The open source flight simulator project has just released Flightgear 2.0.

...FlightGear is a free flight simulator project. It is being developed through the gracious contributions of source code and spare time by many talented people from around the globe. Among the many goals of this project are the quest to minimize short cuts and "do things right", the quest to learn and advance knowledge, and the quest to have better toys to play with.

The idea for Flight Gear was born out of a dissatisfaction with current commercial PC flight simulators. A big problem with these simulators is their proprietariness and lack of extensibility. There are so many people across the world with great ideas for enhancing the currently available simulators who have the ability to write code, and who have a desire to learn and contribute. Many people involved in education and research could use a spiffy flight simulator frame work on which to build their own projects; however, commercial simulators do not lend themselves to modification and enhancement. The Flight Gear project is striving to fill these gaps.

It looks great and the price is right so check it out!

FlightGear Web Siite

Visit the following web site to compare cockpits from different eras.

 Code One: Aor Power Magazine

Just returned from my annual visit the National Museum of the Air Force previously known as the USAF Museum in Dayton, Ohio.  Every year I travel down and check out the changes to the museum and take the "Behind the Scenes" tour to see what is currently under restoration.  Over the next couple of weeks I'll be posting hundreds of photos but here's a quick summary of the changes since last year.

F-22: the museum has replaced it previous F-22 static airframe with an example with actual flight time.

Global Hawk:  The fiberglass model has been replaced with an actual aircraft with combat experience in Iraq and Afghanistan.

MiG 29: The Fulcrum which had been in storage for several years has been painted and moved the main museum collection.

N1K2-J George:  Which had been in restoration for a *really* long time has been completed and moved to the main museum collection.

Avro VZ-9:  Restoration has begun on this flying saucer research craft.

XC-99:  More pieces of the XC-99 have been moved to the museum.  The XC-99 is the cargo derivative of the massive B-36.  Restoration will take a long time but you can get an idea of the size by looking at what's been moved so far.

Work continues on the B-17 Memphis Belle.  A lot still needs to be done but a lot of progress has been made since the plane got to the museum.  There are plans for it displayed apart from the rest of the collection- maybe in a new lobby or separate building.  Total restoration is expected to take 6-8 more years.

YF-23:  The YF-23 has been re-assembled and is beginning to undergo restoration for display.

XF-90:  The XF-90 which was recently written about in Air & Space Magazine is in storage and awaiting display.  It will not be restored but will be displayed to show the damage that an atomic explosion would do to an aircraft.

MiG 23:  The MiG 23 that was previously displayed in the museum has been removed.  A more complete example has been obtained and will be restored eventually.

That's the quick summary, I'll be posting photos over the next couple of weeks.