Stephen

Scenery Upgrade : ELLX Luxembourg V2 by Just Sim Two sceneries have made a tectonic shift in my routes and service network over the last year, and they are actually within cooee of each other in central western Europe and both sceneries were by JustSim. One was the excellent EBBR - Brussels and the other was ELLX - Luxembourg, and both sceneries have been used extensively in reviews over the last year and certainly with ELLX. Good highly realistic accessible scenery is what you are looking for with that exceptional realism while flying in or out or doing the work on the ground. ELLX had a lot of this and more... great realistic approach and departures with excellent autogen, elevation scenery, lovely terminal and walkon stands (very important) and to top it all out then ELLX is also a major cargo hub (CargoLux's main base) to keep the haulers very happy... it works and works well and you can't ask for more than that and all this is at great value as well. The initial release was just only over two years ago, but here we have V2 of the scenery, this is not an update but a new upgrade, which means you have to repurchase the scenery all over again, but there is a discount US$6.00 coupon to take a bit of the pain out of the upgrade. ELLX Luxembourg V2 Oddly at first glance then this V2 looks not much different at all from the V1 release.... And outwardly in the buildings and infrastructure it is in reality a look and feel that nothing has really changed here either... but it has, at the real ELLX. The Luxembourgers have wanted a bit more space to park more aircraft at ELLX, as they wanted a few more stands for the passenger services and a lot more apron space for the Cargolux facility. In stands on Apron P1 they have added in A12 and A14 right next to the terminal.... On the main cargo apron P7 then the original apron has been doubled in capacity by the new P10 Apron which was Apron P7 extended outwards... This covers stands Z5 to Z11 and Z12 which is an A,B and C stand. All the ATC routes have been adjusted to match the apron areas, and few of the ground routes have had some refining as well. If using WorldTraffic3 then a regeneration is required (after saving your older ground routes and parking preferences). The regen is very good, and a nice filler to the areas not covered in the first WT3 ground route generation.... so this is a nice update for activity in ELLX as well. The full base mesh has been replace for V2, and it really doesn't look that much different, if slightly lighter in tone? The N1 approach road to the terminal is still actually a building site, so part of scenery is correct, but the Campanile LUXEMBOURG - Airport hotel is missing which would have made it more authentic and filled part of the flat blank spot? The hotel is supposed to be in the foreground (below right). Grass and trees have had a makeover, it is now more spring with flowers than the just grass before... trees are new, and more fuller in context. Ground clutter and airport vehicles have all had attention, there is a lot more clutter and of a higher quality, ELLX feels now far more fuller and busy. The autogates have been totally upgraded, but they are still the older marginal version than the newer more versatile SAM plugin, for some reason JustSim doesn't embrace the SAM concept to their derision? The airbridges have lost their excellent 3C Payment advertising as well, but the new glass does now nicely match the excellent terminal's The Terminals internal lighting has now also been improved, I was highly critical of the dark black earlier version terminal... it looks thankfully far better here, but a few notches still higher in brightness and would have been perfect. Street and carpark lighting has also been refined and changed, it does look again far better but the lighting is still quite blotchy in areas, but overall the lighting is now very good. Taxiway lighting has also had some attention, with brighter lighting and filled in taxi centreline marking that was missing before, all the new aprons have the new lighting in ground and overhead as well... all the ground markings had been redone and relabeled to the current ELLX chart layouts. All the base mesh and textures have been replaced, and the dynamics of the PBR effects are certainly more evident. In wet conditions then ELLX looks even more realistic and shines with realism... beautiful. The X-Plane10 version has been dropped, but that is rational as with the more extensive X-Plane11 dynamics at work here won't work in any new XP10 upgrade anyway. A note on the autogen here... it is huge and very realistic with the Germanic feel of the housing and urban infrastructure. But it does need a bit of power to run it all as it is quite extensive, but to be able to run the autogen at the MAX settings and you will be very happy with the results. I recommend to read the original X-PlaneReviews Flyin review of the JustSim ELLX - Luxembourg scenery to understand the changes in this upgrade. ___________________________________ Summary This is a very nice update to ELLX - Luxembourg from JustSim, but this is not an update but a payable upgrade. You do however get a US$6.00 discount if you have purchased the earlier version, but only two years into the X-Plane11 run and more payment is however debatable for what is really just an update? So would I invest and update. Well yes because the scenery for me is very usable and I have used it frequently for personal flying, reviews and it has always delivered a fully credible and realistic simulation... so yes it is still an excellent investment. New features in V2 is more ground space in new aprons, and current to the latest airport charts, more and better clutter, better lighting, new grass and trees, better linage and taxiway lighting, redone ATC routes (more WT3 compatiblity), base mesh and better PBR textures all help in redefining the airport to a higher standard. The autogates by Marginal have also been completely redone to a higher and better standard with match glass to the terminal, but you also lose the lovely 3C Payment advertising and the sheer versatility of the SAM plugin (opening CargoLux hangar doors would have been brilliant). Overall this is an excellent scenery, and a must have for any Cargo Hauler with the Cargolux hub based here, as noted I use ELLX a lot, so a lot of use to me is also a lot of value and what the scenery represents to my simulation flying. If JustSim will now just update and see the scenery out of the full X-Plane11 run, I think in the long run you will easily accept the full investment of this scenery... Highly Recommended _____________________________________________________________________________________ The ELLX - Luxembourg Findel V2 Airport by JustSim is NOW available! from the X-Plane.Org Store here : There is now only one version of this scenery for Plane11... the X-Plane10 version has now been dropped. ELLX - Luxembourg Findel Airport v2 For previous purchaser there is a US$6.00 discount on this upgrade, so look under your original order at the .OrgStore to find your coupon code. Your Price: US$19.80 Features Custom taxiways and airport lights Shading and occlusion (texture baking) effects on terminal and other airport buildings High resolution photo scenery near airport and city High resolution ground textures / Custom runway textures High resolution building textures Runway reflection effect Volumetric ground effect textures Compatible with X-Plane 11 features Animated gates (AutoGate plugin by Marginal) Animated ground vehicles World Traffic compatible X-Life traffic compatible Optimized for excellent performance New in v2.0 - new P10 apron and stands added - stands on P1 changed - new base mesh for the airport area - new PBR materials for ground and buildigs - new markings for the whole airport - new ortho imagery - improved some textures - taxiway lights reworked - new grass and trees - streetlights reworked - changed some models - new autogates models - new models for ground equipment - routes changed for AI and WT3/X-life Requirements : X-Plane 11 (Fully updated) Windows, Mac or Linux 4GB VRAM Minimum - 8GB+ VRAM Recommended Framerate is excellent for the density of the scenery, but still subject to computer system standards Current and upgrade version: 2.0 (May 21st 2019) Installation and documents: Download for the ELLX - Luxembourg Findel Airport is 861.53mb and the two unzipped files are deposited in "Custom Scenery" Folder ELLX_JustSim_v2.0 (1.93.gb) ELLX_JustSim_v2.0 Mesh (20.24mb) Files must be set in this order or cut and paste the correct order in your scenery_pack.ini text file (In the Custom Scenery folder) You will need to have the checkbox ticked for the X-Plane item "runways follow terrain contours" (General Menu). This NEEDS to be ON. Documents: Installation notes, no manual or WT3 ground routes (regeneration will work fine) No charts are provided but these are good : JeppView _______________________________________________ Upgrade Review by Stephen Dutton 27th May 2019 Copyright©2019: X-PlaneReviews (Disclaimer. All images and text in this review are the work and property of X-PlaneReviews, no sharing or copy of the content is allowed without consent from the author as per copyright conditions) 

Aircraft Overview : Embraer ERJ Family by X-Crafts X-Crafts announced their ERJ 195 LR in May 2013, and released the aircraft August 2014. In the review it was in a design and quality sense brilliant in those Pre-PBR less effect X-Plane10 days, and I recognised the huge talent straight away. But single form developers can be brilliant at one area, in this case the modeling and design, but weak in other areas and that showed with this entry work back then. Early updates came thick and fast, but it was not until Steve Wilson came aboard and redesigned the FMS and systems did the ERJ 195 LR really then become an all round nice aircraft. Difficult as well was that SSG (Supercritical Simulations Group) had their own versions of the E-Jet 170 and 190 LR. It created a development race between the two camps, that really none won except the punters with ever growing features and details, both aircraft now from X-Crafts or SSG are certainly worthy investments. As both E-Jet designs reached their high level then we expected both camps again to go head to head with their next projects. But they didn't... SSG went to the CRJ 700, but X-Crafts kept faithful to Embraer with their ERJ aircraft. Rumors stated a variant, as the most wanted was the E140, many others stated the smaller E135, and more the larger E145... the announcement covered them all with the stated E135, E140 and the E145, wow a full family of ERJ's excellent! and that is what you get here the ERJ family... but wait! there is is more. What you do actually get in the series package is the Embraer ERJ Family of ALL ERJ's in the E135, E140, E145 and the E145XR and.... also the ERJ private jet version of the Legacy 650! That is altogether five aircraft... let us look at the five variants. ERJ135 3/37 Seats, 26.33 m (86 ft 5 in) length, Engines - Roll Royce AE 3007A - 7,580–9,440 lbf (33.7–42.0 kN) - Range ER: 1,300 nmi (2,400 km) ERJ140 3/44 Seats, 28.45 m (93 ft 4 in) length, Engines - Roll Royce AE 3007-A - 7,580–9,440 lbf (33.7–42.0 kN) - Range ER: 1,300 nmi (2,400 km) - The ERJ135 is a shortened version of the ERJ140 ERJ145 3/50 Seats, 29.87 m (98 ft 0 in) length, Engines - Roll Royce AE 3007A1 - 7,580–9,440 lbf (33.7–42.0 kN) - Range LR: 1,650 nmi (3,060 km) ERJ145XR 3/50 Seats, 29.87 m (98 ft 0 in) length, Engines - Roll Royce AE 3007A1E - 8917 lbf (39.67 kN) - Range XR: 2,000 nmi (3,700 km) Legacy 650 2/13-14 Seats, 26.33 m / 86 ft 5 in length, Engines - Roll Royce AE 3007A2 - 9,020 lbf (40.1 kN) - Range 3,900 nmi / 7,223 km - Aircraft is based on the ERJ135 another version, the Legacy Shuttle can seat 19 to 37 in airline-style seats but without the range. For the details I am going to show the ERJ145 as it is in the middle of the family... Modeling is exceptional with perfect detailing.... note any glass with perfect rainbow or dirty reflections... Roll Royce AE 3007 pods and cowling is also perfect and the chrome is very good as well... Fan blades are also well proportioned and realistic. Engine outlet looks actually realistic, lovely tail structure has the lovely APU outlet is in great detail and modeling... ... windows are perfectly formed, and again you would amazed of how many and even the best developers do poor window surronds, but the creme-de creme is the excellent cabin window wear and tear detail. Undercarriage detail is excellent, all the assembly, struts, pipping and supports are perfect, you have to love the dirty/oily bad weather feel to all the gear... .... the highlight here is the flap screwjack, lower the flaps and the screwjack is animated and turns out to the extension... .... all screwjacks work with three on each wing, and yes they are all animated, wing and lighting assemblies are perfect. Finer detail is excellent... all text is readable and the tiny points of screws, latches and panels are all well defined... note again those lovely windows, yes I love them. _____________________________________ Menu The ERJ Family uses the standard X-Crafts menu tabs lower right of your screen, there are four tabs: Menu, FAQ, FMS and Checklist. MENU : is the standard pop-out panel that covers the ground menu... included are opening doors Passenger and rear Baggage, GPU (Ground Power Unit), "Remove Before Flight" Tags, Pitot covers, Cones, front wheel chocks and some lovely engine inlet covers. Both doors are exceptional, with built in stairs for the main left hand door and the excellent right hand service door.... I think a ground service stair would be a great addition here. FAQ, FMS and Checklist: FAQ puts up a shortcut help sheet, but it is quite basic here, I expect this to be expanded. FMS is the pop-up for the FMS panel, and checklist is the very nice spiral bound checklist binder. Cabin Geeeeze it's really tight in here.... Cabin detail is very good, but the game has lifted by a fair margin in the back this year, so what was exceptional last year is now just very good... The cabin certainly passes the grade, but there isn't the functionality in here that is now moving into this area, like the rear toilet... it feels a little dull lighting wise as well. Seat shape feels a little basic, but the important windows and surrounds are excellent. The cabin is the same really throughout each of the different variant lengths, but with just more or less seats. The Legacy however has the executive lounge layout... forward club seating and a side sofa is real rock and roll, Kardashian territory... .... teak wood grain and leather abounds, and yes it is all very executive and rich, lighting panel doesn't yet work, but it is coming say's X-Crafts, non of the blinds work either so the functionality is still to improved here, but finally X-Plane does have a global executive jet... a big cheer for that one! Cockpit The level of detail required now at this level can be overwhelming, and somehow developers have to meet that expectation. Certainly this ERJ Series does that... ... X-Crafts have lifted their quality a few bars higher and it shows, and certainly in the area of display resolution. Centre console is very well done, lovely detail with those pearl throttle levers and gust lock... OverHead Panel (OHP) is also well sorted and easy to use, oddly the aircraft can use the button illumination both ways, like pressing the Avionics 1/2 to on, actually turns them off... packs are on, but shouldn't it be a blank panel for everything on... slightly confusing? There are some easter eggs set out around the aircraft, read the OHP and you get the X-Crafts credits? and on the cockpit door you channel Flying High and Star Wars? Another feature is the pilots side windows open.... but not very wide? the ERJ cockpit windows are like this. Five display instrument panel is very good.... Honeywell Primus Elite Avionics suite is really well done. PFD (Primary Flight Display), MAP/NAV Display and central MFD (Multifunctioal Display) are well detailed, and the three left side PFD, NAV, MFD displays pop-out, but in a 3D suspension aspect than a 2D move the panel around the screen situation. PFD has the usual top primary instrument functions and lower the rose navigation screen with V/S vertical speed indicator. The NAV display is split for the MAP top and the a menu driven information display below, the altitude VSD (Vertical Speed Display) is a selection... .... The menu driven switching is very easy and covers T/O (General), ECS, FUEL, HYD, ELEC selections (Fuel and Electrical are shown). Map selections are also selectable. Dr Glucks Terrain plugin is also available and it is intergrated into the MAP display very well, but make sure it is the latest version. MFD shows Engine Performance, Pressures, ECS, trim, Landing Gear and System Indicators/alerts. Below are two radio panels that are switchable with the magenta highlights showing the COM1/NAV1/ADF1 and green showing the COM2/NAV2/ADF2 frequencies. FMS - Flight Management Systems You have a choice here? You can use the default X-Plane Laminar Research FMS or the Steve Wilson Tekton FMS system... again updated. The Tekton still does the same flightplan layout with the three separate elements, and those are: SID (Standard Instrument Departure) - Route - STAR (Standard Terminal Arrival Route) You can save a route but only the center "Route" portion to a standard .fms file. When you reload it you have then rebuild the departure SID and approach STAR waypoints from scratch, so you don't reload the entire route and just fly. It is tricky at first if you are not used to the system, but the more you use the FMC the easier it gets to use. I found the Tekton programming far easier than on X-Crafts E-Jet, and now with AIRWAYS... the bigger bonus is that you can use the default FMS to check the route via the PLAN and the STEP button, you couldn't do that before... that is a huge step forward for me. In the air overview An important note; the ERJ series has a very different climb function... in most cases you select the aircraft's speed and then the V/S vertical speed you want to attain, but in the ERJ Series the function it is used together here as one. You select your altitude, your V/S and usually around 2300fpm as the 2560 fpm is the noted climb rate and officially it is 200 knts to about 3,500 feet then FLC 250/270/.56M the whole way up to your flightlevel, all this of course depends on your weight, but this is a typical route weight... but the overspeed alarm goes off above the 250 knt speed point. You control the climb rate with the throttles and the speed... it takes a little getting used too, but easy once you understand how it works.... ERJ145 ERJ135 Liveries Liveries cover all variants E135/140/145/145XR. There is blank, Alitalia Express, American Airlines Eagle modern, American Eagle Traditional, X-Jet and United Express. But this aircraft will get the painters working with gutso... already there is a nice BMI ready to released... Legacy 650 The Legacy 650 looks amazing in the air, and lighter to fly because your load factor is very small... only one livery here with the "Dream Chaser", but the other liveries work on the tail and winglets... so you can sort of use the private jet as a company aircraft, some look quite good. Wrapup This is not a review but an overview of the ERJ Family package from X-Crafts and what is included. So there are no comments or details in this aircraft release to be noted here. The aircraft is being sold as both a full package "Embraer ERJ Family" at US89.95 (all five aircraft are included), or separately at US$49.95 each. All packs and the full package is now available from the X-Plane.OrgStore.... _______________________________ The Embraer ERJ Family by X-Crafts is NOW available at the X-Plane.Org Store: Embraer ERJ Family - Package Includes ERJ 135/ERJ 140/ERJ 145/ERJ 145XR/Legacy 650 Priced at US$89.95 Embraer ERJ 135 - Includes: ERJ 135 Priced at US$49.95 Embraer ERJ 140 - Includes: ERJ 140 Priced at US$49.95 Embraer ERJ 145/ERJ 145XR - Includes: ERJ 145/ERJ 145XR Priced at US$49.95 Embraer ERJ Legacy 650 - Includes: Legacy 650 Priced at US$49.95 Features : UPDATER - You can easily check for new updates right inside of X-Plane and you will automatically get the latest version. It literally takes 3 clicks of a button! On-screen CHECKLIST plugin On-screen HELP SHEET with FAQ and useful info which will get you going real quick and will solve 90% of issues that users usually ask on the forums. On-Screen Control menu for door control, ground objects, GPU and engine covers. Pre-configured systems like on the real plane Realistic Avionics Startup Realistic flight dynamics based on real pilot input and feedback FMS There are two FMS units installed on the pedestal: Custom TEKTON FMS© by Steve Wilson (More details below) and the X-Plane FMS by Philipp J. Münzel Please note that these are not replicas of the FMS units usually installed on the jets. 3D MODELING AND TEXTURING I'm a VFX artist in real life, so I'm used to creating photo-real assets. Although I am limited by the XP rendering capabilities and your hardware, I tried to make it look and perform as good as I could EXTERIOR 4K High resolution textures (more important is the resolution of the actual fuselage which is 75000pixels per on meter squared) Highly detailed landing gears, Flaps, lights, gauges, antennas... everything Realistic wingflex animation Pilots in external view All doors are animated and controllable from the plugin menu. Main and service doors can also be opened by clicking on the levers. INTERIOR: You'll find that there is an amazing level of detail, for example dust particles on the screens visible when light shines on them, finger prints on buttons, and if you zoom in really close to the screens you will even see individual pixels on the actual screens. I tried to make sure that the cockpit looks realistically worn out and used as it would based on how much these jets are used! High resolution PFD, MFD, EICAS displays All text around the cockpit is crisp and clear with any rendering options Intuitive cockpit manipulation - I have always taken great care to make the cockpit as easy to use as possible. This means all clickable areas in the cockpit are very big so that you can easily click on any button, knob or lever in the cockpit Each switch, lever, knob, and handle is animated All cockpit lights are controllable exactly as on the real jets, even the screens shine light on their surroundings Includes baggage bay door light POP UP INSTRUMENTS 3D (not movable, ideal for VR) pop-up panels of the FMS, Radio panel and Thrust Rating Panel. The FMS also has a 2D pop up window mode that stays on the screen and you can move it around, so you can simply choose which one you want to be using based on your preference. Pop Up screens of the PFD MFD and EICAS OTHER FEATURES Realistic Exterior Lighting: NAV, Strobe, Beacon, Left/Nose/Right landing lights, Nose taxi lights, Inspection lights, Logo lights, Courtesy lights, Baggage door light. They all cast light on the surroundings. Audible Alert System Awesome 3D sounds, many of which have been recorded on the real jets! FULLY VR COMPATIBLE These jets have been made, fine-tuned and tested for a flawless VR experience! LIVERIES There are 5 liveries included compatible with the ERJs (White, American Airlines, American Airlines Old, United Express, ExpressJet,and 3 for the Legacy. There are dozens of other liveries available on the forums. TEKTON FMS© Features Custom MCDU Interface Initialization page on system startup Easy to navigate paging system SID, ROUTE and STAR waypoint lists are treated as separate editable items Color keyed data presentation Scratchpad data entry Interactive feedback messages MCDU PopUps Both 2D and 3D popups are available for easy access. Direct Keyboard Entry (DKE) Departure and Arrival Procedures SID and STAR procedures from X-Plane stock or third party custom data Zipped “Custom Data” folder provided Altitude and airspeed constraints for procedures Automatic procedure altitude calculation Flexible STAR element selection and re-selection and editing Default visual departure and approach waypoints Ability to easily edit SIDs, Routes, STARS and the loaded FLT PLAN AIRWAYS Selection Progress Monitoring Performance Flight Planning: PERF 1 page providing preflight and takeoff data PERF 2 page allowing route fuel planning PERF 3 page for approach data Additional Features: Thrust Rating Select page (TRS) accessed from PERF 1 FMS reset function Simplified manual waypoint altitude entry Company route load and save functions FLT PLAN page now automatically advances with destination waypoint 8.33mhz tunable radios Comprehensive Status Page The stock X-Plane MCDU is also provided as an alternative for users that prefer it. FMOD An amazing 3D sound package comes with the jets. Everything from different knob sounds, door sounds to realistic engine sounds. Many of the sounds have been recorder on the real jets which makes the experience extra immersive! Requirements X-Plane 11.30+ only Windows, MAC or Linux - 4GB VRAM Minimum. 8GB+ VRAM Recommended Current release version: 1.0 (last updated May 24th 2019) ______________________________________________________________________  Aircraft Overview by Stephen Dutton  24th May 2019 Copyright©2019 : X-Plane Reviews   (Disclaimer. All images and text in this preview are the work and property of X-PlaneReviews, no sharing or copy of the content is allowed without consent from the author as per copyright conditions) 

Plugin Update : WebFMC Pro v1.4.0 by Green Arc Studios This is an update review that is the Green Arc Studios WebFMC v1.3.0 review, but adjusted to v1.4.0 because for one the v1.3.0 review did not include the SSG Boeing 747-8 Series (the plugin was updated, but the v1.9.2 of the aircraft had not been released) and the v1.4.0 is in quick succession to the earlier update just a few weeks ago, in other words both or all the update details have been brought together in one place. So yes a lot is familiar here, but with some new details added in as well. More, more and even more additions are now available to the Green Arc Studios excellent WebFMC, that allows you use the pop-out FMC in any computer, tablet or gadget that runs an internet browser. This is version v1.4.0 and the additions this time are the trio of SSG (Supercritical Simulations Group) E-Jets Evolution Series (E-170/E-195) and their Boeing 747-8 Series, FlightFactor A350 XWB Advanced (old style MCDU) and the addition of the ZiboMod Boeing 737-700 of which it is active on both the WebFMC Pro and the WebFMC demo plugin versions. The complete Pro list available is now: ● A320 Ultimate by FlightFactor ● A350 XWB Advanced by FlightFactor ● B757v2 by FlightFactor (all variants; requires 757 v2.2.13+) ● B767 by FlightFactor (all variants; requires 767 v1.2.6+) ● 737-300 by IXEG ● A319 by ToLiss ● MD-80 by Rotate (requires MD-80 v1.42+) ● A320 by Jar Design ● A330 by Jar Design (requires JD330 v3.1r2+) ● Embraer E170 by SSG ● Embraer E195 by SSG ● Boeing 747-8 by SSG (VMAX) - all variants ● EADT x737 (all variants), requires x737UFMC. ● 737-800 Zibo Mod ● 737-900U Ultimate ● 737-700U Ultimate Noted Zibo Mod 737-800 and the 737-900ER/700 Ultimate are also available on the free demo version of the plugin available here on the X-Plane.Org: WebFMC 1.4.0 Full details on how the WebFMC plugin is installed and how it works is set out in the original review: Plugin Review : WebFMC Pro by Green Arc Studios Supercritical Simulations Group E-Jet Evolution Series E-170/E-195 v1.3 by Supercritical Simulations Group is a great addition to the WebFMC portfolio. These FMS units are from Javier Cortes (FJCC) and not directly from SSG, Javier's FMS units have been around for years and notably in the x737 installation... Note the layout is exactly the same in either aircraft. The latest E-Jet Series version 1.3 is required to use WebFMC Pro. The computer based WebFMC is shown on the right and the internal FMS is shown on the left, the Chrome browser is the recommended browser for WebFMC Pro. Again the facia FMS plate is a replica of the original Honeywell unit, although with a shorter facia on the WebFMC version, it is also the correct facia plate on the E-Jet aircraft, and it can be set in "Dirty" or "Clean" modes. I personally use the WebFMC to set out the route and input the performance data. So I use SimBrief (Route Creation) and Navigraph (Charts) to build up the routes. By using the WebFMC as you can see I can have all the route information and chart information ready at hand for input and direct keyboard access for inputting data and route info. Yes you can do the same within the cockpit with the popup... but you will also be turning your head consistently to gather the info on another (computer) screen, I find this system far quicker in creating the flight data. The Boeing 748i Series The update v1.9.2 is required to use the WebFMC Pro in the SSG Boeing 747-8 Series, This version release is the last for this early design until it will be replaced by v2.0 later in the year, but the transition to the new v2 version, should not affect the plug-in or the installation, in other words it is future proof on this aircraft, because I doubt this FMS system and installation will be changed for the v2, if at all... The internal cockpit facia of the SSG B747-8 FMS is a bit squished to fit, but the new plate facia on the WebFMC is full size. It looks very good and can be set in "Dirty" or "Clean" modes. The Javier Cortes version of the FMS in the B747-8 Series is now far more better since last year's v1.9.1 version update, and again this was re-enforced by the easy programming in v1.9.2 of the route... DEP RWY/SID and ARR RWY/STAR and route waypoints (AIRWAYS) was excellent... .... then the ultimate test is in the editing the route. I wanted to reedit the arrival pattern as with the selected IRBI4A STAR into EDDM's RWY 26L as it is very tight, and fine for say a B737 or A320, but too tight an entry for a large heavy like the B748F, so I used the RNAV approach BETOS 26 to reset the approach waypoints... With SimBrief and Navigraph charts and the external WebFMC Pro it is very good for doing FMC editing and route programming.... .... more importantly the FMS reedited the approach data perfectly and it is in these areas that I look for the standard of quality in these Flight Management Systems, if it works correctly it is first realistic, but also saves you time (and frustration) in setting out the routing, and yes I was impressed. I was looking forward to the SSG Boeing 747-8 installation on WebFMC because if you fly long haul.... I mean long, long hours in the air then interaction with the FMC is a nice way to pass the time, okay you could call it fiddling around, but the movement of the aircraft across the globe and the return data to be cross referenced via SimBrief and Navigraph route maps is very professional in the way you manage the flight, fuel loads and weight... in other words it is a very authentic simulation. And now it is here and I found that the WebFMC really shines with this installation just like I expected. FlightFactor A350 XWB Advanced The installation in the FlightFactor A350 XWB is a bit different to the usual in the aircraft facia to WebFMC facia installation. FlightFactor's Version v1.5.1 is again required to use WebFMC Pro. The facia layout in the FlightFactor A350 is not the front MFD (Multi-Functional Display) FMS, but the rear pedestal unit and pop-up panel.... as WebFMC Pro uses the ToLiSS A319 facia panel (and pop-out) for the input of route data and performance details. A lot of the data is reflected in the MFD version, but a lot is not. To the diehards then such a difference in authenticity may grind a little, but there are currently several reasons for this. One the current MFD A350 FMS is not the full monty anyway, as it is hybrid FMS system that combines several different elements to replicate the actual A350 FMS and MCDU. As we shall see in that using the A319 layout you can input more data and more easier than the hybrid version. Secondly the rumors are swarming around that the next A350 XWB XP11 will have a full and complete "Study" system of the A350 FMS? Green Arc Studios have noted that if such a system is created then the WebFMC version will follow the study grade pathway... in other words this A 319 panel version is just a temporary solution to the several problematic areas of the A350 FMS. If you know your way around the A319 FMS then this will come as breeze to to do but the systems are not perfectly in alignment. The MFD A350 version was always a bit complex in what areas (boxes) to fill in or not or which were the active segments? This version is still also problematic compared with the A319 as well as you can't use SID/STARs either when building up a flightplan? Annoying well yes, certainly for a commercial service airliner of this category. There are two ways to get around this, one is to use a Python A350 SID/STAR Script to create the SID/STAR's but it is messy with the extra use the "SimpleFMC"... too messy for me. There is another way and it uses SimBrief... create your flightplan in the Briefing tool and then download the .FMS file, and the trick is in using the XP10 version and not the XP11 .FMS version (you would actually think it would be the other way around? but the FF A350 uses the older GNS340 as it's data source) and load in that .FMS file and that will give you the selected SID and STAR waypoints. It is still slightly messy because you are locked into a certain SID or STAR and can't change any SID or STAR before or in mid-flight... .... at least you do get access to the SID and STAR routing, for which here at LEBL (Barcelona) the departure RWY 02 SID to MOPAS (MOPA1A) is quite complex... note to add in the DEP runway and ARR runway directly into the WebFMC Pro as it is required and not included in the .FMS flightplan noted here is the DEP runway of 02. Loading in or laying out the flightplan is far easier with the WebFMC Pro, but there is the point to be made in that unlike usually in using the WebFMC in that it not always mirrors the changes on the internal aircraft FMS, With the A350 setup you have to select the same page to see the information installed. Notable notes though in that to see (or scroll) through the flightplan in the MAP display you can only do that with the MFD flightplan cursors... ... or inputting or building the route then WebFMC works fine and is actually an advantage. But for other settings like PERF (Performance) T/O - CLB (Climb) - CRZ (Cruise) - DES (Descent) and APPR (Approach) then some areas co-ordinate but a lot of areas don't, so you have to fill in both WebFMC and the onboard FMS... This is not really a WebFMC issue as the FlightFactor's own A350 XWB system is not only confusing, but differential in the fact of what you input in on the OIS - On-Board Information System then is generally not reflected or accepted on the FMS either? Inputting SimBrief route and weight data is not also comparative either like with passenger load and fuel loads are either over estimates or not exact in numbers to do a comparative flight to the SimBrief flight plan.... it is all very messy. It is obviously annoying to have to fill in both the ToLiSS (WebFMC) FMS and the MFD versions separately? But it helps to match them up correctly... In flight the system works well... Following the flight plan and SID charts can be done with the WebFMC, while the ToLiSS pop-up mirror can be used in the cockpit, all flightplan date is also reflected on the MFD flightplan and data (arrowed left). Enroute I like all the route data handy and WebFMC is very good here in following the route data via SimBrief and Navigraph Charts. In simulation today you have a huge amount of data available to you (admittedly at a cost of subscriptions), but the detail helps and makes even the FlightFactor A350 as compromised it is in it's current form still a worthy simulation. ZiboMod Boeing 737-700 Ultimate From the start of the WebFMC release the plugin has supported for free the ZiboMod Boeing 737 Series as a sort of demo for the Pro version. Support that was free originally was for the B737-800 (the original ZiboMod B737), but added since is the Ultimate versions in the B737-900 U and now with this WebFMC 1.4.0 update the Boeing 737-700 U version. First reaction would be that the ZiboMod FMS system would be just a variation of Laminar Research FMS, as originally this is what the ZiboMod actually is in taking the default Boeing 737 -800 that come free and with X-Plane11 and MODifiying the aircraft. But like the ZiboMod itself the FMS in these series of aircraft are very far removed from the default B738 aircraft.... so with this depth of route and performance data to go into the FMC then the WebFMC is a big asset in programming the aircraft correctly... The facia plate is excellent, dirty and worn (again the clean version is available). The WebFMC is a big bonus here as the FMC panel in the ZiboMod 737's don't yet pop-out? (correct me if I am wrong, but I can't get the panel to pop-out?). Programming the route is extremely impressive with the WebFMC, as again is the use of SimBrief and Navigraph charts which are very immersive into helping out in the process... .... tricky here was the arrival in KDFW (Dallas Fort-Worth). The STAR BEREE 1 into Dallas 36L which is a bit messy with just some (or mostly) vectors, so I again readjusted the arrival route with the RNAV RWY 36L approach charts which worked well. VECTORS are ATC directions, but in FMC's they tend to cause route issues because in reality they are blanks, so I usually replace them with waypoints. Certainly VECTORS will work well if you do online ATC. Enroute the WebFMC was highly impressive to use and follow the DL1890 Flightplan... The bonus here is that the WebFMC version for the Boeing 737-700 ultimate is free, so you can try it out to it's full capacity as there are no restrictions with using the plugin to it's full capacity... obviously the Pro version is more highly versatile, but you will get the full aspect of on how good the tool is. You can download all three Zibo/Ultimate Boeing 737-700/800/900 versions here at Threshold The free WebFMC plugin link is listed below. WebFMC Pro v1.4.0 other update notes are: Updated all 3rd party libraries to their latest stable versions (client UI, plugin). Fixed a bug where AI aircraft could trigger internal re-initialization of WebFMC. Other minor bugfixes. Summary This is another update to the excellent WebFMC Pro, this is a plugin that can be used in a browser on another computer or a tablet. It is a remote tool, but a very beneficial and even a powerful one in programming in route and performance data and following the set aircraft route in flight in mirroring the aircraft's built in FMS (Flight Management System). This update adds in more aircraft FMS's to cover the Supercritical Simulations Group (SSG) E-Jets Evolution Series (E-170/E-195) and their Boeing 748 Series (v1.9.2), the FlightFactor A350 XWB Advanced (old style MCDU) and the added ZiboMod/Ultimate Boeing 737-700 The WebFMC Pro FMS list available is now listed as an impressive 16 aircraft, but three in the list of the Zibo Mod 737-800 and the 737-900ER/700 Ultimate are also available in the Free Demo version. All WebFMC Pro facias work very well and are mostly authentic to the real aircraft's facia plates, but the FlightFactor's A350 XWB layout is slightly more complicated and not as study grade as most of the other units here, so currently it uses the ToLiSS FMS system to do the work, that FMS panel is a situated on the aircraft's rear pedestal. The WebFMC Pro is an excellent tool all round and one plugin I use consistently during FMS setup and route flying and now covers a broad list of available aircraft and their various FMS - Flight Management Systems, It is an invaluable tool for my simulation flying... Highly Recommended _____________________________________ Yes! WebFMC Pro v1.4.0 by Green Arc Studios is NOW available from the X-Plane.Org Store here : WebFMC Pro Price is US$19.99 The v1.4.0 update is free to previous purchasers of the plugin, go to your X-Plane.OrgStore account for the new version. Quick and easy access to the FMC Get easy access to the FMC: quickly edit the flightplan, monitor flight progress, set up your approach and do all the typical work of the pilot without having to move around in the cockpit, even if the plane doesn’t support FMC as a popup natively - on the same PC, or different monitor, tablet or phone - in fact you can use multiple displays at the same time! Make pilot tasks easy and comfortable Enjoy external views during cruise while monitoring flight progress on separate screen or take a quick look at your phone to verify calculated landing speed with just a glimpse of an eye during busy time on approach. Make flying complex SIDs / STARs easy as you can focus on the important flight parameters while having overview of the constraints all the time. Take your mobile to the kitchen as you cook a dinner during a long haul and never miss T/D again! Convenient to use Use physical keyboards on PC with extra keys such as Prev/Next page mapped to keyboard keys for easy access. WebFMC scales dynamically to fit any display or window size and can look as native app on mobiles by using browser's "Add to home screen" feature. Aircraft support WebFMC Pro supports growing number of 3rd party aircraft starting with ● A320 Ultimate by FlightFactor ● A350 XWB Advanced by FlightFactor ● B757v2 by FlightFactor (all variants; requires 757 v2.2.13+) ● B767 by FlightFactor (all variants; requires 767 v1.2.6+) ● 737-300 by IXEG ● A319 by ToLiss ● MD-80 by Rotate (requires MD-80 v1.42+) ● A320 by Jar Design ● A330 by Jar Design (requires JD330 v3.1r2+) ● Embraer E170 by SSG ● Embraer E195 by SSG ● Boeing 747-8 by SSG (VMAX) - all variants ● EADT x737 (all variants), requires x737UFMC. ● 737-800 Zibo Mod* ● 737-900U Ultimate* ● 737-700U Ultimate* * Available on the free demo WebFMC plugin Requirements: The WebFMC plugin requires X-Plane 11 running 64-bit Windows 7 operating system or newer Mac OS 10.14.x (Mojave) Ubuntu Linux 16.04 LTS or 18.04 LTS (64-bit) Web Client The CDU can be displayed on any modern and up-to-date web browser with JavaScript support. We recommend the latest versions of Google Chrome on PC or Android and Safari on iOS. No internet connection required, remote device needs to be on the same local network as X-Plane PC. Support for WebSockets RFC 6455 standard is required which implies at least iOS version 6. Current and Review version: 1.4.0 (May 21st 2019) Current SSG E-Jet Evolution Series E170/E195 v1.3, Boeing 747-8 Series v1.9.2 and FlightFactor A350 XWB v1.5.1 are required for the use of this plugin ______________________________________________________________________ Plugin Update Review by Stephen Dutton 15th May 2019 Copyright©2019 : X-Plane Reviews  (Disclaimer. All images and text in this review are the work and property of X-PlaneReviews, no sharing or copy of the content is allowed without consent from the author as per copyright conditions) Review System Specifications: Computer System: Windows - Intel Core i7 6700K CPU 4.00GHz / 64bit - 16 Gb single 1067 Mhz DDR4 2133 - ASUS GeForce GTX 1080 8Gb - Samsung Evo 512gb SSD Software: - Windows 10 - X-Plane 11.33 Addons: Saitek x56 Rhino Pro system Joystick and Throttle : Sound - Bose Soundlink Mini : SimBrief (Free) : Navigraph Charts (Subscription) Plugins: Environment Engine by xEnviro v1.07 US$69.90 : WorldTraffic 3.0 Plugin - US$29.95 : BetterPushBack - Free : JarDesign Ground Handling Deluxe - US$14.95 Scenery or Aircraft - E-Jet Evolution Series (E170/E195) by Supercritical Simulations Group (X-Plane.OrgStore) - US$54.95 - Boeing 747-8 Series by Supercritical Simulations Group (X-Plane.OrgStore) - US$55.00 - Airbus A350 XWB Advanced by FlightFactor (X-Plane.OrgStore) - US$49.95 - ZiboMod/Ultimate Boeing 737-700 (Threshold) - Free 

Aircraft Announcement : PA31T Cheyenne II by Carenado Now almost a fortnightly announcement is the rollout of Carenado aircraft, The B58 Baron XP11, Premier 1A Private jet and now this PA31T Cheyenne II... which as an aircraft it is an turboprop development of the earlier PA-31P Pressurised Navajo. The Carenado Navajo is however one of my seriously favorite big-twins : Aircraft Review : PA-31 Navajo XP11 HD Series by Carenado. Here are some supplied nice images of the PA31T Cheyenne... This version is the Improved version, and an renamed version of the original PA-31T and is powered by two 620-shp (462-kW) Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-28 turboprop engines. No doubt it will be very welcome in our hangars. Carenado originally announced the Cheyenne II a week ago, and so the release is going to be before the American Memorial Day holiday, price? The Navajo is US32.95 so I expect the same or a little if slightly higher price at US$35.00. Images are courtesy of Carenado Announcement via Carenado's Facebook page ________________________________________ News by Stephen Dutton 21st May 2019 Copyright©2019: X-Plane Reviews

The whole Carendo ProLine 21 system is a new development, and not to a point fine not yet tuned for X-Plane, but I expect the development to be quick and sorted quickly, that was made clear in the review, there is still the basic issue of Laminar not allowing very high resolution displays, to a point this area is well behind development that should also be addressed... but don't turn off your investment just yet, it will get better and quickly.

Read the instructions in the manual... your missing the "Aircraft Static and Animated" scenery pack, it is a separate download. SD

Scenery Review : Eiger Park 3D by Frank Dainese & Fabio Bellini It was only a few months ago that X-PlaneReviews was soaring over Patagonia in South America and admiring the excellent Cerro Torre 3D "Los Glaciares" by Frank Dainese & Fabio Bellini. But here we are suddenly with another extreme landscape from these talented landscape artists. To a point we are back on familiar territory or the European Alps, after the Everest and the Patagonia scenerios. This is their third Alp scenery after Matterhorn Park 3D and Dolomiti 3D and the scenery covers the northern Bernese mountain Alps chain and the... The Eiger. The Eiger is a 3,967-metre (13,015 ft) mountain of the Bernese Alps, overlooking Grindelwald and Lauterbrunnen in the Bernese Oberland of Switzerland, and just north of the main watershed and border with Valais. It is the easternmost peak of a ridge crest that extends across the Mönch to the Jungfrau at 4,158 m (13,642 ft). The Eiger is not the largest of the biggest mountain in the Alps, as it is listed as low as 33 in height, but the most notable feature of the Eiger is its 1,800-metre-high (5,900 ft) north face of rock and ice, named Eiger-Nordwand, Eigerwand or just Nordwand, which is the biggest north face in the Alps and hence it's attraction to climbers. The name is German as Eiger is the standard German word for ogre. This scenery is in a way a mirror of the earlier Matterhorn Park 3D scenery, that in the earlier rendition effectively covered the southern area of Valais, were as this Eiger scenery is on the northern chain of the Bernese Alps that is centered around Interlaken. Two main valleys are used for access into the area from Interlaken and these are the Lauterbrunnen valley and Grindelwald valley, but there is a back door way in as well. Helicopters are all the go around here.... even then it can be tight flying through some of the areas. However Frank Dainese & Fabio Bellini have also added in a few fictional grass strips if you want to give them a try, a ride on say the default Aerolite 103 is highly recommended. But I needed to cover more distance and the higher extreme altitudes, so I need power and speed, so the newly updated AB412 from X-Trident was the best option... I started from LSZH Zurich, which is yes a fair way away from the scenery, but I wanted to get a feel for the AB412 before hand as you know it will be needed as these sceneries always come with some tricky pad landings. My first section flying was to Meiringen LSMM for a refuel, the town is situated up the valley from Brienzersee the eastern of the two lakes surrounding Interlaken... (this route was covered in the AB412 update review) The approach was via Lungernersee where you can slip through a tight valley (you do that a lot here) and then drop down sharply into the Brünig Pass. Before we go in too deep, then the area around Meiringen LSMM has issues? this is not the custom Eiger 3D scenery issue, but an X-Plane default mesh issue.... worse it cuts directly through the Eiger's north rock face.... it is important to know what you're actually looking at and if you have the Eiger 3D scenery correctly installed? (There is an .INI scenery order that is provided) If you don't, then what you will get is a very messy mesh, with both Brienzersee and Thunersee lakes filled in as there is a line of the edge of the mesh set across the lake (magenta arrows shows line above right). On this default mesh however you do get a very nice global airport scenery of LSMM (above left). If you get both the lakes of Brienzersee and Thunersee (above) then your scenery is correctly installed, however it kills the nice Global Airport LSMM scenery as it does also at LSMI - Interlaken WED airports? but a fix has fixed the autogen... to note again this is an underlying mesh issue, not a custom scenery issue. We tried simHeaven's X-EUROPE2 but that didn't work as it just brought back in that nasty default mesh, so anything or everything always brought you back that nasty mesh when you put in any of the areas normal dsf co-ordinates..... painful. The Lauterbrunnen valley directly in front of Interlaken is the most obvious way into the Eiger 3D scenery... but there is another gap into the Grindelwald valley if you fly east from Meiringen. Already you notice the very highly detailed scenery quality, as it is now far better in high extreme def detail than the older default textures... These older default textures were extremely poor anyway with bad stretch marks and weird textures. The gap I was looking for is the Reichenbach Falls, and I flew straight on past the pass, as it is extremely easy to miss... ... so I did a complete 360º turn and this time made the AB412 point correctly this time go up the pass... and it is that tight, but still easily flyable and a scenic way into the scenery as the route goes into and takes you straight into the Grindelwald valley. But first to get into the valley you have to climb and climb to over 7500ft to clear a ridge directly in front of you.... ... but it is worth the effort, because once over the ridge then Grindelwald one of the main resorts in the area is then set directly below... .... and directly to your left is the Eiger and that famous north face! We will get closer to the mountain later... Grindelwald First impressions of the mountain range is excellent as the detail is of very high minute quality, this is always what you get with Frank Dainese & Fabio Bellini's sceneries, extreme mountain detailing and your not disappointed here. Other points are the custom tree lines are a bit sharp, and not very natural and the lower valley floor grass is a bit plain... I do accept that in Alpine areas that you get these human cleared areas around the sides of mountain ranges, but the long valley lines are usually more blended in as the tree lines filter out as you go higher... There is also a fictional grass runway airport Grindelwald (LSGW) with a single H helipad and it works in here very well... .... views of the Alps are magnificent from here, with all the 4,000m peaks that surround you. Grindelwald The township of Grindelwald is very well done, note the extreme elevations that are required to place the custom objects, it is hard to do so many and get them correct.... Town centre detail is excellent, you do however need your "Texture" quality set as high as you can go. I am using "Maximum" here and just get away with the detail, anything less though does suffer blurring. The authentic "Swiss" feel is here, and although all the sceneries textures not extremely detailed in object or ground textures, you can definitely get that totally realistic visual ground aspect of the town and the views of the mountains... in other words "It works". Railway (Tram) station is the visual highlight. Grindelwald valley Grindelwald is the largest township in the scenery, so any departure has a lot of interesting points, the town centre and bus park station are standouts... Once past the township you head straight down the tight valley... lets look at where we are going. Basically it a wishbone layout, with Interlaken at the top, the Grindelwald Valley the right bone and the Lauterbrunnen Valley the left bone and the Eiger is centre south. The Grindelwald Valley villages of Burglauenen, Lütschental and Gündlischwand are all represented... .... mountain texture detail is excellent, again I will note I am set on the "Max" texture quality and not the "No Compression" setting, but it is still very good detail... I do find the valley floor a bit just a matt texture and not photographic and it does seem slightly odd against the high quality mountain textures, its okay, but it is noticeable as well, even the default X-Plane textures have a more sporadic mottling effect than this plain feel and look you have here. You are finding that you are rolling the aircraft side to side down the passage with no straight line flying, but it is exhilarating flying as well. At Gündlischwand it is the corner point of the wishbone and the mountain face and the scale of Männlichen is excellent... ... Interlaken is to your right. Now you are in the Lauterbrunnen valley of which you could say is the main street in the scenery. To note that in reality the scenery here is classed as higher and lower, as Villages and Townships are not all positioned on the Valley floor, so if you come in low and down in the Lauterbrunnen valley you can actually fly right past all the settlements set up high on top of the ridges and plateaus above you. Lauterbrunnen Flying into Lauterbrunnen and the extreme Staubbachfall Wasserfall (waterfall) is to your right and modelled in the scenery (there are several famous waterfalls in here). Like at Grindelwald there is another (identical) fictional grass runway airport Lauterbrunnen (LSLB)... .... and sitting low here on the valley floor at Lauterbrunnen the views are amazing. There is one H pad by the tennis court but it is not registered, and there is also a company Heli pad station called "Air Glaciares" (LSXL) that is positioned more closer to the township... and there are two H pads set here, but only the one in LSXL that is registered and noted, but the outer other H pad is more accessible for approaches. In reality Lauterbrunnen is a servicing town for the area and the higher up resorts, so the main highlight is the rail station and huge servicing carpark. Wengen, Murren and Gimmelwald Higher second tier towns are positioned above Lauterbrunnen, and directly above and slightly to the east is Wengen... Wengen's beautiful township is very well done, lovely rack rail station is very authentic...both churches in the unorthodox Wengen church and the famous British St Bernards are also represented.... The helipad (HEWE) is very hard to find as it is set behind the cable car station and surrounded by hotels, hard too approach into as well... so you will earn your salary flying into Wengen. oh.. and watch out for those cable car wires from the cable station as they are lethal? The other end of those cable car wires go high up to the station at Männlichen... there is a H helipad up here as well (HEMN) and a great view of the Eiger. Directly but further down and across the Lauterbrunnen valley is Murren, which is a very tricky one. For one I flew past Murren three times as couldn't find it? It is there but higher still and directly up above Lauterbrunnen... so you fly almost and straight up a cliff wall for 5, 600 ft to the elevation. The landing pad (HEMR) is right and almost on the cliff edge... great! well not so great. Coming over the edge the wind gusts were horrible, full left rudder was required and that was just to stop myself twirling into oblivion, the AB412 shook with the strain, the gusts came ,then went, came again and you are seriously fighting the machine... the wind sock was simply twirling uselessly on it's base! ... and you will find this a lot up here, as seemingly easy pad approaches are suddenly turned into a survival fights to survive or to not mangle yourself into either the ground or the side of the mountain. I gave myself a lap around the village for that precise landing... okay my living room, but it was a very well earned "yahoo". It is very easy to get Murren mixed up with Gimmelwald which a bit further down the valley but set far lower than Murren... I eyeballed Gimmelwald several times, but there is no landing pad. There is another H pad (HESC) on the Valley floor at Stechelberg, before the Lauterbrunnen valley starts to run out... Stechelberg is just really a cable car site with a coach park. Kander Neve Following up the inner reaches of the Lauterbrunnen valley it is a visual wonderland... but it is also a sort of a dead end, unless you climb up and over to... ... the Kander Neve Glacier, and it is an excellent visual and well done reproduction of the glacier. You can also seriously get lost up here as there are loads of nooks and crannys that will attract your attention, and before you know it it, it is very easy to get lost, in fact any exploring of these excellent valleys and peaks requires careful navigation so you know where you are and more importantly how to get back, and more so important is that if you don't run out of fuel... But to alight and take it all in is well worth the effort... What I think that is outstanding is that you have these excellent Hi-Def textures of the custom scenery, but they still fit in very well with the standard surrounding mesh, so there are no nasty boundaries or standout blocks of either separate areas.... Schilthorn and Brig If you were born of a certain inclination and saw the Moon Landing live, in my case I was 13 years old, then something else significant happened in 1969... You went and saw a new James Bond movie.... in this case it was the excellent (still my all time favorite even without Mr Connery) that was "On Her Majesty's Secret Service". Remember I am 13 years old, and the film had a Aston Martin's DBS (the original), that bobsled action, nice title music, lots of gorgeous women doing lovely things and killing the masses at the same time for the evil Blofield, a love scene, baddies, more baddies, and Diana Rigg.... did I mention Diana Rigg!. Of the other main action pieces was of a helicopter attack on the evil Blofield's liar up on a mountain side somewhere in the Alps? That mountain was the Schilthorn 2970m and the lair was situated at Piz Gloria.... Now I was going there. Murren is a good staging point to Piz Gloria, as it is just west and just above Gimmelwald and Murren at 9,700 ft... look to the right and slightly up and there is the 007 liar, the baddies liar! It is a real restaurant, it was before the film, but certainly more famous now for the exposure of fame, the bathrooms here are 007 themed and are supposed to be the best bathrooms in the world, shaken and not stirred... The modeling certainly lives up the expectations, obviously there is already a Piz Gloria model in X-Plane, but not with the Hi-Def surrounding textures for better authenticity... There is a heli H pad (HERG) and it can again be very gusty up here. At least there is no one shooting at me... so Blofield and cat must be away! Brig is a staging post for the chairlifts to the peak of Brig and for the next stage up to Piz Gloria. You have to careful on the landing pad H (HEBG) as you are close to the building with the blades... Klein-Scheidegg and Jungfraujoch The highlight of the scenery is the important mountain pass settlement of Klein-Scheidegg (Little Scheidegg) 2,061 m (6,762 ft). In reality Klein-Scheidegg is a transfer station for both cable car and twin rack railways including the Wengernalp Railway that meet here at the elaborate railway station. The Iconic historic Hotel Bellevue des Alpes that dates back to 1840 is also positioned here.... It is the most celebrated mountain passe in the Swiss Alps because of its position just north of the point where the Bernese Alps makes a salient angle, whose apex is the Eiger, and the climax of the Eiger and Mönch, the Jungfrau mountain chain that forms a massive wall called the Jungfrau Region. All the mountains in the region are represented in the scenery with in line the Wetterhorn (Mittelhorn) 3704m, Schreckhorn 4,078 m, Eiger 3,967m, Mönch 4107m and Junfrau 4158m.... The Breithorn, Tschingelhorn and Gspaltenhorn are also represented. Klein-Scheidegg is directly above and to the right of Grindelwald, but you can also come up and over from the Lauterbrunnen valley.... It is an incredible alpine setting and extremely well done here. The rack railway station is lovely and authentic, but again you need the full texture setting to get the very most out of the excellent detail. In the earn your paypacket theory then Klein-Scheidegg is another really tricky one. So again you will usually eyeball the best approach in, because the H Pad is buried in and besides the railway station... in reality there is only one way in and that is from the east, as the elevations ruin any other approach... It looks actually easy, but again the high winds create chaos, get close to the edge and your wobbling and fighting the rudder pedals, my aim was a straight in nose approach, what I could only achieve was a sideways blustery approach, but it worked.... .... then dropping closer to the ground you have to be highly aware of the rail station on your left.... ... and you then needed a white stick to see the pad itself as you can't really manoeuvre into another approach angle. But you make it work.... and let out that held in too long breath, yes I am breathing again. Part of the trick is to using the station as your visual guide in, the microwave antenna tower is also a good angle visual point. The view however is worth the effort as you get the classic images of the Eiger from the Hotel Bellevue des Alpes. The hotel is a movie star as well with the Clint Eastward "Eiger Sanction" (1975) and the highly recommended 2008 film "North Face", about Toni Kurz and Andreas Hinterstoisser's 1936 attempt to climb the Eiger's north face... and so also look for the two climbers on the Eiger's north face.... yes it is the intrepid developers of Frank Dainese & Fabio Bellini climbing their own creation (they are real life climbers as well). Jungfraujoch Set up on the ridge or as it's called a "Saddle" between the peaks of the Mönch and Junfrau is an amazing location... it is the Jungfraujoch or the "Top of Europe".... this time you have to climb (almost straight up) a whopping 11,800ft (offically 3,454 metres (11,332 ft)) to get an eye level of the structure... There are several panoramic restaurants and a post office. Several tunnels lead outside, where secured hiking trails on the crevassed glacier can be followed, in particular to the Mönchsjoch Hut. Also part of the complex is the The Sphinx Observatory, which is one of the highest astronomical observatories in the world, provides an additional viewing platform at a height of 3,572 metres (11,719 ft). The Jungfraujoch radio relay station, which is not accessible to the public, is installed just west of the Jungfraujoch on the Jungfrau ridge. It is Europe's highest radio relay station. Jungfraujoch is accessible to tourists by the rack rail Jungfrau line, a railway from Interlaken and Kleine Scheidegg and it took 16 years to build it. And yes you guessed right, landing here on the H Pad (HEJF) is again not easy, but the views of the Aletsch glacier is certainly worth the effort. The Eiger mountain itself is highly impressive in detail... DEM data is used, and further corrected with 3D graphics programs. Subsequently the textures were applied, even in part in 4K, that were taken from high definition photos. The positioning on the modified meshes is extremely accurate, respecting the dimensions and the main morphological characteristics of the terrain. The only aspect is that the mountain is of course north faced, so it it hard to get the sunlight directly on the face, it gives the Eiger character but also a lot of shadow.... but the full Jungfrau Region is certainly spectacular in it's overall complete design here. Time to move away from the central core of the Eiger 3D scenery... hopping off the Jungfraujoch H pad is damn dangerous as the blustery winds can catch you and throw you easily into the mountain side..... .... there is a trick in going into the wind's direction and not fighting it, and then loop around to your wanted course. You can then actually freeball directly down to Interlaken, but if you don't control the 10,000ft fall you will simply fly right over the township and bucket the elevation on the other side... ... this is harder to to than it looks and requires great helicopter control, but the elevator car ride is worth it.... once down to 3000 ft you loop backwards and head back up the Lauterbrunnen valley. Note the missing default scenery of Interlaken Airport (ICAO: LSMI) which was a former military airbase... .... X-Plane's Global airports does have a very nice LSMI (as it does the noted Meiringen LSMM), but you can't insert it without the WED airport messing up the custom mesh... that is a shame because it looks excellent (can anyone fix this - hint!)... You are now going back up the Lauterbrunnen valley to a "Swiss Helicopters" Heliport located in Gsteigwiler H (ICAO: LSXG) that is located just inside the valley's entrance (arrowed below right)... ... although quite a large heilcopter facility it can be easily missed, and it is tricky to approach with the high trees set out out around it, the best approach is from the west... There are four H pads here with only one registered (LSXG) but the other three are highly usable and accessable. This helibase is certainly a very nice and highly authentic Swiss style base to work directly the all mountains pads and the passenger services from. This is the last of the Eiger 3D scenery's custom H Pads... but what a way to end the selections. Nightlighting If you already use anyone of Frank Dainese & Fabio Bellini's sceneries you will know what you are going to feel at night.... most sceneries are villages with village lighting, and as most flying is not done at night, and certainly not here in the Bernese Alps, as the canyon valleys will always get you. So mostly then this lighting is just for looking at than actually using and it is very nice... Grindelwald In Grindelwald you have the most lighting because it is the largest town. Custom buildings window lighting is very good and nicely varied... don't expect a huge amount of lighting detail however, but overall it works fine in reflecting a Swiss town or village at night... .... the town squares are lovely and it all feels very authentic. Klein-Scheidegg At Klein-Scheidegg it was always going to be the focus point of the scenery at night, and it does not disappoint... .... the railway station is lovely and nicely authentic, and a nice place to be at night with the looming Eiger out there in the dark. Wengen Over at Wengen it is very similar to Klein-Scheidegg and it has that lovely aged Swiss feel and rail station... Lauterbrunnen The Staubbachfall Wasserfall at Lauterbrunnen is visible at night, but the effect is actually wrong because the whole cliff face and waterfall are illuminated (look's spectacular) and not just the waters streaming, so the effect here does not work and it looks just eeie or plain weird. Center terminus and carpark are well lit as is the Air Glaciares Heli base. Gsteigwiler The larger "Swiss Helicopters" Heliport at Gsteigwiler is excellent, and it is a nice place to work down on the well lit pad apron after a hard day in the mountains or a dawn readiness for the coming days work. Overall the lighting very good, but you come here or any of these sceneries in the series for the views, dawn or twilight visuals of the mountains when X-Plane turns on the light show it can be stupendous.... nothing can match a few moments just watching the light rise or fade over the mountain scapes.... Interlaken and Thun Because there is custom mesh and as noted at the head of this review it kills the default autogen. Fabio Bellini has re-engineered the autogen to work on the custom mesh... and to be honest it is exactly the same as the built in autogen, but you certainly see the reason it had to be returned to fill in the scenery and create a seemless join between the custom and standard X-Plane mesh.... Because of copyright issues you have to download and install the autogen data separately (link below), it is very easy with just a cut and paste in the Eiger_Mesh Earth Nav Data, but essential for the scenery to work correctly. Now Interlaken is a full (again) a visual feast (I saw it without the autogen and it looked awful or blank), head away up the Thunersee and Spiez is on your right and finally Thun is situated at the end of the lake.... Guess where the autogen join is... there isn't one, and as you pull away from the Eiger 3D scenery the panorama of the Bernese Alps are still highly visible in the distance and a brilliant visual addition to X-Plane... of course you can reverse this route and see this Bernese Alps vista going in as well. And a big note here to the excellent Agusta Bell AB512 from X-Trident, this was a tough review and the machine was a worthy tool in doing some really difficult flying.... Summary This is the fifth panoramic scenery from the Frank Dainese & Fabio Bellini duo of specialist iconic mountain vistas, it is all about the scenery here as an addition to your X-Plane experience, but it is also has to be considered as a highly defined detailed quality to be believed and explore. Is this their best scenery yet? In most cases yes, in scale no, as Everest 3D was a larger and more huge expanse of detail, but in internal detail and the sheer number of interactions you can have with this scenery it is a far more immersive simulation and certainly when twinned with the mirror Matterhorn 3D scenery you can now also cover a large expanse of the Swiss alpine region. It is in the immersive factor for that you can get so much out of this scenery, as there are over there are 11 selectable H Pads and many added none registered H Pads as well and two fictional airports at Grindelwald and Lauterbrunnen. Obviously this all a helicopters pilot's dream simulation, but the two grass strips also allow some very light aircraft flying as well, extreme pads at Piz Gloria (Bond 007) and Jungfraujoch just add into the superlative flying you can do in this area... but be warned it can get quite hairy with very windy conditions and in needing a lot of skill to land or takeoff at the many different locations. All the mountains in the famous Jungfrau (Top of Europe) Range including the famous "North Face" of the Eiger are all very highly crafted here, so are the surrounding exceptional glaciers. All towns and villages in the Grindelwald and Lauterbrunnen valleys are also fully created with custom objects and all the items create a very Swiss feel, the elevated iconic towns of Wengen, Murren, Gimmelwald and the focus terminus of Klein-Scheidegg are all well represented and well done. Considering the sheer amount of experience and the detail of the mountain mesh and textures, it felt odd the valley floor textures were just simple green matts, fine close up but a bit false and conflicting with the high detail surrounding in textures, the custom tree lines are also too blocky and you can see where they have been applied, yes Swiss land areas do have clean cleared blocks of land and trees, but in areas the boundary lines here are just too obvious... no notes in if or when winter textures would be added. These 3D scenery packs or parks are an excellent addition to your X-Plane experience, but this Eiger 3D is certainly the best package yet from Frank Dainese & Fabio Bellini, because it is the most accessible and more immersive, yes helicopter flying is a requirement here to get the best total return from the scenery, but it also brings out the very best in what simulation flying can bring to your total experience and at great value as well, overall it is a majestic area to fly around and savour, seriously challenging flying as well and for any well invested X-Plane pilot, you can't ask for any more than that.... Highly Recommended. ______________________________________________________________________ Yes! Eiger Park 3D by Frank Dainese & Fabio Bellini is now Available from the X-Plane.Org Store here : Eiger Park 3D Price Is US$24.95 Features: about 500 square kilometers of territory covered in this package Airports and Heliports Two virtual airports are included with a grass runway: in Grindelwald (about 800 meters long) and Lauterbrunnen (700 meters) 10 heliports located in areas of naturalistic and tourist interest. All the villages in the area have been reconstructed in 3D with about 70 types of buildings typical of area, as well as many buildings reproduced from real (hotels, stations, churches ...) All the ski lifts have also been rebuilt (16). The railway stations in the area are very detailed (Kleine-Scheidegg, grindelwald, Wengen, Lauterbrunnen) The Eiger reproduced in 3D with 4K texture of the North Face. For the Monch and the Jungfrau, polygons / textures have been positioned that reproduce the real color (summer season). The whole area is covered by polygons / HD textures for a very sharp and accurate view. The whole residential area has night textures. Scenery summer season WT3: Your joking of course! no, you are on your own here, but it works out at Zurich LSZH. Requirements X-Plane 11 Windows, Mac or Linux 4GB VRAM Minimum - 8GB+ VRAM Recommended Download Size: 395Mb Release and Review version 1.0 (17th May 2019) Installation Download scenery file size is download 390.50mb and with the full installation installed in your custom scenery folder as there are seven install folders in order below (INI File included):  SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/3D_Eiger/ (26.90mb) SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/CablewayEiger/ (12.10mb) SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/Grindelwald/ (297.00mb) SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/K_Scheidegg/ (256.20mb) SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/Lauterbrunnen_Wengen/ (377.50mb) SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/Mesh_Eiger/ (130.10mb) SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/trees_lib/ (34.20mb) Total scenery installation : 1.13gb The developers note you need to adjust the X-Plane "scenery_packs.INI" so the loading order is correct and the Mesh_Eiger must be above the Global Airport folder. Autogen has to be inserted manually... you download the .dsf file here: https://1drv.ms/u/s!Av9rxLyBi20agRRXHhZqI12nYt7S You replace the "Mesh_Eiger" Earth Nav Data with the above download... instructions are included. If you already have the Matterhorn Prk 3D scenery then you will also require a patch to run these two sceneries together to avoid conflict, that patch is available here: https://1drv.ms/u/s!Av9rxLyBi20agRUuFAuV7Qu44d8k Documents One manual with notes ______________________________________________________________________   Review by Stephen Dutton 17th May 2019 Copyright©2019 : X-Plane Reviews  (Disclaimer. All images and text in this review are the work and property of X-PlaneReviews, no sharing or copy of the content is allowed without consent from the author as per copyright conditions) Review System Specifications: Computer System: Windows - Intel Core i7 6700K CPU 4.00GHz / 64bit - 16 Gb single 1067 Mhz DDR4 2133 - ASUS GeForce GTX 1080 8Gb - Samsung Evo 512gb SSD Software: - Windows 10 - X-Plane 11.31 Addons: Saitek x52 Pro system Joystick and Throttle : Sound - Bose Soundlink Mini  Plugins: Environment Engine by xEnviro US$69.90 : US$19.95 Scenery or Aircraft - Agusta Bell AB512 by X-Trident (X-Plane.OrgStore) - US$35.95 - LSZH - Airport Zürich v2 by Aerosoft (X-Plane.OrgStore) - US$27.99

Aircraft Update : Boeing 747-8 Series V1.9.2. by Supercritical Simulations Group It is very hard to believe with the passing of time and the legendary status that that been compiled around the Boeing 747 series for now 50 years. But back in the aircraft's early days it was quite simply a mess of an aircraft, or even under developed as it went into service (In that fact nothing has really changed for Boeing). The company bet big on the revolutionary "Jumbo Jet" but in reality the engineering had not kept up with the promise... the original Pratt & Whitney JT9D engine which was the first high bypass ratio jet engine to power a wide-body airliner was in essence a turkey, and it's 43,500 lbf (193.50 kN) was grossly under powered for the job it had to do. It also broke down with alarming regularity in service and the issue was caused by ovalization, in which stresses during takeoff (max power) caused the engine casing to deform into an oval shape and cause the high-pressure turbine blades to grind against the sides. So the engine could never be used at any thrust maximums unless you wanted a dead engine on your aircraft, so in most cases in early service the B747-100's were basically flying on three engines per service. This was solved by strengthening the engine casing and adding yoke-shaped thrust links, and so would such a situation happen today, no in reality the aircraft like the current B737 MAX it would have and should have been grounded. It was only until the release of the -200 and the upgraded JT9D-7 47,900 lbf (213.07 kN) in 1972 that the legend would finally find her wings. The B747 story in a way mirrors the one for SSG - Supercritical Simulations Group. The newly formed development studio went large with their very first and extremely ambitious aircraft with the Boeing 747-8i in passenger and freighter versions and to test out their philosophy as it was first originally released as a basic freeware aircraft... in this mode the aircraft had a load of promise with advanced graphic designs for the time, but like for myself it was the huge framerate suction that beat (or beatened) for the time my computer's specifications. This was an interesting point because what the computer struggled with was not the frameweight of the B748, but it's sheer size in the numbers (polygons) of the aircraft it had to compute, because complexity and quality comes at a cost. That was five years ago. The aircraft evolutioned immensely, but never really overcame it's basic issues, and in times it was quite a mess of a simulation. On (early) release it was a muddle and even years later a tryout of flying from the UK to Montreal to deliver a load of Grand Prix equipment has always stuck in my mind as a very poor flight for the amount of issues that went wrong (mostly associated with the FMS), but overall it was not a great 7 hours of my life. But at least SSG kept on developing and having faith in the aircraft. It is also full of advanced ideas and details, but again this is an area the required a lot of skills to do... as "Advanced" can be noted several ways, in that yes it has all those excellent features and details, but that were simply too far ahead of the developers time and skill set, and in essence that sums up the core issues. Version release v1.9.1 was finally when the aircraft saw some daylight in finally a cohesive simulation and the FMS also behaved itself, The aircraft was at long last finally worthy of its position in X-Plane, and also very welcomed as good large long haulers are now rare in X-Plane and so that is a good thing as well... but personally I always thought that the development of a B747 should have gone to the more receptive Boeing 747-400 than the B747-8 from a sales and user point of view, but in many ways that also sorts of fit's in to the story of this aircraft. Update v1.9.2. So here is update v1.9.2 for the SSG B747-8, and like the venerable real world Boeing 747 this version is the last of the line, as soon this version is going to be retired. But the B747-8 is not going completely out of our flying lives, but it is too be soon replaced by a completely new ground up rebuild and design of the B747-8 v2. But that is not to say this final update is not worthy, and although it is not a huge update this original version is at least going out of commission with a little style and dignity. It also helps with this upgrade in that like a lot of aircraft in the X-Plane simulator the SSG B747-8i package didn't go through the upgrade process, in other words any original X-Plane10 version can be upgraded to the X-Plane11 standard free of charge, and with no repurchase cost involved, so that really helps with the original purchase investment so this"final" version can still be used for a significant period of time if you don't want to change your original investment (or at least till X-Plane11 is replaced by X-Plane12)... Although the aircraft does come with some great ground features like a really nice fuel truck and GPU (Ground Power Unit), however it really comes into it's own with the JarDesign Ground Handling Deluxe plugin with those huge complex scissor C-Loaders. For the freighter version the GHD plugin is essential. This is very handy in my route today from LEBL (Barcelona) to EDDM (Munich) to return some cargo from the recent Spanish Grand Prix. In reality the long haul B748F is wasted on such a short route, but Mercedes need the huge capacity of the B748F. First big feature addition to v1.9.2 is actually external, with WebFMC Pro. Note you need WebFMC Pro plugin version v1.3.0 for it to work with the SSG Boeing 747-8... The computer based WebFMC is shown on the right and the internal FMS is shown on the left, the Chrome browser is the recommended browser for WebFMC Pro. The internal cockpit facia of the FMS is a bit squished to fit, but the new plate facia on the WebFMC is full size. It looks very good and can be set in "Dirty" or "Clean" modes. Note the new X-Plane11 pop-out window layout is now used to display the pop-out FMS panel (F8 Win/Linux - fn/F8 Mac). The Javier Cortes version of the FMS in the B747-8 Series is now far more better since last year's v1.9.1 version update, and again this was re-enforced by the easy programming in v1.9.2 of the route... DEP RWY/SID and ARR RWY/STAR and route waypoints (AIRWAYS) was excellent... .... then the ultimate test is in the editing the route. I wanted to reedit the arrival pattern as with the selected IRBI4A STAR into EDDM's RWY 26L as it is very tight, and fine for say a B737 or A320, but too tight an entry for a large heavy like the B748F, so I used the RNAV approach BETOS 26 to reset the approach waypoints... With SimBrief and Navigraph charts and the external WebFMC Pro it is very good for doing FMC editing and route programming.... .... more importantly the FMS reedited the approach data perfectly and it is in these areas that I look for the standard of quality in these Flight Management Systems, if it works correctly it is first realistic, but also saves you time (and frustration) in setting out the routing, and yes I was impressed. Set fuel and cargo weights can be set in the left side iPad styled built in panel, but the settings can also transferred directly into the FMC via the upper LK1 (Left Key 1)... You can do the manual input as well. The odd one on the data is the "Cost Index" SSG note 9999 and myself 5666, but usually cost indexes are around 35 to 55, so 9999 looks a bit too odd, but then again Cost Indexes are a complex formula. Overall the FMS is very good and detailed with a lot of input and data pages... PERF (Peformance) TakeOff references is excellent. You can certainly see on how far this built in FMS has progressed here, the system is now as good as most of the others out there. The APU power has been adjusted for v1.9.2. It is now correct on the centre lower display.... .... one thing that hasn't changed is the extremely dark cockpit interior. It has had constant overhauls over the five years, and a few outside user packages as well on trying to make it more brighter in here. My feeling it is the PBR effects, but even well back in X-Plane10 it was not the best place to work, the under panel lighting is lovely, but overall it feels just too over dark... no doubt SSG kept to the original panel colouring and feel, and it is very authentic, but overall you just don't like the feel in here.... we hope the v2 cockpit is better than the "dungeon". Engine start is now very good with the X-Plane11 particle effects now set out on the aircraft, the power of the huge General Electric GEnx--2B67B engines rated at 66,500 lbf (296 kN) compare to the 43,500 lbf (193.50 kN) of the -100 version can be now seen... more effects later. The Boeing 747-8i/F is a huge aircraft as you have a length of 250 ft 2 in / 76.3 m and a wingspan of 224 ft 7 in / 68.4 m, you are longer than an A380, but your wingspan is shorter... .... 166 knts + 10 and you rotate... you feel the power, you see all the power of the combined thrust of the GEnx--2B67Bs... You work hard in here, the B747-8 demands skill and precision, certainly when heavy, but the rewards are very high as well... ... v1.9.2. has had a lot of performance tuning for all engines and tuned flight dynamics. In other words the aircraft is now tuned into the X-Plane11 dynamics and it certainly does feel better and flies closer to the set performance. Using the WebFMC you can follow (in this case the DEP) route in detail. Like SSG's E-Jet Evolution Series v1.3 update that we reviewed early April 2019, The wingtip vortices are not as again adjusted and sit trailing below the wingtips? here they are as out as they are on the same on the SSG E-Jets? Shame because they look sensational... There are still a few crawling ants over the engines, but they are not as bad as I remembered them last year as they were then more noticeable... ... thankfully the adjusted engine effects look great as well. There is still nothing like being perched high in the B747's seven four cockpit... ... you do start to feel the age of the design, yes the B747-8 is actually new or newer, but the concept is early sixties, but it's a seven four! In the rear you do have the freight deck (with loadable cargo set via the weight), but the passenger version has never had a cabin, that will change with the coming v2 version... Certainly in this cargo role the the "Queen of the Skies" will still rule for a while, as that huge uplift of cargo and distance killing range will see to that. SSG have added MAP Range commands, but I found the well done altitude monitor (above left) in range did not match the Navigation range? Target altitude markers are very handy in targeting your STAR arrival point, in the B747-8 it is very good. Now in the BETOS 26 arrival pattern, I like the low speed performance, it is easy to get the correct pitch to the low speeds. The Seven Four is a dramatic aircraft, that is why we love it so much, and the machine always gives out a full performance on any arrival, just watch the gear lowering to get the idea.... cue the opera music! Final approach to EDDM's RWY 26L, I found 200knts on approach and final at around 168knts at full flap, but that does depend on your weight. All sixteen wheels hit the ground, but you are so far forward and so high, you will have to bang the aircraft down to actually feel the gear contact. Sounds are very good, but due to be updated in v2... it will be interesting to hear them. At the Munich Lufthansa cargo terminal, then as soon as the engines are stopped and the chocks are in place then out comes the cargo... ... as a simulation v1.9.2 in X-Plane11 the Boeing is now extremely good... I admit this review is quite large for a six line changelog, but that is not the point here, it a farewell to an aircraft that has had quite a difficult ride in over five years and two X-Plane versions, and In most cases they are usually ready to be discarded, abandoned... but considering the history like the real Boeing 747, this SSG B747-8 goes out in a few months with a bit of dignity, obviously the SSG B747-8 series is not perfect, but it did survive, got above it's struggles... so for anyone wanting a very good Boeing 747 this is still a very worthy option, certainly if the aircraft goes on out on a sale and in that case you wouldn't be disappointed (the price is already lowered US$10 in all packages). SSG did personally note this to the aircraft and project: "This 747-8 project started as freeware in 2010 and eventually led to the formation of SSG a year later in order to bring a detailed payware version of the iconic 747 to the X-Plane community. This permitted the official Boeing licensing of the project, which led to the incorporation of more detail and accuracy into the add-on. At the same time, SSG chose to provide free updates, paint kits and hundreds of high-quality liveries to provide good value to our customers and to thank them for their support over the years. During this time we have seen X-Plane grow and evolve over 3 versions, and incorporated their new capabilities and technology into our products wherever possible. As a group we have taken this experience to create an all-new SSG 747-8 Version 2. We are also listening to our customers and your requests on what is important to you for an X-Plane add-on. In addition to the 747-8 and E-Jets, SSG will be adding the CRJ, with other unannounced projects in various stages of development. So, as development of Version 1 of the SSG 747-8 is winding down and we focus on Version 2, we want to thank all of those who made it possible for SSG to be where we are now and we are excited to show you what we have in store." Summary The final update for Supercritical Simulations Group's original Boeing 747-8 Series with both a Passenger and freighter version in a package (Series) or the individual variants of the Inter Advanced (Passenger Version) or Freighter (Cargo Version). A small update to bring the aircraft up to the current X-Plane11.33 standards with performance, particle effects and tuned flight dynamics, it certainly feels and flies far better than before the update... bonus is that the excellent WebFMC Pro plugin v1.3.0 can now also be used with the aircraft. In reality this five year old bird goes out on a high, with the new v2 of the Supercritical Simulations Group Boeing 747-8 Series due later into 2019, and so it will still cruise the routes for a few months yet... long live the Seventy Four. ______________________________________________________________________  Yes! the Boeing 747-8i/8F Adv v1.9.2 By Supercritical Simulations Group is available from the X-Plane.Org Store here : Boeing 747-8 Series (Both Passenger and Freighter) : Price is US$55.00 Boeing 747-8 Inter Advanced (Passenger Version) Price is US$45.00 Boeing 747-8 Freighter (Cargo Version) Price is US$45.00  Features: Officially licensed by the Boeing Corporation. Completely rebuilt from scratch, building on SSG's experience with its popular freeware 747-8 releases. Accurate 3D external model based on 2D and 3D drawings supplied by Boeing, complete with animations and hi-res textures Aircraft meets most of the real aircraft's performance data for consumption, AOA, speeds, flight dynamics, etc. in consultation with real world 747 pilots. Manufacturer's performance data embedded as tables in the fully functional FMC. Realistic 3D cockpit with high resolution, in all render settings. Realistic displays (PFD, ND, EICAS, and MFD with system synoptics) Many systems are implemented with realistic logic, such as electrical, hydraulic, pneumatic, engine fire extinguishing, fuel (with dumping capability), wing and engine anti-ice (including automatic mode), communications, and TCAS. Electronic checklist system that can automatically detect certain aircraft configuration changes Complete autopilot functioning in modes similar to the real aircraft External lights and strobes operate realistically. Display management similar to that in the real aircraft (information can be switched between displays). First Officer's ND display is independent from the Captain's, and ND has a pop-up option EICAS messages based on the real aircraft's with lists for multiple pages and recall capability. Autobrakes with anti-skid system that works in all conditions and includes a realistic rejected takeoff mode. Realistic wing flex and other animations. Window rain effects and animated wipers (viewable from the cockpit). Electronic Flight Bag (EFB) with payload management, fueling and pushback menus. Ground vehicles include a tow truck, fuel truck, and GPU 3D sounds with Dream Engine plugin. TSS (Turbine Sound Studio) real recorded sounds. Custom built-in FMC and Navigation FMC made by FJCC especially for the 747-8i with more than 100 interactions with the flight model, including SIDs, STARs, transitions, approaches, flare and rollout modes. FMC is compatible with AeroSoft's NavDataPro and Navigraph navigation databases. Option to use either a 2D pop-up (resizable) FMC or one within the 3D cockpit. Custom radio communication and audio consoles with digital keypad optimized for on-line virtual ATC operations. FMC performance information based on real aircraft data, including calculated V-speeds. FMC includes capability for autotuning navaid frequencies. Vertical Situation Display (VSD) on the ND (a first for X-Plane) Airport diagrams displayed on the ND (a first for X-Plane) Terrain display mode on the ND, which is a part of the Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System (EGPWS) on the real aircraft. Compatible with the AirFMC app to permit the use of an iPad as an external FMC Ability to switch the displays between magnetic and true heading presentations. Comprehensive Flight Crew Operation Manual (FCOM) and a Quick Start Guide.   Requirements: X-Plane 11+ Windows 7,8,10; MAC OS 10.7+; Linux.  2Gb MB VRAM Minimum- 4GB+ VRAM Highly Recommended Current version : 1.9.2 - last updated May 11th 2019 Framerate is pretty good, and a refined version is part of the v1.9.2. package, but I would recommend a power machine as standard.  JarDesign Ground Handling Deluxe plugin is highly recommended with this aircraft.   Installation : Download is 750mb which is unzipped and is inserted in your Heavy Aircraft folder as:   SSG B748-Inter - 708.60mb file  B748-8F Freighter - 627.20mb file   Key authorisation is required.   Documentation : includes  B748-ChangeLog.txt SSG 747-8 FCOM.pdf SSG 747-8 Quick start Guide.pdf SSGCUSTOMLIST.TXT   Changelog v1.9.2 - WebFMC Pro compatiblity - Fixed APU GEN switch engagement for electrical system. - FMC load 1.9.1 - Tuned performance for all engines. - Tuned flight dynamics. - Added map range commands. - Added APU heat blur with particle effects ______________________________________________________________________  Plugin Review by Stephen Dutton  14th May 2019  Copyright©2019: X-Plane Reviews   (Disclaimer. All images and text in this review are the work and property of X-PlaneReviews, no sharing or copy of the content is allowed without consent from the author as per copyright conditions)   Review System Specifications:  Computer System: Windows - Intel Core i7 6700K CPU 4.00GHz / 64bit - 16 Gb single 1067 Mhz DDR4 2133 - ASUS GeForce GTX 1080 8Gb - Samsung Evo 512gb SSD Software: - Windows 10 - X-Plane 11.20 Addons: Saitek x56 Rhino Pro system Joystick and Throttle : Sound - Bose Soundlink Mini  Plugins: Environment Engine by xEnviro v1.07 US$69.90 : XPRealistic Pro v1.0.9 effects US$19.95 : WorldTraffic 3.0 Plugin - US$29.95 : BetterPushBack - Free Scenery or Aircraft - LEBL - Barcelona Airport by JustSim (X-Plane.OrgStore) - US$21.00 on sale for US$16.90 - EDDM - Munich Airport by ShortFinal Designs (X-Plane,OrgStore) - US$26.95   

News! - Pre-Release : Concorde FXP by Colimata It's Concorde! Yes the fastest passenger bird ever is here. Colimata has released his in-depth version of this supremely iconic airliner for X-Plane11, This is however a Pre-Release aircraft, or in other words it's not yet completely finished, but in the deal you do also get US$10 off the full purchase price. First look says the Concorde is very impressive, but a long way from being finished... only for the brave as the systems are very complex and you need skill to fly the Concorde to it's maximum performance.... Again I will note that all the features noted are not included in the Pre-Release version... Features 3D COCKPIT Super detailed 3D cockpit Front panel, center panel, roof panel, side consoles, Engineering 4k cockpit textures including 100’s of texts and markings Incredible level of interactivity More than 1000 click regions (switches, quick access areas etc) 700+ custom lights for: Warning lamps Gorgeous, dimmable night lighting (Instruments, panels, consoles, floods, etc.) EXTERNAL MODEL Detailed 3D model of the aircraft Opening passenger and cargo doors plus service panels Very detailed engines Including moving ramps, intake/spill doors Animated primary and secondary nozzles Engine cowl doors can be opened Mounted engines External 3D model of Olympus 583 engine Detailed landing gear Many utility vehicles included (tankers, conveyors, catering, etc) Full use of PBR Beautiful 4k textures including normal maps FLIGHTMODEL Refined flight model Subsonic and supersonic speed ranges Mach 2 capable (twice the speed of sound) Takeoff and Landing with Concorde's unique attitude Plugin driven custom engine parameters Plugin simulated vortex lift forces and ground effect forces Very impressive are the huge amount of menu options, with fuel situation and CoG (Centre of Gravity) details, and engine performance is also very good. SOUND fmod 3D sound Dozens and dozens of sound effects Audio advice from Copilot, Engineer and Pilot A dozen different sound spaces IN ADDITION Basic Autopilot (more is in development) 3D passenger cabin Extensive Graphical User Interface (scaleable in size), with features like: Flight Preparation Aircraft management: Virtual flight engineer Custom content 2 liveries included Many more in the livery download section UPDATES Regular software updates (download in the forum or on colimata.com) MANUALS ‘10 essentials’ manual included (55 pages) Quickstart manual (coming in summer) Full manual (coming in summer) Requirements: X-Plane 11 (Fully updated) Windows, Mac (Linux not supported at this time) 4GB VRAM Minimum - 8GB+ VRAM Recommended Current version: 1.0 (May 10th 2019) Concorde FXP is now available from the X-Plane.OrgStore, priced at US$49.95 Windows and Mac only currently available with Linux to follow. Images are courtesy of Colimata ________________________________________ The Pre-Release Concorde FXP by Colimata is now available from the X-Plane.OrgStore! for X-Plane11... Here: Concorde FXP Price is a discounted US$49.95 (Full price is 59.95) Requirements are: X-Plane 11+ Windows, Mac or Linux 4GB VRAM Video Card Minimum - 8GB+ VRAM recommended Download Size: 2.1 Gb Current version: 1.0 (May 7th 2019) ________________________________________ News by Stephen Dutton 11th May 2019 Copyright©2019: X-Plane Reviews (Disclaimer. All images and text in this preview are the work and property of X-PlaneReviews, no sharing or copy of the content is allowed without consent from the author as per copyright conditions)

No your computer is far better and more powerful than mine? it should eat it.... try a new download, or check your log, tried pulling out all your plugins (except the basic required) because that is not correct? and check AviTab? Stephen

Aircraft Update : Agusta Bell AB412 v3.0 by X-Trident Helicopters, if there was a genre that has been neglected in X-Plane11 lately it has to be our vertical capable machinery. There has been a few or two such new Helio's but not any with any considerable depth or size, there is a new one coming (finally) a CH47F Chinook from X-Trident, but X-Trident are also keeping the Heli front moving with an update to their very first helicopter release with the Agusta Bell AB412. This aircraft has had a very nice series of upgrades of which this update brings the machine up to v3.0 status. The actual update is not particularly a large one, but it is a very good one from many perspectives. The last update for the AB412 was Dec 9th 2017 with an Update for X-Plane 11.10+, but this was just a minor adjustment for the helicopter to fly in X-Plane11, and nothing really deep... One of the first things you notice in v3.0 is that the AB412 has now a more nose up attitude... ... in the neutral position, a lot of Helio pilots noted this and asked for it, and with good reason as the AB412 has suddenly become much more stable in the liftoff and landing phases of the flight, mainly because the aircraft's balance is now correct. But I think the changes have gone through the whole airframe as a whole, as I found the Bell far more easier to fly in all the phases of the flight... ... as just sitting in the hover was some sort of revelation on how much easier it was, and your controllability is now far better. Another change was that the skids in their various forms (and there are a few with Standard, SAR and Float) will now all correctly sit on the ground and not sink themselves into the tarmac. We can now throw in the v11.33 particle effects, downward thrust produces great clouds of spray, and the AB412's twin PT6T-3DF Twin-Pac turboshaft engines, that produce 1,250 shp (932 kW), 900 shp (671 kW) for each power section is now more plainly noticeable with the particle effects. The GeForce plugin is now back in after being lost for a version.... and yes it makes a big difference. Cyclic and collective are now also available in VR (Virtual Reality), I have flown the AB412 in VR and it was very enjoyable, however I would love to go back now and feel this far better and updated version. The Co-Pilot's VOR/OBS dial wasn't working, but that issue has now been addressed, and it is now far better for flying in the left seat. There is however one area I am still not happy with on the AB412... the SAS (Stability Augmentation System) or autopilot. No issues in using the SAS in holding the altitude, changing the altitude with the V/S, holding the IAS speed or the HDG (Heading), as it all works perfectly... But turn the SAS off and regain manual control and it won't let you? everything is turned off auto wise, but there is no way the aircraft will descend, it will just go on holding the set altitude, even if the collective is right down in the low position... so you are stuck up there at a set altitude, with the only way to reduce height is to reduce the thrust (very dangerous)... So I never or rarely use the SAS, because I simply don't want to get stuck (up there) in this mode? The reversed slip indicator is now also fixed as there are some new commands... these commands cover a lot of ground for remote (movement) FLIR and external spotlight use, hoist and cargo can be controlled from your joystick or keyboard as well with now also SAR/LOAD support for 3rd party plugins... all are for great interactivity. Flying helicopters can always be put into the "too hard" basket, and yes even I would a acknowledge they are a learned skill, but the rewards are extremely high if you can master them, a throttle system replicating a collective is a major advantage in controllability as is a joystick or rudder pedals to control the yaw, but if you have them and with some practise and you will be bitten for life in flying in this very different vertical world. With these v3.0 improvements, then the AB412 is a great place to start. Summary The X-Trident Agusta Bell AB412 has been around now for a few years (2014) and was an X-Plane10 stalwart... the original full detailed review is here : Aircraft Review : Agusta Bell AB412 by X-Trident. But that doesn't mean to say that the AB412 is anything but old or out of date, in fact the total opposite is true. Constant updates like with this v3.0 update for XP11 has kept the aircraft extremely current and contemporary, the Bell feels even better now in X-Plane11 than it ever did. A good investment then as now, absolutely. This is a small update here with v3.0 in details, but it has had a huge difference on the machine, certainly in the handling, as the B412 feels very fresh and more controllable than ever before. Added particle effects and XP11 PBR effects bring out even more realism to the aircraft. And few issues and bugs have been cleaned up and the GeForce plugin has been returned. Helicopters are scarce in X-Plane11, but really updated good ones are even now even more rare, so savour one of the best currently available, it is highly featured and versatile as well adding into the experience, if new to helicopters then this AB412 is a great entry point, yes they do require practice and skill, but the awards are also as astounding... Highly recommended. ___________________________________________________ Yes! the Agusta Bell AB412 v3.0 from X-Trident is now available from the X-Plane.Org Store here : Agusta Bell 412 Price is US$35.95 Features: Highly detailed 3d model and 3d cockpit. Most switches operable Detailed rotor kinematic modeling Detailed lights Close to real fuel, hydraulic and electrical systems; start-up sequence follows the real checklist almost line by line Custom failures Working custom auxiliary tank and water drop system Working dolly pad for precision landing Custom warning panel Custom governor Custom artificial stability Custom 4 channels autopilot with over 10 modes Flight model approved and tweaked by real pilots Hyper detailed rotor with all its levers moving ud and down, Custom GPU Custom Remove Before Flight with dangling flags (with FOD) ADF with bank error Working doors with changing sound volume effect Many liveries plus a paint kit; smart configuration of optional objects attached to each livery Plugin for Windows, Mac and Linux - detailed custom menu Includes a licensed version of Dreamfoil's Geforce plugin Working NIGHTSUN Spotlight Working FLIR Camera Custom Winch and SAR operations Requirements: X-Plane 11.30+ Mac, Windows, Linux 4GB VRAM Minimum - 8GB+ VRAM Recommended Current version: 3.0 (May 3rd 2019) Support Thread : Bell 412 by X-Trident v3.0 update log txt AB412 v3.0 log.txt ___________________________________________________ Aircraft Update Review by Stephen Dutton 8th May 2019 Copyright©2019 : X-Plane Reviews  (Disclaimer. All images and text in this review are the work and property of X-PlaneReviews, no sharing or copy of the content is allowed without consent from the author as per copyright conditions)

News! - Released : Princess of the Caribbean Pt 2 by Airworthy Designs Airworthy Designs AWD in their new addition of the Princess of the Caribbean scenery Pt 2 has now been released for X-Plane 11. This is the second part of the surrounding area of St. Barths and Saba, to coexist with the earlier TNCM - Princess of the Caribbean - Part 1 see review here: TNCM - Princess of the Caribbean - Part 1. The original scenery covered a huge if immense area of not only the islands of Anguilla and the highlight of Princess Juliana International Airport (PJIA) in Sint Maarten, so now added are the associated islands of St Barths (TFFJ) and Saba (TNCS). The Clayton J. Lloyd International Airport on Anguilla is however still not covered? Thankfully here the download size is not the gigantic 13.5gb of the Pt1 but a more healthy download size of 2.1Gb, but remember they still have to run both sceneries side by side or together for the maximum effect of the sheer size of the scenery's scope, so you are now pushing 15.6gb... gulp! Some nice provided images.... In the scenery you get THAT runway or Saint Barthélemy islands RWY28 or the horror over the hill RWY10 with its 150ft drop and 17º slope... yes it is famous for all the right or wrong reasons... Review to come! Images are courtesy of Airworthy Designs TFFJ - Princess of the Caribbean - Part 2- Saba & St. Barts is now available from the X-Plane.OrgStore! TFFJ - Princess of the Caribbean - Part 2 Price is US$26.95 Requirements are: X-Plane 11+ Windows, Mac or Linux 4GB VRAM Video Card Minimum - 8GB+ VRAM recommended Download Size: 2.1 Gb Current version: 1.0 (May 7th 2019) ________________________________________ News by Stephen Dutton 8th May 2019 Copyright©2019: X-Plane Reviews (Disclaimer. All images and text in this preview are the work and property of X-PlaneReviews, no sharing or copy of the content is allowed without consent from the author as per copyright conditions)

It's not the Epic E1000... I checked and my framerate is fine and on par with conditions? I'm pulling 37 frames, which is normal? I would check you are not over your graphic card limits, if so pull the textures back a notch. my number is 3338mb textures set at high, so that would still be below a 4K card? If not I would try a complete redownload and a new install... SD

xEnviro are doing the same carpet layering of snow... looks interesting.

Well I gave the C-17 a twirl, and the big bird flew fine for me! The C-17 is extremely old, so no mistake there, but everything worked in v11.33, noticeable is the engine performance but if you are not picky, picky then you can still fly the C-17 in X-Plane.

No I don't think it has? It shows the adf pointer in BGD 2, but it doesn't seem to work, even if you put the frequency in directly from the local map...

aaarrrh nope, because seasons would be part of any texture overall, and not a new feature. Next.

Behind The Screen : April 2019 You sorta own them for their requirements that you need, yes someone else created it, yes you paid for it out of your hard earned money, so it is sort of yours, more so in the fact how for one in much you use it and secondly... on how much you like it. It gets personal as you know your away around it so well, the best areas, the best ways to approach it... it actually becomes important to you. The only thing is that X-Plane is constantly evolving, changing morphing and even the very, very best in time starts to feel it's age after a few years, so when an updated version comes along you are going to get very excited, the brilliant same but now updated and it is going to be far better.... right? Wrong. EGCC Manchester by Aerosoft was a brilliant scenery, in certainly the very top ten of sceneries for detail and quality. It was created as part of a double act with EIDW in Dublin by Icarius Studios, yes it was a perfect match between two exceptional sceneries, and both were very much ahead of their time in quality and detail. So the XP11 version comes along and like noted you couldn't wait to install the new bright SAM featured reflective hi-depth textured brilliance... and on first glance it looked... well okay, but then I noted that a lot of items were missing (I mean who could lose a whole radar tower), but slowly the horror dawned on my that this EGCC from Aerosoft is not my actual old EGCC from Aerosoft, this was a completely redone version of EGCC from Manchester, and totally worse it was a terribly redone version of EGCC Manchester.... But to understand the history, you can see why this ghastly mess evolved. Per se Aerosoft don't make or create sceneries, they pay or subsidise other developers or developer studios to create the work for them, then they brand it as their own. In one way it is a very good idea, it gives creative developers upfront money and then a return on their work, call it survival money to create the work in the first place, and from a developer's point of view you then have that huge marketing machine behind you to sell your completed work... it is a brilliant concept, and it works, certainly from Aerosoft's point of view of making lots of money and creating a huge inventory of sellable product. But the negatives from the concept are many. The biggest one is quality control, as not all developers are created equal in fact some are well quite questionable in their actual talents and only see the cash. When starting out in 1991, there was in no doubt that Aerosoft had a lot of talent to pick from the primordial pool of eager creative creatures, more so as at the time, you didn't need a lot of actual talent to create even of the very basic sceneries or aircraft for that matter. But because such creative people got in at the lower swamp, the level then they grew with the simulators as they developed and progressed, many obviously have all mostly moved on now, but the followers in the next and even next generation built on their foundations. But the talent pool was extremely good. If you are making a name for yourself, then why not cut out the middle man and go public, create your own developer studio and take all the cash and the talent for yourself. This is were the strengths and weaknesses start to show in Aerosoft's concept. Yes you can garner exceptional talent, but you can't hold it... you can however own their product because you funded it in the first place under the business agreement. But in today's development world you can start making a name or your own brand from the start, so the problem is that the creative good developers are going to the market themselves, and living and dying on their talents alone, a few do survive, but most are culled because now you require almost exceptional quality scenery even from the start of your career, as currently payware is extremely competitive an environment to survive in, so to a point Aerosoft's support was a good concept for these up and coming creatives. But it is still Aerosoft's secondary hosting position that is it's real detrimental problem... they never created the work, they only own it. So if the original developer leaves, then they are sort of "left holding the baby"so to say, so the only way to update it is to find a new developer to do the work. This is the major issue in why so much Aerosoft product is so extreme in their quality on release, then add in a completely different simulator platform from FSX/P3D to X-Plane and it can turn into a recipe for disaster, as even a even very highly talented FlightSim developer can be totally demented in trying understand X-Plane's highly dynamic features and weirdness. Many make a very good fist of it, and actually (almost) get it right, but when a lot of the old (win7 style) scenery that is planted in your hard drive then your job is a mountain to climb to make it even halfway acceptable to the fantatical users of "that" say those "weird" group of demanding Laminar thingy users... a bigger idea is to use a dedicated X-Plane developer (mostly the Orbix approach) so they have hoovered up all the best X-Plane developers with the offer of a lot of work and a lot of payments, however Aerosoft are much more reluctant to use anything or anyone associated with X-Plane and hence most of the poor gradable scenery that passes your way. They have used X-Plane scenery developers but Orbix's offer now that they are in the X-Plane scenery business is more lucrative. And don't get me wrong, as some of my most favorite scenery is Aerosoft branded (except for now I guess EGCC and maybe soon EIDW as well) and so that explains most of the sheer differences in the extreme quality grades of the output from Aerosoft... but it doesn't do well when you are trying to create a new market that one day in the future is going to be very important contribution to your bottom line. In EGCC - Manchester case then the original Icarius studio members split up over "personal directions of the company" but it also split up one of the very best developer studios as well, leaving Aerosoft holding a product it couldn't personally update... I don't know the contract details, but as the new EGCC in the hatchet job it is, would then mean that EGCC -Manchester had to be totally created from scratch to not infringe the older contract with Icarius... hence the EGCC disaster. Vulkan and Metal is go! Laminar Research have noted via their developer site that Vulkan and Metal is now running on the main X-Plane simulator itself, and now past the test vehicles of Airfoil Maker and Plane Maker apps. Laminar noted that the new API's are still very early in their development, but I would say you will get a pretty good idea and a demonstration of the new API at the coming FlightSim Expo on 7-9th June in Florida (USA) the seminar is noted at 4:30pm - 5:15pm local time. Like with the older switch of moving over to 64bit, I doubt this time it will cause as big as an upheaval, certainly the aircraft developers are totally all over the constant changing and to and throwing at Laminar's digression over the last few years, the only effects could be that some very old processor systems out there would just not work anymore, but they live still on planet X-Plane9, so mostly they wouldn't know anyway. If the June presentation is a success, then my guess is that 11.40 (the Vulkan/Metal) release will be late August or Early September with a few months to clean up the kinks... Laminar note late 2019 or early 2020 for the Vulkan/Metal release, but I think it will be well done and dusted before that. So why the rush... In reality Laminar Research can't dig into 2020 too much stuck in a long lasting beta, of which they have had a few over over the last few years, it needs a clear slate to make money. Yes Laminar can do a clean up beta of all the little bugs still left on the roadmap for X-Plane11, but otherwise the focus will soon be on to X-Plane12. Yes X-Plane12, and it is due in 18 months time if Laminar keep to their usual roadmap of version releases. 18 months still may sound a long way off, but in development time it is just late next year, take away X-Plane11.40 and the Christmas Holidays and you will have only 10 months then to get it all done. But here is the difficult trick... what can Laminar Research actually put into X-Plane12... yes you maybe laughing and falling off your chair, but this is harder to do than you think. The point is Laminar has to have a few banner marque features to get you to part with US$80-$90 dollars, and this time around that is far harder to do than it looks. Laminar's roadmap, feature item list has been going down and down over the runs of X-Plane10 and certainly with X-Plane11, this has been without doubt the most feature packed and most successful X-Plane version ever. And now almost every feature that was missing from the simulator has been either rectified or completed on that year on year list.... Laminar has been gobbling up new features like a demented monster. Better weather, check, PBR effects, check, better avionics, check, better autogen, check, installed 3d airports, check, dynamic reflections, check, new interface, check, VR - Virtual Reality, check, new shaders, check, improved 3d cockpit interaction, check, new dynamic FMOD sound system, check, new particle effects, check, check, check... and check. It is quite a list, and certainly your going to counter with... well what about the ATC?, well yes the ATC is still a work in progress, but that will still be completed before the end of the X-Plane11 run (my guess it will be the 11.50 beta), Weather is still crap... Weather will always be a beta to beta WIP, as will the autogen, what we are talking about here are the needed BIG features to get you to pay for the next bigger and better X-Plane12. Raytracing... what about that one... well no because Raytracing is a hardware dependent feature, at this point to few (cost wise) have the new Turing engines in their computers, it will be a few years before Raytracing will become a feature, but it will be introduced down the line in X-Plane12. Only in a few areas can I see new features. One is efficiency. This will step on from the Vulkan/Metal revolution, the new X-Plane12 will be a lean machine, but to access that efficiency you will need modern hardware, or at least something that can mulit-thread, and what you see on the surface is not what it will under the hood in the engine department, so in reality the start point of X-Plane12 will start with the introduction of Vulkan/Metal, or to say Laminar are doing that right now. but what else? Personally I can only see one thing. The only area that has not had attention over the last few versions of X-Plane is the Global Orbit Textures and Water, even to the point that the main ground textures may even get an overhaul, and yes that would mean better extended lighting for night operations. Granted there are already a lot of add on extras that can cover these areas, but they are still a central core requirement on the basic simulator... with the far better efficiency of the new Vulkan/Metal API's then I think Laminar can finally go up a step on these resource hungry elements. We also now have the capability to download huge gigabyte files as well as that was not even possible even at the time of the release of X-Plane11 (yes you can finally ditch those DVD's for good). So what are your thoughts on future features of the simulator? I would like to hear them. The next Behind the Screen will only a week out from the FlightSim Expo, so we will see how we all are then. See you all again next month Stephen Dutton 1st May 2019 Copyright©2019: X-Plane Reviews

Aircraft Review : 390 Premier 1A XP11 by Carenado 2019 is turning out to be the year of Regional aircraft and Business Jets. Both categories have languished in X-Plane for years, but as the General Aviation category is now becoming a heavily crowded market place then these more marketable aircraft are now coming on stream, and X-Plane users are lapping them up in their thousands. And why shouldn't you in this extremely high quality and but short range designs era, as these aircraft are fulfilling in a major set of class holes in your simulator flying experience. Carenado have also been at the forefront of these releases, and now bungling them out on even now a monthly basis. The earliest E50P Phenom 100 HD was to me slightly flawed, but the Cessna Citation ll S550 was sensational in every department. In regional aircraft then the astounding Saab 340 XP11 is still up to this point of the year the aircraft of 2019. The announcement and successful anniversary release for the FSX/P3D users of the ATR42 also shows no bounds in regionals and hopefully it will be fast tracked to the X-Plane platform. So here comes another if slightly smaller private jet in the Beechcraft 390 Premier 1A. If it looks like a modern day Hawker then your eyes are not deceiving you as the aircraft was a Beechcraft/Hawker design and the updated second generation the aircraft was actually called the Hawker 200, but with the Beechcraft/Hawker bankruptcy the production of their business jets ceased in 2013. Review note: Since starting the review Carenado have updated the Premier 1A to v1.1, those notes are included here, but I have left the original notes intact to see the changes. 390 Premier 1A XP11 First impressions are of another excellent design and high quality machine from Careando... are you even now becoming a bit accustomed or even expect this sort of level of standard of quality... for the money yes, but never take the high level we know and accept for granted in that we should all admire of how good we all have it with simulation design now at these ultra levels. The Premier's design is quite basic or very clean sheet, so details are minute here but are still extremely well done. I always look not for the obvious because that is.. well obvious, as most releases in this category are expected to come up to that detailing standard, in say fittings, modeling, aircraft construction elements and so on... What you are looking for are the skilled elements, like here with the well conceived lovely concave shapes around the twin Williams FJ44-2A Turbofans... ... it is an area easily missed, but it gives the aircraft a perfect realism look from certain angles. The wings chord profile is X-15 razor thin and again really hard to model for realism, but again they are really well done here and it all comes with those lovely chrome leading edges. Landing gear is simplistic in assembly, but again it would have been easy just to have done a strut and a few pipes to cover the detail, but again there is a lot of depth to the modelling when you dig down close to the high detailing... .... you have to love the attached cover plate on the front gear strut... simplicity in itself. All gear movements and animations are the usual first rate. Carenado glass work is always sublime and so it is here, perfect fit and all the great reflections are the norm. Note the realistic inner glareshield. Side windows are perfection as are the pods for the Williams turbofans, again to note how hard it is to get that shape realistically correct and the excellent chrome inlet cowling... masterpiece. T-Tail design and detail is perfect with nice trim tab detail and all the correct tiny aerodynamic air flow surfaces. Again note the lower shaping to the wing root around (and part of) the entrance door, lovely. Menus While still external of the aircraft we will look at the menus... There are the usual Carenado three tabs in the left side down corner. The three tabs are noted as: A ) is for the lovely authentic Collins Proline21 pop-up Autopilot panel, that is is quite screen filling large but can thankfully be moved and scaled to a smaller size. C ) Is the standard Carenado ten preselected Views, Field of View and Volume panel. And O ) is the Options panel.   Options include Window and Instrument reflections. The static elements provided here are still very basic with only two cones, wheel chocks and flag/pitot covers and some nice "Premier 1A" engine inlet covers, but you can only have all or nothing. The highly realistic pilot and co-pilot (and new) animated pilots in flight uniforms do disappear when you activate the static elements. Other menu items include opening twin nose and left rear baggage door and left side main entrance door... there is also a nice well detailed "HOBART" GPU (Ground Power Unit). The livery Selector is now on the options panel than from usually the Carenado tab. An unusual option here is the "false" window. This will put a fake fourth window on the cabin, it does look good, but obviously fake. Internal Cabin The drop down built in stairs are beautiful... perfection. Once inside the cabin all you can say is "oooooh", and "ahhhh nice!" It feels all very good in here. Expensive leather and wood fittings abound, this is a rich persons world... or someone with the aims to pay for it all. Seating is a set of wide club four seats and another single row set behind... .... but it is an extremely tight fit knees wise if you don't get the club premier seats, and you don't have a window close either... ... the clubbies have animated fold out tables as well on both sides. Nice detail is the reflective (mirror) panels that look extremely realistic... Click on the doors to open the animated four section moveable panels, behind is a large hand luggage holding area, a bit of a wasted space with the larger external baggage area. forward right is a very small galley area for storing odd bits, but the cabinet is not really usable for meals in flight except for snacks and a few bottles of wine, there is no toilet on board, so you need go anyway very easy on the wine! All window blinds are animated, either by moving them directly, or by the catch on the lower window frame... .... cockpit separation doors are noted to be open on takeoff and landings, the doors all have a very nice veneer wood finish. Cabin lighting is very nice, but confusing? There is excellent ceiling lighting that is noted as "Aisle", but the switchable "Cabin OVHD" lights don't do anything? it should be the other way around, as for the aisle lighting it should be on the floor or lower areas for the emergency exit? "Galley" light doesn't do anything either, mostly this light is used to illuminate the entrance? The rear baggage area is dark as well and for the update v1.1, nothing has changed here? There are however eight lovely separately switchable and animated spot lights over each seat, and the no smoking and seatbelt signs also work. Cockpit You click on the separation doors to open them (right side panel).... On first viewing the cockpit feels tight, smallish. It is first worth looking at those separator doors, they are four separate panels that move on tracks and glide inside each other, the animated detail is well done here. This instrument panel comes with the Collins ProLine21 avionics system, and a first here in this avionics system for X-Plane. The ProLine 21 layout here is a three screen display with one PFD (Primary Flight Display) for each pilot and an offset centre single MFD (Multi-Functional Display). The panel layout is quite simple... each far right and left are the radio panels with the ProLine control panel between the left PFD and the MFD and another more right for the Co-Pilot PFD. Centre right are three backup instruments that cover: Airspeed, Artificial Horizon and Altitude, below is a large panel of annunciator lights, then a CTL22 serial tune control unit (COM1) and an altitude pressurization control panel. Marked lower panels cover (left to right) Oxygen (Pressure/dial), Hydraulic (Pressure/dial), Static Source, Air, Ice Protection, Landing Gear, Electrical, Fuel and Environmental. OVHD (OverHead) Panel is all the lighting switchgear for: Instruments top, test (very good), internal lighting and lower row external lighting. Centre console is again quite simplistic in it's layout.... Top are two default Laminar FMS's but have been modified (okay squished to fit) the console. Then are the twin engine ignition and start buttons, Double Throttles, Flap lever UP - 10º - 20º - DN (30º) and handbrake. Rear are electric Pitch (left), Roll and Rudder Trim (right), and then a manual (working) gear release... The Throttle levers have very nicely done metal levers to allow the engine (fuel) cutoff position. Turn on the power (battery/GPU) and things look very nice. The ProLine monitors might need brightening up to see them via the tiny rocker switches. Panel lighting is gorgeous with the drop down lighting... Yokes can be as usual hidden, but the trim switches don't seem to work, with the complex switchgear set out behind on the panel. Both the ProLine PFD and MFD pop-out for use and are highly usable for custom cockpit fit-outs. The Collins ProLine 21 is from the FSX/P3D version in a new Carenado plugin unit architecture (called pre-fabricated unit) that should make a plug in and use situation into inserting into the different complex simulator systems. This would save huge amounts of time in transferring components from not only from different simulators but also into different aircraft. The PFD has the standard glass cockpit layout of Speed and Altitude strips, Artificial Horizon, Vertical Speed and Rate of Turn built into the upper section, lower section has a built in Navigation and Map and COM1/ATC/UTC/TAT/COM2 strip at the bottom. MFD has Engine readouts top, route information lower and the same Navigation and Map layout lower with a GS/TAS/SAT/ISA strip at the bottom. The ProLine selection panel will pop-out for use.... the default screen shows: FORMAT (ROSE/ARC/MAP), TERR/RDR, TFC and a PRESET (quick switch) setting on the left, you select the item by the button besides the menu and then adjust on the panel via the "MENU" knob (BARO adjustment is the the top knob and RANGE is the lower knob). Here I have switched from "ARC" to "ROSE" (lower right). Pressing the "REFS" button will bring up the speed references... You can adjust any speed reference via selecting the button and again adjusting via the menu knob. There are altogether three (pages) settings of References that can be accessed by repeatably pushing the Menu REFS knob. Selecting the "NAV/BRG" button will bring up the NAV SOURCE (FMS1/VOR1/VOR2) and Background (BGD) pointers for FMS/VOR1/ADF1 top and FMS1/VOR2 lower, again just select the required selection button and the select blue box band.... adjustment is again via the Menu knob Pressing the RADAR button will bring up the TERR/RDR setting the same as in the menu option. Engine MFD readouts cover: N1 - ITT (Interstage Turbine Temperature) per engine and fuel temp, N2, FF (Fuel Flow), (Fuel) Pressure, Oil (Pressure) and Engine Temp cº. The ProLine 21 is part of the Autopilot system and the panel is the standard layout for autopilot glareshield panels, notable is the Vertical Speed adjuster is on the handy left and not the usual "just out of reach" far right position. Pop-out panel is huge. The ProLIne21 is very good, but there is still a few quirks in there, press the selection REFS and NAV/BGD buttons together and they used to overlap badly but now fixed in v1.1, however change one display and they all change together if you press the REFS button of which is not required on the MFD, so all displays are currently sorta locked together (You can however have the ROSE mode on the PFD and the MAP mode on the MFD), Press the NAV/BGD - RADAR buttons on the Co-Pilot's selection panel and it pop-up's the 2d selection panel (oops!), the PLAN mode on the MFD does not work? (No STEPS on the FMS) and neither does the PPOS and the FMS/ADF/VOR pointers all look a bit basic than professional and certainly with the duel VOR2 pointer. So it all feels a little under developed at this point in time, but the basics do work. Cockpit lighting Like in the cabin the switching of the cockpit lighting is all a bit weird? Switch on the main MASTER switch and you get a left OVHD spotlight? if you use the adjuster it will dim the spot, but also kill everything else on the master switch? Switch on the DIM/BRT and volla! the right hand spot comes on? Press the CKPT (Cockpit) FLOOD and... nothing? confused?, well shouldn't the main cockpit flood light the cockpit and the DIM/BRT adjust that?, and why not leave the spots just on the adjuster knobs? One more for fun!... press the CABIN OVHD and the lower panel dial lights go out? There is a knob on the top of the yokes, so do they light up Saab 340 style... well nope, a missed detail but now fixed in v1.1 (below) hurrah! red lighting is nice too. For the update v1.1, the updated cockpit lighting is still all quite confusing? turn on the master switch and you still get the two spot lights, but the DIM and BRIGHT now works (below right)... hint it is still the CKPT FLOOD that should control these spots and not the master! However the adjustment knobs do now turn down the spots without turning off the MASTER switch (above left), so there is an improvement there, the lower sub panel dials now stay on all the time? again hint... it is the SUBPNL & PED adjustment knob to do that job? and turning the knobs should not at any time switch off the rocker switches? Everything overall is here to work fine, but not in the way you operate the different lighting functions. Lighting testing (above right) is excellent including the full set annunciator lights. Overall you can make the lighting work to your taste, but it could be better (and certainly easier) to use. New Command interaction As X-Plane moves beyond the earlier basic interaction with knobs, wheels and levers with VR (Virtual Reality) and homebased cockpits, then the actual interaction with these manipulators and buttons are changing as well. The Premier 1A is also introducing a new background system that moves these interaction qualities forward in creating a standard layer between the action (push or turn the knob/button) and the X-Plane command of that action. In other words the action is now Command based and not Manipulator based, and this new layer of interaction can be used and accessed by home cockpit builders, SmartCoPilot or any 3rd party software. It also creates a Generic set of Commands that can be easily switched from aircraft to aircraft (do you see a common theme here... drop in components and in being highly swappable between a large variety of of aircraft). The Commands besides doing the actual operation can also be synced with different sounds and actions and making them more highly realistic. The Commands will also be available on systems, so a push of a button on a electrical bus will show the correct load on that bus. This Premier 1A doesn't yet use the full range Commands that will be available in the future, but currently 80% of the click spots can be viewed and their preferences can be changed by looking them up in the Manifest.json file. This also then allows them (SimPit, 3rd Party) to customize and re-program the cockpit's main interactions as they see fit. This is future tech and will be a boon for simpit designers and of course VR, and for more realism in the cockpit, currently on the Premier it is still very much in their early phases of development, as VR especially is still very quirky, but the new tech is now built in there. Librain water effects The aircraft has the Librain water effect feature, it is now far more better intergrated with no floating water, and well fitted into the glass areas. ________________________________ Flying the Premier 1A Once the passengers and their luggage are aboard and both the baggage and main door are closed... time to start the Williams turbofans. Flip up the engine ignition switch and just hit the start button, the engine autostart will do the rest. You still need the power cart (GPU) connected while you start one engine, but once you have engine generator power you can activate it and disconnect the external cart, the second turbofan can be started from the power drawn from the running engine. The start up is excellent in sequence, but sound wise it is just a "humm" in the cockpit, externally the sequence start is very good... This is a simple aircraft to set up and fly, just release the brake and give the throttles a small movement and your moving... ... speed references are easy to select, there are also noted on the actual speed strip but it is a good idea to still familiarise yourself or if required to adjust them before takeoff. Push up the throttles and you finally hear the power and noise of those twin Williams FJ44-2A Turbofans that produce 2,300 lbf (10.23 kN) thrust each, and yes you will get that push in your back. Most times you want to push the throttles to the wall, but that is not required here, although you do seriously feel the heavy fuel load in weight which here is set at 3,268 lbs. It will make the aircraft a big sluggish in wanting to clear the runway. v1 is 115 knts, and v2 135 knts I always add +10 so 145 knts and you rotate... VFTO is noted at 140, but 145 knts is fine. niiicce.... and you climb out nicely. I'm following SID EXMOR 1Z to clear Bristol (EGGD) that will take me north, then east before the long route south to Nice (LFMN). You are not working overtime to cover the flying as the Premier is quite a simple aircraft to fly, all you have to do is focus on the heading and watch the climb-out, the aircraft pretty well does the rest. Now on the flightplan when I need to turn sharp north at EXMOR the Premier banks like a fighter jet... note the nice route turn (curve) on the MFD MAP display. North of Bristol I head up the River Seven, then head south to ODH (ODIHAM VOR), I selected the 1/2 bank in so not to scare the passengers a second time in the tight turn, and it works but the "1/2 bank" selection does not show on the PFD? neither did the pointer data for VOR 2, the pointer moved in the lower NAV screen, but the details in of which VOR is selected and distance is not displayed? Turn south done it was time to climb to FL340 cruise altitude from the 8000ft departure altitude... You can set the flight level altitude and it when attained the ProLine will hold that selected altitude, but you have to do the throttle work yourself, in choosing the correct climb power and then as you reduce the vertical speed the correct .M (Mach) speed to not overspeed the aircraft, small adjustments are required enroute as the fuel burns off is also required. There is a marker you can set as a speed reference (arrowed) and it works fine, the Premier doesn't hunt around the speed, so it is easy to keep the speed within the marked limits. Like the non-selectable PLAN the PPOS (Present Position) on the MAP doesn't work either on the MFD (arrowed above right), and you really needed that one. There was issues with the Transponder setting ATC Ident button not working, this has been fixed in v1.1 Once at altitude you settle in for the ride, the Premier more "humms" along more than powers, but it is a very nice place to be... speed is set around M.76, the Premier has a top speed of 523 mph; 454 kn (841 km/h) max cruise or M.80 and a range of 951 mi; 826 nmi (1,530 km) Max Payload or 1,709 mi; 1,485 nmi (2,750 km) in a ferry range, Ceiling is 41,000 ft (12,500 m) and you should burn around 1.67 lb/mi (0.47 kg/km). In the rear you can join in with that glorifed air of the rich, the well very rich, celebrities (the real ones not the cheap influencers)... or my choice "Rock Stars"! As I pass the Eiger (hint) it is time to go down, throttles back and a descent down towards MUS (Nice Cote D Azur NDB) and the NISAR 6R STAR arrival. As the jet hits the cooler off the sea air the particle effects look amazing... .... wing speed brakes are a flip switch on the console, there tiny as well, but do a nice job... I didn't require them here as I could contain the speed easily. At MUS (NDB) I selected the APP button... to line up LFMN 04R ILS (109.95 MHz) But there is no "APP" sign in the ProLine header strip? it does show the Approach ILS details on the lower selected NAV1, but the selector hides a lot of the info, so you need to go to the default screen to see the data... Adjusting the final approach speed to the flap selection is a bit of an art form, the line on the speed tape will show you where your flap speed is and the VAPF (extended/maximum speed for flaps) marker, they are good references, however the Premier is a little tricky in balancing the speed to flap position, I personally handing these low speeds fine but had to work at it, but it might be a bit tricky if you don't know or feel the speeds well... full flap 136 knts is a nice approach speed, dialing down to 120 knts VAPF on the GS.... 92 Knts is stall. ... familiarality will certainly really help here. When you collect the ILS, the GS (GlideSlope) marker does at least illuminate (arrowed below left). I wasn't very impressed with the landing lights? It was pitch black until you were over the runway. The landing lights are positioned tight together under the fuselage and maybe it is hard to get the beam spread right, the external wingtip lighting is only "Recog" or recognisable lights, that could be used as taxi lighting as well... any thing helps here. Even though your landing speed is quite low, you don't have any helpers in rubbing off the speed except the ground friction, no thrust reverse or speed brakes activate (you could click the speedbrake switch manually) so your only choice is to run off the speed by using a long runway before finally touching the brakes, any braking before or under 40 knts is not recommended unless you want to leave the runway too early and at the wrong angle. Make sure you attach the ground power before shutting down the Williams turbofans, as even at this parking slow taxi pace they sound amazing. Job done and rich listers are ready for a few days on the French Riveria, in the cabin it is very comfortable and warm.... I know where I would rather be. I explored the external lighting back at Bristol... The odd fade of external lighting on rotation around the aircraft has been fixed in v1.1 (shown below). The central landing lights though still peak weirdly through the aircraft's nose... (Ice) wing lights are excellent as is the lower fuselage beacon and the set navigation lights. Liveries The Carenado quality Hi-Def livieries make up the visual show of the ultra detail 4K and all are extremely good, with PBR burnt in effects as well with Dynamic reflections, realistic metal and dielectric materials There is one blank (White) and only five designs (if quite all the same in detailed whirly, liney striping), they are all however very good. __________________________________ Summary Currently Carenado in brand new (not updated re XP11 releases) designs have recently focused totally on Regional aircraft and Business Jets, with the Saab 340 for the former and the Citation ll for the latter, and both were outstanding. The Premier 1A is a small business jet from Beechcraft/Hawker and was built between 2001 and 2012, with 292 examples coming off the production line. So the Premier is a very modern and slick little aircraft. It looks brilliant with excellent modelling and has the extreme detailing that we would note now as "Ultra" detail... detail externally and internally is faultless, it is certainly a lovely little machine. Sounds are excellent with realistic FMOD high quality doppler 360º sounds, oh yes and they do all round sound very good. There are also custom electrical system/Starter Logic/Fuel System/Bleed Air System/Avionics busses/Hydraulic Logic systems with the current XP11.30 pressurization and oxygen systems. Two new innovations are also intergrated on this aircraft... the new (for X-Plane) Carenado ProLine 21 three display avionics suite and the new Command interaction for more custom commands for home cockpit builders, SmartCoPilot or any 3rd party software applications. But those two new intergrations are also the main contrary points in the aircraft. Both are very early in their development and in areas it shows. Lighting in switchgear and application internally and externally is a mess, you can sort of work around them because the lighting still looks good, but in reality they should have been far better in their intergration. The ProLine 21 is also very good, but there are a lot of areas still in need of development and a lot of the visual commands (VOR2, APP and 1/2 Bank) that are still missing, some needed commands don't work either, and the screens are still not yet totally independent of each other. Again like the rest the ProLine21 works and works fine, but you miss the detail and tools to fly the aircraft in an expert manner, this also v1.0 and the early review copy... a few areas were fine tuned and sorted in the v1.1 update, but the ProLine21's deeper detail will however only come more in time... in other words "it is early days". Overall for a private jet the Premier 1A is from a pilot's view quite a simple aircraft, that is not to say there is not a depth of simulation here, but in the way modern aircraft are a very much a computerised and refined way of flying aircraft. In flying the Premier is a very nice aircraft and in areas needs skill, but overall you can very nicely wizz around the planet and be a Global Superstar at the same time... once the early quirks are tuned out of the Premier as a simulation and then as an aircraft it will be completely excellent. _______________________________ The 390 Premier A1 XP11 by Carenado is coming soon to the X-Plane.Org Store, and is currently only available from Carenado directly: Premier A1 XP11 Priced at US$39.95 Features : High-end 4k PBR (Physically-based Rendering) graphics throughout, with ultra-realistic materials rendition (Dynamic reflections, realistic metal and dielectric materials, etc.) Fully customized in-depth annunciator logic/aural warning logic/throttle logic with functioning latches, optimized for VR. Custom Proline21 avionics system, all featuring detachable pop-up windows Integrated FMS with detachable pop-up window (Laminar default) Custom Autopilot with detachable pop-up window Rain effect support* In-depth FMOD sound design implementation, including distance effects, realistic prop reversal effects, etc. Custom electrical system/Starter Logic/Fuel System/Bleed Air System/Avionics busses/Hydraulic Logic Extensive VR support Extensive HDR lighting with gimballed 3D lights and dynamically illuminated ice lights for amazing night lighting effects Includes pressurization and oxygen system End-user customizable via Manifest.json file. Goodway compatible Engine design optimized for XP11.30’s jet engine model Support for “librain” plugin (Requires separate plugin install) Librain support also includes visual ice effects on windows. Requirements Windows XP – Vista – 7 -10 or MAC OS 10.10 (or higher) or Linux X-Plane 11 CPU: Intel Core i5 6600K at 3.5 ghz or faster. Memory: 16-24 GB RAM or more. Video Card: a DirectX 12-capable video card from NVIDIA, AMD or Intel with at least 4 GB VRAM (GeForce GTX 1070 or better or similar from AMD) 570MB available hard disk space INTERNET CONNECTION is required for installing this product. Current version and Review Version 1.0 (April 30th 2019), updated version v1.1 tested Installation and documents: Download for the Premier 1A XP11 is 473.60 Mb and the unzipped file is deposited in the aircraft "Regional Aircraft" X-Plane folder at 656.40 mb. Download the LIbrain rain effect plugin (add into the aircraft's plugin folder) Documentation: Huge amount of documentation, with ProLine21 introduction, Laminar FMS manual, Performance and reference tables. Carenado Proline 21.pdf Flight Guidance System.pdf Carenado 390 Premier 1A Emergency Procedures.pdf Carenado 390 Premier 1A Normal Procedures.pdf Carenado 390 Premier 1A Performance tables.pdf Carenado Copyright.pdf Credits.pdf General Information.pdf Recommended settings XP11.pdf X-Plane FMS Manual.pdf is required to use the new feature. ______________________________________________________________________  Aircraft Review by Stephen Dutton  3rd May 2019 Copyright©2019 : X-Plane Reviews   (Disclaimer. All images and text in this preview are the work and property of X-PlaneReviews, no sharing or copy of the content is allowed without consent from the author as per copyright conditions) Review System Specifications:  Computer System: Windows - Intel Core i7 6700K CPU 4.00GHz / 64bit - 16 Gb single 1067 Mhz DDR4 2133 - ASUS GeForce GTX 1080 8Gb - Samsung Evo 512gb SSD Software: - Windows 10 - X-Plane 11.31 (v11.30 is required for this aircraft) Addons: Saitek x56 Rhino Pro system Joystick and Throttle : Sound - Bose Soundlink Mini Plugins: Environment Engine by xEnviro US$69.90 : WorldTraffic 3.0 Plugin - US$29.95 : LIbrain rain effects - Free Scenery or Aircraft - EGGD - Bristol International Airport by Pilot-Plus + (X-Plane.OrgStore) US$22.95 - LFMN - Nice Cote d'Azur Airport (X-Plane.OrgStore) US$18.50 

News! - In Development : F117 NightHawk by Flying Iron Flying Iron Studios have moved on from their WW2 antiques to something more modern, well Gulf War current any way... The F117 NightHawk. The stealthy, stealthy "Wobblin' Goblin" is coming to your local simulator... WIP cockpit images from Flying Iron are already being posted. The F117 got it's infamous moniker "Wobblin' Goblin" because in reality the aircraft is not a balanced or even flyable machine. It uses computers to create the flying elements to make the aircraft fly, and low speeds are well... interesting. But let us not forget those images of the the NightHawks flying over Bagdad... no release date is yet noted or price, but it will be a very interesting aircraft from this very up and coming developer studio. Images are courtesy of Flying Iron Flying Iron Development site ________________________________________ News by Stephen Dutton 1st May 2019 Copyright©2019: X-Plane Reviews Disclaimer. All images and text in this review are the work and property of X-PlaneReviews, no sharing or copy of the content is allowed without consent from the author as per copyright conditions) 

Dan's (Klaue) ERJ 140 has not had any updates for years, and yes it is now hopelessly out of date. Dan did start a v2 of the ERJ 140, but that has again languished, but I say never say never with Dan Klaue. X-Crafts are completing an ERJ 145 that will be released very soon, with a ERJ 140 to follow in the series.

I noted three 3d modeled traffic systems, the others are virtual ATC data systems. Navigraph supplies real world route and service data for virtual uses like for online users and radar screens. These virtual routes don't need airport info or actual ground routes to work because they are not required to move objects around... so their is a significant difference, however the new "Global Traffic" app may be interesting because it may bring both elements together in using he 3d aircraft, and the route navigraph data for their use. SD

News! - Announcement : Digital Replica 310L now at .OrgStore Digital Replica's Cessna 310L is now available at the X-Plane.OrgStore. This nice mid-fifties twin from Cessna is quite authentic with some really interesting avionics and details. One major difference to the original release version is the conversion from the GIZMO plugin to the more standard SASL driver. Features Detailed 3D Model Full 3D cockpit 4K PBR textures FMOD sounds Custom Menus Nice Popups menu with Aircraft configuration Weight and balance, Checklist Performance charts Autopilot Accurate Performance Carefully adjusted aircraft performance accuracy Instrument panel is extremely authentic to it's period heritage, interesting to use and unusual to fly with.... but I like it. Period "NAVOMATIC 400" creates another interesting aspect of this aircraft, and the servos work as per realistic, detail is exceptional. Aircraft also has: Custom effects Ice effects on wings and propellers De-Ice system Wing flex animation Particles effects. Rain plugin Librain cockpit rain effect by skiselkov Navigation and systems Custom Navomatic 400 autopilot: - Altitude hold - Flightpath angle - Magnetic heading - Level flight / constant turn mode - optional GPS route mode Oxygen system. Different GPS combinations. Many custom coded systems Cabin fit-out has wood and ... curtains!, must be old, very old, and it is very well done here. Only oddness here is the 3d pilot looks the wrong scale to the aircraft? It looks like the C310L is being flown by a 10 year old? Requirements are: X-Plane 11 (Fully updated) Windows, Mac or Linux 4Gb VRAM Minimum - 8Gb VRAM Recommended Download Size: 570Mb Overall a very nice period twin, it flies very nicely as well..... and you can get the C310L here at the X-Plane.OrgStore for well under US$30. ______________________________________________________________________ Yes! the Digital Replica 310L is now available from the X-Plane.Org Store here : Cessna 310L Price is US$26.95 ________________________________________ News by Stephen Dutton 27th April 2019 Copyright©2019: X-Plane Reviews (Disclaimer. All images and text in this preview are the work and property of X-PlaneReviews, no sharing or copy of the content is allowed without consent from the author as per copyright conditions)

All FMS's are hard... that is the point, I can't wait to see your comments on say a FFA320U or MD-88. It took me eight months to master the FMS well and correct, and the SSG Evolution FMS is not bad if you know what to do, the trick is to edit the FMS (flightplan) and not expect it to be perfect.... real world pilots do that anyway.

Yes I tried the rudder? but remember I had a heavy angled crosswind and I don't think it trimmed it out enough... I should do of course, because that is what rudders are for.