Stephen

News! - WorldTraffic 2.0 Released! Updated 24th August 2015 Since the release of WorldTraffic 2.0 last week there has been an update posted for v2.0.5 v2.0.5 now allows Mac users to use the plugin as well as Windows users and there is a bug fix included as well but still a few outstanding known issues. Notes: Fixes:(2.0.1) Fixes some weird taxiing behavior on takeoff and planes taking off in the wrong direction.(2.0.2) Old Braking Model is fixed.(2.0.2) Fixed logged error with invalid flight plan index filling up log file.(2.0.2) Log aircraft being loaded at startup - a couple of users are reporting that X-Plane is crashing at startup when loading a specific aircraft. If this happens, please send me a copy of the WorldTraffic.txt log file in the X-Plane/resources/plugins folder which logs the aircraft being loaded, and a copy of the aircraft that was being loaded at the time so I can send it to Laminar.(2.0.3) Fixed crashing problem on startup and with large number of flight plans in a single region folder.(2.0.3) Don't read SIDs/STARs if they're already loaded to speed up resynch time.(2.0.3) Randomize found stars before picking one so same approach is not always picked.(2.0.4) Code optimizations that should give a 25% frame rate increase at busy airports.(2.0.4) Fixed problem where route files in only one region folder would get loaded(2.0.5) Updated the code to run on the MacKnown Issues Sometimes you must resynch after starting X-Plane to get aircraft to start moving in the air.Random flight plan generator does not look yet at apt.dat files for custom scenery areas Approaches have not yet been parsed for Navigraph data. STARs work fine and approaches generally work except for airports where the approach path between the final STAR waypoint and the airport follows a complicated approach path like at Kai Tak. This is next on my list to add.This is the full details of the v2.0 release of WorldTraffic and it is a huge significant update of the this exceptional plugin for X-Plane. Details: Support for STAR approaches and SID departures using data provided from Navigraph specific to WorldTraffic.Support for custom approaches and departures for aircraft not using STARs or SIDS. This will work well for custom traffic patterns or define approaches and departures into airports in mountainous areas.ATC Radar window to watch aircraft come and go from an airport (see threads elsewhere in this forum for screenshots)Airport Operations file so you can easily define what runways are in use at an airport based on wind conditions and time of day. Runways can be configured to allows specific aircraft types and also approach types can be specified (eg RNAV, ILS CAT I, II, IIIa, IIIb, etc.) which are matched against the aircraft's nav equipment and ceiling and visibility to determine if an aircraft can land. X-Plane flows didn't work as they don't have enough information and the airport operations file is much easier to define so you don't have to define 1000 flows in WED.Numerous changes to flight plan, aircraft definition, and ground route file formats to support changes requested by users.Airport and runway information is now read from all the custom scenery folders too and not just the main X-Plane apt.dat file.Fuel burn is now calculated for AI aircraft. If you set the arrival and departure airports far apart, the AI planes will be taking off at a high takeoff weight and will accelerate slower, need a higher takeoff speed and will require a lot more runway than when flying only a short distance.Aircraft Callsign now can be defined in the flight plan. if you want to have custom flight numbers for your aircraft. These get displayed on the new radar display. If no callsign is entered, one is generated using the operator IATA name associated with the aircraft and using a random flight number between the flight number range also associated with the aircraft.Alternate Airport can now be defined in the flight plan. If an AI aircraft can't land at an airport because the ceiling or visibility are below minimums or because a runway is not available due to excessive crosswinds, the runway being to short, or the aircraft not being allowed at the airport as defined in the airport operations file, the aircraft will be sent to the alternate airport. This is to get around the problem of aircraft circling forever above the arrival airport if it can't land. Aircraft will land at the alternate airport regardless of conditions just to get them on the ground. If an alternate airport is not defined, aircraft will return to the departure airport if they can't land.Required runway length at MTOW can now be defined for specific aircraft. Most of the time a selected runway works ok but sometimes when an aircraft is at MTOW the selected departure runway might be too short. ATC enhancements to work with STAR approaches and SID departures so you can be vectored along these routes if your aircraft has a FMS. Aircraft ground model enhancements. Aircraft brake much more realistically now and generally take a lot more runway to slow down. Aircraft can also turn a bit faster now at low speeds. There are preferences to turn these features off if they break existing ground routes. I'll obsolete those preferences in a few months to give people enough time to fix the existing ground routes.A lot more little flight model changes including adding a little turbulence when aircraft are going slow on approach so they don't always look like they're flying on rails in calm weather. X-Plane turbulence and winds are already used by the flight model so if you set turbulence to a high value, the AI aircraft bounce around quite a bit. I also watched several videos of landing aircraft to adjust how fast the nose wheel drops during landing, and when the reversers and speedbrakes are deployed and retracted during landing so that looks nicer now. Climb angles have also been adjusted to be more realistic, especially after takeoff and a plane with a higher thrust:weight ratio will climb at a steeper angle. Fighters of course can still do vertical departures.Code optimizations to improve performance.Dataref additions (including durian's)There is a load of fixes and install information in WT 2.0 as well as noted : Install the update as follows:Move the win.xpl file to here: "X-Plane\resources\plugins\WorldTraffic\64" over the old file.Move the CustomAirportRoutingData folder to here: "X-Plane\ClassicJetSimUtils"Move the LOWI.xml and CYVR.xml files to here: "X-Plane\ClassicJetSimUtils\NavigraphData"Move LIVD_LOWI_Columbia.txt and LOWI_LIVD_Columbia.txt to here: "XPlane\ClassicJetSimUtils\WorldTraffic\RouteFiles\LOWI"Move 747.txt and 747_400_BASE.txt to here: "X-Plane\ClassicJetSimUtils\WorldTraffic\AircraftTypes". This shows how you can create aircraft definition files, using a common base file so in this case, the 747.txt file only has a few lines related to the operator and the 747_400_BASE file has all of the aircraft definition parameters not related to operator. You can download the updated 747 package from the World Traffic aircraft addons section here: http://forums.x-plan...&showfile=19827Fixes:(2.0.1) Fixes some weird taxiing behavior on takeoff and planes taking off in the wrong direction.(2.0.2) Old Braking Model is fixed.(2.0.2) Fixed logged error with invalid flight plan index filling up log file.(2.0.2) Log aircraft being loaded at startup - a couple of users are reporting that X-Plane is crashing at startup when loading a specific aircraft. If this happens, please send me a copy of the WorldTraffic.txt log file in the X-Plane/resources/plugins folder which logs the aircraft being loaded, and a copy of the aircraft that was being loaded at the time so I can send it to Laminar.(2.0.3) Fixed crashing problem on startup and with large number of flight plans in a single region folder.(2.0.3) Don't read SIDs/STARs if they're already loaded to speed up resynch time.(2.0.3) Randomize found stars before picking one so same approach is not always picked.(2.0.4) Code optimizations that should give a 25% frame rate increase at busy airports.(2.0.4) Fixed problem where route files in only one region folder would get loadedFeatures (2.0.1) (see updated manual online for more info):Custom approach and departure data should now go in the "CustomAirportRoutingData" folder. This should be kept completely separate from the Navigraph data so it can be shared among users.Added a new field START_FLY_TO_COMPLETION to flight plans. If this is set to 1, the route will be flown to completion and a STAR will only be searched for during the last leg of the route instead of at any time.Set the taxiway name to 0 in ground route files if you don't want to display it and want comments after.Route file changes:The LIVD to LOWI file was modified to use the Fly-to-Completion option so the aircraft doesn`t start looking for a custom arrival to LOWI until it has completed its route and is above the mountains.A custom departure was added for LOWI so that the plane will climb on the heading of the valley until reaching 10,000 feet before proceeding on course.NOTE! You have to change all, yes all of Bluebell's aircraft to work with WT 2.0, and Jesus my god there is a lot to download... As if you replace all the files listed you will have nearly 4200 aircraft of choice for WorldTraffic! They can be found here: http://forums.x-plan...ads&showcat=157 You can purchase this excellent plugin here: Yes! the updated WorldTraffic 2.0 plugin by Classic Jet Simulations is now available from the new X-Plane.Org Store here : WorldTraffic - Price is US$24.95 Stephen Dutton 22nd August 2015 Copyright©2015: X-PlaneReviews

Aircraft Review - Viperjet by Aerobask When it appears you think "why didn't anyone else do that"? And there is a point to that question. A two seater personal Jet aircraft is not your average General Aviation aircraft is it, as most aircraft in this category are for military (training) and in fact all personal tandem seaters except for a few odd aircraft from Burt Rutan like the VariEze which was a forerunner of the Viperjet because this Viper aircraft was also originally created with a pusher propeller 350 hp (261 kW) Continental TSIOL-550 powerplant then known as the Viperfan. Basically the ViperJet is a kit aircraft, homebuilt. The kit costs US$182,000 and you are going to spend another US$300,000 to $500,000 get it airborne, that is if you can find a General Electric J85 jet engine lying around. This J85 version is the MkII as the MkI didn't really fly very well with the underpowered Turbomeca Marboré installed. The original Viperjet prototype flew late in October 1999 at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh in 2000.The MKII prototype flew on 12 June 2005 and you can upgrade your Mk1 to the MkII. The LXR version here uses the P&W JT15D-1A (2200 lbs thrust). This is a thoroughly composite material aircraft for lightweight and strength. And you have to admit the Viperjet is a very striking aircraft for the sort money it costs as you would usually pay about 10 million apiece for something of this nature in built for the military (notwithstanding the military hardware and the outrageous development costs). The Viperjet has all the Aerobask traits, composite aircraft (tick), modern glass instruments (tick), lightweight (tick) and not usually mainstream aviation (tick). But aerobask do these aircraft very well, and they are a lot of fun to fly as well. In saying that the Viperjet is quite different in that "fun" category in the flying aspect. so it makes the aircraft not really fit in anywhere and maybe it is that definition in why Viper Aircraft have sold only a handful of aircraft. Performance: Rate of climb (aerobatic weight) 7500fpm / Rate of climb (gross weight) 5000fpm - Mmo (FL250) 0.72 / VNE (Sea Level) 375 KIAS - Maximum speed cruise (FL280) 400 KTAS - Economy cruise speed (FL280) 350 KTAS - Approach speed 120-130 KIAS / Landing Speed 95-105 KIAS - Landing speed Range economy cruise (with Tip Tanks) 1450 nm. The Viperjet is a striking aircraft, like a slightly smaller smoother version of the Hawk Trainer without the canted rear tailplanes. being composite you don't have the minute detailing of panels and screws, but were they are required they are well done for instrument or wing access and the wing tanks are very well detailed and realistic. The left and right wing sections can clearly be seen as separate construction items and the curves and shape design is excellent. Internally it is very well crafted, no bulky ejector seats in here but leather couches and carpet... not very military in look or feel. Underneath that huge opening canopy, is the two seat formation layout. The front pilot's position has full instrumentation and the rear is for basic instrumentation flying and aircraft control and a handy handgrip to hang on. But at least you can fly the aircraft from the rear position. In the front the panel/glareshelid is quite high and restricts the viewpoint forward, in the rear it is far better and the view is simply excellent. Aerobask has taken a little liberty in the instrumentation and flat displays, but every Viperjet built is different and so there is really no standard in this area, so that is to our advantage than non-compliance. Below on the center panel are four round backup instruments in Artificial horizon, Altitude, Speed and HSI (Heading indicator) and the main fuel switch is set below. Joysticks front and rear are beautiful and realistic, and the rudder pedals are basic lightweight metal. This aircraft you would think being powered by a jetengine would be complex... but it is not, and in fact quite the opposite in being actually very basic. Left panel holds mostly all your main aircraft switches and controls. GPU (Ground Power Unit), Main battery and Avionic power switches, Igniter (to start the engine), Combined Starter & Generator switch (very clever), Boost pump, L&R Fuel Tanks transfer pump, Main fuel Throttle/cutoff and Airbrake levers. An important dial (unless you want to die) is the Pressurization Dial that shows you your cabin pressure. Your outside static elements can be switched on and off here as well that includes wheel chocks and pitot covers. Right Panel is mostly covered in circuit breakers (breakers for gear, avionics and engine are operational). But there are three important pressurization switches and cockpit heating switches. Canopy seal is three actions in pressure, safety lock and the actual canopy release lever. Power on and avionics switched on and the panel starts to come to life. It takes a few moments to start up the avionics but when completed you have nice set of instrumentation. Left to right is first your Falcon AOA (Angle of Attack) Kit with a simple three position flap switch below. Then your main Electronics International MVP-50T EIS engine display that covers most of your engines operational parameters. Below is a Garmin SL 30 VOR (VOR1 & VOR2) Radio and the standard Garmin 240 Radio set below that. Central is the huge Garmin GDU 370 PFD, with built in Artificial horizon, Speed and Altitude tapes, Rate of turn and pitch indicators, and an excellent HSI (Heading indicator) with built in NDB and VOR indicators. You have the excellent X-Plane default GNS 530 built in with popout screen, but the list of buttons on the right of the GDU 370 PFD mostly just duplicate the GNS 530 buttons in operation. The MEGGiTT autopilot is powerful but simple as well and a great addition if you are flying over a distance combined with the GNS 530. Final set is the Garmin GTX 330 Transponder, which is a very nice unit. Undercarriage gear switch is to the side with three green lights showing extended. There are a row of annunciators across the top of the panel (and airbrake extended annunciators) and the main light switches below the GDU 370 PFD for Land, Taxi, Nav, Strobe and beacon. The menus are quite simple in one button for one action and to adjust anything on the MFD you turn the knob top right and the buttons cover HDG (heading), CRS (Course), CDI selection (Nav1/Nav2/GPS) BARO and ALT. On the MVP-50T EIS on the menu you have a Fuel Management Data page that covers Fuel Level Data, Fuel Flow Data, Fuel Tank including dumping the Tip Tanks. GPS data is also shown. You can fill the fuel tanks but only when the aircraft is cold and dark. On the GDU 370 PFD the menu will give you the option of having the WRX weather screen on or off. The rear left switch and lever panel is a duplication of the front pilots panel. The instruments set in an upper console panel are a nice three screen set for Artificial horizon/Pitch/Rate of Turn, central Speed and Altitude tapes and right a basic HSI (Heading indicator). The GTX 330 Transponder and SL 30 VOR units are set out below. Flaps and undercarriage switches are set out left and right like on the front panel. Below on the bulkhead is the MVP-50T EIS and default GNS 530 units. All basic units but you could easily fly as well in the rear as in the front seat as you have everything except the Garmin 240 Radio. Flying the Viperjet You have an external GPU to provide power and a starter for the aircraft and that is activated by a switch on the left console. Central Fuel switch to on, boost pump switch to on, and igniter switch to on... You must take throttle out of the fuel cutoff gate and then just hit the "Start" button and the engine whine will start up behind you, engine startup is fully automatic. "Start" switch to "Gen" is a failsafe clever way to make sure the generator is switched on. Once the engine parameters have steadied down you can switch off the boost pump and igniter switches and close down the external GPU. It is noted that you never exceed maximum EGT (exhaust gas temperature, 710 °C) for more than 5 minutes, to avoid engine failure and that is simulated in this aircraft. Closing the huge canopy is a push of the red lever, once down then pressurize the cockpit with the "canopy seal switch" then switch the engine bleed switch to on to redirect the bleed air to the pressurization system, If correct it will show the pressure on the Pressurization Dial. In the front is is slightly claustrophobic and the view a little tight with the high panel. The undercarriage from a distance is basic and a little spindly but close up wheel detailing is excellent, with all the nuts, bolts and brake components well done. Small details like the push-pull rod that controls the rear tailplanes is well done, and so are the minute flaps and huge main wing ailerons. There are a set of default views set out to the numeric keypad, but I have my own set of default views, so I over-rode them. Lining up the center line and throttle up and the aircraft leaps off the brakes. It is skittish as the speed builds so you have to work to keep the aircraft straight. The Viperjet feels all the bumps and lumps on the taxiways and runway, so you have to be wary of any big ones throwing you off course. Around 85knots and rotate and then your flying nicely and the shuddering stops. The Viperjet will climb well, but this is no MD Eagle F15D, In fact it runs out of puff early and at this weight I found only 10º pitch up was the maximum I could achieve without losing power. You have to keep rechecking the artificial horizon when leveled out as you tend to look slightly down the nose and through the gap in the front and that makes you fly slightly nose up, it is perspective thing. But once level the aircraft will very quickly go to its cruise speed and here about 260knts. As an aircraft to fly manually it is totally easy and brilliant, but I couldn't find the trim knobs or tabs? Instinctively you just want to throw the aircraft around. You can do aerobatics in this aircraft and it would be interesting to see a pro fly this aircraft around, but it is great on the stick and you know you want too... but "hey, lets barrelroll" and yes it is as much fun as it looks, but also harder than it looks in getting the aircraft to come out of the roll cleanly. You keep an eye on that cabin pressure gauge as it keeps you comfortable. Inside the rear the view (10.36 for the review, is now a crap view without the extended scenery in 10.40) but it still gives you the feeling of space and glorious openness inside the aircraft, the window reflections were always a aerobask trademark, and they are very good here as well. The overwhelming feeling while cruising along at 20,000ft is that the real Viperjet must be simply an amazing aircraft to fly and be in, and to own one must be incredible... why, why, is there not hundreds of Viperjets flying around? The MEGGiTT autopilot is a great tool for flying high and fast point to point over a distance, 1,400nm range is not to be sneezed at for such a small aircraft. The panel displays are very good, clear and precise you can target a runway by VOR and NDB points and set to line up the runway by your CRS (course) direction and follow your markers. On approach (I tried both APP and manual) and the aircraft is easy to place and control, the flaps are small but effective and you can sit at 120knts and down to 95knts on landing. The Viperjet is easy to place and it is also easy to mark your point of landing... and make it perfect. Airbrakes are like tabs under the inner wing area and are effective to a point. Your landing speed is critical, but if you have a choice between a long runway and a short one then pick the longer one. As I found out on my first adjustment circuit in that I did stop, but... just. Speed does not run off quickly and the jet is light, and on top of that the bumps and notches in the runway that can have you working the rudder hard to keep it in line, like what happened on the takeoff run. Liveries There are six liveries, White/Red (noted as Red), Silver/Black (noted as black), Checkerboard, Gold/Black (noted as yellow), Silver/Blue and Orange. All are excellent and most are real Viperjet liveries. Lighting The Viperjet's lighting is fine but quite basic. The cockpit is a nice place to be at night. But you only have two adjustments in Instruments and overhead, strangely the backup instruments are lit by the overhead lights and not the instrument adjustment? In the rear it is just as good and it looks professional in quality. External lighting is okay, but the taxi lights shine through the wingpods from the side, tail-light is a bit blobby and is too big. lighting spread is okay but not very wide for taxiing. Summary Overall this is an amazing aircraft, a jet and a small powerful one at that. So who would not want one in their hangar, certainly I would and flying it would be an amazing experience. We can only get a glimpse of that dream here and actually get a chance to fly an aircraft that can be as close as you want to be with out joining an airforce, certainly this aircraft has some potential in being a cheap jet trainer? Aerobask has again pulled out and delivered a different aircraft experience, and one you can fly and even do some basic aerobatics in jet style. Design and great instrumentation means the Viperjet can be a fun all over sky afternoon or a distance flight point to point. The overall theme is the aircraft is very easy and basic to use and fly, yes you still have great gizmos and wonderful instrumentation, but the important bits and radio units means it can be professional flyer aircraft as well, so it is really a good all round trainer and great for VOR to VOR and NDB trials. If you want to learn to fly a faster GA, then this is your aircraft. Set up and flying is easy, nice to fly and you can cruise at 30,000ft and feel on top of the world. Great aircraft and another great design from Aerobask. _____________________ Fully featured and including: The Viperjet by Aerobask is available from the New X-Plane.Org Store here : Viperjet LXR And is priced at only US$21.95 _____________________ Fully featured and including: High quality 3D model with high resolution textures (4K), ambient occlusion, specular and normal mapping Flight model defined according to the specifications of the LXR version. Fun to fly. Fully functional virtual 3D cockpit. Functional rear cockpit (instructor). Panoramic windshield with reflections Integrated systems: Start sequence, pressurization, engine failure, radar weather, setup page Many custom sounds: rolling, gear, flaps, canopy, vocal alert, callout, ... Enhanced sound engine using SASL scripts ____________________ Installation : Download file size is 369.30mb to your X-Plane - GA Aircraft Folder. Installed file size is 435.90mb Notes: None Documents : You get a lot of documents including a good Manual including a basic checklist, Your liveries, Recommended settings and a very good set of real Viperjet documents and MVP50 instruction sheet. Requirements : Windows, MAC or Linux - X-Plane 10.36 or higher - 32 and 64 bit compatible. (X-Plane 9 not supported) - 1.5 GB VRAM Video Card Recommended Current version: 1.0 (Last updated August 20th 2015) Developer Support Site : (Aerobask- Harransor Support .Org) ____________________ 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 10.35 (final) Addons - Saitek x52 Pro system Joystick and Throttle : Sound - Bose Soundlink Mini Scenery or Aircraft - KLAL - Lakeland Linder Regional Airport 2.01 by Drankum (X-Plane.Org) - Free

I can't help you with this because I don't fly online in VATSIM, sorry... put the above notice in the X-Plane.Org threads Boeing 777 Support.

News! - EGCC-Manchester is now available at the X-Plane.OrgStore Aerosoft/Icarus Development Team's EGCC - Manchester is now available from the X-Plane.OrgStore for download only... ... and is priced at : US$22.00 Here: EGCC - Manchester Available in Windows, Mac and Linux versions. Noted is... "During development it was of great importance to make use of all new X-Plane Features, e.g.: HDR-lights, Object Instancing and many more. The Airport is modeled with high accuracy and has been provided with a combination of ultra high Definition (UHD) Textures and High Definition (HD) Textures." Go check out the largest airport in the UK outside of Greater London. Features: Highly detailed rendition of Manchester Airport (EGCC)High resolution day and night sceneryAnimated car traffic around the airportComplete reconstruction of the airport's lighting equipmentAnimated airplane towingAnimated radarHighly detailed manual (PDF)Compatible with X-Plane 10 HD Mesh Scenery V3HD and Ultra HD texturesX-Plane 10 HDR lightningCustom ground textures with about 5cm/px (only airport area) Images courtesy of Aerosoft®/Icarus Development Team Stephen Dutton 11th August 2015 Copyright©2015: X-PlaneReviews

Run the installer and untick the beta box? and it will return you to version 10.35 stable, 10.40b7 is a total dog, horrible! It is best to have two X-Plane versions, one for the beta and one stable while betas are running in case this happens... SD

Are you using the beta? 10.40b7 or other? It is affecting the B777 and B757... SD

You are going to have to learn to step... You are expecting a fully loaded aircraft on full gross weight to fly to a great height in one go? Stepping is a slow climb so you burn off weight by using up your fuel over a distance, a start is to fly to 32.000ft then step 1000ft at 300fpm over 500nm... Did you execute the route? sounds like you didn't.

Beta Update - Released! X-Plane beta 10.40b7 Laminar Research has released beta 10.40b7. So run your updaters! (Steam users cannot upgrade till 10.40 goes final). This is mostly a bug killer download covering video, weather (mostly METAR and high winds), ATC refinements and note the "OS X anti-aliasing was running at 1/2 the selected setting when 4x or higher anti-aliasing was selected. If you liked how your sim looked and don’t want to lose frame-rate, cut your AA setting down" as mostly the AA was not working efficiently well enough unless you were in 8x, so set your setting lower now. And that Nvidia artifact render issue has also been addressed... Here is the details courtesy of the Laminar Research Developer blog Fixes for Beta 7 Metar wind headings now interpreted as true degreesRecorded AVI movies can now be opened on OS XReferences to QuickTime movies in UI changed to AVIs.Fixed crash on start with old Intel GPU drivers on Windows.Fixed sim going into demo mode after a valid product key is entered.Worked around rendering artifacts on Nvidia GPUs in HDR mode with clouds and shadows.OS X anti-aliasing was running at 1/2 the selected setting when 4x or higher anti-aliasing was selected. If you liked how your sim looked and don’t want to lose frame-rate, cut your AA setting down.Grass runways blend with terrain better.Fixed longitude tracking and clicking on the planet map.On startup, QuickFlight screen does not have ICAO pre-typed into airport list, so the entire airport list is visible.ILS and VOR visible on carrier in local map.Fixed erroneous 99 in middle of default apt.dat fileFixed authenticating product keys on Windows when user’s login name has non-ASCII charactersFixed hard crash when loading seriously damaged OBJ8 files – errors are now safely logged.Data output range and distance now reflect ground speed – if you use these for theoretical airplane performance measurements, set calm winds.ATC Who’s Online window always show a name next to a frequency – no more blanksATC Who’s Online window: If a single controller can be contacted on multiple freqs, we only “recommend” (with an asterisk) the first freq.ATC Who’s Online window updates now occur once/second (not once every 10 seconds)Fixed LSND UDP messageFixed handling of flooding VEH1 UDP messagesFixed French translationsOrdnance menu removed for aircraft that do not have ordnanceReplays include slats. Note that this means you cannot mix and match X-Plane 10.40b7 with X-Plane 10.36 for situations or multiplayer.Ridge lift lowered to about 1,000 ft or so, as it apparently is in realityFixed crash taxiway has blank name with no trailing space in apt.datTime of day tracks properly in replaysMETAR sets clear layers lower when the weather is all-clear. This improves upper level visibility when using real weather.Fixed text outside box in Plane-MakerFixed lightning strikes shooting between cirrus cloud layersEngine air density effects now applied to after-burners, which were too powerful before at high altitude.Pressure altitude offset changed from 1,000 feet per inch HG, which it has been wrongly set to for 20 years, to 915 ft per inch hg, which it should have been all alongX-Plane no longer uses port 49002Fixed zoom on ACF in local mapCloud puff types seeded so visuals match master machineGlider beeping noise no longer persists when other airplanes loadedStephen Dutton 6th August 2015 Copyright©2015 X-PlaneReviews

News! - Airbus A319 (Babybus) is released by Peters Aircraft Peter Hagar of Peters Aircraft has released the next aircraft in the A320/A319 series with the A319 Series. As usual with Peter's aircraft the aircraft comes in many different variants and packages. There are two packages in BASIC and EXTENDED. In the BASIC Package there is : A319-114 with CFM engines and WINGLETS with liveries: Lufthansa, LAN, Air Canada, AirFrance, Delta, US Airways, Finnair, Finnair (One World), Easyjet (New livery) Easyjet (Old livery), TAP, TAM, Swiss, Germania, Iberia (New livery), Iberia (Old livery), Alitalia (New livery), Alitalia (Old livery), China Southern and Austrian . A319-112-15 with CFM engines and SHARKLETS with liveries American and Avianca. In the EXTENDED Package as well as the above package is: A319-115LR with CFM engines and WINGLETS which is a LONG RANGE version with 4 Additional Center Tanks (max. Range: 8250 km) AirFrance livery. Special A319-115CJ models with CFM engines and WINGLETS which is the AIRBUS CORPORATE JET with 6 Additional Center Tanks, max. Range: 11100 km which comes in five versions: Operator: Emirates, Luxury airliner & VIP charter and Large roof antenna for media & communication via satellite. Operator: DC Aviation, Germany, Luxury VIP charter. DC Aviation belongs to Mercedes Benz Group. Operator: Czech Air Force, Presidential aircraft of the Czech Republic. Operator: Italian Air Force, Presidential aircraft of the Italian Republic, Medium sized roof antenna for media & communication via satelite. Operator: French Air Force, Former presidential aircraft of French Republic. It has been sold to Senegal, where it also serves for the government. Special A319-115CJ models with CFM engines and SHARKLETS (range 11,500nm) Operator: K5 Aviation, Germany, Luxury VIP charter. Operator: Global Jet Luxembourg, Luxury VIP charter The Airbus A319-115 CJ and LR variants comes with a beta version of Engine Warning Display and System Display (ECAM) A first on Peters Aircraft designs. The A319 with IAE engines is noted as coming. Winglet version Corporate Version The Airbus A319-114 CFM by Peters Aircraft is NOW available from the New X-Plane.Org Store here : Airbus A319-114 CFM - Passenger Prices are noted as: Basic Package: US$54.90 Extended Package: US$68.90 Requirements Windows, MAC or Linux - 64 bit Operating System is required X-Plane 10 .36+ (any edition) running in 64bit 4GB RAM/1Gb VRAM - For more information go to Peters Aircraft Images are courtesy of Peter Hager Stephen Dutton X-PlaneReviews©: X-PlaneReviews Updated 11th Sept 2015 A319A19-115 LR and CJ-115 LR an

Behind the Screen : Fireside chat or Seaside dialog : July 2015 As we have now past the halfway mark in 2015, I thought it would be the best time to have another look behind the screen and a sort of fireside chitchat... Well in Australia we are in the throws of mid-winter, but most of you are sitting on a beach, fishing, cycling and doing all those wonderful hot summer activities that gets rid of the working cobwebs or for many of you a time to find a few hours to finally finish that X-Plane scenery, plugin idea or long forgotten aircraft sitting on your storage disk-drive. X-Plane can become all consuming. In the off time while not reviewing or testing you are still installing airports (and fixing them), cleaning out old scenery and aircraft and a hundred and one tasks that the simulator demands, I even had a T-Shirt made over at the local Shopping centre (can print on anything) and this one is one I like in it says "X-Plane (logo), Building the world one airport at a time!" and another T-Shirt I created is "File a bug!, Ben Supnik Fan Club" I am sure they would sell in their thousands... One thing I found was that you tend to select somewhere (a place) and then stay there for a certain period of time in the simulator. In my case it has been LMML or Malta. I first flew there for the C-17 Globemaster III Review and then stayed there on and off for about a month, odd business certainly but there is a reason to the madness. I wanted to get on top of Classic Jets Simulations "World Traffic" Plugin that I had seen to great effect in the "Aerosoft-Simwings Heathrow" scenery. I assume that most users that have tried to use WorldTraffic have either made it work or dabbled with it and found it too complex? I did at first and this was why I was back for a second shot at it. There was a second reason as well to understand the plugin well, as Version two (v2) is due soon and has a lot of new really great features. So I wanted it running and running well. Yes WorldTraffic is complex, but you can make it far more complex than it needs to be. There is no doubt that this plugin can be one of the really great addons to X-Plane, when running it is mind bogglingly great and the really biggest ever time-waster in watching the various aircraft fly in and fly out of your selected airports, you can watch the aircraft enroute as well. Once captured I was fascinated by the whole system. Then you have to interact with the plugin as well in waiting for aircraft to takeoff or land (It is amazing how much extra workload you have to do with this sort of simulation) but the biggest advantage is that the plugin is excellent in being in the background. I for one thought the plugin would interfere badly, but no as the interface and menu system is very clever, its there but you interact only when you want to or need too. The trick to WorldTraffic is to keep it simple. I went back to basics and created just one airport in LMML (ground routes) and then connected it to another airport in DTTA (ground routes, route) and then had my commuter aircraft (ATR72) run ragged between them. I not saying that WorldTraffic is not completely bug free, because it is mind-blowingly complex but most of those small bugs are to be cleared up in v2. Once I had two airports running it is then easy like a web of connections to add in more and more... like everything else in X-Plane it is highly addictive. I will cover World Traffic extensively when WorldTraffic v2 is released. (small side note in the commitment to WT is from Bluebell and Massimo68 in their contributions to providing aircraft and tools to make the plugin work) But the last few months were really stop-start. X-Plane is known for its periods of slow traffic, then a frenzy of releases. But time was slow and then as usual all came out at once then went back to slow again. You can get caught out on this as you can't review all releases at the same time or in one week. As I note that aircraft are increasingly complex and you need time to dig deep and understand all the ideas and features, This is to be fair not only to the designers but give an accurate review, you just can't rush the process. So you had the lovely DHC-2 Beaver which has been years in the development, and what a great design the aircraft is. So I was deep into the review and then pops up from nowhere the EMB -110 Bandeirante by Dreamfoil Creations. Another instant classic but as noted in the review, I or the EMB 110 did not see eye to eye straight off. My aim in any review is to go more deeper than the aircraft's systems, features and design quality. I want to find the soul of the machine, find it or what makes the design really feel like to translate that to the user. Do these computer created designs have a soul? It is a great question isn't it, but certainly the aircraft and some really great sceneries have a certain feel that translates over. Does the Boeing 777 or Boeing 757 feel like the real aircraft or the Airbus A320 feels like the real Airbus, certainly as the developers get closer to the design and give us more and more real time systems and almost reproduced realistic textures the lines between realistic and reality are starting to be crossed. As when you look closely as do in the reviews you see the almost perfect environment and you can get lost in there as it is as real is it gets. In the excellent Carenado PC12 the cockpit reflections and design was almost so impossibly good, the EMB-110 was another that you really lose yourself in there, so real and so good. Certainly the aim of simulation is to mirror the real world, but how far we have come from the earlier designs were your imagination had to fill in more than a few blanks, that sort of thought is now being replaced by these so real cockpits and almost perfect environments in which you fly. So it does come down to the point of crossing that believability line, and as I noted you can get lost in there and feel the real thing for what it is. So I have found that my reviews have changed to try to mimic the feeling of seeing and flying the aircraft as you would either for the first time or in a realistic way as you would behave in the real world. And its hard to do and cover the same ground over and over to create a new and different review so there is no photocopier effect between all the reviews and they all look or sound the same. The Carenado PC12 is an aircraft I really like, but many users don't like it? I can't seem to work out why not, and yet the EMB-110 is a very tricky aircraft to get right at low speeds and yet users are bowling themselves over to embrace it like they have found the Holy Grail. As to one's own, but to my mind there is not much between the same aircraft as they both fit in the same category. That is not to say I don't like to fly the EMB-110 as it is one of the most challenging and quality aircraft in that category released this year but it certainly requires your patience or will at least test it. One aircraft that I have spent a lot of time flying lately is the Andreas Much's Avroliner (The Avroliner Project) If anyone can have a totally dedicated approach to one aircraft then Andreas is it. If you have the Avro or are thinking of purchasing it then you are really joining a cult more than just adding another aircraft to your X-Plane hangar. First point to make is that the Avroliner is a work in progress, "it is not finished" and I doubt it ever will be. But that is part of the fun, you really don't know were you are actually going to end up or what sort of aircraft you will actually end up with? But it is a lot of fun getting there. So the Avroliner project is of more a crowdfunding project than an X-Plane designer project, but how many designers will in mid-stream totally rip out the inside of the 3d cockpit and then totally rebuild it, far better of course but that is still a dramatic thing to do. And then give you a progress "nightlybuild" as everything comes along every month or so. No doubt the Avroliner project is unique, but in some sort of strange way you feel you are all in this deal together. So why not a review? Well until the aircraft goes into a released version (it is noted as v7.6) then it is still a work-in-progress. I am building up flights and well "doing a lot of flying" so is that an excuse? well yes it is but "it's a great excuse", and the Avroliner is a great simulation, and quite tricky to fly really well (STOL) but certainly very entertaining. Laminar Research's 10.40 beta is still rolling out. It may be slow but certainly I am very impressed. The extended scenery visuals are amazingly good, and fills out a huge hole (black card) in the overall look and feel of the simulator... It took Laminar Research a long time to get around to doing this, but like with everything else they do it was done right when it came, for that you have to give them credit. My biggest fear (and the swirling rumors) was that it was a frame-rate killer and you had to have huge amounts of ram to cover for it, but nothing is far from the truth really (Although the HD textures can soak up a lot of your space) I found the computer absorbed the extra depth without a murmur and even runs better than with rather than without it. Yes I love it, yes it is about time as well, but well worth the wait. More features to come yet from the 10.40 beta, but Laminar are holding the cards close, but that poker face can't hold out for much longer. One thing that is really obvious is that the site is a bit of a mess. As anyone does to change or upgrade to new software it is always going to cause chaos and send the perfect posts to do strange things. But like with all change then the site also has to evolve and merge into something better. X-Plane Reviews has moved over to the Invision IP.Board v4 and that means a lot of improvements that comes with the new software, it is still far from finished but we are closer to the end than the start, but the site is still fully workable and navigation is still intact, hopefully the transfer will be completed before our 2nd birthday in mid August, at least then I will have a party all by myself... Happy Flying... Stephen Dutton X-Plane Reviews©: X-Plane Reviews2015

I don't fly online in Vatsim, but I can't see why not? try the X-Plane.Org B777 support forum. SD http://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?s=2c841fa5f578a8f5f994f1eabf8535cd&showforum=152

That's great, these aircraft have to be installed correctly because of their complexity and or that makes them a bit messy and buggy? A reinstall is always a good idea, It is also a good idea to keep a version that is working correctly in the aircraft folder if you upgrade, that lets you double-check if it is the "aircraft", the "update" or X-Plane itself that is wrong, if the original still works fine you know it is not the aircraft and X-Plane at least. SD

Are you getting this issue with the G1000 with other aircraft, my point is that is a global (X-Plane) issue or a B777 issue?, it is odd because the X-Plane default G1000 should not effect the FF B777 plug in? so something is wrong? Are you up to date with the current 10.35 X-Plane version? If not you may have to contack flightfactor or try the Dev thread on the X-Plane.ORG... http://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?s=f80ae2048e8653a4a78767219bae9c57&showforum=152

You can turn off any failures in the tab menu. Also make sure you start directly from the desktop and don't move the aircraft with the local map or airport placement and try that... SD

Aircraft Update : Boeing 777 Worldliner Pro/Extended v1.8 by FlightFactor/VMax FlightFactor/VMax have updated their excellent Boeing 777 Series Pro and Extended versions to v1.8. This update is basically revolves around the cockpit and not many changes to the flight or external sections of the aircraft. This aircraft is quite mature now (as I have noted in other updates) but the odd tweak now and again does not hurt the design. There was a lot of discussion around the cockpit textures since the release of the aircraft, most notable was that they were average or poor. Personally I couldn't see the argument to the point of how notably the textures of being that bad, not perfect I admit as were the gaping holes in the windshield. Even a 3rd party redid the whole lot of textures to which again I couldn't see the really big significant difference? and it was worse on your framerate. But everyone was happy, and what we need in X-Plane is happiness. So FlightFactor/VMax has redone the cockpit textures and cleaned up a lot of the knobs and switchgear and the right hand side MFD can now be used. At first it doesn't look much different (because it is so familiar) but after a short period of flying the aircraft you do notice how much more sharper and cleaner everything is, notice the active lighting on the buttons and you can see how much more realistic they are, and some areas are based on the textures used by the 3rd party (pumper) that was significant in the redefining of the cockpit textures. The side (autopilot) eyebrow/glareshield form is much more better as well, and finally you can't finally see the outside scenery through the main instrument panel (top under the glareshield) so your eyes are picking off the changes all over the place and overall it looks far better. There has been far more changes here than meets the eyes, but most will be overlooked as we are very used to most of it. The older night textures looked like this... They have gone from a yellowish glow to a greenish glow, but the newer upper images version does look more restrained and more natural. Spot light lighting is also improved as you can see behind the pilot's chairs, these lights are well up and behind and buried in the rear of the cockpit. Side airport map panel looks better as well for quality and readability. There is now also new mouse wheel support (Microsoft C++ redistributable 2013 is required for this to work) for Windows users. Another change is that now you click the actual speedbrake lever and not the area by the side of the lever. For me this is welcome because you actually had to move you point of view to arm the speedbrakes, a small thing but nice... I also found you can now see the Co (company) route to load it into the FMC system. That will save you having to go to the aircraft file and delving through the plugins folders to remember what route "Co" name you saved it under, a nice time saver. There is no doubt the Boeing 777 philosophy in this being a great aircraft for simulation in X-Plane. FlightFactor/VMax have been very good in the updates and keeping the aircraft as one of the best for deep simulation and incredible systems that give you a real understanding and feel of what the Boeing 777 is as an aircraft. I will just re-note the packages in the Boeing 777 Series. Boeing 777-200 LR - (Boeing Worldliner Professional) Boeing 777-200 ER - (Extended Pack - With PW4090 engines) Boeing 777-300 ER - (Extended Pack) Boeing 777-200 F - (Extended Pack) 777- 200LR 777-200ER The -200ER is significant because the Pratt&Whitney PW4090 engines are noticeably smaller than those giant GE90-115B turbofans on the -200LR. PW4090 GE90-115B 777-300ER The B777-300ER is a 33ft stretch over the standard Boeing 777. Now one of the most common B777 version with 721 ordered and only 250 aircraft left to be delivered, you will see plenty of these at your major local hub. 777-200F (Cargo) The excellent 777-200F comes with a huge side loading cargo door, great for all the haulers... The v1.8 update covers all versions including the Professional and Extended packages. Summary No doubt any update is a good update and again this is a good one, the greenish texture colour is debatable but far better than the ghastly yellow hues. Some areas that should have been addressed, like the over animated wingflex and still none opening front doors? and still you have no-accessible second officer separate FMC (input) unlike what you have on the FF B757 and that is surprising considering how long the aircraft has been released. But this is a great aircraft, extensive systems machine designed to work like the thing with an accurate flight model. It is certainly a classic in X-Plane and one of the top ten in the simulator. Yes get the Boeing 777, in fact get all of the versions in the extended package you will be wanting nothing. Full changelog: 1.8.0 change log (all X-Plane 10.30+ 64bit) - added mouse wheel option - added new panel 3d and textures (based partially on pumper's add-on) - added right side mirror control and MFD screen manegment - changed the way the speedbrakes are armed - click on the lever Note: starting from v1.8.0 FMS version and model version might differ. This is done for the convenience of the customer which does NOT need to update this libraries and redisributables. _____________________________________________________________________________________ The 1.8 update is now available from the X-Plane.Org Store here : Price is US$59.95 - Boeing 777 Worldliner Professional Price is US$84.95 - Boeing 777 Worldliner Professional - Extended Pack - Designed by FlightFactor (Philipp and Ramzzess) and produced by VMAX The 1.8 update is free to all users that have purchased the Boeing 777 (Pro and Ext) Series. Just go to to your X-Plane.Org Store account and log-in to download. Features: Fully Functional FMS - Plan your routes like a real pilot Custom designed Flight Management Computer, integrated with other plane systems Custom programmed LNAV logic for terminal procedures Custom designed Navigation Display Tterminal procedure database with RNAV approaches and transitions VNAV managed climbs and descends Takeoff and approach speed calculation Custom autopilot modes for autoland Optimum cruise performance and step climb calculation True-to-life radio navigation with procedural-, route-, and navigation support auto-tuning Custom programmed FMC navigation using GPS-, radio- or inertial navigation with individual position errors and management of actual and required navigation performance Magnetic, true and polar grid course reference Alternate airports, diversion and arrival management Ground proximity warning system using real sounds FMC can be used on external touchscreen or tablet, optimized for the new iPad Excellent 3D modeling: Amazing virtual cockpit with crisp details - Dynamic reflections Custom 3D sounds and Announcements Add-ons: Push-back truck, Fuel Truck, Passenger bus and Emergency slides ... On-Screen Menus: Configuration and loading menu, Quick Zoom new in v1.80: Superb night lighting in cockpit. see cockpit pictures at night _____________________________________________________________________________________ Developer Site: facebook Dev Thread : X-Plane.org _____________________________________________________________________________________ Technical Requirements: Windows XP , Vista, 7 / 8/ 10 (32 or 64 bits) or MAC OS 10.7 (or higher), Linux Ubuntu 14.04LTS or compatible (older versions are not supported) X-Plane 10.30+. 32 or 64 bit (64bit recommended) 4GB RAM/512 MB VRAM (1GB VRAM Recommended)- 1Gb available hard disk space Current version : 1.80 (last updated June 23rd 2015) Update Review By Stephen Dutton 27th June 2014 Copyright©2015: X-Plane Reviews

There is a slight issue with crashes on the Mac with the A350, but also the A332. I have extensively tested both... They both fine on a Mac, my personal thoughts are with a clean SASL start up, If you start the aircraft from the desktop then the SASL plugin will start correctly, but if you move the aircraft in X-Plane via the local map or place it at a gate via airport, it screws up the plugin in not restarting correctly. Be aware of this issue and all aircraft that use the SASL plugin will be perfectly fine.

beta mode function is a new feature in X-Plane, some aircraft have it but many don't, it is a slight manual repositioning of the propeller blade angle beyond the normal low pitch stop, which helps the idle. But it has not been significantly explained on how it works in X-Plane, but there is a key selection to turn it on.

Aircraft Review : Epic E1000 by Aerobask Welcome to the latest aircraft from Aerobask. This is the Epic E1000 and the largest composite aircraft done by this developer. With the aircraft is still undergoing development and certification expected in late (4Q) 2015. This is a powerful and currently the fastest single-engine turboprop yet built. It uses the 1200 HP Pratt & Whitney PT6A-67A engine installed on a very modern composite aerodynamic airframe to deliver true ‘jet-class’ performance for the price (US$2.75M) of an advanced turboprop. And performance is what this aircraft is all about. The Epic can do a cruise speed of 325 kn (374 mph; 602 km/h), climb at 4,000 ft/min (20 m/s), has a range of 1,650nmi (1,899 mi; 3,056 km) (1385 nmi at maximum cruise speed) and fly at an unbelievable ceiling altitude at 34,000 ft (10,000 m). If you want to go up there with a Boeing 737-800 maxing out behind you then "hey" be my guest... but you have to admit those specifications are very impressive. So X-Plane Reviews headed out to the West Coast of France to Bordeaux–Mérignac Airport to look the aircraft over and see if that performance is real, and can this aircraft really fly alongside the light jets. Epic E1000 by Aerobask Many users are now very familiar with Aerobask's design philosophy. Aircraft like the Twin Star DA-42, Pipistrel Panthera and the Lancair Legacy FG are all very composite designs and significant new generation aircraft. And the Epic E1000 certainly follows on in that vein, the only slight difference is this is not a light spec aircraft here, but a more larger General Aviation/Executive design. And for molding those smooth sleek almost dolphin shaped designs you won't find any one who can do this better. The Epic is one nice looking aircraft. These aircraft are very hard to dissect, because they are not built around a frame or modules, but are formed as a one piece moldings with the smaller components making up the whole. So they can be unnaturally smooth and very hard to make interesting. Aerobask is one developer however who can bring these aircraft to some distinction, so the design here is excellent. The aircraft its on a tri-cycle landing gear and they are quite tall and sits the aircraft well off the ground, the rear wheels are a trailing design and very well designed here. Externally the aircraft is excellent and comes in High-Res textures of 4K. There is no window tab menus, but a menu panel in the center of the panel that gives you various options internally and externally. Top row is the static elements (tags, chocks and covers) and a portable GPU (Ground Power Unit) which is very nice. Third button along is the "FPS Boost" which helps in your framerate if you are marginal by removing the seats and other various no-essential item. I found the aircraft very framerate friendly, overly so... So your computer would have to be pretty average to have to use this. Second row of buttons covers the panel in left and right yokes removal and the excellent window and panel reflections, bottom row single button is to open or close the single rear passenger door. The panel is dominated by two left and right Garmin G900 Primary Flight Display (PFD) displays, the center display (MFD) is another on the surface an G900 display but here it is a modified X-Plane GNS530 unit instead. Note these G900's are only an accurate representation of a real G900, and not an exact replica of the instrument but they are very good never the less for that. Lower panels include the main switch gear on the right (yoke removed) center is an excellent MEGGiTT autopilot and Garmin GMA350 radio unit, with below a small pedestal unit with a throttle, propeller (feather) and condition levers (throttle has power "Max/Idle" settings and a "Beta" reverse thrust setting). The cockpit, panel and rear cabin lighting adjustment knobs? are very small and hard to see behind the levers. Left lower panel is just the climate and oxygen controls. The aircraft has a unique way of switching on the various systems... the three rows of buttons are set out to be used at the various points of getting the aircraft ready for flight and in order. Top row is the "Pre-Start" Second row is the "Pre-Taxi" and the lower row is the "Systems". The Pre-Start includes the batteries, fuel pumps and igniter and starter gen settings. This will power up the G900 screens, but not the central display. For that you need to switch on the avionics master on the second row... and on the right "Lighting" panel the "Panel" button. Other "lighting" panel items include Ice (wing light) Land and Taxi lights, strobe and Navigation lights. Another lower button panel is your "Ice" buttons for de-icing boots, the propeller heat, the window heat, the inertial separator, and the pitot heat. Modern flight displays are quite complex and menu driven. And you have a lot going on in this display, and there is no doubt this is the best G900/G1000 style display in X-Plane at the moment. There is a side panel Engine Information System (EIS) on the left within the display, and this can be switched off to give you more visual space to the main flight instruments that are all artificial horizon, speed and altitude tapes, bank roll scale and roll pointer and HSI (horizontal situation indicator) or heading pointer all in one. You have also a "setup" menu to do more finer settings under the "PFD" menu button. Here you can set your "Audio Alert" in a women's voice that you are doing something wrong. Baro HPA/IHNG setting, Reflections (screens), TEMP units in ºC or ºF, Decision Height and a Overtorque limiter which is simulated. You can test all the systems by pressing TEST under "alerts" and in the sidebar there are the main ENGINE displays of Torque (TRQ), Temperature (ITT), Propeller RPM (NP), power (NG), fuel flow (FF), and oil pressure & temperature and cabin pressure, and a fuel quantity overview. Pressing SYSTM information about electrical amps & volts (generator, battery, bus 1 and 2) and the FUEL for fuel pressure, fuel quantity, fuel remaining, fuel used, estimated endurance and estimated range. Radio VOR1/VOR2 and COMM tuning is set out at the top of the display and the tuning is done via the side knobs and switching them over via the Push 1-2 button. Transponder XPDR is set via the menu buttons on the XPDR page. The standard GNS530 feels a big large expanded for its central role and even the pop out screen is smaller than the installed one? The knobs and buttons are slightly different as well and so if you want to save time the pop out is sometimes quicker to use. But you do have all that great GPS functionality available to you. You also have a built in to the GNS GPS both the Checklist and Emergency Checklist as well, for... Emergencies. Flying the Epic E1000 My flight was a loop around the southern western areas of France. In leaving Bordeaux to Biarritz then skirting the Pyrenees in going inland to Pau and then looping back again to Bordeaux.... A 265nm flight to nowhere! Flightplan in and booked (sorry activated) and your ready to start the engine... Propeller and condition levers up (no propeller pitch change?) Press the button, hold and wait and soon the engine whines up and into action. Set your ALT (alternator), Fuel (auto) and if required the manual tank selection is on the floor under the pedestal. and lower SYSTM's on in Auto-Pilot, Trim, Air Pressure, Hi (Air Pressure), EMER (Air Pressure). Sounds in starting, start with the starter click and the power start whine and then running gives you a great rumble. Great sounds if you have a very good sound system hooked up to your simulator (yes I do). The engine soon settles into its warm up pattern and your ready to go so the whole startup process is simulated. The propeller when running is just a flat disk which is disappointing, but looks very good from the cockpit. You need to pull the COND lever back to idle to taxi or if not your will take out a bit of the scenery, as the aircraft will shoot off the line. Even then I found the idle position still a bit too fast when taxiing. Turn tight and the front wheel does not turn enough into the radius either?. When lined up on the runway don't forget to put the COND lever back into Flight mode and then power up... This is a very powerful single engined aircraft and so the asymmetrical thrust is really quite strong so you need to be prepared for the power. Departure is via RWY05 which is the wrong way to my flightplan, but the wind direction changed so I will have to circuit LFBD before I pick up my plan on the western side. At 130kts I do a slight rotate and then a full pitch to 2000fpm to climb away from the airfield... and yes this aircraft can climb. You tend to feel into the aircraft and find its balance which is very good and let the speed rise, gear up which is very well animated by Aerobask and I'm in the turn to find the circuit. I'm going to 7500ft at first to let the aircraft settle down and build more speed for the climb to 22,500ft. The MEGGiTT autopilot is highly impressive. Easy to use and to set, in you just select your altitude and then press the UP or DN buttons to select your rate of climb. The aircraft will easily handle 2000fpm, but watch your speed because the aircraft can't keep that pace up all the way, so I came back to 12000fpm and then 900fpm and then 500fpm to keep the speed moving in a positive direction. And watch your air pressure is working as if not it will tell you that you need to pressurize the aircraft. And soon you are getting mighty high for a small aircraft like this... and you can get a lot further up than this. The aircraft is nice and fast in the air, but I wouldn't call it jet like, as it is too noisy for that... The sounds however are amazingly good, I turned my speakers up and just loved that turbine running hard in front of me. You can use the GPS to check your route and position, and note the excellent on the far left of the pilot's display the back-up altimeter and artificial horizon. Great vertical display and routing information is well built into the GPS unit. I will profess though that I never found the pilots position really comfortable? the distance between the seats and the display panels is quite small in viewing terms, and those panels are very large when you are this close-up to them. On the X-Plane "Rendering Settings" Menu I set the lateral view to 075.00 degrees to give me more of a better viewing angle, although Aerobask noted that 65º is better but I really needed more than that... And to a point this worked quite well, but move even slightly back and the seat quickly covered the view. Many would like this small cocoon of an area to work in but I found it a little restricting, and the high sloping center glare shield meant the view forward was quite small as well and you had to lift yourself higher to look over the panel, I found the best view out was left and down which was far better and good for approaches. You are not used to coming down from a high altitude with a lighter aircraft like this, so you have plan your descent point at a far longer position than usual when flying small aircraft. In this case the Epic is like a light jet in descent and speed points. Note the reflections which are excellent for realism. Your speed control is very good, you can easily match (with the throttle) the right speed you need (even slow). I could easily balance the aircraft very nicely at 160knt and then down to 140knts when the descent was completed to start the circuit for the approach, and the aircraft gives you confidence, the power on tap allows the two stage flaps (noted as TO - Takeoff and LANDING - Landing) is a little simplistic but effective in operation. On this flight I used the ILS approach system and tuned the airspeed back to around 100knts for landing, this is great but watch out for the drop as X-Plane cuts you off the beam, you are still quite high and so you are suddenly free and the aircraft will slightly wobble. you need to give the speed a little nudge upwards to keep that descent clean, flare is good, but this stick undercarriage does not have as enough give as you would like, but get the flare right and it is not a problem. The aircraft uses the "Beta" toggle function to reverse the propeller pitch for reverse thrust. This means you get throttle control by using the "toggle" reverse and not the "full reverse" selection. In other words, hit the toggle key or button (like you do to open the reverser doors on the heavy jets) and the aircraft goes into beta mode and throttle up the reverse thrust you require, when done throttle back to idle and re-click your toggle to resume normal throttle control. It works here very well, as the rev thrust power is powerful. Don't forget to set your COND lever back to ground idle even if the women's alert voice is complaining about your engine's condition... Lighting I flew the Epic E1000 again to see what it was like in the twilight... but first some nice pretty pictures! The aircraft inside and out looks very nice in the softer light, It is very nice to fly and look at these points of a time and a place. The idea is to make these large displays workable in a dark cockpit, you can certainly adjust the display brightness via those small knobs behind the throttle lever, or even for a quicker solution click the "panel" lighting "off" on the lighting panel. The lighting is not focus, focused in the sense of being very spot like, but just an overall light darker or lighter. It is very adjustable in that way. And you can have the cockpit really bright if you want to. HDR off HDR on When HDR is on the lighting is more slightly focused than with HDR off, In fact the differences are not that overall significant to switch over to HDR if you don't require the need. External lighting is fine but not anything overwhelming. You have a left wing light to check for ice, and the standard beacon, nav and nice strobe lights. The landing lights are good but very spread out on each wing tip, so there is slight dullness between them and the central taxi light, but overall they are all you need. In the cabin there is the modern touch of great LED strip lighting. Liveries There are nine liveries in a few real aircraft, a few fictional and a commercial in Somma Aviation. Default is N44GB which is available in hi-res and low-res. All the liveries are design by a quality artist in XFlyer. Two more are available for download from Aerobask's site.. Summary If you liked any other Aerobask aircraft (and who doesn't) then the Epic E1000 will fit very nicely in your hangar. This is another very fine aircraft and brilliantly done in all context by this very forward looking developer. Design wise and execution it is very good. Sounds are glorious and detailed if you have a great sound system, they certainly add to the overall experience. It is certainaly a nice aircraft to fly and the greatest feat is that you can for a GA/Executive aircraft fly over a high mountain range like the European Alps than around them. It is not a light jet or a jet in that capacity, as good as it is, but it is an outstanding small fast point to point light aircraft. Very modern and totally up to date. Negatives, not many really. I'm not crazy about the propeller in flight from the side, as it has no pitch adjustment and is razor thin, inside though it is very realistic so visually it is a tradeoff. It is tight in there in the control seat but the real aircraft could be the same? no baggage door either, but it looks like the real aircraft does not have one either, suitcases on your laps I suppose. The replacement center display with the GNS530 is very clever and very well intergrated and highly functional, but feels quite large and over-sized in your view point. Frame-rate is very good, it never caused me any problems, but if you have your texture resolution set (very high) then the numbers are above 1000gb or a 1gb of your graphic cards ability so you would need a 1gb card or higher. HDR on was no issues. Overall at that price the aircraft is a great investment, well done and a very much larger sized aircraft than before from Aerobask, like I noted if you like Aerobask's other aircraft you will really like this one... It is the best yet from Aerobask. ____________________________ The Epic E1000 by Aerobask is now available from the X-Plane.Org Store here : EPIC E1000 priced at only US$23.95 Installation : Download is 384.20mb that is unzipped to 454.40mb (all liveries) to your X-Plane - "General Aviation" Folder. Documents : Great detailed manual and tutorial with excellent information on how to use the aircraft. Performance tables and checklists. A real detailed instruction sheet of the PT6A Engine. There are camera presets, but I found they interfered with the X-Plane default. Requirements: Windows, MAC or Linux X-Plane 10.35 or higher - 32 and 64 bit compatible. (X-Plane 9 not supported) 1.5 GB VRAM Video Card Recommended Version 1.1.5 (9th April 2015) Version 1.1.5 There has been a slight upgrade to the E1000 to version 1.1.5 New sounds : rolling runway, touchdown & skid dry. Fix minor PFD bug (position). Fix knob CRS-BARO : CDI course setting is more accurate now. Fix turn bank indicator. Updated manuals & checklist Go to the X-plane.OrgStore for the 1.1.5 update and to your account to download, but if you just want the updated manuals and checklist them go to Aerobask's site Features High quality 3D model with High-Res texture 4K, specular and normal mapping. Fully functional Virtual 3D cockpit. EFIS including the new GNS (by Laminar Research), checklists (Normal/Emergency), Weather radar, TCAS, setup page and vocal alerts. EIS, including 3 pages : Engine, System and Fuel Fully animated : door, flight controls, canopy, gear, all levers Panoramic windshield with reflections Many custom sounds : engine, gear, flaps, door, vocal alert, callout Liveries : more 8 different paint schemes designed by XFlyer Ice effects (windshield and wings) Propeller disc effect Ground Power Unit, flags and wheel chocks Toggle yoke visibility left and right Simulated systems Start procedure - fuel system (automatic balance) - taxiing with beta mode - anti ice system - Pusher - Autopilot - Pressurization - Overtorque limiter Support forum for the Epic E1000 Review by Stephen Dutton 11th April 2015 (updated) 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 256gb SSD Software: - Mac OS Yosemite 10.10.1 - X-Plane 10 Global ver 10.35 (final) Addons - Saitek x52 Pro system Joystick and Throttle - Bose - Soundlink Mini Scenery - LFBD - Bordeaux-Merignac (France) - by XPFR : Scenery for X-Plane (XPFR : Scenery) Free

The reverse thrust system has been changed on X-Plane... you now have to just open the REV doors, and then put the throttle up. I have a key (or in my case the joystick trigger) set to the key "reverse thrust toggle" and that will open the doors for you and click it again after you bring the throttle back to idle then to close the doors again. Note this system does not work on reverse thrust on prop aircraft? SD

Yes of course, uncheck the checkbox "Start each flight with engines running" in the Operations & Warnings menu under "Startup" The A350 does have a system in the User Guide that runs you through the start up procedures and they are situated on the OIS or MFD displays, but you have to power up the aircraft first (as I note in the review) to see them.

Hi Thomas, I have attached a PDF version of this A350 XWB for download on the bottom of the review

Thank you, but consider X-Plane 10, It is well worth the investment SD

One manual is part of the aircraft located on the OIS or MFD in the "User Guide" menu. The other version is In the A350 files it is noted as the "Briefing.pdf"

Well thank you for your comments Pepel81, The pilot is Roman, the designer of the A350, so if you can tell him to get off his own plane then good luck with that (laughs), but seriously yes it is a great aircraft and I am sure many people will give us good procedures on how to fly the A350, and I am sure that a paintkit will be made available. Most of the fun with simulation is learning how to fly and start up aircraft from cold, I will admit that sometimes it is not that easy to do as real planes are just as hard. But that is the reason to learn, the A350 comes with a full manual and built in startup procedures in the checklist selection, so take your time to read it all and understand the systems, it will come but it does take time and the results are very rewarding. Best wishes SD

You are correct, changes have been made... I looked everywhere to get the right wording, but I couldn't find it (always noted as OP CLB). As the aircraft follows such a distinct profile, then I thought that "Optimum Climb" was correct, of course it is not. Thanks SD