Stephen

Yes lovely isn't it and DDen is bringing us next the amazing new Bombardier Global 6000, can't wait for that beauty. SD

News! - Now Released! - KRSW Aerosoft Southwest Florida Intl by Aerosoft KRSW is now available at the price of US$24.95 Images have been released of KRSW - Southwest Florida Intl in Fort Meyers, Florida as Aerosoft's newest scenery release. Features include: 10 cm/pixel aerial orthoimagery covering the entire airport (approx. 8.41 sq. km) 1 cm/pixel custom ground detail/markings True-to-life pavement, not repetitive textures Never-before-done, hand-placed pavement seams covering the entire airport apron, runway and taxiways 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 (no hand-painted lighting) Accurate building heights, measured using LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) elevation data Designed using efficient modelling techniques and X-Plane 10-native methods for maximum performance without compromising on quality 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 The Airport Southwest Florida International is located on the south-western coast of Florida and is the second busiest single-runway airport in the U.S. handling around 8 million passengers a year. This model of the Southwest Florida Intl Airport for X-Plane 10 offers a highly detailed reproduction of the real airport thanks to its 10cm/pixel aerial image and 1cm/pixel ground layout. The developer made sure to use non-repetitive textures. Baked night illumination and ambient occlusion as well as HDR lighting complete the visual impression, while static aircraft, road traffic and both animated and static apron vehicles create a lively area. Additionally, the scenery is compatible with the AutoGate plug-in, adding animated jet bridges and marshallers at all gates, as well as with the HD Mesh Scenery by Andras Fabian. ______________________________________________________________________ Yes! the KRSW - Southwest Florida International Airport by Aerosoft is now available from the new X-Plane.Org Store here : KRSW - Southwest Florida International Airport Price is US$24.99 Southwest Florida International Airport XP Price is Eur €20.13 (no VAT) ______________________________________________________________________ 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 Download-Size: 1.46GB Stephen Dutton Updated : 21st November 2015 Copyright©2015: X-PlaneReviews

News! - Updated - Boeing 747-8 Series V1.4 by Supercritical Simulations Group (SSG) Supercritical Simulations Group have updated the huge Boeing 748 Series to version v1.4. SSG below have noted the main changes.... "This update brings terrain displays to both pilot and copilot navigation displays (NDs). This is part of the Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System (EGPWS), which is installed in the real aircraft, and is quite complex in operation and capabilities. However, the most visible part of the system is the terrain display on the NDs. The terrain display is much like that of a radar, sweeping the flight path ahead of the aircraft and showing terrain that might pose a threat to the aircraft in color coded fashion from green to red, even showing areas of water in blue. As the aircraft climbs and descends, or the range scale is changed on the ND, the terrain display changes accordingly." Also, external textures and normals (the textures that create realism and raised surfaces) have been enhanced with added details and all the default liveries have been redone. Other improvements, bug and fix changes in v1.4 include: - Fixed issue where some users experienced moving artifacts in the external model. - Fixed issue reported by some users where the parking brake would switch off when changing aircraft loads. - Problem with some cockpit sounds activating incorrectly has been fixed. - Added functionality to the switch that allows the ND and PFD to switch between magnetic and true heading. - Improved TCAS function with targets now limited to those within 9,999 feet and with arrows to show whether the target traffic is climbing or descending. - Transponder now has different modes working rather than just ON/OFF, primarily TCAS. - Added the AUTO function for the engine and wing anti-ice systems with proper logic to allow for those systems to activate in icing conditions on their own like in the real aircraft. - Addressed bug in which an engine shutdown message appeared on the EICAS even though the engines were merely at an idle setting. - Improved the speedbrake operation and message logic. - Improved runway presentation on the ND to make it closer to the real aircraft’s. - Modified external model properties to gain FPS on some systems. - Added an option on the EFB to disable rain effects. Various FMC and autoflight improvements such as: - Reduced delay/lag in FMC display functions - Flightplans now are stored in an x-plane/Custom Data/UFMC/FlightPlans/ folder so they are not overwritten any time the aircraft is updated and will work for any add on using future versions of the UFMC (V3.0+) and/or x737FMC (V3.2+) , which can read/write flight plans. ______________________________________________________________________ Yes! the SSG 747-8 Intercontinental Advanced by Supercritical Simulations Group is now available from the new X-Plane.Org Store here : Boeing 747-8 Inter Advanced Price is US$45.00 Boeing 747-8 Series Price is US$69.00 - Includes both versions 747-8i Intercontinental Advanced 747-8F Freighter If you have already purchased the SSG 747-8 Intercontinental Advanced/Series then go to your X-Plane.OrgStore account, log in and download v1.4 from your account. ______________________________________________________________________ Requirements Windows 7,8,10; MAC OS 10.7+; Linux 64bit X-Plane 10 fully updated. 64 bit. (X-Plane 9 not supported) 4GB RAM/512 MB VRAM (8GB RAM and 1GB+ VRAM Highly Recommended) Current version : 1.4 - last updated November 20th 2015 SSG X-Plane.Org Support forum Stephen Dutton Updated 21st November 2015 Copyright©X-Plane Reviews: X-PlaneReviews

News! - Beech Model 18 updated by STMA The classic Beech 18 was created by Heinz Dziurowitz, who sadly passed away earlier this year. Goodbye and Fly High : The passing of Heinz Dziurowitz. Most of Heinz's work has been distributed around like minded developers to keep his work alive and current, One of the best is the excellent Beechcraft 18 that X-PlaneReviews reviewed here earlier in 2015. Aircraft Review : Beechcraft 18 by Heinz Dzuirowitz. This aircraft has been transferred into the capable hands of STMA or Shade Tree Micro Aviation, and STMA have done an update on the aircraft. Noted STMA notes are: New Features and improvements: "We pulled the Beech 18 into our STMA Hangar and Repair Shop and stripped them down to their basic components and rebuilt them using the Federal Aviation AdministrationType Certificate Data Sheet (FAA TCDS) and flight manual for the Beechcraft D18S as our guide." More custom gauges, many with Data Ref driven components Sun-visor added, just click on the sun-visor to toggle for use. Interior glass now employs textures that will enhance realism New 3D toggle and rocker switches for more immersive experience New higher resolution liveries Includes paint kit in PSD format New INN and OUT engine sounds New cabin interior with added animation Improved 3D bump maps. Our rebuilding efforts yielded performance and other benefits: Improved 3D modeling of the airframe, cockpit, and cabin. Realistic fuel system. Realistic ignition system. Realistic elevator, aileron, and rudder trim systems. GNS 530 bezel with fully functioning 3D controls without having to use the pop-up. A fully functioning 3D ADF which models a real world unit. A modern Horizontal Situation Indicator (HSI) replaces the DG to compliment the GPS Other Instrument panel improvements which more accurately reflect the features of the D18S instrument panel. The v10 Beechcraft 18 by STMA (Heinz Dzuirowitz) is now available from the New X-Plane.Org Store here : Beech 18 Package And is priced at only US$20.95 As this Aircraft is now being developed by STMA and is now noted on their X-Plane.OrgStore listing and not Mr Dzuirowitz's Note: Owners of Heinz's Beech 18 should send an email to [email protected] or [email protected] to receive a discount code and will be able to purchase this new updated model for only $10.95. Stephen Dutton Updated 20th November 2015 Copyright©X-Plane Reviews: X-PlaneReviews

Aircraft Update - CT210 Centurion II v3.1 by Carenado + Reality Expansion Pack by SimCoders The main v3 updates for the Carenado aircraft were done this time late last year, this v3.1 update is not a full complete version change, but more of a tweaking in bringing the aircraft current and to update with the finalisation of Laminar Research's v10.42 X-Plane serial change. A note that the whole Carenado range will be updated to this v3.1 version by Christmas, so check your accounts to download the newer versions. As there has also been released an addon Reality Expansion Pack (REP) by SimCoders, I have included that package as part of this update review and so this post is divided into two parts with the v3.1 update first and the REP later. The CT210 is the aircraft with the retractable spindly landing gear. This gives you a very clean aircraft with just the fuselage, tail and the highset wings in profile. The Centurion II is a six-seat, high-performance aircraft with retractable-gear, and a single-engine turbo IO-520-L engine with 300 hp (224 kW) that covered the versions K,N and R and was built from 1972 to 1986. Our Review : Mini Review : Carenado CT210M Centurion II HD Series - Ver 2.0 is here. This is a very nice but tight cabin aircraft with the inside and outside detailing it delivers all the usual Carenado qualities, the main panel is outstanding. I love the blue tinged lighting, it is a really nice place to fly an aircraft, the CT210 is very well equipment wise fitted out as well. The Autopilot is a Bendix King KFC225, with the highlight of the great digital readout, which I really like. CT210 Centurion II v3.1 update The v3.1 update is not very large but still quite significant in what it changes and delivers. First off is the KFC225 Autopilot panel now pops out for use, which is very handy on approaches. A lot of work has been done on the aircraft sounds. The linked volume to the internal sound now allows for the X-Plane's (audio) settings to transfer to the plugin-based sounds. The mute button is now also directly controlled the same way. The sounds differences are certainly noticiable in and outside of the aircraft, in being more clearer and distinct. The undercarriage gear sounds have been highly improved to match that excellent gear stowaway animation. The main lighting in taxi and landing lights have been made 10.40+ compliant (Halo size remastered, so it doesn’t look huge on large monitors) Carenado have got the halo sizing correct, as too many aircraft now in X-Plane have blobs of light and not aircraft lighting, here it is excellent. The Garmin 430 GPS units (Two Sets here) where installed in the v3.0 update but are still a significant feature in this aircraft. The POV (Point of View) has had a tweak change from 120 to 150, this is for multi-monitor use. Interestingly Carenado have shied away from .dds files and brought back .png textures. They note because of the .dds poor appearance, and some transparency problems. The excellent texture efficiency of the aircraft is not changed, but I agree the aircraft does look (a little) better. Finally the flight dynamics have been tweaked and the auto-toe-brake infrastructure has been removed, since X-Plane 10.40 now has that feature built-in. The panel lighting has had some fine tuning, and very nice it is. The overhead lighting is red (above on the roof) and you can control the left and right sides of the panel lighting... Outside the lighting feels tighter and more sharper. That covers the v3.1 update. Full changelog notes are listed below. _____________________________________________________________________________________ You can purchase for the Carenado CT210 Centurion II v3.1 an addon extension pack from SimCoders. This extensive package will change the aircraft into a more deeper simulation very similar to the style on the Cessna 172SP Skyhawk by AirfoilLabs. Installation The Expansion pack comes with a large set of files (left) that have to be inserted within the Carenado aircraft folder, I made a duplicate aircraft and noted the Expanded version REP. There is a full set of instructions provided to understand of how to set up the files correctly and what folders certain files have to changed or replaced (right). Note, this REP package is not in any way connected or endorsed by Carenado, so any changes, bugs or failures are not the responsibility of the developer. Also required are two extra plugins from the SimCoders site: HeadShake Plugin - HeadShake v1.5 Xsaitekpanels (lin+win+mac+32/64) 2.46 - Xsaitekpanels If you have a set of Saitek instrument panels, this plugin will allow you interact with them. the "xsaitekpanels.ini" has to be inserted in the Carenado CT210 Centurion II v3.1 (REP version) aircraft folder to work. Once the installation is complete you will need a key code to activate the Expansion Pack that is included in your purchase receipt. On start up you will notice an added menu to the left side of your screen, this menu covers from top to bottom: Checklist Walkaround Tow Maintenance Hangar Weight and Balance But you can't access it? If you try any of the tabs (except the Checklist tab) you get a warning that you can only use it if your "aircraft is on the ground and the engine is off"? Well there is no doubt I am sitting on the ramp and I guess with the propeller sitting straight up and not moving would mean I do actually conform to the arrangement? Turn off all the electrics and I am still in a no go mode, with the warning boxes still telling me to put the aircraft in a static position? Then I get another banner to note that my (inert non-moveable, unpowered) engine is experiencing a "Vapor Lock"? and to turn on the fuel pumps.... hummmm. To get out of this cycle of warning boxes you have to restart the aircraft in X-Planes" startup in the "Cold and Dark" setting (operations and warnings menu). Then the side tabs will work. The banner for the "Vapor Lock" is joined then by another jolly fun alert strip in "The Engine is flooded with fuel" which is fine, but if you turn on pumps then it will be won't it? And on it goes? The odd thing is that the aircraft is still turned off electrically... even the pumps? You can thankfully actually disable the in-flight tips on the screen by going into "Plugins" then "SimCoders.com - REP" and into "Settings" and change them there. I understand what it is in this aircraft in what it is supposed to do, so don't get me wrong here in the idea to create a cantankerous old aircraft that does not live by the rules. Note: the above notes were written in the context of my introduction to the REP package, that was ver2.0... Since then v2.1 has fixed the issues and include the annoying you don't now need the aircraft to be in the "Cold and Dark" mode (yahoo for that) and with the main battery switch turned off you don't get the another annoying "Flood" alert. But as the images are done in the V2.0 context the alerts will still show. You can fix the "Vapor Lock" by turning on the power and the pumps, but again it flooded the engine. To start the engine you have to close the "Mixture" Push in the throttle to "full" and crank the engine till it runs your battery down? The trick is to turn the pumps on and to only really prime the engine and then quickly turn them off again, and with that the CT210 will actually thankfully start, if you don't get the process right and you will lose 30 minutes of trying and flatten sixteen sets of batteries? By this time in the standard Carenado CT210 aircraft I would usually be half way across Florida to Miami from Lakeland. While we let the fuel slowly vaporise out of the carburettors we will look at the menu tabs... Checklist: There is three page checklist that covers : Normal Operations" - "Emergency" - "References" the pads can be moved around the screen for the best reference. Only annoying thing is that they have a habit of appearing if you are adjusting the radios. The checklists do however pop up when setting the radios because a mouse gesture is enabled by default, the kneeboard opens when you move the mouse over the right-hand side of the screen. You can disable this in the Plugin "settings" as well. Walkaround: The "Walkaround" tab (feature) is very good, on pressing the tab you get a map of the aircraft with the various points that you go around and checkoff your list. You not only get a checklist of what you have to do around the aircraft, but you can by pressing the buttons check each of the aerodynamic surfaces (move them) and hide the separate static elements like chocks and tie-down lines. Other clever ideas are the wear of the tyres and the removal of the pitot tube and engine inlet covers. All round it is very good (no Pun intended). Tow You can move the aircraft around on the ground by using the "Tow" feature. This is best ground tow unit I have ever used. If you have a joystick then the more you pull back or push forward increases the speed in that direction, to turn just move the joystick sideways... brilliant. Maintenance Hangar The aircraft's maintenance and general wear and tear is controlled from the "Maintenance Hangar" tab. This gives you a popup with four top tabbed pages that cover "Engine" - "Electrical/Avionics" - "Oxygen System" - "Landing Gear/Brakes". Engine This page shows you your wear and tear of the engine status, and very good it is too. It covers the condition of each of the six cylinders and the time in h/m before an overhaul, you can then do an engine overhaul. Lower is the Oil status with again time h/m before oil change and type, you can top up and watch the colour change as the oil gets older. Bottom of the page is the starter, you can fix this and considering the time you spend churning the engine to start then you fix this a lot. Electrical/Avionics Here on this tab you can see the charge left in your battery (usually not much, see above) so you can recharge to start churning again, you can disconnect the battery which is a good idea as the battery will discharge overnight if you don't. A note is that all items on the aircraft wear and are used in long term conditions, so they change and details are remembered over a long period of use and don't reset up every time you start up the aircraft in X-Plane. Another small note is that when you start up the aircraft the Avionics are switched off, and you leave them switched off until the engine is running as it may cause issues with the radios, the switch to activate the avionics is on the lower fuse panel by the pilot. Part of the package is to give you guidance and warnings on operating the aircraft, It works but can get a little annoying after using the aircraft for a period and you know then what to do, a switch off option of the feature would be a welcome relief. Oxygen Next Maintenance Hangar tab is the "Oxygen. On this page you can note the amount of Oxygen available via the number of people aboard the aircraft, and refill the tanks if necessary (On the ground). The Oxygen controls and Gauge are above your head on the forward cabin roof. Landing Gear/Brakes Wear and tear on your tyres and brakes are actually critical on this aircraft, you have to be light on the brakes as well in case you don't bend those spindly outset wheels. So braking heavily from speed is a no, no. You can see the status of the gear in the tab Landing Gear/Brakes page, your tyre wear and brake pad condition. All can be "Fixed" and repaired. Weight and Balance Final menu tab is the "Weight and Balance" page. On this page layout you can set your weight and distribution of the weight on the aircraft. There is an excellent graph to note your CoG (Centre of Gravity) and one image above is set with too much baggage to see the out of bound effect, other images note the passenger weight and different fuel weights. On the out of CoG settings the aircraft was sitting almost on its tail on the ramp so it shows the weight and CoG is correctly transferred the aircraft. You can refuel here and there is a complete summary of the completed choices. In flight the Extended package changes a lot of the original Carenado settings in noted... Realistic stall speeds & behavior Realistic climb speeds Realistic cruise speeds Realistic Weight & Balance Realistic taxi behavior It certainly felt a little better to fly actually than the Carenado version, as I have had problems rubbing off speed even in a shallow down pitch, but in the REP I was able to get down into the 60kt - 70kt zone to make a smoother less faster (less bouncy) landing. But the headshake and extra bounce on the front wheel can bounce you up and down more than I wish too, it doesn't work well with turning front wheel either. And you can actually damage as noted the undercarriage if you are not kind to it. There is realistic simulation of alternate static air, with the airspeed indicator, the altimeter and the vertical speed indicator can introduce a reading error when the alternate static air is on. There is a complex "Damages System" that is triggered by the pilot actions based on real world data that targets every system in the aircraft and this is to teach you how to correctly manage an airplane. In the realistic realistic startup procedures and other advanced TSIO-520 Engine Simulation, it is a balance between being realistic and frustrating. I think it is just on the border of frustrating in that you will find it quite slow if you want to get the aircraft airborne quickly, in part you have to wait, sometimes too long for the temperatures to stablise, and the vapor lock and starting procedure just a little too much on the dramatic side. No doubt the information has been gathered by a real CT210 performance data and real world operations, but the aircraft used must have been a really old cantankerous thing to operate. Certainly familiarity and use of the aircraft over a long period of time will reduce these operational matters. Sounds are certainly very good, but as noted above Carenado have updated the sound package in the v3.1 release, and personally I prefer the Carenado version... At low revs you get a lovely bass thrum and were as the REP package is more a higher dum, dum sound. At speed outside the REP version is a high very buzzy noise but the aircraft sounds nice inside at the controls. Open windows or dropping the undercarriage for great wind noise or in the walkaround you have realistic sounds if you check out the aerodynamic surfaces. So overall it is a great sound package. Summary I starting this review with the original v2.0 version it was fraught with frustration and the REP package was just buggy, to the point this review could have been a more negative result. I left the comments in to show that a reviewer's life is not easy sometimes, and how easily a few wrong set items (bugs) can deride a result that is detrimental to the plugin and reflect on sales. Thankfully v2.1 fixed the issues at hand and the REP package is certainly a great addition to the excellent CT210 Centurion II v3.1 by Carenado, however if you are a setup and go straightaway pilot, then you may find the REP package a little slow and frustrating in just wanting to fly. For the absolute fanatical sort of person that likes the ticking of a cooling engine then the addon REP is right down your street. Certainly a good addition to the Cessna 172SP Skyhawk by AirfoilLabs as they are very similar in this disguise. The manual must be read to get the best performance and tips on using the aircraft with this package, it explains how to fly the aircraft in these conditions and what to do when you go outside those flight parameters or aircraft performance positions. So both the CT210 Centurion II v3.1 update from Carenado and this additional REP package is a great combination together. There are certainly slight differences of if you have the REP package installed or go for standard Carenado aircraft, it in a way in the end it really depends on how you want to fly or approach the CT210 Centurion II for your simulation needs. ______________________________________________________________________ Yes! the CT210 Centurion II HD Series v3.1 by Carenado is now available from the new X-Plane.Org Store here: - CT210 Centurion II HD Series Price is US$29.95 If you have already purchased the CT210 Centurion II HD Series then go to your X-Plane.OrgStore account, log in and download v3.1 from your account. Developer site : Carenado.com Developer Support : Carenado - Alabeo Support X-Plane.Org ______________________________________________________________________ Yes! the Reality Expansion Pack for Cessna Centurion (REP) by Simcoders is now available from the new X-Plane.Org Store here: - SimCoders Reality Expansion Pack for Cessna Centurion Price is US$19.99 Developer site : SimCoders ______________________________________________________________________ Requirements Windows, MAC or Linux X-Plane 10.30+ - 64 bit compatible 4GB RAM/1GB VRAM - 250MB available hard disk space version 3.1 (last updated November 3rd 2015) The CT210 Centurion by Carenado above is required for this add-on. It will not work on other aircraft Current version: 2.01 (last updated November 17th 2015) ______________________________________________________________________ Review by Stephen Dutton 19th November 2015 Copyright©2015: 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 10.42 (final) Addons - Saitek x52 Pro system Joystick and Throttle : Sound - Bose Soundlink Mini : WorldTraffic v2 Scenery or Aircraft - KLAL - Lakeland Linder Regional Airport 2.01 by Drankum (X-Plane.Org) - Free (note: personal added items in an office (okay demountable building and vehicles) ______________________________________________________________________ CT210 Centurion II HD Series V3.1 change log -Broadened FOV to 150 (Useful for multi-monitor use, where 120 didn't cut it). -Linked volume to internal sound infrastructure (No more detached control over plugin-based audio and X-Plane internal audio. Now, X-Plane's settings transfer to plugin-based sounds). -Created mute button, which is synchronized with X-Plane’s internal sound infrastructure -Deleted .dds files, due to poor appearance, and some transparency issues. -Fixed lights to be 10.40+ compliant (Halo size remastered, so it doesn’t look huge on large monitors) -Flight dynamics tweaked (Removed auto-toe-brake infrastructure, since X-Plane 10.40 now has it built-in, and could cause conflicts with plugin). Additionally, the CT210 received the following updates: -Added pop-up autopilot -Tweaked landing gear sound -improved panel night lighting

No at this point I don't think that feature is on there, but I don't doubt it will be on another update. SD

Yes totally agree, I am a huge WorldTraffic fan... totally, any airport without WT is empty and cold, yes love it.

Behind the Screen : Winter is Closing in : November 2015 The title is rather odd in the fact I live in Australia, it is spring here going into summer, extremely hot, moody, cataclysmic weather events and not your Northern Hemisphere yule tide freezing cold and blanket snow. I have lived in Australia since my teens (1973) to be exact, but still use the Northern Hemisphere seasons as my guide, why? Well as a weird twist of fate our winter in Queensland, Australia is like an English Summer in beautiful balmy days and clear blue skies, odder is that in the hot summer months you barely go outside but live under freezing air-conditioning conditions, leave the house and you get into a freezing air-conditioned car to go to another freezing air-conditioned shopping centre? odd isn't it, but perfectly normal. I went to Hong Kong in August once and was greeted by hotel staff in ski jackets and frozen over windows in the height of an 40º Asian summer, odd world. Winter Textures So I am looking forward to winter this year as I am prepared for some real Arctic conditions, X-Plane seasonal Arctic conditions that is. When the excellent Winter_Package 1.1 mod by Xflyer was released last year it was a great step forward in creating a better seasonal conditions to fly in. But it was also a bit messy to change over to the winter textures? that has been fixed by the MOD texture exchange tool Generic Mod Enabler (Mac users use Wine) that allows you to switch root files in X-Plane, and since then Laminar Research in v10.40 has done a seasonal fix by allowing developers to use data-ref seasonal textures, like here by Enstein with his Seasons - dataref-driven libraries 1.3. It is still all very new, but there is still one component missing in that a lot of payware built scenery have standard textures as part of their package. Some developers do include winter textures like EFRO - Rovaniemi by DAI Media, to see the astounding winter results then read the review Scenery Review : EFRO - Rovaniemi by DAI Media. This vista created a desire to be winter ready next year, but a lot of winter textures are missing. The Austrian Crew at AT X-Plane have full sets that cover most Austrian airports and that includes WIEN LOWS (Vienna) here: Winter in X-Plane and they are exceptional, but still winter textures are in the minority X-Plane wise. So that left to do for winter sets for airports I required myself, batch processing can be the only way in Photoshop to cover the sometimes 500 or so textures that make up a top professional scenery today, but the results are worth the effort. Noted here are the results of converting Aerosoft's EGCC Manchester... Sadly copyright requires I can't distribute the files, there are a huge amount of them anyway and the size is 700mb. But if anyone wants the photoshop action to do the conversion then I have added the action below to download. But it works, and I have over the last few months converted the main airports that I want to use over the winter season, and is astounded by the results. I am winter ready. World Traffic Another great addition to X-Plane has been Greg Hofer's amazing World Traffic plugin. Released in April 2013 it has to be honest had a difficult birth, but it was also extremely complicated as well to create. But something gelled later this year to turn the plugin into something really special. It reached a sort of "Critical mass" as the many elements came together to make the whole thing work. The major one was the release of v2.0 but it is the huge range of aircraft and tools available that now takes out a lot of the confusion and setup work that was once required. To be fair to Greg Hofer a review on X-PlaneReviews has been in the works since early 2014, but I felt it had to reach a certain position to deliver the plugin to the masses, we have reached that point and yes I have been working on a review to capture the WT experience at its best, but WT has also dominated my personal time in the last year because I believed in the idea and the concept, when it works, you will be amazed as it turns boring airport scenery into buzzy busy places (watch out for those takeoff and landing aircraft!)... brilliant. Preferences Since I started in X-Plane Reviews I have a bit of a difficult relationship with my iMac 27" desktop computer in framerate. I even burnt out a graphic chip last year because of this problem, but in all cases every care was taken in Reviews to give the correct information on how your computer absorbs the X-Plane Simulator. The issue is compounded by the fact is the problem an X-Plane Laminar Research issue or a physical Apple Mac related one, to a point in this case it was both. Now I don't know if this is related to Windows application of the simulator, but certainly it relates to large screen Mac users. My issue was that as I was using the simulator the framerate would drop down to a usual running of around the base of workable framerate of 19 frames (fr), but in many cases it would drop down into the sluggish area of 15-fr to 17fr, trying to fly in these conditions is simply frustrating and not very realistic, so you pull back on the simulator setting to almost the basic render settings on X-Plane, point is it made no difference? The other point to consider was the fact you know that a certain position (place/airport) and certain aircraft does give you a certain framerate output, but when the same settings of place/airport and same aircraft can give you wildly different framerate numbers their is another element at work in the system. The problem is compounded by the fact the framerate drop is slow and small over a period of time, so suddenly you realise the computer is simply unworkable, reset the settings and it makes no difference. And it is really hard to get the machine out of its funk, worse was the fact was you could not actually see why the computer was doing this. And this annoying scenario has created havoc for two years and lost me countless hours in frustration and work time. This all came to a head in early August 2015 in the computer was simply unusable. Early in the year I had with my new faster and larger graphic 2g chip had seen some boundless framerate and revelled in the fact I could run features and special effects that I thought was never possible with my older 500mb graphic chip, yes it was a great feeling to have a machine that could deliver the X-Plane Simulator at the sort of performance it deserved, but by August I was in the deepest of deepest struggles of despair in just doing simple tasks. So I cleaned it all out and reset everything from the very bottom (which was not a bad idea anyway), I got my machine back and then it was quickly in the funk again? clean it out again and it works, then back to the dregs... Lovely Chris K of Sydney gave me a hint of the issue, because he runs a 27" Mac like me. And the culprit was pointing to the "Preferences". Chris had the same problem and noted it is caused by the way X-Plane saves the information relating to the size of your computer monitor, or what I would surmise doesn't save? X-Plane is very clever in adjusting to your machine (or refining) its settings to maximise your framerate or you could call it efficiency. But in my case it was working against me instead of for me in the way it calculated the pixel area of my Mac's screen. Chris K would adjust this by switching off his full screen and then switching it back on again so X-Plane recalculated the correct pixel area, it worked of course but in fact then didn't stay there. What I found was that every time I was saving my "Preferences" when I came back to the computer it was resetting up the simulator with the wrong settings, worse it was adding in pixels I didn't have on top of the pixels I did have creating the situation of the computer then processing thousands and millions of pixels that didn't exist, so hence the very poor framerate and my Mac slugging its way all the way through the processing dogmire. The fix was simple, set up a set of refined and efficient set of "Preferences" and don't save over them. And the problem went away. This does mean you can't update your current settings of X-Plane if you change things around in the render setting panel. But I found a better solution there, I created different sets of X-Plane "Preferences" for different jobs, like I have my default set of "Preferences" that if I stray to far away and the computers starts recalculating my pixel count, so at anytime if I put those default "Preferences" in my "Output" folder I am instantly back at my perfect default settings, If I want to run very heavy scenery I have a set of "Preferences" set to do that, HDR heavy settings, I have a set for that also and on it goes and to the last count I have 8 different sets of "Preferences" for different jobs. Want instant night time conditions then throw in at X-Plane startup the Night HDR render setting "Preferences" and in one startup you are set to go... and everything is already adjusted, and there is no need to then start up, go to your render settings panel and adjust, then you wait for the reprocessing of the settings before flying, it is all done at startup in one go. If you need to keep a certain set of settings to continue the next day then by all means rewrite over your "Preferences" to save them, but in most cases when I have finished a task they go two ways. if they are updated and are good and running efficiently then they are then saved in my "Preferences" filing to use again, if not I throw them away... One thing I don't do now is overwrite them at the every ending of an X-Plane session and keep using the same settings and then always rewriting them over and over again. So the results are great in knowing that if my set default "Preferences" are installed I can easily calculate the frameweight (My definition of the framerate absorption of certain scenery or aircraft on the simulation) to see how the scenery or aircraft relates to a basic set of settings. Since the change I have had no framerate issues with my Mac, and I am off the stress medication. X-PlaneReviews site As you may have noticed X-PlaneReviews have done a gradual if glacial change to this site. Yes the house looks different and has new paint and layouts. Most of the changes are behind the scenes which have been gladly received in making X-PlaneReviews a better more efficient place to produce what we do. We are powered by the excellent "Invision Power Board" software also known as IPS and the change over was created by the release of IP.Suite 4.0 which was released in April 2015 although the first in house release was in November, 2014. We updated in late July, but a lot of bugs were evident and that has transferred over to our slow makeover. Another update in early Oct 2015 fixed most of the issues and now we only have some fine tuning left to do, so yes it was slow and we thank you for staying on board as we did all the changes, but if you don't change and update, then you risk the issue of being left behind. Overall it is a great new look. What I am flying Personal flying time is like gold sometimes in X-PlaneReviews, yes we fly everyday usually but that is in the parameters of the review or testing, in many ways the flying is very different, long hauls which are my favorite type of flying is very rare now as you can lock up the computer for a whole day going from London to Singapore, and the review site can't wait that long for you to just get a few jelly babies of fun and some serious long distance flying in. But computers like the long distance simulations more than the constant changing settings of review or testing simulations, It allows the computer to absorb the software on a better scale. But my love at the moment is the first General Aviation payware aircraft I ever bought, the lovely Carenado F33A Bonanza, which has just had an update to v3.1. The strange thing about this story is that when I first bought the F33A years back, I flew it then pretty well left the aircraft in its hangar for years. Yes I pulled it out for a few various reasons but mostly it just gathered dust under the groundsheet. Then I updated the machine for some reason which I think was it just needed updating and you haven't been able to drag me out of the cockpit since. There is something super right about the F33A for me, I love the old style gauges and great variety of VOR navigation tools and in the v3 you have the excellent GNS 430 GPS. I think the biggest reason is that my flying skills have also caught up with the aircraft over time, now I use the course and NDB directions for navigation and in circuits and have also learnt how to really utilise the tools you have at your disposal and the F33A ticks all the boxes in these features, it flies really well and the lovely BlueHawk Training livery is extra special, both the aircraft and myself have matured to come together to really enjoy GA flight at its best, love it to death. Note check your X-Plane Store accounts as most Carenado aircraft have been updated quietly to v3 (Oct 2015), they are really good clean updates. FlyJSim's great B727 (Boeing 727 complete series) is a great simulation, I have been routing around Australia to get the best out of this challenging aircraft. I have been bouncing into most major Australian ports (and a few over the Tasman in New Zealand) with my Australian Air Express liveried B727F, and have been having a great time of it, It is a complex, hard working aircraft that is a real handful on approaches... but great simulation. This naturally lead into the great Boeing 707 update from Mike Wilson. Again another aircraft I bought as a birthday present to myself and I promptly hangared it. It was good but was missing the complex simulation I desired. This 3D cockpit update really changed all that and so I went on with my 1960's devotion to the era. My aim was and still is to rerun the global routes of the sixties, running out of the UK to the States or the round the world staged routes that were the order of the day, it really was the time of the great global expansion of aviation. Top of the season In the X-Plane world like in the real world the Thankgiving/Christmas season (sorry I am not a "Happy Hoilday" person) is almost here, where did 2015 go? gone that quickly. But don't doubt the end of the year is chockablock of really great releases, I think it is going to be an expensive Christmas with so much coming on offer, but I would rather have it that way than a few slim pickings. The strange thing is and the above aircraft prove the fact that the very best or most expensive aircraft don't always deliver the best love and affection, but the big ones will always draw a crowd and a hunger for more features and experiences. There are some special ones coming this 2015 Christmas, so we could be looking at a very lonely Christmas and New Year, It will be just you and a computer and a lot of nice shiny toys to fly.... _____________________________________________________________________________________ This action was created in Photoshop CC 2015 Snow Action.atn.zip Unzip and load action by clicking on the Actions Palette menu button (located in the top-right of the Actions Palette. Select “Load Actions” Select the downloaded .atn files Different sceneries may require fine tuning of the action, but it should cover a majority of the textures, batch processing is certainly required to process the huge amount of textures and test one texture to make sure it converts correctly and you will need to convert the textures from .dds files to .png files to process them. _____________________________________________________________________________________ Stephen Dutton 16th November 2015 Copyright©2015: X-PlaneReviews

X-craft's are a small tight team, and the E175 has been a very different approach than the first release E195 like I mentioned in the preview. From the developers side the E175 has been fully developed, but the FMC is outside that area from a third party but I doubt it will be released unless it is completely developed. On saying that any release including the big players will have issues on a new release, that is to be expected, it is the way the issues are quickly corrected that separates the pros from the average developer. SD

The basis of the new MCDU (FMC) in the E175 is still .fms flightplan data, so I will say yes it should accept a .fms plan, but with most MCDU's you may have to just make sure it is a clean plan when loaded in the waypoints are inserted correctly and there are no breaks or bad co-ordinates. SD

On Approach - Embraer E175 by X-Crafts Coming soon is the latest aircraft from X-Crafts, the Embraer ERJ175. This is a follow up release to X-Crafts other EJet the 195 LR that was released in August 2014. Here we have a quick look at the aircraft that is still in a beta stage of development, and ask how long that will be is going to get the answer of "No idea" for reason's that are noted later, but X-Crafts have noted an early December release. Outwardly the aircraft looks a duplication of the current EJet 195LR, but that would be the easy way out. X-Crafts have however 95% remodeled the aircraft from the ground up, it is the same, but now far more certainly better. The one thing I really loved was the quality of the original E195, it was a really well created aircraft, but was let down by being a first release from X-Crafts and the issues of maturity were needed to bring the aircraft up into a more respectable condition that was done over the year in a series of updates. This E175 however comes with more experience and a completely more level higher standard and complete aircraft. This is a lovely sweet flying machine. Quality and detail just oozes out of the E175, superb detailing, it is an aircraft I just want to look at for realism. Although the E195's cockpit was beautifully created and again that detail is replicated again in the cockpit of the E175. But it is in the more complete functionality and fine tuning that makes the big difference, knobs have better tuning (altitude is three way) switches for lighting and start up are now all individual settings. Almost all areas from the displays, switchgear to the menus have all been fine tuned and improved. The main feature of the release is a built in complete Honeywell FMC by Steve Wilson. Note these images are still in beta only and anything can change, but this is an excellent FMC system, it looks excellent. The addition of the FMC has delayed the original release of the E175 as that was going out originally on a release around late Sept/Early Oct, still being in beta it may even delay the early Dec release point, but the wait will be well worth it, it will be sensational. Cabin detail is very good, if not excellent, small details like the food trolleys are beautifully crafted, sitting in the back is a nice place to be. Sounds are very good, and great in the cruise. External detail in undercarriage and wing, flap engine design is exemplary devotion to detailing. On the ground the E175 looks brilliant, has a real presence, lovely aircraft. Static elements, built in GPU and pushback, there will be set of JARDesign's "Groundhandling" vehicles available as well (plugin available here Ground Handling Deluxe) note, the "Groundhandling" plugin is not part of the E175 package. Checklist, is now in a cockpit wire manual form. Liveries, include a blank and seven airline colours in Alitalia (default) Delta, American Eagle, both White and dark blue US Airways, Flybe and Air Canada. Quality is outstanding and hard to pick the best... I love Delta... The AAEagle is good, Alitalia!.... to hard? The one thing that does stick in my mind more than anything else, is that this Embraer E175 from X-Crafts is such a nice aircraft to fly. Its design is as a regional aircraft and you can really enjoy multiple sectors and stops within a single day and really come to love the aircraft. At cruise it is excellent. I love it. It is coming soon, Embraer ERJ175. Developers: Marko Mamula _____________________________________________________________________________________ Stephen Dutton 12th November 2015 Copyright©2015: X-PlaneReviews

Update Review - Boeing 707-320 by Mike Wilson After devouring FlyJSim's excellent Boeing 727 Series and Boeing 732 baby Boeing then your Classic 60's appetite for these incredible aircraft will still want feeding. You love the feel of aircraft from the Golden Age of Jet travel and one aircraft (well three actually with the Vickers VC10 and DC-8) represented the era with sheer dominance, these were the great years of global domination and speed without all that earth warming and noise pollution restrictions that we are well regulated with today. The FlyJSim B727 and B723 were only medium range machines, if you wanted to go global then you needed the Boeing 707. You could go to church and pray hard that FlyJSim would create a Boeing 707, but otherwise there was only one good option in Mike Wilson's version of the B707 aircraft. Now Mike Wilson has been around X-Plane as long as X-Plane itself, In fact he was one of the very first payware developers on the simulator, so let us say he is an old hand at this aircraft building game. So I wanted a B707 and so as a birthday present exactly two years ago (yesterday the 8th Nov) I bought myself the Classic Aircraft (Mike Wilson) B707 to go 60's global. It was not bad, but the aircraft was only available as a 2D cockpit design and I will note up front that this aircraft is an old design with a few good nips and tucks over the years. But it was still a B707, I liked it, I flew it, but the aircraft felt old compared to more modern designs with fully functioning 3D cockpits, but every now and again I would pull the old bird out of the hanger and do a few sorties in it, good, but not the full simulation I really wanted. So herald my surprise when a download was posted on the X-Plane.Org that a 3D cockpit had been created by Julien Brezel for my dear old venerable B707!... gotta have that one people... 3D Cockpit Upgrade Putting my paws on a 3D B707 yoke for the first time was "Love this" and not bad a job it is either, it is certainly no FlyJSim and a lot of the areas in the cockpit are just flat graphic images, there is a engineer's seat but again that is just visual design and not a working panel either and there are a lot of basic X-Plane default instruments and switches... but, but... I simply love it. Better is the 3D cockpit brings the Boeing 707 to life, makes it real and creates a good workable aircraft. The main important areas like the excellent four engined lever pedestal have been lovingly recreated by Julien Brezel, as have the great vintage yokes and the overall panel is very realistic. The Pedestal is certainly a highlight, lovely in design, but not as functional as it looks, you can't select the flaps, or speedbrake selections and the fuel flow levers are on off by the buttons only. I have all these operations in flap change, speedbrake, throttle on my Saitek joystick and throttle, so I didn't miss anything, but it would be harder to use manually. There is the same feel and look as the FJS B727 thankfully, but not the functionality, instruments are basic and so is the switch gear, but you will soon find yourself operating the aircraft as a pro, it works well... even in this minor capacity. Instruments consist of the Standard Six - Artificial Horizon (sometimes known as the attitude indicator) with built in pitch/turn indicator, Heading, Compass, Vertical Speed, Altimeter and Speed (in knots and Mach speed), added centre are the back up instruments of Radio Altitude, Altitude, Clock, Artificial Horizon and Altitude selector. The DME 2 - NAV 2 (distance) is also situated lower down right. The Co-Pilots set of instruments are very similar with just the Standard Six pack. Centre panel is dominated by the four rows of engine parameters. Pressure Ratio (RPM), N1, EXH (Exhaust) Temp, N2 (RPM) and Fuel flow to each engine". Flap position indicators (two) are to the right of the engine dials. The top glareshield autopilot is basic (X-Plane) but functional and easy to use, It does not look as bad as it should do, and it is well intergrated. FMC is standard X-Plane and uses your standard fms. files, it works but there is no red line to check if it is locked in? Roof mounted switchgear is not completely realistic as it covers also for the blank engineers station, but it is still laid out quite well for use, not totally functional, you have what you need and nothing more. You need your "texture resolution" set very high. In the usual mid-rage settings the cockpit text is very blurry and unreadable. I didn't need the "extreme" setting (here it is set to "very high") to get better usability and readability, and there is the huge bonus in the aircraft claiming almost no framerate penalty at all, X-Plane sees almost right through it, so with the "texture resolution" set at the top settings then framerates were still in the high 60's and 70's and at a few times even 100fr and it was as almost as the B707 didn't exist to my computers processing channels... nice. It is nice in the 3D cockpit version at night, a dark yellowish glow gives the cockpit a 60's feel without the hallucinogenic effects of the period. Turn down the overhead lighting, and the dials glow, but they are more misty than they really need to be and can be hard to read and making them more darker would create a more realistic feel, but the overhead panel looks very nice. Overall though it works and feels very good. If you are still feeling nostalgic for the full X-Plane v9 version, then the original 2D cockpit is still in there, but looks very outdated now compared to the lovely newer 3D version. External Boeing 707-320 First off before looking at the outside of the of the aircraft I will note a personal change. The aircraft comes with very light (or whiter) main cockpit windows compared to the top and side windows... I personally didn't like that, as it looked "well odd" or even "awful"? So I fixed up the front windows to match the others, and I think it is a visual major improvement... to everyone's taste, and if you want the changed file it is located in the Install section of this review. The aircraft is not going to win any design awards, but where there has been a lot of attention in the design's translation to X-Plane10, like the fuselage, tail and updated (livery) textures it is very good (even brilliant if you compare it to the original poor resolution textures), I particularly like the battered tail fin, and the detailing there. Wings have flex as well. But the main comedown on the aircraft are the wings? For one they are so old they don't really match the rest of the aircraft. They feel v8 X-Plane and not the current v10 they should be... Drop down the flaps and leading-edge devices and well?... It is not good let us just say that, and both the sets of front and rear edge aerodynamic devices are not even connected to the aircraft? The undercarriage is not bad and is well detailed but the front gear is too fat, they also fold up through the fuselage and not into an open box. Lighting are blobs of light on the aircraft X-Plane style but the wing navigation lights are not bad. There is very little detailing of this sort but the engine fans do rotate. But the Boeing 707 does sound and smoke like it was from the unregulated 60's era. All sounds are the JERA sound system and are recorded from a real 707, and they sound excellent outside and inside the cockpit at cruise, the dirty smoke is heavy and brings a smile to your face. The aircraft looks quite nice at night with the HDR lighting doing a nice job in illuminating the tail, I like the high porthole front door window. Liveries There is a huge selection of liveries from very good, to some average, the aircraft comes with Sara Air, Sudan, TWA (Mike's edit), Uganda Cargo, Air France, American, Lufthansa and Pan Am. White is default and there is a photoshop .psd paint kit in the package. You can download 27 more B707 liveries (35 in all) here: forjets These are a few of the livery selections available, there is some great Retro versions and airlines that have gone to the great airport in the sky, and some need the odd touch up (mostly the glare paint around the front cockpit windows) to make them great. But the quality overall is very good... a note the earlier liveries don't work with the updated fuselage. Summary Like a lot of its real world 707 counterparts, the Mike Wilson Boeing 707-320 keeps on flying on. A constant small stream of updates and development has kept this bird in the air and here this has been the biggest and best update so far... a great 3D cockpit. No doubt this aircraft will never be in the FlyJSim design or feature category, but that does not mean you won't love it, the style and feel of the this late 50's and 60's globe trending aircraft will still draw a crowd. In the flight model, sounds it is very good, the real age of the design is only shown by the original wing and engine pod design in need of better graphics (better engine fans however have been added), and a future update with a better design in those areas would certainly benefit everyone. But for now it is the best B707 in X-Plane, for myself, I flew the aircraft with the 3D Cockpit from LIRF Rome to LEVC Valencia and loved every single minute of it, this is still another great 60's aircraft and one that can cover global distances, yes that 3D cockpit makes a huge difference to the aircraft and it is certainly a fun place to be, overall the thought mostly in my mind was... "There is still a hell of a lot of life in this old Girl yet"... amen to that. ______________________________________________________________________ Installation : Download file size is 139.00mb to your X-Plane - Heavy Aircraft Folder. Installed file size is 169.30mb. This review ver Yes! the Boeing 707-320 by Mike Wilson is still available from the new X-Plane.Org Store here : Boeing 707-320 Price is US$20.00 if you already own the B707-320 by Mike Wilson then the 3D cockpit upgrade is free, go to your X-Plane.OrgStore account, sign in and download the updated (v15) version. ______________________________________________________________________ Installation : Download file size is 139.00mb to your X-Plane - Heavy Aircraft Folder. Installed file size is 169.30mb. This review version is noted as the "Boeing 707-320 v15 wide panel - 3D cockpit" There is a standard 2D cockpit available as well. Notes: As noted I updated the front windows of the B707, This is the "707_cockpit_OUT" file and you just unzip the file below and replace this png file with the older one in the main aircraft folder. 707_cockpit_OUT.png.zip Documents : There is a full original B320 AOM (Aircraft Operation Manual) that you can download: 707_Manual Tabbed and filled with very good information on the aircraft. Developer Contact : Mike Wilson Aircraft ______________________________________________________________________ Requirements : X-Plane 10.30+ Windows, Mac, Linux 512Mb VRAM Video card Current Review Version: v15 (last updated November 6th 2015) ______________________________________________________________________ Update Review by Stephen Dutton 10th November 2015 Copyright©2015: 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 10.42 (final) Addons - Saitek x52 Pro system Joystick and Throttle : Sound - Bose Soundlink Mini : WorldTraffic v2 Scenery or Aircraft - LEVC - Valencia-Manises by DAI-Media - cost is 25.00 € LEVC - Valencia Manises

Not bad really compared to the complexity of the scenery. There is not a lot of autogen around the airport and that helps a lot with the frame-rate. Only point is that there is a lot of candlepower lighting in the scenery, so with HDR on, and a high resolution anti-alias HDR setting it will take a bit out of the system... SD

Don't see why not? X-Plane is WIN/MAC/LINUX compatible and Linux Ubuntu 14.04LTS or compatible (older versions are not supported) is the requirement.

Aircraft Review : Cessna 404 Titan by Alabeo Just slightly flying off the California Coast, the morning sun glistened off the paintwork of the C404 Titan. The aircraft is a twin-engined workhorse, created for small airlines to carry nine or less passengers on either scenic tours or short regional charter flights. My flight is a short one from KSMO-Santa Monica Muni to KPSP-Palm Springs in a "I have just got to get out of LA... Darling" flight for some overpaid actor and his partner. But up here I am far away from the dramas of the world for awhile, as the Titan is powerful, smooth and thankfully quiet. A pilot's life is usually pure hell, and then a period of pure euphoria, reflection or boredom (on long flights) and then pure hell again, In am thankfully in that middle euphoric stage, away from the earth and just the correct headings to cover. Visually I find the C404 similar to the Seneca II, but the cabin has been stretched and blown up a size larger, certainly a great commuter aircraft... but to fly it is very different in size and feel to the Piper aircraft. It is very confident aircraft taking off and you can easily climb out at 1500-1800 fpm (feet per minute), set the course and climb easily to your heading. The Cessna 404 was a development of the Cessna 402 with an enlarged vertical tail and other changes. The prototype first flew on 26 February 1975. It is powered by two 375 hp/280 kW turbocharged Continental Motors GTSIO-520 piston engines. Two versions were offered originally; the Titan Ambassador passenger aircraft for ten passengers, and the Titan Courier utility aircraft for passengers or cargo. Seven versions followed with a full cargo version with a strengthened floor. As noted this is a commercial/charter aircraft and not a private ownership to fly on the weekends type of design. Just under 400 (396) aircraft were built and last Titan rolled off the production line in 1982. Performance : Maximum speed: 267 mph (430 km/h) - Cruise speed: 188 mph (303 km/h) - Range: 2,119 miles (3,410 km) - Service ceiling: 26,000 ft (7,925 m) - Initial rate of climb 1940ft/min. C404 Titan by Alabeo In the front it is a 70's classic view. Still very old standard but very familiar place to be, you will feel at home here very quickly. A glance over the shoulder and the cabin is a nice place to travel. With lovely hard wearing fabrics, the well designed seats will survive the worse of rough denim jeans treatment for years. Curtains look a bit naff today and show the age of the aircraft, but they do add to the cosy feel inside the aircraft. The roof lining is extremely well crafted, again age is showing around the edges but it is very realistic. The office is very well appointed, but in the old style way and not with a lot of modern gizmos. You have a full set of instruments but very little switchgear on the panel. The standard six instruments (Airspeed Indicator, Attitude Indicator or Artificial Horizon, Altimeter, Turn Coordinator and Vertical Speed Indicator) are high and central on both pilot's and co-pilots sides of the panel, with the Artificial Horizon having built in CRS (course) and CDI (course deviation indicator) built in. Other surrounding instruments include a clock (top left) and (lower left to right) NDB pointer, VOR 2 course deviation indicator (CDI) and radar height display. In the middle is the setting for the "Altitude Management System" to set your altitude for Autopilot cutoff when you climb or descend, but for the life of me I couldn't find the arm switch?, no manual in instrument placing does not help either, arm is noted on the autopilot display? The autopilot (AP) display is set on the left with the Nav 1 - GPS source select below, a full set of annunciators with test option fill out the left side of the panel. Nice yoke but no lower switchgear behind the control, just "Prop Sync". Left an Oxygen tank supply gauge and "Hobbs" meter. Co-pilot's side has only standard six instruments and cabin heating controls, and flap indicator (UP 183 KiAS - T.O. & APPR 152 KIAS - FLAPS - LAND) and selector, Flap lever is hard place to adjust for the pilot. Centre Panel has the engine performance dials in a single line across the top. The engine needles are for a twin, but run together. Pull one engine throttle down to see the separated needles for both engines... (left to right) is Manifold Pressure - RPM - Fuel Flow - EGT (Exhaust Gas Temp) - Oil (Pressure & Temp) one for each engine (two dials) - Fuel Qty (gauge). Radio Equipment is spaced in the middle across the panel. All Bendix-King except for the transponder. Garmin 347 TSO Audio set with a Garmin 430 (X-Plane standard) - KN 64 DME... this unit will display VOR distance, speed and time (similar to the BK 62A) - ADF KR 87 TSO with built in flight timer (FLT) and elapsed timer (ET) - Garmin GTX 320 Transponder - KX 165A TSO Radio for COM2/NAV2 settings (GNS 430 is used for COM1/NAV1) - AVIDYNE display (fairly useless) - Bendix-King weather radar (X-Plane standard) The radio equipment is all period based, mostly standard (meaning oldish) but functional, there are NDB pointers but the VOR2 direction is the CDI type. The throttle quadrant is a nice bit of kit, dual levers for the twin engines in throttle, RPM and mixture, all beautifully done and worn, there are lighting sliders (again very well done) above the levers covering: Side Console - LWR Panel - LEFT INSRT - ENGINE (Instruments) - RADIO - COMPASS & PED (Pedestal) - R FLT INST, left is a lighting switch for the overhead cockpit (spot) lights. Front and left side are the excellent trim wheels with takeoff neutral markings. Situated lower down (on the front) are the autopilot buttons. This is also available as a pop-out tab (A) that is situated on the bottom left of your screen, the pop-out can be moved around and changed in size to fit your needs. Altitude is either on on or off, you need to turn on the altitude button to adjust the pitch to go up or down, then activate it again to hold the altitude. As noted if you press the altitude button during a climb or descend it adjusts holds your altitude and does not "Arm" the system. As switched off it then is still not armed and you keep climbing till you press the altitude to hold it, so it does not arm in either context? All your switchgear, fuses and electrical are positioned on the left side panel. Well done but hard to read in the pilots position. Switchgear covers all external lighting and ice-protection, top are the main power switches and a lovely voltage indicator, which is switchable. Fuel tank switches are on the floor between the seats, beautifully bashed and worn, perfect. Roof detail is lovely as well, air-vents and two spot lights are great fittings. Blinds are animated and turn down only, but very nice. Between the San Bernardino Mountains and the San Jacinto Mountains there is a valley you can slip through to get to desert floor of where sits Palm Springs. Inside the Titan is is very hush, hush... too quiet, well that is debatable, turn the sounds right up and its still only a murmur so I would question if that is realistic, open the small window flaps and the outside noise is violent, so in many ways the quietness is soothing and a change from the clatter and noise of the many latest releases. These smooth Continental Motors GTSIO-520's power you along, look great and sound simply awesome on the ground, noted are the sounds are real C404 recordings and it shows. Note the excellent window reflections, Carenado/Alabeo were always the pioneers of great effects. Another tab (C) menu pop-up is the standard Carenado views. Some worked but most didn't? Only really the pilot and fuel tank view worked, but all the outside view were dud? The "Field of View" and sounds "Volume" are here also. note - (C) Camera views has been fixed, see "notes" below). Popping out of the other end of the canyon and Palm Springs appeared directly on our right, I was going to do a complete circuit and land to the north on RWY 31L, note 31R is only a small 1,500m runway... The C404 is quite tricky to land. Worse when you have an outcrop of mountain range in your flightpath, and that means a sharp turn in to RWY 31L approach. So speed is critical, drop the flap a notch and you can still balloon upwards while still trying to rub off the descent speed, even while well under 100knts.... that can ruin any good landing. The main undercarriage is trailing arms, and to note the whole detailing of the gear is exceptional, but trailing arm undercarriage can be quite soft on landing... and that is the case here. 70ktns red line is the stall speed, but even just a smidgen over at 80kts and you are still way too fast... get the flare wrong and you are hopping the aircraft with the champagne in the rear splashing all over your roof lining, and few "sorry about that" comments to the passengers. Getting as close to the stall speed is a trick done well. I got it right, but that was after three landings... There only one more tab menu to note of the three... the (O) options menu. You can select to change the window and instrument reflections, and have access to open and close all the doors and baggage compartments... and there is a lot. They include three nose baggage compartments, left and right main and a smaller nose door. No baggage though and here a few bags would not go amiss, it is quite empty in there. The rear double door with split stairs and upper hatch is extremely well done, you wish there was a cargo version. The neat small pilot hatch (door is a bit of an overstatement) is excellent, fresh air in the hot sunshine while preparing the aircraft, or bailing out if the need arises. There are static objects featured, but they are a bit thin on the ground. you get a hand-pull tractor, and some pivot covers and our two pilots disappear but that is about it? No wheel chocks?, no engine inlet covers, no hanging tabs, so you feel a bit short changed. Nightlighting There is no beacon on the aircraft and that makes the lighting a bit sparse on the outside. Navigation lights, strobe lights are good, there is an ice light on the left wing but it does not shine on the actual wing area? The wingtip landing lights are good and retractable, but if you use a joystick or kety to switch on your landing lights (I do both landing and taxi lights on my Saitek joystick) it is a double action deal, in that the button will turn off the lights, but you need to retract them by the switch on the side panel. Internal lighting is excellent, the panel is very adjustable and the overhead spot lighting is great (switch is top left on the pedestal), but not movable that has been a feature in the past. Standard instrument lighting is adjustable via the row of sliders on the very top of the pedestal. And it is very easy to find the right amount of light for takeoff or landings. The light on the fuel selector is nice touch. Rear cabin lighting is excellent, with nice (switchable) spot lighting over each seat, it gives you a nice feeling when flying late. This extremely internal great lighting looks really good outside, the pilots in half light look very realistic. The landing and taxi lighting is very good on approach and on the ground. The spread of the wingtip landing lights and central front strut support taxi light give a very wide arc of light, very easy in the cockpit to navigate dark taxiways and lonely runways at night. The day's work is done and it is time to wrap up the aircraft, very nice it is as well. Liveries There is one blank livery and five graphic liveries in the C404 package, all are 4K hi-quality textures, refined for good frame-rate. Summery Some aircraft come along and in time will become a fixture in your favorite list. When you need a certain aircraft to do a certain job or flight it is usually the one aircraft you will pick. My F33 Bonanza will always be the go to single light engine aircraft, The C208 Caravan for utility work and so on. No doubt this C404 will become my large twin because it is a great aircraft, quiet, powerful and has a great range. Quality and detailing is the usual high standard you expect from Alabeo, there is a certain 70's feel about the aircraft but that is its charm as well and the great dirty worn feel of the interior means you have an aircraft of hours of work behind it, its real and comfortable. Alabeo originally represented the budget side of Carenado, all the quality for usually under US$20, so for the price you expected to have a few none working areas and extras... but this C404 Titan is now right up there in the Carenado US$30 cost bracket, I'm not saying the value and quality is not in the aircraft because it certainly is, no doubt.... but you do for the price expect a full set of Static Elements?, the excellent animated forward roof mounted spot lights? baggage that seems to have gone missing from Carenado/Alabeo aircraft lately, and working views (Camera - Fixed see notes below)... very small stuff in the large scheme of things, but you do pay for the features in this category. One for the hanger? No doubt, a lovely aircraft in every area and the more time spent in the pilots seat the more I love it, quality is high and you will revel in your own pure private euphoria as you skim along your own coastal fringe, California will do me for now and a few more hours in the C404 Titan Ambassador is certainly the best way to fly. ______________________________________________________________________ Yes! the C404 Titan Ambassador by Alabeo is now available from the new X-Plane.Org Store here : C404 Titan Price is US$32.95 Features High quality Alabeo model Volumetric side view prop effect High-Resolution 3D model and textures (4K) Custom C404 Titan sounds Alabeo custom Systems On screen menus 64-bit compatible Plugin-enhanced FPS-optimized model SuperManipulator scroll wheel support X-Plane 10 GNS430 Other features Five high-resolution paint schemes Blank texture for creating your own designs Accurately reproduced flight characteristics Complete documentation with procedures included ______________________________________________________________________ Installation : Download file size is 294.10mb to your X-Plane - GA Aircraft Folder. Installed file size is 361.00mb Notes: There has been a fix for the (C) Camera view popup, download and install : C404_Titan_prefs.txt.zip Documents : Full set of C404 Procedure and Performance manuals and tables, Credits and Recommended settings. Requirements : Windows 7-8-10 (or higher) or MAC OS 10.6 (or higher) or Linux X-Plane 10.40+ (Any edition) 1GB Video card 405MB available hard disk space Current Review Version: 1.1 (last updated October 30th 2015) ______________________________________________________________________ Developer site : Carenado.com Developer Support : Carenado - Alabeo Support X-Plane.Org ______________________________________________________________________ Review by Stephen Dutton 5th November 2015 Copyright©2015: 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 10.42 (final) Addons - Saitek x52 Pro system Joystick and Throttle : Sound - Bose Soundlink Mini : WorldTraffic v2 Scenery or Aircraft - KPSP - Palm Springs International 2.0 by GPB500 (X-Plane.Org) - Free

No pilots in the aircraft, but you still have to do your bit in getting the aircraft from place to place....

News! - New images of FlightFactors Boeing 767 Flightfactor have released some great new cockpit images of their coming Boeing 767.... It is noted as going into beta very soon. Images are courtesy of FlightFactor _____________________________________________________________________________________ Stephen Dutton 2nd November 2015 Copyright©2015: X-PlaneReviews

News! - Coming soon - DHC-6 Twin Otter -300 series update v1.2 by RW Designs The Twin Otter DHC-6 -300 Series by RW Design's is getting an upgrade soon to v1.2. On of the most visual changes in v1.2 will be the choice of either the original long-nose version... or the new short nose version. The different noses will be available with every variant, including the standard wheel version (above), Ski, Float and Tundra version. Choice of nose is via a popup panel at your change of variant. Sounds have been completely overhauled and are now plugin SASL driven and not basic X-Plane sourced sounds. Great cockpit now has VOR 2 direction needles, these were missing on the origiinal releast version and were sorely missed, certainly when hopping island to island and you need a heading bearing. Flight model has had some fine tuning and the aircraft behaves far better under climb and far, far better under descent conditions... All the features are still here, and this is a great short-sector aircraft. No date has yet been given on the v1.2 update release, but it is noted as... soon. You can read X-PlaneReviews full v1.0 release review here: Aircraft Review : DHC-6 Twin Otter - 300 Series by RWDesigns And the current version can be purchased here: The de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter -300 Series by RWDesigns is now available from the New X-Plane.Org Store here : DHC-6 Otter 300 Series and is priced at only US$27.95 Features include: 4 versions of the DHC-6 Otter Wheels (standard) Tundra - Land in the bush Floats - For lakes and oceans Skis - For glacier operations High-Resolution 3D Model 3D Cockpit Hi Res 4K textures Full 3D exterior model HD Night Lighting Interchangable liveries between versions. 7 paint schemes Custom Prop/Engine sounds Custom Systems Programmed Radios Customized GNS 530 Custom airfoils and flightmodel Custom electrical and de-Icing systems _____________________________________________________________________________________ Stephen Dutton Updated 2nd November 2015 Copyright©2015: X-PlaneReviews

Scenery Review : SBGL Rio de Janeiro Intl by Richard G Nunes Scenery Nothing was more exotic or remote in the 60's than Rio de Janeiro, it was the sounds of the music that brought it into context or the refrains of Bossa Nova "new trend" which is a lyrical fusion of samba and jazz. And at the same time aircraft became fast and global through Jet propulsion and the VC10's, Boeing 707's and DC8's now ruled all hemispheres and the Jetset were on the move in their thousands. Airline posters of the day (I have a fair collection) where of these exotic destinations... India, Hong Kong, Egypt, South Africa, Japan and Australia, They infused early a dream of world traveling that is still my deepest desire and love. But for a wannabe jetsetter Rio was the big one, visions of coming into land past the gaze of the "Christ the Redeemer" iconic statue was right at the top of one of my biggest set of bucket list of destinations, the holy grail of travel... the really big one. I never got to Rio (well not yet anyway) but many others have been crossed off the BOAC list, but the dream lives on. So any X-Plane scenery that can at least fulfill even a slight longing of flying to Rio de Janeiro was always going to be a big deal, it is and here is the main destination for any arrival in that Southern Continent's most vivid city in Rio de Janeiro/Galeão–Antonio Carlos Jobim International Airport . Rio is also in the news for other reasons lately, the Football World Cup has been won and done, but in 2016 is the turn of the behemoth Olympic & Paralympics Summer Games to grace the city, and SBGL - Galeão will be again at the forefront of the public reception point for the city. The airport is located 20 km (12 mi) north of downtown Rio de Janeiro. First Impressions. My entrance to SBGL was via a short flight from Sao Paulo going north and approaching the city from the south. My fantasy of gliding past "Christ the Redeemer" was not going to happen as there is actually no approach path across the front of the summit of Mount Corcovado where the statue is placed. Instead I would be using a direct approach via SANTA CRUZ VOR (SCR-113.60) and MERITI NDB (IT- 290) that gives you a direct approach into SBGL RWY10 though the valley east of Serra do Mendanha. NARA 10 STAR will give you both north and south arrival patterns through SANTA CRUZ VOR. Visually it is a great approach, but you can't see any of the iconic Rio visual feasts in the forementioned "Christ the Redeemer" or "Sugarloaf Mountain". SBGL Galeão Airport itself is built on its own complete island called Governador Island (Ilha do Governador, in Portuguese) and is the largest island in Guanabara Bay. The name Galeão was a beach on the island. The history of the airport begins on May 10, 1923 when a School of Naval Aviation was established near Galeão beach on Governador Island. On May 22, 1941 with the creation of the Brazilian Air Force Ministry, the school became the Galeão Air Force Base; a terminal and hangars were built and the runway extended. Those buildings still exist and Galeão Air Force Base is still active. When Brazil declared war against the Axis on August 22, 1942, the aerodrome began to be used intensely by the Allies for military operations related to the World War II. At the end of the war, Santos Dumont Airport was unable to handle the increased tonnage of aircraft flying on international routes and number of passengers. For this reason, international flights were gradually moved to the site of the Air Force Base. The services were however precarious and a decision was made to build a brand new passenger terminal, opposite to the Air Force Base, and set across the runway. On February 1, 1952 the new passenger terminal was opened and remained in use with enlargements until 1977. This terminal is used by passenger flights operated by the Brazilian Air Force. The cargo terminal is also located in the area and all-cargo aircraft usually park at its adjoining apron. The whole complex is now informally known as the "old Galeão." On January 20, 1977, when the airport was receiving all of Brazil's major international flights, this new terminal was opened and all scheduled passenger flights were transferred to the new building. This building is known today as Passenger Terminal 1. During the year 1991, Passenger Terminal 1 underwent its first major renovation in preparation for the United Nations Earth Summit held in 1992. Its annual capacity was increased to 7,5 million passengers/year. On July 20, 1999 Passenger Terminal 2 was opened. (wikipedia) Both runways 10/28 and 15/33 are in a wide V shape coming from the southern direction, with excellent overwater RAIL lighting (Approach Lights Systems (ALS) to guide you in. The main airport terminal complex is in the centre of the V and is an excellent visual sight on both RWY10 or RWY15 approaches. Runway visual features and runway textures are simply excellent 10/28 is concrete (15/33 is Asphalt) and are highly realistic in wear and rubber marking. There is grass, but on approach it looks a whitish than a more darker grass, but still a nice feature. Taxiways are concrete center and runoff wider tone asphalt, and very well done. Departure from RWY10/28 was by link taxiway CC to main taxiway N. On taxiway CC you have the excellent large TAP maintenance & engineering hangar and service ramp area. (yes the same Portuguese TAP, the area was bought from bankrupt VARIG in 2005). Turn to taxiway N is required but you can't stay on this section. If you run the WorldTraffic 2.0 plugin from Classic Jet Simulations (highly recommended) there are some great sets of ground routes available for SBGL here: GroundRoutes_SBGL v1.0 But no routes. I have listed my settings for the WT Route Generator below as a download to get the routes I created for SBGL and they look brilliant in operation. But one thing is noticeable in that taxiway N is the north direction main departure route and Taxiway M is the south direction route to the terminal area. so you need to dogleg at link taxiway W to get off N to get to M as soon as possible between traffic flows if the departures are to the south. One thing must be stressed early in using this Richard Nunes SBGL is that the "runways follow terrain contours" tickbox must be on. There are many reasons for this but the main two are that if not the RAIL approach lighting will be very odd and sit well above the runway? Secondly is for a great feature of the scenery, as taxiway M goes past the main junction of Q and O link taxiways you then cross over a taxiway bridge, M for going west and another bridge for taxiway N going east. Brilliantly done you enjoy the view as an WT aircraft crosses on the other bridge (If "runway contours" is off the bridges will sit too high?) The one area X-Plane misses out on is this sort of traffic and high taxiway crossings, but here it is an excellent way to create such a solution. Over the taxiway bridges there is on the right is a fuel storage and airport maintenance collection of tanks and buildings. On the left is the appearance of the terminal and ramp areas. The whole area is created like a semi circle amphitheatre, dominated by these huge high concrete lighting towers, it feels very Aztec at a first arrival it is an amazing space. Taxiway and ramp linage is excellent, but going on to the main ramp area it can get confusing with so much lineage, so you do find yourself turning in long wide arcs to get around to the gates The double huge semi-circle terminal buildings are extremely well represented, highly realistic and there is a large amount of well positioned and well selected static aircraft to fill in the gates (If you do use WT you may have to edit a few gates to get the right mix of static and WT aircraft). This is a very busy ramp area as well, not only the moving WT aircraft but the scenery comes with a lot of animated vehicles, there is everything going on here in buses, fuel tankers, tractors, tugs, catering and baggage trucks. So you have to be very careful on not hitting any crossing vehicles. Around the outer rim of the ramp area there is a huge amount of nose in remote parking, and my parking gate 51 was on the second terminal set of gates. All gates have built in (marginal) animation and aircraft parking guidance indicators. In the gate there are also walking worker animations, not that many but they are all spread around the airport work areas going about their business. (the gate marshalls however are static). So first impressions are very impressive, very realistic and a great way to arrive in Brazil's and Rio's most significant airport. SBGL Rio de Janeiro International Airport SBGL Galeão–Antonio Carlos Jobim International Airport (IATA: GIG, ICAO: SBGL) 10/28 4,000m (13,123ft) Concrete 15/33 3,180m (10,433ft) Asphalt Elevation AMSL 9 m / 28 ft With the airport layout set on an island gives you many ways to make a scenery great, and that is the case here with SBGL. There is a slight colour (darker) difference between the airport ground textures and the surrounding X-Plane default textures, but not enough to cause any visual angst. So the layout is very good from any angle, very realistic while on approach or departure. There is great default traffic and bridges around the north of the island that connects the airport to the mainland in two places and traffic flows around and directly into the scenery itself. The concrete and asphalt differences between the main runways are excellent and the quality of the scenery does show from the attention to detail of all the different ground textures. Highlight is the detailed Approach Lights Systems (ALS). A lot of work has gone into this element of the scenery by Richard Nunes and it shows, These features are the ones that standout and make exceptional scenery, visual an approach at almost minimum light and limited visibility and then the RAIL is showing you the way home... Terminals Outwardly the two huge terminals look like they were built at the same time, but there is differences and Terminal Two is certainly more modern. There is no separate Domestic or International areas or terminals, but Terminal One covers more International flights. There are no A380 flights to SBGL yet, but both Emirates and Lufthansa run heavy equipment into the airport and a change to the A380 is always possible as the airport is already code F A380 certified with three gates and the Olympic Games will attract aircraft of this capacity. Terminal One Terminal One has gates 1 - 12, is presently served by Aerolineas Argentinas, AeroMexico, Air France, Alitalia, Avianca, Azul, British Airways, Copa, GOL, Iberia, KLM, & Taca Peru airlines. The building is set out in a semi-circle design and the construction here is excellent with great textures covering the faded aged concrete worn look gives the building a real authentic air. There is a huge amount of detailing in covering not only the actual terminal, but the surrounding elements of both the ramp and arrival sides of the building. Vehicle animation is prevalent throughout the scenery and right around the arrivals areas, giving you a great buzz of activity. There is some good ramp equipment, but placement is not overwhelming in that every gate area is saturated with the usual amount of equipment that aircraft servicing requires, walking staff do add to the activity feel. Those distinctive huge concrete lighting towers are also placed around the the outside of the terminal adding to the feel of the airport and its different cultural aspect... you know you are somewhere different. Galeão's distinctive Control Tower which is situated at the rear of Terminal One is well reproduced as along with a lot of associated administration buildings and carparks. It is a great design and the tower can be seen from all points of the airfield to note the location of the central terminal area for good orientation. Tower view is good, but confined into a window based viewpoint, you can love or hate this sort of viewpoint for aircraft replays, but it does work well here and gives you a great overview look of the airport. There is a large Airport Administration building that connects between Terminal One and Terminal Two. Like all buildings in the scenery the Admin building is a great reproduction of the real counterpart and adds a great deal to the overall look of the airport. Detailing at the rear is very good and right down to the excellent road systems, lighting, foliage and signage. There are however a few objects (mostly roofing) that are not placed correctly from these lower angles. Terminal Two Has gates 22 - 39, and is currently served by Air Canada, American, Delta, Emirates, Lan Chile, Lufthansa, Passaredo, TAAG, TAM, TAP, United & US Airways airlines (American Airlines). Outwardly T2 is similar in design to T1, but on closer inspection it is quite different. Roof elements and glass at the rear are a totally different design, and there is a large multi-story carpark built in unlike just a flat open carpark at T1. Again the terminal is faithfully reproduced and well designed. All gates have full docking (Marginal Plugin) facilities and aircraft parking guidance indicators as noted. Remote parking All around the outer rim of the main ramp areas are a lot of nose in remote parking stands. 13-36 are main rim stands and stand 37-43 cover the south boundary. In front of the stands are the numerous depots of various fuel suppliers, from the well worn to the modern they are all very well represented with animation of vehicles transferring their products around the airport. The south ramp boundary parking and another good parking area zone adjacent to the Military Base is a fully working building site. Cranes swing and tractors level the red earth, it is busy place and well done, I hope in the future the scenery changes to represent the completed buildings and areas. Galeão Air Force Base – BAGL (ICAO: SBGL) Terminal do Correio Aéreo Nacional (Terminal of the Brazilian Air Force Passenger Services). Part of the scenery on the southern island boundary is the original Galeão airport and the current Brazilian Airforce base. There is a huge amount of objects in here covering a fair area, this would be a significant scenery just by itself... Outwardly it looks more like a Hollywood Film Studio, with not only with its dense maze of buildings, but with chequered water towers, tennis courts and swimming pools. There is a lot going on in here and it is all very well done to represent a significant part of Rio's aviation heritage. Galeão Cargo When the existing relationship between the Airforce Base and Passenger division became overwhelmed as more and more the passenger traffic grew it became time to move the passenger division to a more spacious and separate area. So on 1 February 1952 the passenger terminal area was transferred and opened across the southern end of runway 15/33. This area was operational until January 20, 1977, when the main airport facilities were again moved to what is now Terminal One. After the transfer the older passenger terminal area was converted to the main cargo area for the airport. In reality the old terminal is there and the area is not much changed over the decades, reproduction of the area like most of the scenery is again excellent... It certainly is not a modern cargo port but that is of course its attraction. There are two main cargo facility buildings and an odd sort of hangars and cargo covered areas. Cargo ramps are well done but a little empty of activity except for the odd tug, however a few cargo aircraft and equipment would not go amiss to fill out the scene a little. Road traffic is excellent around this southern western boundary, X-Plane works its magic to create great traffic, so have your settings up high. Fuel Depot and Airport Maintenance To balance out the dense building area of the Brazilian AirForce Base in the south is the same for the fuel depot and airport maintenance area on the north boundary. The fuel depot tanks dominate, but there also a lot of maintenance buildings and offices to fill out the area, the area is very prominent on both RWY10 and RWY15 Approaches... well done. There are many various airfield buildings and towers dotted around the areas, all very authentic and great visual fillers from the aircraft and seen on the taxiways. Night Lighting Airport lighting is excellent, really good. You get great lighting area variations with numerous different styles of lights, from any approach SBGL looks brilliant. Runway 10/28 is excellent in lighting and as are taxiway directions, but runway 15/33 does not have any centerline lighting or centerline taxiway (green) lights? so it is a dark trek to the terminal area... The chance not to use those high concrete towers could have been easily missed, but it wasn't. High powered lighting covers the ramps and it is a spectacular arrival or departure with great flood lighting while working on the ramp, well done done there. Terminal night textures are also very good, so is the arrival lighting and area coverage with great spot lights. Fuel depots and the TAP maintenance area is also very good lighting wise and realistic. Southern boundary areas are also good, with the AirForce base having well lit tennis courts and a swimming pool for a late night game or swim, cargo area is on par with the rest of the airport, and turn up the traffic settings for great night activity. Christ the Redeemer Statue The iconic Mount Corcovado "Christ the Redeemer" Statue, can just be seen from Galeão Airport, yes it is just a speck in the distance, but what scenery in Rio de Janeiro would be without it.... it just wouldn't work. It is like having no "Statue of Liberty" in New York's approaches, it just is not on. Thankfully you get a great statue reproduction here, a really great version to watch over Rio, to get a better look then jump in a chopper or GA and take a flight over to see the Rio-ness of it all.... love it. More than just the actual statue is that all the tourist trap elements are also covered, ticket booths, cog railway, buses, cafes and their umbrellas are all here, great stuff. If you thought that "Christ the Redeemer" is great in the daylight, then the wow factor really comes out at night, as it is totally brilliant "Christ the Redeemer" has all the X-Plane world to watch over as the lighting snakes away to the horizon and Galeão Airport gleaming in the distance... heaven. Routes and Services Rio is dead center of the eastern seaboard to cover any roads of South America. This southern continental area is great for exploring and a flights to all points of the continent are interesting and with great visual vistas. International routes are many and varied. Connections to Europe (London and Paris is very popular) and North America in Miami, Atlanta or New York are old routes to be savoured. And don't forget the Olympics in 2016. Most international popular destinations are: Passengers Argentina - 249,305 United States - 171,124 France - 80,478 Chile - 80,001 United Kingdom - 66,447 Italy - 57,061 Germany - 55,865 Portugal - 43,380 Spain - 35,135 Colombia - 23,563 Cargo Operations covers ABSA Cargo Airline - Belo Horizonte–Confins, Cabo Frio, Campinas, Ciudad del Este, Curitiba, Manaus, Miami, Porto Alegre, São Paulo–Guarulhos Centurion Air Cargo - Miami LAN Cargo - Amsterdam, Buenos Aires–Ezeiza, Frankfurt, Miami, Montevideo, Santiago de Chile LANCO - Bogotá, Lima, Miami, Quito Rio Linhas Aéreas - Recife, Salvador da Bahia, São Paulo–Guarulhos Sky Lease Cargo - Miami Summary To cover Rio de Janeiro/Galeão–Antonio Carlos Jobim International Airport was always going to be a huge task. It is a big area of scenery and in parts very dense with buildings and infrastructure. The airport has a distinct feel as well, those huge lighting towers means you are nowhere else on the planet... it all covers a very impressive arrival. Quality and detail is excellent as is the sheer number of objects and item presented in the scenery, faithful to the airport, and as scenery and the best scenery for Rio this SBGL cannot be discounted, you even get Jesus! (as a statue) So I know what you are thinking "All this must come at cost somewhere", well it does but not on the dollar values as it is great value scenery for what you get. You however need a recommended 2G of VRAM (just get away with 1GB) and a pretty powerful computer to process all those objects. No doubt that this scenery is frameweight heavy. You can reduce your object settings to "default" to help, but even then in my case I was still on the line, switch HDR on and all that lighting effects is another world of power unless you have the fastest HDR resolution setting available. Great scenery and in a great destination is a wonderful combination in your investment in X-Plane. It's Rio de Janeiro! It is Brazil, now we have the means and now a great destination to deliver another great experience of simulation, Yes SBGL Galeão airport is certainly that, a great destination. _____________________________________________ Yes! the SBGL- Rio de Janeiro Intl Airport by Richard G Nunes Scenery is now available from the X-Plane.Org Store here : SBGL- Rio de Janeiro International Airport Price is US$24.95 Features Orthophoto textures and Occlusion environment The Christ the Redeemer statue is included in this scenery package Custom Runways, ground and taxiways textures 3D Grass, based on the lawn type found at Rio Airport Auto Gate Ready AutoGate Plugin by Marginal (included in the package) Custom Jetways Animated Traffic Animated objects, vehicles, people and aircraft Ground Traffic and aircraft traffic Using Ground Traffic by Marginal Many extras Modeled Underpass under runways M and N (Bridges) Customized Approach Lights Systems - ALS Night texture and HDR lighting Construction work on current expansion is included Charts included _____________________________________________________________________________________ Documents and Installation : Download: 817mb : Installed main scenery 1.73gb, and mesh file (24.10mb) and roads file (15.20mb) Installation requires three files - SBGL - International Rio de Janeiro Airport v1.1 / SBGL - Mesh / SBGL - Roads. Roads and Mesh need to installed below (or at the bottom of your ini file) to allow the mesh to conform to the taxiway bridge features. Runway ILS alignment data needs to be changed and all instructions and X-Plane co-ordinates are supplied (read the manual). Marginal's "Auto Gate 1.6" and "CustomSBDatarefs004" plugin are supplied for airport docking and animations. Full set of 62 charts and airport layouts, English and Portuguese manuals included. Attachment : WorldTraffic SBGL Generator settings, just download and unzip the image. SBGL_WT Generator Settings.zip _____________________________________________________________________________________ Requirements X-Plane 10+ - Windows, Mac or Linux - 1Gb VRAM - 2Gb VRAM recommended Current version: 1.1 (Last updated October 16th 2015) _____________________________________________________________________________________ Stephen Dutton Updated 31st October 2015 Copyright©2015: X-PlaneReviews (Disclaimer. All images and text in this review are the work and property of X-PlaneReviews, no sharing or copy of the content is allowed without consent from the author as per copyright conditions) 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 : WorldTraffic Plugin Addons - Saitek x52 Pro system Joystick and Throttle Aircraft- Airbus A320-214 CFM Engine by Peters Aircraft (X-Plane.OrgStore) US$54.90

News! - Released! C404 Titan by Alabeo Alabeo have released the Cessna 404 Titan that was the Cessna's company largest twin piston-engined aircraft at the time of its development in the 1970s. he Cessna 404 was a development of the Cessna 402 with an enlarged vertical tail and other changes. The prototype first flew on 26 February 1975. It is powered by two 375 hp/280 kW turbocharged Continental Motors GTSIO-520 piston engines. Two versions were offered originally; the Titan Ambassador passenger aircraft for ten passengers, and the Titan Courier utility aircraft for passengers or cargo. Features Include: Custom C404 Titan sounds Default X-Plane 10 GNS430 Volumetric side view prop effect High quality 3D model and textures. Blank texture for creating your own designs. Accurately reproduced flight characteristics 64-bit compatible. Plugin-enhanced FPS-optimized model. SuperManipulator scroll wheel support Also Included: 5 4K HD liveries 1 Blank texture Normal Procedures PDF Emergency Procedures PDF Performance Tables PDF Titan Limitations PDF Yes! theC404 Titan by Alabeo is now available from the new X-Plane.Org Store here : C404 Titan - Price is US$32.95 Requirements Technical Requirements Windows XP-Vista-7-8 (or higher) or MAC OS 10.6 (or higher) or Linux X-Plane 10.40 (or higher) Pentium 2 GHz - 4GB RAM - 1GB Video card 405MB available hard disk space Price is US$32.95 Images are courtesy of Carenado© Developer site : Carenado.com Stephen Dutton Updated 31st October 2015 Copyright©X-Plane Reviews: X-PlaneReviews

Aircraft Update - Cessna 172SP Skyhawk v1.40 by AirfoilLabs Updates to newly released aircraft can come a quite a rate after the initial release, and mostly are nips and tucks to cover the wide spectrum of users and computer specifications. Airfoillabs were extremely good at clearing the way through their first time release of the Cessna 172SP for this new developer on the X-Plane simulator. Reaction and quick implementation to comments and even ideas can gain you a lot of credibility and resales into the future, and no doubt Airfolilabs have done a great job to cover the notes and this update is noticeable in that the developer is willing to make big changes very early in the release period. What is interesting here is that the changes in v1.40 are not focused on the aircraft, but mostly on the menu structure. It was not like the original menus were poor in the first place, in fact they were very good, clear and well laid out. But here in v1.40 they have been already comprehensively redone. I do at this point recommend to read the full comprehensive X-PlaneReviews release review here : Aircraft Review - Cessna 172SP Skyhawk by AirfoilLabs Before understanding the changes between the release version and this update v1.40. The original release version put the menus side by side (original on the left) and you can see clearly the complete overhaul and look of the two menu versions. First off there is now a transparency look on the main menu tab, it is darker (as all the menus are) in black and blue than the white/grey look of before. I personally welcome the change as the white was sometimes a bit overwhelming on the bright computer screen, the darker tone works far better. Menus can be moved around the screen, but not compressed. The seven "Menu" tabs are situated left centre of your screen. The alphabet tabs have also gone and now each tab is just worded They still represent Quickstart - Camera - Payload and Fuel - Settings - Controllers - Engine and Checklist. That adds in two new tab items in Controllers and Checklist. On the "Quick Start" there is no change in any items, and they are... Quick start in "autostart" or "cold & dark" when starting the aircraft up (cold and dark is the default), "Secure aircraft" will shut the aircraft down and add in the static elements in one click. "Prepare for Start" will have the aircraft ready to the point of turning the key. The other two options are to connect the GPU and use a flashlight. "Autostart" is now excellent if you want to fly quickly, just watching the aircraft light up, set and start itself is great fun. The "Camera" tab has been completely revised. All the same choices in views are still there in (Internal) Pilot, Radio Panel, Fuel, Co-Pilot/Pass1, Passenger 2 and Passenger 3. (External) Left wing, Right wing, Tail and Front. A slider is now your controller of the "Field of View" by degrees, instead of a - or + button. "Go Outside" has been changed to "GO OUT/IN" but has the same function of moving you into the pilots seat or outside the aircraft. The "Smart Camera" choices have been moved from the old settings menu to the Camera menu and have been completely changed. G-Effects OFF - G-Effects Basic - Compatibility Mode -G-Effects Advanced are the new settings and you also have a slider to adjust the amount of effect in % you can have. The % effect slider is a great change, I didn't like the heavy movement effects in the original review it was even very disruptive to operating the aircraft, but now it is perfect as you can find your correct feel (of the brakes and movement), a great change. One thing that is better in the G-Effect changes is that if you switch them off (G-Effects OFF) you get full movement back in the cockpit via your keys. Before you were locked into the pilots seat point of view only and restrictions if you wanted to move to the left or right or up and down around the panel. The "Dynamic View" and "Simulated walk" (around the aircraft) options have now been moved to the bottom of the tab menu screen. Overall on this tab the changes have been a significant improvement over the original ideas. The "Weight and Fuel" menu is also a major change and even in name from the old "Payload and Fuel" menu. The menu has been greatly expanded and sliders again replace the old - and + adjustment. It is brilliantly clever in being able to select the exact weight of the pilot and passengers on board, and so also the baggage. The fuel is easier set as well. Even more great is the fact as you change the weights you can see the shift and changes in the aircraft's Center of Gravity and the set limits of where that weight goes on the aircraft are shown on a very well prepared graph. Both "Total Payload" and "Total Fuel" are noted on the bottom of the menu. Zero Fuel is the aircraft's weight with no fuel on board (the default position) and the Takeoff weight of the aircraft with the adjusted Center of Gravity, both weights are shown. The seat forward and aft adjustment has been removed. The "Settings" menu has also had a total makeover. The "Smart Camera" options on the original settings menu as noted have been moved to the "Camera" tab. The settings "Engine Running at Start", "Start with pilot inside" and "Disp Footer Panel" have been moved to the the top of the menu with "Display Text Messages" added in to the list. I have never seen a "Pilot Inside" yet? even though I have always had the box ticked on?. Sounds have been completely redone into a set of five sliders covering; "All Sounds", "EXT. Sounds", INT. Engine", "INT. Environment" and "INT. Instruments". This set up gives you far more control and more great options to create better sound out of the aircraft, settings are on % of 100%. The "Intro Tutorial" on the older menu has been dropped. Bottom of the Settings tab menu are three new options for "Glass" in; "Glass", "Fog effect" and "Ice Effect". The "Glass" setting at this point does not seem to do anything, so is that for lighter or darker glass or rain effects?, ditto "Ice Effects", I cooled the aircraft down to -13º and put it in a snowstorm and could see nothing happening? Fog effects however are amazing!.. If the outside temperature is around or below zero the windows start to fog up... and pretty soon you can see bugger all. Your thoughts are how can I land this aircraft and using a cloth and a wipe of the (computer) screen is not an option? A panic pulling of every knob and a search for any demisting switches was solved by pulling out the "Cabin HT" and "Cabin Air" knobs buried behind the Co-Pilots yoke... and the screen thankfully slowly clears clean, frighteningly authentic. Add in to the tab menu structure is a "Controller" menu. Many users wanted more control of their Saitek Yoke addon system to get a better response to the feel of the aircraft, and this menu is in response to that feedback. It allows you to switch from the standard X-Plane axis settings to a custom set you can adjust to your perfect handling of the aircraft, again the "Saitek" option is a separate custom setting just for that addon gear or you can have the "Joystick" option. And the sliders cover the Pitch, Roll and Yaw axis areas of "Sensibility" and "Artificial Feel" More tickbox options cover "Yoke Movement Swicthes (Switches) Autop. Off" in other words if you take control of the yoke the autopilot will switch off and give you back control. "Disable Rudder Trim" and "Disable Aileron Trim" are two other options. The engine menu tab is not changed and the panel is still blank. I thought this would have been operational in this v1.40 update... but no. The new "Checklist" Tab is just sensational! Designed around a spiral tabbed Aircraft Checklist notebook, its simplicity is so clever you wonder why it wasn't done before. The main tabs cover five areas in "Contents", "Preflight", "Takeoff-Cruise", "Landing" and "Emergencies". Navigation to other pages is via the arrows on the bottom of the notebook and the contents include almost everything you would find in a real checklist pad. "Crosswind Component" graphs, Landing distance tables, Emergency failure procedures and great vSpeed references are all in here besides the usual start up and shut down checklists... just amazing. No doubt this tab menu selection is vastly improved over the original system, it looks far better as well, a great improvement. In the aircraft walk-around if you now touch the Rudder, Flaps or Aileron you get a popup info chart and tickbox checklist. I like the idea, but this means now if you are doing your walk-around if you touch the surface you have a menu option on your screen to click away before moving onto the next one, doing all the surfaces means a lot of boxes opening up and being closed again... I am a visceral person, in the moment and I liked the idea of moving around the aircraft checking the surfaces ready for flight... popup boxes will in this context would spoil that in the place and moment feeling, that is my view anyway. KLAL Lakeland-Linder to KFMY Page Field, Fort Meyers A quick run from KLAL to Page Field KFMY was decided to see how the C172SP felt with the upgrade. First up the effects in now being adjustable remove an irritant that I didn't like first off in the original aircraft, so I was more comfortable straight away. The loading of the aircraft was fun as well with the new "Weights & Fuel" menu, and the checklist pad was simply excellent. Speed is still pathetically slow, so take a book to read even on a short sector. But that is missing the point, as this C172SP is a trainer and not a long distance cruiser. I was slightly indifferent to the AirfoilLab C172SP with my first encounter with the aircraft, I found it overly complex for a simply trainer that would be aimed at first fliers (and sometimes new to simulation as well) learning the ropes. But now I feel this aircraft is turning into an X-Plane classic... it is brilliant, and with tons of features. More adjustment in v1.40 have been inserted were it counts and the aircraft is more sorted and complete than the release version was and that was certainly very good. I really enjoyed the flight down to Page Field, it just worked really well and you know you want more flying time when after a slight rest you just turn around and fly back to base at KLAL, that means you want more, more fun and more time on the aircraft, that then makes it a good sign it is a great aircraft. Summary Like I noted at the start of this update review, great developers listen and change to what the users want, doing that quickly and even throwing away good ideas to do better ones are certainly paying off for AirfoilLabs and this C172SP is turning into simply a sensational aircraft, a classic even for X-Plane. Most of the focus in v1.40 has been on the "Menu" system and the effects the changes in there has on the aircraft, which in this case is quite comprehensive, there are a still a few notchy things like sometimes the engine is missing when you remove the covers? and some items like the tiedown won't disappear but these are very, very minor issues. But the changes to adjustablity in effects, Addon (Saitek) control and sounds are a good big move forward. The choice now in X-Plane in the General Aviation category is one of the fiercest and competitive areas in X-Plane and more so in the this higher price range bracket. To spend and invest here means you want value for your high investment, no doubt even at this early stage the AirfoilLab's C172SP Cessna is a great deal and a long termer in usability in your hangar and overall there is no doubt that AirfoilLabs will be a major player in X-Plane in the future. The Cessna 172SP Skyhawk by AirfoilLabs is available from the New X-Plane.Org Store here : Cessna 172SP Skyhawk And is priced at only US$34.95 If you have already purchased the Cessna 172SP from AirfoilLabs then go to your X-Plane.OrgStore account, log in and download v1.40 from your account. _____________________________________________________________________________________ Fully featured and including: FLIGHT MODEL Very accurate Flight Model. Tested and approved by real world Cessna 172 SP pilots and flight instructor Realistic weight and balance - lateral and longitudinal loads placement Custom made flight characteristics derived from the real aircraft flight recordings and based on real flight manual performance data Calculation of real KIAS based on KCAS according to flight manual Realistic stall characteristics Climb performance according to flight manual performance data Cruise performance data precise match (PRESS ALT, TEMP, POWER, KTAS, GPH) Electrical system derived from the real ELECTRICAL SCHEMATIC Functional Circuit Breakers logic HIGH QUALITY 3D MODEL, TEXTURES AND ANIMATIONS High resolution 4K textures Easy to read, high-resolution panel All switches, buttons and knobs animated Volumetric side view prop effect Realistic 3D night lights effects. Dynamic loading/unloading of 3D parts and plugin logic for FPS optimization _____________________________________________________________________________________ Installation : Download file size is 567.80mb to your X-Plane - GA Aircraft Folder. Installed file size is 962.80mb Notes: None Documents : You get a Manual that at this point is still a bit of work in progress and you can check and download a manual here: AirfoilLabs.com Requirements : X-Plane 10.40+ (any edition) running in 64bit mode - Windows 7+, Mac OSX 10.7+ or Linux Ubuntu 14.04LTS or compatible 64bit version required - Microsoft C++ Redistributable 2013 64bit is required - 1Gb+ Dedicated VRAM Video Card (2GB VRAM Recommended) Current version: 1.40 - Last updated on October 16th 2015Developer Support Site : (AirfoilLabs X-Plane.Org Support) Full v1.40 update notes NEW MENU SYSTEM NEW CAMERA SYSTEM WITH MORE COMPATIBILITY NEW PRE-FLIGHT SYSTEM WITH WINDOWS AND NEW ACTIVITIES NEW SYSTEM FOR CONTROLLERS SETTINGS CHECKLISTS WEIGHT AND BALANCE SYSTEM WINDOWS FOG AND ICING EFFECTS REDESIGNED ELECTRICAL SYSTEM WITH FUNCTIONAL CIRCUIT BREAKERS UPDATED SOUNDS AND ADDED SOUND SAMPLES (AVIONICS FAN, ENGINE COOLING, STALL BUFFETS, etc.) REDESIGNED SOUND MANAGEMENT WITH MORE OPTIONS AVAILABLE INSTRUMENTS, AVIONICS AND RADIOS FIXES NEW CUSTOM COMMANDS FOR EASIER INTERACTIONS TEXTURES CORRECTIONS AND NEW TEXTURES 3D MODEL FIXES _____________________________________________________________________________________ Update Review by Stephen Dutton 26th October 2015 Copyright©2015: 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 10.40 (final) Addons - Saitek x52 Pro system Joystick and Throttle : Sound - Bose Soundlink Mini : WorldTraffic v2 Scenery or Aircraft - KLAL - Lakeland Linder Regional Airport 2.01 by Drankum (X-Plane.Org) - Free (note: personal added items in an office (okay demountable building and vehicles) - KFMY - Page Field, Fort Meyers by Timbenedict3 (X-Plane.Org) - Free

Plugin Update - WorldTraffic update to version 2.1.3 by Classic Jet Simulations The excellent WorldTraffic plugin has been updated to v2.1.3 in the addition now that WT is being available now to Linux users. The conversion to Linux was done by Bill Sparker a well known Linux coder. The update is here: WT_Update213.zip 2.5MB. The full version if you want to do a clean install is here: http://www.classicje...loads/WT210.zip Again there was a list of tweeks, but the plugin has certainly matured very well since the update to the v2 series run. Full changelist is below. While we are on the WorldTraffic page there was another great ground routes editor "AGRE Ground Routes Editor 1.2.1" released by Chopinet here: AGRE Ground Routes Editor 1.2.1 It is windows only and I have tried it out with WINE on my mac, but was not quite successful. But it uses the Laminar Research's WED WorldEditor and nodes to add in the routes, and quick it is... worth adding to your toolbox. Full WT changelog v2.1.3 - (2.1.3) - Added plugins for linux - ATC Radar plugin for Mac now included - Navigraph Approach data is now being used which is apparent for places like the old Kai-Tak airport or airports in mountainous areas. - You can turn off Navigraph approaches if you want to use the automatic approaches which often work better for airports in flatter terrain. There is an option for this in the preferences menu. - The ground model has been enhanced so that aircraft now anticipate turns so that they will turn early before a waypoint with a sharp corner so as to roll out on the direct line between waypoints. The aircraft will also make steering corrections to stay on this center line. - Waypoint angles in ground routes can be any angle now. A waypoint is considered as passed if the relative angle to it is greater than 90 degrees and the distance is inside of the aircraft's turn radius. - Code optimizations to eliminate pause when lots of flight plans were use tail numbers. This should allow you to run all of the Germany flight plans without pauses now. - New SET_PRIORITY command for ground routes to override priority which by default is determined using the ground route distance with the shortest ground routes having the highest priority. See the manual for details. - Planes will now agressively try and get on the runway center line when landing which is evident for places like Kai-Tak - On resynch make sure to put aircraft at the end of appropriate ground route files instead of picking any ground route file - Limit taxi speeds to 54 knots for jets and 35 knots for prop planes so thrust reverers don't cycle on and off during landing and to ensure aircraft are slowing down enough to make their exits. - Aircraft no longer have to land in between the first and second waypoints in a ground route, just after the first one. Many ground routes not following this old rule had aircraft back-tracking to missed waypoints on the runway. - Make final STAR speeds variable based on distance to runway so they don't end up on final approach way too fast. - Exit STARs early if necessary to not overshoot the runway center line. Fixes: - Fix freezing issue resulting from trying to read too many files from call to XPLMGetDirectoryContents function - Fix problem loading flight plans from random folders when a new region folder is added - When waiting to cross runway, don't hold for planes on runway unless they are in a state of taking off and moving otherwise planes can delay for way too long waiting to cross a runway. - fix problem when adding a new region and they all end up getting enabled - Fixed problem where aircraft could use SIDs/STARs from another airport after a resych due to airport id changing if different regions get enabled or disabled... store airport name instead of airport id with STAR/SID file - Fix problem where ATC was ignoring user aircraft when it was a light prop - (2.1.1) Fix problem on Mac when freezing trying to open hidden .DS_Store files - (2.1.1) Fixed the Durian dataref - cjs/world_traffic/tracked_aircraft_id - (2.1.2) Fixed overshooting problem with rising terrain before runway - (2.1.2) Fixed SID processing to make proper use of VECTORs - (2.1.3) Fixed STAR approaches using multiple runways to not always pick one runway, but instead pick one randomly - (2.1.3) Fixed Overshooting planes to use ground routes instead of disappearing once landed X-PlaneReviews have done a quick overview of WorldTraffic here: Plugin Addon Viewpoint : World Traffic by Classic Jet Simulations v1.2.3 World Traffic by Classic Jet Simulations is now available from the New X-Plane.Org Store here : World Traffic and is priced at only US$24.95 To use World Traffic in its full capacity you need a key (after purchase) that will be emailed to you from (Classic Jet Simulations) to install within the plugin to make it work. _____________________________________________________________________________________ WorldTraffic Extensive Features include : General Features Now with Random traffic generation based on an airport definition file specifying traffic type, connecting airports, and traffic volume to allow you to quickly generate air traffic for your favorite areas. Sample flight plans and ground routes are provided for KSEA. These illustrate almost all of the functionality of the application and may be used as examples for your own flights. Several default aircraft are provided with many more to come. Users may create their own aircraft as well. Flight plans can be grouped into zones to enable/disable flights for a specific region or to enable/disable flights for a specific vintage of aircraft. You can organize the flight plan folders however you wish and enable or disable whatever regions you are interested in. Custom sound engine with directional, multi-track aircraft engine sounds with doppler shift. Simple ATC system to allow you to interact with the World Traffic application so that it is aware of your position and can vector you and and assign you arrival/departure runways. Flight information window allows you to quickly find active flights, flight information about that flight, and it lets you view that flight with the track camera. Collision avoidance features for ground traffic so aircraft hold for approaching and departing aircraft, aircraft will overshoot if they are too high or too fast or if there is a plane on the runway, and planes will enter holding patterns if the airport is too busy or their crosswind landing limit is exceeded. Flight Plans User-defined flight plans to specify the flight path of an aircraft or a formation of aircraft. Settable altitudes for each steerpoint in the flight plan where altitude can be in feet above sea level or feet above ground level for terrain following flights. Flight plans can be defined for specific aircraft tail numbers so that a specific aircraft can be defined to follow a multi-leg route. Ground Routes User-defined ground routes to specify specific parking locations for aircraft. Ground routes can be specific to a general type of aircraft, a type of aircraft, or a specific tail number so you can have planes park in the parking spots you want Flight Model Simple, tunable flight model using aerodynamics and ballistics equations from the NASA web site to provide a natural looking flight model accurate enough that you can follow the World-Traffic controlled aircraft. Wind and turbulence affect aircraft so that they will bounce around in turbulence and crab into the wind in flight to maintain desired headings. Afterburner thrust is settable so afterburner-equipped aircraft can accelerate quickly when required, perform vertical departures, and fly supersonic. Aircraft Object Animation and Lighting Custom datarefs are provided to provide your aircraft with full animation of control surfaces, landing gear, canopy, nozzle, engine blades/prop, thrust reverser, lights etc. All types of aircraft lighting is supported and the lights will function correctly depending on the phase of flight and aircraft type. Landing lights will go on and taxi lights will go off when the aircraft taxis onto a runway for takeoff. The strobe lights will turn off when the plane arrives and turns off the runway. Cabin lights will stay on and aircraft doors will stay open for a few minutes after an airliner parks until the passengers are all off the plane. Most other lighting turns off when the aircraft engines are shut down. _____________________________________________________________________________________ Developer Site : Classic Jet Simulations X-Plane support Sites : World Traffic Downloads Support Threads Stephen Dutton 24th October 2015 Copyright©2015: X-Plane Reviews

Would the guest that sent the last (long) comment in this B777 thread, please either become a member so we can reply in kind... The other point is that you can get specialised answers quickly to these sorts of question on the .Org thread (that is what it is there for) Boeing 777 Worldwide professional .Org Thanks SD

I am no American, But it is still noted here as Candlestick? and the logo is the "Sticks"? AT&T is a brand name of course and those brands can change quickly when the money runs out...

Update Scenery Review : Golden Gate, KSFO and South Bay v1.5 by Tom Curtis Golden Gate, KSFO and South Bay is a huge massive area of scenery that covers the San Francisco and South Bay area. There are already in this scenery a large list of the areas airports including: KSFO - San Francisco International airport KOAK - Metropolitan Oakland International Airport KSJC - Mineta San Jose International Airport KHWD - Hayward Executive Airport KPAO - Palo Alto Airport - General Aviation KHAF - Half Moon Bay - General Aviation KSQL - San Carlos Airport GG01 - Clipper Cove, Located on Treasure Island GUQ - Moffett Field And not to mention other items including Golden Gate Bridge, Oakland Bay Bridges, San Mateo Bridge and the Dumbarton Railroad bridges. Alcatraz Prison and the Nike Missile Site Museum. For a full cover review these areas and the above airports from X-Plane Reviews then go here: Scenery Review : Golden Gate, KSFO and South Bay by Tom Curtis (v1.4) This 1.5 version release of Golden Gate, KSFO and South Bay covers the extra inclusion of more detailing on the San Francisco city and port areas. To have a better view of the additions I flew the excellent X-Trident's Bell AB412 to get a closer look. Departure was from KSFO on the Coast Guard pad and flew north towards the San Francisco city area. My render setting are important here to relate what you see in what is part of the Golden Gate package and what X-Plane autogen scenery adds to the overall viewpoint... so the texture res is set at "Very High", number of objects is "Too Many" and the World Distance Detail is set at "High". At first glance the the package does not seem that much different except for a more densely populated city skyline. But standing out is the Candlestick Park Stadium on Candlestick point. It is the smaller additions that can add in visual detailing and you can see the many wharfs and finger maritime warehouses that are located around the shoreline. The Oakland Bay Bridges dominate the view as they stretch out over towards Oakland on the other side of San Francisco Bay. Traffic on the (all) bridges are animated and that adds into the vibrant movement that you require to bring bustling cities alive. Once past the Oakland Bay Bridge you are downtown. Tom Curtis has replicated most of the iconic buildings in this city area, there are too many to list here but the most important ones (or the highest) fill out the view including the Transamerica Tower and the Telegraph Hill-Pioneer Park monument "Coit Tower". The Embarcadero is the main frontage of the main wharf area of the city and the iconic "Ferry Building" is well modeled as well as all the wharf fingers. At Pier 27 is a luxury Liner. There is more items in vessels parked at wharf's (tugs), showboats, clippers and various ferries. Shipping is dotted around on San Francisco bay and many are animated. Famous "Fisherman's Wharf" is well replicated, but more a tourist attraction than a working Wharf. The cities bridges in the Oakland Bay Bridges, San Mateo Bridge and the Dumbarton Railroad bridges are not new to this release, but are significant to mention again in their detail and the added animated vehicle traffic. The "Golden Gate is of course a stand out, and the heavy Oakland Bay Bridges, San Mateo Bridge and the Dumbarton Railroad bridges and the heavily animated traffic is excellent. "The Rock' Is also the first lighthouse and US built fort on the West Coast besides its infamous past as a prison. And is always worth a flyover. So how much does the X-Plane autogen contribute to the scenery... quite a lot actually. I have always been a promoter of the fact that to engineer realistic sceneries quickly in X-Plane it is a great idea to use both angles in creating the basic icons of cities and then letting the autogen do the major point of filling in the surrounding areas. This way you get the very best of an efficient engine and can cover a large area without the large framerate hit you can get with a totally filled out 3d city. Yes I admit it is not building to building perfect, but all you are really requiring is a replica skyline of the city and this approach can deliver that with efficiency. With the autogen scaled back you can see the actual added scenery provided by the package, there is no hope to cover the whole area with efficient 3d buildings, yes there is the Open Street Map conversions and very good they are as well, but it is framerate at a premium we are looking for. Complex and realistic, with North American autogen, for once the San Francisco package works in your favour. Time to head back to KSFO. Nightlighting The San Francisco cityscape is very good in the low light. The city building textures are very realistic and from any angle including the excellent approach to KOAK RWY 09R is excellent. The autogen lighting does not match the package as it is darker... but overall it is pretty effective. The spot lighting on the bridges, doesn't really work, but the wharf areas are quite good. The highlight is the Candlestick Park Stadium at its full candle watt power, as it does look very realistic. Overall at night it is very impressive. Summary This scenery is already an extensive collection of airports and bridges and sharp details that go up to make the San Francisco Bay area. Full of great value and with excellent frame-rate. So it defies logic on why you would want it to be part of your scenery collection. Now there is the added bonus of the full San Francisco cityscape, and in a cohesive way v1.5 rounds off the scenery as the full complete package. Tom Curtis has a great reputation in X-Plane to deliver clever intelligent scenery that gives you a lot for your investment, and here Tom Curtis delivers again. Great scenery, Great package and now even better than ever in this new 1.5 version. TheScenery Review : Golden Gate, KSFO + South Bay by Tom Curtis is available now from the New X-Plane.org Store : Golden Gate KSFO + South Bay Price is US$34.95 If you have already purchased Golden Gate , KSFO + South Bay, Then check into your X-Plane.OrgStore account Features: KSFO - San Francisco International Airport KSJC - Mineta San Jose International Airport KSQL - San Carlos Airport KOAK - Metropolitan Oakland International KPAO - Palo Alto Airport - General Aviation - 18 miles south of KSFO KHAF - Half Moon Bay Airport - 10 miles west of KSFO KHWD - Hayward Executive Airport - 8 miles south of KOAK GG01 - Clipper Cove Located on Treasure Island All airports include : All gates and terminal Global Night Lightning Custom ATC Frame rate friendly Golden Gate Bridge Detailed model of the world's most famous bridge Alcatraz Island The 'Rock'. Used to be home of a federal jail until 1963 Other landmarks All of the piers and other structures along the shoreline from AT&T (Baseball) Park all the way to the Presidio near the Golden Gate bridge. Transamerica Tower located downtown San Francisco Nike Missile Site Museum Bay bridges Oakland Bay Bridge, San Mateo Bridge and the Dumbarton Railroad bridge Developer Site : Scenery4XP _____________________________________________________________________________________ Documents and Installation : Download: 84mb : Installed as GOLDEN_GATE+SOUTH_BAY_150_XP-10 (295.00mb), and four animation files noted Banner Tow (1.5mb), GG Bridge (634kb), San Meteo Bridge (641mb) and SF Bay Bridge (639mb)Tom Curtis provides a full set of instructions on how to install the scenery under: "OPEN FIRST!" Golden_Gate+South_Bay_Open_Me. Internet is required for installation instructions as it is an address HTML link. GOLDEN_GATE+SOUTH_BAY_150_XP-10 is the main scenery file and four other files are noted under GND_TRAFFIC are - GG Bridge, Banner Tow, San Meteo Bridge and SF Bay Bridge are all to be installed in the "Custom Scenery" Folder (These are bridge traffic animations). Supplied also is the "Red Flag" flag animation plugin. Folder "CustomSBDatarefs004" is installed in the X-Plane Resources/Plugin Folder. _____________________________________________________________________________________ Technical Requirements: X-Plane 10 (any edition). - This scenery is not compatible with X-Plane 9 Windows XP or Windows Vista or Windows 7 / 8 (32 or 64 bit) or MAC OS 10.7 or Linux 1Gb VRAM - 2Gb VRAM Recommended. Current version: 1.5 - Last updated October 14th 2015 ______________________________________________________________________________Update Scenery Review by Stephen Dutton 21st August 2015 Copyright©2015: 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 : WorldTraffic Plugin Addons - Saitek x52 Pro system Joystick and Throttle Aircraft Bell AB412 by X-Trident is available at the (Bell 412) X-Plane.OrgStore $35.95