DRAWYAH

B eing a flight simmer who focuses on how the environment looks and feels as well as my aircraft, Active Sky Next has always seemed quite appealing. However, I was unsure of how it would look and perform on my system so it left me in a kind of limbo. Then, quite recently Hifi Tech announced that they were releasing a new version of the package: Active Sky 2016. Fed up of sitting on the fence, I decided to bite the bullet and quickly purchased it. In this article, we will take a look at what the software adds to Microsoft Flight Simulator, how it looks visually within the sim, and most importantly if it is worth the $49.99 price tag.       Features Active Sky 2016 is a weather simulating program that takes METAR data directly from weather stations and airports and inserts it into FSX. It also comes with a built-in flight planner and flight briefing page which allows the user to set up their aircraft and plan their routes based on the real-world weath...

T he DC-10 is a three-engined, wide-body aircraft built by McDonnell Douglas from 1968 to 1988. It was able to carry up to 380 passengers and was known for its two turbofan engines and a third at the base of the aircraft's vertical stabiliser (tail). It was built as a successor to the DC-8 and was a direct competitor to the Lockheed L-1011 TriStar. Early on in its life and throughout the 1970s, the aircraft was plagued with incidents due to a major flaw with the cargo door. The DC-10 was the first aircraft with an outwards opening door which meant that loading crews could utilise the entire cargo space of the aircraft. The design of this door however, meant that it was possible to 'lock' the door without the locking pins being secured. Once the aircraft passed 10,000 feet, the door would rip off due to explosive decompression. This issue was resolved in 1974. In 2007, Commercial Level Simulations (CLS) in conjunction with Just Flight, released their DC-10 Collectio...