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Stephen

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  1. Ahhh the "Altitude Alarm"... Well up in the update review you will note how to fix that, but to save a lot of time and to allow other users to get right back into the fun it is easy. When you are on finals or about to capture the ILS, then you adjust the altitude to your G/A or Go-Around height, this can be usually 3000ft to 5000ft ASL depending on the airport, resetting the altitude before the aircraft starts its final descent will not activate the alarm... easy, and it took me a full week to work it out (laughs). SD@X-PlaneReviews.
  2. Aircraft Review - Cirrus SR22 - GTSX Turbo G1000 HD Series by Carenado Can you have your head in the clouds. Of course you can, and you can even let your thoughts wander a little as well. It helps if you are more than 6000ft above a Greek island, and it is the largest Greek island at that, which is named Crete (Kríti) and as it is the first day of spring you are also in a happy disconnected from reality frame of mind. The transport is a very nice SR22 from Cirrus, and your first thought would be "hang on, haven't we been here before lately?" Well you have in vFlyteAir's version of the SR20 that X-PlaneReview's reviewed only six months ago. But this is the SR22 version that is a development of the SR20 and this aircraft has the larger wing, higher fuel capacity, and the more powerful Continental IO-550-N 310-horsepower (231 kW) engine. It is Turbo-Charged as well for a bit more Vroom, Vroom which is never a bad thing in a small aircraft. The flight is from LGKC on Kithira to LGIR - Heraklion which is on the central northern coast of Crete. And on how I got into this happyish frame of mind started back only a few hours ago when I first saw the SR22 back at Kithira Island National Airport. SR22 Menus There are three menu tabs on the lower left side of the screen. Standard Carenado in the (C) or Views/Volume menu that has the standard internal and external views plus two for switches and the G1000 screens, the volume slider is up/down on the side and point of view slider across the top. Center tab is the (O) or Options tab that covers Window and instrument reflections (always very good on a Carenado), Static elements in mostly just tags and bollards. Mouse Scroll, which is important for me with a single click mouse. Pilot, Passenger and baggage doors, which all can be separately opened and closed, both main doors can also be opened by the latches inside. Bottom (A) tab is a big popup centre panel that covers the A/P Autopilot. HDG (Heading), CRS (Course) and ALT SEL (Altitude Select) knobs. And G1000 input keyboard and control panel. The panel can be resized but is better in the full size for easy button and knob manipulation. Internal Cabin Nicely fitted out cabin is pure Carenado detailing. A lot darker than the vFlyteAir version, but then Carenado cockpits are always like this. In the cabin you have four seats that are beautifully rendered and designed with great almost to the touch signature leather padded textile upholstery. Cabin fit out is bar perfect, very real and well detailed, no complaints in anywhere here. The instruments and panels are all angled and set around the flying left seat pilot. The right hand seat pilot can fly the aircraft with a yoke and rudder set, but the screen panel and switchgear would be offset to them. Overall the aircraft has minimum switchgear and controls, just the basics you require and nothing more. That does not mean the aircraft is not well equipped because it is, but unlike the older generations of aircraft these modern versions have been refined to a higher easier flying level. Yoke or flying handles are unique, in their push/pull and twist actions, but they also clear a lot of space in front of the pilots. Here they are both beautifully rendered. SR22 Instrument panel The SR22 is the second aircraft to have Carenado's unique Garmin G1000 twin-panel display system after the CT182T Skylane G1000 HD Series last year (2015). It is a totally comprehensive system that requires its own separate GPS database that has to installed in the X-Plane root folder, it is a big download at 870mb. The G1000 system for X-Plane has been in development at Carenado for some time and it is almost a fully working direct copy of the real world G1000 system. When you turn on the aircraft's (battery power), you have to wait (a fairly long time) while the database loads into the system. Power is supplied by the first two rocker switches in BAT 1 & 2 on the switch panel located on the shelf under the left hand panel, next two switches are the ALT 1 & 2 (alternator) switches but the last rocker switch to the right of the set is the "Avionics" switch to start up the right hand G1000 screen. When the avionics are switched on you still have to activate the screen by pressing the ENT (Enter) button on the middle console panel or the menu button far right on the display. Before we go into the complexities of the G1000 system, let us look at the instrumentation and the rest of the switchgear. The rest of the main switchgear panel covers the Ice Protection On-Off, MAX or NOR Ice setting, Pitot Heat, Exterior lighting (Nav - Strobe - Land). Three knobs on the far right adjust the panel and interior lighting. First knob adjusts the instrument lighting, then the red cowl lighting and the last right knob covers the overhead spotlights. The red cowl lighting is quite vivid at the full setting, I tuned it down to be more somber in tone, but it looks very good against the fake wood grain paneling. Directly in front of the pilot are three lower standby dial instruments in "Airspeed", "Artificial Horizon" and "Altitude". All backup dials are very clear and well presented. On the centre console at the top is dominated by the huge A/P Autopilot and G1000 input keyboard and control panel, that we mentioned earlier and as noted then it pops up via the menu for ease of use. Then a standard Garmin GMA 350 radio set and lower an ADF Bendix King KR87 TSO direction set. Lower centre panel is the Oxygen selection and Flap selection in "up", "50%" with a 119kias restriction and "100%" flap with a 104kias restriction. Nice big throttle lever dominates the lower console in look and feel. This "Single Lever Throttle Control” automatically adjusts the propeller speed through the use of the throttle lever. There is no separately-controlled propeller lever on the aircraft. To the right is the red knob "Mixture" lever with "Rich" to "Lean" adjustment. You can switch to each fuel tank via the switch, but have to press the red "OFF" panels to turn it off. Very nice tank gauges are set out above and are very clear for use. Sets of fuse breakers are on the left inside of the centre console. Very right of the main panel is an environment control panel for fresh air and heating turn switches. Carenado G1000 Perspective (PFD and MFD) with GFC 700 Control Unit Garmin twin panel G1000 gps sets are now becoming common in X-Plane. These systems are menu driven, which means you select the different functions you require via the lower row of buttons and the changing menu selections to show the items you need. Yes they are very good these G1000 sets but you can get lost in the various menu trees to find sometimes something very simple as say the VOR2 pointer. There are some real world layouts of the various menu trees and the Carenado manual does give you an excellent overview of the complexities of the system, but it does need some study to not find yourself spending a lot of time going through all the many various combinations of menu selections to get to the function of what you want. There are many on screen options and featured here in the lower displays around the heading rose is your NAV1, ADF and right VOR2 pointers. You can fill up your PFD panel with a lot of information. Including NEAREST Airports, A small view of the MAP, References and an engine monitoring side panel. But all this takes away the main objective of these huge displays to deliver clear simple information of flying the aircraft. The objectivity is the use of the huge artificial horizon that covers the whole display. It has built in Pitch, Rate of Roll (very nice with built in indicators called "Trend Vectors"), speed and altitude tapes (built in Vertical Speed - or +) and lower Heading, noted Lower rose heading dial has built in CRS (course) and The Course selector is also your Nav 1, Nav 2 and GPS (autopilot) selection modes and built in CDI (course deviation indicator) for runway ILS alignment. Top of the PFD is an information grid that covers "Engine Power%", Autopilot status, Prev and Current waypoints when the flightplan is active, Distance to the next waypoint, Est time to next waypoint, COMM 1&2 Frequencies. displayed also in the top lower grid is your active GPS/NAV1/NAV2, AP (autopilot), ALT and VS (Vertical Speed) status, Altimeter and VVI and bottom are Baro and OAT temp. If you are familiar with the default X-Plane GNS 430/530 GPS system then the knobs and buttons down the right of the display will be a no brainer. Comm 1&2 selector, CRS/Baro adjustment, Map range, (buttons) Direct-to, FPL (flightplan), Clear and Enter (ENT). PFD/FMS inner/outer is at the bottom. The right hand MFD (Multi-Function Display) display is the more flexible screen that covers a lot more variations and different areas of the aircraft's position and condition. Note that both screens can be swapped around if required for use. There are two main modes for display on the MFD, in MAP (Navigation) and ENG (Engine) modes. We will cover the ENG mode first. Note first the engine here is not running. Engine parameters covered are "Engine Power%", "Engine RPM", "Man In HG" (Manifold Pressure), "FFlow" (Fuel Flow), "Oil" Pressure and Temp. "Engine Temperatures" are covered in CHT ºF and EGT ºF. Anti-Ice Amount (in GAL) and Oxygen Pressure. Electrical output section covers both Current (A) and Bus Volts (V). The Fuel section displays "Fuel Qty" (in GAL) for both tanks, and fuel calculation data in "Used" - "Rem" (remaining), "Time Rem" and "Range" on the remaining amount of fuel in both tanks. I found the fuel data really helpful in planning and in flight on managing your range and fuel tank selection. Air data in altitude and OAT (outside Air Temp). Switch to MAP mode and the engine status parameters are located on a side panel that covers the RPM, FFlow, GAL used (fuel), Oil Pressure and Temp, Current (A) and Bus Volts (V), CHT ºF and EGT/ITT ºF. This engine status panel is the one that can also be visual in the PFD. At the top of the MFD is a duplicated grid of information that is situated across the top of the PFD except the PWR % is missing and is replaced by the NAV 1&2 Frequencies with adjoining adjustment knobs and slider button. Biggest feature of the G1000 is the huge GPS map and terrain options, One thing to keep in mind is that to show a screen of terrain data at this size requires a lot of processing, and a huge task of your computer processing needs. This can make the screen sometime quite slow in responding and mostly if the screen (or the aircraft) is turning to a new heading or redrawing the images on the display. Terrain options include, Traffic - Topo (topographic) - Terrain - Airways. You have a built elevation guide to evaluate the current terrain. Creating and using flightplans are accessed by the FPL button (Green Arrow) on the G1000 Control Unit panel. This button brings up flightplan panel on the MFD display, and here you can create, save, adjust, reload and delete flightplans. To start to create a new flightplan then use "FMS Knob" in the centre of the top part of the main programming control panel. This will give you the standard half-moon manipulators in large and small and also note your current GPS position on the display. The large manipulators are used to move down or up a line of your flightplan (segments), the same as your standard GNS GPS. The smaller higher manipulators will open another window to insert the Nav-Aid/Fix and these inputs are done via the alphabet/numeric keyboard. Note I found the console manipulators really hard to use (mostly the small right half-moons, Carenado note it is the angle you use the manipulators, but it is still too hard) but the manipulators used on the popup panel with the menu tab was fine, and the inputs on mostly the first letter of a waypoint/fix was also very slow and or had to be backtracked and done a second time to insert, the rest of the digits were not so bad. When the GPS Nav-Aid/Fix is done then press ENT to insert the waypoint in the flightplan. Again select the second waypoint by using the inner manipulators to bring up the insert window and inserting in waypoint code. When entered you will note the first departure point of the flightplan the altitude for the airport is automatically inserted. On the second waypoint line you have to insert the altitude you want to use when you arrive at the waypoint. This is inserted in the right hand selected (larger manipulators) box. Then again ENT to save the waypoint into the flightplan. You repeat the process until you have the full route from Departure to Arrival airports completed then you activate the first waypoint of the flightplan (departure airport) by using the MENU (Options) button and selecting "Activate Leg" and pressing ENT to load the flightplan into the system. You can SAVE your flightplan here also, INVERT it (or swap the whole flightplan backwards to start at the current arrival airport) or DELETE the flightplan from the full list which is shown in a separate page window. Basically the G1000 system is still like the standard X-Plane GPS GNS430/530 system, just slightly different on the way you access it. You can zoom in or change the range of the flightplan in MAP mode via the large knob on the right (RANGE). DCLTR will "declutter" the map in three positions. Also like the X-Plane GPS GNS430/530 system, you have a menu system along the lower right part of the MFD. Changed by the manipulators (High/Low) it gives you access to a lot more information. Most are a replica of the standard Garmin system in MAP, WPT (Waypoint), AUX, FPL, NRST. The different one here is the AUX (Auxiliary). AUX has many display pages starting with TRIP PLANNING, UTILITY (timing), GPS STATUS, SYSTEM SET UP ... ... SYSTEM STATUS and CHECKLISTS (Standard and Emergency). A lot of the data shown above is not full realised because the aircraft is stationary and not running, so we will revisit a few moments when in flight to see how they perform in action. Menu panels and G1000 displays all pop-out for ease of use and can be moved around your screen for the best position to access. Pop-outs are just as clear and the same resolution as the fitted panels and that is sometimes very rare. Flying the SR22 GTSX Turbo I tanked up the CIRRUS to give me 5.0hr of flying. You need to select a tank with the pointer selector on the centre console. The "Mixture" lever is moved to "Rich" but it is hard to get at as it is hidden by that large throttle handle, from the Pilot's position you can't move the mixture unless you move the throttle itself, or move your view right over to the passengers right hand seat. You can close the doors from the inside via the latches, and they close with a nice "thunk". Adjusting the panel lighting and you are ready to start that Continental IO-550-N 310. Pump boost on and a turn of the key allows the engine to turn, churn then roar into life. Sounds are as per usual Carenado's in very good if not excellent here. Set the CDI to "GPS" and that it is now ready and waiting for the flightplan locked in once you are airborne. The SR22 has the new Carenado feature that allows castoring of the front steering. I found it a bit too twitchy for my liking, and you need a bit of momentum before it will actual release from the straight ahead position. A lot of Carenado steering is like this and you get used to it, but the slightly higher speed required here to get the steering working smoothly can have you putting on too much speed initially to bring it quickly down again to find your taxi line with it then suddenly locking up again. Once you do get the right momentum and speed it is fine but a bit more usability would be nice. On the line and your ready to go... The Cirrus will track the centre line quite nicely without too much rudder adjustment and you can rotate up at around 100knts. Feel in the air is good and you can easily change the altitude and bank to keep the right momentum and climb with ease. Once leveled out and clean, I selected the A/P on the centre console to take control of the NAV (flightplan) and the rate of climb to the set altitude of 6500ft. The layout of the autopilot and controls on this console panel are excellent, very easy to use and operate. Rate of Climb is around 1000fpm (official is 1,250fpm) and here the Turbo comes into its own, more importantly is the performance as you go higher. The aircraft's ceiling is 25,000 feet, but it's easy enough to estimate that at an average of close to 1,000 fpm for the entire climb would take between 25 and 30 minutes from sea level to FL 250. You would never really do that height as you would waste too much performance. The turbo performance makes a lot more sense down low at the non-oxygen-required altitudes from 9,000 to 12,000, but this is far better performance than the non-turbo normally aspirated Cirrus, or any other non-turbocharged airplane for that matter, because once you get much higher than around 6,000 or 7,000 feet, the lack of air starts to cut down on the airplane's performance, reducing your rate of climb substantially, but not with the turbo as you can keep on giving on with all that extra power, but below 5000ft though the aircraft flies the same with either the normally aspirated Cirrus and turbo versions unless you need that extra push when required. Most sales now are with the turbo versions of the SR22 than the normally aspirated Cirrus. Top speed in the thin air is 215knts but the average at 12,000ft is 194knts in cruise mode. Range is 1,049 nmi (1,207 mi; 1,943 km) with reserves at 65% power. Now as we leveled out at our 6500ft altitude you can see the engine performance on the ENG mode page and the huge amount of data available on the AUX-TRIP PLANNING mode page. Both are impressive in flight. NRST (Nearest) options include AIRPORTS, NDB, VOR and Waypoints and there is a DIRECT-TO function that can be accessed and activated if required. These menu page screen provide so much information you can't cover everything here, but they are excellent in operation and detail. We are cruising now high above the Greek Islands, yes it is nice place to be... best moment in a while actually. The view forward is quite restricted and the blinds tend to make it even narrower to look through the windscreen than it needs to be. You can easily move them to the side while flying and that gives you a more open fuller screen vision. External design of the SR22 is excellent, this is a Carenado after all and you would think of nothing else from them. The tri-gear is a fixture, so don't go looking for an undercarriage lever because there isn't one. But the detailing is superb, first rate and you simply can't fault it. The aircraft's textures are quite shiny, so it can be very washed out in the high Greek sunlight at certain angles, but overall the external aircraft is excellent. Terrain mode on the MAP display is very good. As I skimmed along the Crete northern coast the mountainous ranges were well represented on the display. A must for flying at night or with minimum visibility. You have to watch your fuel usage and be ready to switch tanks as you hit the minimum section in the earlier selected tank, you can lean the mixture a little to find the best performance to economy range and experiment to get performance you like the best. The Cirrus has a built in safety feature of a parachute called the "Cirrus Airframe Parachute System" in case the engine goes wonky or you forget to switch over the fuel tanks. It is set out on the roof and you can pull off the cover and pull the handle. It is however not advisable to use if you are running well on the flightplan. Unlike the VflyteAir SR20 version were as the parachute does actually work... here you are just sent to the closest airport runway in an instant. LGIR - Heraklion “Nikos Kazantzakis” is now just over the next range, time to slip down and get ready for landing on RWY27. At 1500ft I turn off the flightplan and select a heading to be in a circuit parallel line with the runway and a pass and return to the airport is required for the 27º heading landing. Tight, tight 360º turn is neck straining as I search then find the direct line back to RWY27, speed down and flaps down two positions. Flaps and mechanism are very well constructed, but the inside wing texture is a little dubious. Note the excellent panel work on the wings and fuselage... "Heads up mate we are landing!" Even with a small slight crosswind the aircraft is very stable, around 70knts in the final approach and a slow clean descent can give you little bounce on contact. You have to rub off a lot of speed before touching the brakes... I mean a lot. If you are tempted earlier you will simply disappear off the runway to the left and go off straight into the scenery, get it right and you will turn neatly on to the side taxiway. Shutdown and when opening up the door the hot humid Greek air fills the cool cabin, Job done. Liveries Standard Carenado blank/white livery and five designs are all very high 4K quality. Night Lighting There are three adjustment knobs for Instrumentation and displays, the red cowl lighting and overhead lighting. There are four overhead spot lights that are + manipulator adjustable to shine in any direction in the cabin, two front and two rear. The front spots however are under the front blinds, and so to be used effectively you need to move the blinds out of the way. You can certainly find the right feel in the cabin, but full on red under cowl is a bit stark and distracting. External lighting is basic with just Nav, Landing (single light) and flashing strobes. Nice touch are small sets of LED lights located at the front of each wingtip. Summary It is a Carenado and with this brand you know that quality, features and flight dynamic depth are usually first rate to excellent. That is certainly delivered here at a quality price. So you get a lot for your investment. The SR22 is a great aircraft to fly and the depth of instrumentation and details are certainly first rate, that is a given as well. The G1000 Perspective (PFD and MFD) with GFC 700 Control Unit is certainly a huge feature here, but it comes with a big stick. It is a colossal complex sized system that has a huge amount of data to process. It takes time to separately load in all that 3.83gb, yes gigabytes worth of data (It thankfully does not use it all at the same time but just loads a few area tiles). But it does all have a significant impact on your frame-rate and Carenado aircraft are not the lightest aircraft in the hanger in the first round and so your computer processor has to cope with a large chunk more with this GPS G1000 system on top of the aircraft again. My i5 Mac computer just scraped through with its average processing performance, so it is usable. But I would highly recommend a machine with a pretty grunty or powerful sets of processors and memory to give you a fair amount of working headroom and data space. Only other quirk is the twitchy castoring steering which will need mastering at slow speeds. Overall the Cirrus SR22 ticks all the right boxes and gives X-Plane users another great step forward in sound, design, features and even more better quality in a general aviation aircraft. A real nice aircraft to fly as well and with all that Turbo power for great performance. So another great winner from Carenado. _____________________________________________________________________________________ Yes! the Cirrus SR22 - GTSX Turbo G1000 HD Series by Carenado is NOW available from the X-Plane.Org Store here : SR22 GTSX Turbo G1000 HD Series Price is US$34.95 Developer Site: Carenado Dev Support : Carenado Support _____________________________________________________________________________________ Special Features Carenado G1000 Perspective (PFD and MFD) with GFC 700 Control Unit All-new surround sound architecture. Volumetric side view prop effect. Features Carenado G1000 Perspective (PFD and MFD) with GFC 700 Control Unit Terrain Awareness map mode Different declutter levels Advance menus and cursor with scroll wheel, click/hold or /drag Aux- Trip Planning Window Checklist mode Crisp, vector-based water data Pop-up windows can be resized and moved around the screen Pristine scroll wheel support FPS-friendly terrain map Original autopilot installed HD quality textures (4096 x 4096) 422 pixels / meter textures 3D gauges Original HQ digital stereo sounds recorded directly from the real aircraft 3D stereo effects, such as outside sounds entering open windows. Customizable panel for controlling window transparency, instrument reflections and static elements such as wheel chocks and turbine inlet/exhaust covers. Realistic behavior compared to the real airplane. Realistic weight and balance. Tested by real pilots. Realistic 3D night lights effects on panel and cockpit. Ice and Rain effect _____________________________________________________________________________________ Installation and documents: Download is 209.50meg and the aircraft is deposited in the "General Aviation" X-Plane folder at 256.90 meg. Installation key is required on start up and is supplied with the purchased download file. Carenado G1000 data package is also required and has to be installed in the X-Plane root folder (Main X-Plane folder) before using the aircraft. Data download pack is here; GPS database and it is a big download at 870mb. Documents supplied are: Carenado G1000 Perspective PDF SR22 Emergency Checklist PDF SR22 Normal Procedures PDF SR22 Performance Tables PDF SR22 Reference PDF Recommended Settings PDF _____________________________________________________________________________________ Requirements Windows 7, 8, 10+ (64 bit) or MAC OS 10.8 (or higher) or Linux X-Plane10.40 (or higher) running in 64bit mode 2.5 GHz processor - 8GB RAM - 1GB+ VRAM - 2Gb VRAM Recommended For WINDOWS users: Please ensure that you have all the Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributables downloaded and installed. Current version: 1.1 (last updated Feb 29, 2016) Carenado G1000 Database must be installed ____________________________________________________________________________________ Review by Stephen Dutton 4th March 2016 Copyright©2016: X-PlaneReviews Review System Specifications: Computer System: - 2.66 Ghz Intel Core i5 iMac 27”- 9 Gb 1067 Mhz DDR3 - ATI Radeon HD 6970M 2048 mb- Seagate 512gb SSD Software: - Mac OS Yosemite 10.10.1 - X-Plane 10 Global ver 10.45 Addons - Saitek x52 Pro system Joystick and Throttle : Sound - Bose Soundlink Mini Scenery or Aircraft - LGKC - Kithira Island Airport Greece 1.0 by tdg (X-Plane.Org) - Free - LGIR - Heraklion International Airport Greece by tdg (X-Plane.Org) - Free
  3. Thank You for your comments, Appreciated. As I noted I didn't do a review on the MD-88 at the release because of that reason, It was underdeveloped at that point. Your points of user consumer beta testing is not actually related to the flying of the aircraft, but the way of the aircraft responds to the various set ups and systems within X-Plane, it is also a learning point for users to understand on how it works. That is to highlight the issues that many users make comments without knowing how the aircraft is supposed to act and feel. It is your feedback that is vital here and as noted in the review the developers did address the comments from the Frooglesim video in v1.1, but that video also highlights the problems that real world pilots have in translating their experience to virtual flying. The experience with the X-Plane interface can be quite, if you could say "difficult", but in most cases developers do use very good beta testers that do fly the real equipment to weed out these issues. The problem is finding good ones with the time to test and understand the twin factors of both the aircraft and using it in X-Plane. In again Rotate's case I am sure that such experience will be used in the future. And yes I did in the past watch many videos from your site, no offence but in many of the video's I watched on the aircraft's fIying I don't doubt you earn your wages, you guy's work hard in there (laughs). I would appreciate your comments on the v1.1 update. SD@X-PlaneReviews
  4. Behind the Screen : February 2016 For being the shortest month of the year. Then February feels the most longest in terms of being the busiest, packed, squeezed, no time, full on month of the X-Plane calendar. As January 2016 was almost an empty oasis of nothing, then the short February calendar certainly made up for it all. The Rotate MD-88 dominated almost the whole month as I wanted to dig down into this aircraft to find the truth in why it made 10% of users to throw tantums. Not just flying the aircraft to almost destruction in (and I counted) 43 takeoffs and landings, there was a lot of discussion and feedback through the beta channels with constant updates to the aircraft and working through the bugs. Most of the major bugs had however already been addressed so it was down in the fine tuning you found with the devil in the detail. Never be a beta tester, it is a long hard slog of repeatable fights to get down to the problems, and the aircraft are undoubtably... well buggy. But it is your job to weed out the real from the false. Going up blind alleys is a constant source of pain. But you have to give major awards to the developers behind the scenes. You know them by name, but not personally. They are shadows really moving around the background, but their skills and pure professionalism is what delivers those amazing experiences on your desktop. It is an horrific job of complexity to get everything right and working as it should, as they disappear for years to cover all the hundreds and thousands items of code and modeling to produce the best machine they can. Changes are usually swift, but developers are not perfect, but we expect them to be. Complexity means spending hours with your head in manuals, real and produced by the developer. Hours of watching real cockpit video's and making notes on every task, action or changes the pilots do in flying the real aircraft. Then it all has to be translated to the virtual version and getting your flying profiles honed down to almost perfection (which in the MD-88 case meant it was in getting absolutely no alarms). The thing that made really hot under the collar with the MD-88 was that as I have repeated ad nauseam through out these reviews is that these complex aircraft cannot be judged on just a few hours or even a few days of flying. But to squeal that it is a hopelessly bad design and not well put together is going to hurt developers in thinking "what have I got myself into" and the sales to go south just as quick. In this MD-88's case a very loud minority (10%) did a lot of damage, but when they scream and squeal like this when their own incompetence is mostly the base problem is to show their own ignorance of their own skills and the professionals they are not. Myself I did not judge too early to make a clear statement on the aircraft, yes it had issues, but 90% of users were certainly more professional in their evaluation towards the aircraft and the released v1.1 update shows they were correct in that evaluation. You would think I wouldn't even want in any form position myself again in front of the MD-88 yoke for awhile. But nothing can be further from the truth as this complex and demanding aircraft is always a challenge, but so rewarding to fly, and is still easily the top of my list every time when I want to hit on X-Plane again. No doubt Rotate's MD-88 is addictive, complex and I love it. On developers, one is again creating a masterpiece. Ddenn created the sublime Challenger 300 Personal jet of which is certainly the best personal jet in X-Plane and has been for years. There was a feeling that Ddenn's Challenger 300 would become his only masterpiece as his output dried up except for the odd yearly Challenger update. But last year Ddenn announced his next project in another personal or really large executive jet in the Bombardier Global 6000 (earlier called Global Express). Your dream was for the aircraft to match the quality of the Challenger 300, but again the grand master is producing... well a masterpiece. Go checkout this internal cabin video and be ready to be totally amazed in the quality of this work. I hate the expression "Awesome" but it fits here as the interior work is above anything I have yet seen in X-Plane. Who says that X-Plane does not deliver in quality aircraft. Noted is the Global 6000 will also have a fully functional FMC as well and no doubt this will be an amazing machine once it is released, I was simply astounded. There is speculation that JARDesign's next project is the Airbus A340 to match up with his excellent A332. Some images on facebook and a few rumors abound, so watch this space. However I feel the A320neo needs a bit more loving care before a new release, it feels old now compared to the higher quality A332, but I have had notes the update is coming later in the year. The lovely Victory VLJ (Very Light Jet) by Aerobask was a shock on how good it was. Aerobask turns out very complete aircraft these days and the Victory was very complete. To note some developers tend to hold their releases until they are very polished and Aerobask is one of them. Aerobask was very proud of their work on the Dynon Avionics Skyview feature, and I was impressed on the way it was so functional. I'm not a big fan of menu driven panels, and I am still not converted to the cause, but it was very well done. Another developer that impressed me was also new to X-Plane. Under the Aerosoft banner was Omar Masroor that created the excellent KRSW - Florida Southwest. The release version had a few areas that needed attention, but some points were my own fault in not setting up X-Plane to cover for them in the "Anisotropic Filtering" setting. I don't use the setting high as it is really heavy framerate filter killer, and I just don't have the headroom for that much of a loss. But clever ideas to adjust the amount of objects (using WED) is thinking out of the box and allows for scenery to be tailored for your capacity of use. I was very impressed on Omar's professional dialog and the way they responded to the issues, I had to amend the review three times to cover the changes, and it is now a high quality scenery that you should have in your custom scenery folder. A lot of noise was around releases that were announced as coming "Very soon" and failed to appear. IXEG B737 Classic is still very non-existent, and I was disappointed on how many features on that extensive published list were missing after the aircraft has been in development for almost over half a decade... could that be a reason for the continuing delay? The EADT x737 v5 (Virtual Cockpit) is still also a missing fixture, but I have a very good source the aircraft now well down the road in completion and it was real world distractions that have been the cause of the delay, certainly a release will be in the next yearly quarter Q2. PMDG, for X-Plane... god knows? The upgrade to JARDesign's excellent "Ground Handling Deluxe" plugin gave me lots of pleasure and spurred me into action to create some liveries for my own use. You can download my handywork for Qantas, British Airways, Emirates, Delta, Alitalia and United, and thank you for your kind comments. The van is almost impossible to recolour as the images are taken from a real vehicle, white is a "just get away with that" but I spent hours trying to recolour the thing, I doubt I could get say a yellow or harder colour. There is a paintkit (no van in there) and it is a big help, but you really do bring your ramp activity alive with this extraordinary plugin, great price and certainly a must have if you do spend a lot of time around the ramps and gates of X-Plane. I will try to do some airport sets, but time is time and finishing repeatably late at 2am in the morning is reflected on the bad flying skills the next day. I flew FlightFactor's Boeing 777 Worldliner from Dubai to London in a fit of finally having a few hours to fly long-haul. It was nice to spend time with the big twin Boeing and to cover some serious distance that is becoming harder to do with all the time constraints. Overall the experience was overwhelmingly great, but the extended X-Plane scenery seeded to heavily see-saw between brilliant 50fr-60fr to marginal 20fr-19fr depending on the amount of visual terrain on the ground. I never had this before as once to cleared 30,000ft as I usually sat in the 50fr to 60fr range until descending into using a heavy airport scenery and a lot of autogen on landing. Worrying is that the FlightFactor B777W is very efficient on framerate, so I need to redo another long-haul to see if that is common now. The Boeing felt a little tired as well and in need of an update, but usually FF are very good in keeping their aircraft up to date, and it notes how very quickly something in X-Plane can now feel a little dated, I hope an update is due for 2016. Another note is when I updated to the latest X-Plane v10.45 the simulator started to throw out errors of custom scenery at an alarming rate. Scenery that has been part and parcel of my X-Plane world don't work anymore (KFMY - Page Field is one) and open them up in WED and they look a mess of faults, worse in KFMY's case the developer has long gone. I am hoping this is a bad X-Plane version glitch because if it is not you could have a serious loss of great scenery that is instantly thrown out as the simulator just crashes to the desktop. X-PlaneReviews are always looking for new reviewers to give their views and points on X-Plane. We have not issued any invitations before now as the changes in versions to the newer IP.Board v4 was complete. It has a vastly improved editor which vastly helps in the time required to create your reviews or comments, if you are interested then send me a message by the messages (envelope icon at top of the page) and leave your email address. High Flying Stephen Dutton
  5. Aircraft Update : McDonnell Douglas MD-88 v1.1 by Rotate As long as I have been in X-Plane, I can think of no aircraft release as dividing as Rotate's McDonnell Douglas MD-88. You were either in one camp that absolutely adored it which was most of the users, but the 10% in the other camp absolutely hated it. Both reasoning's were by and large... reasonable, some however were totally out of the ball park and plain stupid. I think the real objective points was somewhere in the middle. I will state my position as in the "I really love" the 90% MD-88 aircraft camp, but I am not going to be compromised or blinded on the facts of where the aircraft was not totally developed, hence this worthy v1.1 update from Rotate. First as I have repeated in various areas is that the MD-88 is a first release by Rotate as a developer. Second is the fact the misguided notion that any aircraft in X-Plane is released done and completed. If you want that then I suggest hanging up your yoke and rudder pedals and find another hobby like golf. I don't know where for some reason lately users suddenly want completed perfect aircraft on release? Yes the $US60 price tag for the MD-88 may be a big part of the argument in that what you pay for you should receive and yes I agree you want your dollars worth of aircraft or scenery. But in simulation it does not work like that. I hate to break the bad news to you all but you are all actually being used as testers, just like Apple do with their iPhones, iWatchimacallits and iPaddys, and you have to pay to test as well. Developing great aircraft in X-Plane is a constant process, no aircraft is actually ever complete, just updated or fixed or patched, and with a lot of finger crossing that the damn thing will actually work on thousands of totally different computer and X-Plane configurations. Your point that the aircraft though has to be certainly authentic in its systems and flying dynamics and that is a valid claim. In that area the MD-88 was compromised, but not as compromised as it was totally wrong, again the truth is somewhere in the middle. If you look back through the reviews on X-PlaneReviews you won't find one for Rotate's aircraft. I did a release preview on the MD-88 but not a full comprehensive review. The DC-9/MD Series of aircraft are very interesting aircraft in both to operate and to fly. You are on that crux of time between the old dial and gauge era (sometimes know as steam-gauge) and the new modern glass cockpit that we fly with today. But the MD series goes up one or more levels in the setting up the balance of the aircraft and its amazing flying control systems in operation. This is a very manual and laborious aircraft to operate, and you have to work extremely hard to fly the aircraft really well. I think this was also part and parcel of why users couldn't quickly connect with it, personally I couldn't do an objective review because I needed to fly the aircraft really well to actually give you one. To give you a review and not understand the aircraft completely I thought was pointless, as you need an objective and full understanding of the aircraft. As a note was the aircraft in that position as well? well no, so a review would have been wrong and off the mark. No doubt a few of you would note that a review should have been done to note the current state of the aircraft. Yes I could done that, but as noted I didn't feel I understood the aircraft enough that early in the release period to give a balanced report. One thing that important is that a quick update was not done by Rotate. They were very good in receiving and even welcoming the comments of what was good with the aircraft where it was under-developed. So this v1.1 update has been and is a though and a well tested release. The many items and the list here in this update is very long and all comments have mostly been addressed or fixed. There is a video from Frooglesim with a current MD-80 captain taking a look around the aircraft and flying it. They as noted in the video created a list of issues that was forwarded and addressed by Rotate in this v1.1 update, but the ineptitude of the way sometimes they interacted with the X-Plane interface was certainly nonsensical in many areas and certainly not a good indication of how the aircraft is actually flown in X-Plane and was not a good indication of the current situation of the aircraft. But there was some very good informative information in there on the operation of the aircraft from a professional MD-80 Series user. A lot of negative comments were of the performance and pitch, drag and lift where way off. They have all been tuned in this update as has the airfoil data been changed. But I didn't find it that way off the mark, and the tuning is minor. Getting to understand the MD-88 is to understand its balance and Center of Gravity (CoG) limitations and finding the absolutely correct performance to fly the aircraft. Get this wrong and you were way off everywhere else. The devil was deep in the details and time to understand the details would find you flying a vastly different aircraft. Nothing made me more mad in the fact that users (I won't call then pilots) were sprouting the aircraft was unflyable and blah, blah, blah only hours after its release. I have spent eight weeks and well over forty flights in the MD-88 and only now getting down to the performance of flying the aircraft correctly and I am good at this, and I still think there is a bit more fine tuning from both Rotate and myself to come. Hence the users that love the aircraft is because they are willing to understand it and learn its unique capabilities. I am not saying it is perfect, as it is not, but it is far better than you imagine with the right perspective and flying abilities. MD-88 Cockpit Mostly tuning in the update is noted on fixing small errors. Areas like Altimeter light logic, Altitude warning corrected (more on this below), Baro knob adjustment, gear door open logic, TAS indicator values reset, APU and GPU logic (and lights) corrected, TAT and RAT readings are now correct, tuned N1, N2 and EGT readings, tuned engine fuel consumption, tuned CI ranges and Economy SPD/MACH calculations. Not major adjustments overall but fine tuning. Another area that brought out the venom was that a lot of the switches didn't work. Many have been addressed in the update with Galley power switch is now operative, source selection switches (overhead panel) and corresponding annunciators are now interactive, CSD Temp indicators now also simulated, Added GS reading to PFD (when IRS is in NAV and above 10000ft), Empty view now available and GPU toggle is now available through the plugin menu. A lot but I still think a few (okay a lot) more switches can be activated, but the aircraft is now nothing worse or better than say a FlyJSIm Q400, B727 or B737 in this panel area. There is now an aircraft management page that has been added to plugin menu. Basic operations that are on the FMC are now available via the menu and include the APU toggle, front, rear, cargo doors and lbs to kgs weights toggle. A newly added menu item is the front stairs. Now you have the choice to have only the front left door to open if standing at an airbridge gate or with the combo built in stairs as well. A great change that will be appreciated with now no stairs protruding from out of the lower parts of the airbridges. A note that the Frooglesim notes were taken seriously by Rotate was that the missing static discharges commented upon in the video on the tailplanes have been fixed, they are all present now, MD-88 FMC One of the annoying quirks has been addressed in the setting of your standing position Lat/Lon in the FMC. A lot of switching on the OVHD panel with the (one working) IRS switch was a real hit and miss affair of trying to get the GPS coordinates to appear on the FMS POS INIT page to lock in the co-ords. Now it works correctly and you can now spend far less time aligning up the IRS on the main panel PFD/Nav displays. Shame the other IRS switch is still a dud... Like most FMC's (Flight Management Computers) the one in the MD-88 has had a lot of attention in this first v1.1 update. FMC's are tricky buggers to get right and work correctly in an X-Plane environment. The points of entering in a flightplan are usually straight forward, the difficulties are created in the editing and fine tuning of the flightplan or changing it when it is actually completed. I found the FMC in the MD-88 when it was released in the top grade in usability. Very high quality compared to a lot of units out there with minimal input failures, but it still required a bit of fine tuning and you get that in this update. - FMS route sequencer improved and compatibility issue solved. - CDU crash in route edition has been fixed. - DIR TO routine is now operative. - CDU function keys delete functionality added ("pick and move up"). - CDU ERASE option added, and corrected EXECute's logic. - CDU RTE activation logic functionality added. - CDU Candidates pages ordered by nearest to current position. - CDU altitude XXX format (without FL) now supported for input. - FMS route altitude and speed restrictions now available in all waypoints. - T/D calculation improved and available with DISCs in the route. - FMS route now support airports as waypoints. - DEP and ARR pages rebuilt and selection logic improved. - Missing STARs and SIDs issue has been solved. - Vector and unsupported terminator legs in SID and STAR procedures are shown as DISCs. As noted I found the input and editing of the flightplan quite good, but now it is very good, and a great FMC to use. You can save your completed routes as well into a folder in the aircraft's root folder called "saved-routes". Only the centre route section is saved so you will still have to complete the flightplan with your route required SID and STARS. As noted the SID and STAR logic has had a big overhaul and it is excellent, but you will need as usual to do a little waypoint editing to get the perfect approach route. DIR TO (Direct to) function is a great addition and needed when you are editing in flight your route. It is listed under the ROUTE menu page and you can call up as many DIR-TO's in the sequenced right menu pages. The DIR-TO is also available for quick access on the flightplan LEGS page at the bottom of the FMC display. Only annoyance is still a missing PROG (Progress) page on the FMC, badly required it is noted as in production for the next update. Aircraft PERF (performance) data in very good and comprehensive. Covers Main Initial (INIT) page in weights, wind and temperatures. TAKEOFF-REF and APPROACH-REF. Special care is needed on checking the fuel and weights and measures are correct. These can be set via the X-Plane Weight and Fuel menus. But a lot of care with the CoG is required on light or very heavy loads. In other words, do your home-work and get it right. Takeoff Trim One of the most crucial aspects of flying the MD-88 is making sure you get the "Takeoff Trim" correct. There is a built in computer system to get this right, or set correctly as it is called "Setting the long Trim". By inputting the correct CoG and Flap selection the computer will give you a number on the "long Trim" window on the forward pedestal. You set the trim via the huge white grab handle which you pull to adjust the negative or positive stabilizer position. You can also adjust the small pitch value by using the "ALT Long" Trim handles on the lower centre section of the pedestal. Rotate in the v1.1 update provides an Excel trim conversion sheet (I have attached a image of the sheet below) to allow you to find the correct CoG trim of the current fuel, cargo and aircraft weight. Payload weight is connected to the CoG, which is obvious really in the way the aircraft is loaded will affect the balance of the machine. It is critical you get this right, and get it wrong it will mean a poor takeoff and an annoying "stabilizer" alert in your face. And it is not easy to get right. But that is one of the quirks and challenges in flying this MD-88 correctly and well. Flying the MD-88 APU and the aircraft start up process sounds are very good. In the DC-9/MD series you are a long way forward of the engine noise. But from the cabin or external areas those two 93.4kN (21,000lb) JT8D-219s are louder and sound wonderful. Overall the noises are really good. All lighting has been adjusted from those horrible blobs to almost perfect in v1.1. Taxi, beacon, wing lighting is now excellent and so are those drop down wingtip landing lights. If you watch a lot of MD Series cockpit videos on YouTube or whatever. You will know the aircraft is quite a handful on takeoff and landing (don't get me started on bad crosswind landings) and so it is here. This is one aircraft set up the A/P and AutoThrottle ready before flight. If you have correctly set up the A/P and AutoThrottle the realistic FMA (Flight Mode Annunciator) will be set up correctly with from left to right T: AUTOTHROTTLE MODE ANNUNCIATION. A: ARMED MODE ANNUNCIATION. R: ROLL MODE ANNUNCIATION. P: PITCH MODE ANNUNCIATION. In my case Speed 250knts SPD250, ALT 4500 (speed transition altitude), NAV TRK Armed (FMC) and VERT/SPD or V/S is set at 1800fpm In the update TO (TakeOff-Go Around) button now selects the necessary modes automatically when activated, and the FMS OVRD behaviour has been fixed with the SPD mode now only allowed. The takeoff alarm (there is a lot of alarms on the MD-88!) has been made less sensitive as is the flap handle positions that are now easier to use. You will do a lot of yoke and rudder movement to track the aircraft cleanly and rotate at the set 160 knt Vr (15 flap) on the PFD. These are now newly tuned up Vspeeds calculations and considered Temp/Alt corrections. You will still get that distracting "stabilizer adjustment" alert but that is normal and that has even been thankfully toned down a little, more annoying for me is that it sounds exactly like my door bell buzzer? It sounds like some idiot pressing my bell every moment or so and I keep getting up to check which one (door or aircraft) it actually is? So did you get that "stabilizer" alert on takeoff, not the "stabilizer adjustment" buzzer but the incorrect TO trim warning... not easy is it. It is very manual high work load aircraft to fly, but that is good thing in the higher satisfaction rating. In a strange contradiction, the MD-88 is also an olde school style aircraft to fly... you just have to fly it very well. There is great route detailing on the NAV (Navigation Display) in N-AID (Navaids), APRT (Airport), DATA (Data) and WPT (Waypoint) selected on the left wall panel. The data selection will give you great information on to all the waypoints shown (tight in this small screen) including distance and time to arrival. Fine adjustments have been made in v1.1 to the glareshield A/P and FGCP Flight Guidance Control Panel. This includes when selecting ALT HLD from VNAV mode the system will now enter SPD/MACH select A/T (AutoThrust) mode automatically, VNAV is only available if A/T and HNAV are engaged and SPD readout now shows FMS SPD while VNAV is in operation. If you have an add-on throttle system like I do (Saitek x52PRO the black version), then now the throttle handles are over-ridden when A/T is engaged, to avoid hardware controller glitches. In other words the throttle position now works as it should in the real aircraft. Flying m75 at cruise speed at an altitude of 31,000ft you cannot but help to love your surroundings as you power your way through the air. You can feel why the DC-9/MD Series was the perfect medium range regional airliner as it is supreme in that point to point role. If you have set up the FMC data correctly the ToD (Top of Descent) is shown on the NAV display, and it is absolutely correct to the point I calculated my own descent point (-2000fpm). On the FMC you get ECON (Economy) CLB (Climb), CRZ (Cruise) and DES (Descend) path information to give you the in this case the best DES descent speed, Vertical Speed, and target points for the best economy descent profile. The G/S (Glideslope) warning (alarm) has been adjusted not to activate above 1000ft (AGL), so that orange alarm should not now go off, but it still does in my earlier version. Like on takeoff in the MD-88, it is extremely important to get the CoG calculated correctly and the trim set to land on the landing weight. Get it wrong and you will get a very light nose and find it very hard to keep the nosewheel on contact with the hard stuff. Anyone who has studied the MD Series aircraft on live cockpit videos will note how very physical this aircraft is, you have to work really hard to keep this aircraft running smoothly on that takeoff or final run in to the runway phases but that also the major attraction of flying the "Mad Dog", it is a handful of an aircraft, but a rewarding handful of fun. Yoke full forward is always a certainty on takeoff or when landed to control that light nose. I certainly also recommend an add-on throttle to get the full experience, this is one aircraft that you just can't land well with the AutoThrottle (A/T) connected (For one it does not disconnect on landing!). Another MD Series quirk that is important and to avoid an annoying alarm is the setting of the "Altitude" when collecting the ILS beam. If you don't reset the ALT the alarm will go off as to note you are under the set altitude on the A/P panel. So the set procedure is to reset the Altitude to the Go-Around altitude (here 3000ft) and that will cancel out the alarm, watch the videos to see the correct time to do this action on the real flightdeck and burn it into your brain to avoid the warning noise. Getting the lowest possible landing speed is also an important point, here I am at around 140knts as noted by the FMC set landing bugs. Flap performance is very good, but slightly too low a speed and the stall point is sharp, and you will easily not recover from this height. A crosswind can make the MD-88 a handful on a manual throttle and yoke and pedal approach, the sweat will form, but get it right and a yelp of satisfaction will be your reward. Sounds are again very good, full reverse and the rumbling give you good and that I am hard down and losing speed feeling is great. Transition to taxi speed is good. Cornering manoeuvres sometimes need a quick push and then back off the power to keep the taxi speed constant, and you have to remember how far forward you are of the main bogies when turning and aligning up with the gate line. Shutdown and you start to prepare for the next sector and it starts all over again. String many sectors together and you will put in a pretty hard day's flying, but you will be one very contented soul at the end of it. Summary This v1.1 is a huge update and a very though one as well. Yes there are still things to be addressed as there is on any aircraft of this size and nature, but this release pushes the barrow a lot further down the road. For the price there are still too many blank buttons, but you now have the basics of what you need. The PROG page on the FMC is one I miss and use a lot when flying so I hope it comes in the next update. Other external features would be nice, but if one aircraft requires a dedicated "weights and Fuel" menu then the MD-88 is it. This setting up the aircraft is crucial to flying it well and you need a better visual guidance feature to achieve that correctly, that feature would be certainly the top of my most desired list. If you do a point to point flight in the MD-88 and don't get any alarms except the "stabilizer adjustment" alert then you can progress to masterclass or add your wings on to your uniform. A lot of route homework is needed to get the very best performance out of the machine and you work hard in the cockpit to get your results, even after months after the release this is still one of the most challenging aircraft I have had to process in X-Plane, but hugely rewarding and addictive as well. Externally there has never been any questions about the sheer quality of those huge texture liveries. The aircraft is excellent in its design and the overwhelming quality of the sheer amount of detail on the interior and exterior designs. The biggest surprise that I still can't believe is that how light the aircraft is with all these extremely heavy textures, certainly not light, light but more than usable with even my computer's modest performance. Overall with the wide arc of positive and negative comments on this aircraft there is no doubt it has shifted far more now to the positive point position than the negative with this update. My point is that if you struggle to get performance out of Rotate's MD-88 then you need to study the details and understand that the real MD Series aircraft was not an easy aircraft to fly really well either, but that flying challenge was why the aircraft was so well loved by pilots and why the aircraft is still working well past its replacement date in the real world operations.... It is a true icon of a machine by its enormous well earned reputation. I will not hide the fact I am a huge fan of this aircraft, of the MD Series in general. This aircraft is one of the best additions to X-Plane that could have happened in the last few years, I note it is not perfect, but then nothing is. Overall nothing else will give you such a huge sense of satisfaction when you perform well in delivering the skills required to understand it and fly it to its extreme performance preferences, and it is for that experience is why we love simulation for what it delivers to our desktops, an excellent immersion of flying one of the greatest aviation icons of all time. _________________ Yes! the McDonnell Douglas MD-88 by Rotate is NOW available from the new X-Plane.Org Store McDonnell Douglas MD-88 Price is US$59.95 If you already have purchased the McDonnell Douglas MD-88 by Rotate, then go to your X-Plane.OrgStore account and download the free v1.1 update. Developer Rotate - Rotate.Com Developer Support - MD80 - X-Plane.Org Note: included in the update review is JARDesign's excellent TugMaster Deluxe and Ground Handling Deluxe plugins, these add-ons are not included with Rotate's MD-88 aircraft package. ______________________________________ Features: -> Precise flight model and fine tuned engine performance -> Developed with the advice and counseling from MD-80 licensed pilots -> Works great on all three platforms: Windows, Mac and Linux Custom Flight Management System (FMS) and Automatic Flight Route, departures and arrivals procedures (SIDs and STARs) Save and load route to/from text file Performance management, cost index and optimal altitude and speed calculation Custom VNAV. Climb, cruise and descend management with altitude and speed restrictions Takeoff and approach speed management Custom Navigation Display Improved autopilot with specific horizontal and vertical modes All EPR performance modes Flight Mode Annunciator Aerosoft NavDataPro (2014) included (for updated database third party subscription is needed) Detailed simulation of systems Power plant Electrical Pneumatic and pressurization Slat/flap controls with dial-a-flap feature Takeoff trim computer Customized alert and failures Hyper-realistic visuals Highly detailed 3D cockpit, passenger cabin and exterior model Normal and specular maps for enhanced detail Thorough HD day and night textures Accurate animations, including wing flex animation All external and internal lights\ Liveries: A set of ten ultra-high resolution liveries, including a paintkit Custom sounds 3D sound engine with stereo and doppler effects High quality multi-layered engine sounds Cockpit ambient and custom alerts ______________________________________ Requirements 64 bit operating system Windows Vista/7/8/10, OSX 10.8 and up, Linux Ubuntu 14.04 (or compatible) and up X-Plane 10.31+ (any edition) running in 64bit mode Processor: Multi-core Processor 3.3GHz 8 GB RAM -Hard Disk: 3.3 GB Graphics: 2GB VRAM (3 GB VRAM or more for best performance) Current version: 1.1 (last updated February 27, 2016) File Download is huge 960.40mb CoG Table jepg: CoG Table.jpg.zip ______________________________________ Full v1.1 Changelog Fixed and New in Rotate MD-80v1.1 - Beacons are now red, and ligh sizes adjusted to X Plane 10.42. - FMS route sequencer improved and compatibility issue solved. - CDU crash in route edition has been fixed. - DIR TO routine is now operative. - CDU function keys delete functionality added ("pick and move up"). - CDU ERASE option added, and corrected EXECute's logic. - CDU RTE activation logic functionality added. - CDU Candidates pages ordered by nearest to current position. - Transition altitude and transition speed restriction logic fixed. - Transition altitude and cruise altitude selectable from 1000 to 37000. - CDU altitude XXX format (without FL) now supported for input. - FMS route altitude and speed restrictions now available in all waypoints. - T/D calculation improved and available with DISCs in the route. - FMS route now support airports as waypoints. - DEP and ARR pages rebuilt and selection logic improved. - Missing STARs and SIDs issue has been solved. - Vector and unsupported terminator legs in SID and STAR procedures are shown as DISCs. - Baro knob manipulator more sensitive. - Altimeter light logic corrected. - APU and GPU lights logic corrected. - TO button now selects the necessary modes automatically. - Selecting ALT HLD from VNAV mode will enter SPD/MACH sel AT mode automatically. - VNAV is only available if A/T and HNAV are engaged. - SPD readout shows FMS SPD while in VNAV operation. - Corrected FMS OVRD behaviour. Only SPD mode is allowed. - Capturing ILS enters SPD SEL mode automatically. - VSPEED mode is automatically selected when wheel is adjusted. - Gear Door Open annunciator's logic corrected. - Throttle handles are overriden when A/T is engaged, to avoid harware controller glitches. - TAS indicator minimum value set. - Nose light is now off when gear is retracted. - TAT and RAT now show the correct readings. - Added GS reading to PFD (when IRS is in NAV and abouve 10000ft). - Altitude's warning logic corrected. - Altitude's FMA annunciator reading correctly. - Tuned up Vspeeds calculation considering Temp/Alt corrections. - Tuned up CI ranges and Economy SPD/MACH calculation. - Adjusted drag. - Customized airfoil data. - Tuned up pitch/lift/speed for CLB CRZ DES. - Corrected speed/attitude in final approach. - Below G/S annunciator logic corrected. - APU start up and EGT logic corrected. - Tuned up engine's N1, N2 and EGT readings. - Tuned up engine's fuel consumption. - CSD Temp indicators now simulated. - Changes in OAP annunciators related to start up and fuel. - Empty view now available. - Takeoff flap alarm is now less sensitive. - Aircraft management page added to plugin menu. - Adjusted flap handle positions. - Source selection switches (overhead panel) and corresponding annunciators now interactive. - Galley power switch now operative. - GPU toggle is now available through the plugin menu. NOTE: The command "Rotate/md80/electrical/GPU_power_request_toggle" will not work when assigned to keys or buttons. The access to this and other internal commands will be subject to a general solution in future updates. ______________________________________ Update Review by Stephen Dutton 28th February 2016 Copyright©2016: X-PlaneReviews
  6. News! - Aircraft Release - Cirrus SR22 GTXS Turbo from Carenado Now released from Carenado and expected from last week is the SR22 GTSX TURBO HD SERIES aircraft for X-Plane. I speculated if the aircraft would come with the new Garmin G1000 twin-screen GPS and that it does with the Perspective (PFD and MFD) with a GFC 700 Control Unit installed. This aircraft is super loaded with features: Carenado G1000 Perspective (PFD and MFD) with GFC 700 Control Unit Terrain Awareness map mode Different declutter levels Advance menus and cursor with scroll wheel, click/hold or /drag Aux- Trip Planning Window Checklist mode Crisp, vector-based water data Pop-up windows can be resized and moved around the screen Pristine scroll wheel support FPS-friendly terrain map Original autopilot installed HD quality textures (4096 x 4096) 422 pixels / meter textures 3D gauges Original HQ digital stereo sounds recorded directly from the real aircraft 3D stereo effects, such as outside sounds entering open windows. Customizable panel for controlling window transparency, instrument reflections and static elements such as wheel chocks and turbine inlet/exhaust covers. Realistic behavior compared to the real airplane. Realistic weight and balance. Tested by real pilots. Realistic 3D night lights effects on panel and cockpit. Ice and Rain effect Included in the package is: 5 HD liveries. 1 HD Blank livery Carenado G1000 Perspective PDF SR22 Emergency Checklist PDF SR22 Normal Procedures PDF SR22 Performance Tables PDF SR22 Reference PDF Recommended Settings PDF Technical Requirements Windows Vista - 7 (64 bits) or MAC OS 10.8 (or higher) or Linux X-Plane10.30 (or higher) 64 bits requiered 2.5 GHz processor - 8GB RAM - 1GB VRAM 275MB available hard disk space For WINDOWS users: Please ensure that you have all the Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributables downloaded and installed. INTERNET CONNECTION is required for installing this product. CARENADO G1000 DATABASE (MUST BE INSTALLED). ______________________________________________________________________ Yes! The SR22 GTSX Turbo HD Series is now available from Carenado: Price is US$34.95 Images & Text are courtesy of Carenado© Developer site : Carenado.com ______________________________________________________________________ Stephen Dutton 23rd February 2016 Copyright©X-Plane Reviews: X-PlaneReviews
  7. News! - Released! SBRJ Santos Dumont Rio Airport by Richard Nunes/Nielsen Scenery After his huge SBGL Rio de Janeiro Intl release, Richard G Nunes Scenery has now released a follow up airport for Rio De Janeiro in SBRJ Santos Dumont Airport. SBRJ Santos Dumont Airport is Rio's short-to-medium haul domestic air traffic airport and is very close to the Rio city centre. Noted with two very short parallel runways in 02R/20L - 02L/20R, the airport just clears at 1,323m (4,341ft) the minimum requirements for Airbus A320 and Boeing 737-800 operations. This extensive scenery features: Custom runways, ramps and taxiways with ambient occlusion Many Static objects Animated vehicles, ships and barges. 3D grass, true to Airport type. Airport and surrounding areas high-quality Mesh. Mesh designed using the excellent 'Remexe' tool Partial rendering inside terminals With the surrounding landmarks that are included in the package: Sugar Loaf hill and “Morro da Urca” Animated cable car (Bondinho) Rio-Niteroi Bridge with vehicle traffic. Ilha Fiscal (Fiscal Island) Ilha das Enxadas (Hoe Island) Ilha das Cobras (Snake Island) Naval College. Praça XV, the Ferry Station. 3 Helipads SDHU – SIJP – SNUO Buildings Adjacent to heliports Both old (original) and the new terminals are represented (to current 2016) and detailing is excellent. And even the internal areas are accessible and complete. The airport is fully animated with "Ground Service and aircraft traffic" and all gates have "Auto Gate" with DGS and ramp Marshall plus the extensive vehicle traffic extended throughout the scenery. Excellent lighting in HDR lighting is also available. HDR Effect, indoor lighting environment, Terminal and Jetways. Night texture and HDR lighting Textures personalized with ambient occlusion. ______________________________________________________________________ Yes! the SBRJ Santos Dumont Rio Airport from Richard Nunes/Nielsen Scenery is NOW available from the new X-Plane.Org Store here : SBRJ - Rio - Santos Dumont Price is US$19.95 Requirements: X-Plane 10+ Windows, Mac or Linux 1Gb VRAM - 2Gb VRAM recommended Current version: 1.0 (Last updated Feb 19, 2016) ______________________________________________________________________ Stephen Dutton Updated : 20th February 2016 Copyright©2016: X-PlaneReviews
  8. A note on the current version of the Boeing 777 Worldliner. Officially it is noted as version 1.82, the .82 version covers the updated SASL 2.4 plugin update and nothing more. SD@X-PlaneReviews
  9. Aircraft Review : Aviat Husky A-1C from Shade Tree Micro Aviation Flying in its purest form is a personal journey. Just yourself and the machine in perfect harmony, moving through the air in a momentum of power, noise and being completely free with the elements... It is a glorious thing. You are certainly close to the elements in an Aviat Husky A-1C, there is no doubt about that. This utility aircraft is a strong structure of steel tube frames with a Dacron (known as Terylene in the UK) which is a hard plastic that is covering over all but the rear of the fuselage of this aircraft and metal leading edges of the high-set monoplane wings. Noisy power is provided by a Lycoming IO-360-A1D6 of 200 hp (149 kW). The 200 version has a gross weight of 2,200 lb (998 kg). Outwardly you would think the Husky design is far older than the aircraft actually is, more 60's than 1980's. For design work by Christen Industries began in 1985. The aircraft is one of the few in its class designed with the benefit for at that time the newly-fangled CAD (Computer Aided Design) software. The Husky prototype first flew in 1986, and the aircraft's certification was awarded the following year. Performance - Maximum speed: 145 mph (233 km/h; 126 kn) - Cruise speed: 140 mph (122 kn; 225 km/h) - Stall speed: 53 mph (46 kn; 85 km/h) flaps down, power off - Range: 800 mi (695 nmi; 1,287 km) at 55% power - Service ceiling: 20,000 ft (6,096 m) - Rate of climb: 1,500 ft/min (7.6 m/s) ______________________________________________________________________ I am flying this Husky from the Miami Seaplane base (X44) in Florida, right down the keys to KEYW (Key West). A delivery flight, but an enjoyable one at that. Just me, flying and taking in the scenery, and note that this aircraft package is the A1-C version and not the earlier STMA A1-A aircraft that has been released for a few years now. There is no doubt it is spartan in here. You sit in the frame with your rudder pedals, long stick and frame mounted one piece instrument panel. Your seat is basic and the seat in the rear is not there but instead what you have is simply just empty space, but the controls for a rear pilot are present, and you can carry 880 lb (399 kg) in this empty space if you require it. The aircraft is used for a multiple of roles in bush piloting, observation duties, fisheries patrol, pipeline inspection, glider towing, border patrol and other utility missions. Notable users include the US Department of the Interior and Agriculture. Instruments are basic, but with surprisingly powerful tools for such a bush utility aircraft. Centre panel is dominated by the standard six set of instruments that are large and clear with the Airspeed Indicator, attitude indicator (also known as an artificial horizon), altimeter, heading and Vertical speed indicator (VSI), the missing large instrument is the turn indicator, but that is built into the lower part of the artificial horizon. Instead in its place is the bearing indicator for VOR(2) and ADF bearings. Left is a large digital engine instrument panel known as the "JPI EDM 930 Engine Monitor" that is very powerful for such a small aircraft. It covers in rotary dials: RPM and Manifold Pressure. EGT (Exhaust Gas Temperature) and CHT (Cylinder Head Temperature). Three levels of strip gauges cover top to bottom Oil Temperature and Oil, Fuel Pressures. Middle layer is the electrical outputs in Volts, Amps and Carb-T (Carburettor Temperature). Lower line is Fuel in fuel pressure and left and right wing tank levels. Besides the two panel fuel indicators, there is a unique fuel gauge system noted directly on each of the wing tanks high above your head. How simple and easy is that, great idea. Right panel has a Garmin GMA 340 comm unit and a large Garmin GNS530 gps (standard X-plane) that pops out. Highlights here are the four Becker radio tuners in VOR 2 and ADF top, and a COMM 2 with a transponder tuner lower. (VOR 1 and COMM 1 is on the GNS530). Across the bottom of the panel is a row of power and lighting switches and on this float version of the aircraft, there are two levers for the (inside float) undercarriage up/down position lever and another lever to high/lower the rear float rudders. Left bottom panel is a (standard) chronometer. Two push/pull knobs cover your propeller (blue) and mixture (red) settings, throttle lever is high and to your left with a large "Elevator" trim wheel on the left side panel. The Trio Avionics Pro Pilot autopilot is not a standard issue on the Husky, but it is installed here. Basically it is a simple autopilot that allows you to hold a heading, hold an altitude and change altitudes by a set vertical speed (V/S) to a designated set altitude. The Pro Pilot will also lock into a planned route on the GNS530 gps and that makes it versatile tool. But is quite tricky to use. The main knob has two sets of manipulators both sides of the knob for each adjustment of the side of the instrument you want to adjust. The left is the HDG (heading), NAV (GNS530), VOR LOC and the right side is IAS, V/S, ALT (Altitude) and ALT SEL (Altitude Select) and ALT HLD (Altitude Hold). You change the selection modes by the buttons on the lower corners H MODE left and V MODE right. Activation is via the selection on the top two corners in H NAV and V NAV. The small lights in yellow for in progress and green for active (or locked in). Overall it is a simple system but complicated until you get familiar with it, once you work it out then it works fine, but the manipulators are difficult to use, in that when selected usually you click on the mouse button to change the numbers (say V/S) but here you have to hold the mouse down for it to work, and (laboriously) slow it is at the start, once moving it gets faster the longer you hold the manipulator down, but you miss that one click change for fine quick adjustment. But as with anything you get used to it but it is ponderous if you have a lot changes in heading, altitude or V/S speed changes to do. You can adjust the heading on the Pro Pilot or on the heading dial which is quicker to use. Quality and modeling is a good notch above STMA's range of aircraft. All the panel's text is clear, sharp and intelligible even at lower texture setting, unlike the fuzzy STMA text of the past and that gives the aircraft a more pro modern look than the others. Aircraft construction and detailing is good as well. The riveting could have been more pronounced than coloured dots, but overall it is very good from any angle. The Husky is called a utility aircraft for a reason, it is a very basic but flexible aircraft, sort of small van for the air. If either using the Pro Pilot which is great over longer distances like the Key's, manual Stick and Rudder flying is great fun. It is a nervy light aircraft so inputs have to be Mr Smooth, no over corrections or sharp movements as the aircraft will move quickly and some times mildly violently in the air and certainly at slow speeds. Fly too fast at around 135 MPH and the nose will dig in and pitch downwards and so you are using too much power (and fuel) to go at a slightly higher speed, Drop the speed to around 128 MPH and the aircraft will actually be more efficient through the air, and you lose nothing in time in the long run. There is push/pull knob on the left side of the panel to adjust the underside cooling vent, push it in for better airflow and pull it out when the oil and engine temperatures go skyhigh, as this knob is a management tool to be used wisely. I got permission to fly over the NAS Boca Chica Field, Key West Naval Station. It must have been a quiet day for operations because they were all smiles and waves as I flew over the airfield, you don't get this close without getting shot down usually. KEYW (Key West Intl) came in to view on my left. There is a small strip of water behind the airport that is my destination and landing point. It was an extremely tight approach and I kept the aircraft at full flap (a pump affair on the left side floor) and flaps are noted with 4 settings – faired (up), 10 degrees, 20, 30 and 40 degrees and I hovered the speed around just under 60MPH. It worked but only just in fact I cleared the beach with only meters to spare, but the aircraft washed off the speed quickly once in the water. I set the wave limit height to a low 0.5, but the A1-C still bounced around like a jack-in-a-box on steroids at this low setting... you would tip over on anything more than 1.0 meters, STMA notes to start at 1.0 meter but I think that is too high. I use an old trick to get on to the high terra firma. Stick right back and a fist full of high throttle and you clear the water and drop the throttle down to settle on the grass, then it a quick taxi over to the ramp. There is a split door on the pilot's right that is opened from the inside. But otherwise there are no menus or external features. You can use the supplied STMA Hangar's feature (open and close the hangar doors) and the plugin and notes are provided. Besides the "Float" version above there are two other Husky variants provided. Tundra The "Tundra" variant has those huge balloon tyres that allow you to land on wet swampy land. These are huge oversized tyres, that here look a little to large although modeled on the 28” AK Bush wheels. There is also provided an under-fuselage “lookie-loo” baggage container. There is no standard wheeled version which I would use more than the "Tundra" variant. Ski There is a "Ski" variant based on the Rossi Fernandez 8001 skis that are used on the real Huskys, they are well done and work well. Liveries There is a large selection of ten liveries in various styles, and a plain Black & White that could be used as a paint version. A paintkit is available on request. I liked the above Blue N7ZR cover and it looks great on the aircraft. Nightlighting Panel lighting is adjustable and it is nice, clear and easy to read. There is an above cabin lighting that is fine, but there are two spot lights on the frame with switches that don't work or spotlight areas below. The lighting switch panel is high on the upper right. External lighting is fine but they haven't yet been adjusted (to date) to the X-Plane 10.45 lighting specs, so they are big and blobby. There is a rogue strobe on the right wing that stays on (flashing) unless you kill all the power. Summary STMA (Shade Tree Micro Aviation) have a huge built in X-Plane fan club, and they won't be disappointed with the A1-C Husky. It is a utility aircraft or if you like a bare-bones machine that is what it is, and there is a lot to like there... a free flying personal aircraft that like its real world counterpart is a real winner and well liked. There are a few niggles that need cleaning up, like I had to create a key to start the aircraft as the panel key didn't work, but STMA are usually very good and quickly rectify those items within a few updates. For STMA the design and quality is up a notch here, but there is still a few items that are bare 3-D design and are not textured (mostly struts and internal bracing) but are not overly noticeable in this case and in fact work for the utility viewpoint. For a basic machine the instrumentation and flying tools provided are above the standard. You don't have to hang on to the stick for hours if you have to do a ferry flight or like in this case fly right down the Florida Keys, the Pro Pilot autopilot is good, but tricky to use. If you love your bush planes or simply love flying alone and with skill then the Husky A1-C is right in your hangar. You will love it and find many roles to use it for. But overall this is a simple aircraft flying on a mission that can give you your flight of freedom and the love of what real flying is all about, just you, a machine and being in the air. ______________________________________________________________________ Yes! the A1-C Husky by Shade Tree Micro Aviation is NOW available from the new X-Plane.Org Store here : Husky A1-C Price is US$24.95 Features Full featured VFR and IFR flight and navigation suite 3D cockpit with 3D instruments using day and night textures Laminar G530 GPS Dual VOR/ADF RMI HSI Dual COM/NAV Garmin Interphone panel Becker Radios (Light weight soaring favorites) Custom simulation of the Trio Pro Pilot autopilot system JPI EDM 930 Engine monitor Custom All-Season Gear and Flap indicator All Season Undercarriage options Oversize tundra tires Amphibious floats RF 8001 retractable ski package Cargo pod under belly Accurate Modeling throughout Detailed exterior model includes fabric textures Liveries match the best of Aviat paint scheme options Painted or polished spinner option selection in all liveries Animations on all internal and external equipment Paint kit available for your custom design Custom sounds Engine and prop sounds created from actual Husky operations Installation : Download file size is 58.40mb to your X-Plane - Aircraft Folder. Installed file size is 97.60mb Documents : Huge amount of documents and manuals provided with Owners Manual, Water Takeoff Techniques, Checklist and O-360 Engine performance table. ______________________________________________________________________ Requirements : X-Plane 10.40+ (Any edition) Windows 7+, Mac 10.6+ or Linux 512Mb VRAM Video Card minimum - 1Gb VRAM Recommended The aircraft is very light and performance enhanced on frame-rate. No issues reported Current version: 1.2 (Last updated February 12th 2016) ______________________________________________________________________ STMA site : shadetreemicro - Aviat-A1-C-husky STMA Developer Support : STMA Hangar and repair shop .Org _____________________________________________________________________________________ Review by Stephen Dutton 19th February 2016 Copyright©2016: 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: - 2.66 Ghz Intel Core i5 iMac 27”- 9 Gb 1067 Mhz DDR3 - ATI Radeon HD 6970M 2048 mb- Seagate 512gb SSD Software: - Mac OS Yosemite 10.10.1 - X-Plane 10 Global ver 10.45 Addons - Saitek x52 Pro system Joystick and Throttle : Sound - Bose Soundlink Mini Scenery or Aircraft - KEYW - Key West International Airport V1.0 by Fletcherj (X-Plane.Org) - Free - KNQX - Naval Air Station Key West 3.0 by Nicolas (X-Plane.Org) - Free (Note this scenery is part of the NAPS Freddy-de-Pues scenery packages)
  10. News! - Aircraft Announcement - Cirrus SR22 GTXS Turbo from Carenado The Cirrus SR22 GTXS Turbo HD Series has been announced as the next aircraft for X-Plane from Carenado. This neat small single-engine four seater general aviation aircraft is an excellent choice to get the Carenado treatment. The GTXS Turbo stands for the Tornado Alley turbonormalizing upgrade kit which is factory installed. It features twin turbonormalizers and twin intercoolers. The conversion also includes built-in oxygen and a Hartzell three-blade lightweight composite propeller. The engine is the Continental TSIO-550K, which produces 315 hp (235 kW) with a 7.5:1 compression ratio and can run on 94 octane fuel. This turbo version has a certified ceiling of 25,000 feet (7,600 m), a maximum cruise speed of 211 knots (391 km/h), and a top speed of 219 knots (406 km/h). All impressive performance for a small aircraft. There is no detail of features or what you get from Carenado with the X-Plane version, but I am going to do a bit of crystal ball gazing and say the XP SR22 "Could have" not that it "Does Have" the G1000 twin-screen panel. The G1000 system is now available for X-Plane as it debuted in the CT182T Skylane G1000 HD Series back in September 2015. The FSX/P3D version does have the G1000 setup and the images below are of that version in a vision of what the G1000 in the SR22 could look like in the X-Plane version. Release of the Cirrus SR22 GTXS Turbo HD Series is due soon, no solid date of course, but I would guess around the end of February 2016. Images are courtesy of Carenado© Developer site : Carenado.com Stephen Dutton 15th February 2016 Copyright©X-Plane Reviews: X-PlaneReviews
  11. At this point the L1011 review has gone on a short hold till there is a completion of a set of major updates, then X-PlaneReviews will do a comprehensive review of this iconic aircraft.
  12. The new v5.0 3-D cockpit manipulators are a very different than the other aircraft versions and are very good. I am a one-click Mac mouser, and I don't have any issues. The 2-D cockpit will still be in there, I don't think it will removed. Yes the workload is high, but that is all in the fun SD@X-PlaneReviews
  13. I don't know, you don't note where you bought it from? It is listed on the X-Plane.OrgStore as version 1.81 (last updated June 23rd 2015) so I gather there is no update available there... SD@X-PlaneReviews
  14. Please put RW Duke comments in the right place or I will delete them... Thanks.
  15. Aircraft Review : Epic Victory Light Jet by Aerobask There was a grand idea of to revolutionise air travel and put the everyday personal experience of a quick short point to point flight to carry a few passengers in a executive style environment at an affordable price. Up to date personal jet travel is restricted to overpaid company CEO's and rock stars and while your average Joe is still flying the airline way. It was a big dream that nearly came off. New operators started up to use the new very small light jet under Part 135 of the Federal Aviation Regulations (FAR) and use it in a taxi style business plan that would have thousands of these VLJ (Very Light Jets) spread at all major and secondary airports and cover a taxi network on delivering passengers quicker and outside the conditions of airline schedules and more importantly the saving of time. It failed to a point because it never got to the "Critical Mass" stage for where the air taxi service could sustain itself by having enough aircraft in the air to maintain profits and cover a large enough area of destinations to allow a constant supply of ready to fly aircraft. First off the cab-rank was Florida-based air taxi provider DayJet, which on October 3, 2007 began its Eclipse 500 service and planned to operate more than 1,000 of the VLJs within five years... they lasted a year. The Eclipse 500 and the Honda Jet were the main contenders for the business. Where if you got your numbers correct there was sales of thousands of these 1 million to 2 million dollar jets. and so enter the Epic Victory which was intended to cash in on this lucrative emerging market. To a point Epic succeeded in creating the correct aircraft in the single Pratt & Whitney Canada PW600 powered "Victory" (The Williams FJ33 was used for testing) for the exceptional low price of US$1 Million. Certainly it was the right aircraft and at the right price for this emerging market... but it all never came to pass, again. There has only been 16 Victory aircraft built and flown and all as experimental aircraft. As the Epic Aircraft company that builds the Victory has been mired into a decade old bizarre history of court cases, lawyers, embezzlement, fraud and god knows what else. Then the Epic company was bought out by the Chinese and now the Russians that makes the whole lot sound more now like James Bond and his megalomaniac villains than just building jets. The real tragedy of all nonsense is the aircraft, because it is an excellent little machine that could have changed in a small part aviation history... the Air-taxi. Aerobask Epic Victory Aerobask has already covered one other Epic aircraft in the excellent E1000 which X-PlaneReviews covered last year Epic E1000 by Aerobask. This Victory aircraft is really an extension of the E1000 as it has the excellent Dynon "Skyview" that was developed from scratch in being autonomous from the X-Plane systems and was developed exclusively with Aerobask by Lionel Zamouth for the aircraft. So X-PlaneReviews found itself in Bend, Oregon where the Epic company has it's company facilities based to look over this wonderful little light jet. The Victory is small at 33ft 5in (10.19 m) long and a wingspan of 36ft 4in (11.08 m), but it is packed with a lot within its frame. The PW600 is going to be the 1,350 lbf (6,000 N) thrust, PW615F version which has a 16 inch (40.64 cm) diameter fan. As the PW610F demonstrator engine only has the 900 lbf (4 kN) thrust PW610F engine that is installed in a twin-configuration on the Eclipse 500, and I feel that a single PW610F is not going to be enough power just installed by itself. Design wise it is an Aerobask aircraft through and through. Which means a very high quality and great design work of which we have certainly have come to expect from them. No doubt now a matured designer in Aerobask delivers again with the Victory as it is a beautifully rendered aircraft with a lot of great detailing. In a slight change this aircraft does not have really plastic look that you can get with these all composite aircraft, it is well molded of course but now with a more realistic quality a notch above. Small detailing in undercarriage wing and door design is first-rate and you are missing nothing. Aerobask is also one not to stand still in ideas and features. The menu system in tabs in your left lower of your screen and are very well set out in three tabs in (From top to bottom) - Options - Weight & Fuel - GPU Control. The "Options" menu is quite light in that it covers hiding one or both Yokes (Which can be done manually inside as well) and turning on or off the window and instrument reflections. The "Weight & Fuel' menu is the interesting one. Top of the pop up menu in yellow is the tag to add or hide the wheel chocks and the aircraft's parking flags. You have a fuel selector to add or empty the aircraft's fuel tanks (two), which is easy to use. But there is a gauge logo above and you think it relates to the tankage, but it doesn't, as it is just a graphic, which can be easily misleading. Lower right is a clever system of adding in weight and passengers. click on a seat or bag and you can load either an adult or a child in the seats (any except the pilot's) and with the baggage select a bag from the menu and it disappears from the adjacent baggage trolley, a full trolley of baggage means none on the aircraft. All the fuel, passenger and baggage weight is then calibrated on a display on the left to show you your actual aircraft weight. And it is all very well done and easy to do. You can close the aircraft's door from the menu as well and then the notice will note that everything is locked and secure. With this the baggage trolley disappears. The GPU (Ground Power Unit) is well done as you have a generator starter, and you press the green start button to start it up. Wait and the dial will show your power to the aircraft and "On" via the green light. Cabin It is surprisingly very spacious inside the cabin considering how small the jet is, and it is very well appointed as well. There is also clever flip out table with a copy of the excellent English magazine "Flight International". The overhead spot lighting is adjustable, and you can see the detail and quality in the lighting fittings. Cockpit The panel is very minimalistic in design and operation, just a few groups of (very) small LED buttons to cover the various operations with their fuse breakers lower panel. Center console is the large throttle (very nice), ground brake and far lower fuel switch-off and tank selection. You can as noted click on the nicely shaped yokes or use the menu to make them disappear. I found the aircraft easier to operate with them not visible and to activate the required buttons set out behind. If you flew the E1000 you will find the set up in the Victory quite familiar, with the same grouped buttons and the three large Dynon display panels. The grouped button arrangement is unique in that you start at the top left and work your way right across the rows to start up the aircraft and activate the systems, only one button is verboten!, and that is the red "Cut off" button which shuts down the engine. On the pilot's side there are two panels of button with the left covering engine and systems operations. Including "Pre-Start" which includes your battery power (If the GPU is connected you will see the power via a few lit buttons). Next is the Pre-Taxi which covers the engine start and autopilot power. The bottom row is your aircraft "Systems" which includes air pressure, valves and emergency oxygen buttons. On the right button panel is the "Lighting" top and the lower selection of buttons cover the "Icing" or ICE protection and pitot heating. One note is that you have to be familiar with the buttons either by using a separate printout (hardcopy or iPad) or really study the buttons because at normal flying panel distance you can't read what they are, the text is too small. Certainly on the ground for start up you can zoom in (a lot) but otherwise you can't read them. You do quickly learn them, but really only the more in use aircraft functions and not the smaller optional items like icing. Far right is the very nice undercarriage lever in UP-DN. The Victory is only really a one person pilot aircraft, but you do have an extensive set of instruments for a Co-Pilot in the right hand seat. On their right side there is only one major panel that covers the aircraft's air-conditioning and oxygen systems and that is mostly on-off in operation. The flap lever in Up - 1 - Full selections and far right the panel and cockpit lighting adjustment knobs covers the Co-Pilot's area. Dynon Avionics Skyview Aerobask is rightly proud of the completely ground up created Dynon Skyview. The older ideas were very good in past Aerobask aircraft, but you found the knobs slightly lagging in operation and the map view also slightly blurred (later updated versions are certainly better)... that is not the case here as these screens have great clarity by using same resolution as the real instrument (1024x600px). Click the two power buttons on and then the avionics button and the three screens come to life, and yes you notice the clarity difference, they all look really good. Before we go to the Skyview system we will first cover the central items in the MVP50 EIS (Engine Information System) and positioned lower your communications Garmin GMA 350 audio panel. The MVP50 is an excellent display that gives you all your information on the aircraft's current engine performance and situation status. Covered is current N1 and N2 Engine status, Fuel and Oil status in left and right tanks and total fuel, Fuel/Oil Pressure, Oil temperature, Voltage & Amperes, Outside air temperature, Clocks (local and Zulu) Fuel Flow (FF) and remaining fuel and current cabin air temperature. Three lower buttons cover Exit - SCReeN - Menu. only the screen function currently works to show annunciators in the top of the display, a note says the Exit and Menu screens will come in a future update. Over all the EIS is excellent in showing you your current engine and fuel status and in flying operations. The Garmin GMA 350 audio panel is the standard X-Plane version we all know and love. A quick glance at the main PFD (Primary Flight Display) will show you two big X crosses over the engine data on the screen. This is realistic as the real Dynon in this configuration shows the same display as the EIS replaces that data in this aircraft. So no although it looks like it, the missing data is not a beta version with the data not working. All three screens are independent of each other and all can be configured to suit your preferences. Within each configuration you can select even parts of full screen views to cover the full spectrum. This includes a HUGE or massive Artificial Horizon with rate of turn indicators, speed and altitude tapes and heading rose (with Course (CRS) - double VOR 1 and 2 and Skyview - FMS pointers) in the lower portion of the screen. An Engine and Aircraft status block known as the EMS which can be positioned left/right or centre of the display and also the MAP/NAV screen. Personally I kept it all simple with just the main PFD in front of me and the centre MAP/NAV screen shared with the EMS to the right. There are a huge amount of selections on the Dynon menu driven interface, which selections are accessed by the lower row of buttons, or the two knobs (covering Altitude and Heading adjustment) that have also a built in joystick movement feature. The main PFD menu covers PFD (Primary Flight Display) - AUTOPILOT - XPNDR - TOOLS - SCREEN (selections) - MSG (Messages) Under the Heading knob joystick selection is a secondary menu covering BARO - MDA - CRS (Course) - HDG (Heading) - ALT - VS - IAS - DIM, that use the knob as a selection tool with a centre push of the knob for selection. The point of reference is if you like these menu driven interfaces? Certainly they contain a huge amount of information and selections, but that is also part of their problem? Just setting the VOR1 and VOR 2 pointers can take time going through all the various button selections to get what you want, were as two buttons on a standard panel aircraft can do the same simple job at well... a push of a button. Personally I find it all a bit distracting in the air where as you have too take your eyes off the horizon for far too long just to get something as a simple VOR pointer to point in the right direction... Certainly a menu procedure manual is needed to be handy. The supplied manuals are however very good and do cover all the menu routes to the one you need, so keep them handy or print them out for reference. MAP/NAV screen is also very detailed. You can have your MAP (aircraft position) in either "Heading UP" or "North UP" modes. Airport or NAV-AID information is highly detailed and NRST shows you your nearest points of reference. It is important to understand the under driving information on the NAV display and the data used to complete or run flightplans as it is based on the powerful X-Plane built in GNS430/530 Navdata. If you understand the various areas of using the default GNS430/530 then you will quickly adopt to this system abet with a different interface. So loading or saving flightplans is the same as well in the .fms format, same as creating a flightplan from an outside database site and loading it into the aircraft in the .fms format. So the displays are excellent but highly complex in operation until you become familiar with the maze menu of routes. Side of the displays are your backup instruments in left: Artificial Horizon top and a Altitude instrument below. Right side is the backup heading... On the glareshield are two Garmin GNC255 radios for controlling COM and NAV frequencies. You switch between the two with the C/N button and the left one is COMM 1/NAV 1 and the right GNC255 is COMM 2/NAV 2. Centre top is the excellent Genesys S-TEC 5000 autopilot that can also be set via the Dynon panel menus and you turn it on via the "autopilot" switch on the PRE-TAXI button panel. All panels and radios pop-out for ease of use and can be moved around your screen, this makes learning or setting out the flightplan far easier. Flying the Aerobask Victory All loaded up, flightplan set and the doors closed and you are ready to start up this light jet. The procedure is actually very simple and quick. Fuel tank selection by the lower arrow like selector, fuel pump on and set your beacon lighting. Then you just press two buttons in sequence in "igniter" and "starter" and watch the EIS as the minute Pratt and Whitney PW615F starts up in the rear. Start up sounds are in the "oh wow, that is fantastic" category. Yes they are very good and very loud. Gross weight is 5500 lb (2495 kg) and I am at 2404kg which means I am just slightly under it, in other words I am heavy. You feel that weight as you apply some thrust to get moving, but the aircraft is easy to move around and taxi. You set the flaps to the centre position of T/O on the flap display on the glareshield. The controls are really all very minimal, but you somehow have everything you need... If aviation was like driving a car then this system would be the closest to that ideal. But cars don't fly, aircraft do and they are fast machines as well. Once lined up on KBDN runway 34, it was time to see what this Light jet had to offer. Considering the size and the weight on the aircraft it moved with a nice push as you gather speed quite quickly, sounds went high and you heard the PW working hard, sound quality is really, really good. When tracking at speed down the runway your yaw inputs have to be very small, get it wrong and soon you are suddenly seriously over correcting and you will lose it. If you keep that line in check with as little movement as you can it will track fast and straight. On rotation you feel THAT weight, but the aircraft will handle well and you can turn your heading in my case towards the Cascade Ranges and Portland. You have to gauge your climb-rate, you can use all of the 1200fpm that is official, but keep just under that and you can climb quite quickly. I'm so heavy remember and the PW is being pushed into the red zone as a flicker every now and then, but the aircraft will climb easily to my set height of 15000ft to clear the Cascades. When turning on the Genesys S-TEC 5000 autopilot it came in with a nasty thunk which I didn't like. But it was from then on easy to use and set up. I tried to see what a 3000fpm climb would do, and the speed didn't fall off as quickly as I thought it would, and the little Epic actually handled the extreme conditions. But as soon as that speed did drop below 130knts the aircraft would shimmy and swing from side to side as it fought the forces beyond its control. It would do that if you placed the Victory slightly out of its comfort zone, but bringing it down to the usual 1000fpm and getting some speed back and then everything went back to calm and normal again. You have to admit the Victory is a pretty little aircraft. I love the clean lines and smooth modern design. Cruising at 15,000ft you just power along at around 235knts and you have say that is a fair click and that you can cover the ground at 319.70knts (592 km/h) at maximum speed, Cruise speed is 250knts (463 km/h) with a huge range of 1,380 nautical miles (2222 km) at an maximum altitude of 28,000 ft (8537 m) and that is impressive performance. Over the Cascades and it was time to descend into Portland International (KPDX), you throttle back and easily slip down around 1500fpm, once at the base I turned into a circuit to achieve a landing from the west on RWY10R. Portland Intl is a hard airport to find and hard to use with long approaches as it sits by the Columbia River, and mostly in a valley, any approaches are over hills or higher terrain. After a tight 180º turn I intersected RWY10R. The Victory has no aids in slowing down the aircraft in airbrakes and on the ground there is no thrust reverse, so your approach speed is critical in that you don't arrive too fast. At a slow speed around 125knts and full flap you can set yourself up nicely, but have to remember your speed still needs to go a lot slower yet to land. After all the noise from the Jet pack sitting behind you at this descending speed the aircraft is eerily quiet, just some wind noise and when the gear goes down some more heightened noise from the wheel struts. Coming in you realise your speed is slowing and you still need to wash off still more. If you use the ILS-Approach you will know when the aircraft is disconnected from the beams, and you have to be ready for it as the aircraft becomes more loose. In manual hands on approaches you need to be hands on, but it is very controllable. This is an important point to make. The Victory may look and be flown by it's simple needs but it requires a firm hand on the yoke and control by the rudder pedals, you work very hard as a pilot to keep this little aircraft as smooth and controlled as the very good pilot in you has to do a good job in departure and certainly in the arrival points to keep the machine in your total control and not losing it to its own devices, not that the Victory is a hard plane to fly because it isn't but it needs a firm hand and skills to be super smooth and controlled as possible in these certain phases. Over the fence and you need that speed low and in my case 85knts. Once you have put the wheels on the hard stuff you need to VERY fine in keeping the aircraft straight, get it wrong and as on takeoff your going for a ride into the scenery. Small inputs and corrections are needed until the rest of the speed rubs off and then you can let that breath out and use the brakes... tricky, yes very. Taxiing around KPDX in this VLJ and the heavies look huge and very heavy. Parking is way over on the north-east of the KPDX at the "FlightCraft" area, and here we shutdown the hardworking PW615F and open up the aircraft. And the flying for today is done. Nightlighting You can adjust the display brightness and a part of the panel, but mostly the panel is quite dark. There is an adjustable spot light above you but overall the cockpit is a feel and touch area. The rear cabin is well lit with creative ceiling lighting, all spot lights as noted are adjustable to highlight areas. External lighting has been adjusted, but it still shows a very large set of orbs, I am not a fan of these sorts of lights. Liveries All liveries provided have been taken from real aircraft except one, a Coast Guard livery, a great house livery is default. All are liveries are exceptional by artist Jean-François Edange and my favorite is the twirly line version N971AR. Summary In real life the Air-Taxi dream is at this point in time just that... a dream. But that doesn't stop you from enjoying and flying an aircraft that should have and could have made that dream actually work. As an aircraft the Victory is an amazing perfect machine that can wizz four passengers and their baggage in speed and comfort nearly 1,400 nautical miles and at a economical cost in purchase price and running costs. Shame it never delivered because of bad or inept management. In a strange way the Victory is a bit of a contradiction of an aircraft. Easy to set up and basically fly. It does however need a slightly skilled pilot to get the very best out of it. Get it wrong or overfly and you are in trouble, and my guess is that the real Epic Victory would feel and fly exactly the same way. So that makes it challenging as well to hone your skills to ninth degree and get a very point to point perfect flight. Get it right and the Victory is highly rewarding. Aerobask has always delivered excellent out of the usual and modern designs in aviation. Here they deliver again, but without doubt have also upped the quality up a notch this time around as well. Everything here is very well presented in aircraft, menus and features (external lighting aside). Design and quality is excellent, and their achievements in the outstanding design of their Dynon Avionics Skyview system is excellent. Yes it is complicated system with so many different menus and functions and does require a few reads of the manuals to get all the different menu routes correct, but overall it is a reflection of the real world system that is excellent in operation. So a sum up in that the Victory is a little cracker of a light jet, an amazing aircraft really in design and great to fly with a little skill needed to get the very best out of it, certainly worth having in your hanger and whipping out to fly a few passengers on a small point to point taxi role. Overall amazing and different. Note: When purchasing the Epic Victory from Aerobask you also get an extra aircraft in the package with the very different LISA Akoya which X-PlaneReviews reviewed here: Aircraft Review : LISA Akoya by Aerobask ___________________________ Yes! the Epic Victory by Aerobask is NOW available from the new X-Plane.Org Store here : Epic Victory Price is US$29.95 As noted the LISA Akoya aircraft is also included FREE in this package and part of the above price Features Aerobask Quality 3D Model High quality 3D model throughout Flight model defined according to the specifications of public data. Fun to fly. Ultra-High Resolution textures. 4K, Ambient Occlusion, Specular, Normal mapping and night lightning. Fully functional and animated Virtual 3D cockpit. Panoramic windshield with reflections, rain and icing effects. Ground Power Unit First ever modeled Dynon Skyview for X-Plane 3 EFIS Dynon Skyview Extensive custom logic to match the real Dynon Skyview Custom MAPs & FMS Flight Plans Management Transponder AutoPilot and radio All EFIS can be displayed in Pop-up view Other Systems EIS MVP50, 2 Garmin GNC255, 1 STEC5000 Autopilot, ADL110B weather radar, TCAS and vocal alerts. Can also be viewed as Pop-up windows Dynamic Menus Options Menu Fuel & weight management GPU Custom 3D Sounds Engine, gear, flaps, door, vocal alert, callout. Enhanced 3D sound engine using SASL functions. Liveries More than 6 different paint schemes using 4K textures (more available at aerobask.com) Documentation Victory general manual Aerobask Skyview manual Checklist normal operation Online Flight Planner tutorial ________________________ Installation : Download file size is 419.40mb to your X-Plane - Aircraft Folder. Installed file size is 472.40mb Notes: None Documents : Huge amount of documents and manuals including for the Skyview System, Checklist and Quicklook. Real documents include the original Skyview manual and S-TEC 5000 Autopilot manual. _____________________________ Requirements : X-Plane 10.42+ - Running in 64bit mode Windows 7+. Mac OSC 10.7+, Linux - 64bit Operating System 2Gb VRAM Minimum The aircraft is quite heavy in framerate- not overly so but more than the average aircraft of this size. Current version: 1.02 (Last updated February 12th 2016) _____________________________ Aerobask site : aerobask.com Aerobask Developer Support : Support forum X-Plane.Org ______________________________________________________________________ Review by Stephen Dutton 11th February 2016 Copyright©2016: X-Plane Reviews Review System Specifications: Computer System: - 2.66 Ghz Intel Core i5 iMac 27”- 9 Gb 1067 Mhz DDR3 - ATI Radeon HD 6970M 2048 mb- Seagate 512gb SSD Software: - Mac OS Yosemite 10.10.1 - X-Plane 10 Global ver 10.45 Addons - Saitek x52 Pro system Joystick and Throttle : Sound - Bose Soundlink Mini Scenery or Aircraft - KBDN - Bend Municipal Airport 1.2 by Gendo (X-Plane.Org) - Free - KPDX - Portland International Airport 1.02 by MisterX6 (X-Plane.Org) - Free
  16. I note in the review the Cirrus has "not a completely Garmin system but a variation in the aircraft and noted as a "Perspective system", but close. " which means it is not a direct copy of the G1000 system but a hybrid version of the system, so if you want a full G1000 system then this is not the aircraft for you. If you want that sort of precision then say the Aerosoft CT182T Skylane G1000 HD Series which is a full G1000 suite would be the better choice. SD@X-PlaneReviews
  17. Aircraft Update Review - Embraer E175 v1.1 by X-Crafts No matter how many t's are crossed and every i is dotted it is impossible to cover every single aspect of a first release of a quality aircraft. So the speed of an update and the spread of the coverage to clear those unforeseen bugs and fix those missed items and even add in a few extra new features is really the point an aircraft really starts to shine and you can see how good it really is. This is the first update for X-Craft's excellent Embraer E-175 which was released in early December 2015. This v1.1 release certainly does cover a lot of ground and there are a few changes to the actual way you operate the systems of the aircraft, all in the name of refinement. X-Craft's E-175 is certainly a big step forward from this progressive developer. Modeling and design wise it is overwhelmingly a lovely aircraft, you simply can't fault that aspect of the machine. Internally the E-175's cockpit it is a great place to fly an airplane. But there was something just slightly missing when you flew it. The word that comes to mind is clunky, not a big clunky but a quality refinement missing clunky, small almost non-existent items jerked or activated with a bit too much sharpness and no matter how great everything else worked and looked you felt it was just slightly missing the mark. It is what I call the missing 5%, that ever small gap that brings the aircraft to the high standard we all expect for our payments. But that 5% is also the most hardest if impossible margin to close, and I will make it clear that no aircraft will every be 100% perfect but you can get close, very close. And you really feel that in this v1.1 E-175 update that a lot of that gap has been well and truly closed. Certainly it is a far more smoother and competent aircraft, not that I stress again the base release aircraft was bad or awful in the first place because it wasn't. but this version has a greater refinement now as part of the package. There are a few changes as well and a couple of new features of where we will start. The release aircraft did come with this "Enhanced Winglet" design but the operation to change them was messy. Now they are just a menu choice selection away as there is a new menu selection to switch them over in the plugins list. Menu selections on the left lower of your screen are still very good, The GPU can now also be disabled on the OverHead Panel (OHP) as well. Startup your "Pushback" and now when you "Accept" the menu's disappear except for the "C" Checklist tab. Weird at first but you get used to it. On the other end when you park the aircraft and set the "Brake" and the aircraft is below 100ft AGL the menu's reappear. I found that originally they didn't come back correctly and when I needed the external GPU to power the aircraft when I shut the engines down, that is now fixed. On engine startup you really notice a big change... the sounds. The sounds have had a significant overhaul and they are seriously better, deeper and with far more variation, besides a third party addon package they are now very good to excellent. The sounds have been refined in volume as well in the flaps were too loud, and the startup sounds were (really) average. You really notice or know the undercarriage is in the (going) down position in flight because the wind sounds have been refined and heightened, and so a significant upgrade there. The main landing and taxi lighting has been refined to meet the X-Plane 10.50 conditions, still just slightly too large but far better than the large globules of light before. Wingtip lighting has also been adjusted and tightened to make them more realistic. A small note on that the engine fans are now running in the right direction... did you notice that? The FMS has had some attention as well. There was an issue of a warning that a flight plan .fms file exists when selecting a file-name to use when saving the current route that warning has now been overrided. The coding has been corrected in that now it does not properly detect and reject waypoint misplacement if the waypoint is an NDB, and a VOR with the same NAVID that is found before the plugin finds the correct NDB waypoint. The display of the FLT PLAN page when no waypoints have been loaded is now correct. You now also have the ability to read tail.txt files, placed in livery folders. This change allows the RADIO 1 page to display the actual tail number for the aircraft depicted in the livery. The maximum number of characters that can currently be displayed is eight (8). The Default is "ERJ-175". Your choice if you like the new enhanced winglets is to your personal preference. But I think it is all very Batmanish and they make the aircraft very wide in manoeuvring around tight airport ramps. If you read the release review you would know the E-175 requires a set procedure to takeoff and climb correctly and needed a little practice to get the right rhythm to get it perfect. No doubt this update makes that procedure far smoother, better and you can't now use the ATHR (Auto Throttle) until you are airborne. This stops you from setting the ATHR on the ground and letting it power up the engines and sending you cascading through the scenery. A welcome addition. There has been a lot of adjustments to the Primary Flight Display (PFD). The artificial horizon was wrong in value and that has been corrected (it was terrible in the pitch) and the Vertical Speed (V/S) indicators are now correct. And that annoying vertical black line has also been banished. The CRS (Course) indicator now works. On the MAP display there is now a VOR pointer (I still would like one on the lower rose on the PFD) and NDB arrow. The clicking areas have been enlarged (way too small before) and the range + & - was the wrong way round, and replaced by a finger manipulator. You can now actually change the range by using the range indicator on the main MAP display which is very handy and easier than fumbling around menus. A few items around you in the cockpit have been touched up... The windshield is less shiny now in the center for better visibility. (and the glass stays in the window frames when you open them), and there is a new chrono clock. But the biggest changes are the ones in the movement and actions. The aircraft feels so much more refined in the actions and controls, and I found the flying process far more easier and certainly better. It is the small stuff, the tweaks you can't see or touch that can give you the better feedback that the aircraft is just that... better. Liveries More new liveries have been added to the package, including a sensational Embraer house paintjob. Others include Lufthansa Regional, Two Star Alliance in LOT and U.S. Airways Express and a Tulip United. The Alitalia Livery has had some attention with more detail as well. This aircraft looks great in any livery and there are now 22 to choose from from donators of their excellent work. Highlights are... British Airways CityFlyer, HOP! (Air France) and two variations of the KLM "Cityhopper". There is now an excellent paintkit available. This is an aircraft that you never tire of looking at. In this regional design it looks great at any angle, just a nice looking aircraft. This was the same route as with the review from KRSW (Florida Southwest) to KATL (Atlanta) and you just power there is a regional. It is an aircraft to enjoy and just do your job of flying point to point and doing the flying as efficiently as possible, get in groove with the E-175 and you really enjoy the aircraft. But it does demand you fly it well, and give it a lot of professional attention. 5000ft on the money and a turn to finals for RWY 27R. The ILS vertical diamond has been corrected and looks correct now, which I found annoying before. Gear down and the better sounds tell you enough that you don't have to look at the indicators to know they are down in the slipstream. Over the fence and a nice smooth landing on 27R gives you good feeling... As noted once you brake up you get your menu's back and and can shut down the aircraft... There is a GHDHanding set for the E-175 at the JARDesign site to add in more ground handling animations. Summary E-175 1.1 update No doubt a lot of tuning and ground was covered with this update. Not that the E-175 from X-Craft's was in need of attention on its release. But there is a lot of nice changes and just an overwhelming feeling that the aircraft is now much more complete and more refined for the changes. I ran many runs between KRSW to KATL (five actually) and loved the aircraft more and more each run, and compared to the release version it is certainly more smoother and more professional in the way it is controlled and activated... so all in all a really great update. _________________________________________________________________ Yes! the Embraer E175 v1.1 by X-Crafts is NOW available from the new X-Plane.Org Store here : Embraer E-175 Price is US$34.95 If you have already purchased the Embraer E-175 from X-Craft's at the X-Plane.OrgStore then go to your account and upgrade to v1.1 for free. The update is online for download now. Full release X-PlaneReviews E-175 review is here: Aircraft Review - Embraer E175 by X-Crafts Features Accurate dimensions based on drawings and documentation provided by Embraer © Windows, Mac and Linux compatible Custom FMS Custom pushback plugin with animated tug On-screen checklist plugin - Plugin menu for door control, ground objects or GPU Tested by a real Embraer E175 pilot CUSTOM FMS both the custom and stock FMS are available on the pedestal or as popup panels More details about the FMS below INTERIOR: Amazing 3D modeling of cockpit and cabin High resolution textures High resolution Embraer style PFD, MFD, EICAS displays Pop-up screens, pop-up radios panel MFD with 8 synoptic pages and a new improved Navigation displa High resolution textures on panels - Text is crisp and clear to real 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 Detailed cockpit lighting - All cockpit lights are controllable Cargo area modeled HUD equipped EXTERIOR 4K High resolution textures (fuselage 10000px/meter squared) Highly detailed landing gears Flap and speedbrakes mechanisms modeled Realistic Wingflex animation 2 versions of winglets available 9 Liveries included so far and more are on the way! OTHER FEATURES compatible with UFMC, X-FMC compatible with JAR's Ground Handling Deluxe Night lighting, Nav and Strobe lights cast light on the surroundings Obviously a set of custom sounds 10 Liveries available ______________________________________________________________________ Requirements : Windows, MAC or Linux. X-Plane 10.40+ (any edition) 4Gb RAM - 1Gb VRAM Current version: 1.1 (last updated February 6th 2016) (Note aircraft is very good on framerate, playback is current with similar sized aircraft and features) ______________________________________________________________________ X-Crafts Developer Support : ERJ - 175 by X-Crafts - X-Plane.Org ______________________________________________________________________ Review by Stephen Dutton 6th February 2016 Copyright©2016: X-Plane Reviews E-175 Full 1.1 changlog is: - Ground equipment and pushback options are now restored after landing - The winglets can now be changed through a plugin menu - There are now 12 liveries included in the package and 21 additional liveries available at the x-plane.org forum (http://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?showtopic=91249) - More details and dirt added to all liveries included in the package - Engine start sounds fixed - Cockpit windows are fixed (the glass of the windows wasn't moving) - New avionics sounds - New chrono clock - Reverse now works separately with hardware throttle - Clicking spots on the MFD are all bigger now - very easy to click on all the buttons - Vertical ILS diamonds fixed - CRS indicator in PFD is now working - GPU can now be turned on and off on the overhead panel - ATHR can only be engaged after takeoff - Cursor changed when changing the range in MAP Options menu. (TIP: You can also change the range directly from the range indicator in the map!) - windshield was shiny in the middle - VOR bearing pointer added to the NAV map - Alitalia livery has many added details - Flap sounds inside are too loud - Updated xfmc and xchecklist config files - Fans were rotating in the wrong direction - The lights on the new winglets also illuminate the surroundings now - Big misplaced nav lights on winglets corrected - Artifitial horizon was showing wrong values - N E S W highlighted on the FMS - The little black line on the EFIS horizon is gone FMS changelog: - Corrected ability to override warning that a flight plan .fms file exists when selecting a filename to use when saving the current route. - Corrected coding that does not properly detect and reject waypoint misplacement if the waypoint is an NDB, and a VOR with the same NAVID is found before the plugin finds the correct NDB waypoint. - Corrected display of the FLT PLAN page when no waypoints have been loaded. - Added ability to read tail.txt files, placed in livery folders, allowing the RADIO 1 page to display the actual tail number for the aircraft depicted in the livery. The maximum number of characters that can currently be displayed is eight (8). (Default is ERJ-175).
  18. Yes Ben we are doing the L1011, but it won't be this week till next weekend. SD
  19. The Aerosoft KRSW review has been amended to reflect the notes from Omar, thanks for the comments SD@X-PlaneReviews
  20. News! - Sound Package Updated - A330 BlueSkyStar As expected BlueSkyStar Simulations have released their updated v2.0 JARDesign A330-243 Trent700 sound package. No details as yet, you can update the new package at the X-Plane.OrgStore and just login and download from your account. Details to follow... In the mean time check out the BBS video of the new sounds, exceptional! ______________________________________________________________________ Stephen Dutton 2nd February 2016 Copyright©2016: X-PlaneReviews
  21. News! - Aircraft Announcement - ERJ 170 LR by Supercritical Simultions Group SSG (Supercritical Simultions Group) have announced their next project as the E-170 LR. This not the standard current E170 but the new E-Jet Evolution” series aircraft. Based and heavily revised on their current SSG E-Jet series (E-170 and E-190) and incorporating a lot of elements of the SSG Boeing 748 series features, the new aircraft is due as noted late this late 1stQ or early 2ndQ of 2016. Feature list noted is: Accurate 3D external model complete with detailed animations and textures. Many detailed liveries upon release with any subsequent liveries available as free downloads. Aircraft will meet most of the real aircraft's performance data for consumption, AOA, speeds, flight dynamics, etc. in close consultation with real world E-Jet pilots. Realistic 3D cockpit with high resolution in all render settings. Realistic displays (PFD, MFD with system synoptics, and EICAS). Many systems are implemented with realistic logic, such as electrical, hydraulic, pneumatic, engine fire extinguishing, fuel, wing and engine anti-ice (including automatic mode), communications, and TCAS. Electronic checklist system that can automatically detect certain aircraft configuration changes. Comprehensive autopilot functioning in modes similar to those of the real aircraft External lights and strobes operating realistically. Display management similar to that in the real aircraft. First Officer's MFD display is independent from the Captain's, and MFD has a pop-up option. EICAS messages based on the real aircraft's with lists and scrolling. 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. Option Menu incorporated into the cockpit VSD. Ground vehicles include a tow truck, fuel truck, GPU and airstairs. 3D sounds with DreamEngine plugin. Turbine Sound Studio sounds recorded from the real aircraft. Custom built-in FMC and Navigation systems (subject to change) including: FMC made by FJCC especially for the SSG Evolution Series, including SIDs, STARs, transitions, approaches, flare and rollout modes. FMC is compatible with AeroSoft's NavDataPro and Navigraph navigation databases. Manufacturer's performance data embedded as tables in the fully functional FMC. Option to use either a 2D pop-up (resizable) FMC or one within the 3D cockpit. Custom radio communication audio consoles 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. Terrain display mode on the ND, which is a part of the Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System (EGPWS) on the real aircraft. Comprehensive Flight Crew Operation Manual (FCOM) and a Quick Start Guide. The E-Jet Evolution Series is designed for X-Plane 10 and will be compatible with Windows, Mac and Linux. ______________________________________________________________________ Images are courtesy of Supercritical Simultions Group Stephen Dutton 2nd February 2016 Copyright©2016: X-PlaneReviews
  22. Scenery Review - Updated : KRSW - Southwest Florida International Airport by Aerosoft It is funny in X-Plane where you find your place. I live in Australia and I do use my local airports in YBCG - Gold Coast International and YBBN - Brisbane Airport a lot in my everyday flying. But my place is set out in Florida, KLAL - Lakeland Linder Regional Airport. I even made a home there by installing a portable office and all the odds and items in fuel drums and cones and all the odd stuff I needed to make it look like it was a work place. Most reviews start there, but I do try to make different reviews match certain locations. But KLAL is still my first port of call in any review. There are many reasons for this, but mostly it is a set parameter in finding out an aircraft's frame-rate (which I call Frame-Weight) and if the aircraft delivers the certain performance and conditions the developer has set out in the aircraft, in other words the scenery is an excellent base line. KLAL works well for other items, mostly in checking the frame-rate against X-Plane's default scenery (a lot of autogen on one side and none on the other), Its runways are extremely wide (Needed for aircraft like the Akoya) and you have great approach paths with the runways that are very good for circuits and you have one single ILS approach. Taxi distance to the runway is very small, but overall it is a really great airport to do reviews... so KLAL stuck. So if you want to do a review flight (Mostly in the lighter aircraft catagories), the most common routes I use is to either KOPF - Opa-Locka Executive Airport but it is surrounded by a lot of (heavy frame-rate) autogen or I go to KFMY - Page Field in Southern Western Florida. KFMY - Page Field is a lovely little airfield situated in Fort Myers but until now there was a huge blank space by the side of KFMY airport... This is KRSW Lee Country-Southwest Florida International Airport. So when Aerosoft announced that a KRSW - Southwest Florida scenery was in the works I was very interested, that scenery would certainly fill in a very big hole in my network and it was perfect for testing out larger regional and small airliners from KLAL. KRSW is just a perfect fit from so many angles, and so it has proved to be just that in my use of the airport in reviews since it was installed. KRSW - Southwest Florida Intl Airport (RSW) As airports go RSW is not an old airport as it was only conceived in 1973 when it was clear that the existing airport in Page Field would be too small (They were certainly right there). So the government of Lee County selected a site near Interstate 75, which was then under construction. The aipport groundbreaking was done in 1980, and Southwest Florida Regional Airport was opened on schedule, May 14, 1983, with a single 8400-ft runway. Delta Air Lines operated the first flight. The original terminal was located on the north side of the runway at the end of Chamberlin Parkway. The airport was renamed Southwest Florida International Airport in 1993, though it had hosted international flights since 1984 and U.S. Customs since 1987, mainly for flights to and from Germany. The name change coincided with the completion of a 55,000 square foot Federal Inspection facility annexed to the original terminal's Concourse A. The single runway was also lengthened to 12,000 ft (3,658 m) at the same time to better accommodate international service (making it the fourth-longest runway in Florida). The airport has hosted Boeing 747s (including Air Force One), but as of 2009 the largest aircraft scheduled to RSW are the Airbus A330-200s on Air Berlin's non-stop flights to Düsseldorf and seasonally the Boeing 767-300s operated by Delta Air Lines non-stop from Minneapolis/St. Paul, Atlanta, and Detroit . The Midfield Terminal Complex expansion was required when in 1988 the original airport terminal had by then already exceeded its annual capacity of 3 million passengers; by 2004, the airport was severely overloaded in serving nearly 7 million passengers annually. The original terminal had only 17 gates on two concourses. While three of the gates were added in a minor expansion of the B concourse in the late 1990s, the original terminal's design was however not conducive to a major expansion. With this small terminal operating at more than double its intended capacity, construction of a new Midfield Terminal Complex began in February 2002. The $438 million terminal opened on September 9, 2005. The terminal, was designed by Spillis Candela/DMJM Aviation, and has three concourses and 28 gates and which can eventually be expanded to five concourses with 65 gates. Demolition of the former terminal north of the airfield was completed in spring 2006. KRSW first Impressions First a note. This review has been updated to cover the changes by Aerosoft since the original release in November 2015. Since the changes were recent I thought it was better to update this current review than redo the changes in a separate post. The route flight was from KATL-Atlanta to RSW by Rotate's MD-88 in current Delta colours. The route is almost a direct line south from Atlanta and around the half-way mark you come directly over the western-Florida coast. You follow the coastline directly all the way down to a descent point just south of Tampa around Sarasota. Approaching Fort Myers is a great panorama as there is a set of barrier islands called Boco Grande, Cayo Costa, Captiva and Senibel Islands which are national park areas. The following directly above the Island chains they are a great tool for selecting the approaches for both Page Field and RSW. Page Field is a slightly easier vector because it is directly inland from the hook of Senibel Island, where as the Southwest Florida approach is just slightly more south over Estero Bay. In GA approaches you can get a lot lower (1500ft) and it is visually a great approach over the chain of islands. RSW can be very hard to locate. I am arriving on RWY 06 the only runway with an ILS approach. And you can't see the actual runway from a distance. The problem is created by the way the developers have used the photo texture base in squares. At a distance they blend into the background and you get a green cast over the actual airport approaches. Approaching RSW lower in a GA the problem is magnified by the fact you can see the only the photo texture squares which are zig-zagged when angled from a distance. It is almost impossible to get a course or angle directly onto the runway as the runway itself does not exist, so your only choice is to use the ILS or CDI (course deviation indicator ) to get a line on the centre of the runway... This issue is caused by not having your "Anisotropic Filtering" setting too low, it has to be set at least 16x or the full setting to make the textures clean and if you use this high setting and then runway texture quality will be very good to excellent. Closer to the runway you can see great detailing on the surfaces with ribbing and joins that are very good. The ribbing design however can cause a little interference in patterns on my iMac screen. but I didn't find it annoying or distracting. The actual airport and terminals is to your right (landing on 06) and a cargo facility and the GA areas are on the left. Mid-field on the left is the control tower complex. From a landing perspective the terminal buildings look excellent and realistic and you enjoy the arrival at RSW. Runaway and taxiway marking and runway/taxiway signage are excellent, as noted the surfaces are very good at this level. Infields are also good and the visual aspect is great. There are no charts provided with the scenery but a link http://airnav.com/airport/KRSW) is provided for download. There are three arrival charts (STARS) and four departure routes (SIDS) and five instrument procedure charts. The main parallel runway taxiway is F with another A which is a smaller parallel taxiway on the north side of the 06/24 RWY. Taxiway's J and L are arrival and departure taxiways for the main three concourses. There are no ramp numbers at RSW just gate numbers with my bay B4 which is situated on concourse B (far south). The airport is buzzing with vehicle animations, a lot of movement in mostly baggage trucks and carts, vans and service trucks. The animation routes are excellent and you enjoy the visual movement when departing or arriving at RSW. Gates are also all activated with Marginal's animated gates and here you have marshals to guide you into the bays and park the aircraft. Visually the airport looks great from the ramp. There is the option for static aircraft that requires xOpenScenery to be installed. There are few placements of vehicles and gate equipment, but I have my "Number of Objects" set at "a lot" and if you go up to the higher settings (Tons - Higher Tons) you certainly do get a lot more ramp objects but they come at a severe high frame-rate cost (in my case nearly 50%) and so a bit more refinement on the objects would compliment the excellent airport animations. In the update Aerosoft have changed the above settings on the "Number of Objects" to be more efficient at a lower setting i.e. "a lot". That now means that the ramps are now full, if even cluttered from the sparse view that you had before. In one way you would think that adjusting the object setting would be a great advantage and a visual step forward, and it is. But I found different situation in that it pulled my frame rate down because of the all extra loaded objects. And it took away the advantage that before if my framerate was too low I could then reduce the amount of objects and lose a certainly a lot of the visual impact of static ramp objects to gain framerate and have that user factor of the scenery. Now I can't do that? and my framerate suffers because I can't now adjust the amount of "objects", so it is one step forward but two steps backward in trying to fix the feature. (see Important update notes below on object changes). Aerosoft KRSW - Southwest Florida International Southwest Florida International Airport IATA: RSW – ICAO: KRSW – FAA LID: RSW 6/24 12,000ft (3,658m) Asphalt Elevation AMSL 30 ft / 9 m Airport Overview Orthophoto images are used under the scenery and they are very good, quality and has great definition. There is a slightly different colour balance to the default X-Plane scenery but not to the point it looks false or stands out poorly visually. So from a visual on the ground or approach view the airport looks very good. In the update you have an extended area now to the east with a full set of new of added taxiways in G3, G5, G6, H, K and L. This greatly enhances your arrival and departure options and make the latest airport developments current. Also added in with the update by the new taxiways is the new $16 million Airport Rescue and Fire Fighting facility that was opened in July 2013. And well recreated is this new facility. Intergration with the X-Plane scenery is excellent with a lot of traffic entering and departing the scenery, so you have that activity aspect to the areas, As noted in the first impression on arrival the runways and taxiway textures and detailing is excellent, and from the air point of view they do look very authentic. The huge carparking areas do dominate the southwest points of the scenery, and they are a mixture of flattened cars in the orthophoto and added in 3-D vehicles, but only one southern section of the carpark is covered by the 3-D items, with the rest of the parking areas empty unless you use those heavier higher "Object" settings, and then still one large carpark is empty. There are a lot of outlaying airport support buildings that are very good, if a little blank in texture detailing. Terminal KRSW has only one large terminal with three concourses D, C and B. There are no A area gates (probably in the older demolished terminal). The airports landside and terminal construction is very good in that lots of pored concrete infrastructure look. The terminal design is well done and detailed. The areas are however quite blank. There is no advertising, roadway direction signs or small items like coke-cola machines and other great detailing details, so it comes across as bland, certainly far more could have been done. The outlaying airport support buildings that are very good, but again a little blank in texture detailing. Can you find your rental car company from the rows of buildings? I can't because they are not branded. And the "Welcome to Southwest Florida International Airport" signs over the road are missing as well. In the update the amount of static objects as noted above have been increased substantially and this does come across as a better viewpoint. The changes have reflected well on the rental car areas and many areas of the carparks, but the upper level terminal carpark is still quite barren when is should be quite busy. The RSW airport entrance sign has been added, but the resolution is quite low, but at least now it is in there. Concourse B - Gates B1-B9 B Concourse is for International departures in Air Berlin, Air Canada, and far northern state American airlines in Frontier, Sun Country and LCC Southwest Airlines. The concourse in design is excellent with as noted has with all gates it has working airbridges. The Customs and Immigration services for the international flights are located on the lower level of Concourse B C Concourse - Gates C1-C9 Central C Concourse is used by Delta, Delta Connection, United, United Express and Westjet. There is not a lot of differences in all three concourses in design or construction as there is no different buildings built at different times in the airport's history, so they all have a samey appeal. Concourse D - Gates D1-D10 The northern concourse D is home to American Airlines, American Eagle, JetBlue, Silver (local) and Spirit Airlines. All three concourses are identical as noted but Con D is the one I favour and use gates D2 and D4. No particular reason, but it feels great there and taxi times are closer to RWY 06. Concourse detailing is good. Mid-Field north is the control tower and firestation complex. The complex is a modern US standard in design, functional and efficient the tower is not distinctive. The design is however well done but the carpark behind could do with at least a few cars and trucks... The Fire Station on the airport layout chart is noted on the south and opposite Concourse B, but this is the new $16 million Airport Rescue and Fire Fighting facility that was opened in July 2013. Tower view is excellent with no obstructions to block or hide the view, and both ends of the runway are clearly seen. East of the Tower/Firestation complex, There is a small industrial area and the airport's fuel storage. And slightly north-east of the Control tower is the long term undercover carparking and rental outlet. West is the General Aviation area. There are two general aviation hangars, one smaller behind, but the larger open door hangar is very usable. GA ramp areas are excellent with just the right amount of GA aircraft to find the right parking space. To the east there is a very good "Private Star Services" hangar and office building. Finally far east on the north side there is a small cargo area run by the Lee County Port Authority with one warehouse that is mostly usable for regional cargo routes, certainly you can still park a big hauler here but it is not that big a facility. KRSW Nightlighting All runway and approach lighting is very good with a MALSR: 1,400 foot medium intensity approach lighting system with runway alignment indicator lights on RWY 06. Taxiway and signage is very good. There is not much variety in the lighting in one for landside and building ramp lighting airside, but there is a lot of it and it covers all the airport's areas including the carparks and inner and outer roads. Terminal and concourse windows are all one dimensional grey and quite boring. The ramp work areas are well lit but with not much variation and do not throw the lighting out far from the concourses. So overall the lighting is good and workable, but not exceptional. Services Southwest Florida Intl Airport is an extremely popular airport, mostly because it does not have the serious heavy volumes of the eastern Florida ports. Basically it is regional port, but a far reaching one and its position on the western end of the Floridian peninsula gives the airport a wide arc of destinations. Seasonal is big business here as the winter snowbirds come down here to escape the northern Canadian and higher US states cold winter weather. Domestic In rank Atlanta is the overwhelmingly busiest route, double of anywhere else and no doubt a hub connection route. But many airports to the Eastern seaboard ports are also very heavily utilised. Atlanta, Georgia - 597,000 : Delta, Southwest, Spirit Chicago–O'Hare, Illinois - 313,000 : American, Spirit, United Detroit, Michigan - 283,000 : Delta, Spirit Charlotte, North Carolina - 238,000 : American/US Airways Boston, Massachusetts - 229,000 : JetBlue, Southwest, Spirit Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota - 221,000 : Delta, Southwest, Spirit, Sun Country Newark, New Jersey - 215,000 : JetBlue, United Baltimore, Maryland - 172,000 : Southwest Chicago–Midway, Illinois - 166,000 : Southwest Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas - 152,000 : American, Spirit 1 Delta 22.44% 2 Southwest 22.44% 3 JetBlue 12.32% 4 American 9.56% 5 United 8.62% Delta and Southwest are the most popular airlines for RSW taking between them almost halve of the passenger loads. 1 Toronto 133,534 - Air Canada, WestJet 2 Düsseldorf 39,891 - Air Berlin 3 Montréal 5,713 - Air Canada 4 Ottawa 4,165 - WestJet Canada is easily the most popular international route, but the Düsseldorf numbers show the future potential of more overseas vistors to RSW. Summary The overall impression of KRSW - Southwest Florida Intl Airport (with the update included) is that this is now a very good scenery. the road signage and general advertising are still missing and the terminal windows are bland and really boring at night and building lighting is average. There is an annoying MM (Middle) marker beacon that drives you mad as you sit on the go point of RWY 06 (I moved it in the local map). There is the situation of the "Number of Objects" settings that for me in the first place was a viewpoint of sparse ramps but good framerate. And now with this update the situation of full ramps, but as the lower "Number of Objects" setting does not allow for any lowering of the number of objects (well you can go lower but to a detrimental effect of the overall X-Plane view being worse) in the scenery it has now created the opposite effect foe me on that now I have all the visual fulfilment that I can wish for but I can't adjust the render settings and recover any usable framerate. So if you have a slower or less powerful computer the original release version is actually a better performer in the framerate area. That is a shame because the airport building basics are all very good, so are the orthophoto textures, runway and taxiway textures, animations are first rate and in all KRSW is overall a really great airport. From a personal point of view I love Southwest Florida Intl Airport and use it regularly if not most of the time while doing reviews, in fact if you follow the reviews here you will find that KRSW is in most of them, and that is the main point to understand about the scenery. Its geographical position and lightness of frame-rate (if the objects are kept down) keeps me coming back here and it is a regional airport par-excellence. It is just a really good and flexible airport to have and use in your network, so usable and flexible that you do easily overlook its now minor faults. With Aerosoft addressing KRSW's those small faults it is very close to perfect. RSW overall well worth adding to your network, as noted in the images here the airport is great visually and the airport is highly usable. This always brings up the question on how you value your scenery. Good scenery is a great investment in one main area... How much you actually use the scenery. Yes you can spend money on a really great detailed scenery, but if you never use it then it is a waste of money. But a scenery like KRSW that if like me in that if I use it almost constantly then I know I am getting my money's worth and that is a very good investment... So yes overall KRSW it is a very good to great investment. ______________________________________________________________________ Yes! KRSW - Southwest Florida International Airport by Aerosoft is available from the new X-Plane.Org Store here : KRSW - Southwest Florida International Airport Price is US$24.99 Features : 10 cm/pixel aerial ortho imagery covering the entire airport (approx. 8.41 sq. km) 1 cm/pixel custom ground detail/markings Baked-in, ray-traced ambient occlusion on all major buildings Baked-in, ray-traced night illumination on the airport terminal building Specular reflections and all-HDR lighting Accurate building heights, measured using LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) elevation data Designed using X-Plane 10-native methods for maximum performance Animated jet bridges and marshallers at all gates (using the freely available AutoGate plugin by Jonathan Harris) Static aircraft as an option Animated and static ground vehicles Volumetric grass Road traffic Compatible with HD Mesh Scenery v3 by Andras Fabian Installation : Download file size is 1.75gb to your X-Plane - Custom Scenery Folder. Installed file size is two files - "KRSW 1_Roads" 10.80mb "KRSW 2_Scenery" 1.09gb Aerosoft scenery installer is provided and you require an installation key Notes: There are a lot of ground textures in gigabyte size and they take up a lot of memory. So a minimum of 2gb in graphic VRAM is recommended, there is not a lot of autogen around the airport so that aspect does not have an impact on your frame-rate. There is a clever trick that the developers of KRSW - Southwest Florida Intl has built in to the scenery to adjust the amount of objects (hence your framerate) to your preference. You need WED 1.4r2 (WED 1.4r1 does not work on saving) and open up Aerosoft KRSW 2_Scenery folder in the WED application. In the OBJs group you will find the groups of scenery objects named New, Density Level 1, Density Level 2 and inside those folders are the categories of scenery objects. You can adjust the amount of objects in the categories by clicking off the eye and resaving the scenery. I found I needed to only adjust a few categories to recover a significant amount of framerate, and still leave a great selection of objects in view. Well worth adjusting and making the scenery as efficient as you can to your system's capablities. Documents : There is an Aerosoft manual (12 Pages) in German and English. No charts are provided with the scenery but a link http://airnav.com/airport/KRSW) is provided for download. There are three arrival charts (STARS) and four departure routes (SIDS) and five instrument procedure charts. Requirements : X-Plane 10.40 + (any edition) Windows Vista / 7 / 8 / 10; Linux; Mac Multi Core Processor (CPU): Quad Core 3,0 GHz Minimum 8 GB RAM 2 GB Free Hard Disc Space 2 GB of on-board, dedicated VRAM _____________________________________________________________________________________ Review by Stephen Dutton Updated review 17th February 2016 Copyright©2016: X-Plane Reviews Review System Specifications: Computer System: - 2.66 Ghz Intel Core i5 iMac 27”- 9 Gb 1067 Mhz DDR3 - ATI Radeon HD 6970M 2048 mb- Seagate 512gb SSD Software: - Mac OS Yosemite 10.10.4 - X-Plane 10 Global ver 10.45 Addons - Saitek x52 Pro system Joystick and Throttle : Sound - Bose Soundlink Mini Scenery, Plugin or Aircraft - McDonnell Douglas MD-80 by Rotate ((Rotate MD-88 - X-Plane.OrgStore) - US$59.95 - JARDesign Ground Handling Deluxe Plugin (Ground Handling Deluxe - X-Plane.OrgStore) - US$14.95
  23. Behind the Screen : January 2016 I'm going to try in 2016 to do a Behind the Screen as a monthly column, as I like the idea of reporting of what goes on behind our website and what is happening in X-Plane as much as the reviews we do. You can give out a different perspective on what is highlighted or what is not by having a more non-ridged way of talking about X-Plane which is hard with such a structured Review post. Top of the month was that I installed the BlueSkyStar Simulation sound package on JARDesign's A320neo. Oh wow, stand back people. I called it "Extraordinary" in our heading and extraordinary it is, amazing, can't believe this... and so on. These sounds have totally absolutely changed my perception of how sound relates to the aircraft's simulation and to your overall experience, and still weeks after the installation I am running the A320neo every moment I can to just rerun over and over again that feeling of a A320 on my desktop. No one, I mean no one who owns or buys the JARDesign A320neo should be without this BSS sound package installed. I found out later that the FlightFactor B767 has the same BSS sound sets and if you read the B767-300ER review I noted I really loved the sounds in there as well, those sound sets just stand out so well. The BlueSkyStar A330 sound set is originally a basic set that is reflected in the price, but a more full comprehensive set is noted as coming, so is a set for the JRollon CRJ-200. No matter, and any sound set from BSS in the future in my books is a certain must have... start your wish list here. A lot of forum noise was made on the JRollon CRJ-200. Most noted the aircraft was out of date now, and be prepared to see it sent out to Victorville for storage. Myself I still think their is still a lot of life left in the old girl, I certainly don't want it sitting out there in the desert with weeds climbing up into the wheel-wells. The coming BSS sound set will maybe be the aircraft's savior, but JRollon will have to give the aircraft a magic wand wipe over to convert it to the current X-Plane v10.45 conditions. The BIG question is he willing to do that, no word or hints yet if he will. So maybe we should start a "Save the CRJ-200" campaign! .... crowd-fund? The start of the year had another source of confusion in the updated SASL 2.4 plugin and X-Plane v10.42 or 43 or 44 or 45, now in beta 45b1. But confusion reigns that even I myself have lost all total proportion on what I have in my aircraft folder is legal and current. The SASL 2.4 update is an important one that is the fix for all those crashes in Mac El Captain 10.11 OS. Myself I am still on 10.10 Mavericks OS because I am still waiting for the 10.11 OS to become stable and now the problems are worse as I have no idea what SASL changes in aircraft have actually been done and what has not, there is no guide unless you go to the X-Plane.OrgStore and check the version number and update. Then Laminar Research noted to developers to fix the " torque bug fix" in planemaker (you can do it yourself by re-saving the aircraft in Planemaker v10.42 or higher) and the developers have had to do it all over again and resubmit their aircraft with the upgrade. No doubt a few developers where not happy to say the least, and total compliance confusion reigns. I have simply no idea what aircraft in my folder is compliant and what is not and is faced with at least months of downloads to correct it all. My current feeling is leave everything as it is, as it is all thankfully at the moment all running smoothly and that I doubt I will be able to install El Capitan at all and just move straight on to the next Mac OS in September 2016. Laminar Research in X-Plane v10.50 has finally seen the light. I love the "Global Airport" idea but it hopelessly didn't work for me. Almost every airport I landed at had two airports merged together in some sort of of drug fueled hallucination. I got to the insane point when I just threw out the Global Airport folder to reinstall it again only for X-Plane updates. Laminar's Ben Supnik expected all developers to fix their exclusion zones, but I thought that was a never, never land expectancy because many airport developers are long gone, most can't be actually bothered and the rest did have a half-hearted go at fixing the zones. I foresaw this issue well before the Global Airport feature was installed and noted forthwise. The solution is as simple as it is easy, If the ICAO code is noted on the installed scenery then the Global copy will ignore it... beautiful and it works and only a global perspective could have fixed the issue. There are a few poor set out custom sceneries without ICAO's , but you can't cover every bad developer can you. Now my "Global Airport" folder stays right there in its rightful place and I can thankfully use its extra wonderful selection of fill airports. Six weeks on and the hairs on my neck still get angry with the comments on the Rotate MD-88 that was released in early December 2015. Still users are complaining that the aircraft is not sorted and you would think the aircraft is some sort of lopsided disaster. It goes beyond belief that this ranting is still going on and mostly because it is not warranted. I myself will admit that the aircraft is not absolutely totally not perfect, but hail Mary's it is not that bad either. I find it (and so do many, many) other users a great experience and a far better aircraft than any aircraft that was released to acclaim only a few years ago. But let us get some perception here of what the situation is. First Rotate is a first time release developer (He has been part of a team on other projects) so his learning curve is stratospheric. It is a very small team (Not even close to the mega team FlightFactor uses as one scribe commented) and any product today in this scale in X-Plane needs many updates after its release to bring it up to cover all the different aspects of running on different computers to different specifications. Rotate has already listed a long list of updates on his v1.1 notes and I will confirm the beta is very good. Finally I will repeat the point also that a purchase today of a payware aircraft is not just limited to the release download, but included in the cost is also years of updates and extra features. You are not buying an aircraft but a large investment that a developer has to maintain at no extra cost for years, and that is where a large percentage of your money goes... support. JARDesign gave us another significant update to his excellent "Ground Handling Deluxe" plugin and I am really loving it with the changeable livery feature. I did over the weekend a few "liveries" for Alitalia, Qantas and British Airways, and you can see the huge potential in the idea. I am debating of if airline colours or airport logo's are the best sets, but for the moment I am leaning to airline colours, because they can be spread and used over more than one airport like all around the airports in Australia. More ideas are flowing in this area. Sitting the JARDesign A320neo at Heathrow and spending the time setting the aircraft up. I found I was quite busy in calling all the action around the aircraft as much as getting the A320 ready to fly. With Greg Hofers WorldTraffic running solidly at full throttle and the Aerosoft EGLL airport's vehicle animations you are not short of action on the ground. Yes I was contented and happy little bunny with my little X-Plane world and all the action turned on again at my arrival at LIRF (Rome). How far we have come in a few years in this area were as I would have landed and parked up and just sighed.... and then turned off the computer. Now after landing you just leave the X-Plane world running on and on, hey you now have a plane to unload... contented is the word. Over a month I usually get to cover and fly a wide section of aircraft, but this month was for one cut short in half by a nasty cold, with two weeks off the computer and 13 days without leaving my home and I was crawling up the walls. "sick as" as the Queenslanders state, this was not "Manflu" but a full on head and chest killer in 40º heat (yes it is hot here in Australia at the moment). I survived to fly another day, but it did restrict my flying exploits. But JARDesign's switch that resets X-Plane's "Cold and Dark" setting would mean that 90% of the months overall flying was from "cold" and a lot of setting up before each flight. But I was willing to practise hard these constant routines over and over. You get very good at it and understand the aircraft better every time you totally redo the same sequences. One thing that has been my biggest learning lesson in X-Plane was that good flying is created by good practice, discipline is paramount to get the very best out of yourself and the aircraft. I was never ever a practise to refine person, I wanted everything and usually wanted it right now. I have learnt to learn and take slow steps and my discipline has been rewarded by my self-esteem on how really good I have got at something I love to do. So Practise does make perfect and in aviation it is paramount to fly at the very best you can achieve. I also spent a lot of time just flying between just three ports in KATL, KDFW and KRSW. Refining the way to do the same routes with different aircraft, and you do notice the differences between the different A320, A330, x737, E175 and MD-88 machines doing exactly the same route. It was more fun than I expected as I did expect a sort of monotonous repeatable sort of flying experience, but it proved overwhelmingly not to be the case. Which brings me to another interesting fact that in X-Plane less is certainly more, keep your flying and routes simple and refine those ideals better. ' Ciao! Stephen Dutton
  24. Plugin Update : Ground Handling Deluxe by JARDesign JARDesign's Ground Handling Deluxe plugin was my "Plugin of the year" in 2015 and a worthy winner it was. Selections of criteria for yearly submissions is not if the aircraft or plugin is just good at the point of release but also it's future contribution to the overall X-Plane landscape. The Ground Handling Deluxe plugin is a clever idea of extending an aircraft features with ground support animated vehicles for any X-Plane aircraft. Obviously that has some great advantages because of the many great aircraft we fly like the x737 series and the FlyJSim aircraft which don't come with ground support equipment and static elements. There is another bonus in the fact you also get a consistent type of a quality set of ground vehicles whenever you use it, I like that option because some developers use very eastern-block types of support tankers and trucks that don't really fit into the landscape of western airports. But the plugin is becoming far more versatile than that as we will see. For myself the impact of the plugin was enhanced because I couldn't use it. For a few months it crashed my X-Plane app that was traced to a faulty key (the installation system has since been overhauled) and it affected only me and no one else. But my empty gates were a reminder that how much I missed the activity and control the plugin created around the aircraft before departure or after arrival. I am one of those users in that I want the full impact of from battery on to battery off and the full service in between. Landing and opening up the aircraft and loading and unloading the aircraft is as important as actually flying the machine... I want the full deal. And in a way the Ground Handling Deluxe plugin fills in a big part of that picture. I looked quickly at the plugin in the JARDesign A330-243 update and we will quickly recap the plugins features here... The GHD (Ground Handling Deluxe) plugin is activated in the drop down X-Plane/Plugins menu. And that brings up a floating menu selection. Including: Drive up All Drive Away All Hide all Control Panel Build Aircraft Set Registration News Liveries The allows you to - "Drive up All" and "Drive Away All" service vehicles in the list, "Hide all" vehicles and brings up a Control Panel that allows you to activate or hide individual vehicles. It is best to bring up first the control panel (highlighted larger)... Open the Control Panel and you can see the list available, and it is extensive. Even better the system allows you to add vehicles in as well. Three buttons do all the work in Press + to activate a vehicle and Press - to drive it away and "Hide" will make the vehicle disappear. The top three buttons are the "All" activations. This system allows you to control the vehicles on the ground, when you want them to appear but also when to finish the job and go away, simple but very effective. Press "Drive up All" and you unleash mayhem!... The Service vehicles all appear and then go about their business with gutso. And totally great fun to watch it is. The highlights certainly are the pallet loaders, Pallets come on to the base, turn, then lift and then move the pallet inside the aircraft, then repeat. The catering trucks are also excellent and the Neoplan buses are very realistic with opening doors. Quality of the vehicles in design and texture quality is outstanding. As noted you have total control, or just use the three "All" commands to use every vehicle and static elements. Sets There are "Sets" for different aircraft that can be created or completed sets that can be downloaded from the JARDesign site (registration required). And there are defaults sets that come with the plugin and "custom" sets that can be downloaded. As an idea of what is available here are these five different aircraft: EADT x737 The x737 from EADT benefits by a huge amount with the GHD plugin. Even a fire truck in case you spill some fuel. But I loved the fuel truck that goes very well with the x737 fuel loading system... overall excellent. FlightFactor Boeing 757 The FlightFactor Boeing 757 already comes with a great set of ground support systems, but you can mix and match more by combining both the GHD and the FF default units to your benefit. X-Plane Boeing 744 The default X-Plane Boeing 744 is greatly enhanced by the support ground services. The days of sitting alone at the gate after a long haul are long gone. It just looks excellent and realistic with all the gear packed around the 747 at the gate. Regional Aircraft You are not restricted to the "Heavies" either. The plugin enhances other aircrat that you wouldn't associate with static ground vehicles like regional aircraft. Here is the FlyJSim Q400 and Aerosoft ATR72, and they both benefit from having a built in ground handling support. _____________________________________________________________________________________ Ground Handling Deluxe update January 2016 That is the basics of GHD, now what is new in the update. The eagle-eyed of you would have noticed that a lot of the support vehicles have different liveries. And you don't have them either... When the first release of Ground Handling Deluxe came out if you wanted a brand at an airport it was quite difficult as you had to change over the actual art of the vehicles in the root folder of GHD. I created a great KEF for Keflavik (BIRK) but when I arrived at Manchester (MAN) I had to change the files over directly to get the representative brand there? And then worse I had to restart X-Plane to get the new branding to appear. I loved the idea, as you could tailor the brand to an airport or company, but the process was very awkward. In the update we have a brilliant fix to the problem of different brands. Now there is a "livery" option as part of the menu (bottom). This option now allows you to change the brand livery on the run, select a new livery and "wah-la" you have a complete set of new branding for your airport... It is extremely easy now to create your own sets of liveries. Duplicate a livery set you like or duplicate the default set. Then there is a great paintkit as part of the plugin package that allows you to create very quick branding of your required vehicles. And replace them (with the same correct title) of the vehicle you want. Here in the first column is my saved QF.psd (Photoshop) files and the paintkit. The Liveries are stored in the Plugin in the "Liveries" folder and in the far right column is the replaced QF (Qantas) liveries in the .png format. It is important that in renaming your set of liveries that there is no breaks in the title (It won't work). When you run X-Plane and select the plugin and the liveries option it will change instantly to the correct branding.... brilliant! As a note I will upload these liveries to the JARDesign site. You can create your own aircraft sets as well. There is a built in system for creating sets under the GHD menu selection: Build Aircraft Set There are a few video's that show you how to build sets or modify them. Like all things there is a little learning curve. Here I am adding in a second set of chocks under my QF Q400. But once you get the hang of the system and its animation it is quite easy to do. ___________________________________________________ Another exciting additional feature to the update is.... K Loaders! The really big ones! There was the smaller K's "Container loaders" also known as a Unit Load Device (ULD) with the original plugin release, but what of those huge 30Ton container lifting loaders. If you are a serious cargo hauler like me there was nothing worse than flying 10 hours half way around the world to just parking your freighter on the cargo stand and... going home. No fun in that. Now you have in the update a smorgasbord of fun as the aircraft is swamped with huge loaders to load on and unload off your precious cargo. These huge loaders will bring tears to any hardened cargo flyer. And for myself I can now wallow in the loading and off loading at my ports around the world. Hopefully the new Super K Loaders will be soon part of the FlightFactor Boeing 777 and 757 Freighter sets... please. A full v220116 update list is: +Add ability to change Liveries using Menu->Plugins->GndHandling->Liveries +6 Liveries as example +Improved registration system +Add Instant News system +Add BIG loader +Add set for 747F cargo aircraft +minor bugs fixed A small note on the "news" system in that JARDesign will let you know of any changes to the JARDesign products. Which is very good. But the problem with developers "Letting you know" is that they think their notice is the only one going to you. If the trend continues it may clog up the X-Plane start up with you waiting for all the notices to parade in front of you... so we do require the choice if we want their notices or not, I still prefer the Email version. _____________________________________________________________________________________ JARDesign X-Life A notice that the next product from JARDesign is X-Life. It is a plugin that allows you to have the tools around you that covers the full flight from gate to gate. The plugin will create Aircraft Traffic (using X-Plane default aircraft), Aircraft Traffic maps, ATC and vocal ATC interaction, Follow Me car and flightplanning. You can try out a beta version for Windows and Mac then go here: X-Life Public Beta And there are a few YouTube videos to see the action then go here: X-Life EDDL Departure Well worth checking out. _____________________________________________________________________________________ Ground Handling Deluxe Summary Once bitten you will never want to be without "Ground Handling Deluxe". As noted it was my "Best of 2015" for plugins and it is now even better with more excellent functionality of the changable liveries (and very easily customised) and those brilliant new huge K Loaders... GHD is a really great addon and for action around the ramps it is just invaluable, and simply adds so much more to the whole X-Plane simulation. An amazingly great investment at a great price. _____________________________________________________________________________________ Yes! Ground Handling Deluxe by JARDesign is available from the new X-Plane.Org Store here : Ground Handling Deluxe Price is US$14.95 Features : Perfect 3D with Awesome animation 3D Sound and Light Advanced motion algorithms Set-Editor to Create your own set easy Ability to change Liveries News System Compatible with any X-Plane 10 airliners Installation : Download file size is 433.20mb into your X-Plane Plugin Folder. Installed file size is 817.10mb. Registration is required and a product key is deposited in the plugin for use. Notes: Aircraft for sets are not provided. Most current X-Plane payware and main Freeware aircraft are covered. Requirements : X-Plane 10.40+ Any Edition (64 bit only) CPU: 2,4Ghz Multi-core. Memory: 8 GB RAM. Video Card: 1Gb VRAM. 64 bit OS (Windows 7 / Windows 8, Mac OS X) For best performance, you need a 2Gb Video Card, with HDR mode ON. Last updated January 22 2016 Developer Support Site : JARDesign Group Board _____________________________________________________________________________________ Review by Stephen Dutton 28th January 2016 Copyright©2016: X-Plane Reviews Review System Specifications: Computer System: - 2.66 Ghz Intel Core i5 iMac 27”- 9 Gb 1067 Mhz DDR3 - ATI Radeon HD 6970M 2048 mb- Seagate 512gb SSD Software: - Mac OS Yosemite 10.10.1 - X-Plane 10 Global ver 10.42 Addons - Saitek x52 Pro system Joystick and Throttle : Sound - Bose Soundlink Mini
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