September 3rd, 2010 - Aerosoft have released Airbus X. According to Aerosoft "The Aerosoft Airbus X is a high definition rendering of this venerable aircraft for FSX. Created with help from many Airbus pilots and Air Berlin it is what Aerosoft believes an airliner in FSX should be. Directly aimed at the user who likes to fly and not to spend too much time on configuration and pre-flight checks but who does not want to compromise on the modelling and features, this aircraft will appeal to a large group of flight simmers. The fully functional Virtual Cockpit puts the user in a fully immersive environment where detailed animations (all with sound effects) and a high level of detailed modelling show the level of details that separate FSX from FS2004." We like the sound of that. Airbus X is available initially as a download and will cost you around NZD$60 for both the A320 and 321 models. Several ARNZX forum members have purchased the aircraft so look out for a mini review and screenshots on the forum. More details can be found on the Aerosoft website here.
September 1st, 2010 - Tim Barnes, a Tauranga local and scenery developer for FSX (see his bay of plenty island series, Rotorua city and Mt Tarawera photo scenery series here) had a vision for New Zealand in FSX. Frustrated with the endless desert that is the 'out of the box' experience for New Zealand simmers, Tim decided it was time to address this shortfall. Over the past year or so he has been working on a new land class product. For those unfamiliar with land class, FSX uses 'land class' files to determine what textures it will use to paint the terrain in any given area. New Zealand was recognised as having terrible land class files that made our rich green country look like a beige desert.
 
Those days are now over with the release of Vector Land Class. Tim's website has this to say "Want the most realistic depiction of the country of New Zealand within Microsoft Flight Simulator X? Introducing Vector Land Class, a high fidelity landclass scenery package developed using innovative geo-spatial processing techniques to deliver breathtaking representations of Aotearoa/New Zealand." At NZD$65 this release offers extraordinary value for a scenery package that will quite literally transform your FSX experience of New Zealand. If you fly around New Zealand, you need to buy this add-on. Its as simple as that. For more information you can visit the official vector land class website here or find similar information on the windowlight website here, where you can also purchase it.
 
We have created a dedicated forum for VLC for posting screenshots, videos and information on this wonderful product. You can check out some screenshots now from NZEddy here.
 

August 29th, 2010 - Jon has posted a mini-review on the forum of Just Flights A320 Jetliner and has included large number of screenshots. Of note Jon comments that the A320 has "1 - Nice levels of detail on the external model, 2 - Good animations where you would expect them, 3 - Excellent engine sounds for both the IAE and CFM engines and includes ambient flightdeck, flap and gear door sounds, 4 - Functional VC with a higher level of detail than the default A321, though not all the switches work, 5 - Good performance in FSX, 6 - Genuine FSX model so bloom etc works and 7 - It comes with a hi-def paint-kit. Read Jon's full comments and view the screenshots here.
August 28th, 2010 - Were pleased to announce the opening of our new forum. As many will know we had some severe problems with our Invision forum with massive disruptions over recent months. As a result we have begun building a new php based forum hosted directly on the flightsim.co.nz servers. We are confident disruptions will be a thing of the past and we also hope to be able to provide new services as a result of the change. The new forum is now usable though still under construction. You can visit and join by clicking the link to the left.
August 27th, 2010 - Just Flight is pleased to announce the release of A320 Jetliner, the latest airliner expansion for Flight Simulator X in its widely acclaimed F-Lite series. The boxed version, with 20 authentic liveries, is shipping now.  Also the great value download version, with Air France, British Airways, Lufthansa and United liveries is also available at a price that would give most budget airlines a run for their money. Find out more and view screenshots on the JustFlight website here. We will also have lots of screenshots on our Forum soon!
August 23rd, 2010 - Captainsim are pleased to announce the 707-300 (flagman of the 707 Captain family) has been released.  Details and screenshots of this awesome looking FSX only bird at http://www.captainsim.com
August 1st, 2010 - Parik Panchal is stealing Jon's work and uploading it to flightsim websites claiming it as his own. So far files have been found on Simviation but our security team is currently broadening their search. Sadly guys like Parik are a dime a dozen petty crooks who seem to think stealing other peoples work is not only ok, but are then dumb enough to claim it as their own publicly. Jon's work is some of the most widespread and well known in the flightsim community, so when this type of theft happens its flagged pretty quickly. If people would like to email Parik and tell him what they think, his email address is Parik Pancha
July 14th, 2010 - The winner of our Flyboys.co.nz competition was Boykeromeo Haruaya. Congratulations and enjoy your flight!
June 30th, 2010 - Edward Boyte (many may know him has NZEddy from the ARNZX and other forums) has reached a personal milestone in scenery design with his first public release and his rendition of NZNE (North Shore Aerodrome). This is a comprehensive scenery designed to compliment Real NZ Super city, but is just as effective with FSX default scenery as well. Click the image to download.

June 18th, 2010 - To commemorate the 70th Anniversary of the Battle of Britain, Just Flight has released a package containing the three key aircraft in this desperate struggle in the air - the Spitfire, Hurricane and the Me 109. Custom built exclusively for Just Flight with incredibly detailed and ultra-high quality cockpits, numerous model variations, exacting flight dynamics, realistic engine sounds and high-resolution liveries, this is the ultimate simulation package to commemorate the Battle of Britain in FSX! All three aircraft are available as separate downloads or you can but the 70th Anniversary Pack containing all three at a substantially reduced price. Also, buy before June 25th and receive 1000 Just Flight Rewards, that's around NZD$30 off another purchase. Full details here.

June 2nd, 2010 - Just Flight have announced a couple of new releases. The first is Low & Fast Racing (see screenshots here and video below) "Get ready to race through the Grand Canyon, fly just feet above the Golden Gate Bridge, and narrowly avoid the Seattle Space Needle! Battle against the clock and race against AI competitors in 15 races and practice runs. This new low-priced package includes many custom features, dozens of voice-overs during the races, sound effects and pre-flight briefings!" Check out the product page on the Just Flight website here. You can also download a demo of this product free of charge. AWESOME!! The second is a new scenery package for Dublin International Airport (see screenshots here and video below). "This new high quality airport scenery from the Fly Wonderful Islands development team integrates seamlessly with FSX and features the new Terminal 2 buildings and jet ways, 3D taxiways lighting and signs, animated jet ways and seasonal textures. " Check out the product page here.
 
While you are checking out these products take some time to check out the 'under development' section as well. There you will find news on the upcoming Spitfire, Hurricane and Me-109 releases along with the A320, MD81/92, Grand Caravan and DC-3 models coming soon. Check em out here!
 
  

May 23rd, 2010 - We have published our review of the Just Flight Constellation Professional add-on. In the review Jon says "The external models making up Constellation Professional are very well made and have lots of detail and still retain good performance in FSX. Being fully FSX SDK compliant means the models have high numbers of polygons to get lovely curves and detail, and because aircraft of this era tended to feature predominantly metal finishes as opposed to being fully painted the high degree of reflectivity in the polished metal looks awesome.". On flying the Connie he says "If you can take the time to read and get familiar with the panels and differences in flying style over modern aircraft required to fly the Constellation I believe you are going to have hours of fun. She's a big heavy bird that fly's very well. How close is she to the real deal? That's hard for me to say with any authority but when I compared the numbers I was able to research regarding take-off, cruise and landing speeds she seemed to be on the money reasonably well.". He concludes by saying "The Constellation is a large prop powered aircraft from an era that was in its infancy regarding flight deck automation. To effectively fly this bird does require some perseverance and I think that's one of the appealing aspects of this add-on. Its a simulation of an aircraft developed in an era when the Wright brothers were still alive and jet aviation was still in development, and that says quite a bit. Constellation Professional wont be everyone's cup of tea because it reflects a different era but what it does provide is a different aviation experience from the relentless big jet add-ons we are seeing day after day, and for that it gets top marks." Read the full review by clicking the image below.
May 22nd, 2010 - Jon has released the China Eastern and Western Bulldogs skins, click the images to download.
May 15th, 2010 - Jon will be releasing two new skins shortly. The first for the defaul FSX 737-800 depicts the latest China Eastern special livery celebrating Expo 2010 and the second for the default FSX 747 features a purely fictional livery for Western Bulldog fans. We are expecting the files to come online in the next 48 hours.

May 11th, 2010 - Jon has released two new skins one celebrating the 50th Anniversary between Lufthansa and Boeing, and the other the fictional Avatar skin mentioned below. Click either image to download.
May 5th, 2010 - Jon has updated the United skin released yesterday to reflect the change from Sky team to Star Alliance. Click the image below to download the updated file. Note both skins use ezyzapper to install.
May 4th, 2010 - Jon has released two new skins for the default FSX B737-800 featuring the new United livery now that United and Continental have become one airline. We also have the latest Southwest special featuring the Florida State Seal, Click the image to download. We suggest you watch the video in HD.

May 3rd, 2010  - Here's some interesting news for FSX aficionados. Just Flight have signed an exclusive development deal with Aeroplane Heaven to develop FSX aircraft exclusively under the Just Flight name. The first three look to be the classic WWII triple of the Spitfire, Hurricane and ME109. Aeroplane Heaven are known for quality work so this will be an interesting one to watch.
April 2nd, 2010 - With Warbirds over Wanaka happening this Easter weekend we thought it was a great time to publish our review of one of Just Flights latest release, Airshow Pilot. What's even better is between now and April 6th you'll get a 15% discount of this and every other title in the Just Flight range, the discount applies to both download and boxed products. In his review Jon says "Just Flight are gaining a reputation for innovative releases for FSX and Airshow Pilot, one of their latest, is no exception. While the premise of Airshow Pilot is relatively simple i.e. you are a display or Aerobatic Pilot, the implementation of this is anything but. Now I don't mean that in a negative way, its more of an acknowledgement that this is a very thorough add-on that has a huge amount of depth and expansion possibilities." Of his experience using the software Jon says "Visually the way Airshow Pilot displays the routines in practice mode is pretty impressive. Initially the entire routine is displayed but once you start only the current aspect of the display is shown, so what can seem like a hugely complicated mess becomes manageable. However your flying skills will be tested, I came away from my first sessions feeling totally inadequate as a pilot but that reflected it was my first time, and even though Airshow Pilot had been gentle with me it can't compensate for a lack of flying skill." and of Airshow Pilots tools "The second and what I consider to be the funnest tool is the Flightsim Population Designer. With this tool you can add quite literally thousands of scenery objects from FSX onto the airport where you are conducting your show. It also features the ability to have any aircraft in your inventory displayed as a static aircraft. This can be anything from a default B737-800 to the latest Captainsim 767-300."  Jon concludes his review by saying "Going into this review I wasn't quite sure if I would like it because I don't tend to do allot of aerobatics, but once I got into it I was hooked. The flexibility and range of routines will in my view satisfy most types of flyers." You can read the full review by clicking the image below. We have also embedded a short video of Airshow Pilot below (Note if you are running the 64bit version of Internet Explorer this may not show up), we recommend you watch the HD version here.
April 1st, 2010 - Jon has released 5 new skins for both the default FSX 737-800 and A321. Click each image to download. Note these files use the ezyzapper utility to install, if you want to do so manually the config information is in the texture folder.
February 28th, 2010 - Captainsim advise the CS Weather Radar is now included in the 727 Captain version 2.4 as a free bonus. Check out the Captainsim website for more details.
February 14th, 2010 -A couple of news releases from our friends at JustFlight. The first relates to expansion packs for the CLS 767 aircraft and the second the wonderfull Air Hauler for FSX. Details below.

767-200/300 Expansion Pack released- Today also sees the release of an Expansion Pack for our recently released 767-200/300 Series F-Lite expansion. This excellent additional pack adds ex tra content to 767-200/300 Series, providing cargo, tanker, AWACS and winglet versions in a variety of liveries.  Priced at just £5.99 / €7.95 / $8.99 the pack offers good value.  There’s one pack for FS2004 and one for FSX to keep things simple. For further product details, screenshots and purchase details click here
Major Air Hauler Update - To begin with users of Air Hauler are in for a real treat.  Updates and support from the Developer have been crucial to the success of Air Hauler and today we can offer a real treat to all owners of this ground-breaking product.   We have released a major new update. Two excellent new features (that were earmarked for the sequel) are included in this latest Service Pack, which we’d recommend all users instantly install. There's now a chatroom on the Radar Screen page which will let you keep in touch with all the other AirHaulics flying throughout the world.  And Also included in this new Service Pack is Twitter integration – if you’re subscribed to Twitter, you can now receive tweets from the AI pilots working for you! The update contains more!  Improvements have been made to the Radar display altitude and speeds, the job generation system, fuel loading, map printing and the way your AI pilots are displayed on maps.  There are other features too, for the full lowdown on this exceptional update and to see what what’s included click here
February 1st, 2010 - PMDG have released their 747-800F/i expansion model for the 747-400. While this extension to the base model still uses the 744 flight dynamics it does add two new models to your fleet. The model is Boeing approved and looks outstanding. Check out the PMDG website here for more details and screenshots.
January 28th, 2010 - Captainsim are pleased to announce the B-52 BUFF Exterior model is released and available exclusively from their store at captainsim.com. You'll also find plenty of screenshots and details.
January 28th, 2010 - Welcome to 2010 and what we hope will be a special year for us here at ARNZX as we celebrate Jon's 10 Anniversary as a flightsim developer. We will be looking back over the 10 years and some of the model and repaint releases Jon has made in that time for Flight Simulator 2000, 2002, 2004 and FSX. We know he is also planning some special 10th Anniversary skins for the FSX default aircraft as well as a number of other projects over the year.
December 25th, 2009  - The team at ARNZX would like to offer all our friends and supporters a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. We'll be on summer holiday between now and mid January but the website will remain as is during that period. We have uploaded and are now hosting Jon's F-18 skins. Many of our files never survived the AVSIM hack so we will be progressively hosting all our own work over the coming year.
December 21st, 2009  - Something a bit different and a first for ARNZX with a review of a 1:200 scale model of the RNZAF Boeing 757-2K2 available from the Model plane.co.nz website. Check it out here.
December 19th, 2009  - Just Flight have released an interesting new product called Airshow Pilot. The Just Flight website describes it as - "Airshow Pilot is all about aerobatics, and you’ll be testing your skills against other pilots in competitions around the world - both AI competitors generated offline on your home PC and real competitors who will be flying in the same events throughout the year and comparing their results with yours online.". To find out just what its all about you can download the demo from the Airshow Pilot homepage on the Just Flight website here. You might also want to take advantage of the current 15% discount on all boxed and download products.
December 13th, 2009  - The ARNZX forum is running a special Christmas competition. Join up and be in to win heaps of awesome prizes including a Skymarks Air New Zealand link Q300 model, Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X and Heroes over Europe for PC and some cool aviation related DVD's. Click the Forum link to check it out.
December 11th, 2009  - The Captainsim 1 day sale is now on, everything is euro 9.99 which is about NZD$20. You want the CS767, go get it NOW!
November 22nd, 2009  - Jon and Scott have completed Part 1 of the Captainsim 767 Captain review. In it Jon says "Before I share my views and thoughts on the visual model, panel and flight characteristics of the 767, and Scott shares his thoughts from a pilots point of view, I want to deal with performance first. I have thought long and hard about this because in my view there is no doubt that in order to get the best from the Captainsim 767ER you need a good computer." and "From a systems perspective I am not qualified to comment on the accuracy of what is on offer with the 767, what I will say is what Captainsim have provided is very comprehensive particularly in the area of navigation and the fully working and integrated FMC and autopilot." and Scott summarizes thing when he states "Overall Captainsim  have provided the flightsim community with another professional aircraft that looks and sounds the part, the comments I have made while some may think to be harsh I think are justified by the fact these are not new issues but the same ones I have encountered on the 757 which is a very similar add-on. However that aside while surprised at first about another 767, this offering from Captainsim has defiantly provided an accurate 767 simulation for 2009. " Click the image below to read the full review and see our rating.
November 22nd, 2009  - All our missions are now available as direct downloads from this site as the links to AVSIM have remained broken. Click the MISSIONS tab on the menu to download.
November 22nd, 2009  - Captainsim have released the AWAC's add-on for the 767 Captain. Based on the 767-200 aircraft the huge radome atop the rear fuselga emakes this an imposing beast. Full details and screenshots can be found on the Captainsim website.
November 14th, 2009  - Captainsim have released yet another expansion for their 767 Captain model, this time featuring the KC-767 and also updates to Part One of the manual. Captainsim advise that the E767-AWACS is the next scheduled add-on. If you own the 727 Captain package and want to give repainting a go, the paint kit has also been released. Full details on the Captainsim website here.
October 30th, 2009  - The expansion packs for Captainsim's 767 just keep coming with the release of the 767 Freighter. Details and screenshots can be found here on the Captainsim website. We'll be including this model in our review.
October 24th, 2009  - Its Labour Weekend in New Zealand and that means a public holiday on Monday. YAY! We have decided to release a few screenshots from the upcoming CaptainSim 767-300/200 review. This is certainly an impressive bird as the screenshots show. If you don't want to wait for our review check out more details at the Captainsim website --> www.captainsim.com
October 23rd, 2009  - Captainsim have released service pack 1.3 for their 767-300, and the first expansion pack featuring the 767-200 variant. Both Jon and Scott Hickey are working on the review for both these birds and we hope to have it online in the next week or so. Captainsim have also announced their weather radar which we reviewed a few months back, is now fully compatible with any rotorcraft in FSX. Check out the Captainsim website here for full details!!
September 16th, 2009  - We have embedded Jon's skin installation video below to assist those struggling to install FSX repaints. A note for Vista users, remember to change your security settings for the FSX folder or you will get a message saying you can't save the file. Alternatively save the updated config file to your desktop and then copy and paste it into the correct aircraft folder.

 
September 16th, 2009  - JustFlight have announced a demo for Air Hauler freight flying and management add-on for FSX (See our review HERE) is available to download now. The demo is limited to 10 days of use and includes almost all the features of the full release version. It won't let you install add-on aircraft and scenery into Air Hauler, use AI pilots or upload your company statistics to the Air Hauler Portal, but otherwise includes almost all the many flexible features which have made the full program such a hit. You can download the demo directly here.
September 14th, 2009  - Captain Sim have announced details and preview images of their 767-200, see them at the captainsim website.

September 2nd, 2009  - Captain Sim have released 767 Captain version 1.2. This upgrade features an extensive list of changes and includes the Captainsim Weather radar as a free add-on. You may recall we reviewed this product as a stand alone in June, you can read that review here. Visit the Captainsim 767 Captain product page for full details.
August 22nd, 2009  - Just Flight is pleased to announce the release today of the download version of Constellation Professional. This fantastic simulation for Flight Simulator X has been developed by the award-winning team at Aeroplane Heaven and includes eleven aircraft, spanning three different Constellation types. It features state-of-the-art modelling and design and a huge range of unique effects and animations that bring the classic Connie to life. Constellation Professional is exceptional value at just £19.66 / €24.95 / $29.99 and the boxed version, due for release on 18th September, is available to pre-order now from Just Flight at the same price. Two packages of additional aircraft are planned for release in early September and these will include the Super Constellation and military variants. The Constellation is a true aviation pioneer and thanks to its distinctive shape it is one of the most easily recognised airliners ever to grace the skies. The C69 Military transport, C69/L049A and the L049A production versions are included in Constellation Professional and span a range of 11 different aircraft. The attention to detail is, as you’d expect, second to none and Constellation Professional has been exhaustively tested by pilots with experience of real Constellation flying. If ever an aircraft deserved the description ‘classic’ then this is it. Take a trip back to the golden age of air travel!
 
  • Fantastic animations include extending ground boarding stairs truck, wheel chocks, fire extinguisher, a stewardess to greet you at the boarding door, animated pilots and there’s even a selectable ground crew member to watch you starting the engines.
  • Fully functional, detailed virtual cockpit with ‘liqui-smooth’ gauges and carefully modelled controls such as fuel dump levers, trim controls, autopilot gear and nose-wheel steering wheel.
  • Complete flight engineer’s, radio and co-pilot's stations with fully functional equipment and gauges, detail animations including outer, middle and inner marker arrays, course deviation meters, prop feathering gear and prop reversers on the throttles.
 
Constellation Professional comes with a Pro paint pack that contains texture files with registration marks and other aids to assist correct placement and alignment of textures. SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS: Flight Simulator X, Windows Vista or XP MINIMUM HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS: PC with 3.0GHz or any dual-core processor, 1.0GB RAM. 256MB graphics card, 1.0GB hard drive space.
August 22nd, 2009  - Captain Sim are pleased to announce the 767 Captain version 1.1 is available. For details please visit http://www.captainsim.com

July 29th, 2009 - On Saturday August 15th Don Milne (www.milnes.co.nz) is hosting a Flightsim gathering in Wellington, New Zealand. Members of the ARNZX  and NZFF forums will be there showing off the best that both FSX and FS2004, along with other sims such as Combat Flight Simulator, have to offer. This is an open event and all are welcome. Full details of the event can be found on the www.milnes.co.nz website. We are hoping to run a fly-in event Saturday afternoon where our own in-house Air Traffic Controller (who is currently based at Ohakea in the real world looking after the RNZAF fly-boys) will be managing the skies around Wellington on our dedicated server. Visit the ARNZX forum for more details as we get closer to the event.
July 27th, 2009 - AVSIM's library is back online which means our files are now also back. Thanks for your patience.
July 22nd, 2009 - Jon has added a fictitious retro A340-500 to the skin collection for Tom Ruth's model, this one showing the Air New Zealand livery as it appeared on early DC-8 aircraft operated in the 1960's.
July 20th, 2009 - To continue the popular series of Pro Line products Captainsim are pleased to announce the release of the 767 Captain expansion for FSX. For details visit the Captainsim website here.
July 18th, 2009 - Jon has added the Etihad Formula 1 skin for the A340-600, click the image below to download.
July 18th, 2009 - Jon has added two new skins featuring a real world Lufthansa A340-600 and fictitious 500. The QATAR 600 has also had a minor modification made to the fuselage texture so the tail and fuselage textures marry correctly. Click the images below to download.

July 17th, 2009 - Dead Download Links - Thanks to all those who have emailed us letting us know the majority of our download links are dead. As you know our files are linked to those uploaded on AVSIM so until the library is back online our files remain off-line. We are currently working on a site revamp and this will include some options for file hosting here to avoid this type of disruption in the future. In the mean time you can find the majority of the files on Flightsim.com and several other popular flightsim websites. Like mushrooms our skins seem to pop up in all sorts of places without our knowledge.
July 17th, 2009 - Jon has released 9 skins for Thomas Ruth's Airbus A340-500 and 600 models. Each one is supplied with the ezyzapper automated installer.
Tom Ruth's Airbus A340-600 - Click each image to download
Tom Ruth's Airbus A340-500 - Click each image to download
July 17th, 2009 - JustFlight have released the latest update to Air Hauler which is not at version 3.63. The latest release includes a number of fixes but also adds the AH Radar feature. For full details and download visit the JustFlight website here. The latest Flying Club aircraft the Beechcraft Duchess 76 is now also available as a fully functional 10 day demo, details and download can be found here.

July 10th, 2009 - Great news, Thomas Ruth has released his Airbus A340-500 and 600 models along with the MRT A330-300. All three are in keeping with the amazing quality we have come to expect from Tom, get them now from Flightsim.com. Jon is planning several skin releases and an extensive review of the complete set of models soon.
June 28th, 2009 - A big congratulations to our Air New Zealand 787-900 winner Nicholas Chin. Congratulations Nicholas, were sure you'll love the model which will be coming your way courtesy of Modelplanes.co.nz!
June 26th, 2009 - Jon has released two new skins depicting Air Canada and a fellow Canadian operator Sunwing. Click the image to download the file. Note these skins include the new ezyzapper install application. Simply unzip the folder and then double click the ezyzapper icon, browse to your 737-800 folder and then click 'Install Repaints'. Ezyzapper will copy the texture folders to the correct location AND update the 737-800 config file for you. Note for Vista users, you may need to right click on the ezyzapper icon and run it as administrator. Note if you are running the Chrome browser the image links may not work for you, download the Sunwing skin here and Air Canada here.

March 16th, 2009 - Max Hanna, a member of No. 30 (Hobsonville) Squadron Air Training Corps went solo in January this year at the Air Training Corps National Aviation Power Flying Course held at Woodbourne in Blenheim. Max was fortunate enough to receive the Air New Zealand Scholarship. This meant that he was able to choose a destination across the Tasman, or domestic, and fly there and back on the Flight Deck – free. Max's article which you can read by clicking here, tells his day from the left hand jump seat of the Air New Zealand Boeing 777-200ER ZK-OKG. It includes over 60 photos and 3 videos. Enjoy.