REVIEW of Bill Lyons' Swift Classic Package for FS2002
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By Roger "Maddog" Gaylor

Hello fellow simmers, the Maddog here again with an impromptu review for you of the latest creation of Bill Lyons'. I would have
gotten it out sooner but I got wiped out by a bad Worm and it forced me
to do some updating so by now a good part of the FS Community has seen
the new Swift classic of Bill's. But now I'll tell you what you get for your money.


First of all you get an aircraft that you haven't seen before; heck I
never even heard of it before but that doesn't mean a whole lot either
heh heh. It is a great little general avaition type of an aircraft
and it comes in four flavors. To begin with it is an aircraft from the
1940s and was only produced for about five years and even then there were only about fifteen hundred of them. It is a sleek little bird and
from what I understand a few of them are still around today. As usual
you get the vintage version which comes in a float version and also in a ski version for those wintery slopes.





Then the fourth version is one that is sort of special. You might say it's the "hotrod" version and boy does it scoot along. It's a shame most of you younger simmers who have grown up in the eightys didn't get to experience the cool muscle cars that most of us old "foggies" did from the seventies on back twenty or more years. So Bill's newest creation will give you a bit of a taste of a "Muscle Plane" to make up for it. All that's missing is twin antennaes with squirrle tails tied to them. Even the engine sounds like a souped up "hemi" with a supercharger, headers and exhaust cutouts and, it has plenty of power to boot. If you press the Shift + E key you can open the hood and see the engine inside which I think is soooo cool.



As usual when you buy one of Bill's avaition wonders you more than get your money's worth and this one is no different. You get not only the
aircraft in four different flavors but you also get some scenery and
you also get your own personalized plates and goodies with it which by
now has come to become Bill's trademark I think.



Bill can really put together some nice scenery and great flights to places you never even know existed in Flight Simulator. You'll see your name on the hangar buildings as you fly to each area of interest.


And of course one of my favorite things Bill designs is some ground
vehicles now and then he'll even do a human figure to go into his projects to make it more interesting.



Now that's not including the human pilots and passengers. You can see them by a toggle of the "/" key in not only the planes but also the cars and boats that comes with the sceneries. The last project was the "Sportsman" package and with it was a human skater and skier to ski down the snowy slopes. Great fun too. So with this package comes a
great looking Willys Jeep. It also comes in a couple different flavors
with logos and personalized nameplates on the rear.



It is a lot of fun hotroding around in the jeep which has exhaust smoke
and the wheels turn left and right. For all you military types, you can
drive around in it to view military scenery bases.



And it has a comfortable interior with working speedometer and gauges
that work and if you drive it around at night you'll see complete headlights and tailights to show you the way.



And don't forget to toggle the driver on/off with the "/" key.

Now to the aircraft itself. Like I said it comes in a ski, float, a
vintage model and the hotrod. If you use the Shift + E key you'll open
the great looking canopy with it's sleek glass to see the great looking
virtual interior. They all come with a totally functional and animated cockpit with a full aray of instruments which of course light up at night. Check out the chrome choke handle :-)




The aircraft is designed with the polished aluminum finish and of course has plenty of detail to keep you awe for days to come. In the
hotrod with checkard custom paint you can feel the power as you move
forward the throttle and smell the leather of the seats. Great little
plane. Now all I need is my old '57 Chevy and I'll be in hog heaven
hee hee.


As you dart from location to location you'll see hangars with your name
personalized on it and you'll also see some of the hangar doors opening
and closing and animated search lights at night.



Just one of the many details you'll enjoy with Bill's sceneries.
And there are plenty of locations from Duffy's tavern to May Creek and San Juan Islands. There's never a shortage of places to visit. And
watch out for the deer that may dart across your path.



And as a special treat Bill has included a flight that will allow you
to see the Aurora Lights.



Well there you have it boys and girls and. You'll have plenty of fun
with this one. And you can't go wrong with the price either, not at
$12.50 you won't. When every other designer is trying to retire, Bill
realizes that simmers can't always aford high prices, (although this
little gem is priceless). And it's as easy as 123 with PAYPAL on the
net.

There is a flawless installation and first class service. You can also visit Bill on the site's FORUM for great support and any questions you might ask.

And if this the first time you've experienced one of Bill's creations,
do yourself a favor and visit him and his pals at their site, "The
Golden Eagles Squadron". And check out Bill's other offerings of
classic aircraft like the Waco, Tigermoth, Sportsman's package, the
Ryan ST and and also some great freeware from not only him but his fellow designers at the links below.

Golden Eagles Squadron
windride@netexpress.net
http://windrfters.com/index.htm

Swift page
http://windrfters.com/SWpage.htm

Golden Eagles Squadron FORUM
http://members5.boardhost.com/golden/

PAYPAL on line
http://www.paypal.com/

Review by Roger "Maddog" Gaylor