'Today' we present you JS-Design, and more in particular, Jens Winkler. Jens has been working for some time on making the old Zeppelins come back to life. His Zeppelin LZ1 and associated hangar is his first commercial software.

The Zeppelin is NOT an FSAddon product, but rather FSAddon Publishing is helping Jens to market it, by providing the contacts to resellers and making publicity.

Very soon now there will be a Zeppelin flying again in your FS2002 or FS2004 flight simulator. And not just 'any' zeppelin, but the very first one ever built, by Graf (Count) Zeppelin and his team "Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Luftschifffahrt Friedrichshafen".

The maiden flight of this very first steerable airship was in 1900. Although there were numerous competitors in Europe, Count Zeppelin made his mark and had the first airship flying. This first flight was not without problems. The rudders for instance did not seem to have much influence at all, and so extensive changes were made. This changed version, The Zeppelin LZ1, is the one you'll be able to fly in your flight simulator.

The model was built using views from side, front and top, and old descriptions .These were by no means complete, but nonetheless all effort has been made to design a model that approaches the real one as much as possible. Some of the details are based on 'assumptions', because nobody today knows exactly HOW the Zeppelin behaved, or what the cabins looked like in the inside.

The goal of this title is to allow the flightsimmer to make a little trip in time. Back to the time were civil aviation was still in its infancy. The Zeppelin is a great 'tool' for scenery lovers and VFR pilots alike to float over their favorite places and enjoy the views. The airships allows one to fly almost silent, with low speed and good all-round view. With a bit of head wind one can even stay in one place!

The Zeppelin is also aimed at the flightsimmer who loves to enjoy a bit of nostalgia.

Jens has worked on and off on the package over the past two years and it has now resulted in a very nice package, that includes:

- a realistic 3D model, made for FS2002 and FS2004
- highres textures (some of them photoreal)
- detailed and realistic animations
- docking masts appearing when the Zeppelin sets down and the 'parking brake' is pulled
- rope ladders dropping down on pressing Shift+E
- sandbags for extra weight
- dropping sand makes the zeppelin lighter and increases altitude
- realistic animation for the weight movement (to change the pitch)
- virtual and 2D cockpit
- special shadow model to increase performance

And apart from the actual 'aircraft' model, there is also

- a model of the zeppelin hall or hangar at Manzell, near Friedrichshafen on the Bodensee
- extensive documentation with information and facts regarding the original model and the FS model

and as a little 'extra'

- the new Airbus A380 hall that is to be built on Frankfurt Airport to accommodate for the new 'jumbo'. The building portrayed is just a model as proposed to the Lufthansa. Whether or not the terminal will look like this or not is not sure yet, the information was taken straight from the architect.

The scenery items can be installed separately.

More information can also be gleaned from Jens' personal website at http://www.js-design.de.vu

Below some more screenshots of the LZ1 and its scenery !!

Realeased May 11, 2005

François A. Dumas, May 11, 2005