Stephen

Aircraft Update : Boeing 777 Worldliner Pro 1.9.5 by FlightFactor/Vmax The big twin Boeing 777 Professional Series from FlightFactor/Vmax has been updated to version 1.9.5. This update makes the B777 Pro usable in X-Plane11 (not yet fully XP11 compliant) but this update does cover the important changes of the jet engine thrust parameters that was changed in the X-Plane11beta12 release. Also with this update is the distinction now of completely separate aircraft versions of the aircraft for both _XP10 (XP10.52) and _XP11 and so you will have quite a few none usable aircraft now showing up in your selection menu. This multitude of versions are now going to grow prolifically as other developers follow this same trend and it is certainly noticeable here and certainly if you have the "Extended Pack" because there are four variants that is now doubled up to eight and four of those are not usable in either X-Plane application. These separate aircraft versions could start to fill up your menus very quickly unless there is compromise found to distinctively allocate the versions of aircraft to the acceptable platform application. The new changelog notes the changes: 1.9.5 - split xp10 and xp11 files - added a fix for xp11 beta engine issues (temporary) However flying the B777 Pro you do feel far more items than on the changelog were attended to, to bring the aircraft to an X-Plane11 usable flying condition. It flies very nicely thank you very much, and the big smile on my face says "I'm glad to have you back", and certainly the option to be able to use the aircraft in X-Plane11 is a very big benefit as well. Those X-Plane11 features help any aircraft, but the B777 Twin looks very good with it's shiny new skin. Everyone would feel the Boeing 777 cockpit is a slightly darkish place with all the browns, but X-Plane11 and the new PBR (Physically-Based Rendering) feature does now bring in a lot of life and dynamics to the whole space. The "Extended Pack" includes four versions (below) of the Boeing 777 Worldliner, and the standard version includes the above Boeing 777-200LR. Boeing 777-200 LR Boeing 777-200 F (Cargo) Boeing 777-300 ER Boeing 777-200 ER Not a big update by any means, but at least the aircraft is usable in X-Plane11 until the whole new X-Plane11 version goes final. Go to your X-PlaneStore account now to update to the new 1.95 version (It may note the older v1.94, but it is actually the v1.95) and if you would like to purchase the Boeing 777 Professional Series packages then the details are set out below.. _____________________________________________________________________________________ The 1.95 update is now available from the X-Plane.Org Store here : Price is US$59.95 - Boeing 777 Worldliner Professional Price is US$84.95 - Boeing 777 Worldliner Professional - Extended Pack - Designed by FlightFactor (Philipp and Ramzzess) and produced by VMAX The 1.92 update is free to all users that have purchased the Boeing 777 (Pro and Ext) Series. Just go to to your X-Plane.Org Store account and log-in to download. Features Fully Functional FMS - Plan your routes like a real pilot Custom designed Flight Management Computer, integrated with other plane systems Custom programmed LNAV logic for terminal procedures Custom designed Navigation Display Tterminal procedure database with RNAV approaches and transitions VNAV managed climbs and descends Takeoff and approach speed calculation Custom autopilot modes for autoland Optimum cruise performance and step climb calculation True-to-life radio navigation with procedural-, route-, and navigation support auto-tuning Custom programmed FMC navigation using GPS-, radio- or inertial navigation with individual position errors and management of actual and required navigation performance Magnetic, true and polar grid course reference Alternate airports, diversion and arrival management Ground proximity warning system using real sounds FMC can be used on external touchscreen or tablet, optimized for the new iPad Incredible 3D modeling - the best eye-candy Amazing virtual cockpit with crisp details - Dynamic reflections Custom 3D sounds and Announcements Add-ons: Push-back truck, Fuel Truck, Passenger bus and Emergency slides ... On-Screen Menus: Configuration and loading menu, Quick Zoom Requirements X-Plane 10 Fully updated or current X-Plane 11 - 64 bit required Windows, Vista, 7 / 8/ 10 (64 bits) or MAC OS 10.10 (or higher - OSX 10.9 will not work), Linux Ubuntu 14.04LTS or compatible (older versions are not supported) 4GB RAM/512 MB VRAM (1GB VRAM Recommended)- 1Gb available hard disk space Current version : 1.92 (last updated January 25, 2017) Note: For this update to work correctly on Windows, you need to install the Visual Studio 2015 redistributables, which you can download here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=48145 _____________________________________________________________________________________ Developer Site: facebook Dev Thread : X-Plane.org _____________________________________________________________________________________ Technical Requirements: Windows XP , Vista, 7 / 8/ 10 (32 or 64 bits) or MAC OS 10.7 (or higher), Linux Ubuntu 14.04LTS or compatible (older versions are not supported) X-Plane 10.30+. 32 or 64 bit (64bit recommended) 4GB RAM/512 MB VRAM (1GB VRAM Recommended)- 1Gb available hard disk space Current version : 1.95 (last updated 13th March 2017) Update Review By Stephen Dutton 14th March 2017 Copyright©2017: X-Plane Reviews

News! Early Preview : Phenom 100 by Carenado Early facebook images of Carenado's next plane project is Carenado's first X-Plane jet with the Phenom 100! Jet aircraft from Carenado have been in the works for quite awhile and also available in FSX/PrePar3d for quite a few years now and there is actually two version in the Phenom -100 and -300 Series. But no doubt the coming release will make the wait worth it, for the Phenom comes with a full G1000 avionics suite as well, and is a HD Series (High Definition) Aircraft. As the FSX version is also noted as US$39.95, it could be also the most expensive Carenado released in X-Plane yet as well. It might be a good idea to start saving now, no actual release date or detailed aircraft features are yet available, but my guess is a release around Easter. Images are courtesy of Carenado© Developer site : Carenado.com ______________________________________________________________________ Stephen Dutton 13th March 2017 Copyright©2017 X-Plane Reviews: X-PlaneReviews

Plugins - Goodway v5 Flight Planner Released If anything can show that you are a long time user of the X-Plane simulator, then it is the word "Goodway". The Goodway Flightplanner was all the rage back in the days of early X-Plane versions onwards from 2003 because it was A - good, B- easy and most importantly C - Fast. Goodway used line vector drawing and not the complex (online) maps to create navigation routes and then loaded them directly into the aircraft, so the flightplanner was not an external system but a built into X-Plane plugin, with all those benefits. By the end of the last decade the v4 Goodway was feeling a little out of date and was not updated to keep up with the advances in the simulator, so it became buggy and outdated. At the time the developer noted that there was a new version in v5 coming soon to clear away all the cobwebs and create a totally new modern version with a long list of new features, development went on for a few years and then the whole deal just sort of fizzled out. But here now is that newly released v5 Goodway flightplanner. It is still integrated in with X-Plane V10 and V11 64Bits in a plugin (no 32bit version). This means that all the tools offered by GoodWay are also still directly usable in X-Plane. I tried out the "Demo" version. Goodway v5 is downloaded and inserted into your X-Plane "Plugins" folder and will show up under the X-Plane plugins menu. There are 4 menu options in: Map Flight Plan Aircraft Preferences Aircraft covers the preferences for the aircraft's performance for Climb, Cruise and Descent (Goundspeeds) and Climb and Descent vertical speeds and finally the Flight Altitude, the preferences can then be saved, but you have to get them right and there are no .Mach speeds in there, or it crashes the plugin. There are a set of default aircraft settings you can use, so picked the default Boeing 737-800. Next you set up your (basic) route via IACO Departure and Arrival airports and the choice of two VIAs. And GoodWay will suggest VIAs that can match SIDs or STARs for airports, but it is not a perfect SID/STAR flightplanner, but notes suggest that this may come in a future feature when X-Plane11 has been finalised and sorted. One bonus of this Flightplanner is that it does list all the current Airports, VORs, NDBs and Waypoints (fixes) from the current X-Plane database. And this aspect and with the actual name titles makes it easy to find and select the current navigation data that is available, even if you are not using the X-Plane .fms flightplan system but programming your FMS system in a larger addon aircraft like the Flightfactor machines or Rotate's MD-88, and the flightplan and route can be seen (or is handy) in the your current window and not on a secondary screen or monitor. After imputing the DEP and ARR airports Goodway will create a very basic route and flightplan with TYPe, ICAO, VOR Frequency, Name (Airport or Nav Aid) TRK (track), DIST (Distance), ALT (Altitude) and Time to Nav Aid. The offical completed version looks like this... The biggest bonus is speed, Goodway was and still is very fast, but you have to wait if if it has to compute long routes. The MAP page is still pure Goodway. Top menu is the map selections including the Flightplan Tool and Search. Then a selection of (on/off) Airports and Nav-Aids. H (High) - L (Low) routes. Next set include N - Names (place), I- Information and F - Frequencies (VOR/NDB) and the final set of selections are for Show Aircraft, Show aircraft on route (if Active) and finally Flight Path on or off. Lower Tools include Hand (move map), Ruler, Area Zoom and Modify Tool (editor). Map zoom level +/-, Centre and Zoom and Zoom Aircraft. Preferences There is the preferences pop-up panel This panel shows your selections for Airports, Helipad, and Hydroport, and Show Rivers, Country (boundaries), Aircraft (yours), Airports (Fix), Smooth the Map? which is for very slow computers... and log flight path. Once you have created the basic route you can easily modify it to meet your current requirements. If you are an old user of the Goodway, you can smile again as you know how extremely easy it was to edit the flightplans and with an extremely fast speed if you were a master of it. The key tools are very easy to use between the Shift (duplicate waypoint), Control (move map) and Drag for waypoints and Define to select a work area. The old slight annoyances come back as well? first is that you have move to the first waypoint to duplicate it? And usually it was way off the map, and then you had to leap frog the duplicate waypoint back down from visual waypoint to visual waypoint to the first waypoint that you needed to select? Once there however then you can just then duplicate that waypoint for the ones you require that are now more close to it. More modern Flightplanners just allow you to click on the waypoint you want by selecting it. But a pro can create a edited flightplan in double quick time, for that Goodway is unbeatable. Low and High Routes are very well represented and again extremely useful when creating larger FMS flightplans (airways) for add-on aircraft as the routes can be scrolled to find airways that are not shown on over limited flightplanners. Vector design means very fast movement and scale, so scrolling is extremely fast and the whole world is easily available. But I used to have issues with the flightplan if it crossed over the dateline or the edge of the map, certainly with editing close to the edge of the map. I don't know if this issue is still there, but it was hard to fix at the time. Airport information is very good and frequencies are selectable. You don't get the airport display in the Demo, but the official one looks like this. Search for Airports and Nav-Aids is very good, with a wide source of selections. Currently you can export: X-Plane v10 : FMS and GPS X-Plane v11 : FMS, GNS 430, 530 and FMC (which requires to still manually enter the arrival and departure airports) But as noted it is excellent for in window/screen FMS route creation. A video is available to see the set of features and flightplanner use... Summary Considering the extensive time period between the last release and this v5 Release you do expect a more modern flightplanner. The v5 Goodway is not that different than the older v4 version all those years ago, yes there are new features, but in reality it is still really the same old Gateway. That is of course a bonus as well as a negative as it is a powerful tool to use as it is lighting fast to create routes or to find Nav-Aids or Airways. Editing is exactly the same and with the bonuses and negatives with that as well and the overall design is slightly old fashioned as well on icon design and layouts. The quirks are still in there as well, dragging the first point by point duplicate to a closer airport waypoint to create a SID drove me mad, and as there is also no topographical map, it is very easy to design routes that can fly you directly into mountains (there is still a black mark on a mountain in Victoria B.C with my name on it). Price is quite high at €25 Euros (US$26.75 Current), as very good as it is, it is still expensive with a lot of good flightplanners around (there was a €20 Euro introduction price but that period has now ended). I really loved the Goodway (in the past) and shred a few misty tears using it again here, but the point is would I front up that much for it again (sorry no upgrades from v4) as that is debatable. The Demo is really too limiting for me to make up my mind either, but for €15 Euros I would present my credit card as in many areas it is a very valuable route making tool. So the Goodway route creation tool is back for X-Plane... was it worth the wait? Positives: Extremely fast route building and editing tool, Built directly into X-Plane via a plugin, Good use for current default X-Plane FMC systems and excellent for route creation for FMS aircraft, New aircraft preferences must be correct, Older X-Plane pilot's will cry again as they use it. Negatives: Not that big a leap from v4, Still a few quirks that drove you mad then still do, No topographical mapping for altitudes, Expensive for a vector program and only one computer per license is permitted. ______________________________________________________________________ The v5 Goodway Flight Planner for X-Plane10 and 11 is Available from XPGoodway here : XP-Goodway v5 Flightplanner Price is €25 Euros (US$26.75 Current) Features: • Automatic creation of flight plans with X-Plane data (which may differ from the actual data you find on the internet or in some tools), • Using the performance of aircraft that you can also define yourself, the flight plan automatically recalculates, • Send the flight plan to X-Plane v10 standard instruments : FMS and GPS, X-Plane v11 FMC, GPS and GNS (430 or 530) • Follow the flight plan in a specific window that also allows you to adjust the radio frequencies and the OBS and Heading with a single click, • A map that covers the entire world and provides you with a wealth of tools for display, dynamic measurements and viewing and making or modifying flight plans, tracking your flight, • Detailed information about airports: Airports in blue print, ILS list, Radio, and all the details of each airport, you can also adjust the radio frequencies and ILS in 1 click. • Powerful search tool that will allow you to search for any beacon, waypoint, airport and even a city on the map. Installation The download package is 25.70mb and is 74.70mb when installed in your X-Plane "Plugins" Folder. Both MAC and Windows version provided. Registration and Authorisation key is required: Demo is free but limited. Documents: Manual in English, French and German is available from site. ______________________________________________________________________ Review by Stephen Dutton 13th March 2017 Copyright©2017: X-Plane Reviews 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 10 Global ver 10.45 / Checked install in X-Plane11b6 Addons: Saitek x52 Pro system Joystick and Throttle : Sound - Bose Soundlink Mini : Headshake by SimCoders Plugins: : Environment Engine by xEnviro US$69.90 .

Aircraft Review : PA-31 Chieftain 350 HD Series by Alabeo Only back last year in August 2016 I sampled Carenado's Piper PA-31 Navajo. It didn't take long (about 10 minutes) for the aircraft to become a firm favorite in my hangar and I have flown it constantly ever since. It is just one of those really sweet aircraft that fits your flying like a glove. So I was pleasantly surprised with the announcement of another variant on the Navajo in the big brother (or sister) the PA-31 Chieftain. The Chieftain is the stretched version of the Navajo B with more powerful engines and counter-rotating propellers to prevent critical engine handling problems.The fuselage was lengthened by 2 ft 0 in (0.61 m), allowing for up to ten seats in total. Also variants of the Lycoming TIO-540 developing 350 hp (261 kW) were fitted to the Chieftain (this version), with an opposite-rotation LTIO-540 installed on the right-hand wing; MTOW was increased to 7,000 lb (3,175 kg). After certification was achieved for the PA-31-325 in May 1974, and production commenced in the 1975 model year. In the Navajo review I flew the aircraft from YBBN (Brisbane) to the new YBWW (WellCamp) by Toowoomba, Queensland, and well I thought why not fly the Chieftain on the same route and see how they both fare. You can see the extra length of the Chieftain, but it is deceiving at first, more noticeable is the bulkier engine housings with their overhang of the rear of the wing. Quality wise and design thoroughness you can't tell the two aircraft apart, both excellent. Which one is the Carenado... the first one, but it doesn't make any difference really. Menus Carenado provide you with three tabbed menus on the left lower screen. A ) is for the pop-up Autopilot panel. B ) Is the standard Carenado views, Field of View and Volume panel. And C ) is the Options panel. There are certainly great options. The usual Static elements are again odd. You can have your wheel chocks but only with the aircraft hand puller on the nose? What if you just want to chock the aircraft until you fly again. No engine inlet or tags either but you do get wing cones. One feature is a really great one in two types of versions. The "Standard" wing version gives you the door and an opening luggage door (but no luggage?) Select the "Winglets" tab on the Options menu and you get not only a lovely set of modern winglets, but a change in configuration with a single door door (no luggage door) and two extra seats in the rear with some beautiful teardrop windows to look out of known as the "Commuter" version There is a nice luggage compartment in the nose as well. Aircraft panel work is excellent, note the very well done screw and rivet work. Interior The Navajo had a club seating layout (below), but the Chieftain (above) is totally forward seating. At first glance the seating looks old, but they are actually not, but black leather, and they are the sames seats as well but because of the darker colour they look very different. The all dial Navajo dark grey panel is on the left, with the brighter cream Chieftain panel on the right, the Yokes are a cream colour as well but the same style. So the panel is totally familiar, but are slightly different in layout. Obviously the biggest difference on the Chieftain is the included Garmin G500 navigation system like which was included with the Seneca V a few weeks ago, unlike the Seneca V though the system is only installed on the pilot's side of the panel. Overhead switch panel is identical on both aircraft as is the pedestal. Power switches are left and right down.... The main power only turns on the Artificial Horizon and Heading rose with Speed and Altitude tapes and bank guide on the left screen. To switch on the avionics and Navigation display the switch is quite hard to find, as it is small and situated lower centre panel. On start up I found the G500 screens are dull and very hard to see. This was caused by the Instrument Reflections option, and for the clarity of this review I turned them off. The dullness was the worse in X-Plane11, but they were also still quite dull in X-Plane10 as well. Instrument Panel It is a pretty fully equipped instrument panel. Pilot's side is of course dominated by the G500 navigation system, with just backup analog dials in Airspeed Indicator, Artificial Horizon (with built in Turn Coordinator) and the Attitude Indicator down the left side, but there is no Vertical Speed Indicator. Also added in is a VOR (2) localizer indicator and ADF pointer. On the Navajo there was a VOR2 pointer, but way over on the right hand side of the panel, but here it is now missing altogether? The Co-Pilot gets the full analog suite of instruments. It is a very impressive set of kit with Airspeed Indicator, Artificial Horizon and the Attitude Indicator on the top row, Turn Coordinator, Heading Dial and Vertical Speed Indicators second row.The rest of the right side panel are gauges for pressures in gyro, fuel, oil and cylinder head/oil temperatures, Volt meter, flap selection and indicator. The oxygen supply system is set out below, and it is all almost identical to the Navajo layout. Centre panel is again identical to the Navajo which has at the top a very nice set of annunciators and below are four dials that covers both engines, Manifold Pressure, RPM, EGT (Exhaust Gas Temperature) and engine fuel flow. Equipment stack is very good and again totally identical to the Navajo. Standard issue Garmin 347 audio panel is top left with the X-Plane Garmin GN350 GPS system below. Then there are a set of three Bendix/King units in one KR87 TSO ADF unit that is hard to adjust, and two KR 64 VOR/DME speed and range sets. Right stack includes a Bendix/King KX 165 TSO Comm/Nav (VOR2) tuner and a Garmin GTX 320 transponder. The weather radar is a Bendix/King and comes with a manual that notes you can adjust the range and radar angle, but I couldn't do any adjustments accept to turn it on, test and adjust the brightness. Left side panel is a fuse box, with main power and voltage switches set below. Right side panel is just another fuse box. Lower pedestal is the S-Tec Autopilot, three way trims, fuel panel with emergency fuel shutoff, crossfeed switch and inboard and outboard tank switches. You have that same blue overhead light and upper panel lighting which is the same as the Navajo, but the dial lighting here isn't as over saturated as the Navajo version and looks far better. Flying the Chieftain Starting is easy in fuel pumps on and hit the side of the rocker switch for the engine you want. Keeping them running however is another matter again. Welcome to the new world of X-Plane11 and its highly refined engine dynamics. Even in X-Plane10 and for most Carenado/Alabeo aircraft they all seem to idle quite high, and you need to adjust the mixture to get some semblance of "holding the aircraft back, like you do a snarling dog on a leash" Here it is magnified, but you can find some sort of balance between engines running and not running. But you also have to let them warm up now before actually slowing them down to idle. Once done and still with a fast idle then you can fly. Another jolly that Austin Meyer has added to X-Plane is front suspension movement under power or braking. So combine a high idle with a pulling at the lease aircraft with constant braking and you get a very nosey bouncy wouncy taxi ride. These items will of course be fine tuned in time (we hope). The two 350-hp engines over the Navajo's 310-hp gives you more uumph down the runway and you feel that extra power even though I am quite heavy at 6150lbs, but still a quarter under the Max weight of 7045lbs. Rotate is around 110kts... Once in the air and you don't really notice the difference too much from the Navajo, slightly heavier and slightly faster the Chieftain is, but not too significantly to notice, they feel very much the same aircraft. The Chieftain will climb as well. The Navajo climb rate was 1500fpm, but I had no trouble in achieving 1800fpm and the gear (with excellent sounds) makes a dramatic fold-up into the aircraft. Cruise speed is I found just under 200knts. noted speeds are 207 knots (383 km/h (238 mph)) econ cruise at 20,000 ft (6,100 m) with a range of 1,011 nmi (1,875 km (1,165 mi)), Max altitude is 26,300 ft (8,015 m) Very nice. Climb hard and turn, The Chieftain is nice under your command and unlike the Seneca V the engines don't foul the view. I am a big fan of the Garmin G500 system. It is exactly the same installation as it is in the Seneca V and so you get the same benefits here in like the easy selection of: HDG (Heading) - CRS (Course) - ALT (Altitude) - V/S (Vertical Speed) - BARO (Barometer) and adjustment for each selection via the large knob. Unlike older Carenado/Alabeo aircraft you can't now select different cursor modes, so you always get the green coloured choices as you move your mouse over the knobs, selection is tight as well, and in turbulence it can become a bit of a game just to change your heading? The font size is also a bit small but it a replica of the original G500, so I wonder how these things passed a FAA test... ADF and VOR2 pointers are very fine and hard to read (zoom required) but handy on the display, but overall you get a large amount of information on this very well sorted system from Carenado. Navigation display has a great DCL (DeCLutter) and in turns the map rotation is now far smoother and keeps up with the turn. The G500 also pops-out and can be resized and moved along with the default X-Plane Garmin GNS 530 which is the larger of the two standard gps systems. A neat trick is too use one map mode on the G500 for long distance range viewing and the shorter range distance for more current detail on the G530. The S-Tec (Genesys Aerosystems) Forty Five X autopilot is situated behind the pedestal. There is a pop-up from not only the autopilot itself (click to pop-up) but also the A ) menu tab option, although I found the menu tab option a bit "hows your father" in sometimes it worked and in other clicks it didn't? The same in both XP10 and XP11. Overall I prefer the older AP version in the Navajo, completely basic and easy to use, this S-Tec had smaller buttons and you had to be very careful in setting the V/S as 10 as it could be 10 or 1. The autopilot situation is shown on the centre panel display. The AP activation switch is also a little twiddly and hard to find even though it is centre panel and right in front of you (yellow arrow)... I start my descent into WellCamp (YBWW) over Toowoomba. Note the excellent Australian autogen by Chris K (Australian Pro) it is excellent and quite a perfect representation of the city. The airport itself is just beyond the city but partly hidden by two hills, and once past I turned southwest to fall into a circuit landing for RWY12. Note the great terrain (in yellow) demonstrated on the navigation display. Three postion flaps (Off (0º) - 15º - DN) don't give you much lift if you get the speed under 100knts, and drag is controllable with only a little extra power inputs. "Whoa!" as an almost perfect landing is ruined by a last minute sudden gust of wind, it is gusty out here today as the whole flight was with the seatbelt's sign on and a lot of turbulence to make my passengers nervous. I corrected, but the wrong two wheels hit the ground first, and more worrying murmurs from the rear... The Navajo was also noted as being very twitchy in the wind as well, and so it feels like a common trait amongst the Navajo Series. YBWW's main runway is long... really long at 2870 m long by 45 m wide and I used a lot of it to slow down and to try and not hit the early brakes so I don't start nosy bouncey movement too much. It is nice to be back at WellCamp, as the airport is very nicely modeled by fhvanhal. Setting up to return to Brisbane gives you a moment to admire the excellent panel, and there is a switch on top of the excellently covered glareshield that does nothing, but you try it anyway. Return to YBBN No hanging around I want to get back to Brisbane. So once the doors are closed and the engines started and tuned to idle, I'm "going". Funny thing is you need a fast idle to cover the long distance to the end of the runway... My reason's for rushing back to YBBN are valid, as there are storms brewing over the dividing ranges. Storms in Australia are not to be sneezed at or taken lightly, as they are fast moving and very deadly in the mid-afternoons when the cold coastal air hits the inland heat.. Lighting Internal lighting is very good. The panel is the same colourful patterns as the Navajo, so at night they are both very similar, except for the G500 displays. The blue overhead lighting is here there as well, beautiful light in the dark, but the rear door version is missing, and neither does the "No Smoking" sign work. As noted the roof dials are not so over saturated here and looks far for the better for it. Rear cabin seating has overhead spot lights, but you can't turn them off? I don't know if this is a Carenado to Alabeo difference, but not being able to switch them off or on is a bit rich. It is quite dark in the cabin, but very atmospheric. Wing (left) lighting is good, and you have one landing and one taxi light. Red beacon tail light didn't work? Over Redcliffe it is time to get ready for landing... RWY 14 is quite tricky to find, as there are no visible landmark or runway lights to lock on too under VFR rules. It is the houses and the far set back location of the runway lights in daylight that make it tricky, but soon I have a bearing. Slow and low... But this time I get it right, but the headwind helps. Job done and a just a wrap up of the aircraft to be finished... Liveries One blank and six liveries are part of the package. All are good and HD quaility. Most liveries have this hard worked and worn chipped paint look that is highly realistic. Summary If you liked the Navajo then the Chieftain is very, very similar, certainly to fly as they are almost identical, but for a little more weight and slightly more speed. If you put both aircraft on the ramp and said pick one, and only one then I would still pick the Navajo, but the problem with that equation is that the Chieftain has more to offer in the G500 avionics, extra seating and the conversion to winglet and those extra two seats... So overall the Chieftain is the better choice, and the aircraft is far better suited to the flying I really like to do with short distance commuter work and island hopping, and the trip out to WellCamp is perfect for this machine and the role it has to be used in. The rest is a no brainer. Carenado/Alabeo quality and everything else means you get a great aircraft. _____________________________________________________________________________________ Positives: Great design and that famous Carenado/Alabeo quality, Great sound, versatile aircraft, great to fly but tricky in crosswinds and great avionics and equipment. Negatives: Not much, but some items like none operating lighting buttons, average or no versatile static element choices and tricky taxiing speeds. _____________________________________________________________________________________ The PA-31 Chieftain 350 by Alabeo is NOW available! from the X-Plane.Org Store here : PA31 Chieftain 350 Your Price: $32.95 Special Features Commuter and Standard Part of the HD Series High quality 3D model and textures . 4K textures Two version of the PA31- Chieftain High-Definition Aircraft Features Alabeo G500 GPS Volumetric side view prop effect High quality 3D model and textures. Blank texture for creating your own designs. Accurately reproduced flight characteristics SuperManipulator scroll wheel support Custom Stereo Sound Stereo Sound System Custom PA-31 sounds Comprehensive documentation Normal and emergency procedures Performances table Carenado G500 documentation Requirements: X-Plane 10 fully updated - X-Plane 11 Windows or MAC OS 10.9 (or higher) or Linux. 64bit Operating System required 2GB+ Video card Current Version: 1.0 (March 7th 2017) Important! For WINDOWS users: Please ensure that you have all the Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributables downloaded and installed (click here) For all: CARENADO G1000 DATABASE (MUST BE INSTALLED). _____________________________________________________________________________________ Installation and documents: Download for the PA31 Chieftain HD Series is 350.60mb and the unzipped file is deposited in the "General Aviation" X-Plane folder at 440.60mb. Key authorisation and a restart is required. There is Normal and Emergency procedures (checklists), excellent sets of performance tables,references and G500 and Autopilot manuals. _____________________________________________________________________________________ Review by Stephen Dutton 11th March 2017 Copyright©2017: X-PlaneReviews 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 11b13/14 and also used in X-Plane v10.51 and checked with current flight route and details Addons: Saitek x52 Pro system Joystick and Throttle : Sound - Bose Soundlink Mini Plugins: Environment Engine by xEnviro US$69.90 Scenery or Aircraft - YBWW - Brisbane West Wellcamp 1.1 By fhvanhal (X-Plane.Org) - Free - YBBN - Brisbane Airport 1.0 by tgd - (X-Plane.Org) - Free

News! - Upcoming : Panthera 3.0 HD and Eclipse 550 NG by Aerobask Aerobask have announced the coming release of their Panthera 3.0 HD and Eclipse 550 NG. Developers are reluctant to release aircraft lately as the unreliability of the X-Plane11 beta and don't want to just deliver X-Plane10 aircraft and then redo all the work again for X-Plane11... catch22. But the work does go on regardless and they are all out there wanting to move forward. Both the new versions of the Panthera and Eclipse will come soon with a sophisticated avionics built in for X-Plane developed by Lionel : 2 Dynon Skyview, 1 GTN750 and 1 GTN650. Here is a list of the coming main features: Accurate flight model built by X-Aerodynamics according the real datas (for Eclipse 550). Accurate display. The resolution matchs the real instruments. Touch Screen Operation FPL SID/STAR procedures Moving-Map with several resolution available to save the FPS according the CPU/GPU Terrain Map COM/NAV/Transponder managed by the GTNs Charts Advanced TCAS (works with AI aircrafts, IVAO, VATSIM, Pilot Edge) Interactive Checklists PBR textures for X-Plane 11 But note that a lot of new X-Plane11 features will also be part of the packages and both aircraft will be X-Plane11 compatible when released! There is also a video available to show how the GTN 750 system works with the built in charts feature... Important Note! With the major thrust changes in the X-Plane11beta 12/13 Aerobask have released patches to update their older products to accommodate the changes, these are: Here are the links: E1000 -> http://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?/forums/topic/116969-compatibility-patch-for-x-plane-11pb12-or-higher/ Victory -> http://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?/forums/topic/116968-compatibility-patch-for-x-plane-11pb12-or-higher/ Fokker Dr.I -> http://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?/forums/topic/117032-compatibility-patch-for-x-plane-11pb12-or-higher/ ViperJet -> http://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?/forums/topic/116970-compatibility-patch-for-x-plane-11pb12-or-higher/ These patches will allow you to use current Aerobask aircraft in both X-Plane10 and X-Plane1 until a formal release is posted of the simulator. Expect all products to be current before Easter, although there is no release date on these aircraft, but that is out of everyone's hands for now. _____________________________________________________________________________________ Stephen Dutton 7th March 2017 Copyright©2017: X-PlaneReviews

Classic Aircraft : de Havilland Canada DHC-3 Otter by RW Designs The de Havilland Canada company of Canada (DHC) had a huge success with their DHC-2 Beaver utility aircraft that was and still is the one of the greatest bush aircraft ever built. And so if you are on to a good thing then being an aircraft manufacturer is that what you usually do with the next aircraft is to build a bigger, faster and better one than the original success story. This is the original DHC-2 Beaver (by Soul Made Simulations) and this is the size of the first aircraft and the blueprint for the larger DHC-3 Otter. The design work on the "King Beaver" (the Otter's original name) began in January 1951, and it was noted as an aerial "One Ton Truck" to the Beavers "Half Ton Truck" capability. The new design incorporated a longer fuselage, greater-span wings, a cruciform tail, and it is much heavier. Seating in the main cabin is for 10 or 11 passengers, whereas the Beaver can seat six. Power is supplied by a 450-kW (600 hp) Pratt & Whitney-1340 geared radial. The new version used in the Otter was geared for lower propeller revolutions and consequently a lower airspeed, but flies the same speed as the Beaver. The electrical system was 28 volts D.C. and Like the Beaver, the Otter can be fitted with skis or floats. This Otter also served as the basis for the very successful Twin Otter which featured two wing-mounted Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6 turboprops. The Otter received Canadian certification in November 1952 and entered production shortly thereafter. A total of 466 have been manufactured since. RW Design's DHC-3 Otter Design wise RW's aircraft is very good, certainly not in the Carenado class but then what other aircraft is in that class any way. You don't get the that extreme really fine, fine detailing here, but otherwise it is pretty well put together. And that is highlighted by the great wasp 9-cylinder air-cooled radial engine detailing, and its lovely 3-bladed Hamilton Standard propeller. Exhaust Augmenter Tubes Those huge two exhaust tubes on both sides of the fuselage are called "Exhaust Augmenter Tubes", which are located below the cockpit doors and are a special design feature of the DHC-3. In the exhaust augmenter tubes, the exhaust gases produce suction that is strong enough to pull cooling air around the engine and from behind the engine compartment while at the same time providing a measurable amount of thrust in cruising flight. The engine is thus effectively cooled during steep climbs when the forward air speed is low and the engine out-put near its maximum. The exhaust tubes have been expertly modeled here, and are quite beautiful to look at (If you are into that sort of thing). The undercarriage and fuselage attachment points are also very nicely detailed. A look into the cockpit and you instantly see the Otter's original Beaver heritage as the layout and the detailing are quite similar, with that huge crossover yoke dominating the panel. The worn seating is good and well created, but not the really well worn, torn and dirty look you would expect from a working utility aircraft it feels to light. And I am not sure what the tiles are on the roof, canvas, rubber or metal... plastics were not a basic commodity in the early 50's, if at all it looks plastic. But I think it is to replicate a padded rooflining? The same effect is on the insides of the doors. Cabin is also good, but a little basic. I like the cloth seating but there are no seatbelts to hold you down and I wouldn't want to fly seated on them for very long. At the rear is a netted cargo section with a selection of cargo (three crates). Menus There is a menu pop-up that works when you tap the file folder by the Co-Pilot's seat. One is the main menu that covers: External Power (no showing power unit) Flashlight (needed) Yoke (show/hide) Jump Door Heading Slave Walk-around There is an "Aircraft Visual Option" that shows: Chocks, Pitot Cover and a ladder. All the doors open, with the two front cockpit doors, right side passenger door and left side double cargo doors. All the doors have to be opened internally which can take time moving around the cockpit and cabin to do all the handles... an easier door menu selection would have been nice? Rear left cargo doors can be set two ways with the double doors in position, or "Jump Door" (or no doors). The ladder option only works with the opened double-doors, and not with the "Jump Door" option. Walk-around There is a walk-around feature in that if you press the items on the menu car you are postioned at the point of inspection and with notes on the card of what to look for... The action of pointing at the card does not actually point you at the item in question? so you have scroll your view to find the item you want to inspect, it works but not perfectly. Panel The panel by today's standards is very basic. The Standard six instruments are all there just for the pilot. Top left is the Airspeed Indicator, with the Attitude Indicator or Artificial Horizon middle, right is the Vertical Speed Indicator with the Altimeter is lower left. Heading dial is basically compass style is centre with the Turn Coordinator lower right. Bottom knee panel is from left with a electrical and engine starter panel, Fire panel, then a VOR2 OBS CDI (course deviation indicator) and a ADF pointer. far right on the panel is the tank selector with Front - Center - Rear tanks available. Co-Pilot side you have one lower knee panel with the lighting, heating switches and volt dial. Engine panel is top centre with (top row) Manifold Pressure, R.P.M., Oil/Fuel pressure/temp, Cylinder (CYL) Head Temp. (bottom Row) Clock, Fuel gauges for the three tanks, Temperature Gauge ºC and Suction gauge. There is the lovely DHC pedestal with all three levers for Throttle, Propeller and Mixture. Equipment Stack Far right on the Co-Pilot's side is an angled "Equipment Stack" The stack pops-out for ease of use but you can't change the scale. It covers a: Benedix/King KMA 28 TSO Audio Panel, Two Benedix/King KX 155A TSO's COM1/VOR1 and COM2/VOR2 frequency tuners, Benedix/King KT 70 TSO Transponder, Benedix/King KR 87 TSO ADF Tuner and a Benedix/King KFC 225 Autopilot. The default X-Plane Garmin GNS 430 gps is positioned on the top of the panel and as per usual use pops-out. This Otter looks like it is to reflect the more modern variant than the older earlier model, hence the more lighter paneling and design. There is scruff marks and general dirtying down of the aircraft, but it feels like it needs a lot more hard work and a through beating to make it more totally realistic. Note the beautiful DH rudder pedals (below). Overall the design and work here is very good, but there are a few noticeable items that should have not passed the fine tuning stage... like the gap between the yoke handles and the yoke caps. There is a nice trim wheel down by the pilot, but it doesn't work? unless the autopilot is controlling the trim? So no trim adjustment is available including the yaw located up above the windscreen. There is a very nice outside temperature gauge built into the roof... ... and an usual skylight built into the cabin ceiling, and you don't see one of them on the average Airbus. Variants There are three variants with the Otter package. The "Wheeled" version above, a "Ski" version and a "Float" version. The different variants are well done, but they are all separate aircraft, and so you have to set your preferences on each aircraft separately. The Float version has a retractable gear panel on the lower pedestal, the animation is very good and the float version looks very nice in flight. Liveries There are one blank and seven liveries and most registrations here are Canadian based. Livery quality is very good, but not HD (High Definition) deep. The New Zealand VAS is a nice touch. All the liveries work on all the variants. Flying the Otter! Time to climb up on board and take the Otter for a ride. Starting that old radial wasp as you would expect is a bit of "How's your father" and a lot of praying. In short you need to set the electric pump to on, then a few pumps to prime the cylinders (more if cold) from the manual pump on the front of the pedestal, electric pump off again and then set the mixture to not so full rich and a bit of throttle.... Then a fingering of your rosary beads (I'm not a Catholic, but it still helps) and click the start switch, If god loves you on this day the radial will churn and fire into life and you will need to steady the idle once you get a few numbers on the needles. If god is not on your side then you will churn the motor forever and flood the pistons with too much fuel... So a cup of coffee is needed while it all settles down again and give it another churn in a while. Get a really bad day and just go and fly something else. If the praying worked then you are in the flying business. Sounds are very waspy mechanical knockingly real, or very good, but not the total high quality sounds you can now get, but still very good considering how few of these aircraft are still around or in working condition. The view out from the pilot's perspective is quite expansive compared to the tight cabin of the Beaver, but this is still a tail-dragger which means a sky high nose and a taxi by looking to the left and down. But the view is very good. Engine warmed up and a better idle means you are ready to go. For a tail-dragger the DHC-3 is nice to taxi (or it actually does go in the direction you want it to). You need the odd extra bit of throttle if you have a tighter corner to manoeuvre around or swinging around on the ramp, but this is par course for any tail-dragger anyway. The Otter is a STOL aircraft which is short for "Short TakeOff & Landing". If you give the aircraft a fair bit of flap (half) it will leap into the air quite quickly, but a little flap is more controllable at slower speeds, but you still get airborne very quickly. The tail thankfully for the view forward pops up early and you are ready to fly at just over 100knts. The aircraft will track quite well but lift the wheels off the ground and the DHC-3 will bank with the rotating engine thrust to the right quite suddenly and you have to catch it (only the first time as you are ready the next time). This event may let you think the Otter is hard to fly, but in reality it is however completely the opposite, as it is very easy and very docile in your hands. A very nice aircraft to fly and it was tested by real life Otter pilots and I feel they got it exactly right. Although there is no trim available (it is noted in the manual?) it does settle to a balance quite quickly, but you still wish for that manual adjustment. You are not going to break the sound barrier in an Otter, with a maximum speed of 160 mph (139knots, 257km/h) and a cruise speed of only 121 mph (105knots,195km/h)... range is an amazing 945 mi (822 nmi, 1,520 km) and your ceiling is 18,000ft, so slow and high it is. In speed the Otter is the same as the Beaver, but it feels a little faster and more sprightly overall. In the air the detailing is more highlighted than on the ground, and the aircraft looks very nice in the right light. The autopilot is a change and stick type, or point it in the direction you want the aircraft to go and then select the heading to hold you on that course to get there. But the AP didn't exactly hold the heading as tight as I would want it to, I found I had to correct it often to keep the aircraft on course? Altitude can be changed with a Vertical Speed setting and a target altitude can be also set. The manipulators on the pop-up panel are not as exact or the same as the ones on the panel and they work slightly differently, but overall the panel is very good. The big windscreen forward view is excellent and even bigger than the Beaver version. At night it is dark in here. Panel lighting is certainly there, but I couldn't find the switches or adjustment? (not in the manual either). On the Beaver they are two large adjustment dials on the Co-Pilot's side, but they are absent here? Externally it is also quite stark, with just the navigation lights. You can tootle along up here for ages, the firing of the radial pistons banging away in the nose, and the slow movement of the scenery passing away below you. My destination airport in Page Field (Ft Myers), Florida (KFMY) comes up on my right and so you reset your mind and enjoy the feeling of your hands on the controls again... The DHC-3 is a very versatile and lively aircraft to control, docile and the low speed allows steep banking and you are easily into a quick turn back to the airport with a touch of the rudder to control the high wing lift.. Landing is cleared to Page Field's RWY 31. It is time to slow the speed right down and drop the flaps, but in doing so it is like hitting an invisible wall. The DHC-3 as a STOL aircraft was built and designed to land on very poor surfaced and short strips. This is what makes the Otter so versatile and attractive to bush pilots and the aircraft gives you access to airports and in some case just places with no runways but just a rough flat section of ground to deliver or service a community. The flaps gear arrangement here is exquisite and really well designed, it is all well animated as well with great linkages to not only the flaps, but also the outer ailerons. The passengers have a great view of the flap animated action and the great detailing. The Flap indicator is situated on lower center windscreen divider post. If you use a Saitek (nee Logitech) system it only gives you a continuous movement of flap travel, but there are instructions in the manual to give you the position notches if you need them (but I am not fussed there). You approach the threshold at only just under a 100kts and easily then adjust down to 65knts. The aircraft is so docile and stable you use the slight headwind like a seagull to hold your hover position and to look at the point you want to touch down as your speed drop to only 55knts... ... focusing on your landing point you just slowly descend and land right at the point you want too, easy and totally in control, it is these flying qualities made the Beaver and Otter the legends they are today. With two wheels on the ground you are still in control and the drag will allow you to easily settle the tail without any braking or sudden movements. This landing was in a controlled hard surface setting, but the Otter would be just as at home anywhere really. Brilliant! Summary In many ways the DHC-3 Otter from RW Design's is a total contradiction. It is in many, many areas exquisitely designed with beautiful features and has great details. But in other areas the details are missing like the views and door actions in the menus, The lighting systems that I know do work, but there is no information on how to adjust or find the switches or knobs, and also the wheels that will rotate from one airport to another. There is such great design in here and yet there are gaps like on the yokes that you can see through while flying the aircraft. There are no pilot's from the outside views also and it looks quite odd without them, a sort of a freaky aircraft flying all on it's own feeling. The none working trim that is noted in the manual but didn't work in practise, and I am not sure of the bathroom tiling of the ceiling and doors. All small stuff but... X-Plane today is now getting very demanding in the sheer photographic detailing it can now reproduce and this aircraft and with certainly the external detailing it does pass that level and test. This is also lower Carenado territory in value and price and so it also delivers at that level as well, but if you are looking for the sheer detail and the quality of the SoulMade Simulation Beaver style aircraft here then this Otter just not up to that extreme class or level... it is though very good. The aircraft is at this point X-Plane11 compatible, but not a fully compliant X-Plane11 aircraft, in other words it flies and works fine in X-Plane11, but will be updated to the correct compliancy level when X-Plane11 is made into a full release version. This is a classic aircraft, and very worthy of it's status. It flies very well and it is a great adventure aircraft. And pilot's who like this sort of rough strip or island hopping flying will absolutely love it. ______________________________________________________________________ Yes! the de Havilland Canada DHC-3 Otter by RW Designs is NOW available from the X-Plane.Org Store here : DHC-3 Otter Price is US$26.95 Features: Nice Package with 3 Different Versions: DHC-3 Wheel DHC-3 Float DHC-3 Ski Interchangable liveries between versions Great Visuals and Ultra-High Definition Aircraft Professionally developed 3D interior and exterior Hundreds of animations Night lighting UHD 4K textures Normal mapping 8 Liveries in Ultra High Definition Paintkit included Custom sounds and systems powered by SASL Flight model developed in conjunction with Otter pilots Pop-up Menus Base menu Walk-around Radio Stack Requirements: X-Plane 11+ or X-Plane 10.50+ Windows, Mac, Linux - Running in 64 bit mode 2GbVRAM Video Card. 3Gb+ VRAM Recommended ______________________________________________________________________ Installation : Download v1.0 is 310.60mb which is unzipped to your X-Plane aircraft folder at 364.40mb. Documentation : includes Avionics Manual Checklist Otter Manual ______________________________________________________________________ Stephen Dutton 7th March 2017 Copyright©X-Plane Reviews: X-PlaneReviews 2017 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 11beta13 / Checked install in X-Plane10.51 Addons: Saitek x52 Pro system Joystick and Throttle : Sound - Bose Soundlink Mini Plugins: Headshake by SimCoders (free) : Environment Engine by xEnviro US$69.90 Sceneries: - KLAL - Lakeland Linder Regional Airport 2.01 by Drankum (X-Plane.Org) - Free (note: personal added items in an office (okay demountable building and vehicles) - KFMY - Page Field, Fort Meyers by Timbenedict3 (X-Plane.Org) - Free

X-Plane11 : Look, Feel and Visual Features In the first two months of the year 2017 as X-Plane11 rides it's way to release through beta after beta, it is a lot of pleasure and pain. The pain is to be expected as the simulator forms itself into the future, which will be soon be part of our everyday flying. But the pleasure is seeing what we actually have in this new step version of X-Plane in it's new coming form. The notes here are in the frame of "coming soon" than more of "here it is right now" so don't expect the points made here to materialise in their complete form at the time of X-Plane11's release, as we know X-Plane is always a work in progress. What you get here are the building blocks that you get with every new X-Plane step release, but it will be only in time and through updates (betas) and the collaboration of developers and the X-Plane community that we will see the full implementation of the ideas and features built into the 11th interpretation of X-Plane. I am going to note that through the X-plane11 phases of this review, is that I have the xEnviro environmental plugin running and not the default weather. This plugin is also still in a beta phase, but my (personal) view is that the plugin delivers a fundamental difference and in the way it interacts with the standard default X-Plane weather system to create a look and feel (and a breathable framerate) that is the future of excellent simulation. So both items together will create the perfect environmental vehicle to get the very best out of your flying. To see the steps of progression of X-Plane then let us go back to X-Plane9® and to the year 2009. X-Plane9® This was our world back in 2009 with X-Plane9. These images will no doubt send a lot of you very misty eyed. These were the days of 5.6gb custom folders and 100+ framerates, but it all showed on the screen. It is surprisingly how good the x737 by EADT was then and still is now. Back then the mist was paramount, but mostly there to cover the jagged edges of the tiles and the limitations of the scenery. But it looked good unless you got the flat slate of grey when you had a whiff of a cloud. 2d Panels were de-rigueur of course and the light shading was good but not exceptional, only the exceptional single Boeing 757 had a VC or virtual cockpit back then. X-Plane10® The release of in beta form of X-Plane10® was in November 2011, with a full version in 2012. The focus visually with X-Plane10 was to get the ground textures to a higher quality and the use of Open Street Map (OSM) to create a plausible ground focused autogen. Your synthetic world certainly looked less bare, and the advent of 100nm visible distances opened up your visual aspects, and HD (High-Definition) textures add in a lot of ground information and you finally had a quality depth to the landscape. 3d virtual cockpits are now of course the normal and shading has also become quite good. X-Plane10 also brought in the feature of HDR or "High Definition Rendering". I personally was not a big fan of HDR. It made X-Plane very bright and contrasty, so reviews and images were still done mostly with the HDR switched off and I only had HDR on at night as were it had great night lighting effects. If you compare the above two images with the higher HDR off images and the lower HDR images are far more washed out. X-Plane11® Basically X-Plane11 does not change the foundations of the landscape (textures) of X-Plane10, just a few of the textures and the tile data is a little higher, but out there really nothing has changed between the 10 and 11 versions. X-Plane11's features are more really focused on the shading, the minute of the detailing more than the larger canvas like with X-Plane10, but in a strange way the differences are very much more pronounced. It is the definition of the detail that now stands out at you. X-Plane11 comes with a new visual tool in PBR or Physically-based rendering that has the accurate simulation of photorealism as the ultimate goal. HDR really didn't work as well as it should have done in X-Plane10 as noted, but with its companion in PBR it now shines and works extremely well. We will get on more with PBR in a minute. Mist Another big aspect is that the mist is back and big time in X-Plane11. In X-Plane10 everything was sharp and clear, but with X-Plane11 it is anything but, with everything here visually is in that quite soft and well very... misty feel. A certain "What the..." on release, but when you use X-Plane11 the soft effect quickly becomes the normal and it is very highly realistic, almost completely believable. Altitude flying now is "SO" real and go and look at any old images taken out of the window in any real aircraft and it looks just like this. It is of course a "feel" thing, but the feel here is unbelievable good. Definition There is more going on here than with just a out of focus background to get the full X-Plane11 effect... ... PBR is bringing out the harder definition of the aircraft, as the shadows and shading is glorious. All aircraft now have a distinctive shine, but PBR works its magic in a lot of different contexts. PBR brings metal surfaces alive, as developers can adjust the correct effects to get the shine or the correct dullness feel quite perfectly. Chrome is now perfect also, and in all of it's different types of metalness of the different gradients. Realism is now paramount and the realistic is now very photographic real, but it also puts a lot of pressure and the need for perfection on the developers as any imperfection is magnified and highlighted... but when it is good, it is now simply glorious. Inside the cockpits in X-Plane11 they are all very highly dramatic. Light cascades around you as it changes as you move. All the aircraft's features are highlighted and defined... it is like being in another world. Cockpit textures come alive and every instrument is highly realistic and defined. Just how real do you want your vinyl glareshield or metal based instrument panel, it can just not get any more realistic than this. The devil is in the detailing and this is why X-Plane11 is such a huge step forward in realism... the game has certainly moved on. ... as with the lighting effects which are just sublime, note the changing sunlight on the metal wings. These effects are not just restricted to aircraft. A few months ago I took these images of a wet runway, and most said they were not an X-Plane11 feature? but they are. Scenery developers can now adjust the feel of the wet look to give surfaces a distinctive feel and look, and if you want a rain soaked runway you can have that as well, and when you want one as they are on a dataref. This opens up a lot of areas for scenery developers, and glass in their reflectivity is another feature of X-Plane11. JustSim used the effect in their Hamburg scenery and it is excellent when used in the right context. Glass can now also be transparent, but in the density of transparency you require. Autogen Justsim used another new feature of XPlane11 to create an environmental regional feel around their EDDH - Hamburg Airport. Quality autogen was included with X-Plane10 from the beginning, but the feature was neglected from the start with only a few efficiency touches covered during the run. Regional autogen placement was actually placed in the code during the last v10.50 update, but was never used until the art was ready with X-Plane11. Even then it is only Germanic in style but very high quality. JustSim used this Germanic autogen to add feel to not only their Innsbruck scenery but also to Hamburg to great effect. And that shows the quality and versatility of the autogen system when used correctly as it has huge potential to cover all the very and various different regions of the world as Chris K has done an AustralianPro version (below). Here it shows in how a third party regional autogen can and does work although it is still a work in progress, but work well in its current form it certainly does as you now have a great Aussie feel all around the country. But this third party autogen system is still in its very early days, the important point to make at this time is not to let it become neglected all over again with X-Plane11, in fact it should be put at the top of the list for attention by both Laminar Research and any third party as it can make a significant and profound contribution to the look and feel of the new simulator. xEnviro The inclusion of xEnviro in this review is because of the way it dovetails into the X-Plane11 features and uses them for it's own uses and highlights X-Plane11's uniqueness for the future. The same effects do work in X-Plane10, but not to the extent they work for you in X-Plane11. It is the X-Plane11 mist feature that combines to create the best effects for xEnviro. The same effects do work without xEnviro, but they don't have the same impact or those totally visually stunning visuals. These excellent fog images are the approach to EGCC - Manchester... ... It is stunning stuff and you work hard to land in such soup as well, it is exhilarating flying. Manchester again on approach, and this time with the amazing ground cloud shadows and aircraft shadow on the wing making it a very realistic view for the passenger. It is also in the way the PBR light reflects up from the ground as well... Look deep at the mountain folds in both of the above images. That below is just standard X-Plane10 scenery, but you wouldn't know it by the way it reflects the light and gives a higher more stronger definition to lighter and dark sides of the elevations as the folds become highly realistic. X-Plane11 turns the ordinary... into the extra ordinary! It is very good but Many people will point out that first person shooters or car games are of a higher quality than what we have here, and they are correct, and most of the features and ideas used in X-Plane are directly from the video gaming industry. But the video game is a closed box and created to run within a very strict set of boundaries, were as X-Plane is a very open platform with a lot of very different elements and contributions, that works for the simulator but also against it. So there will always be a compromise between what we see in the video gaming environment and the simulator world unless it is a closed region and finely tuned aircraft to fit totally within that region's boundaries as with say a Formula One game were as the cars are perfected to run within the the racetrack's boundaries. With X-Plane we have to cover the whole world, literally. Many of you would also point out that we had reflections and shadows in X-Plane10, and too a point that is correct, but it is in the fine detailing that that makes the complete difference in X-Plane11, use it and X-Plane10 suddenly looks dull (and old), it is all in the move forward and it is very hard to go back again just as it was with X-Plane9 over X-Plane10. X-Plane11 feels new compared with X-Plane10. But one of the biggest achievements is that these lighting features don't come with the heavy penalty of X-Plane10. You will see the difference of course, but Laminar Research has made a huge effort to contain the efficiency of the processing to keep these great effects within the confined parameters that bridges that gap. Older processors will struggle of course and drop out of the bottom, but most users if they are honest with themselves will know that X-Plane10 was already pushing their boundaries there anyway. For most users the change over to X-Plane11 will be seemless if they can manage their habits of not having all the settings in the full on position all the time, as even for myself I have to use some discretion in the settings for more to the efficiency and smooth running angle than the total visual impact angle. But X-Plane10 was that way as well so nothing has changed in that area, but you do get more visual impact for the same numbers. All the points here are created in a beta in a beta, as there are no current set final situations and we won't be won't be for a while either. But the features noted above will be soon be the everyday normal and sadly it will be quickly just all be taken for granted. It will be also a while for developers to use these features to their advantages, and so you won't get a sudden complete change to this feel overnight, but at a time in the future you will suddenly realise you are now flying in a totally different X-Plane environment than you were only a year ago. I have transitioned through many phases of X-Plane's development, what was once brilliantly great can look ordinary now, as does your ten year old Apple computer. But the transition to X-Plane11 on the surface may not look as up fronting as the new user interface, but it has the potential to completely change the way you fly and feel in a simulator. More than anytime than in the past over the last few months have I been taken by the sheer visual magnificence of what I am interacting with, more "wows" and "brilliant" as I absorb in the new world around me, and X-Plane11 is not even out of it's beta phase yet and I admit it still has a few limitations in a few areas. But the biggest vote for X-Plane11 is already in... your going to totally love it... a lot a real lot. ______________________________________________________________________ Stephen Dutton 3rd March 2017 Copyright©2017: X-Plane Reviews

Behind the Screen : February 2017 "It was the best of times and the worst of times" lamented Charles Dickens in his novel the "A Tale of Two Cities". And February in X-Plane certainly lived up to that quote. As the X-Plane11 beta quest kept on grinding on, you had it, then lost it, then got it back and then... totally lost it. But will possibly get it back again working soon. It is of course just the building process but this one has been very... well grinding. It reminds me in a way of the move to 64bit a few years ago, because it goes directly to the heart of the simulator, in very deep changes that completely messes it up. X-Plane11 As a reviewer your job is too probably just ignore all the mess and just stick to items released for X-Plane10 and that is a fair comment. But that is also putting your hands over your eyes and saying" I can't hear you!" because looking straight at you and towering over you is just that... X-Plane11. Once X-Plane11 goes to v1.0 release you will want it, use it and believe me you will really absolutely love it! As already going back to X-Plane10 is like going back to the middle-ages of simulation as it is boring and flat, just as X-Plane10® was the quantum leap over X-Plane9® then is X-Plane11 over its predesessor, and yes there are a few (okay a lot) of fine tuning still to be done, but the grit and basics built in here are astounding when it all comes together. There is however one item that lifts and work along side with X-Plane11 that is in my eyes essential in getting this quantum leap and that is also running as part of the deal is the xEnviro environment engine. That is tough at the moment because only windows users can access xEnviro and in parts it is also buggy, but the effects with the environmental engine working together with Laminar's new version are simply out of this world. No doubt in the last month I have had simulation highs I could only dream of a few years ago, and the lowest frustration when aircraft just don't work, hence the title sentence. But that is also the process of progress. As we will see as the situation settles down is that X-Plane11's new features do amazing things to our already great aircraft, and the effects on scenery will be just as pronounced but they will take longer to thread into the simulator as updates are not as forthcoming or as regular as with aircraft. But as you will get a lot of new high's there are few items in X-Plane11 that will cause a few heartaches. Ben Supnic is on a massive crusade with X-Plane11 to make it as good, lean and as efficient as possible. We have already seen that he took away our twiddling tools, a few users have cheated and put them back with Lua scripts? But the biggest change is that there will be very little backward compatibility with earlier parameters with earlier aircraft, and that means a lot of aircraft you have savoured and loved over the years are going to the great hard drive in the sky. In other words there is another big clean out is on the horizon like we did with the 64bit transfer, and this one will be worse, and it is going to hurt folks. And that brings us to the pain, or developers pain. You wouldn't want to be a developer lately as it hasn't been much fun. And I am a part of their pain. I want their products to be what I call "Flyable" or "Usable" in X-Plane11, because of the great differences that X-Plane11 brings to them and to fly them in their new exciting world, so I want something that is just in something usable, and so does almost everyone else that is running the X-Plane11beta version. But X-Plane11 is just a beta and with that comes constant changes and most developers don't want to over work and keep on constantly changing their work to fit a beta. A lot of the top notch machines are now extremely complex and require a lot of very task full set of algorithms to do the calculations to recreate an authentic engine representation for that particular aircraft. You don't want to mess with that too often as it may send you down a road you may not get back from, or requires a restart or complete blank page scenario. But with X-Plane11 Austin Meyer has this time decided to go a little, or okay a lot deeper in the way that turbine or jet engines operate on a more realistic model, you could call it his sort of "Blade-element theory" for engines. And for a more realistic simulation of engine power and thrust outputs that is certainly great from a users point of view, but it also changes a few parameters that was the deal before X-Plane11 into a wide set of parameters to addressed now in the new simulator, and worse it goes right to the core (no pun intended) of the basis of engine operation. The developers job is now to interpret those huge amount of changes on their products and create the realistic operation and thrust outputs for their aircraft... so you see the problems. A lot of the changes were introduced in the earlier beta's, but as the beta numbers got higher they came more and more comprehensive, until beta 12 were they came with a really big set of changes, and killed virtually every aircraft that used the old system, there will be a step back of course as there was a few bugs in the system and came with the beta13 update. But one thing that is very clear is that their is no compromise on the parameters to cover older aircraft in older X-Plane versions. A small compromises will be made of course, but Ben Supnic and Austin Meyer have made it clear it is only this way or no way in the future. So those aircraft that can be updated and adjusted to the new parameters will be, but the rest are quite now really... history. Unless you run them in your older X-Plane10 version. This doesn't mean that every single aircraft will be compromised, but a lot will... all in the name of progress. But get an even "usable" running aircraft in X-Plane11 and you will be glad to embrace the future. As I said for the few that did claw their way into the air it was a great experience, and hence my wanting more of these aircraft available so users can enjoy their impressive delights, as the point is X-Plane10 is now almost dead, and long live X-Plane11. But you do need a lot of patience in the process of making the aircraft X-Plane11 ready, and it is not the big in your face changes but the hidden easter egg ones, that are buried in a hidden closet. Take brakes as an example. They were once very simple in 50% regular (braking action) or 100% full (locked brakes) but now that is all changed and you have to adjust your aircraft to the changes, and that is just one single item. For most developers it is just a wait and see, a few have gone half way and given us usable aircraft in X-Plane11, but there is still a way to go before we will be fully X-Plane11 compliant... and it may be awhile before we finally get there. But one big thing is that the beta12 changes maybe the final parameters or a final lock down of the engine thrust changes, and so that a forward momentum may be finally available from now on, if not then expect a few developers to take up another occupation altogether. Framerate inanity Another factor during this beta phase that got really annoying this month was the constant notes on the forums in "My framerate is up!" or "my framerate is stuffed!" or "Running in single digits!". Every beta release brought loads of these comments and I know they have been coming out since the start of the new millennium. Most experienced users usually ignore such inanity, but I really feel for the newer and more inexperienced users to the X-Plane simulator in thinking it is a normal process, it is not. Unless Laminar make a real stuff up as they did with beta12 they will note it, and quickly correct it like they have in beta13, and yes there are common major changes that will effect your simulator through the beta process. But major framerate changes are usually not one of them. Most framerate fluctuation causes are usually your X-Plane preferences, as the new (beta) update is still interpreting the older settings on the new changes, which makes perfect sense. So first rebuild your main X-Plane preferences. Secondly is that where you start up in X-Plane and what aircraft you start up in can have a big impact on your framerate as does your weather settings. I always use KLAL - Lakeland Linder Regional as my base setting. It is an interesting position because it has a lot of autogen on one side and just countryside on the other and that allows you to gauge the framerate impact on both areas, of course the weather is set to CAVOK (Ceiling and Visibility OK) and you use the same aircraft on loading. In most cases Laminar Research don't touch or fiddle with framerates until the RC (Release Candidate) or Alpha or a final tuning of the completed version that is then ready for release, only then will you usually see an improvement with the overall simulator as well as the framerates. So noting constant framerate fluctuations during a beta run just shows your cluelessness and gives out the wrong impressions and worse on the fact of where we actually are in the beta process (which is usually to the very good and not the very bad). But the high's over February were very high. I certainly had my most memorable (if sometimes frustrating) flying in X-Plane that I can ever remember. The simulator is moving into another golden era of almost a pure realistic simulation of flying aircraft, not perfect as X-Plane still does have a few limitations, but certainly a completely new level of experience of flying aircraft on a computer. It is a very exciting future that is coming soon. To reflect the coming of X-Plane11, we here at X-PlaneReviews have done a little twiddling of the site. The masthead menu now has an "X-Plane11" forum for X-Plane11 related articles, and that will be filling up soon, we also took the chance to add in a direct menu connection to the "News" forum and added in a place for these "Behind The Screen" posts as there are now quite a few of them and a resource of what is going on in X-Plane away from the direct review aspect of content and the mast image which is a little bigger because it looks very nice. We would also like to note the X-PlaneReview site is laid out and has full functionality on your smartphone and iPad, for mobile access on the move. Thank You See you all next month Stephen Dutton 1st March 2017 Copyright©2017: X-Plane Reviews

Scenery Review : EDDH Hamburg Airport by JustSim You have to give JustSim credit, they sure can roll out their sceneries with regular efficiency. My last JustSim scenery review was LOWI - Innsbruck Airport only a few weeks ago and JustSim's LEBL Barcelona El Prat was only a few weeks before that... and now here is EDDH Hamburg. You would think with these very quick fire releases that the sceneries noted here from JustSim would be average at best, and to also reflect their value price pricing, but as to now all I am seeing is amazing value for excellent well created scenery, so does EDDH Hamburg still deliver again here for that same value pricing? Well lets find out. First Impressions I am not new to EDDH Hamburg as I have reviewed it before on another review publication and that version was an early X-Plane10 version from Aerosoft many moons ago in Nov 2012. So I am familiar with EDDH's layout and visual appeal. To get there I flew from EGCC (Manchester) to Hamburg, just a quick flight over the North Sea. The equipment is JARDesign's A320neo and this review is set in X-Plane11(b11). The Northern-Western approach to EDDH is via RIBSO waypoint (Runway ILS15 - RIBS4A) . The layout of EDDH is like an X but with the cross at a lower point and two runways going long out of the cross point with RWY15 to the slight northwest. This makes RWY15 an interesting approach but visually RWYs 05/23 are better if you want to see terminals and airport infrastructure and to use RWY05 if you want to approach the airport over Hamburg itself. Both RWY15 and RWY05 are also the best for arrival if you also want a small taxi to the Terminal area as both RWY05 and RWY15 will require a long taxi to each departure point or if using RWY23 or RWY33 for arrival, and certainly for 15/33 as it is very long taxi at 3666m (12, 028ft). RWY15/33 juts well out into the local area into more the countryside feel than an urban feel, although it is still surrounded by the local environs. This also makes it quite hard on the RWY15 approach to see the runway until it gets more defined, and so you have to rely more on your instruments more than a visual approach initially. One big feature of JustSim's sceneries is the fact that they are very conscious of not only the actual airport scenery, but the environs around it. They more than most scenery developers have pioneered the use of autogen to create the area around the airport and with X-Plane11 now being able to use regional assets and in this case German housing the areas around the airport you now have a very well constructed urban environment at no cost to your framerate... take note other scenery developers, it works and on the approach you have a really great Germanic feel and a great urban look on approach. If this is the future for all X-Plane regions then it is going to be brilliant. Of course the false add on scenery autogen will mesh in perfectly with the default autogen, giving you the perfect transition between the two areas although I do have my object slider a notch down here for framerate efficiency. Over the RWY15's threshold and you feel you are landing in a field more than an international airport is so long and so outwardly is the runway from the terminal area. It is a very long runway... and with a building in the EDHH Cargo terminal in your line of sight at the other end, so you don't want to over run the runway. JustSim do great grass effects and they are very effective here even if the grass covers up the runway direction signs, but it very good. The bonus of getting your arrival runway of choice in RWY15 and RWY05 is as noted it puts you right on the terminal area and so a quick turn off almost puts you directly on the ramp. Runway and taxiway linage is excellent, but can be very confusing with the amount of information on the entrance to the ramp in either B west/east or in my case I north/south... The huge terminal complex stretches away to the north from you, it is impressive and to the east is the cargo area. The ramp is filled with really great airport equipment, highly detailed and all very authentic, like these luggage trolleys and tugs, they make for a great entrance. You get a very authentic gate direction guidance system display, but it only shows the aircraft type and not the actual guides, so your first guess is that this is a static airbridge gate. It also means you have to guess were you actually park up correctly as well, but shut down the engines and the perfectly replicated gate does actually swing into action, the airbridges look perfect, beautifully done. On the ramp it is great view, very real in presence. So the arrival at JustSim's EDDH was very impressive. One thing to note. There are several options in filling out the ramps and stands with static aircraft. This JustSim scenery does have the X-Plane default routes done and that allows you to use the default static aircraft like I have done here, but you do get the wrong regional (i.e. a lot of N American) aircraft as part of the deal (currently). There is a set World traffic ground routes for EDDH but they are set for the Aerosoft version. Airport Overview. Hamburg Airport (Flughafen Hamburg) IATA: HAM - ICAO: EDDH 05/23 3,250m (10,663ft) Asphalt 15/33 3,666m (12,028ft) Asphalt Elevation AMSL 53 ft / 16 m As the main above image shows is that EDDH is beautifully intergrated into the X-Plane background, the realism is well done here. The focus is on the lower X cross area with the main terminal and cargo facilities to the east and the huge Lufthansa Technik AG headquarters and maintenance base to the southeast and both areas are joined together with the huge cargo facility at the start of RWY33. Main Terminal and Cargo Out of the main Terminal (upper) the A/B (27-40) gates have been stretched further southeast but there is only one autogate here, where as the real extension has autogates on all gates?, but it does give you some good stand positions. Set out behind he extension is still the cargo facility but it is now used from the side ramp or Apron South 1with several large maintenance hangars in F, G and H. The main terminal section has three sections (roofs) but it is only two terminals in 1 and 2 that merge into one large facility called the “Terminal Plaza” with gates C4 - C16, and D1-5 to the north and the noted extension A/B (27-40) gates going southeast. The main Terminal(s) are really highly impressive, simply outstanding detail, but more so with the new X-Plane11 feature of reflective glass that is very realistic and as we will see more of in the night lighting portion of the review. Roadways are a little blurry but there is a lot of 3d objects in creating a great fill and you don't really notice it that much in context. Note the excellent circular lift towers Airside and the (animated) autogates are perfect, with a lot of ramp fill of equipment, and building (terminal) detailing is simply first rate with high quality textures and modeling. There is also a lot of animated vehicle traffic wandering around the airport which gives it all a buzzy work day look. Landside is well done but the ground textures are a little blurry. Radar works (animated) as do all of the radar installations. North and there are two massive carpark structures and central landside there is an excellent Raddisson Blu Hotel (below). If you look closely there is a great mix of the original airport brick buildings that have have been overbuilt by the newer terminal areas. I really also like the good advertising on the wall of the P2 parking building for Aeroflot. Far north is the airport's own maintenance area but look beyond the airport boundary at the excellent default autogen. Situated adjacent to the rear of the north pier is the “Terminal Tango” which is an events space and convention centre. The airport is named after Helmut Schmidt who was Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) from 1974 to 1982. Overall the Terminal area is mightily impressive in detail. Cargo and Maintenance Hangars There is the cargo ramp called the “Luftfrachtzentrum”, that the layout is for the more medium and regional sized freighters than the bigger B777 or B747 size monsters, but if you wanted to you could still park one here. Modeling of the cargo area is very good and get the in joke of the "Meyer Fuel Service" truck. The big "Hamburg Cargo Center" joins the two areas at the start of RWY33. Lufthansa Technik AG headquarters The western section of EDDH is the Lufthansa Technik AG headquarters Base which is part of the Lufthansa Group. The This is a huge facility that covers aircraft servicing, engine overhauls, aircraft fitouts and the Cabin Innovation Center, and the base can cover all types of aircraft from A320's up to the large B747's and A380's. But to note in that not to get it confused with Airbus's fitout facility at Finkenwerder Airport to the south. The main servicing hangars and engine test facility are excellent as is the complex external rigging that holds up the open internal space roofs, as the smaller detailing is also very good with circular stairs and huge air-con units. The famous Café Himmelsschreiber which is part Air Hamburg is also situated in this northern section of the Technik base and so is the main apron control tower that overlooks runway 05/23. Detailing around the Café Himmelsschreiber is quite bare which is a missed opportunity as there is a seating garden there right on the ramp and the ramp tower is quite average and comes with only basic textures, the lower admin building however is well done. There are two huge aprons fronting the Lufthansa Technik base with one for remote parking (below left) including Air Hamburg or for the Lufthansa Technik base parking. The secondary remote apron is for General Aviation and Private Jet parking (above right) and is ideal for light parking and commuter traffic. Control Tower Because of the layout of the runways, specifically the long 15/33, there is a secondary control tower on the western side of the field. But the wasted X-Plane feature "tower view" is somewhere in the middle of the GA - Private Jet apron... so an "epic fail". As noted all radars do rotate and are clearly visible on landing. Fire Station and Museum To the North-West is the art deco styled Fire Station and the museum with the original Boeing 707-430 with the registration D-ABOD which was operated by Deutsche Lufthansa which is sited outside. You will get a great view of these buildings on taxiway D with either a RWY15 departure or RWY33 arrival. In the early years it was not aircraft that filled the skies above Fuhlsbüttel (hamburg Airport) but airships. The "Hamburg Airship Hangar Company" (HLG) in association with Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin was created here in 1911 and then some time was spent looking for a suitable site for an airfield, and finally 44.8 hectares of land to the west of Lake Alster and north of the Borstel racecourse were chosen as a suitable site. The airship company however soon had company in the arrival of AEG (Allgemeine Electricitäts-Gesellschaft) which set up a new firm called DLR (Deutsche Luft-Reederei, literally the "German Air Transport Company") and started scheduled flights on the 5th February 1919. KLM also was soon traversing through the airport as well on the route from Amsterdam to Copenhagen and in time the regular service fixed wing operations overtook the original airship operations. Hamburg's Fuhlsbüttel Airport also had a major part in the famous “Berlin Airlift” that started operations on 25th June 1948. And in the early1950’s the airport which was then now known as “Hamburg Airport” was then reverted back from the British into the hands of the German authorities. Nightlighting After the excellent day detailing and scenery work by JustSim, the night lighting is a bit of a disappointment? The lighting is mediocre at best with only a few spots lighting the gates, and with Hamburg's interesting lighting systems a real wasted opportunity. Equipment ramp zones have no downlighting at all, which is a totally missed chance to do some clever lighting, drop down lighting is limited. Terminal window texures are average and soft and nowhere as good as the Aerosoft versions and just a bland blue... Again it is a totally wasted opportunity as if you look at the new X-Plane11 glass reflection feature on the side of T2, as you see the reflections are excellent in the reflection of the surrounding airport lighting. It could have been so much better... Other buildings at least do have some good window lighting textures as also does the Raddisson Blu hotel, but overall it is mostly mediocre. Runway lighting is thankfully quite good with RAIL on some, but the taxiways are plain with only blue oversized taxiway edge lights and no centerline green guidance lighting. So you aircraft will need good lighting to navigate around the scenery after dark. Services Hamburg today is the gateway to Northern Germany with 60 airlines that service through Hamburg (Fuhlsbüttel) and fly out to 115 destinations worldwide. The airport is the hub for airlines Air Berlin, Condor, Lufthansa and TUIfly. Airlines Aer Lingus, Air France, airBaltic, Austrian Airlines, British Airways, Brussels Airlines, Corendon and Air Hamburg. Busiest Domestic Routes 1. Munich - 1,347,070 2. Frankfurt - 733,060 3. Stuttgart - 702,884 4. Düsseldorf - 452,750 5. Nuremberg - 221,544 Busiest European Routes 1. London, United Kingdom - 706,844 2. Palma de Mallorca, Spain - 694,302 3. Zürich, Switzerland - 528,726 4. Vienna, Austria - 479,062 5. Paris, France - 354,010 Busiest International Routes 1. Antalya, Turkey - 475,806 2. Dubai, UAE - 129,624 3. Hurghada, Egypt - 96,150 4. Izmir, Turkey - 65,530 5. Newark, USA - 44,840 Summary Overall this is stunning scenery, beautifully detailed and with some really great ramp equipment and detail. Those airbridges are excellent as is all the animated vehicle traffic and the great surrounding Germanic autogen and so using the JustSim Hamburg is certainly a great departure or arrival scenery... but. It is shame the lighting is so mediocre, and such is the wasted in the opportunity here to do something really great with illumination, so any flying at Hamburg after the sun goes down is a bit of a timewaster. ditto the poor "tower view" which is becoming a common occurrence lately. But what we are coming back to here is the value, if this scenery which is certainly worth in the upper twenties in the set dollar values was then just that, then the lighting would make you think twice about purchasing? But Hamburg Airport by JustSim is only priced at US$19.80 and at that price it is simply a total bargain, so you can easily look past the minor faults as the scenery is excellent at the really good things that make up totally realistic scenery. So overall it is a must buy, and the hope that soon JustSim do a quick revisit and update the lighting to the standard EDDH Hamburg deserves. ______________________________________________________________________ The EDDH Hamburg Airport by JustSim is NOW available! from the X-Plane.Org Store here : EDDH - Hamburg International Airport Price is US$19.80 Features Custom taxiways and airport lights Shading and occlusion (texture baking) effects on terminal and other airport buildings High resolution photo scenery near airport and city High resolution ground textures / Custom runway textures High resolution building textures Runway reflection effect Volumetric ground effect textures Compatible with X-Plane 11 features Ready for Advanced Traffic World Traffic compatible X-Life traffic compatible Animated gates (AutoGate plugin by Marginal) Animated custom ground vehicles (X-Plane 11 only) Requirements X-Plane 11+ or X-Plane 10.50+ Windows, Mac, Linux 2GbVRAM Video Card. 3Gb+ VRAM Recommended This review was run in X-Plane11 (and a beta at that!). So the X-Plane11 features are not available in the X-Plane10 version of this scenery. Requirements: X-Plane 10 fully updated (any edition) or X-Plane 11+ Mac, Windows or Linux 2Gb+ VRAM Video Card 1GB HD for Installation ______________________________________________________________________ Installation The download package is 422.10mb The scenery is installed after unzipping in to your X-Plane "custom scenery" folder (EDDH_JustSim_1.0) at 698.50mb Documents: There is an installation document but no manual or charts. A good set of EDDH charts are available here: EDDH pdf ______________________________________________________________________ Stephen Dutton 27th February 2017 Copyright©X-Plane Reviews: X-PlaneReviews 2017 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 11beta11 / Checked install in X-Plane10.51 Addons: Saitek x52 Pro system Joystick and Throttle : Sound - Bose Soundlink Mini : Headshake by SimCoders Plugins: : JARDesign Ground Handling Deluxe US$14.95 : Environment Engine by xEnviro US$69.90 Scenery or Aircraft - Airbus A320neo by JARDesign (X-Plane.OrgStore) - US$59.95

It notes... "If you already have purchased the A350 XWB from FlightFactor then go to your account at the X-PlaneStore and update to v1.4.3." in the review? SD

If you read the updates you will find the answer: News! - Aircraft Updated to X-Plane11 : Airbus A350 XWB v1.4.3 by FlightFactor SD

X-Plane11 As Laminar Research's X-Plane11 is getting nearer to its release, then it is warranted that articles, posts and items related to the X-Plane version have a home or place on X-PlaneReviews... so here it is. X-PlaneReviews will cover the the version in depth with features and articles allowing you to get the very best from X-Plane in this new generational version. So check back here often to see what is new in X-Plane11. X-PlaneReviews

No sorry that doesn't work? The only way to lower your altitude is to dive the aircraft (but that gains you speed?) switching off the "Arti-Stab" just does nothing? SD

News! - Aircraft Released! : PA31 Chieftain 350 HD Series by Alabeo Another twin from Carenado/Alabeo within the month. This is the Alabeo version of the PA31-350 Chieftain which is a stretched version of the lovely PA31 Navajo that I really liked from the middle of last year (2016), review is here: Aircraft Review - PA31 Navajo HD Series by Carenado So I will be interested to compare this larger (or Chieftain sized aircraft with no pun intended) with the quality of the Navajo. One instant difference is that this Chieftain has the G500 instrument package compared with the older dial panel on the Navajo. X-PlaneReview's liked the G500 instrument package as well (we like a lot of nice things!) that was first on the recently released PA34 Seneca V, and if you want to take a peek at that system then read the review here: PA34 Seneca V by HD Series by Carenado Features include: Alabeo G500 2 different models: commuter and standard Custom sounds Volumetric side view prop effect High quality 3D model and textures. Blank texture for creating your own designs. Accurately reproduced flight characteristics 64-bit compatible. FPS-optimized model. SuperManipulator scroll wheel support Alabeo/Carenado quality is part of the deal, and so you won't be disappointed. Included: 6 hd liveries 2 different color panels 1 Blank texture Normal Procedures PDF Emergency Procedures PDF Performance tables PDF Reference PDF Note the two separate versions in - commuter and standard. Technical Requirements Windows XP -7-8 (or higher) or MAC OS 10.8 (or higher) or Linux X-Plane 10.40 (or higher) i5 (or equivalent) 2.5 GHz - 8GB RAM - 2GB Video card 495MB available hard disk space The PA31 Chieftain is flyable also in X-Plane11, that is "flyable" and not configured as X-plane11 is still in it's beta phase. The PA34 Seneca V is available right now from Carenado... ______________________________________________________________________ The PA31 Chieftain 350 HD Series by Alabeo is NOW available! here : PA31 CHIEFTAIN 350 for X-PLANE NOW AT CARENADO Price is US$32.95 Notes: For WINDOWS users: Please ensure that you have all the Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributables downloaded and installed (click here) CARENADO G1000 DATABASE (MUST BE INSTALLED). Images & Text are courtesy of Carenado© Developer site : Carenado.com ______________________________________________________________________ Stephen Dutton 22nd February 2017 Copyright©X-Plane Reviews: X-PlaneReviews

Very interesting aircraft, Only note is that when you lower the throttle it doesn't descend? It just stays up there even with the "Hover" switched off... SD

News! - Aircraft Updated to X-Plane11 : Airbus A350 XWB v1.4.3 by FlightFactor FlightFactor have updated their Airbus A350 XWB aircraft to be flyable in X-Plane11. The note here is flyable or compatible and not a totally configured aircraft for the new X-Plane version as the simulator is still within its beta stages (XP11b11 at this article). But flyable or usable is still a very nice place to be. We saw a very nice and more complete upgrade to the A350 v1.30 just back in July 2016, and right there and then it felt like a completely new aircraft than the earlier predecessors. Here again with this version v1.43 you see a solidness that was missing in the earlier releases of this Airbus aircraft, it usually came off second best compared to the Boeing designs of B757/767 and the B777 Series. But now it is a very though machine and becoming very mature as it ages. Again the FMC is still not a full total replication of a FMS (Flight Management System) like on the B757/767 and in this case the SID/STAR component is still missing for now, but it is coming, I swear it is. FlightFactor put a nice shine on to the A350 in the last update, and in XP11 the aircraft looks amazing. The exceptional lighting of X-Plane11 is bringing aircraft alive in realism and put that factor together with highly detailed aircraft and the results are stunning. Version v1.4.3 notes are: v1.4.3 - added xp11 compatability - Introduction of popup screens - Terrain on ND now available - support of custom earth_nav.dat files. Not a big update list, but you do feel there are more improvements than listed that have been addressed under the skin. The complex sets of monitor screens that is unique to the A350 flight deck has had some slight changes. Popup screens The OIS (Onboard Information System) side (and center) menu screens, were... let us say "a little buggy" in the original release of the A350 XWB. nothing really wrong but the effects of using the huge X pointer was a bit hit and miss. The problem was making out the screen active areas and the outer panel not active area, but all the issues have now been resolved, but to give you a secondary option, you now have a new menu (options) selection that allows you to switch into two modes. The new item is the MFD control that has two options "Wheel+Popup" and "Touch Screen" Default is "Touch Screen" that still gives you that enlarged X pointer. But the newer selection in "Wheel+Popup" will freeze the X Pointer and when you want to make a selection the pop up window comes up and you can only use the standard hand (finger) selector for choosing items on the menus. (sorry the hand selector does not show in the images). It does make selections easier and quicker, but you do have a full pop-up screen every time you want to change a menu item. Another new feature is "Terrain on ND" which is a radar terrain map showing on the Navigation Display. It is like the unit on the Boeing 757/767, but none adjustable. Sea is noted in blue, and you have terrain data details on the right. The ground profile is also shown on the vertical display on the lower part of the Navigation Display. Aircraft data in X-Plane11 In X-Plane11 the Navigation data system has had a complete overhaul. One of the changes is that the usual "Custom Data" or navigation data details is now missing in the main X-Plane root folder. Developers now have to supply the actual aircraft with the data to include Navigraph and Aerosoft Navdata Pro with navigational data. To allow the A350 to fly in X-Plane this data has now been included within the update v1.4.3 Note the excellent click to complete checklist system, green for completed checks and blue for not covered checks. Cockpit is now very refined with lots of nice touches and details. Note the working rear FMS unit and left - right pilot flying selection. Cockpit night lighting is now excellent, lovely place to be on a long overnight flight. Liveries supplied are: Blank, House/Qatar, Airbus House, Airbus Carbon, Air France, British Airways, Lufthansa and United are the default liveries There are sets of 10 other liveries you can purchase from different regions of the world including Oceania, Africa & Middle East, Asia, Atlantic, Europe 1, Europe 2 and Pacific. Summary Developers are caught at the moment with X-Plane11. Fix up the aircraft and the details change with a sudden new beta update. But we are well along the beta path now and an RC is on the horizon soon anyway. Personally I have found X-Plane11 in basic form extremely stable, so creating a compatible X-Plane11 aircraft is not going to go seriously out of whack anytime soon, as this excellent A350 in X-Plane11 shows. This update is just that in a compatible and flyable aircraft for X-Plane11, but the new "Terrain on ND" is a very nice and useful feature to have as well. The A350 from FlightFactor is becoming brilliantly good now, and is starting to fulfill its potential as one of the great aircraft to fly in X-Plane, and there is still more to come. _____________________________________________________________________________________ The Airbus A350-900 XWB Advanced from FlightFactor is Available from the X-Plane.Org Store: Airbus A350 XWB Advanced Price is currently US$ 49.95 Livery packs at US$10 for ten liveries are available here: A350 Liveries Include: North America, Oceania, Africa & Middle East, Asia, Atlantic, Europe 1, Europe 2 and Pacific. If you already have purchased the A350 XWB from FlightFactor then go to your account at the X-PlaneStore and update to v1.4.3. Requirements: X-Plane 10 (fully updated) or X-Plane 11 Windows - Mac - Linux - 64bit Operating System Required 1Gb+ VRAM Minimum, 2Gb+ VRAM Minimum. 8Gb RAM Version : 1.43 (last updated February 10th, 2017) Release Review : Aircraft Review : Airbus A350 XWB Advanced by FlightFactor Support forum : FlightFactor A350 XWB _____________________________________________________________________________________ Updated by Stephen Dutton 13th February 2017 Copyright©2017: X-PlaneReviews

Scenery Review : UBBB Baku Heydar Aliyev Airport & City by Drzewiecki Design The tales of the "Arabian Nights" is intertwined with the feel and place of Baku in Azerbaijan. The Arabian Nights stories are also originally known as the "One Thousand and One Nights" and the tale of a ruler called Shahryār, Ruiling in the 8th century over Persia he is shocked to discover that his brother's wife is unfaithful; discovering his own wife's infidelity has been even more flagrant, he has her executed: but in his bitterness and grief decides that all women are the same. And so Shahryār begins to marry a succession of virgins only to execute each one the next morning, before she has a chance to dishonour him. Running out of Virgins then Scheherazade, the vizier's daughter, offers herself as the next bride and her father reluctantly agrees. On the night of their marriage, Scheherazade begins to tell the king a tale, but does not end it. The king, curious about how the story ends, is thus forced to postpone her execution in order to hear the conclusion. The next night, as soon as she finishes the tale, she begins (and only begins) a new one, and the king, eager to hear the conclusion of this tale, postpones her execution once again. So it goes on for 1,001 nights. With the translation into English of the tales of Scheherazade, is the stories you have heard at school or watched on Disney including Aladdin, Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, The Seven voyages of Sinbad and many others. Over time the images that are created by these stories are also imprinted on your conscious including a golden city in the desert, a fort with flags adorning the turrets and huge men with massive curved scimitar blades or Shamshir swords standing guard and at the whims of their rulers, Persian might at the central crossroads of the world. History is a place to create and to visit, but overall to feel a time and a certain imagination of a world now long gone. But in Baku, Azerbaijan it is mixture of everything, first is that Arabian Night feel as there is an actually a real fortress still sitting out there in the sands of time, but now surrounded with glitzy new age glass sparkling towers as notes to our modern era. The bazaars are still full of goods as they were in the days of the Silk Road trails, as Baku was a major stopover point in the travelers journeys from East to West. Its culture was created on the countless back and to invasions by the Persians (Iran) and the Russians over the centuries, until Azerbaijan had its independence in October 1991 after the Soviet collapse. Oil is the main growth profit creator, but tourism is also huge business and the city is now wanting more a lot more, European more, Chinese more, American more as the new Dubai of the new world order. No I am not working for the Azerbaijan tourist agency but you can see the attraction of a place to fly to that is such a kaleidoscope of contrasts, and only a few hours flying from central Europe. LOWW - Vienna to UBBB Baku - First Impression So the best place to start our review of Baku was in Central Europe, and Schwechat LOWW airport in Vienna (Wien) in Austria. AXDG has done a nice job of Schwechat and their latest version 1.1.1 now has working boarding gates. The distance between central Europe to Baku is around 1,500nm, or 3-1/2 hours flying time between points. You can easily fly a single aisle A320 or B737/B757 or Twin-aisle B767 but I am using the A330 by JARDesign as it is the right size and speed for the leg. The early morning traffic jam means that the departure from Schwechat is slow, "I'm burning fuel waiting here". Once clear of the traffic we can stretch the A330's legs, altitude to FL356, and .m84 means we go high and fast. The route covers Hungary, then Romania and then a third of the flying is over the Black Sea. (google maps) Until you hit the coast at Georgia and then finally Azerbaijan with Baku on the eastern side on the Caspian Sea. It is far from being a boring flight, with the Romanian Carpathian Mountain ranges (left) then the coastal lands of Romania (right). The arrival in Georgia brings up the magnificent Greater Caucasus Mountain ranges that you follow all the way over to Baku. It is a spectacular arrival. You slip out over the Caspian Sea to arrive from the south as Baku is set out on a peninsula. You do a large circle curve around to GOBUS which is the southern approach STAR that give you access to runways 34 and 35, but note that most charts note RWY35 as RWY36. Baku City itself is 20km southwest of the airport, and you can see on the horizon the distinctive buildings of the city. The Drzewiecki Design scenery comes with the option of using either of two sets of ortho images of which one version is 8m/pix in detail of photoreal coverage (with mesh) for the whole country of Azerbaijan and most mountain ranges nearby. I choose not to use the lower resolution, but the standard one and it is visually perfectly fine without the framerate hit of the far more detailed version that is more usable in the VFR rule role of flying around Azerbaijan, but that option is there if you want to do that. The photoreal images do make for a spectacular arrival, but they are flat. And because Azerbaijan is way out of the area for a detailed OSM (Open Street Map) data there is very little default autogen to give you a 3d aspect of the scenery, fine from above but the scenery can be flat on the ground. Heydar Aliyev Airport is positioned just slightly inland from the coast, but visually it is a great approach. I am using RWY35 which is on a slight angle to RWY34, so you have to be careful that you get your lineup with your chosen runway correctly, it can be slightly confusing from a distance. You cross over the Mardakan Highway (Airport Rd) on the final's and it makes a visual working treat. To the right there is a large Silk Way maintenance hangar and other infrastructure and on the left the old and new terminals give you a distinctive Islamic feel. Runway and taxiway detailing and marking is first rate, I really liked the dusty sand look on the taxiway edges. But it is a fair taxi back to the terminal area from the top of both RWY 34 & 35. There is a slight feel emptiness around the airport but there is a little and very good static aircraft like the great IL76's, but once in the terminal area itself and at the gates you are pretty well on your own. My gate (12) sits as part as the impressive new Terminal One that replaced the original Soviet era terminal, it is all glass and steel and very well replicated by Drzewiecki Design but the gates are not animated, which is real shame, there are vehicles in the scenery, but they are not animated either. Overall it was a very impressive flight and and a very immersive scenery at UBBB that gives out a really "you in a very different place" feeling, so my first impressions of UBBB are excellent. _______________________________________________ UBBB Baku Heydar Aliyev Airport Baku Heydar Aliyev International Airport IATA: GYD - ICAO: UBBB 16/34 2,700m (8,858ft) Asphalt/Concrete 17/35 3,200m (10,499ft)Asphalt/Concrete Elevation AMSL 3m/10 ft Heydar Aliyev Airport sits out there like a mirage in the desert, of which it is in a way. It is extremely well done, but you have to take the flat images as part of the deal, but because the detail in the images are so good, it isn't really an issue. Formerly Heydar Aliyev was called Bina International Airport by the name of a suburb in Baku. On March 10, 2004, the airport was renamed in honor of National Leader Heydar Aliyev, the third President of Azerbaijan. The airport is located 20 kilometers northeast of Baku, connected to the city by a modern highway, which was put into operation in 2008. It is the busiest airport in Azerbaijan and of the Caucasus. The airport serves as the home base for flag carrier Azerbaijan Airlines and its subsidiary AZALJet as well as freight carrier Silk Way Airlines. (wikipeda) Everything hubs around the two central terminals, and they are both excellent with not only fine detailing but a lot of the airside fill with carparks with 3d cars and great tree and fauna arrangements. Terminal 1 The four-level engineering concept of Terminal 1 was developed in July 2010 by Arup company, with a tricorn shape and semi transparent roof. The total building area is 65,000 square meters and the interior was designed by Turkish company AUTOBAN which has a series of oak-veneer 'cocoons'. Terminal 1, commissioned in April 2014, has twelve (A1 - A12) aerobridge equipped gates. The terminal is designed for 6 million passengers per year and it currently serves up to 3 million passengers per year. This terminal is a fantastic designed reproduction, detailing of the structure is outstanding and with no doubt a lot of work has gone into recreating this building. It would be interesting though to see all that glass with the new X-Plane11 reflection feature, but it is very well done... and not only the outside. The interior of the terminal is just as detailed and highly walk-aroundable. A great introduction to Baku. Gate detail is fantastic, but empty? It all feels a bit "Just built and the airport not yet opened". There is some gate service vehicles and cargo pallets throughout the scenery but not overwhelmingly so. Terminal 2 Terminal 2, serves serves only domestic flights, was completed in 1989, and has 11 gates (B1 - B11) Very Islamic in design than the newer T1, but very much more in keeping with the areas character. No internal/external design like with T1, but very well detailed around the terminal structures. Older style airbridges are also non-animated. Control Tower and Entrances The airport has a very distinctive control tower that has been well reproduced here. Tower detailing is excellent including the internal control room. There are also two very distinctive airport entrance posts that are also perfectly recreated. But the "Tower View" above is an "Epic Fail" as it is positioned somewhere in the middle of a carpark? Central Area The airport's entrance to the terminals is to the right filled with hotels and administration buildings Highlight is the excellent Sheraton Baku Airport and there is even a Mosque for prayers. There is a huge amount of remote (empty) parking space on both sides of Terminal 1, with a VIP reception on the eastern side. Cargo Terminal There is a huge Cargo/Logistics Terminal at UBBB, and it is a great destination for all the haulers. Local freighter Silk Way dominate, but this area is the best and mostly lively in the scenery. Opposite the Cargo Terminal as we saw on our arrival via RWY35 is the Silk Way maintenance hangar and a private jet or executive parking area. The modeling of the maintenance hangar is again very good and this area is highly usable as well. There is another large maintenance hangar mid-field behind Terminal 1 and various other designed and placed buildings, but there is more of Baku just on the horizon... Baku City Drzewiecki Design has designed most of the major icon buildings of Baku for the scenery. Items included are the Bibi-Heybat Mosque, Baku TV Tower, Government House, Flame Towers, Heydar Aliyev Center, Maiden Tower, Caspian Waterfront Mall, Baku Crystal Hall and the outlandish (still being built) Cresent Hotel Complex. There is also a load of stadiums, highrise buildings and complexes. It works very well from the right angle and height (below left) but closer to the ground it looks quite empty and flat with a few buildings on the plate look (below right). Drzewiecki Design has done a good job to fill in as much as they could do, but you just miss that autogen filler to give the full scenery that complete 3d look from every angle. The whole point is that it Baku looks good from a distance and for arrival and departure, and for that this city scape works very well. Azerbaijan Airports Spread around the scenery are a few light basic airports from Drzewiecki Design that cover the area of Azerbaijan. These airports are just mostly small GA airports but they are handy in exploring the country. These airports cover: UBBL Lenkoran (In X-Plane as UB10?), UBBG Ganja, UBBN Nakhchivan (upper row), UBBQ Qabala, UBBY Zaqatala and UBTT Zabrat (lower row). All are in great positions and a few in really picturesque locations... but. All the airports have significant problems? Five have runways that are over 6000m long? and one with dual major runways in the middle of nowhere? Another in UBBG has trees on the ramp? So they all look ridiculous, which is a real shame as they are highly usable? Only Zabrat has a normal runway and is also visible from UBBB Baku. Lighting Lighting at UBBB is passable, or to put it another way "it won't win any lighting and special effects awards this year". There is enough fill to get around the airport and park, but the original Flight Simulator night textures do show and are basic. Terminal 1 does look good thankfully, and is usable. Terminal 2 is passable. The Sheraton is mostly in the dark, but the Cargo ramps are well lit and are usable at night... just. Approach and Runway lighting is good, but the taxiway lighting is only on a few of the main routes, and it is very easy to get lost with a wrong turn and be stranded. A map is required to navigate at night and don't take that wrong turn! Baku City Again the Flight Simulator textures do show, but they not too bad. The autogen fill in between the 3d objects though is greatly missed. Services Baku is certainly different for your flying, but its position is not too far from Europe and you can easily cover Turkey, Greece and that general eastern Mediterranean area as well. Russia to the north is also a great way to go. AZAL and Azerbaijan Airlines dominate (both the same airline) and they fly as far as New York, London and Bejing in China. There are a lot the Eastern Bloc and a few Russian Airlines but not as many Russian as you would expect, but WIZZ and S7 are highly visible here as is Turkish Airlines. European Airlines are thin on the ground with Lufthansa the only airline with a regular service. Cargo Silk Way Cargo is the main user of UBBB and is based here, but it is a busy cargo hub for Cargolux as well and Iran Air Cargo, and the destinations cover a lot of ports both east and west including Hong Kong, Singapore, Dubai, Frankfurt and surprisingly a lot of rides to Milan. Flight Simulator to X-Plane conversion This scenery by Drzewiecki Design is also available for FSX, MFS 2004, Prepar3d besides X-Plane. There is no doubt the conversion factor and in areas it shows the sceneries heritage, but that is fine as overall it is a great scenery for X-Plane. But the FSX to X-Plane conversion is poor? And really annoying in the fact that most of the items required to make the scenery X-Plane compatible are just so very easily done... so in this aspect it is noted as lazy. There is no X-Plane11 Airport layout? You can select your airport runway and ramp position, but not from the layout section? And that aspect is really needed here. No X-Plane animations in Vehicles or airbridges? There is no built in ground routes so you can't use xLife or the default X-Plane static aircraft or ATC? and there are no ground routes for WorldTraffic either, so all this together makes it a pretty staid place to be. The laziness is expanded to the poor tower view and the super long runways in the extra airport sceneries that renders them useless. X-Plane lighting is thankfully is just passable but not brilliant. And working autogen around the airport and Baku City would be a serious bonus with so much flat Ortho textures. In other words the conversion to the X-Plane platform here is minimal at best. Summary Although the above X-Plane features are poor in this scenery, it still delivers a great destination and a very interesting place to fly to and use. From that aspect it is good scenery, it feels very much like Aerosoft's Keflavik Airport when you are here in look and use and that scenery is one of my favorites. The modeling where it is good like Terminal 1 is excellent, and overall the modeling is very good and UBBB certainly delivers on what you want in a great destination and only a few missed flourishes could have delivered an outstanding scenery for X-Plane. But you do get a lot of scenery for your money, so there is a lot of value built in here. So are you willing to travel to an outpost on the modern day Silk Route, and feel the real Arabian Night tales in today's environment. This Drzewiecki Design is a great scenery to feel that aspect and it is a good scenery to go somewhere different and explore an opening up area of the X-Plane world just beyond Europe and the Middle-East. Flying to and using UBBB Baku is another great tale to keep Scheherazade from her fate, and another story and a great destination to add a very different dimension to your X-Plane flying life. ______________________________________________________________________ The UBBB Baku Heydar Aliyev Airport & City by Drzewiecki Design is NOW available! from the X-Plane.Org Store here : UBBB Baku Airport and City XP Price is US$23.00 Features Extremely detailed model of UBBB Heydar Aliyev International Airport in Baku UBBB with 3D people, high quality static aircraft, up-to-date airport layout Advanced interior modeling (Terminal 1, tower, Silkway hangar) with native HDR lights Baku city with hundreds of custom-made landmarks with night textures 8m/pix optional photoreal coverage (with mesh) for the whole country of Azerbaijan (~80.000km²) plus ~8000km² of Iran, ~7000km² of Armenia, ~6000km² of Georgia and ~11.000km² of Russia (we followed mountain ranges and other geographical features rather than political borders) Lite models of Lenkoran, Ganja, Nakhchivan, Qabala, Zaqatala and Zabrat Custom-made UBBB airport charts included Requirements: X-Plane 10 fully updated (any edition) or X-Plane 11+ Mac, Windows or Linux 2Gb+ VRAM Video Card 1GB HD for Installation ______________________________________________________________________ Installation The download package is 836.40mb And there is four folders to be installed in your "Custom Scenery" Folder and must be in this order... 000 Drzewiecki Design Library (Installed 32kb) DD Baku XP (Installed 3.43gb) DD Baku XP Documents (Installed 3.3mb) ZZZ Baku XP Terrain (Installed 25.5mb) Windows version comes with a .exe installer with the option to install the 8m/pix terrain. For Mac users the notes are: "If you wish to remove the photoreal terrain of Azerbaijan, navigate to the : X-Plane\Custom Scenery\DD Baku XP\Earth nav data\Without_Azerbaijan_phototerr ...folder, copy all 3 folders that are located there, go one step "up" in the folder structure, to the folder: X-Plane\Custom Scenery\DD Baku XP\Earth nav data ...and paste the 3 copied folders into that folder. This will remove the photoreal terrain. You can easily turn it back on by unpacking the product's ZIP file and overwriting the whole DD Baku XP folder." Documents: DD Baku XP Documents Baku XP MacLinuxInstall Baku XP MANUAL UBBB CHARTS (charts are quite basic in two airport layout charts and two ILS runway approach charts) These UBBB charts are better: http://uvairlines.com/admin/resources/charts/UBBB.pdf ______________________________________________________________________ Stephen Dutton 15th February 2017 Copyright©X-Plane Reviews: X-PlaneReviews 2017 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 11beta11 / Checked install in X-Plane10.51 Addons: Saitek x52 Pro system Joystick and Throttle : Sound - Bose Soundlink Mini : Headshake by SimCoders Plugins: : Environment Engine by xEnviro US$69.90 Scenery or Aircraft - Airbus A330-243 by JARDesign (X-Plane.OrgStore) - US$60.95

Simulator Modifications : Project BetterSky A lot of users like to mess around with the inner engine room of the X-Plane Simulator to further enhance or to create things that will extend the usability of the simulator. This is the creative element at work and pretty well what X-Plane in its form is all about. Personally unless it is an addon that won't get into or change the inner basics of the actual Laminar Research settings and files then I really won't want to go messing around under da hood. Yes I use a lot of addons and plugins, but mostly only the really tried and tested ones, and because of the testing and the reviews do require the standard system as a set benchmark to see anything abnormal of the subject under the spotlight. Winter Texture modifications do replace core X-Plane assets, but the MOD system allows for a quick switch over the the standard assets in a keystroke like when you are ready to do say update or do a review in a very short space of time using the standard assets. It gets messy as well if you start using a lot of different modifications, and you will find your system suddenly behaving quite abnormal with all those different changes, most modifications do work very well in a single instance, but together can also create complexity and can interfere with each other... in others words slow down the efficiency of the simulator. If one total aim that I strive for above all the other factors in X-Plane is in all its glorious complexity is just simply its performance and efficiency. But the one area in non-advancement of X-Plane and in mostly X-Plane10 has been the Weather. The release of X-Plane10 brought with it Austin's "Little Puffs". A great idea to created 3d clouds, but it also created a framerate monster killer in the process, it worked but not very well and as other areas took away Laminar's attention as it was mostly resided into the "Too hard basket". Yes over the years there has been refinements, but the overall system needed a larger makeover and not just a "fix it up" approach. Laminar Research has noted that for X-Plane11 they are right now doing a lot of refinement to the visual weather system in X-Plane, and not before time. Over the years then it was up to the twiddlers and creative souls to try to come up with a better solution. So there has been hundreds of Sky enhancement packages that mostly and usually focus on X-Plane's sky colors and clouds, these sets have created almost a wide spectrum of results and mostly in the horrible and gaudy aspects that sometimes made you think you were flying on Mars and not the blue orb of Planet Earth. A few years ago the weather situation changed for the better with Sundog's Sky-Maxx Pro which was the first really good Environment Engine, then at the end of 2016 came xEnviro's excellent Environment Engine that I simply endorse for anyone using X-Plane, as it has changed my flying aspects completely. But the addon cost and certainly for xEnviro is high (but you get what you pay for) and for a lot of users they run their simulations on a budget. So here is an interesting project called "BetterSky' that does actually deliver on what is promises to do and above all it is free. First a note in that BetterSky does change your default files deep into your system's file structure. But it does this with a LUA script and a program called Flywithlua. Yes, yes, yes messy internal stuff, but the results are favorable and the results now in v1.1 is showing a lot of promise. The visual effect is a big step up from the current standard X-Plane look, and it comes with the same framerate hit that already have. The project is more focused on X-Plane11 because the new mist or hazed view makes the feel a bigger advantage than in X-Plane10. The images are mightily impressive, and also fixes that banding (bug) problem we currently also have with the XP11 betas. We are yet to see what Laminar has in fixes for the visual weather look in coming, but here is a fix now that can make a difference to your flying. I could bore you senseless with exciting images that I have seen and created since the release of X-Plane11 and with the combination of running xEnviro in creating an environment of sheer realism. The point I am making is that I have experienced the rewards of great simulation with the weather component working effectively and it is looking like 2017 is (finally) turning out to be the game changer in the weather area of X-Plane. So we now have happy skies ahead, and certainly give BetterSky a go if you can't afford the payware option, it at least gives you feel of how good your flying really can be.' The BetterSky site is here : BetterSky And there is an excellent forum to follow here : X-Plane.Org XP11 BetterSky Released For Download, tools and user information then go here : BetterSky 1.1 All images and details are provided courtesy of BetterSky _____________________________________________________________________________________ Stephen Dutton 10th January 2017 Copyright©2017: X-Plane Reviews

I think it is a heater panel to clear that glass area of mist or ice. SD

I am going to assume you mean the HD AlpilotX scenery for North America? It doesn't really matter what scenery is in there as Bella Coola comes with a large swath of area anyway, but it should easily fit in with the HD format. SD

Aircraft Review : PA-34 Seneca V HD Series by Carenado In one form or the other the Twin-Engined PA-34 Seneca has been in production since 1971 and that is now 46 years of continuous sales and development. The Seneca was developed as a twin-engined version of the Piper Cherokee Six which was a very popular aircraft of the late sixties. The prototype for the Seneca was a Cherokee Six that had wing-mounted engines installed and still retained its original nose engine. The prototype was flown as a tri-motor aircraft in the initial stages of the test-flying program, but the nose motor was discarded for production. Still in production there are over 5000 of these twin-engine PA-34 Pipers now built. This is the latest release by Carenado of the Seneca Twin. It is not the only Seneca by Carenado as there is already an original Seneca ll version the 200T which is the mid-seventies version of the aircraft. This V or Five version is the current version of the PA-34 and it comes with the G500 glass cockpit system and not the olde world clockwork cockpit of the Seneca ll. We will look at both aircraft soon. To get a feel of the new Seneca V I took a short passenger delivery trip from the Gold Coast to Ballina/Byron, Australia to deliver a few cashed up visitors to the area, and yes I am running this review in X-Plane11. Don't worry as I have run the same flight in X-Plane10 so nothing is amiss and there isn't and this aircraft is noted as compatible with X-Plane11 and is pretty what to expect when X-Plane11 goes final. A small note is that this is in XP11b9 and I am currently finding it very stable after a lot of testing and flights, not totally perfect yet, but the basics are very good. Detailing is exceptional, and the X-Plane11 PBR gives the the Seneca V aircraft a really nice added gloss. But realism in detail has never been higher, note the louvre grills on the engine housings and the door hinges and lock, the riveting is well... riveting in the pure detail of it all. Externally the Seneca V isn't that much different than the Seneca ll 200T which had the Lycoming O-360 E series 210 hp (157 kW) at 2800 rpm, as this V version has the Continental IO-360RB which is almost the same name but a different engine which produces 220 hp (164 kW) at 2600 rpm and that is the significant difference as the engine housings are very different on the Seneca ll as shown below. You do feel the evolution of time though between the 70's Seneca ll and the current Seneca V, small things but the V does feel far more modern as the windshield is now one piece and not the two separate panes with a central bar, and the nose is not quite as pointed. It is only around 144kms to Ballina Airport from Coolangatta and so you get there very quickly if by the scenic coastal route. Takeoff and cruise around 170knts is quite comfortable in the V, but landing is a bit more tricky and in comparing the Seneca ll it is very much the same deal. I found my joystick a bit notchy, so small inputs are the go. But the real focus is on the throttle for landing. Stall speed is noted as 61knts (113 km/h, 70 mph), but you have to be aware that it comes in with a crash or a very sudden loss of lift. So 90knts - 80knts is the lowest fail safe zone on approach with full flap, less than that and you are falling quickly and using 100knts until full flap is a good idea as well. And so you have to hunt the throttle to keep the aircraft airborne and find that right speed to let the aircraft down at a slowish rate, get it wrong in the flare and you will bang down on the runway with a crash, it took a few landings to perfect the approach and flare (using the pitch slightly (up and stall) is a good trick for controlling the last of the descent). Menus Standard Carenado menus apply here, with the usual three tabs on the lower left in C, O and A. C is Carenado or really "Views" with "Field of View" and two sound adjustments. O is for "Options" including opening Co-Pilot door, Passenger door, Luggage door and front baggage compartment door. I like the detail in the front compartment, really well done as if there is a little space to put your bags. Static elements are in the 'hardly worth the effort" zone with two cones and a few pitot covers and flags, You see the differences here on the older Seneca ll with a lot more on show including the excellent baggage. Other selections here include the scroll visualization choice, window and instrument reflections and the choice of changing the liveries without going to the main X-Plane menu. Our passengers delivered and it is time to return to Coolangatta. If you are still sitting on the fence on if X-Plane11 will deliver, then enlarge the images below and look at the detail, as a new era of realism has now been born. Cockpit and Cabin Carenado's new Garmin G500 navigation system dominates the panel, and a very nice installation it is as well and I personally like it better than the bigger display G1000. Backup instruments are to the left and lower with a OBS direction pointer and twin sets of engine dials are excellent, with a high switchable information panel above. Equipment upper panel includes a Garmin 347 audio panel, a S-Tec Autopilot, Two GNS 430 GPS units. Lower panel are an old Bendix-King KR87 ADF and a Garmin GTX 327 Transponder/Time unit. There is a very nice if basic pedestal unit and rudder pedals with under panel alcoves are highly detailed. Roof mounted Lighting and Electrical switchgear is well done but very fussy to use on the lights with three way switches. Nice blue lighting looks cool but ineffective. Looking hard at the pedestal you notice there are no trim wheels attached? They are both mounted deep between the front seats, beautifully done, but awkward to use... A pop-up screen would help here. Cabin is leather luxury, quality detailing is "want to touch" real, you are amazed that this sort of detailing could get better, and it does... look at the really small detail like seatbelt webbing, clasps and the leather seating folds and it is beyond good. Fold out table is in Veneer. Rear luggage bay is empty but very well presented, and the window blinds work. To see the differences and period changes let us look at the Seneca ll. The Seneca ll panel is padded and filled with dials and switchgear 70's style compared to the clean modern look of the V. The cabin in here feels daggy and used, and you can almost smell that old aircraft worn tired aroma and want to remove those tired crappy curtains. G500 I am not a big fan of the push button Menu style modern instruments. I find I am more head down looking through pages of menus than setting the instrument to the action of what I require. That said I like the G500 as it does the setting adjustment better than the G1000 units. The unit has two screens with the Artificial Horizon and Heading rose with Speed and Altitude tapes and bank guide on the left screen, and the Navigation display on the right screen. The G500 also pops out for ease of use. Most of these Gamin units use the left hand knob to change settings, but on the G500 it is easier to use because the main items in HDG (heading), CRS (course), ALT (Altitude), V/S (Vertical Speed) and BARO (barometer) are buttons down the left hand side of the display. And so making the adjustment easy as selecting the item you want and then adjusting it with the lower knob. Sometimes you wonder if that new ideas are really better than the old ones as this system works very well compared to fiddling with the G1000 menus. There is the ADF 1/ADF2 and VOR1/VOR2 pointers that is selectable from the menu. They are both extremely thin and I am not sure if effective in this need to look down and gather information quickly mode, but they are at least available. Navigation display is very good, but the zoom is not very close for local airport flying, zoom out and you get those unused blank tiles showing and it is still slow and jerky when turning quickly. The DCLTR (declutter) is good and you can also bring up a compass rose on the moving aircraft on the map to help with directional headings. A note in that to use the Carenado G500 or the G1000 units you have to download a separate data folder that is deposited in your main X-Plane root folder, it is a hefty download at 870mb that expands to 3.63gb when unzipped and installed. Autopilot The Seneca V uses the S-Tec (now Genesys) Fifty Five X Autopilot. The system is well intergrated into the aircraft's systems, with a centre panel main unit and above the G500 is a situation display and the unit pops-out from the "A" menu tab. It works well. Only note is that you have deselect ALT to move higher or lower and then reselect ALT when you have reached the required altitude. One slight annoyance is that the AP switch is right over on the Co-Pilots side? I can use a joystick buton to turn off or on, but a stretch if you don't have that setup and actually finding the switch? A nice feature is a six position selectable information panel that gives you details on: TEMP, FUEL, INST (engine read out), ELEC, TIME/DATE and %PWR (Engine power outputs). the panel will pop-out for ease of use. Arrival at YBCG Passing over Terranora and a sighting of the coast means we are back on the Coast or the Goldie as is is sometimes called. Like on the Seneca ll those huge engines spoil the view and make looking down quite hard, there is only a small area between the panel and the window frame that you can use. I fall into the circuit over the water that gives you a hard left to hard left and along the beach to YBCG's RWY 14. You aim at the Currumbin Highrises on the beach but the bigger boys in the Jets use the Burleigh Heads Highrises further north for the same job and at only a 1000ft to get the approach right. Tugun Hill and Tugun below makes this approach exciting, you come in low and fast over the forever complaining residents, flaps are three stage and don't give you that nasty lift feel if you get down around 100knts. Tugun Hill makes you give a slight steep slope angle into YBCG, but as noted earlier I found I took a lot of runway before settling the Seneca V easily and far and right down past the usual touchdown zone, but you need to be as slight as you can to get that flare and wheel touch right and perfect. Ground View Back on the GA line and you can admire the aircraft's (and Carenado's) wonderful design work. Bad panel and glass gaps are now non-existent, we are simply now getting brilliant design, and X-Plane11's lighting effects brings us closer to perfect reality. Power off and the excellent reflections on the displays are highlighted. Lighting Internal lighting is very good with lots of great spot lighting in the rear. The rear spot switches are hard to find as they are low and facing the passenger on a panel, and not on the roof in the usual position. There is a very strong spotlight over the Co-Pilot's door, that helps in boarding... Panel lighting looks good and is adjustable, but the blue roof switch lights are not very effective. It doesn't help in that the switchgear is three way awkward, with "off" in the middle hard to find? And the landing lighting (outboard) can be made to flash. External lighting is good but not brilliant. Taxi light is quite weak, and so are the outboard landing lights. Liveries One blank (white) and four American with two Brazilian liveries are provided, but well done but not much choice and nothing really special here. Seneca ll A few notes on the original Carenado Seneca ll that is also available. For its age in X-Plane (it was the very first Twin I reviewed) the old girl scrubs up very well in X-Plane11, it is a nice companion to the more modern V and has that clockwork panel and a great side electrical/starter panel. The only visual note is the forward gear doors don't close. But before you send off a nasty telegram to Carenado it is not actually a Carenado issue but a Laminar Research X-Plane11 bug issue and all early Carenado's are affected as is my beloved A33F. So a fix should come soon as X-Plane11 heads towards final. Summary Nice, Nice, nice. There is a lot to like here if you love Twins as the Seneca is one of the all time great and successful Twin-Engined aircraft of the world. You are probably bored by now at the accolades thrown at Carenado, but give credit due here as the detailing is just so good and so well done and it shows how far we have moved on since the earlier Seneca ll in that level of sheer design. It is with those HD quality textures (4096 x 4096) in size with 422 pixels / meter texture deep and that is detail, that is a lot of detail. It is a thoroughly more modern aircraft to fly as well with the well intergrated G500 unit, and from the user angle wise I think is better than the more menu focused G1000. The ADF/VOR pointers are a bit on the very thin side, and they have gotten all the earlier gremlins now worked out, so it is a now nice bit of kit. Great Autopilot and Information panel features this aircraft is a sub 1000nm distance hauler. It is slightly tricky to land, and has great sounds (a little too quiet in the cockpit though) but overall it one of the best Twins out there. The Seneca V also flies well in X-Plane11, as I saw no issues and thoroughly enjoyed myself flying in our new realm, so it is certainly XP11 ready. The Seneca V is a General Aviation Classic, and you can now own one (if a brilliant simulated version) of this aircraft, quality and thorough design is also part of the deal, so it is a very nice addition to your X-Plane hangar. ______________________________________________________________________ Yes! the PA-34 Seneca V HD Series by Carenado is NOW available from the X-Plane.Org Store here : PA-34 Seneca V HD Series Price is US$32.95 Note: If you purchased the first release 1.0 version then redownload from Carenado to v1.1, as a few details have now been upgraded. The original Seneca ll Is also available here at the X-Plane.OrgStore: Piper PA-34 Seneca II Price is US$27.95 Seneca V Special Features Carenado G500 compatible with X-Plane GNS430 (included) Optimized for XP10.5x - X-Plane 64 bit required All-new sound architecture Volumetric side view prop effect Features Carenado G500 GPS Terrain Awareness map mode Different declutter levels Advance menus and cursor with scroll wheel, click/hold or /drag Crisp, vector-based water data Pop-up windows can be resized and moved around the screen Pristine scroll wheel support FPS-friendly terrain map Original Seneca V autopilot installed HD quality textures (4096 x 4096) 422 pixels / meter textures 3D gauges Original HQ digital stereo sounds recorded directly from the real aircraft 3D stereo effects, such as outside sounds entering open windows. Customizable panel for controlling window transparency, instrument reflections and static elements such as wheel chocks and turbine inlet/exhaust covers. Realistic behavior compared to the real airplane. Realistic weight and balance. Tested by real pilots. Realistic 3D night lights effects on panel and cockpit. ______________________________________________________________________ Requirements : Windows 7+ (64 bit) or MAC OS 10.8 (or higher) or Linux - 64bit Operating System X-Plane 10 fully updated (any edition) - 64bit mode 3 GHz processor - 8GB RAM - 1Gb+ VRAM - 2Gb VRAM Recommended Windows users: Please ensure that you have all the Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributables downloaded and installed. CARENADO G1000 database must be installed Current Version: 1.1 (last updated Feb 5th 2017) ______________________________________________________________________ Installation : Download is 392mb which is unzipped to your X-Plane folder at 478.00mb. Documentation : includes Carenado G500 PDF PA34 Emergency Checklist PDF Normal Procedures PDF Performance Tables PDF PA34 Quick Reference PDF Recommended Settings PDF Aircraft checklists are provided, but no overall aircraft manual. ______________________________________________________________________ Stephen Dutton 8th February 2017 Copyright©X-Plane Reviews: X-PlaneReviews 2017 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 11beta9 / Checked install in X-Plane10.51 Addons: Saitek x52 Pro system Joystick and Throttle : Sound - Bose Soundlink Mini : Headshake by SimCoders Plugins: Environment Engine by xEnviro US$69.90 : WorldTraffic US$29.95 Sceneries: - YBCG : Gold Coast International v1.0 by tdg (X-Plane.Org) - Free - YBNA - Ballina - VOZ Australian Scenery by Barry (Bazza) Roberts (X-Plane.Org) - Free

Looks like you have C++ Redistributables missing. If you use Windows they ALL have to be installed. SD

The packs are created for a specific engine already on the aircraft, if the the developer adds in a new engine variant then BSS will usually add a new sound pack for that engine into the package or create a new one, but the engine has to come with the aircraft from the developer. SD

Behind the Screen : January 2017 Well, rested and a head full of ideas, you are ready to take on another year of X-Plane madness and an exciting one at that with X-Plane11 now becoming uber reality… well once all the bugs are finally worked out. But just days into 2017 and most of your enthusiasm has already been burnt and your are rolling your eyes around your head in pain and despair and by the end of the month you can’t believe how hard a month could have been and all that new energy is now already long exhausted. It wasn’t a bad month per se. In fact it was totally contradictory to the statement above, but it was certainly trialing and energy busting… ... so welcome to 2017. I hit the boards and came back to the computer days early with the release of beti-x’s sublime Bella Coola scenery in Canada. It was just to good a scenery to not tell you about it, my feeling is that the best scenery of the year gong has already gone and in the very start of 2017 at that right now and not at the end of it, it is so brilliantly good and at that price a real bargain as well. But my best intentions was that I wanted to start out with X-Plane11 with a totally new and clear slate. With X-Plane10 it had to a point became very unwieldy and totally messy system and that was not without trying to keep some sort of organisation about the whole package. But just too much over the years had been just thrown into the “Custom Scenery” folder and there was plugins galore and a read of my log.txt then you would have banished me to a place just south of the North Pole for complete years of isolation on being able to do any messing up of anything ever again. So X-Plane11 was to become a clean sheet, a new start and a lighter log.txt of beautiful efficiency and professionalism… well that is the general idea and to a point I have already kept to that mantra and to the time of refining my main X-Plane organisation layouts (meaning folders) to the best and clearest definition of a purest of systematic structures… in other words “keeping it all very simple”. X-Plane11 in the folders already looks lovely and organised but how long will it all last, for not for very long is my guess but I will try harder this time as the need for my own efficiency and the loss of time tracing bugs. The updates came quickly and already three weeks in and we at beta 8, and it is all looking quite remarkable. I waited patiently until the New Year before starting to configure and use the new application because there was no point in doing that earlier, and that was a wise thing to do. You do want to look around your new home and settle in but reviews are required and X-Plane10 was the work horse still to get the correct results, but once the later beta’s kicked in I was drawn ever closer to the newer sexier way of flying. xEnviro I noted at the end of 2016 that 2017 was going to a really different look and change for X-Plane, and yes certainly the new X-Plane11 application delivers that look and you feel that in spades but it was a fate situation that at the same time that X-Plane11 came newborn into our world another seismic shift happened as well with the release of a new environmental engine in xEnviro. Let me be clear in that I have never been a great fan of addon environmental aids. I like the default system to be as basic as Austin and Ben’s newborn code. And when running xEnviro for the first time I was not completely taken with it either and almost disregarded it as another maybe also ran and a big cough at that price. But something this time just made me give it a few more tries and then you get the spine tingling feeling that this was going to be something beyond really special and in our X-Plane world it would be life changing. First let us be completely evident on somethings about xEnviro. It is in a way a backward step, in that the system is 2d and not 3d (there are 3d objects in there, but not the main cloud formations). It is still buggy as it caused a lot of stress over the last month, and restrictive in ways when you create reviews with only the current local weather available. It crashed a lot early on as well with JARDesign plugins causing havoc (I updated the wrong ones or simply put the same unadjusted ones straight back in again). It crashes badly if your internet is not connected or if xEnviro goes off line (I live in Australia so update midnight time in Europe is midday working time for me), and this last one brings up the question of what if xEnviro does go off line or they simply close down, we would need a backup just in case or even a connection to the current X-Plane weather data to keep it running. You also have to set the settings panel to work for you and not against you, winds need to be adjusted and so does the cloud darkness and a lot more twiddling. But the advantages with running xEnviro and the effect it has on X-Plane and when certainly paired with X-Plane11 is simply remarkable. Personally I think Laminar Research should buy the lot and make it the standard weather engine in X-Plane and simply be done with it. And I really feel for the Mac users that can’t access it’s charms yet, I hope that situation changes soon. Once used xEnviro; it is very, very hard to go back to the basic X-Plane default clouds and weather engine even with the X-Plane11 misty soft focus look. It all feels bland and basic after the wonderful formations you have now adjusted used to, and in a bonus it turns X-Plane10 into soft focus X-Plane11 and X-Plane11 with that soft focus already in there is just another world again. Then there is the biggest salvation… framerate as the plugin is completely separate from the X-Plane engine and there is no effect on framerate, okay a little in high-density periods but nothing that crucifies and fries your GPU until it begs for mercy like the current default cloud system does. Although the so called “mist” look of X-Plane11 made us divide into two camps, it soon became very apparent it was a very realistic look, and this effect combined with X-Enviro really lifts the look and feel to a whole new level of involvement and realism and that is the aim of the game. So yes within a very short time our X-Plane view of the world has changed quite significantly, xEnviro brings real world weather to your flying and you are also expected to to up your game in matching real weather situation, either with bad crosswind runway approaches/departures, fog (fog is really good) and changing enroute weather patterns. Because the weather is this close to real you do need another feature built in to the plugin to give you weather details for departure and arrivals. You are a bit blind of the weather conditions and can be caught out as you don’t know what those conditions are until you are faced with them. Winter Textures But for atmospheric flying and views then January was simply overwhelming in it’s delivery. I added in with XP10 my winter textures as well and that just added in more to the ride. Winter textures are great but there is a hole in a few sceneries that need fixing. In most payware sceneries the ground ortho textures are part of the scenery, so with Winter Textures activated you get a green patch in the middle of the whiteness. I do wish more scenery developers would provide winter textures with the scenery as an option, but they don’t so you find a fix. I created a batch action in photoshop to process the hundreds of texture files, you have to convert to png from dds, to use it in photoshop, but can’t convert it back again to dds. You can with Laminar’s Xgrinder tool, but you can’t automate it to cover the hundreds of files but only with a one on one process which takes too long (even the batch auto takes 20 minutes) but the results are worth it. Putting the adjusted winter files up on the X-Plane.Org is also a no go as it contravenes the developers copyright. I started this process last year, but this year reorganised the file structure and in the way the MOD (JSGME) tool does the replacement work of the files, and fine tuned the process to create the winter style files efficiently. It works very well but it is restricted to only the ground textures and not the buildings, but it looks and works very well. Another slight with Winter Textures is that the ground textures for the default autogen is still in full spring bloom, so you get patterns of green in the background white. In time of course X-Plane will intergrate the seasons better into the simulator with X-Plane11, but the developers will still have to provide the extra winter textures to make it work. When done like with beti-x’s remarkable Bella Coola which has replacement textures it is a winter wonderland spectacular. So it works when done well. X-Plane11 But back to X-Plane11… Like I mentioned my adoption of X-Plane11 was rather slow and you would think doing what I do that I would be the very first one in there to pull it apart. But the world today is a very different place than in my youth as with software the first out version is never completed, I rarely now buy any new Apple iPhone on release but a year behind as then it is all sorted and fine tuned and that most certainly is the case with X-Plane except with sceneries, and that is absolutely certainly the case with X-Plane11. This is highlighted even more because getting in first would be giving out the wrong information and the least everyone needs right now is well the latest buzzword in “Fake News”. But some impressions are worth noting. First X-Plane11 is good, and to the point of being very good. You are seeing a sort of professionalism now coming into the simulator. X-Plane was always early on a clubhouse enthusiastic experimental sort of occupation and the idea that anyone can come and build and then fly their own aircraft. And certainly don’t get me wrong as that is still the foundation and heart of the simulator as it’s name reflects that vision. But this aspect can also create a problem in that these clubby people don’t really like things to change and although they highly welcome new people you still have to conform to their old fashioned out of date ideas. Tradition is to be respected but mostly in any area of life or business is that if you have that out of date mentality you will wither and die. As a human race we hate change, we like things the way they are “thank you, very much”, and I am one of the worst one for that. But we live in a world of change and if not our world will die or in this case the one thing we love the most is in our own simulator. Could you really live with Flight Simulator or an X-Plane that stopped evolving now ten years ago, yes the fringes of FS are still very vibrant but the core is static and very, very old. Many users see X-Plane11 as the dumb down of the simulator. A flashy intro with wizz-bang graphics to select our aircraft and sceneries, and the real horror of taking away our detailed settings that kept us twiddlers happy and contented for hours. But use the new simulator and those early disquiets quickly disappear. In reality the old x-plane set up panel was a mess or just plain pre-millennium basic. In X-Plane11 you really now have a lot of choices and the quick drill down for more of the more detailed choices in the interface to quickly and speedily do the set up of what you want. The really annoying thing with the older version was that you mostly had to start the simulator to make the changes and then reset everything for what you actually wanted, were as the X-Plane11 version is a one stop shop, go then fly. There is no doubt a lot of time, money and research into how to make the very best interface for X-Plane has been done by Laminar Research and beyond those flashy graphics it is a solid system. My horror like most to the dumbing down of the graphics page menus was to simply want it all back. But again use it. My twiddling was usually to the negative and not to the positive in most cases, in other words my efficiency went backwards and not to the better with my constant to and throwing of the settings, and in most cases I kept a preference copy to get me back to the default point I should not of changed in the first place. But the totally overall point of both areas changed above is the sheer change in the speed of not only the loading and starting of X-Plane, but the efficiency of how it runs. As Ben Supnic notes, just to have one setting of the very inconsequential settings like traffic and trees is that they can be really be made to be more focused and aligned for ultimate processing and in other words better processing with your computer and that results in a far better framerate. Speed is the key here and not the dumbing down of the simulator. Speed to start up and select what you want and to get you flying more quickly and the efficiency of the simulator working for you and not fighting you is what X-Plane11 is all about. See you all next month Stephen Dutton 1st January 2017 Copyright©2017: X-Plane Reviews

News! - Aircraft Updated to X-plane11 : Pilatus PC-24 & PC12 by Michael Sgier Both the Pilatus PC-24 Jet and PC-12 Turboprop by Michael Sgier are now both flyable in X-Plane11. However the PC-12 that has been updated is not yet available at the X-Plane.OrgStore. Flyable is the word here as X-Plane11 is still not final but in the beta process and so the final release details are still in limbo, but developers are updating to the new format to at least allow you to use the aircraft in the new XP11 application. PC-24 Notes provided on the PC-24 are: - Executive and cargo cabin - Fully functional panel, overhead, central with full lighting etc. - Mostly 4k HD texture mapping - 3D cockpit with animated Co-, Pilot, pop-Up instruments, control stick etc. - Scroll wheel support as of X-Plane 10.5. - 3 liveries and a paintkit - Plugin ( un-, loads together with the plane ) for Moving Map with terrain, 3D Sound, Rain-, Ice-, Snow simulation, settings, animations, disables 2D mode view etc. - Some documentation, a PILOT IN COMMAND flight tutorial from the PC-12 is included as well. PC-12 Notes provided on the PC-12 are: - 3 accurate cockpits. NG and Classic instruments. (The classic is close to 100% system depth) - Fully functional overhead panel, central with full lighting, reverse etc. - Mostly 4k HD texture mapping - Family of 3: Executive, Cargo and Clinic versions ( Long, short and current winglets ). - The plane has been fully trimmed and adjusted with the original POH. - Different outside and inside views like for ex. with a copilot or only with a pilot. - 3D interior with animated Co-, Pilot, instruments and doors. Pop-Up instruments and control stick. Scroll wheel support. - Compartment with passengers for the Executive- as well as Outpatient clinic and Cargo version. - 9 liveries: University of Utah, HB-FOU, N724SH, SN600 ( The 500st ), Royal Flying Doctor Service etc. More can be found online - Plugin ( un-, loads together with the plane ) for Moving Map with terrain, 3D Sound, Rain-, Ice-, Snow simulation, settings, animations, disables 2D mode view etc. Aside lots of documentation, a PILOT IN COMMAND flight tutorial is included as well. Both aircraft are now available on the X-Plane.OrgStore, and a full update to X-Plane11 will be announced after X-Plane11 goes final. _____________________________________________________________________________________ The PC-24 and PC12 by MSgier for X-Plane11 are both now available from the X-Plane.Org Store here : PC-24 : Price is US$24.95 - Pilatus PC-24 Requirements: X-Plane 10 fully updated or X-Plane 11+ Windows, mac or Linux - 64Bit Operating System 1GB+ VRAM Video Card PC-12 : Price is US$26.95 - Pilatus PC-12 Requirements: X-Plane 10 fully updated (Any edition) running in 64bit mode 64bit only: Linux (Ubuntu compatible), Windows, OSX 10.8 and later 512Mb dedicated VRAM or higher All images and details are provided courtesy of MSgier _____________________________________________________________________________________ Stephen Dutton 1st February 2017 Copyright©2017: X-Plane Reviews