A newcomer to flight simulation addons for Microsoft Flight Simulator has released their first payware to the market in a unique product category. Sim Flight Ventures has released what they are calling Epic Ops; a new series of flight scenarios designed to challenge experienced simulator pilots.
In “Epic Ops”, pilots will be tasked with landing at airports near challenging terrain and in poor weather. What makes this addon unique is that the airports in question have little to nothing in the way of runway lighting or instrument approaches, so simulator pilots will be forced to carefully plan their own approach down onto the runway, taking care to avoid terrain and maintaining a steady glideslope.
Sim Flight Ventures’ contextualises their new package of landing challenge-type scenarios with some backstory. The press releases states that a deadly contagion is rapidly spreading across rural areas, with an emerging need for medical supplies to be transported to affected areas urgently. However, poor weather conditions, steep terrain and a lack of published approach procedures are all hampering efforts to deliver these supplies by air.
Aviation authorities have granted you special permission to fly in these conditions which would otherwise be considered highly dangerous, but only if you dare fly your aircraft into the storm.
This places Epic Ops into an entirely new product category. Eyes from across the MSFS addon developer community will be watching keenly to see how Epic Ops performs, and how simmers react to it.
Epic Ops products include pre-defined flight plans between specifically selected airports (minus the approach) and two customised weather pre-sets for each flight: Instrument meteorological conditions (IMC) or visual meteorological conditions (VMC). The developer states that their intention for adding a VMC pre-set is so that pilots can practice their approaches in easier conditions before adding additional layers of challenge.
Epic Ops will be a series of products, each containing 10 landing scenarios. Today, the Crown Mountains and Rocky Mountains packages have each released at $16.95AUD (€9.95), with an additional geographical area listed as ‘Coming Soon’.
Further product details can be found at the Sim Flight Ventures website.
Let us know in the comments what you think of this intriguing new product offering, and whether you will be taking a look at Epic Ops!
