Stephen

News! - X-Plane goes 11.20 Final... Usually X-PlaneReviews will cover any significant X-Plane version release, but v11.20 will always be known as the VR version, or Virtual Reality and you need (expensive) addon gear to access the VR feature. By all accounts most users have lavished praise on the tech, but remember and more the reason I haven't yet took the plunge into VR (I have tried it though) as the tech is still in development and the noted cost factor barrier will hopefully soon come down... as a long time tech nut I was always the head in first in new tech, but now I just have been burnt financially to many times and a $600 headset is certainly to come down to a more reasonable price and better features... the new Oculus Go may be the answer but it does have a few limitations, a sort of Oculus Go Pro would be the perfect choice. Currently supported are HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, and Windows Mixed Reality (WMR). Full detail on specifications on LR VR here... this knowledge base VR article But kudos to Laminar Research in bringing this major tech to X-Plane, X-Plane had 64bit long before other simulators and now VR as well. The new aircraft addition in the Aerolite 103 a brand new ultralight aircraft was also included in v11.20 for trying out VR The X-Plane LEGO construction set was also extended with more customisable jetways giving airport developers far more options in creating jetway components and actions. Note the far better lighting textures on the jetways and the terminals... ... more terminal variations and styles (facade) have also been introduced. It was Sydney's turn to get the "Landmark" Treatment with the Opera House and the Coat Hanger (okay Sydney Harbour Bridge) being added with great detail.... But overall this is still not the Sydney skyline that is required for a visual simultor, but it is a good start... Of course there has also been added in another huge batch of "Global" airports that now total 6665 WED sceneries. Other v11.20 notes include: Many GPS & FMS fixes & improvements. Higher performance graphics code enabled for AMD drivers. In-app purchasing option for new demo users. Updated German translations. New alert messaging system. Fixes for dead-reckoning improved for formation flying. Enhancements and new options for .joy configuration files. Improved night lighting textures in far views. Columbia 400 aircraft with new G1000 (3D work by Captain_Noob 75) So v11.20 was a more a tweak and touch update, but the simulator does feel very stable and efficient. But overall it was for all the virtual fliers out there. Here are the full X-Plane 11.20 Release Notes Images and text are courtesy of Laminar Research ________________________________________ News by Stephen Dutton 8th May 2018 Copyright©2018: X-Plane Reviews

I'm sure I disabled that one? to stop the menu options showing all the time? I'll double check, Thanks

Aircraft Review : TB10 Tobago & TB20 Trinidad by JustFlight/Thranda for X-Plane11 I own and drive a French car. My first French car was a Peugeot 505 and I didn't keep it very long because it was riddled with electrical issues that were the sort that if you left the battery connected it could simply go on fire. But there was something wonderful about it (when it ran correctly which wasn't very often) that I connected with, it was quirky, but had features that were very clever and it handled like nothing else. So with the next few cars in my life I missed the quirkiness and they all felt ordinary (i.e. boring) compared to the 505. So when I bought my current Peugeot 406 I pulled it apart in front of its previous owner to make sure it was solid... It was and I have had it now for 13 Years. I can't sell it, because what would I replace it with... something boring. It is a French thing, a sort of "je ne sais quoi" as you can't really put your finger on it, but it's just different and not of the everything else. And so are aircraft the same... I think so, the Airbus A320 is very different from the Boeing 737 and yet they do exactly the same thing. In general aviation the American aircraft have totally dominated the genre for decades, but a few European designs have also done very well. One is French in SOCATA (Societe de Construction d'Avions de Tourisme et d'Affaires) with their Rallye family (3,300 sold!) and in the early 70's they wanted a bigger aircraft than the Ralle for the very lucrative four-seater market, or in other words to "Take on the Yanks". The current Rallye could actually squeeze in four people, but it was in reality only a two seater and its performance and the range was small. This resulted in the TB series or as they have become known the "Caribbean Planes" as all the aircraft were named after Caribbean Islands, TB by the way is designated by the city of Tarbes, the French city as where the aircraft is manufactured. As with the Rallye the TB Series was just as successful with over 2,150 aircraft built, the last aircraft produced was in the early 2000's as sales dropped off after the 9/11 event, but many are still flying and the aircraft are immensely popular. So here is from JustFlight and Thranda their second type of X-Plane aircraft release after the Arrow lll/lV series with the TB10 Tobago and the TB20 Trinidad. The differences are small, but the Tobago is the earlier 180 horsepower (134 kW) fixed wheeled version and the Trinidad is the later more powerful 250 horsepower (186 kW) aircraft fitted with retractable tricycle landing gear. Here are the two types, first the TB10 Tobago... The aircraft is a 1975 era lovely all-metal, cantilever low wing, single-engine aircraft design, with a quite wider than tall cabin at 49 inches (124 cm) at the shoulder, plus or minus. In part, this is due to the fuselage having a pronounced "round out" above the wing. Adding in to the actual spaciousness, the side windows extend up well into the roof line, giving the Socata a very airy feeling inside and that it can also (squeeze) in the rear seat three passengers across a bench seat. This wider cabin does however come with a few negatives in weight and speed compared to a similar American design, but owners have reflected that it is minimal tradeoff to the light, nice handling and the overall general comfort that the aircraft provides. The TB10's 180 horsepower (134 kW) Lycoming O-360 piston engine gives the aircraft a top speed of VNE of 165ktns and VNO cruise of around 128knts. TB20 Trinidad The Trinidad came along five years later with the more powerful 250 horsepower (186 kW) Lycoming IO-540 six cylinder piston engine, and was fitted with retractable tricycle landing gear. Weight was up 100kgs to 800kgs (empty) but VNE was now 187knts and VNO cruise was up to 150knts, service ceiling was up to 20,000ft (from 13,000ft) and the range was extended out from 697nm to 1,100nm. You get both aircraft in the JF/Thranda package and the type version is selected via the choosing of the livery, of which there are six liveries for each of the different aircraft type. A note in that the personal settings you set for one are then available in the other, so you don't have to do your settings twice for each aircraft. Another note on this aircraft selection setup in the X-Plane replay still also views the aircraft as one .acf load and not separate individual loads? So you must make sure that the aircraft you want to replay is the same aircraft you saved the aircraft in and the aircraft version is currently viewable in X-Plane, or you may get the wrong aircraft in the replay? This is originally like all of JustFlight's aircraft a FlightSim/P3D design converted to X-Plane (by Thranda), so it is not a pure X-Plane construction, but like with the Carenado's we sort of get the best deal of the two simulators because of the use of X-Plane's more dynamic features and lighting. That said the aircraft is more of a semi-matt finish than a gloss exterior and this does give the aircraft a more FS feel overall than pure X-Plane, as the Arrow lll had a very nice glossy feel to it, it then felt more of the other way around. Detailing is however outstanding of which at this price it should be, but it is very good with a lot of wear and tear well produced here. It does feel very high mark Carenado than most, but that is not a bad thing. All riveting and panel design is first rate, but the highlight is the glass, here it is beautifully formed and reflections are about as perfect as you could get. I like the aerodynamic fences just in front of the windscreen, which is great detail, as are the row of HF and VHF Antenna on the roof. Tail is highly detailed and again with an addon aerodynamic device. Lower tailplane is really a one single (large) wing rightly positioned across the tail and is very effective, detailing again is excellent with rear navigation light and aircraft build plates under the tailplane. End of wing lighting assemblies cover landing and taxi lights, navigation and the well modeled globe strobe light, under wing is well constructed with even the bolts protruding out of the wings ... impressed. Undercarriage action is excellent, top-notch animations with all the links all separately animated, so the gear retraction or extension is highly realistic, even beautiful to watch... ... the wheels just don't move straight up or down, but sort of drag themselves into each position as they would on a real aircraft, hi fine detail. Construction detail of the wheel assemblies are also top-notch and beautifully crafted. Internal Design You pretty well know that an French aircraft is not going to be internally like a Cessna, Piper or what have you. There is no flat panel with instruments affixed to gaze over, but there are instead separately boxed in instrument panels with a tall centre console, it is different with the same sorta feel I have with both my Peugeots, with the same but different and it all comes with a Gallic charm. The cabin fitout is a lot of grey with a few side blue highlights, and it is nothing like the glary red internals of the Arrow, and it is all even a bit on the dull side, but it is authentic. On various TB's the Instrument boxes are usually the same on the pilot's side but can be different height's depending on the instrument selection on the right side. Note the very nice clock built-in to the right yoke. I am still debating on if the texture feel on the instrument surrounds are right, the real cowling material is more of a hard looking, but softer to touch plastic, but here looks too hard, I think it is the colour that doesn't help as most material in TB cockpits are more a darker grey, some are light blue that dirty and wear very badly, But this is a tough material to replicate and overall the look is very good... Cabin fitout is excellent and highly detailed. There is a lot of different textures on show here from plastics to moldings and cloth/vinyl covered seats. The seats are very well done, but in some lighting conditions they come across as too glossy and a bit false, a few notches down in the gloss and think they would look better, the colour again doesn't help in it being a slate grey. Another point is that the seat inserts I think are cloth or that velour material, but the overt gloss again sorts of ruins that effect in certain lighting angles. In the footwells the rudder pedal assemblies are excellent with just a nice touch of chrome here and there, all items like the door catches have both French and English text for authenticity. There is a sort of sportscar feel in the cockpit that is heightened by the high and long centre console, Your fuel tank switch, large trim wheel (stabliser) and Knob (rudder) with Carburettor, Throttle, Prop and Mixture levers are all very handy for use. I particularly like the sticking up seatbelt locks that feel very 70's in their design. Menu The JustFlight style menu is the tab on the left side of your screen, and you can thankfully dissolve it or make it transparent by using your scroll wheel over it. The menu is boxed of over six across to four down in choices. Personally on the Arrow I thought it looked old fashioned, but I have got used to it as it is handy and easy to use. Top row covers the doors and walkaround items... By the menu you can open both forward doors, you can also open (and close) them manually by lifting the lever (like in the Arrow), which opens the door to a gap, and then pushing it up to fully open, and just grab the door to close and then relock. Walkaround menu items include ice fluid door and it also refills de-icing fluid, and opening Baggage door. Forward is the Oil check door and Engine inspection panel, sadly the cowling doesn't come off to see the full engine. Second menu row covers GTX 330 (transponder) pop-up window, GNC 255 pop-up, GNS 430 GPS popup (or the GTN750 payware add-on by RealityXP, if it is installed) and you can toggle window reflections, interior glass dynamic reflections and instrument glass dynamic reflections. there is a clever toggle feature that I have used many times of the overhead dome light if the engine is running, or the flashlight when starting cold and dark. Third Menu row covers a toggle for the KAP 150 (autopilot) pop-up, toggle for altimeter barometric pressure scale between InHg and mb. Toggle for the automatic fuel selector, which will automatically switch the fuel tanks every 20 minutes to avoid fuel imbalance, toggle for the Refill menu window... for Fuel, Battery Voltage and you can simulate Spark Plug fouling and Vapour lock. There is a Weight and Balance window (not actually on the Arrow), but it a bit basic compared to others (vFlyteAir's is excellent) but it works as you can still adjust the four passengers weights and baggage via a animated graph, Fuel can also be set and the results in lbs and inches are all listed below. There is a sound adjustment panel that covers Master, Avionics, Gyro/Pump, Radios, Enviro and UI sound volumes and the look of the panel and use is excellent. Fourth Menu row covers Quick Start (invaluable), Checklist which comes in a very nice clipboard folder, a "Flight Computer" panel is certainly very handy for longer distance flying as it shows you your fuel flow and estimated endurance and range and used fuel, speeds and wind. Like the Arrow there are two native X-Plane items in logbook and Ground handling? and the final Static Elements... Elements include Chocks, Tiedowns, Tow bar (useless unlike the FS/P3D version which works), Pitot and Engine inlet covers and a Yoke lock (that locks the yoke but the flying surfaces still move?) and some tiedown tools (weights?) that are attached to ends of the wings. Our friendly animated pilot also goes home with the static elements activated as well. As mentioned the Menu is quite comprehensive but basic in parts and very good in others, but it is very easy to use. And far bottom of the menu you can change the liveries inside the plane, I prefer to use the aircraft menu because of the two distinct types of aircraft. Flying both the Tobago and Trinidad First thing to note is the slightly different panel setup's between the two aircraft. In the TC10 the lower pilot's side panel is mostly blank... In the TB20 version the undercarriage switches and indications are set out here. Also different is the Emergency Landing Gear control (arrowed left) and the Alternator air control (arrowed right). Warning lights top panel have three lighting situations, Green for Normal, Amber (Yellow) for Caution and Red for immediate action required. As such there is no switchgear? The centre panel works by basically popping the fuses, Yellow button down for action and Red (or popping) for inactivity. The panel covers all the Lights, Master power and Alternator. Flap indicator and flap selection (Three Stage in Retracted - Takeoff - Landing) Fuse Panel is left and down of the pilot, There are three buses with: 60-amp ALTr – between the alternator and electrical system 70-amp BAT – between the battery and electrical system 30-amp BUS 1 – bus bar 1 supply 30-amp BUS 2 – bus bar 2 supply 30-amp BUS 3 – bus bar 3 supply Manual notes the fuses work, but I didn't get no actual actions (they all worked on the Arrow?). The centre ALT popper (arrowed) is interesting in that the circuit breaker is calibrated at 60 amps and limits the alternator electrical load to the battery and electrical system. So in the event of over-voltage, the alternator control unit cuts off the alternator field and the amber warning light labelled ‘ALTr’ illuminates on the top annunciator panel. I usually set my twin-throttle (X-56 Rhino) to one lever the throttle and the other lever for the mixture for single-engine flying, mostly to control the hi-speed while taxiing in leaning the mixture. I have the same set up here, but the lean was not really required. But if you do decide to use the lean, it then gives you a far wider range of speeds in the taxi so you can find the exact right speed you require. This range setup then gives you one of the most nicest taxiing aircraft in a GA I think I have used in X-Plane, you can adjust the speeds finely via the throttle to turn corners and sprint (if allowed) along long taxiways. If you listen to the sounds with the TB Series here, you will be impressed, good is an understatement, but you have to listen for the subtle more than the grandeur. A headset will help, but good bassy speakers are great as well. All sounds are 180º in spectrum, but in the startup and the adjustments of idle you will be inspired. To me good sound is the reflection of changes in your environment and of course engine tones, if the sounds match your actions perfectly you are on to a great thing in the overall realism of the moment. In most cases I have the instrument reflections switched on and still do here. But it does create a sort of greyness across the instruments in certain lighting conditions, and it doesn't look very realistic either? Turn the reflections off in the menu and the instruments are certainly far, far better and clearer. It is odd in that only the dials have the reflections, but it affects almost everything across the panels? Flaps are set to "Takeoff" and it is the difference of about 20knts in 75knts to 95knts in speed if you takeoff with the flaps retracted. This is the TB10, so when you rotate you don't do a high pitch, but more of the same, but with just a little nose up... Those flaps do however create more of a barrier than a help with their heavy drag (the TB20 is a little better with the extra power) so in in most cases a flaps up position is a better way to gain flight. The sounds are excellent from an idle of throbbing to the drum, drum of the power required for flying, the range of aural feedback throughout the throttle adjustment is also very, very good. +80knts and 600fpm will give you a nice power to climb ratio... 787fpm is max or recommended, the TB20 gives you far more room at 1200fpm, but the Tobago is not a fast or powerful aircraft, even by GA standards os you have to kind to the aircraft... ... but what the Tobago lacks in power it totally gains in handling... it is a simply amazing aircraft to fly, light movements and the total ease of control from the moment you leave the ground, as it is a really lovely thing to be in. I would certainly highly recommend this aircraft for any first time fliers, it is certainly one of the best to understand and feel what a good GA is really all about. It is also quite a contrast to the Arrow lll, which by all accounts was a serious challenge to fly, a more of a "take control of the beast" rather than an easy plane to fly, but don't get me wrong as that is the major huge attraction to that aircraft as well as if you get it right it is then extremely rewarding flying machine. A significant point that is noticeable about aircraft from JustFlight is that setting the trim balance is very important. Again the Arrow lll was very, very sensitive to its trim, and worse the position of the trim wheel well down low between the seats made it almost impossible to adjust (I did try to set this trim on the Rhino knob, but that just made it even 10 times worse). If you set the trim correctly before takeoff in the TB series the aircraft is fine, and adjustment is far easier to manage later as well as the trim wheel is easily in your same line of sight. The BendixKing KAP 150 autopilot is also light-years better than the cantankerous AutoControl IIIB in the Arrow, it is far more versatile as well and easy to operate (and it pops out for use). In cruise (slow in the TB10) the aircraft is a very nice pleasant place to fly, sounds are again really good, but the TB's can get a little engine drummy thrummy over a period of time, you either love it or get tired of the sound over distances (The Arrow was the same in this case as well). Instruments The instrument layout is quite basic, but it is still very flexible in use. Both yokes can be hidden, and on the pilot's yoke there is an autopilot disconnect, and trim switch. Co-Pilot's yoke gets that lovely clock to gaze at... Standard Six instruments that are centred in line of sight of the flying pilot with the Airspeed Indicator, Artificial Horizon and the Attitude Indicator on the top row and the Turn Coordinator, Heading Dial and Vertical Speed Indicators set out directly below and are lovely and clear (reflections off). On the right top is a Garmin OBS VOR indicator (VOR2) and the same ADF indicator below. Annunciators are positioned at the top. A Giro/Suction dial is lower panel. On the co-pilot's panel there is only the Artificial Horizon and the Attitude Indicator flying instruments, the others are engine or atmosphere related in two instruments that are lovely and set (at an angle towards the pilot) RPM dial and Manifold pressure (inHg) fuel flow/fuel pressure (gallons per hour / PSI) gauges. Far right is Cylinder Head Temperature (CHT) and Exhaust Gas Temperature (EGT) top, middle is a M377C outside air temperature (OAT) indicator and VDO hour meter bottom (same as a hobbs). There is a Emergency Locator Transmitter (ELT) switch (active) and a Stormscope -WXR. The Stormscope doesn't work like it does the FS version as it is restricted to the X-Plane weather system, so all it really does is show crosses of the storm? How effective this all is debatable. Lower right panel is a KR 87 – ADF set and a very comprehensive TKS – ice protection panel that has windshield de-ice (fluid) with default propeller and structural de-ice systems, but you have to make sure you keep your fluid topped up, the amount left (US Gallons) is shown on the panel. Cabin environmental panel is also active and effective. The lovely chrome vents are animated by both the outer and inner adjustments (arrowed). Top of the tall centre console is a pointer marker readout panel that covers (L to R) Oil temperature and Oil pressure indicators (L & R) Fuel tank quantity indicators and a Voltmeter, very distinctive it can be hard to read in daylight, but it is very authentic. Lower in the equipment avionics stack is a KMA 24H audio control panel, Native XP GNS 430 GPS / COM 1 / NAV 1 unit (or if required RealityXP GTN). A Garmin GNC 255 COM 2 / NAV 2 unit, Benedix/King KN 62A DME unit, Benedix/King KAP 150 autopilot unit and bottom a GTX 330 transponder unit. So the TB Series are both well equipped with gear and all the main avionic panels pop-out. Lower left panel are switches for NAV/GPS toggle button, Electrical attitude indicator (AI) power, Radio master switch (avionics), Autopilot power switch and DME NAV 1 / NAV 2 selector that selects whether the GNS 430 or GNC 255 is used as the input to the KN 62. (TB20 panel is shown with gear selector). Arriving back at KHAF and lining up on RWY30.... then speed control is essential with the TB Series, as the aircraft are well known for their poor low speed capabilities, but that doesn't mean they are not stable in the lower speeds, in fact I found it a nice platform if you stick within it's constraints. Like with all flying there is a trick to certain aircraft, but this one also has a nasty surprise? First after disconnecting the AP then make "really" sure the trim is centred, then lowering down to around 90knts is a nice clean approach speed. 85knts or lower is required for one flap down position... Then you will have your work cut out to get the speed down to 70knts or less to drop to the vital second flap position, minimum throttle and pitching the nose up can rub off speed, but it can also lose you height, if you are really good at it and get yourself into that almost stall zone of nose pitch and off throttle sink in that you can drain off the speed and then drop the flaps, and then with a push of the power to keep you still airborne... ... but try to be over smarty and drop the flap to "landing" too early or too fast and you will hit a brick wall as the aircraft will easily gain two hundred or three hundred feet in a moment and enough in height to tatally ruin your perfect approach. And that final flap positioning is also very draggy, draggy and almost arrester wire stall in effect, real stall noted is 53knts (keep it just slightly below 60knts) and you just don't want to go there. Throttle control is now everything in keeping and losing height, but I have done a few landings now in both variants and have had a simply perfect landing every time with perfect throttle control. Damn it is a nice aircraft to fly... ... as were the Arrow lll sort of intimidated you and pushed hard on your skills, the TB Series doesn't as it is peach to fly, but just be aware of that heavy flap drag... Lighting There are three knobs left on the main pilots panel that adjusts the forward lighting. Top knob is for the main instrument brightness, the two lower ones control two large lights above the pilots heads, so you can go from almost complete darkness to a very bright cabin lighting. The overheads do however give you a lot of control on how you light up the panels and consoles, so you can get the almost perfect lighting settings for night flying if you are willing to play with the adjustments (far bottom wide image)... The top marker gauges are lit by hanging bulbs, which is really well done, they are connected however to the main instrument lighting adjustment knob which means you can't have bright instruments without the bright bulbs. There is a roof light for the rear that is switched on via a roof switch. External lighting is very good, but a little too bright in the navigation and strobe lights, top beacon is nice and the two sets of lights for taxi and landing in the left wing are the modern halogen variety. A note for those who use the replay mode a lot, then keep the strobes off while flying, as they stay on and are quite bright in the replay and sort of spoil the effect in both day and night conditions... Liveries There is a blank for each variant, then five liveries again for each variant, all are very high quality 4K designs with a nice spread of registrations. Summary The release of JustFlight's/Thranda's Arrow lll series lifted the bar and price of general aviation aircraft into X-Plane. It was and still is a very good aircraft, but it did come with a certain convoluted aspect in that it was and still is only for the most skilled of fliers who could fly it really well. This Socata TB Series is really the totally opposite of the Arrow lll in that respect, as it is very easy and a really lovely aircraft to fly and highly accessible to early fliers and learners to get the feel of a high grade GA aircraft without all the sheer complexities that is involved with flying at that level. Only point to master however is the very forceful drag from the flaps, one position is so called easy, the down full position is harder to master if you are new to this aircraft flying thingy, but otherwise the aircraft is a total gem. Detail and feature wise then the Scoata twins are packed with everything you desire, but they are not cheap either, at least in this case you do get two interesting variants for the single price, and a very nice pair they both are. I have gotten used to the JustFlight vintage style menu system, mostly because it is very accessible and easy to use, but it still looks out of date compared to a lot of others. A lot of the quirks that annoyed in the Arrow lll's have been addressed here, this includes the resizing of pop-ups, Weights&Balance manager (if basic) and the Autopilot is far more easier to use and has more functions. The interior is not at all as dramatic as the Arrow lll's red overload, and in some views even a little bland as the textures are very hard to reproduce, the greyed out colour scheme doesn't help here either, but it is all very well done and looks authentic in most lighting conditions, a more darker grey contrast may have helped more out in like there is on the real designs. The instrument reflections bland out as well in certain lighting conditions and the seating is too glossy as well, and so overall the cockpit environment could have been a little more realistic compared to the overwhelmingly excellent Arrow interiors. Sounds are simply first rate with 3D audio effects in complete 180º, and with atmospheric effects, and adaptive Doppler effects, but overall it is the total realism that comes through, though the drum, drum in cruise could get boring even if it is perfectly real. Of course the pick is always going to be the TB20 of the pair. It is a lot faster, climbs far quicker and has a far better range, but in reality both aircraft are a lot of fun in the air, and ultimately that is their real attraction, They are just simply great aircraft to fly in the air and taxi around on the ground, quality costs of course, but certainly these French twins really deliver... Highly Recommended! ______________________________________________________________________ Yes! the TB10 Tobago & TB20 Trinidad by JustFlight/Thranda is NOW available from the X-Plane.Org Store here : TB-10 TOBAGO & TB-20 TRINIDAD Also Available from JustFlight Price is US$41.99 Features Model Accurately modelled TB-10 Tobago and TB-20 Trinidad, built using real-world aircraft plans Numerous animations including passenger doors, baggage door, cockpit window, sun visors, oil cover and dipstick, engine access door, TKS fluid door and NACA ducts Ground equipment including chocks, pitot cover, engine intake covers and tie-downs 4096 x 4096 textures are used to produce the highest possible texture clarity Bump and specular mapping used throughout the aircraft to produce a truly 3D feel Engine exhaust vibration effects Cockpit A truly 3D virtual cockpit right down to accurately modelled seatbelts, screw heads and animated seat backs - every instrument is constructed fully in 3D with smooth animations Cockpit textures feature wear and tear (and even fingerprints!) based on reference photos taken in the real aircraft to produce an authentic environment Interactive checklists for every stage of flight Panel state system which will automatically save the panel state whenever a flight is saved and reload the panel state whenever that flight is loaded Aircraft configuration system that will allow you to choose between 'cold & dark' or ready for take-off Numerous 2D pop-up panels are included to provide easy access to cockpit controls and instruments, all accessible from an unobtrusive panel selector Fittable control lock for preventing control surface movement or insertion of ignition key Fully functional and comprehensive IFR capable avionics fit including: - KMA 24H audio selector unit - GNS 430 COM 1 / NAV 1 radio and GPS unit - GNC 255 COM 2 / NAV 2 radio unit with frequency databases, recently used frequencies and flight timers - KN 62 DME unit which can display information from NAV 1, NAV 2 or its own inbuilt receiver (NAV 3) - KAP 150 autopilot unit with navigation, heading, altitude and pitch hold modes, and self-test functionality - GTX 330 transponder unit with flight timers, altitude information and monitoring - KR 87 ADF unit with active and standby frequencies, mode selection and flight timers Functional WX-1000 Stormscope with integrated TCAS and checklists Interactive logbook panel for logging your flight details (FSX and P3D v1-v3 only) Ice protection system with fluid quantity indication Flight computer panel with useful information such as fuel burn, endurance, speed and wind speed/direction Independently operated left and right panel instruments including attitude indicator and altimeter Cockpit vibration effects Flight1 GTN 650/750 integration in the virtual cockpit – toggle between the GNS 430 or GTN 650/750 (Flight1 GTN 650/750 sold separately) using a simple-to-use switcher tool Aircraft systems Custom-coded fuel system including the option to have automatic switching of the fuel tanks for use on those long distance cross-country flights Custom-coded electrical system with busbars and functional circuit and switch breakers Realistic landing gear system with emergency release on the TB-20 Functioning alternate air and standby vacuum controls Failures including spark plug fouling, limited battery life, vapour lock and more Realistic engine oil and TKS fluid usage, and battery drain Preferences (GPS choice, engine failures and sounds) are saved and restored on every flight Refill menu – pop-up menu for refilling engine oil, TKS fluid and fuel, and recharging the aircraft battery _____________________________________________________________________________________ Requirements: X-Plane 11 CPU: Intel Core i5 6600K at 3.5GHz or faster Video card: 4GB VRAM (GeForce GTX 1070 or better or similar from AMD) Windows 10 / 7 / Vista / XP, MAC OS 10.10 (or higher) or Linux 1GB hard drive space Installation Download of the TB Series is 642mb and it is installed in your General Aviation Folder as a 807mb folder. Documents Documentation is excellent with one (large) manual included: TB-10 TB-20 X-Plane manual The main aircraft manual covers everything including aircraft install, data with a fully detailed instrument locations and feature points and aircraft procedures and Checklists (124 pages) TB_Paintkit (photoshop) is also provided _____________________________________________________________________________________ Review by Stephen Dutton 7th May 2018 Copyright©2018: 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: Windows - Intel Core i7 6700K CPU 4.00GHz / 64bit - 16 Gb single 1067 Mhz DDR4 2133 - GeForce GTX 980/SSE2 - Samsung Evo 512gb SSD Software: - Windows 10 - X-Plane 11.20 Addons: Saitek x56 Rhino Pro system Joystick and Throttle : Sound - Bose Soundlink Mini Plugins: Environment Engine by xEnviro v1.07 US$69.90 : XPRealistic Pro v1.0.9 effects US$19.95 Scenery or Aircraft - KHAF - Half Moon Bay by Rising Dawn Studios (X-Plane.OrgStore) - US$19.00

News! - Just Flight release new Aircraft in TB10 Tobago & Trinidad JustFlight have released their next aircraft in the French Socata TB series of the TB10 Tobago & Trinidad. Feature list is HUGE, but so is the price at US$41.95 Model Accurately modelled TB-10 Tobago and TB-20 Trinidad, built using real-world aircraft plans Numerous animations including passenger doors, baggage door, cockpit window, sun visors, oil cover and dipstick, engine access door, TKS fluid door and NACA ducts Ground equipment including chocks, pitot cover, engine intake covers and tie-downs 4096 x 4096 textures are used to produce the highest possible texture clarity PBR (Physically Based Rendering) materials with real-time environment reflections for superb quality and realism Detailed normal mapping for down-to-the-rivet precision of aircraft features Cockpit A truly 3D virtual cockpit right down to accurately modelled seat belts and screw heads - every instrument is constructed fully in 3D with smooth animations Cockpit textures feature wear and tear based on reference photos taken in the real aircraft to produce an authentic environment Interactive engine start checklist that responds to user inputs and sim variables Interactive checklists for every stage of flight Aircraft configuration system that will allow you to choose between 'cold & dark' or 'ready for take-off' (if aircraft is stationary on the ground) Fully functional and comprehensive IFR capable avionics fit, including: - KMA 24H audio selector unit - GNS 430 COM 1 / NAV 1 radio and GPS unit - GNC 255 COM 2 / NAV 2 radio unit - KN 62 DME unit - KAP 150 autopilot unit with navigation, heading, altitude and pitch hold modes, and self-test functionality - GTX 330 transponder unit - KR 87 ADF unit - Support for RealityXP GTN750 (sold separately, Windows only) Interactive logbook panel for logging your flight details (X-Plane native) Flight computer panel with useful information such as fuel burn, endurance, speed and wind speed/direction Yoke-mounted flight timer/clock GoodWay compatible Ability to change barometric units from InHg to MB in altimeter adjustment Option to activate flashlight from within pop-up window, to aid in those pitch-black cold and dark starts at night Pop-up autopilot window Option to remove window and instrument reflection effects Animated toe brakes Radio knob animations routed through plugin logic, for optimum movement fidelity and sound synchronisation Aircraft systems Custom-coded fuel system, including the option of automatic fuel tank switching for use on those long distance cross-country flights (this option is remembered for future flights) Custom-coded electrical system with functional circuit breakers. Circuit breaker logic is linked to X-Plane's internal failure logic, so if the plane is set to fail a certain electrical component after a certain number of hours, the circuit breaker for that element will pop out. Realistic landing gear with slow/fast tyre rotation animation (blurry when rotating fast), precise shock absorber animation and wheel chocks and tie-downs Dedicated interactive engine pop-up window displaying values such as fuel tank weights and imbalance, fuel pressure, oil pressure, oil temperature, battery charge (with quick charge option), and information about spark plug fouling and vapour lock condition Simulated vapour lock condition, with warning pop-up and suggested actions Simulated spark plug fouling condition, with indication of percentage of fouling Lighting system includes separate lighting control for gauges (via rheostat) and realistic implementation of navigation light / radio light rheostat Functional electric trim control on yoke Custom external light logic with custom strobe light pattern and custom light halos for added realism Liveries The TB-10 is supplied in the following paint schemes: N5548C G-CBHA D-EABM F-GTQF VH-TBA The TB-20 is supplied in the following paint schemes: SX-ATK CS-DDK CS-DEP D-EPIM G-VPPL Other features Realistic and accurate flight dynamics based on real-world performance and handling data, and input from TB20 pilots Authentic sound set, generated using X-Plane's state-of-the-art FMOD sound system Custom sounds for switches, doors, warnings and more, featuring accurate location placement of sounds in the stereo spectrum, 3D audio effects, atmospheric effects, adaptive Doppler, exterior sounds spill in when window or door(s) are opened, different sound characteristics depending on viewing angle etc. Comprehensive manual with panel guide and performance data PSD Paint Kit included so you can create your own paint schemes Dedicated pop-up window for sound mixing, allowing for individual adjustment of the volume of exterior sounds, in-cockpit sounds and various effects Custom weight and balance manager window Requirements are also quite heavy, but if you have purchased their Arrow series, you will know the hi-quality that comes with these aircraft X-Plane 11 Intel Core i5 6600K at 3.5GHz or faster 8GB RAM or more DirectX 12-capable graphics card from nVidia, AMD or Intel with at least 4GB VRAM (GeForce GTX 1070 or better or similar from AMD) Windows 10 / 7 / Vista / XP, MAC OS 10.10 (or higher) or Linux 2GB hard drive space JustFlight are here: JustFlight Should be on the X-Plane.OrgStore very soon... Images and text are courtesy of Just Flight ________________________________________ News by Stephen Dutton 2nd May 2018 Copyright©2018: X-Plane Reviews

Behind the Screen : April 2018 The title of this month's "Behind the Screen" should actually be "The Good, the Bad and the very Ugly". It is all related to scenery of course as all there was this past month was scenery, scenery and more scenery as there was earlier in the year there was just aircraft, aircraft and more aircraft, who says that things don't come in three's, fours and even sixes. There was one major constant between every scenery, the good, the bad and even the ugly and that was that developers are not understanding the finer points of the way their scenery is intergrated into X-Plane. In fact this aspect started earlier in the year, but for some reason the issues just got worse and had me going to the point of frustration. Don't get me wrong, many developers are very good at this, but it is amazing how many are really rubbish at it as well. My biggest beef is with Ground Routes and the ATC layouts set out in the apt.dat data. First of all the minute is a little complex, but it also needs to be correct in making sure all the i's are dotted and all the t's are crossed. Mostly this is for the WT3 (World Traffic 3) generations, but it goes far deeper than that. The issue is that developers layout the ATC routes in WED (WorldEditor) and give them a once over and then move on to the rest of their scenery development. initially the ATC ground routes look perfect and even a few tests will prove that they work, but they don't. WT3 requires far more information from the built in ATC data to function correctly in creating ground routes but more importantly data for running the airport in locations and runway use. Now you would say that "so what" my A.I. aircraft work now "so what is the problem"... The problem is that to a point WT3 is a bit ahead of everything else in X-Plane in this area and for the reason we use (or I do) WT3 than the built A.I. system, as WT3 in its design layers itself as to NOT be burdened by the inadequacies of the native systems, but it is still burdened by the native ATC system if it is not set up correctly. So the issue is that when the native ATC is refined and then working as it ACTUALLY should, then all the issues that is now hindering WT3 will then surface later in the native A.I. and ATC as well. The issues are really just the minute, but they have large impact on making the ATC and A.I. system work effectively. For one most developers don't set even their basic settings like Gate type or Category, or even make sure the actual aircraft will fit in that actual gate. (note how many GA's appear at a airbridge gate? a lot) You can even set the airline code as well. For GA's there are tie-downs and the operation type. The routing to the gates from the main taxiways are mostly always missing as well (just the runway and taxiways are laid out), so if you even DO get an aircraft appearing at the gate, then it either has nowhere to go or has to cheat to get to the nearest path to get to an active taxiway or runway. Believe it or not most scenery developers don't actually even number their gates or stands? A point on this is that at one scenery airport there was five "Gate 1" locations noted? And if you looked at the airport chart there was yes, five "Gate 1's", but they were actually listed as 1A, 1B, 1C, 1D and 1E, but the developer had noted them all the same as Gate 1? and on it goes... The biggest and most annoying point is the end of the runway disappearing aircraft, they land but then just disappear, or just appear and then takeoff. This is caused by the wrong ICAO codes on the gates so the A.I. is unaware of any parking spots so it vanishes once it comes to a stop. And that leads into another point in the way that most developers also make the full runway the active part of the ATC layouts. Not all runways are created equal in that most have blast pads (usually noted with arrows pointing to the ACTUAL start of the runway) but developers don't consider this, no they lump the whole runway in from beginning to end... Access points to runways need to be correct including hold points and then some runways have turn circles, and this a tricky one is this one for all of the ATC ground routes to get right, but it can be laid out to work correctly. My point is that a good 80% of the scenery released lately have most of these issues installed and that is not good enough when you are paying good hard earned cash for quality. There are many good developers who do it right like Justsim and any airport associated with Omar Mansoor (Aerosoft), but most developers are really terrible at ATC networks. I admit a lot of ground networks are very complicated and may need a professional like Brian Navy (Captain K-Man) to lay them out or supply the corrected ground routes and airport info. So if developers note in their sceneries feature list "ATC Ground Routes" it doesn't mean they actually DO work, and in most cases they ACTUALLY don't. A nice feature would be for the developer to supply the WT3 routes and Airport info as part of their scenery package, and in that way you would know they work and most of all they have been tested so they DO actually work as they should or have been advertised to do so. Another beef is the placement of custom textures. In most cases custom textures work really well, but in many cases drowning out the autogen and creating a void around the scenery (usually an airport) is a lazy and not very professional approach to creating visually appealing scenery... this is one area I rallied about for years, but still it continues, and the wrongly coloured mesh textures don't look good either? It is supposed to blend in all together like it does in the real world, or don't you get out much from behind your computer screens. 95% Rule Still on scenery but also applicable to aircraft or even plugin's is my 95% rule... First of all I have been there, working on a project for a long period and you just get to a point where it is all just a blur, and you are just "Simply over it" as the issues just keep on coming and coming and the end (or money) is still a long, long way from coming, so yes, I get it. But like Apple more and more developers are now using users to fix their issues, in other words release it and fix it all up later... hence the 95% rule. So more and more (mostly scenery) is coming onto the market not complete and even not finished, and still WIP. Is this situation good enough? Not really... First point is that no product in X-Plane is finished, the simulator is too fluid for that, but there is the line between being completed to date and ongoing development. Like the above comments the developers are just too much in a rush to get the product out there, X-Plane features that are missing or don't actually work is the biggest area of complaints (its called research!), but smaller items that like lately in the trees and ground textures that are not matching the native mesh textures, many are completely different in feel and look... but the list goes on. So the scenery is downloaded to my desktop and on a first look I usually can't believe how bad it is... so why didn't the developer get the scenery checked out before releasing it? It is called "beta testing" but no, you get it it first in this uncompleted mess... and then the developer is annoyed that you list out a long list of the "Obvious" and call his or their work average? And don't forget once that review is out there, you are stuck with it.. forever? the Good the Bad and mostly the Ugly... and this is the same review that users go to buy and assess your product, to see the evaluation and that is done over and over again... Yes I accept and so do users that items can be overlooked, and still there are areas that still need attention, but a few products like this and you quickly going to get a reputation, and its not a good one, and you are then stuck with it, so don't blame the messenger. Mostly it is only an extra few weeks or a month to complete it, and like I learnt, and that was to simply walk away from the project for a week or so and do something else, then when you come back to the table nice and fresh, the obvious is right there to be fixed and wrapped up. Aircraft Update Some notes on aircraft. I have flown FlightFactors A320 Ultimate a lot over the last few months, and yes it is now coming to the point of a very nice but far more polished aircraft. Constant updates, mostly weekly or even daily has tightened the aircraft a lot up since it's public release. Now I can be confident of a total block to block service, and a highly enjoyable one at that, the release of BSS sound package has now made it even better (Same for the ToLiSS319 would be a nice, nice please) but I feel the BSS sound package is not yet totally complete, but it really is a nice environment in the cruise. Negatives are still the "Failures" or issues, that are still too common and can ground you, and with no way of fixing them, then that is very frustrating... overwise brilliant. Yes the ToLiSS319 is getting a lot of attention as well, mostly because of the unique "save" feature, very hard to get your head around that when you activate a save (saved situation) of the aircraft it is simply ready to go... go. Everything is done and all you have to do is the pushback, it saves me hours on doing reviews... totally worth buying for that aspect alone. Jumping into the FlightFactor Boeing 757 Series was interesting in seeing where the aircraft was in relation to all the newer Airbus equipment and was expecting the Boeing to now feel very outdated, but it came up very well overall against the competition, certainly the cabin updates shows how to keep an aircraft modern and relevant. Interesting was my first flight in an aircraft I knew so well, I crashed, well I actually had a bad landing, but it took three flights in the various versions before I got my full professional wings back... NOTAM, you still need constant practice to stay on top of an aircraft, even if only out of the cockpit for a few months and the skill set is not as sharp as you think it is, but I soon focused back in again... with practice. Like most I was looking forward to the release of the djdragon737, Boeing 737-900 Ultimate. First yes I know it is a beta, but overall I was disappointed. Yes it is also a freeware, so who am I to complain? but after all the ho, ha it came across as a bit of a let down... and after four months of the extra development maybe I expected more (yes I know again it is not payware) but most of the features were still blanked off. No doubt the Zibo B737 core is exceptional, it flies very well thank you very much. But I was seriously confused as well.. If the default B737-800 is the basis of the simulator and zibo's work? then why do the -900 version? Yes I understand the -800 version is coming? But all we really all wanted was the zibo mod with an excellent cabin and opening doors and all the nice features? Instead was that we got a totally different half-cast aircraft version? Is that just me... Dovetail Games This year it has been a cascade of announcements and releases for X-Plane, and a significant amount of those announcements and releases have been by Flight Simulator's most prominent developers, in Orbix and FlyTampa to note two of the best. So suddenly X-Plane is the flavour of the month as Orbix for one noted "never, ever" but always "maybe" for years and years that they will develop for the X-Plane platform. Don't get me wrong I welcome such influential developers to our universe, but why now with the sudden change of heart and why so many? The news that Dovetail games was abandoning development of their "Flight Sim World" simulator was a shock, but not to most in the simulation business. The story is one of a big promises and the reality of hard core business. Dovetail bought the rights to from Microsoft for the original rights and base code for "Flight Simulator", which was then Bill Gates's hobby when he was at Microsoft and to sell a few computers on the side for the company. But Bill wanted to save the world and collect a Nobel Prize in the same breath so a simulator was the least of his things to worry about, not that the size of FlightSim was nothing by that point but enormous and a huge business on its own standalone standards. Originally the major legacy development players in FlightSim wanted to buy and run FlightSim together and put together a deal to buy the rights, but Dovetail a game developer (but does create a pretty good Train Simulator) out bid and got hold of the FlightSim rights with a promise to build it into basically Flight Simulator 2.0. Ultimate. In reality it was the perfect set up, someone to develop the core and a new modern simulator and the developers providing the goods to make it all into the one huge business plan that you could imagine, as the idea of the developers developing the simulator together just wouldn't work because each to their own they would want certain things that the others didn't, a bit like why Formula One Racing Team's shouldn't run their own sport, as they would just fight to much over it. So what went wrong? The name Dovetail Games gives it away as they wanted to run FSW the way most games business are set up and with Steam, and noted that all products either went though Steam or their own system or nothing. Then the FS developers turned around and withheld their products on a business model that is very different to theirs and starved FSW of product, the results are going to be obvious. So many saw early this coming disaster writing on the wall early and as a lot of users were already raving about X-Plane11 then X-Plane was suddenly a 'sort" of a better business plan for the future. But what now? Is FlightSim in it's original core now finally in its death roll? The problem all the time was the 32bit core? FSW and P3D have changed to 64bit (X-Plane moved to 64bit years ago) but now FSW is a dead end, P3D have gone from strength to strength but is still hampered by its management style and user interaction, but will again the developers pick up the pieces of FSW at a fire sale price and redevelop it again in their own image, that answer is of course in the future, but the vast amount of those users are now coming to X-Plane and so developers have noted that the X-Plane simulator base is one of the best right now, for all it's quirks... now suddenly they all want to be our best friend. The benefit's are of course enormous if most of the FlightSim stalwarts move into X-Plane, and to a point we may not want such a wholesome change to our simulator as the core of the user base is very different to the core of the FlightSim community as our basic philosophies are actually quite different, and we certainly wouldn't want to become Flight Simulator 2.0. in their eyes. That is where the sceneries released over the last few months and mostly this last month are very interesting as they covered all the different aspects of the way FlightSim see's X-Plane as a business and a simulator. The Three ways of Scenery The way you approach X-Plane, can make the difference between being accepted and creating a market within it, and to a point this has always been the difference between the core philosophies of the platforms. First is how to get it wrong. No doubt we welcome new product to X-Plane, but we are far more discerning in what we purchase or invest in to add into our X-Plane experience. To a point we have a high standard or that we could be known as even mean! That is because X-Plane at it's core would rather build and share than purchase. But if you want to build a very high quality experience then even the most stinginess of us will pay to get that addition no matter what, this is known offically as the "Gotta have that" syndrome. So if you release a (in this case) a scenery in X-Plane that is basically a very old and an outdated FlightSim product and throw in a few X-Plane badly set out features in there and then ask a high price, then that is really dumping old crap into our simulator to make a dollar... and believe me we are going to see a lot of that sort product over the next few years. The forums and the reviews are not going to be kind to you, and I doubt you are going to sell a lot your outdated crap over here in X-Plane either. The second approach is the gated community approach, which is very FlightSim. Orbix has arrived and we welcome them, but they are very much this is our way and not your way approach which of Aerosoft also adheres to, and I don't know if X-Plane users in being very community minded and share the love all around would want that approach even if it works for them really well in FlightSim. If you notice there are no Orbix products on the X-Plane.OrgStore and there probably never will be, but the problem with that is that X-Plane views the store as one their filter but mostly their security in service and reliablity, and many users just won't purchase product if it is not listed on the .OrgStore and anyone not on there, then they must be considered an outsider. And that aspect is justified with the collapse of the "let’s sim store" last month, you could say that Orbix is certainly not in the same league of the underfunded let’s sim store, but we are still investing in products and we love the security of where our money goes. For X-Plane it is a community approach which is rather like shopping at the local store rather than going to Costco with all their rules. Third approach is like the one by FlyTampa. The one thing that really impressed me with the introduction of FlyTampa and their FlyCorfu! was the willing to understand and deliver what X-Plane users want, I mean really want. They spent the time and the resources to work out the features of our style of simulator and made sure there was the correct mixture of both with the best of their original FlightSim scenery, but also in the way X-Plane has unique features and tools that make our simulator the way we understand and use it... the result was a sort of hybrid of the two platforms, and no doubt admittedly the actual scenery was not the latest but still a few years old, but that didn't matter at all as the full results are simply spectacular and FlyTampa got a lot of credos coming their way on what they delivered and they also delivered the scenery at a reasonable price. This is the model for success in X-Plane for any budding FlightSim developers in that we understand that you are going to deliver your original and quite successful product and we accept that, but we also expect that you take our tools and features into consideration to make the original version more X-Plane like than just the same but crossover work with a few badly installed animated airbridges and a few thrown in lighting effects, and you would think that after all the years of being in X-Plane that Aerosoft and their newly release Rome XP would certainly by now deliver far better than this very old and outdated work, and would they really have the nerve to ask money for the same ancient scenery in 2018... and that at the core is the issue, in that X-Plane is not FlightSim, so don't treat us like FlightSim or even try to sell us their old outdated crap as I doubt even in this condition that FS/P3D users would pay out for it either. Bobby Dylan twanged "For the times they are a-changin'" and yes they are, and a lot of this change is for the overall good, but we don't have to accept everything that comes our way, X-Plane has always created its own feel and direction and that is the way it always should also be. See you all again next month... Stephen Dutton 1st May 2018 Copyright©2018: X-Plane Reviews

Plugin Update : REP - Reality Expansion Packs v3.4.1 SimCoders have updated their REP - Reality Expansion Packs to version v3.4.1 across all of their REP packs. The changes are quite small but very significant in this part of the changelog: 100% custom engine model independent from X-Plane defaults Native Virtual Real That note above is just the .1 change... But since I did the review on the native Baron B58 version for REP only a month or so ago there has actually been a huge amount of changes to the expansion pack as listed at the bottom of this update. You sorta get the point... and that extensive update list was only then in the last few months of this year. Five REP packs are changed with this v3.4.1 update and those aircraft include... Native X-Plane Baron B58 (X-Plane11) X-PlaneOrgStore Here is the review: Aircraft Plugin Review : REP for Default B58 Baron by SimCoders _____________________ Carenado Centurion 210 II XP11 X-PlaneOrgStore (none REP Review is available here : Aircraft Review : Cessna CT210M Centurion ll XP11 by Carenado) _____________________ Carenado’s Beech F33A Bonanza v3.1 or newer X-PlaneOrgStore _____________________ Carenado’s Beech V35B Bonanza v3.1 or newer X-PlaneOrgStore _____________________ Native X-Plane Cessna 172 (X-Plane11) X-Plane.OrgStore The focus here in version v1.4.3 of the REP across the range is on custom sounds, although most of the newer aircraft come with FMOD sound, SimCoders have gone one better to update the sounds to a more realistic custom level. In the case of the two Bonanzas F33A and V35B it also brings custom sounds to these non-FMOD aircraft. Flight dynamics are across the range are also improved for both X-Plane10 and 11 versions as is the entire engine modeling dynamics Flight performance tuning has been extensive throughout the constant version changes to cover the extensive X-Plane11 performance aspects, and it certainly feels that way, as from the B56 native version there is far more feel and character and better all round sounds including fuel pump, startup, roll and all sounds are now 3d and multi-directional. You can also do the walk-around after the flight now as well as at the start point. So now the walkaround has two settings and not the one with PreFlight (left), but now also with the option for PostFlight (right) In reality this is a good idea, as the single PreFlight didn't really work... and now you can leave your aircraft correctly closed down after a flight. Maintenance report is still excellent and improved, but the "handy" pop out checklist from the right side of the screen is not so handy and damn annoying, not because it constantly keeps popping out if you go too far over the right side of your screen as your flying, adjusting knobs or switchgear, but the size of it when it does... ... you can't disable it either! The weights (Mass) and Balance panel is now available on all the five of REP packages (Now including the F33A and V35B) as is the automatic engine startup feature... Note the V35B version also includes: Osborne Wing Tips Realistic electric fuel pumps control panel and operation 3600 pounds gross weight STC Realistic roll behavior Tail wag damping So overall the main points of this update are to standardise the full REP package over all of the aircraft that have been awarded the REP package treatment, the only differences between the packages are just the different aspects of the aircraft's performance and individual features. All Reality Expansion Packs are priced at US$19.95 And all the updates are free to any purchaser that has purchased one of the updated aircraft, X-Plane11 is required for all of the packages. ________________________________________ Plugin Update by Stephen Dutton 2nd May 2018 Copyright©2018: X-Plane Reviews Full B58 Changelog (Other REP aircraft changelogs are extremely similar in the main aspects, only differences are performance and flying dynamics) V3.4.1 1. Fix:missing input chars in textbox 2. Fix:input on multimonitor setup was not working as expected 3. Minorfixes V3.4.0 1. New:Experimental VR Support 2. New:SDK3.0(Detachable)windows 3. Improved engine model 4. Minorfixes V3.3.1: 1. Fix:EGT curve showed two peaks very close to each other 2. Fix:The mixture was too rich at full throttle 3. Fix:Improved LOP power curve 4. Minorfixes V3.3.0 1. New:100% custom engine model to replace the internal X-Plane piston engine 2. New:Engine monitor enables engine fine tuning during flight 3. New:Improved drag model 4. New:Improved walk round oil system check 5. New:Improved ground roll sounds 6. New:Improved ADI spool up model 7. New:Walk around keyboard commands 8. Minorfixes V3.2.1 1. Fix:Loading and unloading the plugin more times caused a crash 2. Fix:If the flight was started with engine running, the mixture was set to idle-cutoff 3. Minorfixes V3.2.0 1. New:3Dsounds 2. New:Advanced gyro-wander 3. New:You can now check the pitot probe temperature during walkaround New:Postflight walkaround New:Lights check during walkaround New:More information about the cylinders status New:The hobbs hour are now saved in the airplane state file and restored the next session Improved steering algorithm Better start up sounds Fixed a bug that caused the cylinders to not being fixed correctly after an engine seizure The landing gear failures are based on actual gravity acceleration. Now the landing on sloped strips are more realistic. Fix a bug that may caused the engine to not fail when it should have 13.Minor fixes and improvements V3.1.1 Improved coded engine message The chocks and tie downs are checked before automatic start The lateral menu can now be completely hidden (see the plugin settings window) Better compatibility with the "Start with engine running" setting Fix: the label colors in some walkaround views were incorrect Fix (XP11 only): the wind sound volume is controlled by the environment sounds volume Minor xes V3.1.0 1. New:Dynamic ground roll sounds 2. Minorfixes V3.0.0 1. New:reworked user interface and graphics 2. New:automatic start up procedure 3. Improved flight dynamics in X-Plane11 4. Fix:some throttle quadrants did not work correctly with REP 5. V2.6.4 1. New:Flight dynamics improvements in both X-Plane10and11 2. Fix:Minorfixes V2.6.3 1. Fix:The right toe brake did not couple properly with external rudder-pedals 2. Fix:The oil system “Refill” button was not clickable V2.6.2 1. Fix:Minorfixes V2.6.1 1. Fix:Checklists typos 2. Fix:Improved fuel pump sounds 3. Fix:The wheelbrakes may be stuck aftertowing 4. Fix:Improved engines doppler and distance sounds 5. Fix:Damages disabled during replay 6. Fix:Improved the joystick compatibility with the new propeller governor V2.6.0 1. New:Custom propeller governor V2.5.1 1. Fix:Corrected the toe brakes algorithm V2.5.0 1. New:Improved torque effect 2. New:Improved CHT and Oil Temperature algorithm 3. New:Oil temperature tips 4. New:Improved hypoxia effect & algorithm 5. New:Fuel&Oil check in walk around mode 6. MinorFixes

News! : On Approach Scenery : KRAL Riverside and LA Pack by RD Studios New scenery developers for X-Plane can be a real mixed bunch. Some can be very good but very, very rough around the edges and have not yet really understood the full range of areas you have to cover or learn enough to deliver quality scenery. This is okay if they learn quickly and a... fix up their average efforts, and b... show that learning curve that delivers better and better work as they go along, I mean not everyone is absolutely totally perfect at the start of their developer career and that is even with the best of them. But some developers come very complete straight out of the box, and in this case it is RD Studios or Rising Dawn Studios. His excellent KHAF - Half Moon Bay was exceptional, and I have used the scenery in a half a dozen reviews. So over the last year RD Studios have noted that their next scenery is to be KRAL - Riverside Municipal Airport in the Jurupa Valley east of central Los Angeles. There is a lot of similarities to the first RD Designs KHAF - Half Moon Bay scenery, as in the same type and style of airport, but that is also the main attraction to this new scenery as well... it also comes with a huge bonus as well in that the scenery also delivers an excellent Los Angeles city (downtown) and major iconic landmarks of the this of all famous Californian city, that aspect is worth the purchase alone... So as RD Designs have published over the last year a vast collection of images on the KRAL - Riverside scenery it was worth collecting them all together to see how excellent in detail and ideas this scenery already is. KRAL is certainly a Americana style general aviation airport, but that is a big part of it's charm... Detail is very... well detailed as noted by the real clock. The main terminal is more like a steakhouse, but very authentic and you can see the huge amount of research that has gone into this work, to make it all as authentic as possible. Highlight of the scenery is the freestanding Hangar, there was two hangars originally like this, but the other one has been dismantled. In the KHAF - Half Moon scenery you also had a working hangar, but this one is far more larger and far more easier to work in, perfect actually. Other hangars are also very well and even excessively detailed, and again almost perfect, and again like with KHAF there is a lot of GA hangar parking. Fueling up the tanks at KHAF was excellent and so it is here at Riverside as well, highly realistic. Ground textures were also a highlight at KHAF and so again here they are the same worn surfaces and excellent. Reflective surfaces are a given here as well as KHAF has them already. Verges and desert aridisols are very realistic, realism 101. I loved the signage at KHAF and again here it is top notch stuff, perfect detail with even the labels on the equipment. A joke? No seriously would would be amazed on how many pilots actually forget to lower the gear, this warning is on the approach to RWY27. There is the note from RD Design's that are including a scenario of the airport in that Riverside had a very active role during the Californian Gold Rush in the 1800's. So there is an idea of recreating the airport in that period. But X-Plane can't be used in a historical sense (time shifting which is very "Back to the Future") The idea is to use the FlywithLua script to do the changeover. If this feature makes into the scenery is still very debatable, but it interesting. One of the big features of this scenery is the addon factor of the Los Angeles downtown buildings and major LA iconic landmarks called the "Los Angeles Landmark Pack"... All the major LA Downtown buildings are included, and what a difference this will make to your LA skyline, certainly if you have a LAX running nearby. Griffith Observatory and Capital Records buildings are noted, as is the famous "Hollywood" sign... So this new scenery from RD Design's has all the makings of another brilliant scenery release, as good and even better than KHAF - Half Moon Bay with not only the actual airport but the LA landmark package... No notes yet on a release date from RD Design's but certainly before the middle of the year, this is certainly a must have for any Californian flyer. ______________________________________________________________________ All images are courtesy of RD Designs News by Stephen Dutton 30th April 2018 Copyright©2018: X-Plane Reviews (Disclaimer. All images and text in this review are the work and property of X-PlaneReviews, no sharing or copy of the content is allowed without consent from the author as per copyright conditions)

Scenery Review : New York City and NY Airports v2 XP Part One by Drzewiecki Design This New York City review are three separate sceneries that are combined as one whole to cover the New York Tri-State area in the United States of America. These three sceneries are: New York City XP New York Airports v2 Volume 1 (KJFK - KLGA - KTEB) New York Airports v2 Volume 2 (KEWR - KCDW - KLDJ) All sceneries are to current X-Plane11 standards (you have to update NYC XP if you have the original version) and are developed to interact with each other to create a full perspective of New York. First off with the three packages purchased (there is discounts if you already have the v1 versions) is quite significant at US$84.00, so yes you will expecting a lot of return for that kind of expenditure, but you can buy one or two and add in more later, but you would also expect a full package price as well for the three NYC packages purchased together. This first review focuses on the New York City XP package with Part Two focusing on the Airport Packages in Vol 1 and Vol 2 Before we even purchase any of the sceneries there is another big point to consider, and it is more relevant to the main New York City XP segment than the two airport packages. Framerate? I ran for many years the Aerosoft New York X scenery converted to X-Plane, it was very good in detail, but the scenery had a huge and heavy pull on my framerate and then combined with FunnerFlight's KJFK it broke my computer's spirit to framerate hell and usually right down into the single digits. So mostly New York was off my regular routes, I just couldn't simply fly into JFK. So I approached these sceneries with a bit of trepidation. And another earlier issue was that earlier Drzewiecki Design airport (and city) sceneries had a bad pink tinge all around the sceneries edges that didn't look very authentic but that issue has been fixed here. So here is the problem with large urban areas like New York, London, Los Angeles and so on. Great in the idea, but totally horrible in use and the ease of flying into and out of these iconic cities. Even if the custom scenery was very efficient then the huge native autogen downpull usually did you in anyway. Your only option is to dial your autogen back to barely nothing and leave huge swathes of blank areas in your viewpoint, or you just don't bother flying there... which really defeats the whole point. Thankfully autogen has got more efficient in X-Plane11 and computers are now faster and far more powerful, so these cities are now more of a possible and than in the past of being simply totally impossible to use. ___________ Which brings us to New York City XP. Sensing overload I set my X-Plane graphics "World Objects" slider to the more efficient Medium setting and my texture quality to my usual High setting. On running the scenery in X-Plane11 I then found the scenery wanting with too low an object count. But the framerate was far better than I expected. So the point is to get the maximum benefit of this NYC XP then you will definitely need to be able to run the scenery with the "object" slider set to "Maximum" and that is asking a lot, but the texture quality is not as important unless you want absolute high detail. This Drzewiecki Design scenery is certainly highly efficient as at those above settings as my graphic card only hit 3341gb, so I doubt you are going to better that anywhere else, but you will still need a bit of power to cover the large autogen base required here and just one notch higher in the "maximum" texture setting wipes out my 8gb Graphic card at 8572gb. That said in my (medium texture) settings here I still achieved between 30fr to 24fr depending on the viewpoint and all the images in this review reflect those set settings, so NYC XP IS useable and flyable and so are all these NYC sceneries and for what you do get in visual terms is quite extraordinary for the sheer amount of objects on display here, but I will note that in processing this monumental amount of numbers I sometimes found a sight catchup shudder in viewpoints like out of the side of the cockpit or cabin windows, or if you pan the horizon with the autogen at its most complex. New York City XP This is in reality the original release of the DD New York City XP scenery, but it has been upgraded to version v1.6 to intergrate with the updated airport sceneries and to use X-Plane11 effects, so even if you already have purchased the NYC XP scenery you will still and it is a good idea anyway to upgrade to the newer v1.6 version. To get a the full depth and aspect of the scenery I flew the S-92 Sikorsky by DMO right around the city in the important VFR reference, with departure from Newark and then first flying up the Hudson River to the George Washington Bridge and then looping over the rear of the city to come back down the Harlem/East River back to Battery Point, Manhattan. It is a very cold early New York morning and as I can't adjust xEnviro's engine for a more pleasant summer's day, so we will have work through the gloom and it is however very atmospheric in look, feel and very realistic. Departure from Newark - KEWR is misty, but a quick look over my shoulder and I can see the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge that has been modeled to separate the outer New York Lower Bay from the internal Upper Bay. There is a crucial point to make here. The whole New York area (Tri-State) has been completely covered with Photo-Terrain or Orthos (with the full set of packages). So they create an excellent VFR aspect when flying over the scenery. All the edges of the rivers and inlets and ferry terminals and can all be seen and easily recognised and the custom ortho is far, far more highly detailed than X-Plane's native mesh. To highlight that point here is the Bayonne Energy Center and Fuel Terminal at Constable Hook, New Jersey with the Port Jersey Global Terminal in the background. They are not, detailed, detailed... but they do give you a perfect representation of the area and are excellent from the air, however a few New Jersey Port Cranes would have given the area a bit more realism. Upper, Upper Bay is of course the Statue of Liberty with Ellis Island set out behind the Statue. Detail up close of the Roman Goddess called Libertas is not extreme (my texture settings are set only to high) but you are not going to exactly walk up all the steps to the torch either. The view of Jersey City in the background is very well done, as most New York sceneries only deliver the Manhattan Island side, but the Jersey side is just as important to give the scenery its full scope. Past Libertas is the iconic Manhattan itself, The lower tip is Lower Manhattan, but that point is a misdemeanour really as the area has some of the largest and highest buildings in the city. 9/11 changed the tone and feel of Lower Manhattan, as the Twin Towers have now been replaced by the one "One World Trade Centre", and here in the scenery it is very prominent and well done, but the older buildings like the Woolworth's Building, One New York Plaza, Federal Reserve, Union Banks and City Hall are all noted. The World Trade Complex really dominates the Lower Manhattan area, with the surviving 4 World Trade centre and the newer 3 Trade Centre are also noted. The Twin Tower (Reflection) pools are there, but the new Fulton Street Complex is still visually under construction, Battery Park City is also represented ... Overall it is a very good and accurate representation of the area, but to note that this is New York, and there are a few (okay a lot of) mega thin vertical cities under construction, ugly or not, this is the New York visual of the future. Once you pass Lower Manhattan you cover the relatively flat SoHo/Village areas. You are not going to get very detailed buildings and in fact look quite ugly up close, but they are the correct shapes and and totally create the correct vista of the area, it certainly feels and looks like New York. All the Hudson River wharf's are there including the Pier 25, Pier 40 Stadium, but a real disappointment was the missing Aircraft Carrier Intrepid Museum? That brings us to Mid-Town. This is the core of New York and the city's heart. Front and centre is of course the "Empire State Building" and the iconic "Chrysler Building" is just a few blocks up and over. Prominent is the "MetLife" building at the top of (or the middle of) Park Avenue, but we still know it as the famous PanAm Building right! The huge "Madison Square Garden" complex is very well represented as is Times Square with its electronic billboards. Past Mid-Town, Central Park then divides the city into the Upper West and East sides. The Plaza Hotel is represented but the park itself relies on photo images and many 3d trees and objects, but from the overview visual aspect it does work fine, and it is in fact really good. The area along the famous Central Park side West is noted including the Majestic, Dakota and San Remo buildings but there is a large space were the Natural History Museum should be? Wanted to know where the Laminar Research building is? Well it is right there at the top end of Central Park! Ben Supnic's development offices are on the right top... kidding, as there is no such building in New York... Once you clear Central Park the building density drops away to just urban sprawl as you move over Harlem. This is where the native autogen comes into its own, reduce your autogen and the area goes into plenty of blank spaces, run at the full "Max" (object) settings and the urban fill is very impressive. But up in Washington Heights there are still (some very nice) custom buildings to fill out the area. Looking back to Lower Manhattan from this far up the reach of the Hudson shows how very extensive the scenery is, as it covers in fact a huge area. Washington Bridge is really the boundary of the custom scenery, but the autogen goes on far further to complete out the scene. There are a few odd old approaches on the bridge and are noticeable, but thankfully situated below and not above the span, GW bridge itself is excellent and a good landmark when arriving in the area from the west. Cutting over the back of Manhattan the view is certainly very impressive, it has been a long time coming, but now X-Plane can finally have these sort of expansive sceneries to use. Over the Harlem River and into the East River and the area is dominated by blocks of tenement building, mostly bland in detail but still realistic. The Queensborough Bridge over Roosevelt Island looks very authentic, but close detail shows it is created more for efficiency than detail, looks good though. Next is the United Nations complex, the administration building is surprisingly very detailed and looks very good in the right lighting... New York needs a lot of power... Consolidated Edison Inc power-station provides it and that power plant is situated on the East River. The more basic steel Williamsburg Bridge is up next and the twin-tier design is very well reproduced here... The twin bridges of the Manhattan Bridge and the most famous bridge in the city with the Brooklyn Bridge are next and both are very realistic, although the top walkway on or over the Brooklyn Bridge is not represented. Reaching the Lower Manhattan area completes the Manhattan Island circuit and I will admit it was very impressive and very good for VFR flying. Again I flew out over Jersey City and to the west of Manhattan. Moving over New Jersey confirmed the long reaches of the autogen that again filled out this huge urban landscape, as noted it is important that both the custom and the autogen do brilliant work together here, it is in reality a culminant of a dream of what the developers of X-Plane were aiming for. One aspect in custom can only do so much in filling in these huge city urban areas, but the added resource of the built-in autogen then delivers the rest, it all works here very, very well. Lighting As you would guess in that the lighting of New York City is going to be no easy task... and that answer is a big yes and a slight no. Thankfully the main Lower Manhattan and Mid-Town building lighting is very good, if excellent, but Drzewiecki Design are very good at this as noted in their Moscow scenery's office buildings, and at least it doesn't all look like that dreadful 2004 Flight Simulator block lighting, as I totally hate that look and terrible visual feel. So in the main it looks excellent at night. All the bridges are well lit and look spectacular close up and from a distance. Mid-Town is like Lower Manhattan but the rest of the areas in between are quite dark, it passes the mark, but it could have been better in respect to these areas? Away from the centre of the city there is a lot of custom lit buildings, but the autogen needed to work harder in filling in the urban night vistas, but it doesn't quite do that job quite as good as it should do... A little bit of help with the scenery comes with the expanded lighting feature in X-Plane 10.20, it does create a wall to wall urban nightscape that works very well here... overall you won't be disappointed on any arrival in New York City in the darker hours, in fact it is quite sensational. Summary By getting to this point in the review you would now understand the sheer size and complexity of this scenery (and we haven't got to the six airports yet!). So there is a lot of visual aspect and detail in here. You will also now understand that why this scenery does require still a few compromises to run with at least some working headroom, unless you have some sort of computer that could run weather data. Overall we have to run this scenery so most of us can actually use it and that means the area to suffer here is texture quality, but as you can see in that yes some buildings are not at all detailed and just look like blurry blocks, but at least the view is good and in good lighting or weather conditions this issue is not a real problem as this scenery is really just about creating a visual viewpoint than a totally really detailed street by street reproduction of the city. The point to remember is that only a few years ago, city scenery like this was dream, and now like here it works, in another few years with say Vulcan and even more powerful processors then the full texture quality will also be achieved as well, but having the Object settings set at "Maximum" is crucial to making this scenery work together with the native autogen, if your computer can't achieve that setting and performance then you would be simply wasting your money. All the major New York icons and buildings are in this scenery and so are the important bridges as well including the important Verrazano-Narrows Bridge and Washington Bridge that notes the size and coverage of the scenery. Pretty well every tenement building and high-rise building is noted in here and to the correct shape and height, but they are approximate in detail more than exact, but it all does give a very good representation of New York and its surrounding boroughs. There are a few things that were missing in here that would have been a nice to have. The New Jersey dockyard cranes are a really big surprise in their absence as they are very visible from virtually every approach to New York and especially as they are close to KEWR - Newark Liberty. The missing Natural History Museum on Central Park West is a "what the" moment in that it leaves a hole in the ground but also mostly breaks the areas line of tall buildings almost down to zero too early. And the missing Intrepid aircraft carrier museum is another blank area that was an easy fix? and some ships at wharfs would have been a nice touch. This review is part one of two reviews with the six airports in KJFK, KLGA, KTEB and KEWR - KCDW - KLDJ in the next edition. You don't have to purchase all the packages to enjoy this New York City scenery, but it certainly helps in getting the full aspect and the full use of the New Your area. So overall there are a few compromises, but this is a very efficient but outstanding visual scenery of New York City, and in reality it is the sort of scenery we dreamed of having in X-Plane only a few years ago... now it is here and it is all very, very good it is as well. Highly Recommended. _____________________________________ Yes! New York City and NY Airports v2 XP by Drzewiecki Design is available from the X-Plane.Org Store here : New York City XP - Price is US$36.00 New York Airports v2 Volume 1 (KJFK - KLGA - KTEB) - Price is US$24.00 New York Airports v2 Volume 2 (KEWR - KCDW - KLDJ) - Price is US$24.00 Features (New York City XP) Scenery features: 2500sq km area with high resolution (30cm-1m/pix) ground textures with autogen, including Jersey City, Newark and all 5 boroughs of New York Over 6300 custom, photoreal buildings from Manhattan, Brooklyn, Bronx, Jersey City and Newark Numerous heliports in the area including four detailed heliports Highly advanced performance-friendly design, numerous optimization techniques Perfect for general, business and commercial aviation as well as microlight and helicopter flying Fully compatible with New York Airports XP by Drzewiecki Design Requirements X-Plane 11+ (or X-Plane 10) Windows, Mac or Linux 2Gb VRAM Video Card - 4Gb+ VRAM Recommended Download size: 1.4Gb Current Version: 1.6 (Last updated Feb 19th 2017) If using all three v2 packages together in 2 x Airport and NYC then the New York City XP needs to be the updated v1.6 scenery package version. Installation (New York City XP) Download scenery file size is 1.34gb. With the full installation installed package is 3.41gb in your custom scenery folder. The New York City XP comes with an installer for Windows, but a manual install information .pdf is supplied. This requirement is mostly for the order of scenery folders with the added in airport packages, if only New York City XP it is only a one folder install. Documents Both install and information manuals are included. NY_AIRPORTS_XP_MANUAL Mac and Linux manual install - English/Polish/Russian ______________________________________________________________________ Scenery Review by Stephen Dutton 26th April 2018 Copyright©2018 : X-Plane Reviews (Disclaimer. All images and text in this review are the work and property of X-PlaneReviews, no sharing or copy of the content is allowed without consent from the author as per copyright conditions) Review System Specifications: Computer System: Windows - Intel Core i7 6700K CPU 4.00GHz / 64bit - 16 Gb single 1067 Mhz DDR4 2133 - ASUS GeForce GTX 1080 8Gb - Samsung Evo 512gb SSD Software: - Windows 10 - X-Plane 11.20 Addons: Saitek x56 Rhino Pro system Joystick and Throttle : Sound - Bose Soundlink Mini Plugins: Environment Engine by xEnviro US$69.90 : XPRealistic Pro v1.0.9 effects US$19.95 : WorldTraffic 3.0 Plugin - US$29.95 Scenery or Aircraft - S-92 Sikorsky XP10 by DME (X-Plane.OrgStore) US$19.95

News! - Screenshots of JARDesign Airbus A340 JARDesign have released their first screenshots of their Airbus A340. First views on the aircraft pictured here are going to be really... is that it? as the original aircraft A340 announcement was over 15 months ago in Feb 2017. If the above progress was noted at 2018 than 2017 then that would be more to the correct development stage, but this is still early 3d modeling, abet good modeling. So why. The last year 2017/early 2018 was a very difficult year for developers. Not only with the changes to the X-Plane11 engine and flight dynamics but the constant changes to them throughout the year. Then throw in your portfolio of aircraft to be converted and there was the year/s already gone. To a point Laminar Research are changing the situation to help developers in this area in if Laminar do a dynamic change then it is automatically converted to the aircraft and eliminating this confusion and time lag for users, but that is in the future. Focus by JARDesign is now back on the A340 aircraft, so you should see a more speedy development... Images courtesy of JARDesign ______________________________________________________________________ News by Stephen Dutton 26th April 2018 Copyright©2018: X-Plane Reviews (Disclaimer. All images and text in this review are the work and property of X-PlaneReviews, no sharing or copy of the content is allowed without consent from the author as per copyright conditions)

Scenery Update : SBRJ - Santos Dumont, Rio de Janeiro v2 by Richard G Nunes & Nielsen Scenery If anybody has built up Rio de Janeiro brick by brick in scenery for X-Plane it is Richard G Nunes, and to say he has put Rio on the (X-Plane) map then all the credit must certainly go his way. His first project was the main international gateway to Rio with the Galeão–Antonio Carlos Jobim International Airport... Review : SBGL Rio de Janeiro Intl by Richard G Nunes Scenery. The second scenery addition by Richard was the far more older and more iconic Rio airport with Santos Dumont, Review : SBRJ - Santos Dumont Rio de Janeiro by Richard G Nunes & Nielsen Scenery The two extensive scenery packages are to be used basically as one large coverage of the Guanabara Bay area of where both airports are positioned, they also cover between the two packages the iconic Rio standards with the "Christ the Redeemer" Statue in the Galeão scenery and the Sugerloaf mountain (and cable cars) in the Santos Dumont scenery. These very extensive sets of scenery can be also cause a few qibbles. One is framerate in running two extremely large sceneries side by side, but both sceneries and including even more here in this v2 update has had some very heavy refinements, but your systems requirement will still need to be on the more powerful side to get them to work efficiently together. The other point is the order of both of the sceneries folder orders in your X-Plane "Custom Scenery' folder as set out in the .ini list. They have to set correctly or one or the other of the packages will over lap or cancel out the other, so SBRJ has to be above SBGL but the corresponding meshes have to be also far below both airport sceneries and again in the correct order. To note if you have both sceneries (SBRJ and SBGL) you can remove the RJ-C-Mesh, as long as you leave in the RJ Mesh as this set one covers both airports... get it all right and Rio looks brilliant. SBRJ - Santos Dumont, Rio de Janeiro v2 Like with SBGL Rio de Janeiro Intl that had a v2 update in march last year (2017) then here is the update for SBRJ - Santos Dumont to v2. The scenery was extensive to start with, so most of the focus here is again in refinement. Not only do you get the iconic city side airport, but the scenery also provides a Rio cityskyline behind the airport as well. As noted the mesh coverage is extensive and very high quality, and brings to life the shape and detail of the famous "Sugerloaf" mountain... ... but the custom mesh also works as much against than with you in parts of this scenery. Take the SBRJ scenery out and run X-Plane11 with the latest v4 HD Mesh Scenery and the autogen will come alive, admittedly it is not the best skyline that you would expect of Rio, but it is still better than nothing, and it a shame you can't use the two elements side by side. Details however on how to use G2XPL or Ortho4XP tools to create Rio scenery and extras are also available and the details are noted in the manual. That huge extensive amount of original quality detail is still very much apparent in this scenery. Note the excellent reflective glass (above) and the old Pan Am hanger complex. The extensive Rio - Niteroi bridge has animated trafffic, and ships covering Guanabara Bay... they are both also all part of the package. There are now available excellent new (software) tools for refining textures and mesh to still give the same quality and dynamics (HD) but with a far better efficiency (i.e, file sizes) without that lossy or blurry look, the tools are not cheap to purchase, but to any top developer they now becoming essential, and for extremely complex and highly detailed sceneries like this then even more so. This scenery has been processed with these tools, I am not going to say that the scenery is going to very quickly jump your framerate a +20 or +30 frames, but their is certainly a big improvement. SBGL v2 already had the improvements done and that efficiency showed very well over there, and now adding in this refined SBRJ does help in overall pressure of two sceneries together that has to cover a significant area, but as very good as the refining has been here, it is not going to perform miracles as this is still very complex and detailed scenery. Taxiway K has had some improvements and marking changes, and it is now a far more usable route to and from the two runways. Runways 02L/20R - 02R/20L have been resurfaced, and now have more detail and realism. Rain and water effects are the coming buzz. They are still at the point of being a bit of a haphazard set of ideas at the moment and not a global set of effects throughout X-Plane, but the effects are very exciting when done like this... puddles of water and wet runways galore. For someone who lives in the tropics this is realism 101, and note the excellent light reflections... exciting. WT3 The scenery has also had the built in ATC ground routes defined and noted as WT3 (WorldTraffic3) ready. I did a generation of the scenery for WT3 and the results were mixed? There was some nice placement of category 4 - 5 medium Jet/Prop aircraft and GA aircraft centre field, but the main airbridge gates always remained empty? In landing none of the aircraft arriving taxied to the stands or departed with ground routes, in fact most aircraft that landed just simply dunked themselves over the end of the runway... ? And all arrivals would only use the 02R - 02L runways (even if you changed the wind direction) and 20L - 20R would be far better for arrivals. They landed, but then they just disappear... To be fair, there needs to a certain type of refining for WT3 for airports like SBRJ? There is some interesting notes here by the master Captain K-Man here with the Montego Bay scenery (halfway down the page) on why the certain elements don't work here. In reality airports like SBRJ should come with a defined set of WT3 ground routes and Parking definitions and these items shouldn't be defined by the generator. The runways here are also very short and the approaches to 02R - 02L are very complex, but they do work, but nothing else does. Summary Rio de Janeiro is on of the most exciting places you can fly to in X-Plane, either from within the South American continent or internationally. And both of these very expansive and extensive Richard G. Nunes Rio scenery packages are really essential to get the full Rio experience, they are both excellent. SBGL - Galeão has already had the update to v2 treatment and now here is the SBRJ - Santos Dumont version to v2. Overall it is refinement in texture efficiency (without losing the quality) and new runway textures and changes to taxiway K and signage. The excellent ground water effects are really well done here, very authentic and realistic but the WT3 layouts don't work really well (they do at SBGL - Galeão). Overall a very nice update to an already very extensive scenery package, the airport is of course very iconic and is very testing and requires skill to fly into. Recommended... _____________________________________ Yes! SBRJ - Santos Dumont Rio de Janeiro v2 by Richard G Nunes & Nielsen Scenery is available from the X-Plane.Org Store here : SBRJ - Rio - Santos Dumont Price is US$19.95 v2 update is free to all current owners of the SBRJ - Santos Dumont scenery, just go to your X-Plane.OrgStore account and redownload the scenery. Requirements: X-Plane 11 Windows, Mac or Linux 2Gb VRAM Minimum - 4Gb+ VRAM recommended Current version: 2.0 (Last updated April 20th 2018) Features Ultra-High Resolution replica of Santos Dumont Airport, updated in 2016. Custom runways, ramps and taxiways with ambient occlusion Many Static objects Animated vehicles, ships and barges. 3D grass, true to Airport type. Airport and surrounding areas high-quality Mesh. Mesh designed using the excellent 'Remexe' tool Partial rendering inside terminals Superior lighting HDR Effect, indoor lighting environment, Terminal and Jetways. Night texture and HDR lighting Textures personalized with ambient occlusion. Fully animated airport Animated Ground Service and aircraft traffic (default) Ground Traffic by Marginal Auto Gate with DGS and ramp Marshall Autogate by Marginal Tons of surrounding landmarks included in the package: Sugar Loaf hill and Morro da Urca Animated cable car (Bondinho) Rio-Niteroi Bridge with vehicle traffic. Ilha Fiscal (Fiscal Island) Ilha das Enxadas (Hoe Island) Ilha das Cobras (Snake Island) Naval College. Prana XV, the Ferry Station. 3 Helipads SDHU SIJP and SNUO Buildings Adjacent to heliports SBRJ Charts 35 charts included Compatible with SBGL scenery - Galeao (Other scene by Richard Nunes) Changelog Version 2.0 (April 20th 2018) - Soil effect wet when precipitation. - Stretching of Taxiway K - Updated taxiway tags - WT3 Configuration - Performance has been modified - Runways new texture _____________________________________________________________________________________ Update Review by Stephen Dutton 24th April 2018 Copyright©2018: 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: Windows - Intel Core i7 6700K CPU 4.00GHz / 64bit - 16 Gb single 1067 Mhz DDR4 2133 - ASUS GeForce GTX 1080 8Gb - Samsung Evo 512gb SSD Software: - Windows 10 - X-Plane 11.20 Addons: Saitek x56 Rhino Pro system Joystick and Throttle : Sound - Bose Soundlink Mini Plugins: Environment Engine by xEnviro v1.09 US$69.90 : XPRealistic Pro v1.0.9 effects US$19.95 : WorldTraffic 3.0 Plugin - US$29.95 : BetterPushBack - Free : : JARDesign Ground Handling Deluxe plugin Scenery or Aircraft - Boeing 737-800 - default X-Plane by Laminar Research (Free)

News! - SoundPack Released : A320 Ultimate by BlueSkyStar Simulations We all knew it was being developed and now it has been released! This is the "Sound Expansion" package for the FlightFactor Airbus A320 Ultimate by BlueSkyStar Simulations (BSS). This is the fifth sound pack for the A320 Series from BSS with two versions for FS/P3D with the Aerosoft A320 and the FS Labs Airbus aircraft. X-Plane is catered for with the JARDesign A320neo that has two sound packs for both engines including the IAE 2500 and the PW G1000. This new FlightFactor A320U sound pack here covers the CFM56-5B4 engine which are the same sounds as the FS/P3D FSLabs A320 CFM engine installation. Currently there are no detailed notes on the sound features or what sounds are actually covered in this release, but BSS do note the sound package is not yet completely complete either. For one, X-Plane11 is still in beta (11.20) and two more adjustments are required by Flightfactor. On installation you will need to run the A320U updater to update to the current release version which is 0.8. 71-2034, and to note the BSS sound pack does not work with any lower version releases. First Impressions? very good and I should know as in the last month I have flown on three Jetstar A320's, but on the ground the FlightFactor GPU does drown out a lot of the BSS sounds. In the air it sounds really good with 380º sounds in the cabin and the cockpit, the sounds do certainly feel realistic and don't give me a headache over a two hour flight and that is a great start. Externally they are good as well, but quite loud. This brings up the point of which would we like more control over the sounds? personally yes I would, certainly not all of them, but at least the main items like internal and external areas, APU and minor system noises and sounds. Overall I still feel there is still a few more areas to be adjusted, but I loved my flight and the feeling the sounds gave back to me... a video is available! The FlightFactor Airbus A320 Ultimate BSS Sound Package is available now from the X-Plane.OrgStore... ______________________________________________________________________ Yes! the Blue Sky Star Simulation Sound Packages is now available from the X-Plane.Org Store here : BSS Flight Factor A320 Ultimate Sound Pack Price is US$19.98 (Yes! you do need the FlightFactor A320 Ultimate aircraft and it is Required for the use of this sound pack US$89.95) ______________________________________________________________________ Blue Sky Star Developer Site : Blue Sky Star Simulations News by Stephen Dutton 22nd April 2018 Copyright©2018: X-Plane Reviews (Disclaimer. All images and text in this review are the work and property of X-PlaneReviews, no sharing or copy of the content is allowed without consent from the author as per copyright conditions)

Yes I am eagerly awaiting the MD11 as well From flightfactor's point of view for updates there are two directions to go in... A350 or the said B777 Series, and remember the B767 is still needing an upgrade as well, but that is small compared to the work on the two others and it is already in beta? The point about the B777 is that it will be a very extensive upgrade as there will be a lot of changes and a lot of new systems, if it goes as far as a "Study" version I don't know, but it wouldn't surprise me. If it is on the table then I doubt it will not be until the end of the year anyway, unless the work has already started a fair while ago which in case the usual release is around August, but the end of the year would more exact. My guess is the A350 will actually be next. To get the B757 is a good step up anyway if the B777 goes more system orientated as you can learn the deeper FMS and fight programming and then the transition to the larger aircraft would be more seemless... SD

Airport Review : MKJS Sangster International Airport (MBJ) - Montego Bay, Jamaica by LatinVFR/Skyline Simulations This Jamaican scenery is a collaboration between LatinVFR who are a Flight Simulator scenery development house and Skyline Simulations for X-Plane11(Ex-Icarius). The original scenery was released by LatinVFR for FSX and FS2004 in 2010 and it includes 200sq Kilometers of photo scenery that includes the entire area of North West Jamaica. There has always been a business in converting Flight Simulator Scenery to X-Plane, but like with Aerosoft the quality can range from the excellent to the dire other extreme. Mostly if the original host scenery is very good or even not that old, the conversion can still be a very good one, but in most cases here it is the X-Plane conversion specialist that can make or break the end result. X-Plane scenery in design is quite different from the style of Flight Simulator, but it is always the 3d modeling quality as if it is as good it can still look the same in both simulator environments and give you a quality scenery. Jamaica is situated almost centrally situated in the Caribbean Sea. The Island spans 10,990 square kilometres (4,240 sq mi) in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the fourth-largest island country in the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about 145 kilometres (90 mi) south of Cuba, and 191 kilometres (119 mi) west of Hispaniola (the island containing the countries of Haiti and the Dominican Republic). (Google Maps) Kingston is the Southern Island's capital, but in it is on the north coast that has had the Island's biggest impact, think Bob Marley, Ganja (Cannabis) and James Bond. Personally I always liked Jimmy Cliff far more the Bob Marley and you know it wasn't going to end well, and it didn't for Bob. Ganja created a way of life in Jamaica that you could say created a very laidback lifestyle and great music, but it also brought huge crime and poor living conditions as well. Ian Fleming was a very complicated person, but his move to Saint Mary's Parish (Port Maria) and to an old donkey racetrack created a modern icon, as here he created "Goldeneye" and here he would write one James Bond novel a year for the rest of his life that made him and the island famous. He loathed being poor? Felt very put upon in life and died a sad person in 1964, He desperately wanted the rich and the finer things in life and in reality delivered far more though his alter ego James Bond and that included an airport named after him that has been built close by (MKBS). There are many clues around this area of Oracabessa bay that are littered thoughout the novels, Crab Key Beach is one... but in which book and movie? MKJS Sangster International Airport (MBJ) Sangster International Airport (IATA: MBJ, ICAO: MKJS) is an international airport located 3 mi (4.8 km) east of Montego Bay, Jamaica. The airport is capable of handling nine million passengers per year. It serves as the most popular airport for tourists visiting the north coast of Jamaica. The airport is named after former Jamaican Prime Minister Sir Donald Sangster. Originally named the Montego Bay Airport, a decision was made to build the runway in 1940, and the actual construction of the facility was completed on 18 February 1947. At the time of its completion, the town of Montego Bay was more like a playground for the rich and famous, and was considered then, one of the premier vacation spots within the Caribbean, just as it is today. The original terminal was built and opened on 7 July 1959, with a capacity to accommodate 500 passengers per hour, and parking for seven aircraft at a time. The new eastern concourse of the Sangster International Airport (SIA) was officially opened in December 2005. The current airport has a flow of 4,284,558 passengers a year and 41,263 aircraft movements (2017). Sangster International Airport (IATA: MBJ, ICAO: MKJS) 07/25 2,653m (8,704ft) Asphalt Elevation AMSL 4 ft / 1 m MKJS, Montego Bay Airport by LatinVFR/Skyline Simulations In 2018 there has suddenly been a profusion of tropical scenery with lovely coral and sandbank colour. Think FlyCorfu XP from FlyTampa! and TNCM - Sint Maarten by AWD, and it feels that X-Plane is trying very hard to make up time in this scenery area, again it the same here at Montego Bay as these lovely photo scenery mesh textures do as noted cover 200sq Kilometers of a significant part of the island. The coverage is extensive and on arrival it gives you a great feel of the playboy (playperson?) era that Montego Bay is famous for. From the air viewpoint aspect then the area looks excellent. Runway 07/25 taxiway, ramp textures are also excellent, very realistic with 3d grass popping up through the mainly beachy environment. Runway and taxiway signage is basic, but so is the airport's layout... RWY 07's approach has over water approach lighting which is very good, the only note is that in parts of the water you can see boat (white) shadows that should have been removed. The approach to RWY07 is interesting... you are warned of high ground on all charts and approach notes and hence the approach chart above. So flying in blind (the first time) you can still be caught out off guard, as the areas height is actually not that high, high, but it is where it is on the approach that makes it dangerous, the ground is lower at first but then there is a higher range just before you head over Montego Bay, so your aim is to go lower, when really you need to hold your altitude at 4600ft (say 5000ft) until you clear this final range and if you are lower at 3000ft it is a still possible but you will have to try to block out the constant "terrain, terrain" warnings, so a minimum of 4000ft is the goal. Once over the coastal line you have to of course drop quickly to land on the runway, a few goes and it is easy, and a low approach speed helps in giving you more space to lose the altitude. Terminals There are two terminals that are connected with the older longer terminal is noted as domestic (original terminal) and the larger (left) terminal as the International. This scenery is eight years old and that aspect has to be always taken into consideration. The Domestic arm has six airbridges (1...7) and is a low single story building with the airport's control tower mid-way on the building. Overall the detailing is not too bad, I like the original central green roofing and there is a lot of items like air-conditioners also on the roof, windows (although small) are reflective. Tower view is not set? It is set somewhere on the west ramp? There are active gates on all terminals, but they are not that effective to use? You park very close to terminal wall? and to see the guidance marshall I had to stand up in my pilots seat (view higher) to see down him to park? When parked the gate arms actually move inwards to fit to your aircraft door? and many a marshall are buried into the actual terminal building (left)? So the airbridges are not placed correctly. There are no service vehicles or aircraft service equipment on the ramps either, so it quite empty out there... There is animated vehicle traffic that does work around the terminals, but they have a habit of queuing up for long periods of time and they don't run within their lane (left side) either. International Terminal is quite good as well (considering its age) with nice different textures for different building materials. Eleven gates with airbridges covered are (8...19). There is a large parking and cargo ramp to the west, but this is not a very large sort of cargo hub, but ideal for say the B757 size of freighter. Ramp parking is noted as all one's with 1A...1F with 1C and 1D as the cargo stands. And there are a few support vehicles sitting around the cargo area. Landside is quite simply poor to really average... flat blurry textures with a few 3d vehicles on top? no real detailing at all, and even a few trees thrown in here would break up the blandness.... you really wanted far better than this for a payware, even freeware. And this brings us to the overall problem with this scenery. Is this a conversion or just put in the FSX components and see what do we actually have? Obviously the textures are not adjusted colour wise to the X-Plane colouring aspect, as they are too light in contrast, this is also highlighted a lot by the same high contrast trees, and obviously again the trees have come straight from the FSX scenery... There is a tool called.... "Photoshop" and it is very good for doing changes to textures and to at least match up the trees to the X-Plane native colouring trees that here stand out like a game you can count with, in many areas the trees are missing altogether and then they are not edited either as they cover roads and traffic passes through the not only the trees but mid-road power poles as well? There are a few nice FSX style apartment buildings, but again they cover roads and to a point the building on the road here doesn't actually exist? There are a few sailboats (catamarans) as well but most are upended, or half sticking out of the water? The oil terminal is there across Montego Bay, but the port is empty with no ship or wharf. There are also a lot of "Floaters" or buildings and items that float in the scenery... ... or the opposite in buildings being buried in the sand. So maybe the "runways follow terrain contours" has to be off, but nope as then the terminal itself will then float. Lighting The scenery's lighting is not that imaginative either... it is overall quite dark with one dull tone of lighting for the whole scenery... lighting barely covers the ramp working area, but the approach and taxiway lighting is done to the rules. The terminal window night lighting is quite effective, but as expected the landside is very dark. WT3 There are built in ATC routes with this MKJS scenery, and for the native A.I. Aircraft and X-Life it works fine, but the generated WT3 routes don't work, they do on taking off and landing, but the action stays on the runway and there is no aircraft terminal placement either? The ground routes by ysfsim for MKJS do work fine in all areas as they are in this review, but aircraft sit through buildings and taxi on the grass because the ground routes are not aligned for this scenery, but they are better than nothing at all... Summary We accept the fact that the original scenery which is the base of this X-Plane version was created for Flight Simulator and that also it is also eight years old, and that such scenery for X-Plane has always been converted to our simulator and will again be in the future. And so the basis of the scenery is actually quite good, with excellent water textures (and a lot of them) and all of the airport's runway, taxiway and ramp surface textures are very good as well. The terminals are not as detailed like we mostly get today in X-Plane but they are serviceable and in fact they are fine as a basis of the airport. But overall the scenery is average, the really annoying thing is that didn't have to be as the basics are all in there and could have been used here too their full advantage. So the full blame here rests firmly on the scenery converter to X-Plane. The scenery textures don't match up (in the trees and ground textures), Airbridge gates are not placed correctly (neither is the aircraft parking park position in being too close to the terminal), Landside area is well... average to crap, buildings float or are placed were there is none and it looks like the Jamacians are really terrible sailors as they can't keep their boats upright? WT3 also doesn't convert very well and the night lighting is average to poor. The missed trick here is that X-Plane gives you all the tools to cover and fix most of these areas, of course with a bit of needed imagination and skill and that is severely lacking here. And a lot of the great freeware developers are actually on the wrong side of the tracks here as what would of say tdg done with this scenery with his placement skills and yes Photoshop is still a great tool for adjusting things like colour and contrast. As I said the basics for a very good scenery are all still in here and Jamaica is a great destination, but overall this MKJS is an average scenery that deserves better and could have been and should have been far better than what is delivered here. ______________________________________________________________________ The MKJS Sangster International Airport (MBJ) - Montego Bay, Jamaica by LatinVFR/Skyline Simulations scenery is Available now from the X-Plane.Org Store here : MKJS - Montego Bay Jamaica Price Is US$19.95 Noted Features: Animated Airport Animated Jetways Ground Traffic in whole airport for G.Aviation and Commercial services Detailed Airport MKJS (MBJ) airport with all its buildings done with accurate detail PBR Materials Ground reflections Surroundings extremely detailed, resorts and hotels exactly placed and created in the area near the airport More than 200sq Kilometers of photo scenery with thousands of hands placed custom autogen High resolution ground textures for runways, taxiways, apron etc Revised land classes for surrounding photo scenery.? Inclusion of manual in PDF format Inclusion of charts and maps. Vehicle and boats Excellent frame rates Excellent HDR night lighting with custom Billboard light Dozens of custom apron objects (containers, vehicles, etc) Fully AI traffic and ground traffic Much more Requirements X-Plane 11 Windows , Mac or Linux 2Gb VRAM Minimum. 4Gb+ VRAM Recommended Download size: 820Mb Current version: 1.0 (released Dec 22nd 2017) Installation Download scenery file size is 621mb. With the full installation installed package is 1.25gb in your custom scenery folder. Working if not aligned ground routes for MKJS by ysfsim: KJS and MKJP Ground Routes World Traffic 3 Documents LatinVFR_Manual_MKJS.pdf (original FSX Manual) MKJSDIAGRAM (Airport Layout Chart) LatinVFR_Manual_MKJS_XPlane ______________________________________________________________________ Scenery Review by Stephen Dutton 20th April 2018 Copyright©2018 : X-Plane Reviews (Disclaimer. All images and text in this review are the work and property of X-PlaneReviews, no sharing or copy of the content is allowed without consent from the author as per copyright conditions) Review System Specifications: Computer System: Windows - Intel Core i7 6700K CPU 4.00GHz / 64bit - 16 Gb single 1067 Mhz DDR4 2133 - ASUS GeForce GTX 1080 8Gb - Samsung Evo 512gb SSD Software: - Windows 10 - X-Plane 11.20 Addons: Saitek x56 Rhino Pro system Joystick and Throttle : Sound - Bose Soundlink Mini Plugins: Environment Engine by xEnviro US$69.90 : XPRealistic Pro v1.0.9 effects US$19.95 : WorldTraffic 3.0 Plugin - US$29.95 Scenery or Aircraft - ToLiSS319 (A319) by ToLiSS (X-Plane.OrgStore) - US$69.00

News! - xEnviro environment plugin updated... again to v1.09! Errr! what happened there? Just a few days after the release of the long awaited v1.08, then v1.09 is very quickly on the blocks with some fixes. Changelog v1.09 notes: All notable changes to xEnviro project will be documented in this file. ### [Known issues] - Freezing during initial start up - Camera zoom is not supported by the volume rendered atmosphere. - Incorrect camera angle inside 3D cockpit. - Rough objects edges at mid and low resolutions ### [1.09] ### Added - Cloud shadows. - Checkbox to display crepuscular rays. - Crepuscular rays. ### Changed - Blending for overcast layer adjusted to avoid early terrain clipping. ### Removed - Cloud shadows distance slider removed. Certainly it is very nice to see (for a change) a quick response to bugs and issues, my guess is that v1.10 will not be long in coming along either. So where is the xEnviro 1.08.... 09 review? There is one thing to note about xEnviro and that it is a bit of a shape shifter, and that is not an excuse. You don't have the tools to adjust the plugin as it runs in real time, so you can look at certain elements and then when you return then those elements have totally changed... so you have to build up a picture over a period of time, plus now we suddenly have updates also coming along. When everything settles down, I'll give you my perspective on the updates, but currently it is mixed, from the really brilliant to the "not sure about that" categories, overall it is far more to the brilliant than the other end of the scale, I will note though the feel is again quite different from 1.07/06 These images (v1.08) are over Albuquerque, New Mexico, and they are quite spectacular, and note the clear silhouette over the Sandia Mountains and the clean line to the horizon, impressive! v1.09 is free to all current xEnviro registered users, just go to the xEnviro site to update : xEnviro.net ______________________________________________________________________ Yes! the xEnviro Environment Engine by Commercial Simulation Systems LLC is Available from the X-Plane.Org Store here : xEnviro Price is US$69.90 Sorry this plugin is Windows only at this point, But Mac is coming eventually! _____________________________________________________________________________________ News by Stephen Dutton 18th April 2018 Copyright©2018: X-PlaneReviews (Disclaimer. All images and text in this review are the work and property of X-PlaneReviews, no sharing or copy of the content is allowed without consent from the author as per copyright conditions)

Aircraft Update : Boeing 757 Professional v2.1.13 by FlightFactor/VMax X-Plane is a movement, always morphing, changing and always moving forward. We wouldn't want that aspect any other way, as it means that the simulator grows, becomes better and more involving. In fact if you sit back and think it though the changes in and around the X-Plane simulator over the last, say... three years have been phenomenal, and it feels sometimes even an eon ago, but you have to even go a long way further back to November 2013 for time the Boeing 757 from FlightFactor/VMax first emerged, yes five years ago, that feels now like the Jurassic period in X-Plane terms, okay if only stone/bronze age. In sales terms it is one of the biggest sellers of payware aircraft in X-Plane and it lead the simulator for the very best of in depth quality and you would even note the aircraft as the first "Study" aircraft as well with its in depth systems and flying capabilities, but that is still a big five years ago since it's first release... So you think that with all the extreme changes in the X-Plane simulator the aircraft or the design would now be hopelessly out of date, but in reality the aircraft is very far from that point, as there has not only been a lot of updates through the years including the major version two release in 2016. Added also into the this Boeing 757 package is the "Extended" option of not only the original -200 version but also the added choice of a - 300 version and a -200SF Freighter and the option of two engine choices of the RR RB211-535E4 and the Pratt & Whitney PW2037. The introduction of X-Plane11 was very significant for FlightFactor's B757/B767 series aircraft. On the one hand the PBR (Physically Based Rendering) effects gave them a new lease of life in a dynamic sense, bringing them alive, and giving them more realism. But the X-Plane11 more detailed flight and engine dynamics didn't translate as good, patches came to keep the B757/B767 birds flying, but with their complex system algorithms it was not an easy fix, especially more so as Laminar Research changed their refinements as often as their minds. And so the updates keep coming, but that is good thing and not a negative, refinement is written all over this aircraft and here we cover not one but two updates as they are only a few months apart with v2.1.11 and v2.1.13 Boeing 757 Professional v2.1.13 The updates cover again mostly system fixes, but as the v2.1.10 update was the most significant one that addressed most of the X-Plane11 refinements, I still found that aircraft still quite buggy in the way it flew. The X-Plane11 versions of the "Extended" options with the -300 and 200SF were now also X-Plane11 rated was a huge addition and bonus to the B757 Series. Here I am going to concentrate on the basic aircraft the B757-200. With a few nips and tucks over the years the B757 still looks as good as the day it was released. But the dynamic lighting really brings the aircraft to life, like with the B767 the optional blended winglets from Aviation Partners Incorporated that look very good on this aircraft, but also extended its service life. The tall 757 stance when standing on its gear is as famous as its long tube body gave the aircraft some interesting nicknames like... Stick Insect, AtariFerrari, Slippery Snake, Flying Pencil and Long Tall Sally. But the B757 is a very but highly successful but niche aircraft and that has made it very hard to replace in the commercial world and that is why so many are still flying in what is essentially an early 80's aircraft. The new Airbus A321 LR neo is now a possible replacement, but Boeing are wanting their new design in the B797 to cover the B757 requirements as well. The B757-300 version is as spectacular. The aircraft shown here has the optional Roll Royce RB211-535E4 engines. You can check your current FF B757 version by the version number on the top right of the pop-up iPad menu system. Update 2.1.12 was not a large amount of changes and mostly small issue fixes, the sound volume was jumping to zero and the engines behaved a bit strange on an engine change. The boarding door co-ordinates were wrong but fixed for the -300 version, but the -200 version was missed but it is now done in v2.1.13... Who doesn't love BetterPushBack... The BetterPushBack Truck is now adjusted to work well with the FF B757, as before it had rocking issues? The B757 does already come with a really good pushback truck that is controlled by your joystick, but who could do without that "Have a great Day!" from the betterpushback driver. Freighter SF version is also very good, and there is a GHD (Ground Handling) .set available for the aircraft (for the -200 and -300 versions as well). Note there is a bug if you use the GHD in that it conflicts with the FF A757 GPU and power to the aircraft, to get around the issue you have to use the APU. Boeing 757 cockpit still delivers in quality and detail... But the B757 and the B767 have a tendency to switch between light and dark lighting conditions, sometimes perfect, but then you get a snap and the cockpit (or panel) feels darker and then it snaps back to normal again, it doesn't help in that the cockpit is also quite a dark design. There has been few tries by FlightFactor to rein in this lighting condition in changes in both 2.0.25 and 2.1.10 but the PBR just highlights it more. Over the years there has been a lot of work done on the B757/B767 FMS. It is highly detailed and was for years one of the best in flight management systems and like noted almost "Study" deep in what you can set up and input into the aircraft's systems. The arrival this year of FlightFactor's A320 Ultimate and the ToLiSS319 has raised the bar in this flight management area, but this system is still one of the best to use and programme, all areas are covered with SID/STAR DEP and ARR, fix and airway inputs, ECON (Economy) CLB, CRZ and DES settings, DIR-INTC (Direct-To) and the PROG (Progress) has two pages of information with Wind and Fuel info on page 2. The aircraft's weather and terrain radar is also still one of the best in X-Plane. Notable is the option of having both white and red instruments. There is a choice between mixed (white and red) or full in that certain digital instruments are red on the main instrument panel and on the OHP (OverHead Panel). The red looks very nice at night. In v2.1.13 few cockpit mis-spellings have also been rectified and corrected, with the ELC and EEC buttons now on (useable) if the fuel pumps (switches) are off. The original X-Plane11 throttle hunting issue has been mostly tuned out (the B767 was the worst), the throttles still intermittently moves and reduce power, then increases the power again for no absolute reason, but it is not even close as the constant (annoying) movement you had before... climbing to altitude was the worse. Cabin Fitout You can see the changes to the FlightFactor B757 over the years by the different cabins installed in the aircraft... Starting with the 2013 version. This original version had a very Russian feel to the design, even down to the odd "Gazprom" logos? Thankfully another cabin change came with the v2 upgrade... and the cabin went more modern and an early 2000's in design. But very quickly (twelve months) we already have another latest B757 cabin version that is now bang up to date... with a very smart looking business class... .... and an even better designed main economy class. It is now all very modern in the back cabin as the economy seats are exceptional in design and they come with these lovely seating textures. Even the crew stations are very different from the past FlightFactor layouts (finally the cheap bottles of wine have gone) and all also are very modern and efficient looking. Same goes for the cabin wall panels, they are now separate styled panels with those nasty openings (gaps) from around the window frames are now also gone. Cabin lighting (adjustable) was good before, but now excellent with great down lighting. Look back to the original earlier cabins and you can see the total transformation of the same aircraft, the -300 version also has had the same changes done to the cabin layouts, and how long is it before the Boeing 767 get the same fitout makeover as well? The above cabin changes are far more significant than they appear, as they are very unFlightFactor in design and appearance, this is most likely the new direction of internal design, including cockpit textures from the developers and a move away from the original more Slavic feel to a more western approach, my guess is that in time all the FlightFactor fleet in the B777, B767 and even their A350 will adopt these more western layouts and all to the better and the proof is right here in this cabin, and it is amazing how changes like this can bring an older design to a much more up to date feel and experience. Virtual Reality FlightFactor has also noted that the Boeing 757 will soon be available for VR (Virtual Reality), and FF note "We have developed our unique cockpit interaction in VR just like we did with the 3d cockpit, and if I may say so, it is very intuitive." That announcement sounds exciting, but my comment would be what would VR be like in using the current B757 cockpit textures, as they are quite dark in design and the noted points in that (both) cockpits of the B757/B767 have that tendency to switch under X-Plane11 from light to dark lighting conditions? My gut feeling is that with a VR headset on then it would highlight that aspect, and to the dark, more than the light? Summary The motto of this review tale is that the reality is the FlightFactor/Vmax Boeing 757 Series is now five years old. But the truth is that with constant and clever updates, it could have been released only late last year. I am not going to hide the fact that in a very few areas it does show its original age, but there is no doubt that in it's current form that the aircraft will certainly stay there at the top of the list as one of the best simulations in X-Plane and that is with the newer Airbuses also now available. The trip down memory lane of the three different cabin layouts describes the whole situation very clearly, as the earlier cabin version was to say the least quite average (but good for the time), as the curent latest cabin layout is now quite sensational and like the real aircraft will keep it in service well past its used by date. If you opt for the recommended extended version with not only the -200 version, but with the very long -300 and that nice freighter version as well, then you are getting overall a very nice aircraft package and as the B757 has been around for a fair then all the niceties like the GHD (Ground Handling) and BetterPushBack plugins all work very well as well. In flying, then most of the X-Plane11 issues have been dealt with or refined, but updates are also constant to cover any other changes that Laminar Research might throw our way. I will admit the B757 requires a bit of skill and dedication to fly really well, you have to go to the aircraft, and not that the aircraft comes to you, but when both skills and flying ability merge then it is very good and deep simulation of this aircraft.... certainly highly recommended. ______________________________________________________________________ Yes! the Boeing 757-200ER Professional & Extended versions by VMAX and FlightFactor Aero is NOW! Available from the X-Plane.Org Store here : Boeing 757-200ER v2 Professional Price is US$64.95 Boeing 757-200ER v2 Professional Extended Price is US$84.95 Boeing 757-200ER v2 Professional Extended Upgrade Price is US$64.95 + US$20 You must already have purchased and own the current Boeing 757-200 v2 version for any updates to the aircraft Requirements X-Plane 11.05 or latter (also X-Plane 10 compatible) Windows 7+, Mac OS 10.10+ or Linux 14.04+ LTS or compatible. running in 64bit mode 1Gb VRAM Video Card Minimum. 2Gb+ VRAM Recommended. 3Gb+ VRAM Preferred. Current Version : 2.1.13 Free auto-updates for the entire XP11 lifecycle _____________________________________________________________________________________ Update Review by Stephen Dutton 18th April 2018 Copyright©2018: 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: Windows - Intel Core i7 6700K CPU 4.00GHz / 64bit - 16 Gb single 1067 Mhz DDR4 2133 - ASUS GeForce GTX 1080 8Gb - Samsung Evo 512gb SSD Software: - Windows 10 - X-Plane 11.20 Addons: Saitek x56 Rhino Pro system Joystick and Throttle : Sound - Bose Soundlink Mini Plugins: Environment Engine by xEnviro v1.09 US$69.90 : XPRealistic Pro v1.0.9 effects US$19.95 : WorldTraffic 3.0 Plugin - US$29.95 : BetterPushBack - Free : : JARDesign Ground Handling Deluxe plugin Scenery or Aircraft - KABQ - Albuquerque International Sunport by ShortFinal Design (X-Plane.OrgStore) US$19.95 (review of KABQ is here : Scenery Review : KABQ - Albuquerque International Sunport by ShortFinal Design Changelog: 2.1.13 - boarding door fix - exhaust gas colour fix - fixed a small bug with cargo version weight - fixed the 753 beacon - fixed a bug with disappearing ELC and EEC buttons on fuel pump off - trimmer mouse wheel control fix - power back is now possible again - made the start sound quieter - to match the engine idle - EGT limiter on high OAT GA fixed - fixed x-plane hanging when you use the fix page during your fpl has DISCOs - corrected brakes for xp11.10 - improved flch ap mode logic and reengaging at logic - made some things for better integration with the VoiceCommander profiles by sloboda. 2.1.11 - fixed the issue with volume jumping to zero - fixed an issue with engine controller behaving incorrectly after an engine change - fixed an issue with BetterPushback rocking back and forth - fixed an issue with inversed stab animation - fixed the 300 door location (extended only) - add 300 and cargo to the livery packs - fixed misspelling in the cockpit - added higher realism level requirement for hung start

Mostly stores don't list the GPU requirements because it is a hard one to pin down as there are so many aspects that can affect the situation like in other hardware items as in bus speeds and system set ups, the way you configure X-plane is a big differential as well, were as graphic cards are really all about absorption in file sizes. Mostly now a i7 is required, but you do have a faster i5 and not the slower version. One way to give me an idea is what other aircraft can you run now on your settings with room to spare, the other way you can find out is to post your comment on the .Org and see if someone with the same processors can give you an answer. SD

News! - xEnviro environment plugin updated to v1.08! xEnviro has released the next version of their environment plugin to v1.08. This update is not the full completed version that xEnviro were working towards, but since the events surrounding the developer and his family, then this WIP progress version has been released. This v1.08 version has been in development for over 8 months and the basic code of the engine has been completely rewritten, plus it has a lot of new special features and effects, but I do stress the development was stopped and not completed, so expect issues and bugs, and don't expect any quick fixes coming anytime soon either? However it is a very stable release and has been extensively tested. v1.08 changelog notes are... All notable changes to xEnviro project will be documented in this file. ### [Known issues] - Freezing during initial start up - Camera zoom is not supported by the volume rendered atmosphere. - Incorrect camera angle inside 3D cockpit. - Rough objects edges at mid and low resolutions ### [1.08] ### Added - Cloud and atmosphere resolution slider. - Cloud complexity slider to adjust the amount of detailed cloud puffs. - New, volume rendered atmosphere. - Rain intensity dataref. - Snow intensity dataref. - Terrain surface condition dataref. - Windshield precipitation effect and corresponding checkbox added. - Post-processing shader is back. - Sun glare. - Camera lens flare effect. - Checkbox to display or remove lens flare effect. - Seasonal data now calculated and accumulated on the server. - Terrain surface condition data now calculated and accumulated on the server. - xEnviro now publishes seasonal data for the scenery developers. Details can be found in the SDK. - Moon with position and phase based on the current system date and time. ### Changed - Turbulence model adjusted to have less evenly distributed areas of the same air velocity. - DSF drawing distance has been increased to hide sharp visible edge under the distant haze coverage. - Maximum haze blending distance adjusted to hide the DSF edge. - Cloud texture map have been changed to include only the basic shapes allowing for more cloud varieties. - Cloud shadow and tone maps have been moved to the separate cloud noise texture. - Cloud transparency model is now based on the noise chart. Clouds will grow up more naturally and solid clouds will not be transparent anymore. - Cloud shapes and forms are based on dynamic flow noise with smooth animation and transformation. - Haze model adjusted to match all the calculated turbidity levels. - Plugin architecture has been re-arranged for deferred rendering. - X-Plane internal visibility limit adjusted to hide distant lights in low visibility conditions. ### Removed - X-Plane scattering level slider removed. - Minimum drawing distance slider removed. This distance now set in the middle between detailed and maximum drawing distances. - Cloud brightness slider. Cloud brightness is fully controlled by scattering and light equations. - Cloud shadows temporary removed. - Old, based on layers, atmosphere has been removed. - Upper atmosphere checkbox. - Lower atmosphere checkbox. - City lights temporary removed. ### Fixed - Surface friction procedures amended to avoid aircraft sliding. - Scenery lights no more visible through the clouds. v1.08 is free to all current xEnviro registered users, just go to the xEnviro site to update : xEnviro.net ______________________________________________________________________ Yes! the xEnviro Environment Engine by Commercial Simulation Systems LLC is Available from the X-Plane.Org Store here : xEnviro Price is US$69.90 Sorry this plugin is Windows only at this point, But Mac is coming eventually! _____________________________________________________________________________________ News by Stephen Dutton 15th April 2018 Copyright©2018: 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)

Scenery Review : TNCM - Princess of the Caribbean - Part 1- SXM by AWD In either tourism or aviation it is one of the most famous images known... the image of a KLM Boeing 747 passing over Beacon Hill Road (Maho Beach) on finals and about to land at Princess Juliana International Airport (PJIA) in Sint Maarten. It is now history as well as KLM don't fly Boeing 747's to Sint Maarten any more since they started in 1990, as the final flight was held on 28 October 2016. The aircraft would generally fly from Amsterdam, making a stop in Curacao before heading to St. Maarten. But however you can still fly on the route (but only direct AMS - SXM) and now on an Airbus A330 (FL KL789). Besides trying to duplicate that image in X-Plane (it is far harder than it looks) Sint Maarten is a great base to explore the Anguilla area and islands, this is island hopping par excellence and X-Plane has had a variety of TNCM airports over the years but not one to do the area real justice, so here is Airworthy Design's version and it is a big if huge scenery of the area. I will note is that "is this now the era of Mega Sceneries" for X-Plane, it feels like it, as scenery is now expanding, not only in cost but certainly in size. But the size aspect isn't in area, but in actual scenery size... in Gigabytes. This scenery is a total of 14.71GB... yes that is 14.7 big ones! with a 6.5gb download. The recommended requirement is 4Gb VRAM Video Card Minimum and a 8Gb+ VRAM recommended in graphic cards but you will need at least 16gb of memory as well. An update reduced the download to 5.5GB, but the file size is the same. So the scenery is asking a lot of your specifics, and even I with my review Windows setup, the size just only crawls under that line. I will note my graphic settings here as they are important to the running of this scenery (as to all these newer mega sceneries) they are High (HDR), Maximum (Texture Quality), Highest Quality (AntiAliasing), High (Objects), Minimal (Reflection). The scenery is also part 1 of two editions of the area, this scenery covers the main entrance to the area with Princess Juliana (TNCM) and Grand Case airports (TFFG) and photo scenery over the island of Anguilla. The second edition will cover St Barths (TFFJ) and Saba (TNCS). But the Clayton J. Lloyd International Airport on Anguilla will not be covered, which is an odd omission? To clear up a slight confusion is the names of Sint Maarten and Saint Martin, the island is split between the Dutch (Sint) 40% and the French - Collectivité de Saint-Martin (Saint) of which is the Northern 60%.and the Princess Juliana airport is just south of the border in the Dutch zone and is Dutch in operation, for the French national interests it is the Aéroport de Grand Case or L'Espérance Airport (TFFG) that is positioned in the north of the island. You get a good idea of the large area provided with the scenery by turning off all of X-Plane's weather features... and see the layout of Sint Maarten. I have always noted that X-Plane has required an good Sint Maarten for years, yes as noted there has been a few, but the trick with this island scenery is not with the actual airport itself, but the overall surroundings and the overall feel of the Anguilla islands... ... and the trick of course is the water, or the colouring of the aspects of the water to note the islands tropical look and feel. TNCM - Princess Juliana International Airport The airport was started as a military airstrip in 1942. It was converted to a civilian airport in 1943. In 1964 the airport was remodeled and relocated, with a new terminal building and control tower. The facilities were upgraded in both 1985 and 2001 and the airport airport handles around 1,829,543 passengers and around 60,000 aircraft movements per year. Noted is that TNCM is famous as the 4th most dangerous airport in the world because the approach to Runway 10 which is over water and pilots can become easily disoriented regarding their perceived altitude when operating under visual flight rules. Normal instrument checks, coupled with experience and situational awareness, mitigate potential problems. The departure from Runway 10 presents more "difficulties" than the approach, with a turn required to avoid mountains in the departure path. Arriving aircraft approach the island on the last section of the final approach for Runway 10, following a 3° glide slope flying low over the famous Maho Beach. Pictures of low-flying aircraft were published in several news magazines worldwide in early 2000. The thrilling approaches and ease of access for shooting spectacular images, made the airport one of the world's favorite places among planespotters and of course simulator users in wanting to recapture the challenging approaches and departures. This scenery covers the latest upgrades to the airport (since damaged badly by Hurricane Irma on the 6 September 2017 which struck the island as a Category 5 hurricane). Princess Juliana International Airport IATA: SXM - ICAO: TNCM 10/28 - 2,300m (7,546ft) Asphalt/Concrete Elevation AMSL14ft / 4m In reality TNCM can be set into two zones, the main area with the single large international terminal building (top) and the inter-island area for the mostly twin-engined island hoppers (below). Note the very large radar installation here at TNCM. As since the official opening of the new control tower, PJIA air traffic controllers have two radar systems now at their disposal with ranges of 50 nautical miles (93 km) and 250 nautical miles (460 km). PJIA controllers manage 4,000 square NM of airspace known as the Juliana TCA around the airport, roughly between 25 nautical miles (46 km) and 42 nautical miles (78 km) of the St Maarten VOR-DME. Besides providing approach, tower and ground control at PJIA, these controllers also provide airport approach control for Clayton J. Lloyd International Airport (Anguilla), L'Espérance Airport (French Saint Martin), Gustaf III Airport (St. Barths), F.D. Roosevelt Airport (St. Eustatius) and Juancho E. Yrausquin Airport (Saba). The terminal's design and textures are first-rate, with great graphic design to highlight the island destination. It is a big building and very striking in construction, The Terminal has four air-gates (A1 - A4), but they are not active DGS gates and excellent reflective (see-through) glass. All the interior check-in and departure areas are modeled with not only the usual chairs and shops, but people as well, and you can actually see out of the windows of the parked aircraft. There is a huge amount of everything available in this scenery... static aircraft, tons of ground support equipment, cars, buses and almost every item to convey an island lifestyle you could dream of... It is very extensive and in fact in a few areas a bit overcompensated with a bit of editing that could still convey the same thing, but with less clutter... like why are there private jet aircraft in the Cargo area and why some signs are reversed and how many Fire Trucks does an Airport need? The Inter-Island area is very well done with hangars and aircraft, but again it is crowded and you will have to find a parking stand on the main apron, as this area is again full to capacity. Some users have noted floating objects around the terminal (mostly the airbridges) but in checking my installation it is fine. All AutoGate and GroundTraffic as well as Maritime Traffic and AI Aircraft is not yet included and that also means "traffic". You can use the older WT3 ground routes for TNCM, but they are not tuned for this scenery, so aircraft are spread around in the wrong parking areas and clash with the terminal... Tower View The tower view here is well... different. The idea is to give you view as the controller, but it doesn't work. You are too far back from the actual point of view of where the control would actually stand and so the tower's broken framework intrudes into the view and the point of tower view is to give you a clear view of the approaches to the airport. Maho Beach The scene at the famous Maho Beach is very well done, it is party time and the only thing missing here is the Caribbean beat music... ... The extensive network of hotels on either side of Maho Beach are very well done from a realism of the area point of view. There is a huge amount of detail present, but also a few missing textures or unfinished areas like at the back of a few of the hotels. But you are certainly not lacking here for the island's tourism infrastructure and general facilities, and the vegetation is also very extensive. TFFG - Grand Case-Espérance Airport You are expecting another large airport facility for the French support of their territory, but Grand it is not, if not in that sense of the word. L'Espérance Airport Grand Case Airport Aérodrome de Grand-Case Espérance IATA: SFG - ICAO: TFFG 12/30 1,200m (3,937ft) Asphalt Elevation AMSL 20ft / 6m The single 12/30 runway is situated in a valley but is opened ended at both approaches for a exciting arrival, but the runway is short and even ATR turbo-props have to reverse up to get the run required to takeoff. Incoming aircraft usually approach TFFG on short final for runway 12 over the bay of Grand-Case, with a corresponding view. When wind direction changes, which is common, incoming aircraft then change the approach to the island on short final for runway 30, in the opposite direction. TNCM is actually not that far away to the south, you just take the coastal long way around to the French airport. There is a nice if small ramp area and a larger GA area to the east . The airport is known for quick transfers from the larger turbo-props to the smaller GA aircraft for inter-island transfers, hence the layout. Small terminal is well done with a combined field control tower and Fire Station with the usual three fire engines per runway criteria. Detailing as as usual very good, with a lot of static aircraft (not much parking space though) and vehicles and excellent island/airport signage. The biggest issue here though is the runway is unusable? The actual runway surface (textures are like TNCM in being very good) but the surface has been set as a X-Plane "grass runway" setting and not tarmac. So when you land the aircraft it gets bogged suddenly down and it is very difficult to taxi or turn around until you get back on to the ramps harder areas? Takeoff is full power and hold on.. not doubt the issue will be fixed in an update, but currently it ruins the use of a great scenery. Reefs and Coastal areas The one area that Flight Simulator did very well in was the presentation of shallow waters, mostly in tropical and coral regions of the world. X-Plane has sort of done the same thing, but it's water system was not very good at depicting or recreating such environments, so mostly it was a confined area with big differences between the two areas with a) the shallow water in place, and b ) the hard edge where they joined up. Now these shallow tropical water environments are coming into X-Plane, and there was a few nice ones with the French Polynesia scenery, but recently it was Butaru's TFFJ - Saint Barthélemy Airport by Nimbus Simulation Studios that finally lead the way. FlyTampa with their new FlyCorfu XP scenery that was pretty impressive as well... But the depiction here of such shallow water and coral scenery is one of the best and even the highlight of the scenery. So I took the Carenado Caravan for a spin around the island to have a look. It is really spectacular flying, and in the right atmospheric lighting conditions also very realistic. The area is very large as well which includes both the St. Maarten Island and the full area of Anguilla, south to Saba and far, far more. There are highly-decorated cruise ships (they can also be used as a pointer to an airport runway!) but four of the same ship in one cove is a bit unrealistic? Another note that a few wakes on boats that don't exist are quite noticeable, sometimes this effect can work or work against the scenery? Detail is excellent as the shallows pass under you, the only thing missing is the swimming sharks... ... if you are willing to explore the outer coral banks then the rewards are simply outstanding. If you venture too far you do also come across the hard line of the sceneries boundary? And so more gradual transition would have made the impact more real.... but overall this is X-Plane flying par excellence! Nighlighting This is an extensive scenery, so the lighting does have a fair area to cover. And overall here the lighting is very, very good, but that comes with a penalty. This scenery is quite possibly the largest scenery I have ever loaded into X-Plane, and it has some strange effects on to my Graphic Card's functionality (8GB). One is I get black areas and the shadow effects can sometimes go black, black instead of shaded greys, and it has a very weird effect on my WT3 aircraft view as well. But the strangest effect is on framerate... with the noted settings I have been getting mostly 50fr-60fr over the scenery (left image) and my framerate is noted in the top left corner as a respectable 57 frames... ... but the same viewpoint (abover right) in the night environment it is crushed down to 20 frames and mostly stays in the 16fr-18fr zone? Why is that so? and move the camera viewpoint and the lighting disappears completely? So there is a basic issue here, or is it just too big a scenery for my computer to actually compute? if so then why does it work fine in the daylight? Lighting is however very good, especially around the Airport and Terminal area, but it is quite inconsistent everywhere else. The highlight to the night scenery are the hotels on either side of the Maho Beach approach, as a lot of work has been done here and it shows, it is very good on the RWY 10 approach at night. But move away from the TNCM airport and some areas are well lit, but other areas in the same context are not? so it is all a bit inconsistent. Over at TFFG Grand Case it is more of the inconsistency aspect than the other way around. The runway has no centreline lighting (neither does TNCM, but the real airport doesn't have any centreline lighting either) The harder point is that the lighting here at TFFG is quite small and even finding the non-lit taxiway from the runway to the ramp is a bit of an ordeal, it is arrowed here, but good luck in finding it. There are a few spots lit on the ramp and a nice lit carpark, but mostly this is not a place to fly in to or out of at night, the GA parking apron is very dark as well. But with the right atmospheric conditions (okay X-Plane effects) it is a great place to fly into is this Sint Maarten... Summary Great iconic world airports are always welcome into any simulator, and the TNCM - Princess Juliana International Airport at Sint Maarten is right at the top of the list. There has been a few good, Sint Maarten sceneries for X-Plane, but this is the first real custom one created for the simulator on a larger scale. As scenery goes it is very good, and even nudging into the excellent category, as there has been a huge amount of work and certainly a lot of effort put in to pleasing the requirements of what we the X-Plane users would expect from such a iconic scenery. In that context it does deliver and deliver very well. My gut feeling is that scenery development of this size and scale is now really a team effort more than the single developer in wanting to deliver quality scenery, it overall feels a bit overwhelmed and consistency is brilliant in many areas but lacking in others. This is where team experience kicks in as one developer is excellent in some areas, then other team developers are good in other areas, as this is a first scenery release there is that factor to add in as well. What is missing here is that last bit of refinement, the standing back and crossing the t's and dotting the i's. I have no doubt the developer will cover the small list of issues and quickly, but in reality I would have liked more of the AutoGate, GroundTraffic, ATC routes and certainly the traffic features working far above the lovely but really unimportant flashy features of say inside the terminal building, and the scenery needs a bit of editing here and there. More of a worry is the sheer size of this scenery (13.5gb)? There seems to be a refinement missing to create efficient textures and ortho images, already the 4K textures have been downsized to 2K to counter that huge size, but the night images crushing of framerates seems to suggest that there is also something more required to make this scenery a more refined and efficient scenery for the simulator to absorb, this is also reflected on the computer requirements in order to run the scenery as well. Remember the developer is going to add in even more to this already huge scenery size in part 2 of the package, I see my computer giving up at just the thought of that, and if I can't run that sort of size and requirements then certainly a huge base of users won't be able to either. The size and scope of this scenery is simply huge, and with the just released FlyCorfu XP by FlyTampa you feel X-Plane is now moving into a new era of "mega" sceneries. Overall this is very good scenery, and those excellent outer reef and shallow water conditions are flying heaven and there is plenty to explore here as well. And of course there is that iconic Maho Beach approach! you so you will just have to recreate that iconic image won't you and fully test your flying skills to the limit, and it is well worth the effort when you do so. ______________________________________________________________________ Yes! the TNCM - Princess of the Caribbean by AWD scenery is Available now from the X-Plane.Org Store here : TNCM - Princess of the Caribbean - Part 1- SXM Price Is US$32.95 Features: Scenery created by use of on-site photography references Area of coverage: Sint Maarten island (Princess Juliana and Grand Case airports) and the island of Anguilla (only photoscenery) Custom Mesh: Handcrafted mesh to match runway slopes as per the AIP and terrain modifications to give the most realism possible to the scenery Satellite Photo: 50cm/px resolution licensed from Airbus Custom Grount textures: over 10px/cm nearby the airport surroundings HD Buildings: The Famous Maho Beach rendered with HD textures and PBR shading effects for reflections on water and metallic surfaces Terminal Interiors 3d People and Trees Custom Night Lighting: realistic apron lighting matching colors and light intensity of the real airport Custom Autogen: the whole Island is covered in scenery Custom Static Aircraft Multiple detail configurations available planned for detail or speed Requirements X-Plane 11+ Windows, Mac or Linux 4Gb VRAM Video Card Minimum - 8Gb+ VRAM recommended Please read the manual about rendering options before you start. Download Size: 5.5 Gb (please do not get if you have an unstable internet connection. you have been warned!) A minimum 16gb of RAM is required for efficient running of this scenery, and even then you are lineball. Installation Download scenery file size is 5.5Gb. With the full installation installed package is 14.71gb in your custom scenery folder is as follows: AWD TNCM - 2 - Apt (14.71gb) AWD TNCM - 3 - Mesh (4.4mb) If you have installed in your custom folder TFFJ - Saint Barthélemy Airport by Nimbus Simulation Studios then be aware of the mesh conflicts between the two packages, the AWD sceneries need to be lower in your .ini list than the TFFJ Nimbus scenery or the AWD scenery will cancel out TFFJ? Otherwise they work very well together. WT3 ground routes are here : GroundRoutes_TNCM V1.0 But they are certainly not adjusted or created for this scenery, they work and that is about that... Documents A single two page pdf manual is included but no charts These TNCM charts are worth downloading : TNCM uvairlines ______________________________________________________________________ Scenery Review by Stephen Dutton 14th April 2018 Copyright©2018 : X-Plane Reviews (Disclaimer. All images and text in this review are the work and property of X-PlaneReviews, no sharing or copy of the content is allowed without consent from the author as per copyright conditions) Review System Specifications: Computer System: Windows - Intel Core i7 6700K CPU 4.00GHz / 64bit - 16 Gb single 1067 Mhz DDR4 2133 - ASUS GeForce GTX 1080 8Gb - Samsung Evo 512gb SSD Software: - Windows 10 - X-Plane 11.10 Addons: Saitek x56 Rhino Pro system Joystick and Throttle : Sound - Bose Soundlink Mini Plugins: Environment Engine by xEnviro US$69.90 : XPRealistic Pro v1.0.9 effects US$19.95 : WorldTraffic 3.0 Plugin - US$29.95 Scenery or Aircraft - C208B Grand Caravan HD Series XP11 by Carenado (X-Plane.OrgStore) US$34.95 - Boeing 747-400 by Laminar Research (default Aircraft X-Plane11)

Freeware Release : Boeing 737-900ER Ultimate beta 0.2.0 After all the hype you are just simply over it all and glad this Boeing 737-900ER has been finally eleased if only in a beta form. This is not the place or time for a review because simply most areas of the aircraft are still blanked off and noted as a WIP (Work In Progress) and believe me there is still a lot of WIP going on. This aircraft is based on the native X-Plane default Boeing 737-800, with the incorporated famous Zibo Mods. and in the points of the Zibo modifications the aircraft is very, very good. My first opinion is to note the B739U is as an ongoing project more than a released completed aircraft, and there are a lot of great ideas and features in here, but it is a long way from any completion, unless the developer is hiding a lot of the other work that is still WIP. Features released include: Led lights full 3d interior custom cockpit textures chart and checklist viewer integraded zibo support But "Some of the tablet features have been disabled to because of their noted W.I.P nature. " which really means still most items are still blank... this release is more a framerate refinement than an aircraft beta, but my framerates were in the 50's, so no problems there. There is a nice iPad style menu... but only three menu options in Ground Handling, Door Operations and Cabin Lighting currently work, Checklists and Charts also work but you will have to add in your own documents. Cabin is nice and well done, but more Low-Res than Hi-Res, and the cabin lighting is well... interesting? Yes the B739U is a beta, but also freeware... You can get the Boeing 737-900ER Ultimate beta 0.2.0 here: https://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?/files/file/43965-boeing-737-900er-ultimate-beta/ Other developer links are here : ZIBO B738-800 modified ________________________________________ Stephen Dutton 11th April 2018 Copyright©2018: X-Plane Reviews

No didn't see that, but there was a note on the developers site there was a few patches done? So they may have fixed it, and promo video makers usually get an early beta anyway. A jpg should work? Just try it again? Sd

That is the tradeoff. The orthos have to be lower-res or you will get a graphic card buster (see TNCM), and as the X-Plane native roads which are more exact to the correct co-ords then the traffic is out as well, in a few years with more processing power and even bigger or say 20GB Graphic Cards we may finally get total nirvana, but we are getting there .

I actually don't have any idea as to the age of the aircraft, you may have to contact vFlyteAir for the paintkit?

There is a few statics, but the ramps here at LGKR are also small so you don't want too much. WT3 does work but as noted it is not perfect, I hope someone can fix or fine tune the WT3 aspect..

Scenery Review : FlyCorfu XP by FlyTampa If I ever went to most Flight Simulator forums or any debate about Flight Simulator (P3D) vs X-Plane then one name always came up... FlyTampa. In most cases in the forums the users were usually absolutely loath to give up their FlyTampa sceneries. So no matter how advanced or how many features X-Plane put into their simulator it was always (with a few very good aircraft developers) a major sticking point with FlyTampa sceneries not available in switching over to the X-Plane platform. It is amazing that a developer can have such a grasp of so many simulator users with just good scenery. But in early 2018 things changed very quickly as first Orbix (another FS/P3D staple) announced and published their first scenery for X-Plane and then within weeks FlyTampa also and even quietly with a spoiler announced that they also were going to now release their first scenery on the X-Plane11 platform. That is a game changer for X-Plane. But that FlyTampa introduction announcement into X-Plane also gave me a few concerns? As Flight Simulator developers have had a notorious relationship with X-Plane, as their point of view was that what works very well for them in the FS/P3D sphere will simply work in X-Plane as well, is that a sort of arrogance, and maybe it is. But it also confuses the issue in that most times X-Plane usually came out the bad end of the deal or gets all the bad press in a viewpoint that was in most cases was in their own FS making. So here now is one the big one's, this is FlyTampa and could they get it also so very wrong, if so then the effects could be long lasting to both the developer and X-Plane in certainly not so much in a mortal way, but in a more of a "I told you so" conversation... so there was a lot of apprehension but also a undeniable excitement when I loaded in FlyTampa's first X-Plane release in FlyCorfu XP. Installing FlyCorfu XP FlyCorfuXP comes with both .EXE and .dmg installers for both either Windows or Mac (Linux notes for install is below), you just download the installer you require. I am using the .EXE Windows version. First is the Licence Agreement (You say yes! or I agree) then the provided Key Authorisation number. The next input is your address for the X-Plane11 root folder (not the Custom Scenery folder) and then the installer goes about it's job and extracts and installs three files. These files are: FlyTampa_Corfu_Airport (798.10mb) FlyTampa_Corfu_Objects (111.20mb) FlyTampa_Corfu_zMesh (2.33gb) It is your choice if you want to move the final zMesh files to the bottom of your .INI list, but in reality here it is not needed as there is no conflict with any other scenery, unless you are an administration freak. The fully installed FlyCorfu package is 3.01gb. Corfu Corfu or Kerkyra (/kɔːrˈfuː, -fjuː/; Greek, is the second largest island of the Ionian Sea, and is located at the northwest coast of Greece. (Google Maps) The island is part of the Corfu regional unit, and is administered as a single municipality, which also includes the smaller islands of Ereikoussa, Mathraki and Othonoi. The municipality has an area of 610,9 km2, and the island proper is 592,8 km2.The principal city of the island and seat of the municipality (pop. 32,095) is also named Corfu.(wikipedia). FlyCorfu XP by FlyTampa One thing to get clear from the start is that "FlyCorfu XP" is not just "Corfu" in the airport scenery? it is CORFU... in the WHOLE island of Corfu. So this scenery and the underlying mesh provided covers the whole island from top to bottom. To a point this is the fundamental important aspect of FlyTampa sceneries, and why they are so revered, as in you just don't get the airport or the side add-on of say the basic layout of the local area, no.. what you get with FlyTampa everything! This aspect is easier with a complete but self contained island scenery, a landlocked scenery is harder to do as it has to blend in to the surrounding areas, but even with an island scenery and one close to the other islands and the mainland coastline the visual effect of the custom scenery still has to blend in... ... so your first visual clues here with FlyCorfu are actually disappointing, but it shouldn't be that at all. The scenery is so well blended in you can't actually tell the difference between the custom scenery and the surrounding areas, in other words it is perfect, and as there are no vastly different mesh colours here, no badly joined sight lines, it is just the same as you are always used to and as Emilios Gemenetzidis from FlyTampa noted to X-PlaneReviews "in that we did spend a lot of time optimising/customising our work for XPlane" and that aspect is certainly very apparent here. And to note that I have also turned off my environmental special effects here so the view is clearer and more defined. Corfu the city is on eastern inland sea area and about half-way up the island. And as you fly closer the city becomes more detailed... A fly over of Corfu city and the close by airport is an amazing experience, as the scenery is so very well intergrated not only into the surrounding mesh but into the complete overall scenery itself. So instantly one of my biggest fears was discarded in mis-matching textures and mesh collisions, as FlyCorfu XP feels X-Plane through and through. So it was hard not to be impressed, and be very taken by the realism and authentic feel of an arrival at the Corfu scenery as this is one of the best I have seen for a long time. A low flight over Corfu harbour reinstated the quality of the scenery and the very high VFR potential aspect of the scenery. Ioannis Kapodistrias (Capodistrias) International Airport (IATA: CFU, ICAO: LGKR) or Corfu Airport is just south of the city and is set by two lagoons. And my arrival was via RWY 35.... The FlyTampa burb notes both the approaches as: "The approach path to RW35 passes next to the mountainous terrain, which runs along the southern coast of the island, often challenged by strong winds on short final. A few meters before touchdown, the path comes low above the monastery of Vlacherna and the sea bridge connecting the western coast with the famous ‘Kanoni’, which is embedded into the mountain cliffs, at an ideal location for aircraft spotters. RW17 provides an equally thrilling approach amid hazardous terrain. Its path comes low above the ship harbor, and ‘cuts’ though Corfu downtown, with the old city of Kerkyra and its glorious two fortresses standing high on the left" Glorious stuff and yes it is not glossed over, but to be honest I was far too focused on landing the Airbus A319, nice scenery as it is but a lot concentration is required to land here, there are no helpers either in any ILS but there is a DME/VOR (GAR - 108.80 MHz) and a NDB (KEK - 403 KHz) as your only guides into RWY35. The ramp and terminal area is on your right, and "Welcome to Corfu". Corfu City and Island Turn on the X-Plane theatrical and effects and what you get is simply "wow"... Now FlyTampa note the best graphic settings to run the FlyCorfu XP scenery in the manual and that is reproduced here below... This is actually very close to my standard X-Plane review settings anyway, but I put my Antialiasing up to the full 8xSSAA-FXAA (Highest Quality) without any effects, in fact the overall framerate at those settings was 40fr-50fr which is highly impressive considering the size of the mesh scenery, but I was consuming "4134 mb" of texture loading, so only graphic cards of 6gb or higher will get those numbers at those settings. So the overall verdict was that the scenery is very highly refined for use, but those with 4gb graphic cards or lower will have to lose another level in texture quality. To achieve those impressive frame-rates there is a bit of a slight of hand going on here. Most of the building modeling is square or rectangle in a sort of autogen look set out on the photo textures, but don't get me wrong as there are a lot of custom buildings set out in the city scene as well... The effect is highly impressive both ways with excellent framerate, but that unique look and feel is required. The important Corfu icons are all there with the old citadel (in Greek Palaio Frourio (Παλαιό Φρούριο) which is an old Venetian fortress built on an artificial islet with fortifications surrounding its entire perimeter with the "Great Cross", the new citadel or Neo Frourio (Νέο Φρούριο, "New Fortress") is a huge complex of fortifications dominating the northeastern part of the city, the The Old Town and Pontikonisi and on the list goes. What is a Greek island without a port, and here it is done very well with ferries, boats and an excellent detailed Cruise Liner ... ... distinctive Corfu Palace Hotel and the famous Vlacherna Monastery are all represented as well. In most cases with custom scenery the line is usually drawn about here, and once you are out of the main city environs the 3d scenery and hand object placement finishes unless there is a reason to add in say an iconic item... but not with FlyTampa! Every town, every village, every harbour and in fact every single settlement either on the coastline or inland is covered with 3d placement objects... You go from a sort of impressed to completely overwhelmed feeling as you make your way around the islands of Corfu and at the sheer amount of work by FlyTampa in this scenery, and to a point on a scale X-Plane has not seen before without the help of the native autogen. The coastal mesh is very good as well, you have to expect a certain lower resolution with the amount and the size of the mesh used here, but the effects are still outstanding with not only the beaches and rocky formations but the inner sandbanks in the water effect, from the air it is all highly-realistic. Ioannis Kapodistrias (Capodistrias) International Airport Buried just south of Corfu City in Kerkyra is LGKR or Corfu Airport. And it is the only airport on the island. Corfu International Airport "Ioannis Kapodistrias" Κρατικός Αερολιμένας Κέρκυρας "Ιωάννης Καποδίστριας" IATA: CFU - ICAO: LGKR 17/35 7,785ft (2,373m) Asphalt Elevation AMSL 6 ft / 2 m The Corfu airport was founded in 1937. During Second World War it was used by German and Italian forces as a base for transport and fighter aircraft and during the war the runway length was 600m. By the end of April 1949 the length had reached 800m. A further extension to 1260m took place by the end of 1951 to meet the then larger aircraft needs. The next and last extension of the runway began in 1957 and was completed in 1959, with a length of 2,373m. The first commercial flight took place on 19 April 1949 from Athens operated by TAE Greek National Airlines. On 2 September 1950 HELLAS also started flights to Corfu. In 1962 a small passenger terminal was built, which today accommodates the Corfu Aeroclub. In April 1965 the airport became International, with the inaugural overseas flight being operated by Olympic Airlines. The construction of the new passenger terminal began in 1968 and was completed in 1972. Notable Corfu is a very seasonal airport and mostly with charter airlines during the summer holiday periods.(wikipedia) Ramp areas There are ten parking stands at LGKR (no airgates) but stand 1 is 1A and 1B & and there is also a 2A and 2B. The layout is confusing when you arrive, so you will need to consult your chart. There is GA parking in front of the old terminal and across the 17/35 runway there is a large parking apron that will park a B737/A320, but my guess is this area is used as an overflow ramp at busy seasonal times of operations a few private jets are currently in residence. Terminal The single terminal building is now serving nearly 2,5 million passengers yearly is excellent here, I will admit the FlyCorfu scenery is not modern, in a brand new, new in design, it had been created for Flight Simulator after all, but the design here is still first rate, and FlyTampa have used the X-Plane11 reflective glass feature here to great effect on the windows and note the really realistic matrix metal roofing support framework, first-rate modeling. Detailing is simply excellent and the Control Tower is at the northern end of the building. The X-Plane "Tower View" was missed in the development, but FlyTampa note's it will be done in the first update. The airport has custom animated vehicle traffic, from graphic signed buses to baggage carts. They all roll around the aircraft at a nice pace but there is not too much activity zooming around but far enough to make it realistic. 3d object placement in vehicles and airport support ground equipment is again excellent in the sheer numbers and quality, the haphazard parking of the old "Olympic" airstairs and baggage carts is very well done and very realistic... I love detail like that. Fuel depots with supplier signage is also well represented with a large and now isolated aircraft hangar in the background, beyond is a really well done football field. Old Terminal that is now the "Corfu Aeroclub" is there, and there is a lot of very good perimeter surrounding buildings for restaurants and car hire that are very well signed with some great graphic detailing. Runway textures are first-rate, with great variation and tire wear is evident, taxiway and runway signage is also perfect. Like with the terminal glass, FlyTampa have also used reflections on the hard taxiway and runway surfaces which is very impressive... ... Grass! who doesn't love grass for the great effect it gives, and here the grass is really well done and with flowers as well. The grass is however contained just to inside the airport perimeter. And yes there is even animated swans swimming around in the lagoon... highly realistic. FlyTampa have completed the ATC ground routes, so A.I. and X-Life Traffic will work here very well. WorldTraffic3 however is a not as perfect in the way it interprets the built in WED layout. Takeoffs from the RWY35 end is fine when the wind is blowing that way, but landings from the RWY15 end doesn't work as well, because of that turnaround circle at the end of RWY15? (funny enough the takeoff circle works fine with the RWY35 takeoff). The issue is that aircraft land on RWY15 and then disappear as the ground routes end and so slowly the airport empties out? Note also that the airport is quieter in the winter than in the summer for using AFRE routes, so the autogen mode is usually the better of the two. Overall though WT3 works fine. Scenery Lighting To a point the scenery lighting is slightly different to what X-Plane users are used to. That is to the advantage here because you have that mesh of Flight Simulator lighting on the original scenery and the overlaid effects of the X-Plane lighting, it shouldn't work, but it does. LGKR Airport is not a great night operations airport to fly into. There is only the runway (side) lighting and no taxi guide lights either, so you will need good aircraft lighting to work your way around the runway and the taxiways... ... the ramps feel dark in places but where the lighting is it very effective and looks visually amazing, but I feel in front of the terminal a little more lighting would help. The football field is also dark? and it look really great lit up as well. The terminal however looks excellent at night, with great graphic night textures and brilliant signage... first-rate. Corfu City and Island The city scenery lighting is as noted a mixture of the old FS lighting and the newer X-Plane street lighting, but overall it is highly effective. Monuments are really nicely lit and look very realistic on any arrival or departure at night, I was surprised the "Great Cross" was not lit at night as it would stand out across the harbour. Even away from the City centre the lighting is very good. The moored Cruise Ship is a real highlight, as it looks very realistic in the harbour as do the major tourist hotels spread around the city. But visually the more you move away from Corfu the better it seems to get? The limitations of the X-Plane radius lighting is supplemented with the custom placed island lighting that extends the lighting right out in a way of perfection... ... here night approaches are sublime in their visual impact and are extremely highly realistic, could all of X-Plane please be like this? Summary The interesting point to make here is that FlyCorfu XP is like no other X-Plane scenery, not that it is Flight Simulator scenery either but it was obviously built for that platform and in most cases that would then be deprecated for X-Plane. So in reality there is a sort of adjustment in the way you are conscious of what this scenery actually is, as also in certainly the same context as when the other FlyTampa sceneries are released in that they will then provide this same depth of feel and immersion for X-Plane. In what FlyTampa delivers here is really simply overwhelming when you start to try to uncover the full island that has been in context completely modeled or is that remodeled, that aspect then produces another level of realism in visual and operational uses. The really clever part is that FlyTampa has also intergrated in their original scenery so perfectly into the X-Plane native mesh and that is far harder to do than you think it is and then also totally fuse in the X-Plane aspect as well. So you have to applaud the fact that the developers not only understand but have used very effectively all the X-Plane features available to them, and as FlyTampa's Emilios Gemenetzidis noted to me that they tried very hard to perfect and cover those areas for users of the X-Plane simulator, in other words they are also taking X-Plane seriously as a platform and except from say Carenado then how many Flight Simulator developers have done or even said that before. Negatives are very minute, but a little more lighting effects on the ramps and the lighting up football field and the Grand Cross would be nice additions, the scenery when installed is quite large at just over 3gb and from me a graphic card over 6gb or more would get you the full wow effects, but you can easily use a 4gb card at a setting below. The results of all this are spectacular and with the X-Plane effects like lighting and PBR reflections working along with environmental engines and then you are simply getting another level of realism. So yes the basic Flight Simulator elements are all in there in this modeling, lighting and the even with the textures, but with that coat of X-Plane over the top you get excellence and even better you get all of this at a value price of US$26.00. And have you actually looked through the FlyTampa back catalogue? Then do so because FlyTampa are a game changer in scenery for X-plane in more ways than one, because they just do everything in scenery, so very well... so no wonder all those users wouldn't go anywhere without their beloved FlyTampa sceneries, as from this moment on I would do the same as well. Highly, highly recommended! ______________________________________________________________________ Yes! the FlyCorfu by FlyTampa scenery is Available now from the X-Plane.Org Store here : FlyTampa-Corfu XP Price Is US$26.00 Features: Comprehensive and Ultra-High Resolution Scenery: Complete island with custom mesh, hand-placed vegetation, and 3D lighting Sloped Airport terrain Full coverage with custom buildings and all known landmarks Animated apron vehicles and road traffic Pre-rendered self-shadowing and custom reflection maps Requirements X-Plane 11 (still works with X-Plane 10) Windows, Mac or Linux 2Gb VRAM Minimum - 4Gb+ VRAM Recommended For the best high-quality settings a 6gb graphic Card and above is highly recommended (framerate is excellent) Download size: 730Mb Installation Download scenery file size is 645.00mb. With the full installation installed package is 3.01gb in your custom scenery folder is as follows: FlyTampa_Corfu_Airport (798.10mb) FlyTampa_Corfu_Objects (111.20mb) FlyTampa_Corfu_zMesh (2.33gb) .EXE and .dmg installers for both either Windows or Mac (Linux can be used if they can run the .dmg package) are provided for install. Installing Linux is a little more tricky, but a user noted these notes: I found the best solution for installation under UBUNTU 16.04 1 - Create empty X-Plane-x86_64 files in X-Plane.app 2 - Install WINE 3 - Start the .exe file 4 - Enter the specific code. ______________________________________________________________________ Scenery Review by Stephen Dutton 9th April 2018 Copyright©2018 : X-Plane Reviews (Disclaimer. All images and text in this review are the work and property of X-PlaneReviews, no sharing or copy of the content is allowed without consent from the author as per copyright conditions) Review System Specifications: Computer System: Windows - Intel Core i7 6700K CPU 4.00GHz / 64bit - 16 Gb single 1067 Mhz DDR4 2133 - ASUS GeForce GTX 1080 8Gb - Samsung Evo 512gb SSD Software: - Windows 10 - X-Plane 11.10 Addons: Saitek x56 Rhino Pro system Joystick and Throttle : Sound - Bose Soundlink Mini Plugins: Environment Engine by xEnviro US$69.90 : XPRealistic Pro v1.0.9 effects US$19.95 : WorldTraffic 3.0 Plugin - US$29.95 Scenery or Aircraft - ToLiSS319 (A319) by ToLiSS (X-Plane.OrgStore) - US$69.00

Great, if you read the above review, I wasn't that taken with it either at first use, in fact I couldn't see why every one went so overboard with it, but after using it for a few weeks I was totally absolutely hooked, also I now really hate it also when I have to turn it off for some reason, yes there are a few issues there and some glaringly obvious, but it works its magic. Checkout the xEnviro facebook page for the updates and changes with v1.08 xEnviro Facebook SD