PAL

Well, I'll settle for any improvement, but I do want to use it for navigation, too. I love to explore and try out new airports, and I love X-Plane Maps' ability to keep my plane icon centered on the map as I move around the country exploring. I only wish it had more detail (cities, towns, rivers, etc) and a little more range (so I can start my descent and plan my approach before I get there). If I'm at FL330 and 500 KIAS and see a nice airport I'd like to land at - well, panic time! Monday I overflew an airport by 25 miles before I could get down to it! And that is shutting off the engines entirely and not restarting until two miles out. PAL

Thank you, BlueB. I will certainly look into that. Also, another member suggested I look into Navigraph. I appreciate everyone's help! PAL

Wow! Fascinating article, and fascinating comment section, too. From an X-Plane fan since version 6. I also am greatly looking forward to version 12. The most important things to me are: 1. Can I still fly all my old planes and use my purchased sceneries? (I have a ton of them - well over $1000 invested over the years, with some old favorites I'd hate to lose.) Most of them still work with V11, and I hope that will still be true with V12. 2. Maps. I have a second monitor on the side where I keep my X-Plane maps, so I can always know where I am in the world. I fly all over the world, many long-distance flights, many places I've never been. Version 11 maps are OK, but can be hard to see / hard to find things, particularly when I'm trying to see long distances. I flew from Renton Field, WA nonstop to Juneau, AK today (2.5 hr flight), but my V11 map would not let me see more than about a quarter of my route at one time. I would like maps to zoom down to see the entire continent at one time! My computer has the horsepower. I would also like maps to have some landmarks, such as naming cities, rivers, bodies of water, etc. And possibly even pins or tags so I can use the maps to keep track of all the places I've been. Thank you all for your contributions to my flying enjoyment. PAL

If you are running on the tip tanks (with the tip tank pump set to L or R) and the main tanks are both dry, that is true. Switch the tip tank pump, and the engine dies. BUT, if you first transfer a little fuel with the main tank transfer switch (either way), it actually transfers some from the appropriate tip tank into a main tank, which gives you some to keep the engine going while you switch to the alternate tip tank. I, too, wish it would drain the tip tanks first. Somebody smarter than I ought to fix that. Better yet, have a tank selector switch.