The Ultimate Flight Simulator... X Plane 8

If you're looking for the ultimate in flight simulation for your home PC (or Apple Mac), look no further... Whether you want to learn to fly a light aircraft, put on your Captain's hat and cross the Atlantic in a 737, test your mettle putting a helicopter on the deck of a Frigate (which pitches and rolls with the waves), land a Phantom F4 on an aircraft carrier, practice re-entry in the shuttle, or even attempt Martian landings, X-Plane is most definitely the simulator for you.

Using advanced aerodynamic modelling, X-Plane is able to simulate everything that flies with incredible realism - from helicopters to the space shuttle - on Earth and beyond!

Powerful, Versatile and Easy to Use...

Having been developed over the last 13 years, originally for use in the aviation industry, X-Plane is the most comprehensive and powerful flight simulator available for the personal computer - bar none.

X-Plane is provided with 29 aircraft which span the aviation industry, from light, general aviation aircraft and gliders to civilian airliners and airships. There are vertical take-off and landing aircraft, including the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, and military jets, helicopters, amphibious aircraft, highly advanced military X-Planes (including the X-15 and the X-30 National Aerospace Plane), and even the Space Shuttle!

AND, if that's not enough, X-Plane also lets you design and build your own aircraft with special software provided free with the simulation (Plane-Maker). Design and build your own aircraft and X-Plane will model the aerodynamic characteristics and allow you to fly the aircraft exactly as your design would fly in the real world.

As well as being used by many tens of thousands of private and professional pilots, X-Plane is used worldwide by the leading international Defence Contractors, Air Forces, Aircraft Manufacturers and even Space Agencies, for applications from flight training to concept aircraft design/flight testing, systems simulation, and crash investigation - serving as perhaps the most significant endorsement of the incredible capabilities of this simulator. If you want to know what it's really like to fly an aircraft, X-Plane is the most realistic simulation software there is.

Incredible Scenery...

X-Plane includes scenery for the entire planet. You can land at any one of thousands of airports worldwide, as well as test your pilot skills landing on aircraft carriers, building-top helipads, frigates that pitch and roll in the waves, and oil rigs. For those would be astronauts, there's even scenery and space-craft to fly on Mars in realistic Martian atmospheric and gravitational conditions!

Horizon has also created real photographic sceneries of England & Wales for you to use with X-Plane so you can fly over your own home, practice VFR navigation, or just go sight-seeing.

Weather is variable from clear skies with high visibility to thunderstorms with controllable wind, wind sheer, turbulence, and microbursts. Rain, snow, and clouds are included to test your skills navigating by instrument. X-Plane can even download real-time weather information from the Internet, allowing you to fly with the current weather conditions of your chosen flight area. Also included is Weather Briefer, which will give you a full weather update in the same way that a real flight service station specialist would before your flight in a real aircraft.

System/Engine Failures... Ever wondered what it's like when an engine fails on your 747 mid-way over the ocean on your trans-Atlantic passenger flight? X-Plane has detailed failure modelling, with 35 systems that can be failed manually, or randomly when you least expect it.

You can fail instruments, engines, flight controls, and/or landing gear (and more) at any moment, to put your pilot skills to the test when it really counts!

Space Shuttle Missions...Once you've proven your worth with conventional aircraft, perhaps you'd like to try gliding the Space Shuttle in to Edward's Air Force Base, California? You'll begin your descent at Mach 10 and at over 140,000 ft. We might therefore suggest reading the manual to figure out how best to slow yourself down before descending into the atmosphere - if you don't want to be ripped apart by the heavy air at sea level that is!

Enhancements to X-Plane Version 7.xx...

Improved Performance... X-Plane Version 8 requires lower load times, lower RAM requirements and provides significantly higher frame rates than its predecessors.

New, Improved Scenery Engine... X-Plane V8 now has a completely new scenery format. Gone is the classic checkerboard pattern where the grids must run in regular horizontal/vertical directions. The scenery is now crafted to fit any terrain feature, no matter how irregular or oddly shape. Countless buildings and other landmarks are then overlaid on the terrain to give you a highly realistic 3D world to fly in. The new scenery engine also allows Horizon to create much more detailed photographic and terrain scenery add-ons which we will begin to release early in 2005.

New, Improved Aircraft Formats... As well as providing new virtual 3D cockpits, V. 8 also provides aircraft designers with total freedom to design any aircraft. Plane-Maker now includes options for many more parts and wings which may be attached to any part of the aircraft. These new parts may then be attached to flight controls, meaning that they can be moved independently, or triggered by movement of other parts (e.g. inner and outer wing flaps). Textures may be applied to any part of the aircraft for complete customisation of liveries.

System Requirements

System Specifications - Windows: 98, 2000, ME and XP; CPU: Pentium 1GHz+;

Macintosh: Mac OS X (v10); CPU: PowerMac 800+; RAM: 512 MB; Hard Disk Space: 8GB;

DVD ROM Drive (Any speed); Graphics Card: 16MB (OpenGL Compatible);

Monitor: 1024x768+ Resolution Joystick/Yoke: USB.

NEW VIDEO DEMOS NOW AVAILABLE!

[Click here for High Speed Broadband Version]

[Click here for Standard Broadband Version]

Full details of the Horizon range can be accessed at www.horizonsimulation.com

About Horizon Simulation

Horizon Simulation is a pioneering software specialist that leads the world in the development of highly detailed and accurate virtual models of the real world for use in training and gaming flight simulators.

A British company, based in London, Horizon works with the best international data suppliers to create highly innovative and immersive scenery upgrades for the world's most advanced flight simulations. Horizon's products give simulator pilots the same views from their virtual cockpit that real aviators enjoy in flight, providing fascinating landscapes for the casual user and a large amount of training value to private and professional pilots around the globe.

Horizon's operations in the professional simulation industry for both civilian and defence clients assures that its consumer products are always at the forefront of the development of virtual modeling. Insight from these professional liaisons is used to conceive new software upgrades for consumer simulators, which are tested and used by some of the world's most revered flying establishments.

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If you require any assets, samples, screen shots please feel free to contact at Chaloner Associates on the above contact email address or by telephone on +44 (0)1223 701451