registered device assignment utility.  This was commissioned and authorized by Pete Dowson himself and SimSamurai is happy to share this FSUIPC quick start guide with the flight simulation community!  If you have ever wanted to use FSUIPC for your device assignments and calibrations I guarantee you that this tutorial will save you days worth of headaches!

You can also immediately download the FSUIPC payware tutorial by following the provided link below which will connect you to the PDF file hosted on Pete Dowson's FSUIPC Sim Connect Forum. 
Thanks Pete!

http://forums.simflight.com/viewtopic.php?f=54&t=78366

Both .PDF files are also included free on the Samurai D-I-Y Data Disc whenever you make a purchase of any Samurai Sim Cockpit blueprints! Both .PDFs can also be received for free via email request to simsamurai@earthlink.net .

---- NEW PRODUCT UPDATES ----

New Cockpit Designs Coming Summer 2010 !!!

Check out the new DIY SIM COCKPIT page for new products details and links to the new flight simulator cockpit designs!

---- THE JUNIOR PILOT CORNER ---- 

If you have a junior pilot who wants to get into aviation or flight simulation I am dedicating this section to that cause.  Thare are actually a number of free resources on the internet to help the newbies (or noobs).  These two links below are some initial resources you can explore!

This next website has some really great links to free flight simulators ..some are just fun games, and some are more professional.  Regardless... they are all free!

http://www.airplane-collectible-best-net-resource.com/free-flight-simulator.html

This next website I just had to list as it is the most rediculous web based sim you will ever fly but if you are like me you will certainly spend the next 10 minutes giving it a shakedown!  You only fly it with your mouse and click the left mouse button for throttle.  It is rediculously simple but I found the aerobatics aspect to be quite humerous and very challenging to maintain steady flight! It is landable but verrry sensitive to control inputs!
TIPS FOR THIS LiL' SIM :
#1 - Notice the "status buttons" at right ...Click on Move and Smoke.
#2 - Center your mouse over the lower right to make an exact cross-hair.
#3 - This cross hair is your joystick. Use small baby moves!
#4 - Left click your mouse once to apply throttle in increments.
#5 - Occasionally re-click the left mouse to maintain throttle.
#6 - Concentrate on using very small mouse movements to fly.
#7 - Click on Restart after you crash!

http://www.thepcmanwebsite.com/media/flight_sim/

---- FREE..WHERE ??? ...MY APOLOGIES ! ----

I have been wanting to upload my freeware offerings  listed below for many months now. Due to my efforts of growing products, updating the site, updating the UGTAFS, working on a new site, maintaining a life, wife, dog, real world training schedule, AND trying to build my OWN new flight simulator computer, dual yokes, etc..I have not had time to blink much less upload these zip files. Please be patient the Navy Flyers series will be here in July FOR SURE and all three are well worth the wait..I promise!
I know, I know...I said April, May, and June before this...but I'm getting better at life and website management now so the freeware panels are actually the next thing on the list!!! 
I should have all three below posted by July 4th weekend!

---- SIM-SAMURAI FREEWARE GIVEAWAYS ----

UPDATE: - All 3 panels below are finished and will be up within the week of June 1st.. FINALLY!
I will also provide a link for my entire 1 gig gauge library (minus my payware gauges) for customers to use with these three freeware panels.

If you want one of these free panels please email me!
(this has only been 5 folks so far...hence my slacking for these)

As a salute to our feathered men in uniform SimSamurai is giving away 3 free cockpit panels in june 2010. (now 4 months overdue!) These panels are the most complex yet most fun and functional instrument panels ever seen for the three following U.S. Navy aircraft !
You can view them in action via my YouTube link at upper left. 

All three are for FS9 Users Only -- FSX panels are a few months out...sorry!

ALL THREE PANELS WILL BE AVAILABLE VIA MEDIAFIRE DOWNLOAD BY THE END OF JUNE 2010.
ALL AIRCRAFT PANELS ARE IN FACT CURRENTLY COMPLETE.
I HAVE PERFORMED FINAL FLIGHT TESTS IN ALL THREE.
SEE MY YOUTUBE VIDEOS FOR SOME GREAT SNEAK PEAKS!
THEY WOULD'VE ALL BEEN AVAILABLE LAST MONTH BUT I HAD SOME SQUIRRELY ISSUES EXPORTING
ALL THE GAUGES IN PANEL STUDIO - STAY ON THIS FREQ. I'M ALMOST THERE!

You can grab the A-5 Aircraft Model From AlphaSim Below:
The RA-5C Vigilante (The Tomcat's Gramma)
( Alphasim A-5 freeware for FS9 )

http://www.alphasim.co.uk/as_freeware.html

*** The vintage RA-5C panel uses an amazing 3000 x 2000 bit photo-real panel from the vaults of NASA Dryden research laboratories!
WOW --- dated 1963 even!

WHEN AVAILABLE : SELECT FILES, USE SAVE AS .. AND DOWNLOAD TO DESKTOP.
YOU WILL NEED THE GREAT FREEWARE "7ZIP" UTILITY OR "WINZIP "TO EXTRACT FILES.
http://www.7-zip.org/
http://www.winzip.com/downwz.htm

Hooyah  -- Go Navy!

A-5 PANEL  / FLIGHT TESTING UPDATES : 

SimSamurai recently escaped near fatal injury during high-altitude secondary stall testing with the RA-5C Vigilante. The pilot performed a gradual 90-degree vertical pitch maneuver at 700 knots while the aircraft climbed through FL350 to initiate a full power vertical stall. The aircraft, at the peak of the stall, and with zero airspeed, rolled onto its back where the aircraft initiated a full inverted flat spin.  As the aircraft fell through FL200 the pilot was briefly able to get the aircraft into a nose low dive attitude however the spin was non-recoverable most likely due to compressibility factors.

The aircraft impacted terrain in an approximate 70 degree inverted vertical attitude. Investigators determined that the impact occurred at an estimated speed of 400+ knots due to the size of the impact crater and other available test data. The pilot was able to eject at low altitude, however, the canopy had been jettisoned at FL150 and there were indications that ejection occurred below FL100. There were no ground fatalities and there is little recoverable wreckage. Other test data shows that the throttle was closed immediately after the initial stall and that the speed brakes were fully deployed below FL250. There were no indications of airframe overstress prior to terrain impact.

Pilot error is not being considered as a factor due to the stall testing circumstances.
RA-5C flight testing will resume in another available test aircraft.

---- SIM-SAMURAI - MAY 2010 CLUB BRIEFING ----

Attention all Samurai Club Pilots and prospective members! 
You are invited to attend the second ...

SimSamurai Carrier Ops Fly In!

Date :  Sunday July 24th Time : 7pm Pacific (U.S.)  UTC -7

Location : To be announced 72 hours prior to flight.

Server : VATSIM