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Stephen got a reaction from Anthony96 in Aircraft Update : ToLiSS A319 v 1.0.2
Aircraft Update : ToLiSS A319 v 1.0.2
After the initial direct after release update in v1.0.1, this second update in v1.0.2 is now also available. The earlier v1.0.1 release was the expected tidying up of bugs and to cover a few things that were missed in the release version, but the added feature to key command to open up the ISCS (Interactive Simulation Control System) window was a nice touch and the fix to control the native sound volumes between switching into the A319 and then switching out to another aircraft was also most welcome as well.
In version v1.0.2 there is now even a few new features creeping in. First off you can now set the regular brake pressure (default is 50%). So the point is here is you like the FlightFactor A320 Ultimate brake feel which is set very (very) low, which at first I really hated it, but then got very used to the feel very quickly... you can now have that same sort of feel on the ToLiSS A319. A note is that the brake feel adjustment on the ISCS can only be done once the aircraft is running on the Settings/Actions page in the Preferences section.
In the release version the ISCS menu was large and was also fixed solid in the centre of your screen. Now you can move it around the screen via the title bar which helps a lot, but the menu is still quite large and still the menu has no scaling, but the option to move the ISCS while setting up the MCDUs (FMS) is very welcome indeed.
The axis of the aircraft to the airbridge has been adjusted and the aircraft will start with the airbridge now ready and attached...
... but the alignment is still not quite right as the airbridge still sits a little too high compared to the height of the door (arrowed)?
The flap lever now notches with flap position selection, small detail but it makes it more realistic.
ILS has had attention with the fixed behaviour of the LS button (I don't remember anything wrong with it before?), and the issue of ILS turning by 180 degrees half-way through the runway has also been fixed.
Other bugs addressed in this update includes the important mapping between pedestal pitch trim indicator wheel and actual pitch trim position which was off by 0.2deg in some areas and the issue with toggling the descent profile.
The AP (AutoPilot) now disconnects on pedal deflection as it did on sidestick deflection earlier and the time out on the Master Caution/Warning for AP and ATHR instinctive disconnect has been adjusted. There has also been a fix for FCU behaviour when you manually switching between SPD and Mach mode as sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn't and the XP11 specific brake behaviour has had attention as well, but all XP11 behaviours are all very transient at the moment in X-Plane so expect another adjustment with another X-Plane version later in the year.
Summary
The ToLiSS319 is coming along very nicely thank you with this already second update since release. A few new features are being implimented with the
ISCS (Interactive Simulation Control System) window now keyable and movable around the screen. The regular brake adjustment is an interesting one, it allows you to set the A319 like the A320 Ultimate braking action and this feature could spread out more to other high grade airliners. And a lot of the bugs and other issues have also had a lot of attention.
More and more quality liveries are also coming available for the A319 like this excellent quality Cobalt Air (above) by ComSimPilot (his Aegean Airlines is very good as well) and these more higher quality liveries are making the A319 bus even better again.
The ToLISS319 is an instant classic and its high sales since its release in X-Plane shows it is already a very popular aircraft, and rightly so as this is one of the best handling airbuses in X-Plane. And with these constant and clever updates coming along at a mighty click and speed then this aircraft is well worth your investment. Highly recommended!
X-PlaneReviews full release review on the ToLiSS A319 is available here: Aircraft Review : ToLiSS319 (A319-122) by ToLiSS
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Yes! the ToLiSS319 (A319-122) by ToLiSS is available from the X-Plane.Org Store here :
ToLiss A319
Price is US$69.00
Features Include:
Detailed FMGS: Support of SID/STAR, including all leg types (Arc, course or heading to intercept, Radius to Fix, Holdings, etc.) Temporary and alternate flight plans Full VNAV guidance with TOC, TOD, Deceleration point, speed limits, fuel prediction, etc. Altitude and speed constraints as the real aircraft deals with them Ability to change the selected STAR while already in the STAR Support for go-arounds and diversions Step altitudes Airway support 2 independent MCDUs and autopilots Top-notch aircraft systems: ToLiss uses the QPAC Fly-by-wire and autopilot module Brake temperature model based on the detailled physics of heat transfer between the individual brake components Hydraulics model in which the pressure is dependent on usage. This is most notable when dropping to RAT mode Detailled model of each ADIRU including alignment, small pressure sensor differences between the units, switching of sources for PFDs Custom air conditioning model supporting high altitude operations at airports like Cusco in Peru or La Paz in Bolivia without spurious warnings Flight warning system with ECAM actions supporting numerous system failure scenarios, e.g. engine failures, generator failures, hydraulic failures. Eye- and ear-candy: Detailled 3D cockpit 3d exterior model with CFM and IAE engine Choice between classic wingtip fences or modern sharklets (controlled via livery names) Custom sounds for all systems, engine sounds, APU etc. based about 80 custom samples Useability features: Situation loading and saving. It is possible to save the flight at any point in time and resume it another day. This can also be used, e.g., to save the position just before approach and practice just the approach many times. Autosaving allows recovering where you left off, should the X-Plane session end unexpectedly. Jumping waypoint-to-waypoint through the cruise phase: Shorten your flight to focus on the more interesting parts as you like.
Requirements X-Plane 11 (or X-Plane 10) Windows (64bit) , Mac (OSX 10.11 and up) or Linux (tested on Ubuntu 14.10) 2Gb VRAM Minimum - 4Gb+ VRAM Recommended Installation Download of the ToLiSS319 is 729mb and it is installed in your Airliner Folder as a 1.19Gb folder. If you have already purchased the ToLiSS A319 from the X-Plane.OrgStore then just go to your account and download the new v1.0.2 version. The ToLiSS319 also comes with the X-Updater application that can also update the aircraft without doing the complete download, and that App is found in your main root ToLiSS319 aircraft folder. ______________________________________________________________________
Update Review by Stephen Dutton 29th March 2018 Copyright©2018: X-PlaneReviews (Disclaimer. All images and text in this review are the work and property of X-PlaneReviews, no sharing or copy of the content is allowed without consent from the author as per copyright conditions) Review System Specifications:
Computer System: Windows - Intel Core i7 6700K CPU 4.00GHz / 64bit - 16 Gb single 1067 Mhz DDR4 2133 - ASUS GeForce GTX 1080 8Gb - Samsung Evo 512gb SSD
Software: - Windows 10 - X-Plane 11.10
Addons: Saitek x52 Pro system Joystick and Throttle : Sound - Bose Soundlink Mini
Plugins: Environment Engine by xEnviro US$69.90 : XPRealistic Pro v1.0.9 effects US$19.95 : WorldTraffic 3.0 Plugin - US$29.95
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Changelog covers both versions v1.0.1 and v1.0.2
v1.0.1 Features:
- Modified runway acceptance criteria from 1500m length to 1200m length to accomodate SBRJ - Added a command to open ISCS window: toliss_airbus/iscs_open - Popups can now be scaled to sizes greater than 500x500 pixels, if the horizontal screen resolution is > 1920px. Bug fixes: - Added filters on flap/slat lever and speed brake lever to prevent spikes from joystick axes to affect the configuration - Correct joystick axis decoding bug - Wrongly displayed speed trend on scaled popup PFD fixed. - Fixed the "missing SID transitions" bug. Issue occurred whenever there were more TRANS than SIDs. - Sound volumes reset properly when changing airplanes or quitting xplane. - Some FMGS bug fixes, e.g. lack of procedures after flight plan load. v1.0.2 Features:
- Allows transparent runways (custom scenery), ice/snow runways (arctic/antarctic operations), or dry lakebed (KEDW) as valid runways - Modified frequency management to allow use of ATC2Pilot (Note: RMP1 must be set to VHF1 and RMP2 must be set to VHF2) - Modified regular brake force such that it can be adjusted via the ISCS now. - Aircraft is now autogate compatible and starts with the jet bridge attached when in the right location with engines off. - ISCS is now moveable by dragging in the title bar of the ISCS Bug fixes:
- Made the flap lever snap into detents. - Reduced mouse handler lag on some computers - Fixed activation issue for some users - Fixed issue with FMGS crashing when importing FMS files that include active and alternate flight plan. - Fixed a crash that occurred when loading a situation file with temporary flight plans active. - Removed differential braking from nose tiller. - Fixed behaviour of the LS button - Fixed the issue of ILS turning by 180 degrees half-way through the runway. - Speed constraints are now considered in GA legs - Fixed behaviour of the ALT knob when switching between 100ft and 1000ft steps. (No retaining the 100ft value) - Fixed mapping between pedestal pitch trim indicator wheel and actual pitch trim position (was off by 0.2deg in some areas) - Fixed an issue with toggling descent profile - AP now disconnects on pedal deflection also (did on sidestick deflection previously) - Fixed FCU behaviour when manually switching between SPD and Mach mode - XP11 specific brake behaviour fix.
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Stephen got a reaction from Anthony96 in Aircraft Update : Boeing 757 Professional v2.1.13 by FlightFactor/VMax
Aircraft Update : Boeing 757 Professional v2.1.13 by FlightFactor/VMax
X-Plane is a movement, always morphing, changing and always moving forward. We wouldn't want that aspect any other way, as it means that the simulator grows, becomes better and more involving. In fact if you sit back and think it though the changes in and around the X-Plane simulator over the last, say... three years have been phenomenal, and it feels sometimes even an eon ago, but you have to even go a long way further back to November 2013 for time the Boeing 757 from FlightFactor/VMax first emerged, yes five years ago, that feels now like the Jurassic period in X-Plane terms, okay if only stone/bronze age.
In sales terms it is one of the biggest sellers of payware aircraft in X-Plane and it lead the simulator for the very best of in depth quality and you would even note the aircraft as the first "Study" aircraft as well with its in depth systems and flying capabilities, but that is still a big five years ago since it's first release...
So you think that with all the extreme changes in the X-Plane simulator the aircraft or the design would now be hopelessly out of date, but in reality the aircraft is very far from that point, as there has not only been a lot of updates through the years including the major version two release in 2016. Added also into the this Boeing 757 package is the "Extended" option of not only the original -200 version but also the added choice of a - 300 version and a -200SF Freighter and the option of two engine choices of the RR RB211-535E4 and the Pratt & Whitney PW2037.
The introduction of X-Plane11 was very significant for FlightFactor's B757/B767 series aircraft. On the one hand the PBR (Physically Based Rendering) effects gave them a new lease of life in a dynamic sense, bringing them alive, and giving them more realism. But the X-Plane11 more detailed flight and engine dynamics didn't translate as good, patches came to keep the B757/B767 birds flying, but with their complex system algorithms it was not an easy fix, especially more so as Laminar Research changed their refinements as often as their minds. And so the updates keep coming, but that is good thing and not a negative, refinement is written all over this aircraft and here we cover not one but two updates as they are only a few months apart with v2.1.11 and v2.1.13
Boeing 757 Professional v2.1.13
The updates cover again mostly system fixes, but as the v2.1.10 update was the most significant one that addressed most of the X-Plane11 refinements, I still found that aircraft still quite buggy in the way it flew. The X-Plane11 versions of the "Extended" options with the -300 and 200SF were now also X-Plane11 rated was a huge addition and bonus to the B757 Series. Here I am going to concentrate on the basic aircraft the B757-200.
With a few nips and tucks over the years the B757 still looks as good as the day it was released. But the dynamic lighting really brings the aircraft to life, like with the B767 the optional blended winglets from Aviation Partners Incorporated that look very good on this aircraft, but also extended its service life.
The tall 757 stance when standing on its gear is as famous as its long tube body gave the aircraft some interesting nicknames like... Stick Insect, AtariFerrari, Slippery Snake, Flying Pencil and Long Tall Sally.
But the B757 is a very but highly successful but niche aircraft and that has made it very hard to replace in the commercial world and that is why so many are still flying in what is essentially an early 80's aircraft. The new Airbus A321 LR neo is now a possible replacement, but Boeing are wanting their new design in the B797 to cover the B757 requirements as well.
The B757-300 version is as spectacular.
The aircraft shown here has the optional Roll Royce RB211-535E4 engines.
You can check your current FF B757 version by the version number on the top right of the pop-up iPad menu system.
Update 2.1.12 was not a large amount of changes and mostly small issue fixes, the sound volume was jumping to zero and the engines behaved a bit strange on an engine change. The boarding door co-ordinates were wrong but fixed for the -300 version, but the -200 version was missed but it is now done in v2.1.13...
Who doesn't love BetterPushBack... The BetterPushBack Truck is now adjusted to work well with the FF B757, as before it had rocking issues?
The B757 does already come with a really good pushback truck that is controlled by your joystick, but who could do without that "Have a great Day!" from the betterpushback driver.
Freighter SF version is also very good, and there is a GHD (Ground Handling) .set available for the aircraft (for the -200 and -300 versions as well). Note there is a bug if you use the GHD in that it conflicts with the FF A757 GPU and power to the aircraft, to get around the issue you have to use the APU.
Boeing 757 cockpit still delivers in quality and detail...
But the B757 and the B767 have a tendency to switch between light and dark lighting conditions, sometimes perfect, but then you get a snap and the cockpit (or panel) feels darker and then it snaps back to normal again, it doesn't help in that the cockpit is also quite a dark design. There has been few tries by FlightFactor to rein in this lighting condition in changes in both 2.0.25 and 2.1.10 but the PBR just highlights it more.
Over the years there has been a lot of work done on the B757/B767 FMS. It is highly detailed and was for years one of the best in flight management systems and like noted almost "Study" deep in what you can set up and input into the aircraft's systems.
The arrival this year of FlightFactor's A320 Ultimate and the ToLiSS319 has raised the bar in this flight management area, but this system is still one of the best to use and programme, all areas are covered with SID/STAR DEP and ARR, fix and airway inputs, ECON (Economy) CLB, CRZ and DES settings, DIR-INTC (Direct-To) and the PROG (Progress) has two pages of information with Wind and Fuel info on page 2. The aircraft's weather and terrain radar is also still one of the best in X-Plane.
Notable is the option of having both white and red instruments. There is a choice between mixed (white and red) or full in that certain digital instruments are red on the main instrument panel and on the OHP (OverHead Panel). The red looks very nice at night.
In v2.1.13 few cockpit mis-spellings have also been rectified and corrected, with the ELC and EEC buttons now on (useable) if the fuel pumps (switches) are off.
The original X-Plane11 throttle hunting issue has been mostly tuned out (the B767 was the worst), the throttles still intermittently moves and reduce power, then increases the power again for no absolute reason, but it is not even close as the constant (annoying) movement you had before... climbing to altitude was the worse.
Cabin Fitout
You can see the changes to the FlightFactor B757 over the years by the different cabins installed in the aircraft... Starting with the 2013 version. This original version had a very Russian feel to the design, even down to the odd "Gazprom" logos?
Thankfully another cabin change came with the v2 upgrade... and the cabin went more modern and an early 2000's in design.
But very quickly (twelve months) we already have another latest B757 cabin version that is now bang up to date... with a very smart looking business class...
.... and an even better designed main economy class.
It is now all very modern in the back cabin as the economy seats are exceptional in design and they come with these lovely seating textures. Even the crew stations are very different from the past FlightFactor layouts (finally the cheap bottles of wine have gone) and all also are very modern and efficient looking. Same goes for the cabin wall panels, they are now separate styled panels with those nasty openings (gaps) from around the window frames are now also gone. Cabin lighting (adjustable) was good before, but now excellent with great down lighting.
Look back to the original earlier cabins and you can see the total transformation of the same aircraft, the -300 version also has had the same changes done to the cabin layouts, and how long is it before the Boeing 767 get the same fitout makeover as well?
The above cabin changes are far more significant than they appear, as they are very unFlightFactor in design and appearance, this is most likely the new direction of internal design, including cockpit textures from the developers and a move away from the original more Slavic feel to a more western approach, my guess is that in time all the FlightFactor fleet in the B777, B767 and even their A350 will adopt these more western layouts and all to the better and the proof is right here in this cabin, and it is amazing how changes like this can bring an older design to a much more up to date feel and experience.
Virtual Reality
FlightFactor has also noted that the Boeing 757 will soon be available for VR (Virtual Reality), and FF note "We have developed our unique cockpit interaction in VR just like we did with the 3d cockpit, and if I may say so, it is very intuitive."
That announcement sounds exciting, but my comment would be what would VR be like in using the current B757 cockpit textures, as they are quite dark in design and the noted points in that (both) cockpits of the B757/B767 have that tendency to switch under X-Plane11 from light to dark lighting conditions? My gut feeling is that with a VR headset on then it would highlight that aspect, and to the dark, more than the light?
Summary
The motto of this review tale is that the reality is the FlightFactor/Vmax Boeing 757 Series is now five years old. But the truth is that with constant and clever updates, it could have been released only late last year. I am not going to hide the fact that in a very few areas it does show its original age, but there is no doubt that in it's current form that the aircraft will certainly stay there at the top of the list as one of the best simulations in X-Plane and that is with the newer Airbuses also now available.
The trip down memory lane of the three different cabin layouts describes the whole situation very clearly, as the earlier cabin version was to say the least quite average (but good for the time), as the curent latest cabin layout is now quite sensational and like the real aircraft will keep it in service well past its used by date.
If you opt for the recommended extended version with not only the -200 version, but with the very long -300 and that nice freighter version as well, then you are getting overall a very nice aircraft package and as the B757 has been around for a fair then all the niceties like the GHD (Ground Handling) and BetterPushBack plugins all work very well as well.
In flying, then most of the X-Plane11 issues have been dealt with or refined, but updates are also constant to cover any other changes that Laminar Research might throw our way. I will admit the B757 requires a bit of skill and dedication to fly really well, you have to go to the aircraft, and not that the aircraft comes to you, but when both skills and flying ability merge then it is very good and deep simulation of this aircraft.... certainly highly recommended.
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Yes! the Boeing 757-200ER Professional & Extended versions by VMAX and FlightFactor Aero is NOW! Available from the X-Plane.Org Store here :
Boeing 757-200ER v2 Professional
Price is US$64.95
Boeing 757-200ER v2 Professional Extended
Price is US$84.95
Boeing 757-200ER v2 Professional Extended Upgrade
Price is US$64.95 + US$20
You must already have purchased and own the current Boeing 757-200 v2 version for any updates to the aircraft
Requirements
X-Plane 11.05 or latter (also X-Plane 10 compatible) Windows 7+, Mac OS 10.10+ or Linux 14.04+ LTS or compatible. running in 64bit mode 1Gb VRAM Video Card Minimum. 2Gb+ VRAM Recommended. 3Gb+ VRAM Preferred. Current Version : 2.1.13 Free auto-updates for the entire XP11 lifecycle
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Update Review by Stephen Dutton 18th April 2018 Copyright©2018: X-PlaneReviews (Disclaimer. All images and text in this review are the work and property of X-PlaneReviews, no sharing or copy of the content is allowed without consent from the author as per copyright conditions) Review System Specifications:
Computer System: Windows - Intel Core i7 6700K CPU 4.00GHz / 64bit - 16 Gb single 1067 Mhz DDR4 2133 - ASUS GeForce GTX 1080 8Gb - Samsung Evo 512gb SSD
Software: - Windows 10 - X-Plane 11.20
Addons: Saitek x56 Rhino Pro system Joystick and Throttle : Sound - Bose Soundlink Mini
Plugins: Environment Engine by xEnviro v1.09 US$69.90 : XPRealistic Pro v1.0.9 effects US$19.95 : WorldTraffic 3.0 Plugin - US$29.95 : BetterPushBack - Free : : JARDesign Ground Handling Deluxe plugin
Scenery or Aircraft
- KABQ - Albuquerque International Sunport by ShortFinal Design (X-Plane.OrgStore) US$19.95 (review of KABQ is here : Scenery Review : KABQ - Albuquerque International Sunport by ShortFinal Design
Changelog:
2.1.13
- boarding door fix
- exhaust gas colour fix
- fixed a small bug with cargo version weight
- fixed the 753 beacon
- fixed a bug with disappearing ELC and EEC buttons on fuel pump off
- trimmer mouse wheel control fix
- power back is now possible again
- made the start sound quieter - to match the engine idle
- EGT limiter on high OAT GA fixed
- fixed x-plane hanging when you use the fix page during your fpl has DISCOs
- corrected brakes for xp11.10
- improved flch ap mode logic and reengaging at logic
- made some things for better integration with the VoiceCommander profiles by sloboda.
2.1.11
- fixed the issue with volume jumping to zero
- fixed an issue with engine controller behaving incorrectly after an engine change
- fixed an issue with BetterPushback rocking back and forth
- fixed an issue with inversed stab animation
- fixed the 300 door location (extended only)
- add 300 and cargo to the livery packs
- fixed misspelling in the cockpit
- added higher realism level requirement for hung start
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Stephen got a reaction from edms17 in Plugin Review : WebFMC Pro by Green Arc Studios
Plugin Review : WebFMC Pro by Green Arc Studios
One of the great features on FlightFactor aircraft is the ability to use the aircraft's FMC (Flight Management Computer) on an external screen via a web browser. In my case with my iPad, in that shows up the FMC panel on the iPad display and you could then easily input in all the performance and navigation data.
This is available for the FlightFactor Boeing 757/767/777 and the A320U. It is an exceptional system and one that I use all the time and it looks good when flying as well as a visual readout of the FMC in flight. So why isn't this visual tool available for the other X-Plane aircraft? Well it wasn't until now.
WebFMC by Green Arc Studios
Green Arc Studios has taken the same idea and set up a plugin so it can be used on other X-Plane aircraft and it comes currently in two versions. The first version is a free plugin that you can use with the Zibo Boeing 737-800 Mod and the associated 737-900ER Ultimate. That version is available here on the X-Plane.Org:
WebFMC 1.0.2
The second version is WebFMC Pro and this plugin is a payware version and currently works with a selection of aircraft including the:
● 737-300 by IXEG
● A319 by ToLiss
● A320 by Jar Design
● 737-800 Zibo Mod
● 737-900ER Ultimate
Certainly the list will quickly grow and as the JarDesign A320 is on the list then the JarDesign A330 shouldn't be far behind and many others should be also available soon. Noted and as this list can change at any notice, then here are the aircraft planned for future updates and they include: EADT x737, X-Crafts E-Jets, SSG E-Jets, SSG 748, JD330, FF A320 Ultimate and A350, FF Boeing 757, 767, 777, JRollon CRJ-200, Rotate MD-80 and hopefully their coming DC11 (we’re are touch with Rotate on this one).
Installing WebFMC
It is easy to install, just download the plugin and unzip it into the X-Plane Resources/Plugin's folder. A note on those who think that the free version will work with the other aircraft is just wishful thinking... the Pro version looks the same but it is completely different internally.
For the Pro version to work you also have to install a authorisation key (arrow right) in the WebFMC folder that is provided when you purchase the plugin, this activation is noted when you first startup the plugin in the web browser.
Select and load the aircraft you are flying and select a browser on your choice of another computer or device (iPad, Tablet). The browser recommended is Chrome, but I found WebFMC still worked fine on Safari and Firefox via your WiFi.
The hard part is setting up and sending the data to the device and its browser. The required browser address is http://localhost:9090 or http://10.0.0.2:9090 where as "localhost" is your computer (the one running X-Plane). This is found on the Network menu on the middle left of your screen under This Machine's IP Addresses (arrowed). There are several other options to connect up WebFMC say via a network that are covered extensively in the manual. Computer firewalls can also be an issue, but If set up correctly then the WebFMC should instantly appear in the browser window.
The presentation on the iPad is excellent, although it does depend on the quality of the original FMC layout and fonts, but otherwise what you get in the aircraft is what is shown on the device. It is a great idea to save the address page as a "Home Screen Button" (above right) for an easy startup, and that setting works instantly. So any portable device in say a Samsung Tablet or Windows Surface that can run a browser is ideal.
On my Mac the WebFMC looks great as well
The obvious question then is why do I need a floating window FMC on my computer when I already have the pop-up FMC in X-Plane? There are several reasons. One is you don't clutter up your X-Plane cockpit space with the popup FMC but you will still have access to it and that makes it very useful on monitoring the aircraft's progress, Second is that you get direct keyboard access that will speed up the data entry enormously, like here (below right) with transferring navigation data from SimBrief, all arrow keys and and Page Up/Down keys to CDU arrows and PrevPage/NextPage keys do work on your keyboard to save you input time.
I always found that on a lot of aircraft I have had to put my screen angle oddly to see both the navigation display (set on PLAN) and with the FMC panel in sight together, so here it can be more adjusted visually directly on the Navigation display to check the route data as the FMC is now on another screen. The FMC can also be scaled as per using the browser, but the size of the panel here (below left) is as small as you can go.
WebFMC works on the iPhone (Safari), but I found on the iPhone 7 - 375 x 559 px (mine below) it is a very, very tight squeeze and the keys can be really too small to use with your fingers but I was able to actually programme with it, otherwise you would need a pointer or something to input the data. It also tends to flip easily around the screen if you get it wrong and also zooms in close to an area in trying to help you by making it larger, so you are always resetting it back to the correct size. The iPhone Plus 414 x 628 px size screen or larger maybe far better, but mostly I wouldn't usually use my iPhone 7 as the input tool.
Currently there are three different types of panels to be seen, ToLiSS319 (left), Zibo B738 Mod (centre) and IXEG B733 (right)...
But any new aircraft added and the panel will instantly change to represent the same panel style as in the aircraft. These panel facias are all dirty, but there is the option to have a clean look as well.
Menu
The menu can be shown by pressing the upper right area on the facia...
There are six menu options that covers:
Automatically checks for updates Shows the latest update automatically on loading Button sounds Yes/No Dirty or Clean LCD Screen Dirty or Clean Buttons
Two panel screens note the current state of the plugin. One is when there is no connection to X-plane (below left), and the second is when you are changing the aircraft, reloading elements or that X-Plane is live but not in a running state (below right).
FlightFactor
One question you might ask about is why include FlightFactor aircraft when they already have the same FMC web linked set up? And that question is very good one. If you have an up to date device or iPad then the current B757/767/777 and A320U do work, but my iPad is an older series 3, and I can't update my browser apps or even load the chrome browser on to the device? Currently the B757/767/777 application does still work, but the newer A320 Ultimate doesn't (neither does the EFB) and my guess is that the B757/767/777 app version will change to the same in the future as well. So if I want access to the A320 Ultimate FMC then WebFMC would certainly be my current and only choice if it was available. Another point on in why not just go and update your old iPad, then that point is certainly in the future and I will do so (or will have to), but in my thinking is that a lot of the cockpit builders will probably use these older tablets or old IPad-Mini's in their home built cockpit setups on a cost basis, and for that setup then WebFMC would be the only plugin to use to get around the same older and out of date browser situation.
Summary
The problem with most of your essential tools is that you didn't think you needed it or would use it until you actually had it. I use the FlightFactor feature like this a lot for inputting in the Performance and Navigational Data, you just need it, but this plugin has far more versatility than the the Flightfactor FMC and that version was very good.
But having the FMC and being able to interact with it on another screen or even more than one for cockpit builders is a big bonus for simulation flyers. Time spent now inputting aircraft data can be very time consuming, and prodding buttons can be a slow process even if realistic, so the addition of a keyboard input then certainly speeds up the process, the visual aspect of having the progress page running while you are flying is also a great feature, I sometimes take my iPad somewhere else in the house if I have to leave my desk-bound set up and I can then still monitor the progress from afar (i.e. get back to the aircraft for when it is time to descend from altitude).
Yes any web based network can be tricky to set up? but all the bases have been covered here, from networks to firewalls which are all noted in the manual. WebFMC is very light and very responsive to inputs and the system has no drag or wait time from screen to screen and that is even on my old iPad 3 which is a slow device.
Ultimately WebFMC depends on how many FMC panels are incorporated into the plugin, certainly the more there is then the more versatile the plugin will be, but there is a definite feature advantage for any developer to advertise that their aircraft as "WebFMC" ready and make use of the tool for their product, it also helps in programming for difficult setups like with Rotate's MD88, so WebFMC would be a definite advantage in situations like that and working with older style browsers, plus there is the quick switch from aircraft to aircraft and it's custom FMC panel if you change aircraft in X-Plane, and from that aspect i works and works very cleanly as well.
So WebFMC, overall works and it is an excellent tool, try the free version, but the WebFMC Pro is really required if you have most of the major payware aircraft and above all else it will save you a lot of time when inputting data and is giving you more time to fly, and that alone can't be a bad thing... Highly Recommended.
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Yes! WebFMC Pro by Green Arc Studios is NOW available from the X-Plane.Org Store here :
WebFMC Pro
Price is US$19.99
Features:
Quick and easy access to the FMC Get easy access to the FMC: quickly edit the flightplan, monitor flight progress, set up your approach and do all the typical work of the pilot without having to move around in the cockpit, even if the plane doesn’t support FMC as a popup natively - on the same PC, or different monitor, tablet or phone - in fact you can use multiple displays at the same time! Make pilot tasks easy and comfortable Enjoy external views during cruise while monitoring flight progress on separate screen or take a quick look at your phone to verify calculated landing speed with just a glimpse of an eye during busy time on approach. Make flying complex SIDs / STARs easy as you can focus on the important flight parameters while having overview of the constraints all the time. Take your mobile to the kitchen as you cook a dinner during a long haul and never miss T/D again! Convenient to use Use physical keyboards on PC and Mac with extra keys such as Prev/Next page mapped to keyboard keys for easy access. WebFMC scales dynamically to fit any display or window size and can look as native app on mobiles by using browser's "Add to home screen" feature. Aircraft support WebFMC Pro supports growing number of 3rd party aircraft starting with ToLiss 319 JarDesign 320 IXEG 737-300 Zibo Mod 737-800 737-900 Ultimate Immersion Mimics real CDU with optional wear and smudge effects for better immersion. Uses CDU textures and keyboard layouts specific to the aircraft type in use - so it looks completely different in Boeings, Airbuses etc. Simple installation Just drop WebFMC into X-Plane plugins folder. No need to install any software on the devices, no hassle - all you need is a web browser. Requirements: Plugin The WebFMC plugin requires X-Plane 11 running on a 64-bit Windows 7 operating system or newer. The plugin doesn't require any extra CPU/memory on the system. Web Client The CDU can be displayed on any modern and up-to-date web browser with JavaScript support.
We recommend the latest versions of Google Chrome on PC or Android and Safari on iOS. No internet connection required, remote device needs to be on the same local network as X-Plane PC. Documentaion: Manual... (17 pages) WebFMC manual.pdf ______________________________________________________________________
Plugin Review by Stephen Dutton
19th May 2018
Copyright©2018 : X-Plane Reviews
(Disclaimer. All images and text in this review are the work and property of X-PlaneReviews, no sharing or copy of the content is allowed without consent from the author as per copyright conditions)
Review System Specifications:
Computer System: Windows - Intel Core i7 6700K CPU 4.00GHz / 64bit - 16 Gb single 1067 Mhz DDR4 2133 - ASUS GeForce GTX 1080 8Gb - Samsung Evo 512gb SSD
Software: - Windows 10 - X-Plane 11.20
Addons: Saitek x56 Rhino Pro system Joystick and Throttle : Sound - Bose Soundlink Mini
Plugins: Environment Engine by xEnviro v1.07 US$69.90 : XPRealistic Pro v1.0.9 effects US$19.95 : WorldTraffic 3.0 Plugin - US$29.95
Scenery or Aircraft
- Boeing 757 Pro Series- FlightFactor/VMAX (X-Plane.OrgStore) - US$64.95 - ToLiSS319 (A319) by ToLiSS (X-Plane.OrgStore) - US$69.00 - Airbus A320neo by JarDesign (Xplane-.OrgStore) - US$59.95 - Boeing 737-800X X-Plane default aircraft with ZIBO MOD installed - Free - Boeing 737-900ER Ultimate Project - Free
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Stephen got a reaction from rudeboy1988 in Scenery Review : LCLK - Laranca International, Cypress by JustSim
Scenery Review : LCLK - Laranca International, Cypress by JustSim
One of the great things about X-Plane is exploring, you can go to places that was never on your radar and then find something interesting there. The experience is highlighted more if you have good scenery to depict or simulate the real destination on arrival and that is why really good scenery is always great to invest in. I have noted that my X-Plane experiences are to create a network of going from one realistic airport to another realistic airport and any new scenery that I can add to that network and to be used within that network is valuable to me. Of course creating tight networks can also means not venturing or going outside your boundaries which in reality means flying mostly within the continental USA, the Australian Triangle and of course Europe.
But in the last few years a few quality sceneries have pushed out those boundaries so to speak. One was to UUEE - Moscow Sheremetyevo by Drzewiecki Design with the addon Moscow City also by DD and another was to UBBB Baku Heydar Aliyev Airport & City in Azerbaijan also by Drzewiecki Design, and both are very interesting destinations.
Cypress in reality wasn't really as a destination on my radar. But I found a really great A318 video on the Cobalt Air route between Zurich and Laranca (shown below) and I was smitten. So when JustSim released LCLK - Laranca International Cypress scenery I instantly wanted LCA to be part of my network, and what a great choice of airport that was.
Cypress as a country is caught in a divided situation with the invasion by Turkey on 20th July 1974, This forced the closure of Nicosia International Airport and Larnaca Airport was then hastily developed towards the end of 1974 and subsequently as a military installation. The site on which it was built (near the Larnaca Salt Lake) had been previously used as an airfield in the 1930s but this was a new facility by British forces. Larnaca International opened on 8th February 1975, with only limited infrastructure facilities and a prefabricated set of buildings comprising of separate halls for departures and arrivals.
The status of Cyprus as a major tourist destination means that air traffic has steadily risen to over 5 million passengers a year. This is double the capacity the airport as when it was first designed for. For this reason, a tender was put out in 1998 to develop the airport further and increase its capacity with a new terminal which was built some 500–700 m (1,600–2,300 ft) west of the old terminal with new aprons and jetways. Already completed elements of the expansion included a new control tower, fire station, runway extension, and additional administrative offices which are still there.
Larnaca Airport is situated on the south coast of Cypress, 4km (2.5 mi) southwest of Larnaca and 49.4km south of Nicosia.
JustSim
I personally I like JustSim sceneries. They are not the most extreme in detailing and every single item is covered sort of scenery. But you do get a highly detailed scenery at a great value cost factor and they do use the X-Plane features to their best advantages. So the point is you can cover the required airports and destinations and that allows you to have more quality scenery for less.
LCLK - Larnaca International Overview
You can immediately see that there are extensive ortho-photographic images used in this scenery and the area used is quite large and not just confined to the airport's boundaries. The joins to the native X-Plane textures are well hidden as well and all in all it blends in together quite well. The only significant visual point is the sea colour cutoff that is quite abrupt and shows you the boundary of the orthos, a smoother transition would have helped here. The orthos are also little flat and not high, high resolution, but they work fine in context.
JustSim are always very good at creating custom local buildings and then melting them directly into the native autogen and in that creating a seemless transition from the custom to the native areas. This is very evident here at Larnaca and very well done. You do have to run your object settings at the full mode, but in reality it doesn't matter as the autogen count is low here and your framerate is not overly affected. Yes the autogen housing is German but it still works fine.
Larnaca International Airport
Διεθνής Aερολιμένας Λάρνακας
Larnaka Uluslararası Havaalanı
(IATA: LCA, ICAO: LCLK)
04/22 2,994m (9,823ft) Asphalt
Elevation AMSL 3 m / 7 ft
LCLK comes with a single 04/22 Runway and the airport's facilities are situated all on the northwest side of the runway, central-northeast is the older terminal and far northeast is the cargo area... the newer terminal complex is situated to the far southwest.
Terminal
The central terminal area is excellent, the building construction is very well done and highly detailed, realism is the key here and it works very well. From the ground point of view it is very, very good with nice brush and grass to fill in the blank areas, It feels a bit like Aerosoft's KEF - Keflavik around areas of the terminal zone.
Glass is excellent with reflections, but it is the extreme detailing in static items that are a standout, with everything from bollards, cones to safety barriers and a huge amount of ground service equipment makes any arrival a realistic event. The airport has dynamic animated ground vehicles as well to add into the environment.
There is also the Visual Docking Guidance System (VDGS) that works with the stands around the terminal... but the guidance boards didn't work very well, I don't know if they are not set up correctly or just not working, so you have to guess and align the aircraft yourself to get the airbridge to connect.
Another slight oddity is the carpark/rental parking area in front of the Terminal is empty? It makes it look like the scenery is unfinished, which is very odd considering so much effort has gone into the rest of the scenery with excellent 3d vehicles.
There is a nice stand area southwest but adjacent to the main terminal area. This area covers stands 11-18 with stands 11, 12 and 13 having a B option.
Around the main terminal are stands 21 to 48A but they are not in sequential order, so consult your charts.
Surfaces and taxiways
Surfaces are first rate, great textures and reflections as is the runway textures and taxiway markings. JustSim notes that the surfaces are set up to use the new xEnviro 1.08 rain (wet) feature which is not yet released, so I will be looking forward to trying that feature out.
Northeast of the terminal area is the airport administration building and baggage trolley/catering storage area, this area is very active with baggage trucks going about their busy business... well done.
Control Tower
More central northeast is the original control tower and adjoining well detailed fire station... which both are modeled with a sort of 70's RAF feel, which it is as LCLK was originally a UK military base.
Tower view is perfect with each 04/22 approach clear and with no visual obstructions.
Between the central area and the far northwest cargo area is the Limassol salt lake and water feature... a nice touch is (to scale) is a flock of Pink Flamingos which are famous here in Cypress for their migration over the Mediterranean to Africa and return.
The lake has been very well created with a depth of colour that gives you of a sort of 3d water effect.
Old Larnaca Terminal area
The original 1974 Larnaca terminal is still there, although now it only used as a VIP reception and private jet arrival area.
It seems such a waste for such a iconic building to be empty, a so would it be a good terminal for LCC's? (Low Cost Carriers). The old airport infrastructure is also well represented, with warehouses and offices and storage areas to the rear, the detail is just as good here as in the other areas and that significantly fills out the scenery.
Between the Control Tower zone and the older terminal area is some nice GA parking stands with static aircraft. Below is the full old airport terminal areas.
LCLK Cargo
Far, far northeast is the LCLK Cargo and maintenance area. The cargo area is quite large as most Island based airports are because of the logistical requirements of the area.
Cargo freighters are represented with DHL the biggest operator. The large Bird Aviation Hangar dominates the far, far northeast of the airport.
Stands 1 then Stands 61 to 94 covers this Apron 2 area with stand 92 designated a "Engine Run" (test) stand. Rear of Apron 2 is an GA parking area with stands G1 to G21, stands 65 and 66 are also noted as situated here.
Lighting
My dusk approach to LCLK - Larnaca was quite rousing. It looked really good from the air and that gave me a very good first impression of the scenery.
Approach lighting to RWY 22 was visually very good and realistic...
... note the nice light reflections off the taxiways and Aprons.
Overall lighting at LCLK is quite good with all areas covered and a lot of the ramp and aprons with spot lighting... Taxiway lighting and guidance lighting is very good, but not visible until close up (on the ground).
Terminal lighting is very good and you have nice lit glass, but you also feel something is missing? Again that front of terminal carpark is in darkness and close into the terminal which is the inner vehicle roadway is very dark and it makes the whole terminal area feel slightly isolated and overall darker (far lower right) when it shouldn't be?
Ramp lighting is not too bad and workable, but overall you feel it could have been better. Nice advertising sign in the unilluminated carpark stands out.
Cargo area is just some (six) spot lighting, and feels a little underwhelming here also.
Rear Cargo zone is quite good with some nice downlighting, and the old Terminal building is well lit up nicely, but a few outside overhead spot lighting would have lightened the view a bit more, instead it is another darkish area.
Services
Cobalt Air, Cypress Airways and Aegean Airlines are based at LCLK. And currently holds domestic, regional and international passenger and cargo services by over 30 airlines and notably that Gulf Air used to provide a non-stop service to New York/JFK twice a week. Most services are seasonal but Aeroflot services both St Petersburg and Moscow as RPT services.
WT3
WorldTraffic3 notes. WT3 works here but not very well. Two generations (or retry) of ground routes created a sort of hotch-potch of activity. Too many aircraft disappear at the end of the runway and some even track all the way down the runway to turnaround to takeoff? which is odd as they don't have to. A few gates work around the terminal but most of the stands stay empty and certainly it is an empty non-active space down in the cargo area.
I checked the JustSim ATC routes and they look fine, but do they have that minute detail that makes the flows work correctly? LCLK will need an outside helping hand to see its full WT3 potential.
Summary
Overall this is a very solid scenery from JustSim. If you have purchased their excellent scenery in the past then you won't be disappointed here either.
LCLK make for an excellent destination and a great addition to your European network, yes flights from central Europe are three hours away, but Italy is only half that distance and so that makes Rome or Sicily great stepping off points.
Basically the scenery design is solid and very well done, detail is excellent as is the use of X-Plane11 features in reflections and animations. The blending it to the surrounding native scenery is also well done except for the cut off water edges... But there are a few areas you feel that is unfinished, like the front terminal carpark and some lighting in the inner terminal areas and more lighting on the aprons and the non-working VDGS displays.
These JustSim sceneries are great scenery fillers at a value price, but Larnaca adds in a more interesting destination as well. I believe you will more than likely find this airport a very interesting routing and enjoy the scenery, so it delivers on many counts including great value, so LCLK - Larnaca certainly comes recommended.
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Yes! the LCLK - Laranca International, Cypress by JustSim is Available now from the X-Plane.Org Store here :
LCLK - Laranca International, Cypress
Price Is US$19.90
Features: Detailed airport objects and vehicles Custom textured taxiways, runways and apron Custom surroundings Custom airport lights Compatible with X-Plane 11 features Animated ground vehicles (X-Plane 11 only) Shading and occlusion (texture baking) effects on terminal and other airport buildings High resolution ground textures / Custom runway textures High resolution building textures Excellent night effects Realistic reflections on glass World Traffic compatible X-Life traffic compatible Optimized for excellent performance Animated Jetways (plugin by Marginal) New exclusive feature: Rain effects on ground Effect will be controlled by xEnviro v1.08 (and higher) plugin.
Cobalt LCA to ZUR is available as well : Cobalt Air Airbus A319 | Cockpit Flight Zurich-Larnaca | Cockpit View from Takeoff to Landing! Requirements
X-Plane 11+
Windows, Mac, Linux
2Gb VRAM Video Card Minimum, 4Gb+ VRAM Video Card Recommended
Current Version : 1.0 (Feb 22 2018) Installation Download scenery file size is 602.00mb. With the full installation installed in your custom scenery folder as 1.34gb. Documents There are no manuals or charts incuded with this scenery. ______________________________________________________________________
Review by Stephen Dutton
7th March 2018
Copyright©2018 : X-Plane Reviews
(Disclaimer. All images and text in this review are the work and property of X-PlaneReviews, no sharing or copy of the content is allowed without consent from the author as per copyright conditions)
Review System Specifications:
Computer System: Windows - Intel Core i7 6700K CPU 4.00GHz / 64bit - 16 Gb single 1067 Mhz DDR4 2133 - ASUS GeForce GTX 1080 8Gb - Samsung Evo 512gb SSD
Software: - Windows 10 - X-Plane 11.10
Addons: Saitek x52 Pro system Joystick and Throttle : Sound - Bose Soundlink Mini
Plugins: Environment Engine by xEnviro US$69.90 : XPRealistic Pro v1.0.9 effects US$19.95 : WorldTraffic 3.0 Plugin - US$29.95
Scenery or Aircraft
- ToLiSS319 (A319) by ToLiSS (X-Plane.OrgStore) - US$69.00
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Stephen got a reaction from SuperTux in Scenery Review : FlyCorfu XP by FlyTampa
That is the tradeoff. The orthos have to be lower-res or you will get a graphic card buster (see TNCM), and as the X-Plane native roads which are more exact to the correct co-ords then the traffic is out as well, in a few years with more processing power and even bigger or say 20GB Graphic Cards we may finally get total nirvana, but we are getting there .
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Stephen got a reaction from IamNabil in Aircraft Release : Airbus A320-214 Ultimate by FlightFactor Aero
Bit of a headscratcher is this one... I saw the comments on users saying they have appalling framerates, but I never had that? It is heavy on framerate, but really only the same as the usual comparative to say the FF B757/B767, and I have had a few hours on it now. I run xEnviro and WT3 alongside, but a reason might be in the texture settings... I only use "High" and not maximum and my objects down a click, you really lose nothing visually but gain in framerates, X-Plane weather is another factor.
To prove my point here are three screenshots...
The first is Aerosoft's EDDF with WT3 and Xenviro running and setting up the A320U... I get 26frames (box in corner enlarged) ? EDDF is pretty heavy and complex scenery
Second is on approach to ENGM Oslo, again Aerosoft scenery but with some pretty heavy weather around me, I get 28 frames....
At altitude (say FL340) with no scenery it is around 32-35 frames to a top of 40 frames... the numbers don't lie.
So are the users being too greedy in what they want? I think so, I never found the aircraft in a marginal framerate position, so nothing worse or nothing better than the rest with the same complexity... SD
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Stephen got a reaction from Cami De Bellis in Scenery Review : VQPR - Paro International Airport by Cami De Bellis
Scenery Review : VQPR - Paro International Airport by Cami De Bellis
Could you live in the "happiest Place on Earth", and no it isn't Disneyland either? It is actually Bhutan, and yes it does have officially the happiest population on earth as noted daily by Bhutan's "Happiness Indicator" in Bhutan's capital Thimphu.
The Kingdom of Bhutan (འབྲུག་རྒྱལ་ཁབ་ Druk Gyal Khap) is a landlocked country in South Asia and is located in the Eastern Himalayas, and is the place to go to if you want to convert to Buddhism or seek out the truth and become Batman. The Kingdom, also restricts tourism, as only a select number of tourists per year are allowed to visit the Kingdom and then they are tightly, highly regulated and controlled. Entrance to the Kingdom is also restricted by there only being one major international airport at Paro which is 54 km from the capital of Thimphu. And with so few tourists, being totally landlocked from commercial interests including most of the modern infrastructure, stress and bad western television, you can see why they are so happy out there.
The Bhutan's also love to have fun with anyone who insists of actually going there, because the only way into and out of Bhutan is via Paro and it is one of the most dangerous landings and takeoffs in the aviation world, and yes VQPR did make it to number 6 of the "most extreme airports of the world" and number 1 was to Antarctica and landing on sea ice.
Cami De Bellis
To anyone that has been around X-Plane for a number of years then our dear Cami is well known to most of us since 2008. This nice lady has turned out ton's of wonderful scenery over the years in the mostly the Caribbean Islands and the South Pacific. Her work is usually highly populated with people and objects, but this is Cami's first payware scenery in the VQPR - Paro International Airport in Bhutan.
Paro International Airport
སྤ་རོ་གནམ་ཐང༌།
IATA: PBH - ICAO: VQPR
15/33 - 1,964m (6,445ft) Asphalt
Elevation AMSL 2,235 m / 7,332 ft
Paro International Airport
There are two major (If you call them a major carriers) in Druk Air and Bhutan Airways (2 A319-100's) based at Paro. Druk Air has been the Bhutan airline for longer since 1981 and started with a Dornier 228 and then switched to a BAe 146 which as you know are both STOL aircraft. But Druk Air now has three A319-100's and one ATR-500 and in 2012 over 181.000 pasengers passed through airport. The very early flights were also constricted by the exact time of landing, the number of passengers on board and even the direction the aircraft was parked on the airport apron being predetermined by the high lama of Paro Dzong, which means he was also the airport's operations manager in another capacity.
Your first thought was going to be the "oh easy, I've landed on an aircraft carrier with a Boeing 747 and so I can do that Paro place". But to be a professional pilot of getting passengers in and out of Paro (Not to be confused with Faro Airport) is a tricky business. The above chart shows you what you have to contend with, plus the valleys are well known for their strange winds effects, in fact the winds can vary considerably at various points along the actual runway not considering also on the actual approach paths. There is no ILS here either and nav aids are restricted to just two in a VOR (PARO - 108-40 PRO) and a NDB (410 PR).
This is all hand flying folks, no RNAV or computerised help is available either. "Your on your own" and if the weather is its usual changeable self (mostly to the bad) then you have to deal with that as well. Night flying here is strictly not available. In real flying you need a special certificate to be able to land at Paro. Airbus A320's and Boeing A737's can land here but rarely do so because of that required ticket. More importantly is that aircraft of that size would have to very aware of weight and load factors as we shall see, so the A319 is the best aircraft between size and weight here to get the job done.
South Approach
So I am going to try the south approach to RWY 33, the rules are very strict, almost carrier like in what to do in an aborted run, you really just climb hard and get yourself quickly out of there.
The first part of the approach made me nervous as there was a lot of cloud around with mountain tops breaking through the tops. My equipment is the default Boeing 737-800, a bit big, but easy to handle.
Your aim is the PRO "PARO" VOR and note it is listed at 11,483ft, Paro Airport is at an altitude of 7,332 ft so there is a difference of 4000ft, but you have to fly over PRO, so you are going to have to still descend a lot more than 4000ft in a very short distance.
Thankfully the cloud cover cleared as I approached the VOR. Speed is absolutely critical as you go over PRO, your lowering flaps and wanting to go as slow as you can as you head down deep into the Esuna Valley and your aim is 165kts.
You turn right then left as you swing down the valley and expecting Paro to be in front of you, but it is not, as the airport it is still hidden by Bongde at 8000ft, however you can descend from 11,000ft to 8500ft to take most out of the altitude for landing, however makes sure you don't go too low as Bongde is still there in between you and the airport.
Gear down at this point as you approach Bongde for the drag, and as you go around Bongde the top of your speed needs to by around 145kts (stall is 130kts depending on your weight). Then like on a roller-coaster as you go over, or slightly around and down to the left and then swing to the right to finally see RWY 33 still way down below you in the valley.... time to descend, steeply.
It is a crucial point here as your speed will increase quickly as you fall and you need to keep it no more than 163kts to control the landing...
Even if you get it right, you will still feel you are high and too fast, but RWY 15/33 does give you a fair bit of landing space to get it right and is longer than it actually looks, like I said, total speed control is the key... my final landing speed was 135knts.
You could call it the "Space Shuttle" approach because that is what it feels like.
You don't really have much time for sightseeing with this approach as your total focus is not over running the 6,445ft runway, which is more like 3500ft by the time you grab the tarmac... the go around if required is pure carrier operations in full throttle and a full steep climb out.
There is a small left shoulder to turn around at the end of RWY 33, but it is still a tight turn for the B738, but doable.
First views around you and the area is full of realistic Bhutan housing and Pagodas and located up into the far distance is the Dzong or to give the building it's formal name the "Rinpung Dzong".
There are hundreds of custom Bhutan buildings in this scenery that completely fills out this part of the valley, these certainly give you the feel that you are in a very different part of the world as is the largely wooden based architecture. Bhutanese ramp workers greet you in the local costumes, which makes a big difference from the Hi-Vis jackets of norm.
You will need to have your "Texture Quality" slider at "maximum" as the textures are not high quality and at anything less than the Max setting will give you a slightly blurry look on any of the buildings. At max it is fine and you can set the max, texture quality setting and get away with it in that position because autogen here is almost non-existent and the texture count here is very low as well.
As approaches go, you feel like you should get your astronaut medal for landing the shuttle from space, the approach is exciting and requires skill, the visual aspects are great as well, so overall a challenging and complex arrival at a high altitude Himalayan airfield.
VQPR - Paro
Overall VQPR fits in well to the area. There are joins between the custom scenery and the default textures, but you have to go looking for them, and the basic default textures are a mixed set here anyway that really doesn't help the layout as they are also a very low resolution, so in context the work of intergrating the custom othro textures is well done.
The runway textures are good, but not sensational. In the real images of VQPR the runways and taxiways are more dirty, harder rubbered in used and tired, with more worn patches and patchy oily areas...
There is 3d grass as well, but the feature is only used in a few places. Obviously the Bhutanese like to get their lawnmowers out to keep it all spick and span for the selected guests, but 3d grass along the runway and far more other areas would have been nice and more realistic. Where it is placed it looks very good.
There is also a lot of placed trees. A lot of the trees are those cross-form types that don't work very well with some sun angles (I think they look fake personally) but some trees are really quite beautiful in colour as we shall see.
Terminals
Paro Airport is an exquisite place for architecture. In our constant sameness of airport terminals in this day and age, then Paro is a place to be treasured.
Externally and Internally then Paro can only be Bhutanese in its design and feel, it is a beautiful place full of beautiful things. Going through immigration here is a pleasure not the usual painful challenge of today, no wonder the Bhutanese are so happy there.
The scenery's reproductions of the two terminals are very good, yes two terminals! The original 1999 terminal (below left) was joined by the newer slightly larger terminal that opened Mar 18, 2016 (Below right). The new terminal is for arrivals only.
So this scenery is up to date and the buildings are highly detailed, but the textures are extremely low-res close up and don't reveal too much of their detailing, from a distance it is fine, but it feels texture wise slightly dated in this age of quality 4K textures.
There is a huge amount of detail included with this scenery, and all very local and not just generic in context as you would expect from most designers. But then again Cami is not your usual designer and here she is in her element in giving you the feel of this very different culture. All people are 3d and a great mix of Bhutanese and Western cultures and the ramps and landside areas are busy, busy places.
Very rarely do airport administration buildings look like they do at Paro, they are beautiful and part handcarved wood. But then again Control Towers don't look like this anywhere else either? The Fire Station is part of the control tower as well.
Note the beautiful cherry blossom trees and the flags are animated and flap nicely in the wind. Detailing here is very well done and well conceived and highly realistic (or manicured). Note the highly realistic street lamps, and their lovely detail.
Landside is very completed of objects and detail, you can feel the slight modernisation around the airport as the Bhutanese are coming more and more into the modern world. There are animated vehicles, but not many and the nice touch is that again they are locally branded and not generic. One is a fuel truck and also a baggage cart.
North of the terminals and ramp areas is a maintenance area with a large shared hanger for both Bhutan Airlines and Druk Air...
... and a secondary hangar for general aviation or aviation workshop.
Tower View
Both approaches are excellent with the tower view. But the charts note that the control tower can't see you until you are on short-finals...
... You do however get a great overview of the ramps.
Bhutan landscape
The Bhutanese love their ornamental gates called "traditional entrance gates" and there is a wide variety produced here in the scenery, including the more modern traffic version.
The exotic Bhutanese housing is very well represented, the buildings are very like everything else in Bhutan in being ornamental and also quite basic in design, it comes across like a sort of alpine Indian (Asia) feeling. The buildings are mostly placed along the river Paro Chhu that flows right through the valley and past the airport.
The highlight of Paro is the Buddhist fortress featuring several shrines & chapels, plus wall paintings and the grand architecture of the "Rinpung Dzong".
The monastery is situated northeast of the airport and can easily be seen from the ramps. The Kyichu Lhakhang, another important Himalayan Buddhist temple that is situated just north of Paro also on the Paro Chhu but is not represented in this scenery.
Lighting
The lighting at VQPR is excellent. Even if that flying at night here is not undertaken. You can see why with those tall dark monoliths each side of the valley and the airport, that are there and just waiting deathly as your ultimate calling card.
However the runway lighting is really good and effective if you can get in and out of VQPR before the curfew.
Ramps are very well lit and with the right if perfect light tone. Building lighting is excellent as well, but the standout is the four cross and two globe street lighting...
... that is used to maximum effect on the landside areas of the terminals.
Maintenance hangar gets neon lighting in contrast to the rich lighting everywhere else, which is a nice touch. Paro itself is village like with no street lighting and just window illumination that works well.
All signage is well lit and prominent, and gives you a very authentic feel to the scenery.
Departure from VQPR
Getting out of VQPR - Paro is as breathtaking as getting in...
... weight is critical to get the maximum performance out of those engines. You are already 7333ft high in altitude and thinner air, so those engine don't perform as well as they do at sea level. Hold the brakes and build up the thrust and then let the aircraft go. You climb, and you climb hard at full thrust.
You are at 20º pitch and and still the mountains feel too close and riding only on pure upward thrust alone. You feel that thrust pushing you ever upwards, its a hell of a ride, Titan booster style.
Finally you start to see space... oh sorry, but still 18,000ft is required as per the charts going straight up to clear the range...
... you don't want on that climb for the power to fall off, and so make sure the aircraft can produce it via the weights, finally clear air and a normal climbing pitch of 2500 feet per minute, and there is absolutely nothing normal about getting in and out of Paro, Bhutan.
Services
Only Bhutan airlines do most of the services in and out of Paro, and that is because it is restricted.... routes are mostly to Thailand and India, but Indonesia is in there as well, which is a fair distance from the Kingdom.
Bhutan Airlines : Bangkok–Suvarnabhumi, Delhi, Jakar (suspended), Kathmandu, Kolkata, Trashigang (suspended) - Seasonal: Gaya Buddha AirCharter: Kathmandu Druk Air : Bagdogra, Bangkok–Suvarnabhumi, Delhi, Dhaka, Gelephu, Guwahati, Jakar, Kathmandu, Kolkata Seasonal: Batam, Denpasar, Jakarta-Soekarno-Hatta, Johor Bahru, Medan, Mumbai, Penang, Singapore, Trashigang (suspended)
Summary
From a pilot's point of view then VQPR - Paro is one of the biggest challenges in aviation. Both approach and departure requires a lot of discipline and skill in getting a medium-sized jet into and out of the airport, so it is exciting and challenging at the same time, but the trick is to do it professionally and not in a gamer sort of attitude.
It is a tricky scenery to create. There is a lot of elevation changes and the basic X-Plane textures are not of the Hi-Resolution type you get say in Europe or America as there is a lot of very different texture styles trying or fighting to recreate a Himalayan landscape, which are fine for flying over at altitude, but close up are a bit of a mixed up set of sets. Then you are trying to match in your custom ortho textures into this complex patchwork of textures. In this area Cami has done a great job, but a wider set of ortho textures would have made the job easier and gave you a more proportional and smoother landscape over a bigger distance, Beti-X did that at Bella Coola for a better effect. Then there is the small issue that some textures gave offny winter line patterns behind the airport that is not there when the scenery is removed?
There are no built in ground routes? So there is no access to WorldTraffic3, X-Life or the default static aircraft. No pushback or service vehicles are available either... a big omission for any payware scenery?
Overall Bhutan buildings and terminals are really well done and wholly represents the airport in its current fashion, textures are low grade though and it shows up close and even at maximum texture render settings, so it feels to be slight older scenery than it actually is, the textures look a a decade out of date by current X-Plane standards. Runway and taxiway textures needed more grit and dirt, as this runway gets some hard landings and it shows in the real world images, but overall at a distance the buildings work and feel fine as they are very colourful and cheerful, just like Bhutan.
As expected with Cami, detailing and sheer object numbers are in placement is excellent with both ramp equipment and 3d people and all areas both airside and landside are covered, the valley is full cultural Bhutan buildings and their also the lovely traditional entrance gates.
Overall this is very good scenery, and the bonus of those approach and departure challenges gives you great value for your investment, certainly more other connecting airports in India and Kathmandu in Nepal, would give you more access to the scenery on a route basis, but even as a standalone it is very good scenery to use in X-Plane... so great work by Cami De Bellis, well done and this scenery is a great entrance to the "land of the Thunder Dragon".
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Yes! the VQPR - Paro International Airport by Cami De Bellis is Available now from the X-Plane.Org Store here :
VQPR - Paro Intl Airport, Bhutan
Your Price is US$19.95 Features Exact reproduction 3D of the airport buildings, houses, hangars, Dzong, Pagodas and others Detailed textures and custom objects Reproduction of staff and local people 3D Hand placed 3D trees Volumetric grass Complete reconstruction of the airport's lighting equipment Detailed ground markings Custom night lighting Many Animations in and around airport Very detailed 3D Models covering the whole airport Ground Traffic by Marginal Requirements
X-Plane 11 or X-Plane 10.50+
Windows, Mac or Linux 2Gb VRAM Minimum. 4Gb+ VRAM Recommended
Installation : Download scenery file size is 59.60mb. With the full installation installed at 198.60mb in your custom scenery folder. The CDB-Library v.2.4 is required.
Documents
Readme.txt
But no Charts supplied. These charts are the best I could find for VQPR -Paro: VQPR_CHARTS
WT3 : No ground routes was created for the scenery, so WT3 does not work here?
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Review by Stephen Dutton
13th December 2017
Copyright©2017: X-Plane Reviews
(Disclaimer. All images and text in this review are the work and property of X-PlaneReviews, no sharing or copy of the content is allowed without consent from the author as per copyright conditions)
Review System Specifications:
Computer System: Windows - Intel Core i7 6700K CPU 4.00GHz / 64bit - 16 Gb single 1067 Mhz DDR4 2133 - ASUS GeForce GTX 1080 8Gb - Samsung Evo 512gb SSD
Software: - Windows 10 - X-Plane 11.10
Addons: Saitek x52 Pro system Joystick and Throttle : Sound - Bose Soundlink Mini
Plugins: Environment Engine by xEnviro US$69.90 : XPRealistic Pro v1.0.9 effects US$19.95
Scenery or Aircraft
- Boeing 737-800 Default by Laminar Research (Free with X-Plane11)
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Stephen got a reaction from drijanthony in Behind the Screen : September 2017
Behind the Screen : September 2017
You get great months and then you get those really hard draggy months and guess which category September 17 fell into, yes the second one. Part of the issues is that there is a lot of betas flowing around and September became the update and rerelease month par excellence. The two biggies came out with xEnviro finally coming out with their v1.07 and finally is the word here. And then there was WorldTraffic3 in release as well. Secondary was that a lot of airports scenery (mostly Aerosoft) was also updated to X-Plane11 and so much was updated X-PlaneReviews found it all a bit overwhelming, but as they say when it rains it...
All these plugin releases also created a bit of a issue on the system side that has severely slowed the site down over the last few weeks. Plugin conflict is one of the worst things to fix, and far worse when you can't see the actual cause?
I actually don't have a lot of plugins running, but three I think are essential in using X-Plane11. One is xEnviro, Two is WorldTraffic3 and last but not least is XPRealistic the excellent motion and effect plugin... I just can't run X-Plane11 with any of those excellent addons running alongside me in there. But here is the sudden issue in that none of the plugins above suddenly like each other, even if they have all been very good friends all year. Every time I run two or more of the plugins together now I lose my mouse pointer and screen input, menu bar works fine, but not in my main screen, and this issue has caused havoc for weeks now?
Your point of view is that why bother and just do the reviews? That is all and good, but that will give you less of the full experience and and very visually with xEnviro and WT3, but underlying is the fact that you need to find the cause and because if it happens to me then it is not going to be before too long before you start being mouseless as well.
You expect plugin issues while there is a beta program running and I was running a few side by side, but not with releases? So it is all very confusing.
WorldTraffic3
I have been a big part of the development of WorldTraffic3 from the start. But don't get me wrong this is all Greg Hofer's work and not mine, I can only help or encourage where possible and add in ideas on how to make it all work as best as possible.
First to note is that the plugin is totally and absolutely horribly complex, that it works at all is simply up to Mr Hofer's genius, but it does work and extremely well, but there are a few comments that have to be laid out to understand that the release of WorldTraffic3 does not mean it is a completed project and that point is actually very far from reality.
Mr Hofer can only do so much in making the plugin as efficient and durable as possible, but overwhelmingly WT3 does totally rely on outside layouts being correct and set to being totally effective. If you have any issues with WT3 then look inward at X-Plane11 far more than the actual plugin itself, yes there will be bug fixes and more refinements to come and quickly, but 90% of WT3's issues are not residing in the actual plugin itself but in the X-Plane11 framework that it now uses.
Even though the tools to create a really good ATC and ground route structure at airports with WED (WorldEDitor) has been available for awhile, and even if the released airports and mostly with the default Global Airports that reside in your custom scenery folder it doesn't mean that these ATC structures are all created equal.
In fact of the many I checked, they were all really quite average with most missing parking position lines and traffic flow lines that are not completed or simply missing. And then WT3 has to interpret this poor layouts and try to make your airports look busy and exciting. When you have a correctly set up ground route structure and I use Aerosoft's ENGM - Oslo scenery as a benchmark, then WT3 is simply astounding in it's operations, but in most cases the layout even if it says on the packaging that the scenery is ATC- Traffic flow is WED compatible is that they usually are not, and this is the biggest hurdle that WT3 and to a point X-Plane itself has to climb over, and not just for WT3 either as these ground routes are becoming more and more important to the effectiveness and general everyday use of the simulator. Then there is the factor of many sceneries and mostly freeware that don't have any ground route layouts at all, and yes I am poking an stick at tdg here as although he makes simply excellent scenery and does astounding work, this one little oversight will cause for most of his work to be totally unusable in the WT3 universe and I am quite angry about that because to insert ground routes for someone as talented as he is at WED is just simply astounding as well.
So the point is for WT3 to be a major and important part of your X-Plane experience is that a very significant focus will have to go on and be made on the WED ground route layouts... then and only then will WT3 deliver the incredible return on the investment you require, in other words don't blame WT3 but fix the fundamental basic issues of WED first and make the whole system work together.
I have also noticed that some users are generating auto ground routes and posting them up on the X-Plane.Org. This is really a waste of time and actually a big diversion in the fact these ground routes can for one be very easily generated within WT3 quickly and easily anyway, but worse are they actually "Corrected" or refined ground routes with the sorted correct parking assignments completed and in most cases the answer is no.
Again you want fully well defined or completed ground routes and not just quick and nasty setups that users will take for the real thing and only they make your airport sceneries totally functional with the WT3 plugin, this is an IMPORTANT point to understand, in that the layouts required by WT3 need to be the best we can distribute and fully setup for instant use and be secure in that they will deliver the required standard that we require to make X-Plane the excellent simulator it is. Over the last few months in checking most sceneries we do fall very short or if anywhere near the mark to make WT3 effective at this point.
But what I love about X-Plane is that as a collective clever set of tinkerers and changers we do have the skills and talent to fix this ATC WED layouts for the better and quickly, and then distribute the changes for everyone else to benefit from, that is the promise of not only X-Plane as a simulator but for WT3 as well.
From this point forward this WT3 icon will tell you in a review of the WT3 layouts and notable points on what does or doesn't work, or if that scenery even does not have the required layouts to generate ground routes. To a point I found most good payware scenery released recently are doing very effective ground routes or at least acknowledge that well set up WED ground routes are now as big a major feature or is a major feature on selling their product.
I would like to thank everyone who participated in our fourth anniversary competition in August, of course X-PlaneReviews would like to pick many winners but we have to settle for just five, it was very hard in the end but the final choices were the worthy winners.
See you all next month
Stephen Dutton
1st October 2017
Copyright©2017: X-Plane Reviews
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Stephen got a reaction from 68.vigas in Aircraft Review : C208B Grand Caravan HD Series XP11 by Carenado
Aircraft Review : C208B Grand Caravan HD Series XP11 by Carenado
The single Turbo-Prop Cessna 208B Grand Caravan was one of the earliest X-Plane aircraft releases back then in mid-year 2012, that is five years ago now to date.
The first Carenado releases were really average to good, basically test pieces for X-Plane. Both the Mooney and the PA 32 Satatoga felt old before their release, but then in May we got some release images of the Caravan and then in June 2012 the aircraft was released in X-Plane. Finally X-Plane users got the glimpse and a taste of why in Flight Sim Land of all the reverence and praise that was lavished on Carenado. It was back then and to a point still now a great aircraft, but we also saw Carenado for what they really were and more importantly they were also taking X-Plane as a simulation platform seriously. That gamble paid off massively for Carenado as they now dominate most General Aviation releases in X-Plane, although I will admit a few other developers like vFlyteAir and Aerobask are now pushing them harder in quality in what was once only a Carenado domain.
There is no doubt that the C208B Caravan has been a huge seller if not their best seller year in and year out for Carenado, and it is not hard to see why. It is an amazing aircraft but versatile as well. The aircraft is basically a workhorse, a short hop regional gap filler for two pilots and eleven passengers, or a single pilot and twelve passengers, and it's speciality is island hopping.
Carenado also then broadened the C208B's already great attraction by an add-on and an extra in the form of a cargo version called the "Super CargoMaster", so now not only could you move your passengers point to point, but also cargo was now also the go. The great suddenly became the brilliant.
I am not going to hide the fact that in the last five years I have done a huge amount of flying of both the passenger and cargo versions in this brilliant aircraft, the hours spent in the C208B's left seat are simply to large to count, but it must be a lot. So of the many aircraft I have spent flying in X-Plane then the Caravan must be at the top of my list and it is in my all time list as it came in at number 3. But I will admit with the transition to X-Plane11 the old bird was starting to feel a little worn around the edges, and that is despite a few nice upgrades (v2/v3) in the X-Plane10 run.
So here is the X-Plane11 upgrade. And now this C208B aircraft is now X-Plane11 compatible. You will have repurchase the aircraft in full as well, but the cost covers all updates throughout the X-Plane11 run or about four to five years and Carenado have noted that there will be some great new features coming to the Caravan but not until the other listed aircraft have been upgraded as well, and don't forget that there is still the G1000 Executive version still waiting in the wings.
C208B Grand Caravan HD Series XP11
This is both a light overall review and an upgrade review in one, because the original X-PlaneReviews Caravan review is now quite old from 2013 and so I think it requires an update and refresh on the aircraft.
The first most significant detail is that the original add-on "Super CargoMaster" package is now part of the overall package. In other words you don't have to purchase a separate package and merge it with the main Carenado C208B Grand Caravan purchase to get both versions, and you can also change to both versions from within the one aircraft and not have two separate aircraft to switch between or reload.
The standard three Carenado left lower screen tab menus are still here with C for the Views, Field of View and Sound adjustment which the same as usual for Carenado.
D covers "Doors" in the Pilots and Co-Pilots door(s) (with a great swing down ladder) and a double (upper and swing lower) main Cargo door and on the passenger version a passenger door on the right rear side of the aircraft. The Caravan comes with a detachable lower cargo pod with opening doors, but the selection of opening the pod doors is a separate selection on the cargo, however the pod doors can then only be opened with the right side passenger door on the passenger version which is slightly odd. You can also switch to each the passenger or the cargo version here on this menu tab as well, via the lower left tickbox. (if you change the livery to either a passenger or a cargo version the type will also change automatically).
Livery selection can also be done from this menu in selecting left or right to go through the options, personally I use the XP11 menu as it was quicker.
O covers the "Options" on the lower third tab. First selection is the optional cargo pod and the then the static elements of Chocks, Tow Tractor, Pivot Cover, Engine and Prop covers. Lower selection allows you to have tinted or clear windows.
This options menu also allows you on the passenger version to select the rear seating arrangements with either single seating for eight or single/double seating for eleven. I usually use the eleven seater.
The option menu on the cargo version is the same except that there is no seating but cargo options.
“Load Configuration 1” is with the parcels loaded and that adds “1607” Pounds to the aircraft’s weight.
“Load Configuration 2” is with the parcels removed and no penalty of weight.
The cargo area is very well presented with the webbing hanging with the space empty and everything tied down tightly with the load on board and when not used the hand aircraft puller is strapped to the rear bulkhead, there is a nice touch to the cockpit rear with a net over the the entrance to keep the cargo in place.
External Detail
I usually fly with the pod off, my flying in the Caravan is mostly passenger sightseeing or point to point airport connection services.
The Caravan style is between a pure utility aircraft, but still has a miniature airliner feel as well with all those side windows (seven). For the job it is about perfect and in the real world it is extremely popular and would be a very hard aircraft to replace and most operators usually don't but with another Caravan. Since its first flight on December 9, 1982 and into service in 1983 there has now over 2,500 Caravans built and flying at a cost of US$1.95 million each (2017 costing).
External detailing is phenomenal. Every rivet is counted for, all latches, hinges and handles are perfect, (ice) lighting surrounds, lovely flap tracks, vents, animated static wicks and antennas. Glass is superb with great reflections and a very slight convex look. In reality the earlier detailing on the Caravan is not much different here, but it has been totally enhanced with X-Plane11 features and of course with PBR or Physical Based Rendering (material shines and reflections) and the textures are all 4K and have been reprocessed for the best quality to FPS (framerate) optimization.
So the most noticeable factor from the earlier Caravans to this version is the sheer gloss on the aircraft and the highlighting of the aircraft's construction.
This is mostly highly noticeable with the wing construction and detailing, it is beautiful work, almost perfection. But in certain lighting conditions you get a frazzled feel, it can be a little over shiny for the eye, a slightly more wear and tear feel would be more authentic, but don't get me wrong this is the best of the best in detailing.
The spinner is now chrome, real chome. Carenado always did do great chrome fittings but the extra shinyness now adds to the effect (X-Plane11 metalness effects). This shinyness is highlighted by the lovely curves of the lower fuselage and the air cooling vents. The Caravan has a powerful Pratt & Whitney PT6A-114A engine connected to that lovely crafted Hartzell 3-Blade Metal, Constant Speed - full feathering propeller... great stuff.
Note that huge if slightly ugly right sided exhaust, but it does give off a great whine sound. The aircraft undercarriage support is also superb, there is a lot of animated flexibility and dynamic loading/unloading of the gear that adds amazing authenticity to the simulation. Minor detailing on the internal construction of all the wheels and braking systems are pinch perfect.
Open the doors and the extreme detailing is even more evident. Looking into the cockpit you are immediately reminded on why the Caravan was such a big deal back when Carenado first released the Caravan. It was a modern cockpit (mid-80's compared to the other far older Mooney and the PA 32 Satatoga cockpits).
Internal Detail
That light on dark panel was and still is amazing as is the whole of the Caravan's cockpit. The panel is now even more dynamic with the X-Plane11 dynamic lighting effects, more realism and even more of a great place to be. All instrument and glass is reflective, instruments are all of the highest quality
Checking around the panel there hasn't been much changed or added except that those tree style manipulators have been replaced by the standard half-moon style manipulators, this is for another reason as well as for just easier manipulation as they are required for the coming VR interaction.
Those lovely hide away yokes do also have a working elevator trim, which is very usable. And above your head is still the standard tank switches and oxygen switch and dial readout.
Your workplace seating still looks very comfortable and the quality is mindblowing, again the dynamic lighting brings something new to this already very familiar cockpit.
Instrument Panel
In reality this is not a really over complicated instrument panel and I think that is the overall sweetness on flying and using the Caravan.
The row of engine status dials on the top row are (left to right) Torque, RPM Prop, ITT (Interstage Turbine Temperature), Gas Generator RPM, Oil Pressure PSI & Oil ºc Temperatures, Fuel Flow and both L&R fuel tank gauges dominates the panel, the lovely set of excellent annunciators that can be set for day and night visual brightness or test mode.
Full Standard Six instruments for the flying pilot and the co-pilot with the Airspeed Indicator, Artificial Horizon and the Attitude Indicator on the top row and the ADF dial, Heading Dial/HSI and Vertical Speed Indicators set out directly below. Pilot has added Turn/Slip indicator below and Radar altitude (x100) meter. Left of SS is a VOR OBS pointer and Bendix King VOR data panel below. Far left is Prop Anti-Ice dial, Clock, and Engine Suction dial and approach marker lights.
A nice working feature is the Voltage dial that has four switchable selections with Gen (Generator), Alt (Alternator), BATT (Battery) and Volt
lower left is the external lighting switches and lower panel is six switches that covers the aircraft's Anti-Ice protection. There are also four rotary knobs for the instrument lighting which is in-direct and not back lighting, also here is the bottom brake pull and the Inertial Separator T handle that blocks debris coming into the main engine inlet. Air-conditioning and cabin heat switches and knobs are lower panel as well.
There is a stand alone electrical and fuse raised box structure to the pilot's left...
... switches cover top - External Bus (GPU), Main Battery, Generator and fuel boost. Lower panel - Standby Power, Ignition, Engine Starter, Avionics Standby, Avionics Bus Tie and Avionics 1&2 OFF/ON.
By today's standards the avionic package here is quite basic for a working aircraft. Top is a Bendix King KMA 24 radio set, with below a default X-Plane GNS 430 (COMM 1 and NAV1) settings. Mid-panel is a Bendix King KX 165 COMM 2 and NAV 2 (VOR) radio and a Bendix King RDR 2000 weather radar with the X-Plane radar overlaid below.
Right stack has top a Garmin GTX 320 transponder then below a Bendix King KR87 ADF radio with finally the Bendix King KFC 150 autopilot. The autopilot has a indication panel and altitude adjustment, vertical speed adjust panel on the pilot's side top right.
Throttle Pedestal
Mid lower panel is a nice throttle pedestal. Left to right there is a power lever to be used only in emergencies, then a single main "Throttle" lever with a "beta" reverse gate. The "Prop" lever is for MAX and MIN RPM and gated lower is the feather adjustment. Then there is the "Condition" lever again gated with High and Low idle and the lower gate is the shutoff. Far right is the "Flap" setting in Up - 10º (150knts) - 20º Full (125 knts).
Left pedestal is the elevator trim wheel and front panel is the aileron trim knob and rudder trim wheel. There is the main fuel shutoff pull knob as well.
Flying the C208B Grand Caravan
I have done this YMLT (Launceston) to YMHB (Hobart) route about twenty times so I know it backwards, with a few heading notes I don't even have to put into the GNS430 a flightplan. It is my usual passenger transfer with a little bit of sightseeing thrown in to the deal.
I tank up per tank of 765lbs or 1531lbs total with a full weight of 7840lbs, a fair bit of fuel, but then I wanted to return to YMLT directly without refueling at Hobart. A glance around and all the seven passengers are in and the baggage is loaded. I have asked (nicely) for Carenado to put their excellent animated pilot and co-pilot as passengers for years, but still we have to pretend that there people in the rear.
Starting up of the Caravan is still one of the great aircraft engine starts in X-Plane. You don't get FMOD sounds here (yet), but Carenado's 3D 180º controlled sounds are just as good if not better for all the different sound ranges and bass depth.
Put the ignition switch on and set the starter... you get nothing for a short while and then that familiar faint whine grows from somewhere deep in the front of the aircraft, still the whine grows louder until finally the propeller starts to turn in to action. The start sequence is full automation, hit the switch and just wait. Even after years of flying the Caravan I still question if the External (GPU) actually works? I have pressed the switch (arrowed) but there seems to be no action and the battery has a habit of quickly discharging, so my guess is no.
Once the engine temps are good I pull the condition lever back to idle and a RPM of around 650RPM. The original Caravan was a little bit faster in the idle, but it looks the new X-Plane11 performance settings have settled it down a little, for taxiing you don't have to fight it as much as you did in the past with far too much power. In fact the 208B feels quite perfect now.
Power up and the whine builds, but so does also the deeper turbo grind, so familiar but still neckline hair raising fantastic, this is the Caravan we totally love.
As noted the 208B is far easier to taxi without fighting the too powerful thrust now in the condition low idle setting, a big nice change... but don't forget to put the condition lever into the "High Idle" position before takeoff... or you won't, well takeoff.
The asymmetric thrust will still pull you really hard to the left with all that very powerful 675shp Pratt & Whitney pushing you forward. So you have to be aware right from the point you let the brakes go to give only a little thrust until you can lock the nose-wheel in straight and then give it full power after a certain speed and usually around 45knts. It works but still with a little deft right rudder. The C208B will however still try to wander and you are working hard with the yoke and the rudder to keep it sweet on the centreline I’m also very heavy here ( 7840lbs) so that slightly helps, but the speed climbs quickly to a rotate at around 95knts. Climbing out and into a turn to the due southwest (210º) I settle in at a 1000fpm (feet Per Minute) climb as 1,234 ft/min (6.27 m/s) is the maximum. But even with this weight the Caravan takes the tight turn and climb all in it's stride.
As I am so familiar with the Caravan I know its limits, I know how far to push the aircraft before it will fail me, and the 208B has a fair bit of slack in that area, it is a very sturdy aircraft, sweet to fly and manoeuvre but you need a firm straight hand on the yoke and rudder. One thing I do notice more on this XP11 version is the green window tint is quite strong in the glass reflections, it is highly noticeable if not slightly distracting.
There is the short straight route to YMHB, or the scenic route which is going straight southeast out from Launceston and hitting the coast around the spectacular Freycinet National Park and the famous Wineglass Beach, clients don't mind the extra cost or time as the Tasmanian east coast views are worth the detour.
But first you have to climb high to clear the Ben Lomond National Park, and so I set the altitude to 7500 AMSL. My passengers were also not getting a lot of views for their cash either as the cloud cover was pretty extensive...
The Caravan has a Cruise speed of around 197 mph (171 kn; 317 km/h) and a Range of 1,240 mi (1,078 nmi; 1,996 km) with max fuel and reserves. Your ceiling is an amazing 25,000ft as you have oxygen on board, but I have never really flown over 15,000ft.
The Bendix King KFC 150 autopilot is a treat to use, quite simple but effective.
Vertical speed can be a simple up or down, or you can set the separate digital display in the rate of climb and then ARM the altitude you want to hold. I found that you can't have the manual trim set (via your joystick or in my case x56 throttle twist knobs) as it interferes with the aircraft's trim systems, so I had to disconnect the x56 controls.
As I neared the east coast I could descend down through the thick cloud to see if the views would be better and more effective.
But I would still have to be careful as there is still a fair bit if land elevation around the Wineglass Bay area, in other words it is hilly. Note the blue ignition on warning light? I have lived with this one for years, in the fact that if you start the Caravan with the engine running then the ignition light stays off, but start the 208B from cold it stays on even if the ignition switch is now off, it is more annoying than you think.
Coming out of the lower 4000ft cloud base I got a real "whoa" moment. It wasn't dangerous in a sense of the word, but it still needed a hard turn south so it wouldn't become an issue, my altitude was set at 3500ft for the sightseeing.
My passengers only got a quick glimpse of Wineglass Bay, the weather is nothing I can control, and thankfully the further south I flew the brighter the weather became.
You get a great view out of the Caravan's cabin windows, that is why these aircraft are great in the sightseeing role, but in some lighting conditions the the glass reflections can be very strong.
In the new strong light you can see the excellent X-Plane11 PBR lighting effects and how beautiful they are on the Caravan, it certainly is glossy and the light is fantastic (I popped the pod back on for the full dynamic effect) but I will admit to debating (with myself) if the Caravan is too glossy in this form, sometimes it feels like there is to much gloss and other times it is just right, so I am in neither camp.
I have spent countless hours over the years looking over this view out of the Caravan, I still totally love it and you still admire how great an aircraft it is.
The Caravan is one of Carenado's greatest successful aircraft even after all these years, that actually comes with no great surprise, and now in X-Plane11 form it certainly goes up a notch again.
Time is getting on and the light is starting to fade. I usually go further south and around the peninsula and give the patrons a view of the Port Arthur Convict site as part of the deal, but today I am taking a short cut over Blackman Bay and directly to Dunalley Bay which leads into Frederick Henry Bay.
The views are still spectacular, and once over the passage I see YMBH's lights far to the west of Frederick Henry Bay .
I drop the altitude another 1500ft to 2000ft and start the approach phase as the light faded more...
The Caravan's amazing instrument panel in-direct lighting (the main Standard Six dials are also backlit) is still spectacular, it is adjustable as well. Overhead lighting is provided by a single roof mounted light that gives the cockpit area and the panel a more workable light, the adjustments knobs though even with the new manipulators can still be hard work, you have to grab and pull hard to make the knobs turn, there is also plenty of spaces for extra lighting switches on the lighting panel.
But the lighting overall is disappointing. Carenado pioneered great lighting effects that allows spot lighting to be adjustable, fade in and out and manoeuvrable in aircraft cabins. But here it is just plain dark back there, and the external Ice/Wing light doesn't work either?
Externally you have taxi and landing lights on both outer front wing edges, and the standard beacon and great strobe effects.
It may or may not be correct per the performance of the C208B but I always put the condition lever to the "low Idle" position before landing, yes you lose a slight bit of performance... but rather that than the huge fight to control the speed after landing with the thrust level too high to stop you cleanly and without wavering all over the runway and then losing direction in trying to bring "that damn lever back" to control the aircraft, I find I still have enough power and more control with it set even in the "low idle" position.
I am learning that the performance of aircraft in X-Plane11 is quite different than before in X-Plane10. Certainly in the final landing phase. In the Caravan that sense is heightened.
The area in question is throttle management, the ratio of speed to power. The stall point of the Caravan is 70knts, but let the airspeed drop below 100knts here on approach and you suddenly lose height, this is becoming a common theme if you have been reading other reviews since X-Plane11's release. The control is there and luckily the flap limits are quite high on the Caravan with 150knts for 10º and full (20º) at 125kts, so you drop 10º then adjust your speed then later the full 20º to 75knts on final approach.
But by controlling the throttle (which you do a lot) can gain you either more height with more power or with less throttle to lose height, pure aircraft control. Certainly this effect was there before in older X-Plane versions, but the effect in X-Plane11 is certainly more finer and more noticeable now in the feel factor. I find it quite exciting and I feel I am having more control over the aircraft in flight, a fine tuning area but a very important one and the Caravan really brings that effect out more than other aircraft I have flown lately in the past. In other words you are flying far more by you throttle inputs as much as your hand and feet input.
Get it right and you will boast about your landing for days, but it does take a fair bit of practise to be perfect.
One highly noticeable change in the XP11 version is the "beta" or reverse thrust position that gives you full reverse thrust after landing. It still works as usual by the gauge (arrowed) on the Prop dial, but you don't get that "roar" of sound you used to have? It is now more of a whimper? (I checked both high and low idle positions).
Passengers note the trip as "exciting" and "amazing" but I have flown the route in better conditions, but there is overall a more intimate feel with this X-Plane11 version than I can remember in the past with the older X-Plane versions of the Caravan, and that is a really great thing.
Liveries
The sets of liveries for both the Passenger and Cargo versions are the same as in the past, and any older liveries that you have collected don't work either.
Included is for the Passenger version the: standard blank, Camo (camouflage), Exec 1, Exec 2 and that excellent GoTropical.
There are three Super CargoMaster liveries with the: Civil, FedEx and DHL. You get the Civil Cargo livery with the package and the two other liveries in the FedEx and DHL can be downloaded here.: Carenado FreeLiveries
Summary
This Cessna 208B Grand Caravan and optional Super CargoMaster has been one of the most successful Carenado aircraft in X-Plane to date, and it is really not hard to see why. I have loved the Caravan and more than most aircraft in X-Plane over the last four years because it is so versatile and just really a great aircraft to fly.
The release of the Caravan in X-Plane11 bring certainly all the great features of the new platform including PBR (Physical Based Rendering) and the performance enhancements that are really noticeable in the pilots seat. The added feature of both the passenger and super cargomaster versions together in one package also adds hugely into the appeal. A lot of work has gone into the quality of the detailing for X-Plane11 and quality is what Careando are known for.
But in another point of view, if you know the Caravan really well you won't really notice anything new or different in new features, from the pilot's seat you have the same position as you always have had but just only now in X-Plane11 with its excellent features, that is a positive but also a slight negative.
The lighting feels old, because internally it is compared to most later Carenado releases and the no Ice/wing light is highly noticeable, no new liveries over four years is not going to be fun either and since now the older custom ones now don't work either. (I lost fifteen liveries, gulp)
Carenado have noted though that FMOD audio, full VR support, SASL 3.0 upgrade, re-vamped pop-up windows and more are coming along in the update path, so my advice is to enjoy now and that more changes and features will come along as part of the overall package.
This is as noted a new purchase of the aircraft in full as well, but the cost does cover all updates throughout the X-Plane11 run or for about four to five years and any new features that Carenado have promised to add in to the overall package and I think that is overall a very good deal.
So here is one of the greats, and the Grand Caravan now comes in X-Plane11 clothes and performance. If you have read this full review, then you would know how important this aircraft is to my X-Plane flying, now in X-Plane11 the flying can now go on (and on) and I know I will absolutely love every moment of it, as a validation of a great aircraft this Grand Caravan is then one of the very best and you simply can't go any higher than that...
_____________________________________________________________________________________ The C208B Grand Caravan HD Series XP11 by Carenado is NOW available! at the X-Plane.OrgStore
208 Grand Caravan HD Series
Price is US$34.95
Notes:
For WINDOWS users: Please ensure that you have all the Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributables downloaded and installed (click here)
Features: Specially designed engine dynamics for XP11.
Flight physics designed for XP11 standards.
Ground handling adapted for XP11 ground physics.
Physically Based Rendering materials and textures.
PBR materials authored with industry-standard software used by the film and gaming industries.
X-Plane GNS430 (FPS friendly)
Ice and rain effects
VR compatible click spots.
Goodway Compatible.
Realistic behavior compared to the real airplane. Realistic weight and balance. Tested by several pilots for maximum accuracy.
Dynamic loading/unloading of 3D parts and plugin logic for FPS optimization.
Requirements:
Windows XP - Vista - 7 -10 or MAC OS 10.10 (or higher) or Linux
X-Plane 11
CPU: Intel Core i5 6600K at 3.5 ghz or faster.
Memory: 16-24 GB RAM or more.
Video Card: a DirectX 12-capable video card from NVIDIA, AMD or Intel with at least 4 GB VRAM (GeForce GTX 1070 or better or similar from AMD)
570MB available hard disk space
Installation and documents:
Download for the C208B Grand Caravan HD Series is 498.40mg and the unzipped 589.20mb file is deposited in the "General Aviation" X-Plane folder with this aircraft version X-Plane11 only.
Documents
C208B GC Normal and Emergency Procedures PDF
C208B SC Normal and Emergency Procedures PDF
C208B GC Reference document PDF
C208B SC Reference document PDF
KFC150 Autopilot PDF
Recommended Settings XP11 PDF
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Review by Stephen Dutton 16th August 2017 Copyright©2017: X-PlaneReviews (Disclaimer. All images and text in this review are the work and property of X-PlaneReviews, no sharing or copy of the content is allowed without consent from the author as per copyright conditions) Review System Specifications:
Computer System: Windows - Intel Core i7 6700K CPU 4.00GHz / 64bit - 16 Gb single 1067 Mhz DDR4 2133 - GeForce GTX 980/SSE2 - Samsung Evo 512gb SSD
Software: - Windows 10 - X-Plane 11.02
Addons: Saitek x56 Rhino Pro system Joystick and Throttle : Sound - Bose Soundlink Mini
Plugins: Environment Engine by xEnviro US$69.90 : XPRealistic Pro v1.0.9 effects US$19.95
Scenery or Aircraft
- YMLT - Launceston, Australia 1.2.0 by CDG (X-Plane.Org) - Free
- YMHB - Hobart International Airport & YCBG Cambridge Aerodrome 1.0 by tdg (X-Plane.Org) - Free
- AustraliaPro 2.03 Beta by Chris K (X-Plane.Org) - Free (recommended for any Australian flying!)
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Stephen got a reaction from -VETTE in X-PlaneReviews : 4th Anniversary Competition!
X-PlaneReviews : 4th Anniversary Competition!
X-PlaneReviews : 4th Anniversary Competition! Winners!
Thanks for everyone who entered our 4th Anniversary Competition and the winners are!
Tinmug - Finalist DC3 FlyGal - Finalist MD88 Grant543 - Finalist A330 Pilotofnothing - Finalist PA28 vFlyteAir Sukhoi Baron - Finalist - B737
Winners will be contacted by the X-Plane.OrgStore over the next few days (Don't email the store till they contact you).
Thanks Again...
X-PlaneReviews is four years old, but who is counting? age is in the mind not the body right. But with all the seriousness around us we should celebrate a significant milestone and so we shall, by feeling great and giving lots of free stuff away.
So thanks to the generosity of developers and the X-Plane.OrgStore we have a lot of very nice aircraft for you to win.
Five Winners can choose one aircraft from:
FlightFactor/VMax Boeing 777
FlightFactor/VMax Boeing 767
FlightFactor/VMax Boeing 757
FlightFactor Airbus A350
FlyJSim Boeing 727
All aircraft are on offer in the competition and only for the month of August 2017 and CLOSES midnight 31st August 2017
So how do you win the prizes!
We want to know what you think is the best aircraft in X-Plane, but the aircraft must have been in a review that has been released by X-PlaneReviews.
So you have to refer to the review in X-PlaneReviews... a link is worth more brownie points... Example:
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Aircraft Review - DC-3/C47 by VSkyLabs Flying Lab Project
Then give us 150 words on why you think it is the best aircraft in X-Plane and why it is worth the purchase.
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Conditions for entry
Just insert your entry on only this page below to enter and sorry only one entry per user is allowed so make it count. No X-PlaneReview review connection will mean your entry is invalid for the competition.
The competition is only open to joined members of this X-PlaneReviews site, so you have to log in to enter.
X-PlaneReviews have the rights to republish the winners on this and other sites. Winners will be picked on detail and originality of their answers, and winners prizes are final and the prizes are supported with updates, but not upgrades. Winners are drawn 1st September 2017.
Do your best and enjoy, I am looking forward to seeing what your views are on X-Plane products.
Stephen Dutton
5th August 2017
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Stephen got a reaction from Freeman in Free Aircraft Release! : Concorde by Dr Gary Hunter
Free Aircraft Release! : Concorde by Dr Gary Hunter
Growing up in the sixties was a time of huge speed advances. The predictions were of New York in 3 hours and Singapore in 7 hours via Bahrain, and then we went far faster again... to the moon.
Looking back now it all feels like we lost have something, yes we can afford to travel the world on a few thousand dollars... but the excitement and the sheer feeling of the momentum of advances in technology has now been reduced to smart phones.
The real tragedy was that the machines that gave us our biggest breakthroughs were then never advanced forward, there was no Concorde Mk2 or Space Shuttle Mk2. And so there came no advancements on their ideas and weaknesses, like the noise and sound barrier on Concorde and the better insulation tiles for the Shuttle. Instead they were all consigned to museums and with that a negative backward feeling now exists. You know it can be better, as we lived through that now past era of huge ideas and advancement that actually came true and real.
But you can still relive a little of what one machine of that era was, in the Concorde. Dr Gary Hunter created a Concorde for X-Plane9®, so yes this aircraft is old now even by X-Plane standards. It didn't fly very well either lately because of the advances of the simulator, so an update to v10.50 was carried out and the aircraft has been gratefully passed over to the X-Plane.Org to be released... yes that is right this Concorde is for free!
And no matter which way you look at it this aircraft is still one of the very best looking machines ever built, The modeling is slightly old, but not enough not to make it feel totally outdated.
The panel is from an era of X-Plane seasons past, and the instruments are quite blurry. But it is totally functional and does have a 3d Virtual Cockpit.
There is also a great engineers station, and you need to watch those fuel gauges, they gulp down fuel like no tomorrow, but hey you are also covering the ground at a one mile every two and three quarter seconds!
Full cabin as well with the all important speed Mach numbers and altitude.
You are seriously moving at m2.2, you can feel the speed even over the smooth Atlantic Ocean, watching my moving map on my iPad, the aircraft is moving as you are watching it even at a high distance, the Nm counter is clicking over click, click, click fast as well... this is no sub-sonic slow ride to China or as in this ride... to New York.
Distances of descent to any airport will need a bigger or longer distance with this machine as it is a long way down from 50,000ft or even 60,000ft if you are game.
Liveries included: Blank or Eurowhite, BA Union, BA Landor, BA Flag, AF, AF Retro, Prototype and Singapore.
New York and "Look Mum, no Flaps!" drop the nose and the speed to 195knts and you get that over familiar hawk look...
The aircraft is surprisingly easy to fly on approach, but watch for a high nose in the air after landing.
Concorde is back in New York!
______________________________________________________________________
There is a big thanks to the work of Dr Gary Hunter in creating this X-Plane Concorde, and now passing it over to Nicolas of the X-Plane.Org for you to download... for FREE!, yes just go to the link below (sign in first) and download this Concorde and go.... Supersonic!
Yes! the My Planes (Dr Gary Hunter) Concorde is available for download here:
CONCORDE
Price is Free!
Features:
Accurate dimensions 2D and basic 3D Cockpit Object-based model, Very detailed model 8 liveries Cockpits have been totally redesigned. Go to the virtual cockpit and move to the center laterally (right arrow key) then translate backward through the aircraft (shift-pagedown key) to see the virtual cabin interior. All cabin windows are in 3D, and the cabin interior is modeled (seats etc). These differences are most obvious when using LIT textures as you can see inside the cabin more easily. Try circling the plane when flying in low level lighting conditions (sunset for example). Updated and tidied up the 3D virtual cockpit a little. The horizon is 3D now but its hard to notice so I may drop it in future versions. All fuselage doors are operable using keys 8 fuel tanks Full 3D Model Regular Concorde and Concorde 'B' included
The model B was to have been the definitive airline version of Concorde, produced from airframe number 17 onwards. As production stopped at airframe number 16, the model B never actually took to the air, though much of the design work and improvements were retrofitted to existing Concordes. The most noticeable difference would have been the big wing of the model B, non-afterburning (more powerful) engines and a much greater range. This version also features an airbus style “glass” cockpit.
______________________________________________________________________
Overview by Stephen Dutton
6th October 2016
Copyright©2016: X-Plane Reviews
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Stephen got a reaction from -VETTE in Elanport : ATR72 - 500 Liveries
Yes like a cloud of dust ELANPORT is gone! poof!
A real waste as his work was top notch, but he just disappeared off the face of the earth... SD
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Stephen got a reaction from -VETTE in Elanport : ATR72 - 500 Liveries
Yeah, I don't like the Elanport registration Either... not realistic.
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Stephen got a reaction from drijanthony in Behind the Screen : July 2017
Behind the Screen : July 2017
This edition of "Behind The Screen" brings X-PlaneReviews to its 4th Anniversary or four years into the world of X-Plane simulation and all its glories.
1st August 2013 was the start date and here we still are in 2017. I am surprised more than you would be actually. My usual personality was that I would totally devour any fascination with something within months, then move my attention quickly on to something else and then devour that, so I expected my then X-Plane fad to pass within a few months, soon bored and then wanting even more simulation from another source and that is how I have lived my life. But no here I still am and that from my perspective that is eternally fascinating.
The so called fad started earlier, back in 2011. A Mac Mini and X-Plane9, then my trusty iMac of which still all the X-PlaneReviews work is still outputted from, but a move to Windows was required to run X-Plane in a serious requirement for the site. Before X-PlaneReviews I wrote for XSimReviews, a crazy place with Simon and Chip but a great introduction to the X-Plane community, then a short spell with ASN (Aerosoft Sim News) but then the option to run my own site was a call from the ether and thus X-PlaneReviews was created 1st August 2013.
So then why am I still doing X-Plane. Why still the total fascination with a simulation program for aircraft? My first reasons was to fly, or fly correctly. Being slightly deaf since childhood an actual career in aviation was never going to happen, but I love aviation in all its forms. The odd thing was that I was pointed to X-Plane because it was the best simulator for a Mac, I tried early Microsoft simulators and Fly! but I have been always a Steve Jobs believer (even through the weird times) and so X-Plane it had to be. In some ways I saw the Steve Jobs vs the monolith Microsoft as part of the X-Plane to Flight Simulator or the creative vs monopoly and I still think that is still relative, but like Apple then X-Plane is getting the traction with the best product.
But it still comes back to the point of why am I still totally fascinated with X-Plane. There are a load of reasons, but basically the simulator is still totally endlessly interesting, very creative and very diverse. You don't have to be totally in love with aviation to be part of it (though that does help) but it does attract very creative people willing to donate their time. Many move up higher to not only contributing to X-Plane but making their living from it. Let us get this straight that no one will ever be made rich from X-Plane except for maybe Laminar Research, but that is missing the whole point on why it actually works.
There is always a lot of comment out in the world that life is better when you have stuff, bigger house, better car and a load of cash in the bank, it helps of course but in reality it is a very empty existence, our world today is built in to create status and yet in reality do we really admire tossers that in reality contribute nothing but only take for their own vanity and undeserved accolades for being in reality only shallow human beings, and for some reason these tossers actually think they are better than you and me for reasons only known to their selfish selves.
X-Plane is actually the opposite of that, and thankfully the simulator does show that a.. human beings can actually get along with each other, b.. that there are no racial or continental barriers and that we live in a brilliant unthought of online electronic world were we are all connected together by one endeavour to do something that we all can participate in together with a common goal in to learn, be creative and to contribute. X-Plane is the internet dream come true in reality, a modern day society and an entity to itself. There is no doubt more and even bigger online societies than X-Plane, but it is its ideals and goals that give it a status we should all be proud of. More importantly is the fact the simulator is fulfilling, by giving you receive, X-Plane gives you something you can't buy... happiness.
X-PlaneReviews and in fact my reasoning for being part of X-Plane is to be part of the living organism and give to build a better place for people to enjoy a community. The aim of the site is to promote peoples creativity, guide and to showcase what X-Plane has to offer the world.
My place is not to put myself on a pedestal and say this or that is good or not. Obviously as the standards in the simulator are getting now to a very high level, certainly as X-Plane11 takes the level now quite high in quality and demands. My position is to highlight the great work being done out there and what we can experience on our screens in real time flying. Photorealistic vision is now commonplace and not just in your dreams, as noted the standards are now extremely high, and to a point a high barrier for any new budding developer that wants to enter the market.
This is now far removed from the time I started in X-Plane, the basics in reality has not changed, but everything else has. My contribution with this site is to showcase X-Plane to the world and spread the gospel, but also to be source of information to enhance your simulation experience. To a point a lot of it is very complicated and needs to be explained in layman's terms but it is in the hints and the way I use X-Plane that others can get the very best out of the simulator as well. The site has always promoted talent and creativity, and although I would like to cover almost everything released for X-Plane but that is simply not possible. So I see the site as a sort of filter to what is very good to brilliant, or items that do have potential in X-Plane in the future, or simply what is very good does always rise to the top. This does result in most times that reviews are more to the positive than the negative, that is because I mostly only filter out the areas that are in the average or to not waste your time on.
Opinions and criticism is an interesting area, we are a review site, but the points are that we are reviewing the items for two audiences, one the paying purchasers and two the creators and developers of the product for X-Plane. For the first you want an overall view of the product you are paying for and is it worth your hard earned cash.
The important element to our reviews which I have stated numerous times is what I call the "value" aspect of what you purchase. Anything bought has no value unless you use it, and often. Scenery is the most notable because it is out there somewhere unless you actually fly there, if you never fly there then it is waste of money and to those who do hoard huge collections of scenery freeware or not, then it still has no value unless you use it and the same with aircraft in the fact if you don't fly it it has been a waste of cash. So purchase or download only what you will actually use, and build up clever networks that take full advantage of the X-Plane experience, I know because I was the worst hoarder ever... I mean ever!
Reviews of developers products is a harder game. No one and certainly not me wants to criticise someone's great work and worse have them have the loss of sales at the release, this is their reward time after all. But the aim is to be fair to both parties.
The buyers deserve something good for their cash and in my mind at least a certain level of quality and features for the purchase price, the problem is as noted is that the level is going up and up and is now quite high.
But let us be frank that some of developers are asking more than their actual product is worth for the return on their investment, a bigger problem lately is that to many developers are now releasing product before they are ready for the market and then get really annoyed when you point that actual fact out, the "I'll release it and fix it up later" is better left to Apple and other online business than X-Plane. Certainly I understand that everything in X-Plane is always under development and nothing is in reality is ever finished, but the prospect of cash coming in can in most cases totally override the point of reason in that the product usually only needed a more short points of time to clean up the and fine tune the product and it is usually only a few months extra work for bigger sales. They just don't see that a reputation is hard earned and is just as easily lost by assuming that the punters will simply buy what they put in front of them and are aghast in the fact that reviewers will note that their product is not actually ready for sale. But come to their next release and the punters are certainly are going to be wary even if the product is far better. Reputation is consistency and quality, get the equation right and you will do well, the best and successful developers are the ones that take care of the tiny details as much as as the broad canvas.
Some developers do get your admiration as well. They release, but work quickly and efficiently to deliver a fully rounded product in a short period of time and quickly do sort out the areas of bugs and details.
So criticism is a fine line between noting the issues and not deriding the product, an issue is an issue to be faced and fixed, If you don't note it then a thousand voices on the forums will tell you anyway and there is the point to be made. X-PlaneReviews does note that, It is not a personal vendetta on any developer or product, but the simple fact there are areas to be addressed on the product and its purchase price, and that X-PlaneReviews is still here after four years and for many more it is testament to that. Credibility is hard won in the age of "fake news" but in reality I think it is needed now more than ever to give users the best information and the best ideas that X-Plane has to offer, but overall the past four years the development has been astounding and more this year than any of my past time in X-Plane have I had with no exaggeration more jawdropping experiences from the return from the simulator.
X-PlaneReviews Site
The X-PlaneReviews site has evolved as well. On the surface the layout has not changed that much in many ways, but it has in lots of others. We are bound by the IPB board systems layouts, but that is to our advantages and not the negatives. Yes we have twiddled with various ideas and layouts, but the one we use is there for a reason. The main objective is that the site is available to everyone and everywhere.
Yes we could have loads of fancy huge graphics (I am a graphic designer) and loads of buzzy animation, but the site is built around speed to download, and to be perfectly available on every platform from desktop to smartphones to tablets and any other portable device we use. There is no use in have big expensive graphics if you can't scale them on to the various different devices, and what looks nice on a desktop, is mostly horrible on an iPhone or iPad, so simple layouts do have a job to do and we have worked very hard not only in the look of the site but in the way the reviews are actually laid out on all the platforms.
Changes on the IPB have helped in site over the years as well, but the biggest has been the ability to size the images in the site. This aspect gives you the flexibility to highlight areas in the review, but in most cases just to show off the great images you can now achieve in X-Plane, which are almost photographic quality in X-Plane11.
One area that is a minor note is that every now and again the IPB will do an in house update. These updates over the last few years have created a few visual issues in the way the layouts are set out in the reviews. They scrunch up was they lose their spacing and a few graphics in logos have disappeared? The reviews can be edited back to their correct form and we endeavour to cover them all, but we did do them and then the IPB reupdated and sent them all back to zero again, so yes a few reviews are not laid out correctly, but we are getting through them and reediting (again) them back to their correct form. Problem is there are over a thousand reviews now, so it takes time to fix them all up.
X-Plane Simulator
Overall it is the sheer change the X-Plane simulator has created within the years that have been part of the experience. When I started most simulation punters were noting the end of the desktop simulation and that the golden years were now behind it. The naysayers went on and on that the shrinking hoards were going to other areas to get their thrills. Personally I think that is a load of tosh. In fact X-Plane when I joined had only 183.000 registered users, currently officially there are 464,709 registered users and yes a certain amount of the registrations are not regular users, but the numbers are still rising, still joining and X-Plane will certainly pass half a million users by the years end. That is not simulation in retreat.
You feel it in reviewing as well. When I started reviewing you had maybe a major payware release twice a year, maybe three. Now it is mostly bi-monthly with groups of major releases before the Christmas and Easter holidays. Mostly there was a feature release of say a scenery or plugin twice a month, now it is mostly three a week, we used to have slow periods and heavy periods, now you are busy every week, every day.
Most weeks we try to post two to three reviews, so take a few days off or have a holiday (ha!) and you quickly fall behind.
Workload
There is certainly an enormous amount of information to process, a huge amount to learn and layout for you to read. And the sheer depth of the simulation now in X-Plane was simply unthinkable when I started.
Setting up scenery and certainly aircraft does take time. Most high-end aircraft take around twenty minutes even before you start the engines, just like the real thing and if your computer is having an off day and won't co-operate even if you yell at it, then it gets all a little of "hows your father".
A few tricks can save time. I try to vary the reviews as much as I can to not bore you to death with the same scenery and viewpoints. But solid routes can and does help in comparison between the different versions of the same aircraft and it does a sort of continuity in the same theme. But a lot of the time is wasted in programming out FMS (Flight Management System) navigation systems. I have created cheat sheets that covers all SID/STAR and waypoints with required the frequencies for certain routes. The main area that you lose time is finding correctly working waypoints and SID and STAR routes, certainly you can download routes from the internet, but these are tried and tested inputs that will deliver the complete gate to gate required route without any complications across a variety of aircraft. It works, but mostly in the fact that when I input the route in it will not give me an error to be found in a non-existent fix or a STAR that is not correct with the runway (A lot of STAR's will turn you in too close to the runway or send you miles away to an odd entry fix, just try LIRF if you want to have some fun).
But the wonderlust does still happen, that draw that should have faded years ago is still there, not flying and you get ichy, even addictive, you just want more and X-Plane is the drug that just keeps on giving... I just hope I don't end up in Rehab!
July 2017
I nearly did end up in care in July. After a heavy six months my eyesight finally gave up early in the month after another bad cold in late May that I never really got over. Blurred vision, bad headaches and a drop in eyesight meant I needed new glasses. But it was still a week with the old ones till they arrived. Then the last week of July I got another cold that floored me again and this is the third this year... I am so over colds.
It was a busy month as well with plenty of releases, with some really great scenery including LAXv2, Salvador Bahia and ENBR-Bergen Norway. The X-Plane11 compatibility aircraft roll-out continued as well with aircraft from Carenado with their B1900D, B200 and PA-34 Seneca V. Rotate updated their amazing MD88 Pro to v1.31 and SSG updated their E-170 and B748 and Wilson's Aircraft DC-8 got the compatibility make over as well.
I really liked the work in progress DC-3 by VSKYLABs, Great to fly, but slightly hindered by average textures, I think it is a great DC-3 for X-Plane and one aircraft to watch and at that price a real steal if there ever was one, it was an aircraft you just couldn't forget or want to move on from.
So there was a few reviews I didn't get around to in July because of the colds and don't mention a summer holiday will help. I live in Australia and it is winter here (like in Games of Thrones) and not in the hot throws of summer, so hopefully August will be a time to catchup.
I am still in throes with XPRealistic Pro's, amazing effects and did a landing at SBSV Salvador in the default B737 that I replay to death just to experience it over and over again, well worth the money.
I am still a huge fan of xEnviro, but the developers are wearing a lot of users patience really thin in July almost to the point of breaking point. Their instance to wait for the next update in 1.07 is fine, but it is eight months since the last update? The real issue is their insistence of the plugin being directly connected to their server to work, fine, but again if the server goes off line which it has done three times in July then you get a bad CTD (Crash To Desktop) on either starting up XP or in mid-flight. I myself lost a full days work because the sever was off line for a full day, then the work had to be totally redone to match when the server came back on-line, xEnviro has its moments with frame-rate crashes in X-Plane11 as well, that also needs an update... And here is crux of the problem.
The xEnviro team is doing itself no service and other developers should to take note on how to NOT create a good reputation and the subsequent loss of future sales by not doing a simple service update. The problem is worse by the fact xEnviro have boxed themselves into a corner in the fact that the big update coming is now months overdue as problems arose, and those problems are compounded that the big update is too far along now to fix even the basic areas that need addressing.
The lesson to all developers here is keep it simple and have regular updates. Just an earlier simple update to bring the plugin up to X-Plane11 compatible and unlink the plugin from the server if it is down, would have saved them (and us) a lot of torment. Users would have been more than happy to wait a longer period for the bigger featured update as their current "updated" version still runs nicely along, instead xEnviro gets a lot of very bad press every time it does a donkey and a lot of flack... and to be honest it is mess of their own creation... that is the lesson to be learn't, but will they learn it?
So July 2017 was a chaotic month, but with X-PlaneReviews starting into it's fifth year we will move on and to something bigger and better. The site is as always reliant of other people to function. First thanks goes out to all the developers that give out such outstanding work, they all have created this amazing intimate world with their creativity. I spend a lot of time with many of them, and although they wonder why I am there suddenly 100% then disappear only to reappear again later and it is that because there are so many projects ongoing, and I try to follow all of them, but time is limited. Overall I try to see for the benefits of X-Plane on how the work is going forward.
Laminar Research is always a foundation we constantly complain about, but in reality they have really delivered in the last few years. It is a far more professional business today than when I entered X-Plane. Give them a round of applause I think they have deserved it.
The X-Plane.Org and the X-Plane.OrgStore is the centre of our X-Plane universe, take both out of the equation and would X-Plane be were it is today, would this site even exist? I would doubt it. A lot of users note it is a monolith, but I see it as a steady hand in allowing the simulator to thrive as passionate people give a lot of their free time to help and give service to so many others, both Laminar Research and the X-Plane.Org are two binary stars orbiting each other that keeps the balance and the X-Plane engine running, surviving, so it is important we support both.
I have no problem in saying X-PlaneReviews supports the X-Plane.OrgStore because they do supply a lot of the releases for reviews, it allows us to cover a far larger area than most review sites, but my real reason for supporting the X-Plane.OrgStore is because it supports X-Plane in the best way it can in service, and developers trust it and the users do as well, in other words it is a sound foundation you can rely on and that is a rare thing in this day and age.
But overall it is the users, you that make X-Plane work... see you all next month.
Stephen Dutton
1st August 2017
Copyright©2017: X-Plane Reviews
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Stephen got a reaction from Rivegauche610 in News! - Aircraft Release - PA-44 Seminole by Alabeo
News! - Aircraft Release - PA-44 Seminole by Alabeo
Continuing the run of Native American aircraft names after Navajo, Chieftain and now here comes the PA-44 Piper Seminole from Alabeo for X-Plane. The Seminole is a twin-engined development of the a development of the Piper Cherokee single-engined aircraft and is primarily used for multi-engined flight training.
The aircraft has been in production since the Seminole was built in 1979-82, in 1989-90, and again since 1995 to the present. The Seminole resembles the competitive Beechcraft Duchess because of its high-T tail configuration.
The Seminole is designed with the old world dials and gauges, but a very nice equipment stack gives you the best of both worlds.
High quality Alabeo/Carenado design insures great flying and in comfort.
Features Include:
Custom sounds
Full Xplane 10.5 and X-Plane 11 compatible
Volumetric side view prop effect
High quality 3D model and textures.
Blank texture for creating your own designs.
Accurately reproduced flight characteristics
64-bit
FPS-optimized model.
Included in the package is:
5 hd liveries
1 Blank texture
Normal Procedures PDF
Emergency Procedures PDF
Performance tables PDF
PA44 Autopilot PDF
Quick Reference PDF
Recommended Settings PDF
Technical Requirements required are:
Windows XP -7-8 (or higher) or MAC OS 10.8 (or higher) or Linux
Fully XP11 Compatible or X-Plane 10.5x
i5 (or equivalent) 2.5 GHz - 8GB RAM - 2GB Video card
435MB available hard disk space
The PA-44 Seminole is available right now from Carenado for both X-Plane10 and X-Plane11...
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The PA-44 Seminole by Alabeo is NOW available! here :
PA44 Seminole
Price is US$32.95
Images & Text are courtesy of Carenado©
Developer site : Carenado.com
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Stephen Dutton
5th May 2017
Copyright©X-Plane Reviews: X-PlaneReviews
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Stephen got a reaction from unsquashable1 in Aircraft Update : Embraer EMB -110 Bandeirante v2 by Dreamfoil Creations
Aircraft Update : Embraer EMB -110 Bandeirante v2 by Dreamfoil Creations
Dreamfoil Creations's Embraer 110 Bandeirante was the surprise package in X-Plane last year. We have always expected great aircraft from Dreamfoil, but in helicopters and not as released here in fixed-wing aircraft. This was a quality well designed machine with the best Dreamfoil features combined with the detail of a great regional Turbo-Prop.
As noted in X-PlaneReview's release review Aircraft Review - Embraer EMB -110 Bandeirante by Dreamfoil Creations. The Embraer was not the easiest aircraft to fly either in being very challenging on takeoff and extremely difficult in landing. But that is why we love the aircraft deeply, it is a really great simulation to tax our skills and deliver great experiences in the reward of honing your skills to master the machine.
There was a small patch update not long after the release in July last year. But that was required to just do a little nip and tuck to cover some areas that is usually required after the initial release. This is a full update, but not that big really in the whole scheme things but it does deliver a few new features which are both really great additions and a big help in the cockpit.
There are now two versions of the aircraft to select from in first the standard version (above) that has the original Collins sets for Comm 1/VOR1-Comm 2/VOR2 and the Trimble Navigation TNL 2100 GPS unit. The new version noted as the "GPS" is the default X-Plane Garmin G530 top and the smaller G430 GPS unit below. Of course they cover the Comm 1/VOR1-Comm 2/VOR2 radio sets and the navigation/route is also built in.
The units pop-out for ease of use as well. I loved the original classic units, but you just can't go past the functionality of the default Garmin's built into the simulator. If you are doing a lot of sector to sector flying and including many different destinations in one day, then these units can certainly help out with the workload in programming and in use. In the Embraer they look really good as well and give the panel a more modern look.
Second new feature is the awkwardly placed Autopilot (rear pedestal) is now a pop-up panel as well.
In real life the AP system would be easy to access, but in X-Plane and with all its scrolling or changing of views it is more of a distraction than a help in the times of heavy workload in the cockpit. Now the access is quick and easy with just a touch of the Autopilot annunciators panel to pop it into view, select then quickly hide the panel again... to easy. Only note is don't try to scroll the pitch wheel on the panel as it will only move the actual panel around your screen. You need only to select (top or bottom) the DN or UP selections and hold them down to change the aircraft's pitch. Arrows used on the pedestal version are small hands on the pop-up panel.
Another small change is you can now hide the yokes by clicking on them.
A slightly strange one as you can touch the yoke to disappear but you only remove the top of the yoke and leave the column in place. In most cases the whole yoke and column usually totally disappear.
The rest of the v2 update is fine-tuning in improved flight model, improved consumption and the incorrect consumption gauge. A small annoying hot start bug and improved intertior textures that were very good anyway. The engine nozzles have been improved as you don't have that blank black out if you look out of the cabin windows directly down the nozzle, a small but nice improvement there. A user noted the lighting on the aircraft was still the old pre X-Plane 10.45 blobby effect, but I found the lighting perfect.
Summary
This v2 is a very nice nip and tuck update with a few but very worthwhile new features in the Garmin GNS430/530 addition and pop-up Autopilot. A hugely enjoyable and challenging aircraft to use and fly, I loved the Embraer 110 on release and the v2 update just seals the deal on a great aircraft.
The Dreamfoil Creations Embraer EMB -110 v2 Bandeirante is available from the New X-Plane.Org Store here : Embraer EMB-110 Bandeirante
And is priced at only US$29.95
Current version is v2.0. The X-Plane.Org Store version is the correct version, just go to your X-Plane.OrgStore account and update. If you have not updated from the original release version (1.4) then download the current version.
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Requirements : Windows XP, MAC, Linux - X-Plane 10.30+ (any edition). 32 and 64bit compatible - Pentium 3 GHz+ - 1Gb VRAM Recommended
Current version: 2.0 (last update March 6th 2016)
Developer Support Site : Embraer 110 by Dreamfoil Creations .Org Support
V2 Full Changelog:
- fixed hot start bug - fixed incorrect consumption gauge - improved flight model - improved consumption - improved interior textures - Fixed flicker in the panel - added popup AP panel - added GNS 430 and 530 - added the hide and show yoke - added nozzle effect in the engines - documentation reviewed ______________________________________________________________________
Stephen Dutton
Updated : 9th March 2016
Copyright©2016: X-PlaneReviews
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Stephen got a reaction from unsquashable1 in Aircraft Review : Embraer E-Jet 170LR Evolution by SSG
Aircraft Review : Embraer E-Jet 170LR Evolution by SSG
Supercritical Simulation Group's (SSG) first release was the Embraer E-Jet E-170 back in 2013. At the time of the release the aircraft was a step forward with many good ideas and features and the aircraft flew very well. But in X-Plane times move along quickly and what was once good can be average in a short space of time. But the basics were good and certainly with the external model, but the internal cockpit quickly showed its age.
So here is the "Evolution" of that aircraft in the "E-Jet 170 Evolution", yes the word is in there to represent that this is a complete move forward in from that original concept and SSG have also kept the best of the original design and have completely redesigned the weaker areas and incorporated also the best ideas and features of their Boeing 748i Series aircraft.
From the outside the E170LR Evo looks pretty much the same, and so it should as it was a very pretty aircraft in the first place.
But the external design has had quite a significant makeover, detail is multiplied by a huge degree. Certainly a few major items have been retained like the landing gear, but overall the differences between the two images below as they are now vastly different.... as a highlight look at the detail and rivet work around the front cargo door. Just look at the door hinge and the wing light assembly and even the text is now readable.
The cockpit has had an even bigger makeover, from the old...
.... to the Evo new
No trickery or Photoshop effects here, just the different versions in the same place and time. You can see how dull the displays are compared to the brightness of the new versions.
Certainly a huge advance over the earlier displays, and I really like the inner lighter to darker surrounds in the Artificial Horizon area and the new Vertical Profile feature. But there are two things that are to be noted. The text is in "bold" and not the ordinary "regular" and that makes the text look bloated and more blurry than it should, and all the displays don't have any cockpit reflections, which is standard-normal today with aircraft in this price range.
Otherwise you are looking at a complete redesign of the panels, textures and only a few small panel items are carried over.
Overhead panel looks better as well. Old version on the left and the new Evo version on the right, and in content nothing is different, but everything is new including the overhead map lights.
Centre pedestal looks the same, but again the refinements are discrete but highly effective, the Communication Panel shows the higher detail. One thing is very different on the pedestal though is the FMC, we will get to that in a moment.
Menus
The Evo's menu's have had a big makeover. In the original the single menu was covered by a grainy view of the rear cabin, which looked a little crappy. Now you have a twin option display and a third position with a blank screen.
First options page (1) covers the external items in: Doors, Pushback and GPU - Show/hide: Yoke, Seat, Rain and Stair - Field of View and select lbs or kg. (All doors and windows are available on Custom Key sliders as well if required.)
Second Options page (2) covers aircraft setup with: Aircraft payload with % percentages, ZFW (Zero Fuel Weight) & Payload weight, Payload settings and Fuel load and defuel. You can do the fuel either manually or use the FMC for loading.
The options now available on the Evo are great, and are far better than the small list on the Original version. All doors now open, including the front and rear service doors. Lower cargo doors are also now usable as well.
Cockpit windows can also be opened (below), but only on the menu and not by the usual handle grab and pull which feels odd.
Excellent GPU (Ground Power Unit) and an outstanding feature is the excellent stand/stairs, with the great idea of when you change the livery the logos on the stand also change... Brilliant!
Pushback truck is very well modeled, but is that stick pendulum action that is used on SSG's B748i which I am not crazy about, it is hard to use as you can only control it (forward/Aft) by the menu and you can't look in two places at once... you need key options to make it effective.
Both the Yoke and Captain's seat can be hidden, but with both out you have quite a hole in there, one click also hides both yokes.
Cabin
The cabin has been overhauled with a more modern dark/grey look with snazzy lighting compared to the more late nineties look (above left lower). It looks very nice but there are issues with the movement from the flightdeck rearwards. Open the door and use the X-Plane keys to head to your seat and there is gap between the two virtual sections, sometimes you get through but sometimes you don't... It gets weirder in finding your view out you find missing pieces of the aircraft and in this case the airbrake spoilers (above right lower) are missing? With a lot of the cabin blinds either closed or half open your view selection is also limited. Beacon shines away on the ceiling as well.
Flying the E-Jet 170 Evolution
Route: KATL (Atlanta) to KDCA (Washington National)
DAL375 is the perfect route for this aircraft, a hop to the upper eastern seaboard in a shuttle service from Atlanta to Washington.
The E-Jet 170LR Evo now comes with the functional Honeywell Primus Epic 1000 FMC that is housed in two Multifunction Control Display Units (MCDU) at the top of the pedestal. This version is provided by Javier Cortes under the FJCC banner.
The FMC faceplate pops-out for ease of input and use, and click with the F8” key in Windows and Linux with “fn” and “F8” keys simultaneously on a Mac to make the pop-up visible.
Javier Cortes makes great FMC's with a lot of functions and details, but the interface is not very elegant and highly procedural. Get an input wrong and there is no get out but to start all over again, or mess up all your load's of time and work already submitted to the system. And that makes them frustrating to use until you finally work out the correct way that Jarvier is thinking and has set out the route to get all the inputs in line correct to get the final result. It works well when you do understand it, but the system is totally unforgiving, which unlike Philipp Münzel's designs that if you make a mistake you then just correct it, then "Exec" (Execute) and move on with your programming.
But confusion reigns when you load in your SID (Standard Instrument Departure) and mostly over and over in that the "Exec" is actually the "Route" button, where as normally "Route" takes you to the flightplan to load in your waypoints. There is no "Exec" either? so any changes are hard to input and "route" with the input point remember then disappears? To make clear there are two "Route" functions in RTE and ROUTE?
Add in more confusion in the fact that "Route" changes to "Step" in the flightplan (FPL) mode and that then becomes the "Exec" button and as you go through the flightplan the with the STEP (after doing a "Exec" to insert the current flightplan) then the <CTR> position position disappears after the first click down?
Get to your Flightplan and you will be scratching your head in that the departure airport is noted as your arrival airport? (upper right). There is a "DIrect" function but no "DIR" button to activate it. When I did save the (hard won) completed route it didn't save the file?
There is a good "Quick Start" manual that covers a full route from Seattle (SEA) to Los Angeles (LAX) including checklists, but with a FMC this procedural you need a full manual on how it works not only in detail but with arrow diagrams to programme the FMC in the way that Javier is thinking. The FMC is good, but you work with it like a maze with many dead ends or bugs and you find the core by leaving post-it notes on the wall to get it right next time.
With enough time you can the full complete flightplan completed as below, and once it is figured out it is easier to use, but a more flexible way of inserting a flightplan is required at the core of the programming, so it is for the experts only. To help there is a video available in programming the FMC and I have included it below...
The map view zoom is on the pedestal... a nice touch. You can use the direct keyboard input by pressing the blank button below the FPL button and the words "KEYB" appears below to show you that you are in that mode.
The built-in FMC is compatible with AeroSoft's NavDataPro and Navigraph navigation databases.
Multi-Function Display (MFD)
There are two drop-down menus in the multi-function display with the MAP on the right and SYSTEMS on the left.
MAP covers covers your: Nav-Aid, Airports, WPTs, PROGRESS (details on the route), Vertical Profile (Lower MFD, Very Nice!), TCAS and Weather and Terrain is on the lower selections.
SYSTEMS covers the standard set of pages that cover the aircraft systems...
Areas covered include: Status, FltCtrl (Flight Controls), Hydr (hydraulics), Fuel, Elec (Electrical), and Anti-Ice.
Route locked in and the the aircraft ready it is time for departure. Start sounds are good with the Dreamfoil Sound plug-in installed, but not highly detailed and it is slightly too quiet in the cockpit. There is not that real sound detail in Air-con packs or with rear pumps starting to run, but it is good by most standards.
Forward lighting is good with three landing lights with two in the inner wings and one front on the front wheel strut. There is a separate taxi-light (front strut) Side lights (taxiway turn) and wing Inspection lights.
Pushback truck is called and controled via the upper mid-screen menu. Truck turns like it is on a stick pendulum of which I am not a fan, but it works. Harder to use are the small ticks on the menu screen to control it and your view is looking far away from the windows to find those small controls above and guessing where to stop your pushback point... a few keyboard controls would help.
Departure was via KATL RWY08R...
Taxi speed is easily controlled and you can place the aircraft perfectly on the centre line by using the kink in the glareshield.
Throttle up and if the settings are correct in the FMC you will have FLEX TO-1 automatically, vSpeed tags are also in the Flight Display. Like the Airbus displays you have speed parameters in red and yellow go or no go zones (alpha floor).
MAP Display and Vertical Profile is very good (shame about the BOLD text)... With the Yoke in place it is a little tight to all the displays through the ram design, but it looks very good.
The manipulators are a bit tight in their active areas, and so are hard to use effectively. The V/S (Vertical/Speed) wheel is the worst but also the most highly used for constant adjustments. You use it by two small arrows (find them if you can?) and usually with these sort of arrowed manipulators you hold them down to turn the wheel either up or down... not here, as they are to be used as a button press per + or - minus altitude change. So they flicker and you search, find them and get usually the arrow you don't want and you are trying to fly an aircraft while buzzing around the Autopilot panel in the area in just wanting to adjust your V/S angle. As with everything you get used to it and clicking one click at a time, but I found in heavy work periods they are seriously frustrating. A lot of the other half-moon manipulators are also too close together and hard to find. Another quirk is the "BANK" as it is two Arrows? and with no indication on the MFD you don't know how to activate the bank function, or if it is actually activated... I think it is on, I think.
On the same subject of manipulators, on the original version the engine start plastic covers were a pain to open and close. The idea has been change from a single click and start to separating the opening of the covers with a click and then a half-moon manipulator to start. It works, but just as the manipulator active area is so small you need a lot of patience to actually find it, and getting right down by the floor behind the pedestal will help you finally find that coveted opening hot spot...
Three PROG... Progress pages have a load of information, and the FMC is accessible in the air.
Route data and two page radio is very good. The E-Jet series was always a nice machine in the air, and the quality shows from all viewpoints. External sounds are again good but not over brilliant, but you don't get that distance droning that tires you out.
Lighting
The cockpit lighting is years away better than the original version, and very nice it is too. There is not a huge amount of adjustment because I don't think the real aircraft has a lot either. The downlighting of the main displays looks lovely, but the higher glareshield is more darker. The two overhead spot-lights are just a Storm/Dome set and are non-adjustable.
External lighting is good and standard fair. As noted you have inspection lights and wing lights and the logo tail lighting looks nice at night.
Arrival at Washington is via IRONS5 into RWY 01. Target altitude on the PFD (Primary Flight Display) is a great help in getting your correct altitude at the right distance from the airport correct. Great working VOR2 and ADF 1 & 2 pointers (selectors arrowed) in the lower PFD are excellent for navigation and lining up your final approach.
There is not a lot of wind-rush in the air, but great noise sounds when you drop the landing gear, so you get that I'm ready for landing feel.
There is a nice feel also from the controls to get the aircraft into a position for landing, overall the aircraft is very nice to fly manually, but who does that anymore with a modern regional airliner, automation in here is now in control.
But manual flying I am doing on this approach. The E-170LR will allow you with FULL flap go down into the middle-twenties with approach speed, but beware that get it just too slightly slower and it will stall on you very quickly, so it is best to stay in the low 130knts range which is safer and more controllable
The complex flaps and their animation is beautifully done, but my feather-weight landing didn't activate the wing spoilers that are automatically activated on landing.
The reversers are excellent in fine detail...
Regional flying is hard work with multiple sectors in one day, so it is off with one load and get ready for the next....
Liveries
You get a wide selection of very good liveries, this (above) is the "New" factory E170 livery which is very nice.
You also get mostly two sets of the same livery in a "Clean" version and a "Dirty" version, I have shown all the dirty versions here because of space.
Factory livery (old version) is also the default.
Liveries double include Air Canada, Air France, Alitalia (New), British Airways, American Eagle, Delta Connection, Eygptair, Agean Airlines (Clean only), Azul, Flybe and JAL.
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Summary
Three years can be a long time in X-Plane, and what was once an interesting and detailed aircraft became almost old-fashioned very quickly. This new "Evolution" version does far more than just update an old design to current standards. It is a complete back to the boards and a total redesign of the aircraft and that deep design work certainly shows here. Almost everything is new (you can see a few things moved over but they are just that... few) and so you can't really compare the two but it is nice to see the differences.
There is a huge amount of great features and ideas and I really love the total concept of it all, but there are also small niggly things that should not be on an aircraft of this price range, as this is total pro territory. Yes the aircraft is very professional but that extra 3% in the finish can make or break the aircraft. It just slips over the mark because most of these niggles are easily updated as they certainly will be by SSG, but they should not be there in the first place.
BOLD text looks horrible and no display reflections should not have got to the release stage. Pushback is hard to use and you need to take a deep breath and not look down through the gap if you are going from the cockpit to the cabin or vise-versa. Manipulator activation areas are too small and you can't find the manipulators and they are messy to use, with the V/S the hardest to use of all. Sounds are good, but now they have moved on, expect better in an upgrade. Overall here you are not flying the aircraft as smoothly as you can because of small factors.
The very deep and extensive FMC by Javier Cortes is complex by design and has no elegance in procedure if you make a mistake and sometimes completely confusing if a ) not done one before, or b ) in that some items are duplicated to do the same action and standard button or menu items like a simple (exec) or (direct) are hard to find or use, I understand that the Honeywell unit does not have these functions but there has to be more of an elegance of getting those important actions working correctly. Get a simple command wrong and you are up short street without a torch, and the only way out is to restart the whole thing and start again, and even if you do get it right, it takes way to long (unless you are a total master or the developer) in inputting again the whole plan and aircraft parameters within the usual 30min turnaround time, in most cases you would not put yourself all through that and simply fly something else. And that is a real shame as the aircraft is overall very good to excellent when it all programmed in correctly, it is just getting to that point. No doubt FMC's are hard to use and programme, but they also have a simplicity of the way they do their job.
My advice is to live with this aircraft to really understand the deepness of it. It does have a large learning curve and the FMC in it's current state would need an understanding of how FMC's are programmed and used. Once you use it more then the more it will come to you and the deeper levels of enjoyment the "Evo" can then be brought to the surface. Yes this is a huge and very nice update with a lot of investment by SSG of their E-170LR aircraft, and it has some really great clever features and it is certainly a worthy investment if you like great regional airliners.
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The Embraer E-Jet 170LR Evolution v1.07 by Supercritical Simulation Group is NOW available! from the X-Plane.Org Store here :
Embraer E-Jet170LR Evolution
Your Price: $49.95 Note: if you are already a owner of SSG's E-170LR or the E190 you get upgrade to the "Evolution" version with a US$10 discount! to the price of US$39.95, so Please email [email protected] to get your discount code and include you original purchase order number.
Features: Advanced FMC and Navigation system
Custom-built FMC (done by FJCC) designed for the SSG Evolution Series SIDs, STARs, transitions, approaches, flare and rollout modes. FMC is compatible with AeroSoft's NavDataPro and Navigraph navigation databases. Manufacturer's performance data embedded as tables in the fully functional FMC. Option to use either a 2D pop-up (resizable) FMC or one within the 3D cockpit. Custom radio communication audio consoles optimized for on-line virtual ATC operations. FMC performance information based on real aircraft data, including calculated V-speeds. FMC includes capability for autotuning navaid frequencies. Vertical Situation Display (VSD) on the MFD. Terrain display mode on the MFD, which is a part of the Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System (EGPWS) on the real aircraft.
High-Res 3D modeling complete with detailed animations and textures.
Realistic displays (PFD, MFD with system synoptics, and EICAS) External lights and strobes operating realistically. Display management similar to that in the real aircraft. Autobrakes with anti-skid system that works in all conditions and includes a realistic rejected takeoff mode. Realistic wing flex and other animations. Window rain effects and animated wipers. Option menu incorporated into the cockpit 3D. Ground vehicles include a tow truck, GPU and airstairs. Over 10 detailed liveries comes with the plane Custom systems and Flight Model
Aircraft will meet most of the real aircraft's performance data for consumption, AOA, speeds, flight dynamics, etc. in close consultation with real world E-Jet pilots. Realistic 3D cockpit with high resolution. Many systems are implemented with realistic logic, such as electrical, hydraulic, pneumatic, engine fire extinguishing, fuel, wing and engine anti-ice (including automatic mode), communications, and TCAS. Comprehensive autopilot functioning in modes similar to those of the real aircraft First Officer's MFD display is independent from the Captain's, and MFD has a pop-up option. EICAS messages based on the real aircraft's with lists and scrolling DreamEngine Sound System
3D sounds with DreamEngine plugin.
Requirements
X-Plane 10.45 + (any edition) running in 64bit mode
Windows, Mac or Linux - 64bit Operating System
1Gb VRAM Minimum. 2Gb+ VRAM Recommended
_____________________________________________________________________________________ Installation and documents:
Download for the Embraer E-Jet 170LR Evolution is 606.30mg and the unzipped file is deposited in the "Heavy Metal" X-Plane folder at 952.80mg.
There is a "Quick Start Guide" manual (44 Pages) and comes with included checklist Sheets .
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Review by Stephen Dutton 22nd July 2016 Copyright©2016: 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 10 Global ver 10.45
Addons: Saitek x52 Pro system Joystick and Throttle : Sound - Bose Soundlink Mini
Scenery or Aircraft
- KATL - KATL - Atlanta International by Nimbus (X-Plane.OrgStore) - US$23.95
- KDCA - Ronald Reagan - Washington National by Tropicalsim - No idea if this scenery is still available? And I still call it "National!"
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Stephen got a reaction from unsquashable1 in News! - Aircraft Updated to X-plane11 : Pilatus PC-24 & PC12 by Michael Sgier
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
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Stephen got a reaction from pineda8 in Scenery Review : LEVC - Valencia Manises by DAI-Media
Scenery Review : LEVC - Valencia Manises by DAI-Media
Route : LIRF (Fiumicino, Rome) to LEVC (Valencia Manises)
Valencia Airport in Manises (IATA: VLC, ICAO: LEVC), also known as "Manises" Airport is the 8th busiest Spanish airport in terms of passengers and second in the region after Alicante. It is situated 8 km (5.0 mi) west of the city of Valencia. The airport has flight connections to about 15 European countries and 4,599,990 passengers passed through the airport in 2013. Valencia is a very popular port in the fact that the Americas Cup and Formula One Grand Prix races were held in the city. The airport has one terminal and one runway. The former runway 04/22 is not in use and has no ILS but has a helipad at the southwestern end.
(Images GoogleMaps)
First Impressions
Departure was by Fiumicino's (LIRF) runway 34L to a cruise altitude of FL325. The service from LIRF to LEVC is only around 1h,50m. You cover across the Tyrrhenian Sea to Sardinia and then to cover the Island of Majorca, then direct to Valencia on the east coast of Spain.
A side note on the images, here we are using the Aerosoft "skytools" and the effects are very good in - Sun Halo and 3d clouds. The set I am using is the "chilled air" and "theme 1" settings. And the effects speak for themselves.
Entry into LEVC is via "Mulat" (RIKOS -> TULNO -> MULAT) which is a straight forward approach. We are using runway 30 and arriving from the east.
12/30 3,215m (10,548ft) Asphalt
The Valencia airport is situated a few kilometers (8K) inland, and you cover the south of the city on your approach. The first impression is how well the airport is integrated into the Xplane scenery. Major roads cover the (approach) Eastern boundary (leading to the southern) and northern boundary of the airport. The city is very closely built in to the airport as well. DAI-Media were always very good at this sort of landscape intergration were as the effects between the custom scenery is perfectly aligned with in the default scenery set out around it.
Their process of using photo underlays in being matched to the default landscape is very well done. As a visual approach to LEVC this is very highly rated. You have to be aware however that if you have your default settings for buildings and distance set to high it can use a lot of frame-rate power. The airport itself is very frame-rate friendly, but to get the most of the great effect of the approach you must find the best balance of having your default settings then set to get the best outlying coverage you can.
Runways are extremely well detailed with runway grooves and texture. All runway (and taxiway) lineage and markings are excellent with great visual rubber patches on the turns at intersections. Closer to the single terminal the direction markings are first rate. The terminal is a bit of old and new as most European Airports usually are.
The standard terminal in central but to the right is a new section and left is the newer soaring curved roof design that is the new regional terminal, which includes extended carparks and larger apron area that was recently constructed for the 2007 America's Cup. There are six airbridges on the main terminal that has built in "autogates".
The gates are very well done but are not set to work correctly. You have to come in off the center bay line to align with the system. In the B757 the alignment device ends up somewhere in the first class compartment and the bridge ends up halfway across the aircraft (I will note that the autogates do require the aircraft to be set correctly to align with the gates), but the x737 (which I know is correctly set) is just as badly set out. Your Co-Pilot would have to hang himself outside of his cockpit window to send the instructions to the manoeuvring pilot to align the aircraft?... all alignment system boards are way to close to the aircraft and all settings are not aligned to the bay markings?
The ramp areas are excellent for gated bays and remote parking. There are well placed static aircraft of the correct airlines that service the airport, static aircraft textures can be a little blurry on lower render settings.
The overall feel on the area is excellent in that it is well equipped with plenty of visual stimulation without it being overloaded... in other words the right balance.
Terminal and Central Area
The terminals look to be three buildings but are in fact just one inside. The older cream building is central and the newer glass and steel structures are built on each side. Set out behind the terminal is the well curved and set in carpark, that makes the whole set look well connected and visually appealing. the trademark terminal roof louvers are well set out.
Design work here is excellent with all details well noted, certainly on the newer buildings and their curved roofs and glass areas. The slates on the new right building can be buzzy at points, but that is the way the building is constructed.
There is not a lot of really highly detailed texture work here, but just very good 3d modeling and building design that is one stage above the very good but not totally excellent in the scale of almost everything like rubbish bins and building piping which is the very small stuff that make some of the latest scenery so highly detailed. That said, the scenery here is certainly very good in its design and has very good signage, trees and good carparking details.
All airport buildings are present and many of them slip into the standard default scenery area, in then creating a seemless transition from one to the other. Traffic ramps are well situated between the terminal and the carparks, there is a some traffic around the inside of the airport but not in the central area. The Control Tower is at rear of the terminal is a stumpy affair that has blind spots on some areas of the ramps (the same in the real tower). It is noted to have your "runways follow contours" switched "on". If not you get some building float (carpark).
Ramp side known as "Apron North" there is a lot of detailed work in bollards, caution fences and ramp equipment with plenty of vehicles. There is a lot of space to park the aircraft in the bays, but also plenty of visual equipment to make you feel you have arrived. The main traffic road is well detailed but there is no ground traffic to create any movement.
Cargo and General Aviation
West of the main terminal area is the Cargo area and GA faciities.
By world standards Valencia's cargo hub is quite small, but very busy. The ramps are well marked and there is plenty of space to park your freighter. Like the rest of the airport there are some nice details like pallets and loaders and trolleys but not so much you have to wonder where to site your giant Boeing 747F. Plenty of detail here at the rear with trucks loading and parking space. All airport areas are well fenced with great detailing. Small details I admit, but they make up the difference between good scenery and excellent... and here it is excellent.
The General Aviation area is quite small and Valencia is not really noted as an GA airport. There is a parking area and a refueling area and an Aeroclub (Real De Aeroclub Valencia) large hangar. A single row of hangars also are sited in this area with a large covered (long term) carpark set out behind. Further west is a Golf Club and links that is very well laid out (It is known that police pull out plane spotters out of the links on a regular basis?).
Apron South
As noted runway 04/22 is now not in use but it used to connect over to the South (Apron). It is the main base of Iberia’s regional carrier Air Nostrum which have their base here and the office and maintenance buildings (hangars) are situated over on the south apron area.
There is a small tower and a Cessna dealer noted here also. Ryanair used this area as a southern European maintenance base but with drawn a few years ago. Latest news it that they are back but only in a smaller capacity. There is a big helicopter pad and facilities and Iberia also uses the area to park up and store their spare aircraft.
Night Lighting
Night lighting is uniformly excellent. Great spot lights in the dull daytime with great spread lighting over all the ramp areas with HDR switched "on". Reae terminal lighting is different and looks excellent in contrast to the bright ramp lighting. Terminal building lighting is good and slightly bland but not the focus here. The regional terminal building is more gradiented in its glass and there are people situated in some windows.
Cargo and South Areas are similarly well lit, with not only tower lighting but building down lighting as well.
Runway approach and runway lighting is excellent. Taxiway lighting and direction signs are perfect and the ramp areas are also first rate in throw and brightness. The huge amount of default highway lighting and local lighting around the airport gives it a great view in any direction.
A later in the day as I prepared to leave LEVC the weather changed quite dark and moody. The images here are worth looking at with the new "skytools" and the excellent lighting at Manises. The ground lighting reflections on the low lying cloud layers were very authentic.
Operators
Most services out of Valencia is mostly regional, in fact 50% of flights are to Madrid? A lot of flights are also seasonal, mostly to northern European ports.
Air Algerie - Seasonal: Algiers (begins 26 June 2014)
Air Berlin - Palma de Mallorca
Air Europa - Palma de Mallorca, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Tenerife-South
Air Europa - operated by Swiftair Madrid
Alitalia - Rome-Fiumicino
Blue Air - Bucharest
Darwin Airline - Geneva
EasyJet - London-Gatwick
Iberia operated by Air Nostrum Asturias, Barcelona, Bilbao, Bologna, Gran Canaria, Ibiza, Madrid, Málaga, Menorca, Palma de Mallorca, Seville, Tenerife-North, Seasonal: Arrecife, Funchal
Lufthansa Frankfurt (begins 30 March 2014), Düsseldorf
Niki - Seasonal: Vienna
Royal Air Maroc - Casablanca
Ryanair - Beauvais, Bergamo, Bologna, Brussels (begins February 2014), Charleroi, Dublin, Gran Canaria, Hahn, Ibiza, London-Stansted, Málaga, Marrakech (ends 1 October 2014), Memmingen, Moss/Rygge, Palma de Mallorca, Pisa, Porto, Rome-Ciampino, Santander, Santiago de Compostela, Seville, Tenerife-South, Treviso,
Weeze - Seasonal: Bristol, Manchester
S7 Airlines - Seasonal: Moscow-Domodedovo
SmartWings operated by Travel Service Airlines - Seasonal: Prague
Swiss International Air Lines Zurich
TAP - Portugal operated by Portugália Lisbon
Transavia.com - Amsterdam, Eindhoven, Rotterdam
Turkish Airlines - Istanbul-Atatürk Volotea Asturias, Bordeaux (begins 2 June 2014), Nantes
Vueling - Brussels, Paris-Orly, Rome-Fiumicino, Seasonal: Amsterdam, Ibiza
Wizz Air - Bucharest, Cluj-Napoca, Sofia, Timişoara
Wizz Air Ukraine - Kiev-Zhulyany, Lviv (begins 30 April 2014)
But you do get a nice selection of operators from around Europe and Eastern Europe. Africa is a nice bonus as well. In domestic including Portugal then there is also a lot to choose from. Certainly Air Nostrum dominates here and so does Ryanair. But to pop in and out as a refuel stop with a private jet would not go astray.
Conclusions
I was extremely impressed with DAI-Media's LROP Henri Coanda at Bucharest, RO (LROP Henri Coanda). The airports integration into the default Xplane landscape was one of the best I had seen and so were the runway textures and signage. The 3d work was very good with the newer work but slightly dated with the older main buildings. Here at LEVC the newer work in 3d design is like the best at LROP, So that is its best points, but there is still another level to go to be at the very best end of excellent scenery design. Not with saying this is not very good because it is, certainly far better than most of what Aerosoft deliver and with the far better photo underlay blending in perfectly with the surroundings.
The Golf Course is a point to how well this is done... Most photo underlays (green especially) are gaudy and stand out, here it sublime in the right colour and setting. The amount of building detail is extensive and very well done and everything in requirements are in there. The airport is full of static aircraft, equipment and vehicles but not overwhelmingly so. Only the "autogates" need attention and a few ground traffic animations would be very nice. Lighting through out is excellent except for the slightly bland building windows. The airport itself is not very frame-rate heavy, but your settings need to be adjusted carefully to get the visual aspect of the airport and the surrounding default scenery. If you can turn your settings up high then your in for a treat, for the rest of us we may still get a great visual effect on landing or leaving LEVC but you will be in the low 20's in doing so.
As scenery goes LEVC - Valencia by DAI-Media is very good. Certainly if you use the airport's great position to cover Europe and North Africa, It also a great jumping off point to the many Spanish ports in domestic and out-lying Islands of the Mediterranean (Ibiza/Majorca) and Atlantic (Gran Canaria/Tenerife/Funchal) destinations. The step from Bucharest's LROP to Valencia's LEVC is a good one and it will be interesting in what destination DAI-Media chooses next. Overall this a very good scenery package to have.
Yes! the LEVC - Valencia is now Available from the DAI-Media : LEVC - Valencia Manises
Price is Euro 25.00 € (US$34.16 - current conversion 14th Jan 14)
Installation : Download is 100.80mb that is unzipped into your "Custom Scenery" folder (132.80mb) with a 3 page "read me" manual. Charts are noted but you have to join (and pay) to acquire them.
Requirements:
- Software plataform: X-Plane 10.25
- Specification: Sames like X-Plane 10.25, runways follow contours
- IVAO / VATSIM, compatible.
Current version : v1_1401_1 (last updated Jan 4th, 2014
Review by Stephen Dutton
14th January 2014
©copyright X-Plane Reviews 2014
Review System Specifications:
Computer System:
- 2.66 Ghz Intel Core i5 iMac 27”
- 6 Gb 1067 Mhz DDR3
- ATI Radeon HD 4850 512mb
Software:
- Mac OS Mavericks 10.9
- X-Plane 10 Global ver 10.25 (final)
Addons
- Saitek x52 Pro system Joystick and Throttle
Scenery
- LIRF - Fiumicino, Rome - LIRF Roma Fiumicino Leonardo Da Vinci Airport 2.21 by Seaman (.org)
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Stephen got a reaction from Wim1976 in X-Plane11 : Look, Feel and Visual Features
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
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Stephen got a reaction from MercuryMat in Aircraft Review : Bombardier Challenger 300 by Dden Design
Looks like you have C++ Redistributables missing. If you use Windows they ALL have to be installed. SD
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Stephen got a reaction from U103968 in Aircraft Review : Airbus A350 XWB Advanced by FlightFactor
Aircraft Review : Airbus A350 XWB Advanced by FlightFactor
Of all the battles for supremacy in commercial aviation then nothing is going to compare with the twin engine market. It already has been a ding-dong battle between the Airbus A320 Series and Boeing's 737 Series and between them they have racked up thousands of sales, ongoing now is the next generation in the A320neo and the 737max to battle it out over the next few decades. A size up in aircraft category is also very complicated, as each manufacturer in Airbus and Boeing are both trying to lock in certain sizes in what is known as the "Big Twins" of the market. The Boeing 777 Series in dominating the market in replacing the veritable Boeing 747 has been very successful, but as airlines move away from the large hub and spoke model and back again to the original point to point services, then what was bigger is now not always better. Point to point markets demand very economical and high frequency services and to fit tightly the 200-350 seater markets, known as long and thin.
The Airbus A330 filled this market, but its range and now being an old aircraft by today's standards and is also uneconomical, it's problem is that the -200 version has the range at 13,400 km (7,200 nmi) but is in the 250 seat market in a two class layout, the -300 can reach 300 seats but its range is restricted to 11,300 km (6,100 nmi). So one or the other don't fit. Boeing's solution is the 787 Dreamliner in 7,850 nmi (14,500 km; 9,030 mi) for the 250-300 seats with the -800 version and sweet spot 8,300 nmi (15,400 km; 9,550 mi) 280-330 seats with the -900 version. That slots the B787 nicely below the Boeing 777 and the coming 777X and fills the market.
For Airbus it has been a two pronged attack to find an aircraft to fit below the A380 and go head to head with the Dreamliner and even the lower hanging fruit of the older 777's. Their solution is the A350-800 with 275-300 seats at 15,300 km (8,260 nmi) and the -900 at 14,350 km (7,750 nmi) with 280-350 seats, and the -1000 to cover the 350 - 370 seat market over the same 14,800 km (7,990 nmi) range which is B777 territory... and to just make sure to fill in all points just below the A350, the A330 will be updated to the neo (New Engine Option) to bring that aircraft up to date and competitive. To change things around and make life interesting the -900 version has been produced first to fill in the gap above the B787-800 and go head to head with the B787-900 and the -1000 version will be next for first flight to go for the B777 replacement sales of the earlier built and well into service aircraft.
After the nightmares of the A380 development. Airbus could not want to have any problems in getting the A350 into service and quickly and as efficiently as possible. The timetable was tight, but Airbus in a way played it safe in using the tested, tried and true components from the bigger A380 and not going for a full composite fuselage like Boeing did with the Dreamliner. The results was an almost perfect first flight that was on time and date, and a testing program that ran almost like clockwork, the aircraft received its type certification on 30 September 2014 and the FAA certification on the 12 November 2014, and it is expected to meet its EIS (Entry Into Service) with Qatar Airways due 13th December 2014 with the first commercial service on the Frankfurt - Doha route in mid-Jan 2015.
At this point the -1000 version of the A350 with a 15,600 km (8,400 nmi) and the 350-370 seats range is due next as the -800 version has stalled with the A330neo option filling in the gap quicker. Cathay Pacific expects to take delivery of its first Airbus A350-1000 in February 2016.
The biggest battle confronting the A350 XWB is it's in service performance figures. Naturally the A350-900 will go almost head to head with the B787 Dreamliner in many markets, but the Dreamliner has a major advantage in it has a 20% reduction in fuel costs. Take this ANA Seattle-Tokyo leg for example as a 747-400 needs at least 136,000kg (300,000lb) to make that trip.
The smaller, leaner 777-300ER needs nearly 100,000kg. But the Dreamliner, the only needs 63,500kg for the same Pacific crossing That is less than half of the B744. Yes they are in some ways different sizes of aircraft but the Dreamliner still has a notable 20% operating cost advantage. And those figures will certainly note the end of the B747's reign once the larger A350-1000 and B787-900 become more prominent around the ramps. The B787 does certainly have an operating cost advantage, but its still weaking 98.3% despatch reliability is going to be Airbus's number one target of the EIS of the A350 and its subsequent in service reliability and more importantly also meeting those high % percentage operational savings will only then mean a full order book or the success of the A350 XWB program.
FlightFactor Aero
No one doubts the quality of FlightFactor aero aircraft. Their Boeing 777 and 757 aircraft have been hugely successful and clever in the extension of the different variants in the "Extended" packages. The surprise was the change to another manufacturer in European Airbus in their next project which is this Airbus A350 XWB.
Another challenge was the fact that Airbus aircraft are very highly intergrated with their Fly-By-Wire and Flight Control Laws, the two Boeing's were very good if not excellent in their flying characteristics, but the Airbus is completely a very different animal and only a few developers can or have been able to duplicate these complex systems for the X-Plane simulator. The best is Torsten Leisk that contributed to the QPAC Airbus A320-232 and Peter Hager's Airbus A380 Series, and here the flight laws and associated airbus fly-by-wire systems have been used in this FlightFactor A350 have been created and enhanced for this next generation of aircraft. In other words you fly the A350 more closer to philosophy and laws of flight than any other Airbus aircraft yet developed for X-Plane.
FlightFactor aero have also with this aircraft created a new category or have split their product line into two separate types of aircraft in professional models (i.e. B777 and B757) and now another in the “advanced” version in that pro models have like lighting effects, particles, menus, high HD 3D graphics, textures and totally fully functional cockpits, and the "Adv" versions are noted as not so in depth but are still as hard to fly as the real machines. But in all but most cases here this "Adv" aircraft is still a very in depth simulation and the aircraft delivers more on flight and systems than most other aircraft in this price range and category, in this case you will not or never feel wanting there is something or a lot missing in the operation of the A350-800.
Design wise with the aircraft power off the A350 XWB is very well designed and developed. detailing outside and inside is excellent, but I found the modeling slightly dark and more so inside. Airbuses have a very bright but grey corporate look about them and it is hard to get any directional light in here to lift the gloom a little. That is not to take away the excellent design work on show here. It is first rate and the best you can have today in X-Plane. Detailing abounds... look at the ailerons with no hydraulic pressure to support them... they all droop down. Why bother doing that? but this is the sort of detail you have around you, and excellent it all is. A start up will give you standing figures around the aircraft, this gives any ramp a busy feel and is well done.
The A350 aircraft is a hard aircraft to model in the fact there is not that much information available except what Airbus gives out with their promotional material, there is no official documents and no in service details to gauge how the aircraft performs or is configured to everyday airline use. Remember FlightFactor would have started this project with even less data than what is available now. In that context they have done remarkably well, but we will have to forgive if in a few areas (and certainly in performance) that the numbers can be slightly off until the official ones start to drip through. Same is to be noted if a few things are missing or slightly wrong with the modelling. On the surface it looks absolutely perfect and very well detailed. Some small items look slightly odd at first in the fact the rear bogies are positioned front down and not rear down as with the B747 hanging undercarriage system. It is correct and so you can be sure if items like this are correct then other details are to.
But close up the undercarriage here is surpremely well done, you expect a lot from a design of this price range and the A350 XWB does not disappoint.
Powering up the A350 XWB
Nothing will really work until you give the aircraft power if you want the full immersion of starting from cold. On the overhead (OH) panel there are two main and two backup power battery buttons.
With power supplied you then need to set the ADIRS (Air. Data Inertial Reference System. ) which are three switches top left of the OH panel. Unlike some Airbus (JARDesign) aircraft there is only a short time frame for the ADIRS's to align.
You have to tell the ADIRS the current position of the aircraft. This can be done two ways with the easiest by pressing the "Force Align IRS"on the "Options" page on the menus and that will align the aircraft to the its current position and start up the ND-Navigation Display. The second option is to select the FMS (Flight Management System) on the rear of the center console (it pops out) and insert your current airport (LFBO) and your destination airport (FAJS) in the FROM/TO box. This will then ask you to "Align IRS" and set up the alignment in that option.
A350 XWB Displays
The A350 comes with six large display screens. (left to right) Capt Outer OIS (Onboard Information System) - Capt Inner EFIS (Electronic Flight Instrument System) which has the PFD (Primary Flight Display) and the ND (Navigation Display) - Center Up is the ECAM (Electronic Centralized Aircraft Monitor) that includes the ED (Engine Display), SD (System Display), Permanent Data, Mailbox and WD (Warning Display) - Center Lower is the MFD (Multi-function Display) which displays the same information as the two outer OIS's - both right displays are a mirror of the Capt's Inner EFIS and and outer OIS for the First Officer. The Lower MFD function is the same as both the outer OIS displays
These three info displays also have a "Cross Pointer" (on the real aircraft displays) that can be aimed to select functions on the screens, some areas on the screens can also have direct input from the keyboard when required. There is another selection for Mouse Users that have scroll wheels... You can select "Manipulate" to scroll, or "Zoom Only" to use the mouse for normal selections. I use the standard single click mouse select way. (the scroll is set in the "Manipulate" state when you start up). You also have the choice to have the FlightFactor Crew visible all the time or just from the outside view
The Lower MFD and the OIS displays can be changed around on both the Capt's side and the F/O's side, not only in their actual position but the inner screens can be switched around as well with the buttons on the pedestal. Noted as "Capt OIS on Center" to move from the outer OIS to the center display and "Display Cycle" to move the smaller split screens around on any of the displays. This makes it very versatile for having the right screen where you need it, I liked the Flight-plan switched around on the right side next to the PFD, and all the panels "pop-out" for ease of use (visually) if you need that function and selection.
Display Menus
The MFD and OIS displays have a lot of menus, almost overwhelming in detail and far too many to do in absolute complete detail here... but we will cover the main areas.
Top left are the main seven menu selections in: (Options) - Ground Service - Weight and Fuel - CAB(in) Announcements - Users Guide - Charts - Options.
We start with the "Options" page that it is not related directly to the A350 but the noted FlightFactor options. You can set the speed you want the simulation to go at in "Time Flow", Difficulty Level, Structural Limits, Baro selection, Default Trans Altitude (direct input), ILS Auto Alighn on start up, Draw lines and Flushing option to default, Auto Pause, FCU Font, MFD Control (the pop-up screens) Mouse Wheel (Scroll) and Auto Helper. Other menu choices are "Auto Cockpit set up" that does all the hard work for you in setting up the aircraft, "Force Align IRS" (see above), "Jump 100nm" and "Jump to next Waypoint" both of these options require the flightplan to be loaded in the FMS. You can adjust the overall sound levels and save all these "Options" settings as default for future use or use the "Restore" to the default option settings.
Ground Service: The menu is split into three selection pages in: Doors & Hatches - Ground Equipment - Pushback.
Doors & Hatches - Pushback
There is a big menu screen that will open and close all the aircraft's doors and cargo hatches. Just select the door you want to open via a tab on the menu. All doors and hatches open and close with a very vocal sound that can be easily heard from the cockpit. You can also "Open" and "Close" all doors and hatches in one selection. The "pushback is very good and simple to use... You have the choice of either to "Push" or "Pull" and selecting one of these will call the tractor and hook it up ready for use. Brakes off and the you can steer and use your throttle to control the tractor.
Ground Equipment
Ground service covers all the equipment attached to the aircraft or servicing the aircraft on the ground. The first left column is all the equipment available to service the aircraft (return to that in a sec..),
The second centre column is the power provided to the aircraft in two GPU's (Ground Power Units) that can be accessed on the OH Panel and required if you don't start up the APU (Auxiliary Power Unit) on-board and either one or the other power source is required to set up the aircraft. The High-Pressure Unit (ground cart) is used to start the engines (or you can use the APU) and can have the AIR or Air-Con to cool the aircraft. Third or right column is the Maintenance Items (not available with this version).
You can select "Stairs" to put a set of stairs at each front left side doors, Or press "Plane at gate" to put a single set of stairs on the rear left door. You wish you could select each door on the left for a stair as the two at left front feels like too many or simply have one at the front and one at the rear, but you can't.
The rest of the ground equipment is a smorgasbord of vehicles and equipment... available are - Chocks, Passenger Bus, Fuel Truck (required for loading the fuel), Luggage Loader, Air-Conditioning unit, ULD Train and a Cleaning (Food?) Truck. All these items make it a very busy area around the aircraft and certainly give a great turnaround service feeling to the simulation.
Weight and Fuel
Here you have three menus that cover both Passengers and Fuel to be loaded (or is loaded) on the A350.
First in "Passengers" you have an excellent menu to select passengers/cargo and set the aircraft's weight. You have four classes to select from and choices of cargo containers "96" Pallets and "LD3's". There is the simple option to select either Light-Middle-Heavy loads that fill the aircraft in one or the other configurations and load your preferences, you can clear the aircraft in one selection as well.
Selection of "Fuel" can adjust your range which is handy because even with a light pass/cargo load can still mean a long range is required between certain long distance point to point flights. You can also cover all the other variations like with contingency and alternative requirements. Then you can load the fuel (Fuel Truck required to be attached) and you can see the loading from the ECAM displays on the flightdeck. When done you will have your correct final aircraft weight and see the fuel distribution.
Third is "Cabin" where you can adjust the lighting and check out the trash and water levels.
CAB (cabin) Announcements
You will have a great time playing with the cabin announcements for your passengers in the rear cabin. There is a lot of choice, but the announcements are very low and inaudible sometimes? Just select what you want announced and press the play button as many times as you want to and annoy them. The cabin is very well appointed and designed in those four classes and the A350 has a great bar and passengers!... a few anyway in the first two classes, and you certainly notice the XWB (Extra Wide Body) of the aircraft with all the space inside.
Users Guide
There is a great built in users guide, that is a manual as well. It is also provided in a .pdf version if you like me use it on an iPad. The User Guide is very highly detailed, with the best way to set up the A350 in X-Plane with features and settings including the (plugin) "key" settings in the X-Plane "Keyboard" menu. For the biggest part though the manual (Users Guide) concentrates on the A350's systems and details, but there is no item by item descriptions on start up or instrument adjustments.
A good companion to the user guide is a full checklist selection, that goes through every item to checked off or needs to be (you just have to know where they are), and itemises each selection as you work your way through the highly-detailed checklists. I recommend to study them to understand them all before using them in a current simulation, if not you will spend too much time sitting on the ramp working them and the positions of where everything is located.
Charts
You have Jepperson charts on your OIS, these are .png images of each chart page and that means you can't just drop in a .pdf downloaded from the internet. There are instructions in the aircraft folder on how to create your own charts and how to insert them for use... Charts provided are for airports: EBBR - EDDF - LGAV and LZIB.
Options is the main menu...
MCDU
The MCDU (Mulifunction Control Display Unit) is positioned at the rear of the pedestal, and as noted it pops-out for convenience.
The MCDU is a quite a simple but powerful affair on the A350. It is certainly not as comprehensive as the FF B777 or B757 versions which are replicas of the real FMC's on the Boeing Aircraft. It is noted that the later "Professional" version of the A350 XWB will have a full working Airbus MCDU. But you are not lacking here in the required basics. In fact it is quite clever in mating the real MCDU to this X-Plane slanted version. The bonus is you can load an already created X-Plane .fms plan from your current flight-plan folder and the MCDU will take care of the rest. You may sometimes have to do the odd join-up in clearing out any F-PLN DISCONTINUITY's to complete the flight-plan and have to also create your own SID/STAR's but I found these items easy to do and sometime far easier than spending hours trying to match up the correct SID/STAR to start or end a flight-plan. I found it just easier and faster to get the damn chart and input the fixes directiy.
INIT You load in a .fms plan on the INIT page via the RK1 (Right Key 1) "
F-PLN gives you your Flight-plan and you can scroll up or down through the fixes and Nav-aids. You can add in the "Overfly" (waypoint) preference if you want to as well. And input any speed/altitude constraints on the route. And you use the "Scratchpad" for input. You can see the flight-Plan on the OIS if you switch the displays around and it is excellent there for following the progress of the flight. The centre fix of the Flight-Plan will show on the ND (Navigation Display) if the NAV switch is set to PLAN.
DIR DIR-TO (Direct-To) you have the direct-to option and the MCDU give you a list of options
PERF You can insert your performance constraints in v1,vR and v2 and select your TRANS ALT in Transition Altitude. Thrust reduction/acceleration altitudes and temp FLEX that not must be below the outside air temperature OAT. PERF pages include: Take Off, Climb, Cruise, Descent, Approach and Go-Around.
Like noted the MCDU is quite comprehensive where it really counts and gives you quite a lot of control over your performance, so the pro's will not be lacking in their ability to input their own constraints and performance tables. Ditto for the learners of this style of FMC in that it is also extremely easy to set up and fly this aircraft and learn the basics on how MCDU/FMC's work differently from a standard X-Plane FMC.
It is well worth filling out all your MCDU data and complete in your preferences in every "single" box. Not only for the obvious in the way the aircraft performs, but also that the data is reflected on the MFD/OIS displays. You can't stress here enough of the importance of the pref data in the way it affects the flight of the aircraft. There are not a lot of entries by comparison to aircraft of this nature, but every data entry is important in the way the aircraft's performance at takeoff and the in the landing.
You have a huge selection of data available from your OIS or MFD displays, In many ways it does mirror what is on the MCDU, and you can input directly into any of these data pages and load even your flight-plan. But the MCDU is quicker as you can do the same inputs on different pages that the MCDU will do once, and you could actually miss a page because there is so many. The Menu is the same as the MCDU buttons in: F-PLN - PERF - Fuel & Load - WIND - INIT, sub-menus cover a myriad of items about performance and your GPS positioning, radio settings, waypoints and fuel. It is really a nerd's heaven in cockpit management.
Your Flight-Plan is one of the best features to monitor. You can select and install it just like you do in any X-Plane FMC (using the MCDU as noted is quicker) But it is the amount of information displayed that keeps you happy in the small hours. And also gives you the biggest note that will actually be there and still flying in the wee small hours? It is important that you set up your X-Plane "Time&Date" slider in how you want to do the flight...
Living in Australia I will set my T&D to early morning or Zulu time to fly in the day. But as all you long-haulers know, the time you leave is calculated to the time you arrive, and here the A350 gives you an advantage, because it not only notes your time at every waypoint on the route but your actual arrival time! And here it is a mind-numbing to bed late 02.28 am in to the next day (or night), more cleverly is that it adjusts as you fly, so if you adjust the speed or have bad headwinds then the time will change to reflect that. So on one flight I lost 9min ETA in a speed change. You have to note that the actual time does not sync to your T&D until wheels up, which is slightly annoying, but once in the air the information is priceless including an update of your fuel load at arrival. It also notes your full distance and each waypoint distances.
So you can see the importance of giving the aircraft all and more importantly the right data for the flight, the more data entered then the more information you get back.
A350 Cockpit
Except for the six display layout which is really the extra two OIS screens on each side, the panel and instrument layout is pure Airbus, If you know the layout of one and even the A320 layout then everything here will be in exactly the same place or position. The only item that is different is the Braking selection in "Autobrake Armed RTO" is a button press for take off and for landing you only have to adjust the braking action to the runway conditions.
The PFD is the standard display with Speed and altitude tapes and V/S (vertical speed) on the right, The artificial horizon with turn indicator and landing ILS bugs are also standard issue. The PFD has the noted Auto-Pilot modes, alpha protections and flight director bars and in the lower section is the trim and flap position. Next is the ND (Navigation Display) with LS-VOR-Nav modes and ARC and PLAN and standard zoom adjustments.
On the OH (Overhead) the aircraft comes with full systems in Top to bottom, Fire, Hydraulics, Fuel, Electrical, Air-Conditioning - Bleed, Anti-Ice and APU-Lighting, I recommend to read through the comprehensive manual on all the aircraft systems, because they are very well detailed. The center ECAM gives you a full display of all the systems and warnings, visual displays cover: Engines, Doors, Wheel, Fuel, EL/AC, EL/DC, Hydraulics, F/CTL, APU, Bleed, Cond (Air) and Press. All systems are functional and superbly reproduced in the center upper display. All pure airbus. The only real disappointment is that you can only fly from the Capt's side? you can't switch or control the aircraft from the F/O's side? and you miss that functionality.
The Autopilot (AP) panel is standard Airbus, but you can only select one item at a time on the ND, you can have your Waypoints or your Nav-Aids but not together. The A350 also has the new X-Plane function of "Pull" or "Push". You can have the aircraft in "Selected" mode "pull" or manual selection or "Managed" mode "push" or automatic by the AP. Just make sure you know which mode you are in. The NDB/VOR selection for the MAP display is here in yellow.
Central pedestal has the Radios, but it is in the MCDU that you set the frequencies for the VOR and ILS Nav-Aids. The ECAM selection buttons are here as is the flap selector in five selections: 0 (retracted) - 1 (1+F) - 2 - 3 - Full. There are 12 slats, 4 Flaps and 2 droop nose devices on the leading edge. Speed brake lever that is quite notchy to select the "Armed" position, so make sure it is engaged on the WD. Engine start is under the throttles to select engines IGN START (1 or 2), The throttle levers are really well done and have all the airbus modes A/THR - FLEX - TO-GA zones. The Reverse Thrust (toggle) is set either as a key or joystick activation on the X-Plane setting "thrust_reverse_toggle" (not "thrust_reverse_hold" like I usually do). To use you pull the throttles back to idle on contact with terra firma, then select the REV toggle (button or Key) and then throttle up to provide the REV thrust. Then Back to idle when required and re-key to disable the REV-THR. This system gives you great flexibility on how much thrust you want to provide for the REV thrust.
Undercarriage actions and animations are first rate. But you have to get the landing right with those forward tilted bogies, the point the rear wheels touch if you get it right should be level with the runway, but it is not as easy as it looks, and they will trip if you get the first set of tyres on the tarmac before the rear set. (on a side note, you have to contact correctly... if you touch down too lightly the thrust reverse doors don't operate?)
Lighting
The internal and external lighting is first rate. The cockpit is a nice place to be for any period of time. It is not that highly adjustable with no moving focus lighting, but still very good with a spot light directly over the pedestal which is very handy. I found a nice sweet spot in just showing the edges of the panel with the overhead lighting as you get a dark panel with just bright buttons and displays with the setting of the overhead turned right down.
And lighting in the footwells which most developers don't do. The reflections are very strong (but very good), but that requires an adjustment of the lighting to see out or landing at night.
External lighting is excellent. Nose (known as take-off lights) and Wing landing lights and Taxi lights, There are very good Runway turn off lights and Wing scan (Ice) lights that light up the leading edges of both wings, both strobe and logo lights can be set to auto or manual on/off and in the right livery the logo-tail light looks excellent. The rest are the standard Nav and Beacon lighting. The cabin lighting is adjustable via the OIS menu "Cabin"and it is very good, but full brightness is to bright, and this menu also shows other items that are related to the cabin and door status.
Liveries
There are eight liveries with the A350 XWB package that includes a White (default), Home, Carbon and Qatar Home. The first four liveries are related to the A350 testing fleet, the other four are the airlines: Air France, British Airways, Lufthansa and a (Tulip) United.
There are sets of 10 liveries you can purchase from different regions of the world that includes Oceania, Africa & Middle East, Asia, Atlantic, Europe 1, Europe 2 and Pacific. That adds up to 70 liveries plus the 8 with the aircraft. Quality is very good but not every airline (like Qantas) are flying the A350 XWB.
Flying the A350 XWB
The Airbus is extraordinarily interesting to fly... To a point you do allow the systems to do the work for you, but it is in the way the aircraft does this that makes it interesting, and how X-Plane now is seeing such great programming in flight. If you have flown an Airbus flight system before then you know how easy it is to set up... set your altitude (32,000ft) and just give the speed and HDG (Heading) buttons a push each to set them ready into "Managed" Mode.
One of the great features here is the VD, or "Vertical Display" on the bottom of your NAV/MAP display. The importance (again) of programming the MCDU is highlighted here. If your flightplan is installed and the prefs "preferences" are filled in then the VD will show with the zoom out over a distance your profile of the climb to your set cruising altitude. The aircraft is very good at finding the very best climb rate (pitch) known as "Op Climb" (Open Climb). The aircraft will over the climb to altitude change the V/S (Vertical Speed) to match the conditions of the climb. That includes the points you retract the flaps and your transition point. Takeoff is brutal, and you can climb easily between 3,500ft per minute to 4,300ft per minute, or in other words almost straight up. Certainly if you have a heavier weight the aircraft (Open Climb) will adjust to the load factors. It is then important you match the correct high pitch on leaving the runway or you will get alarms or the aircraft when you activate the autopilot will pull the aircraft nose up to match the required Op Clb profile.
Once you have left hard stuff and 300ft at the right pitch, then you select the AP1 (Pilot) and ATH (Auto-Thrust) and bring your throttles back into the "A/THR" detent or "THR CLB" on the PFD and the aircraft will then go to the flightplan and correct climb speed while managing the correct thrust and climb rate. To a point it is like riding a Saturn V, you are just sitting there as your climb profile adjusts to the correct vertical speed and is constantly adjusting the speed to flap retraction and transition altitudes. You will find around the orange marker the V/S will drop to about 1400ft per min and then resume when the speed has built up back again to a faster position to 3300ft per min till it again resumes a more relaxed 1600ft per min and continues forever on climbing upwards. Spread out your zoom into the distance and your waypoints (fixes) are noted with the climb profile all the way to your set altitude.
At fixes heading changes then pull the zoom back to 10nm and note the curve of the flightplan to the new heading. The aircraft will turn with a smooth grace along the flightplan line. After the initial FL320, I stepped up to my final cruise height of FL365.
Sounds are very good right through from start-up to cruise, I did find them a bit whiny in the cruise mode and after a period of time they gave me a slight earache. But high-pitch sounds don't agree with me, so that is personal thing... but I'm not that crazy about it... I have been 100m behind the nozzle of a Dreamliner and these new-gen latest high-bypass engines are whisper-quiet "is it actually running?" is how quiet they are, we may need to hear a real A350 XWB to see how different they really are.
You have dual adjustable screens Nav/Map screens, which are great for different perspectives on the landing pattern. And the VD (Vertical Display) is used the same way as the half-moon line on the Boeing 777 to target your initial and final approach heights. The landing brakes are set to their setting and shown on the PFD as: BRK LOW - BRK 2 - BRK 3 - BRK HI (High), the 2 or 3 is medium in the old way. Note the smooth turn curve at a low speed and height, it banks the aircraft perfectly for a final approach.
On finals I took control of the speed and selected, "Selected" mode and 160knts, the purists will roll their eyes but I found the aircraft going too fast in "managed" mode or 270knts and needed to pull that speed back to get ready to align up the runway. You however don't really move out of "managed" mode on descent, So I found it was very important that the QNH "nautical height" is set on the MCDU (FMS). So to set the QNH correctly for the aircraft is to set and adjust the speed to the height (or pressure). Flying an approach with the QNH set correctly was very different than if it was not set, and the speed was then controlled perfectly in the descent.
Handling at low speed is very good, the aircraft will depending on the weight will land even as low as 140knts, the A350 does tend to point nose (pitch) down on the ILS and that can create the issue of pulling the aircraft nose up to flare... but that can be quite compromising in that if you get it wrong in to much high pitch you will suddenly balloon and float (X-Plane issue) or land nose wheel first (not enough pitch) the middle (perfect) position is a bit of a feel to find at first, but possible and easy after a few landings.
Once down and after the armed speedbrakes have activated, then activate the THR-REV (key or joystick button) by opening the REV doors and powering up the throttle. I love the control this system gives you on the amount of thrust you want... off the throttle and then rekey the REV doors to close. Once at taxi speed you can then clean up the aircraft and head for the stand.
Summary
It is in a way a contradiction the A350 XWB from FlightFactor aero. It is massively detailed and certainly with the menus and systems, but there is a simplicity to it as well. It is a clever contradiction because it covers a lot of bases from users that are new to simulation and others which require the very deep immersion that you expect from aircraft of this price range. The A350 will keep both camps very happy indeed, but it is not as deep or as involving as the Boeing 777 or Boeing 757, but then again it is not meant to be either and maybe the "Pro" version will fill in those small gaps.
Like many aircraft released today for X-Plane the A350 XWB is another aircraft that the more you put into it then the more you receive back out again, It is very deep into systems and menus, so a bit of study and flight pre-planning will go a long way in getting the depth that will reward you, so a good start is putting aside some time to study the (excellent) manual that will certainly help in understanding the aircraft and get the best out of it. likewise it is also far easier to quickly set up and fly (certainly with your flight-plans being X-Plane .fms plans) that can allow you to set and fly a flight in a very quick amount of time, even from a cold startup. So you won't be spending a hour or so programming the FMC, if you don't have any saved routes like you do with the B777, B757 or JARdesign's A320neo. However the total replication of a FMS (Flight Management System) like on the B777 and in this case the SID/STAR component is missing for now, do you miss this? well yes and no, no doubt we want the aircraft to be an almost perfect duplication of the the real cockpit, but the ease of programming the route and flight prefs does make it far quicker and gets you flying almost immediately. I miss the First Officer (F/O) point of view of flying the aircraft, and the option of switching from the Capt to the F/O for takeoff and landings, you can assign the joystick to either position, but it is for a visual point only and has no control (or movement on the F/O side). For value, the aircraft is very well priced even if it is as noted not the full "Pro" version, I found the aircraft more feature loaded and with great quality than most aircraft in this competitive price range.
Features abound and you will be the happiest pilot on the ramp of any hub with the way you can set up and service the aircraft. I like to fly the whole deal from start-up to shut down and everything in between including loading and unloading the aircraft. It is not just the flying in simulation that counts, it is the total experience.... and in that department the A350 XWB does not disappoint.
In the flying experience it is very Airbus with the fly-by-wire, alpha protections and control laws, It has the best X-Plane Airbus plugins and you will want for nothing. This is the very best in Airbus flying yet in those perfect airbus automated procedures and laws, even if the aircraft does a better job than you... and that is the Airbus way of flying.
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The Airbus A350-900 XWB Advanced from FlightFactor is NOW Available from the X-Plane.Org Store.
Price is currently US$ 49.95 : Get the - Airbus A350 XWB Advanced - Here
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.
Documents and Install, Download is 209.10mb, that is unzipped into your Heavy Aircraft Folder of 309.40mb. The aircraft will only fly in X-Plane version 10.30. You have to insert a key to activate the A350 XWB, and it is highly recommended you totally restart and reload the A350 XWB from scratch from the desktop. To align the (SASL) plugin correctly.
Features
Fully custom aircraft systems (elec, hyd, air cond, ADIRU, etc.)
Fully custom ECAM monitoring system with all screens and functions included
Fully functional airbus style alert system with multiple status and procedural lists
Fully functional interactive airbus electronic checklist system
Airbus a350/a380 unique “touch screen” interfaces with dozens of screens and hundreds of functions
Fully custom and unique MFD (multifunctional display) system with most of flight planning pages implemented in a new graphical interface, as well as FCU and radio backups just like on the real plane
Full OIS screen system with options, ground equipment control, passenger and cargo loading, and even a full user’s manual inside the plane.
Old style MCDU and fully functional aux instruments as backup.
Full FBW with Highly realistic implementation of the Airbus “normal law” by QPAC – the most realistic fly-by-wire implementation for desktop flight simulation.
In v1.0 an advanced flight planning interface (based on XP native data)
Basic SID/STAR implementation using X-plane fms-files that you can create yourself and share with the community.
"What you see is what you fly" flight path indication on the ND (i.e. curved trajectories with the turn radius properly computed based on speed and angular turn distance.)
Implementation of all Airbus AP modes, except some non-precision approach modes (Selected and managed modes, speed constraints respected, "at or below" contraints in phase climb, "at or above" constraints in phase descent.)
Full PFD and ND displays with fully independent display and different data sources for the captain and copilot displays.
Independent autopilots
Many new options like scroll wheel support for switch manipulation
A very advanced 3D model with HD textures and complete and animated mechanics.
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Review by Stephen Dutton
7th December 2014
Copyright©2014 : X-Plane Reviews
Technical Requirements:
Windows - Linux Fully Supported
Mac: Beta version at this time only - Please only buy the Mac version if you feel you can be a beta tester.
1Gb VRAM, 4Gb RAM
Current version: v1.0. Last updated: December 7th, 2014
Updated store#
Review System Specifications:
Computer System:
- 2.66 Ghz Intel Core i5 iMac 27”
- 6 Gb 1067 Mhz DDR3
- ATI Radeon HD 4850 512mb
Software:
- Mac OS Mavericks 10.9.4
- X-Plane 10 Global ver 10.30 (final)
Addons
- Saitek x52 Pro system Joystick and Throttle
- Bose - Soundlink Mini
Scenery
- LFBO Toulouse-Blagnac - Aerosoft (New X-Plane.OrgShop US$21.50)
- FAJS O.R. Tambo International Airport - tdg (Free .Org)
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Stephen got a reaction from serene in Freeware Release : Avro Vulcan BMk2 by Daniel G
Freeware Release : Avro Vulcan BMk2 by Daniel G
The Avro Vulcan BMk2 has been purchased (former payware) by Nicolas of the X-Plane.orgStore and has now been released as freeware on the X-Plane.Org site.
The Avro Vulcan (officially Hawker Siddeley Vulcan from July 1963, is a four engined jet-powered delta wing strategic bomber, which was operated by the Royal Air Force (RAF) from 1956 until 1984. The Vulcan B.1 was first delivered to the RAF in 1956; deliveries of the improved Vulcan B.2 started in 1960. The B.2 featured more powerful engines, a larger wing, an improved electrical system and electronic countermeasures (ECM); many were modified to accept the Blue Steel missile. As a part of the V-force, the Vulcan was the backbone of the United Kingdom’s airborne nuclear deterrent during much of the Cold War. Although the Vulcan was typically armed with nuclear weapons, it was capable of conventional bombing missions, a capability which was used in Operation Black Buck during the Falklands War between the United Kingdom and Argentina in 1982.
In spite of its radical and unusual shape, the airframe was built along traditional lines. Except for the most highly stressed parts, the whole structure was manufactured from standard grades of light alloy. The airframe was broken down into a number of major assemblies: the centre section, a rectangular box containing the bomb-bay and engine bays bounded by the front and rear spars and the wing transport joints; the intakes and centre fuselage; the front fuselage, incorporating the pressure cabin; the nose; the outer wings; the leading edges; the wing trailing edge and tail end of the fuselage; the wings were not sealed and used directly as fuel tankage, but carried bladders for fuel in the void spaces of the wings; and there was a single swept tail fin with a single rudder on the trailing edge.
The normal crew of five, the first pilot, co-pilot, navigator radar, navigator plotter and air electronics officer (AEO) was accommodated within the pressure cabin on two levels, the pilots sitting on Martin-Baker 3K (3KS on the B.2) ejection seats whilst on the lower level, the rest of the crew sat facing rearwards and had to abandon the aircraft through the entrance door. The original B35/46 specification had specified a jettisonable crew compartment but this requirement was removed in a subsequent amendment and the issue of not providing the rear crew with ejection seats remained highly controversial, especially when a practical scheme to fit them was rejected. A rudimentary sixth seat was provided forward of the navigator radar for an additional crew member; the B.2 also had an additional seventh seat on the opposite side from the sixth seat and forward of the AEO. These seats were no more than cushions and a full harness and an oxygen and intercom facility. The visual bomb-aimer’s compartment could be fitted with a T4 (Blue Devil) bombsight but in most B.2s, the space was eventually fitted with a vertically mounted Vinten F95 Mk.10 camera for the assessment of simulated low-level bombing runs. (wikipedia)
The Vulcan was powered by four Bristol-Siddeley Olympus 201 12,000 lbf (53 kN) thrust or Olympus 301 of 20,000 lbf (89 kN) thrust) - two-spool axial-flow turbojets. Vulcan B.1 XA903, surplus to Blue Steel trials, was converted to a similar layout to XA894 to flight test the Olympus 593 Concorde engine installation.
Performance : Cruising speed Mach .86 indicated, Maximum speed Mach .95 indicated Mach .93 indicated (Mach .92 with 301 engines) Mach .93, Service ceiling 55,000 ft (17,000 m)[253] 45,000 ft (14,000 m) to 56,000 ft (17,000 m)[nb 2], Maximum Takeoff Weight 204,000 lb (93,000 kg). Avro Vulcan BMk2
If you like to fly aircraft that are very different and a challenge, then you can't go past the Avro Vulcan BMk2 by Daniel G. This Cold War bomber is like nothing else from its very tight (Nuclear bomb proof?) cabin to the huge wide delta wing. The work by Daniel is very good and you do have a 3d cockpit to squeeze into. Today the cockpit detailing here is now a little flat and old, but it all still works were it counts with pop-up panels (Pilots side, Co-Pilots side and centre), and most of the controls are well created and functional. features of the released version include.
- Flight dynamics modeled to Avro operating data
- Object model exterior incorporating detailed animation of control surfaces
- speed-brakes undercarriage and crew hatch
- 3D virtual cockpit with plugin-free pop-up panels
- Avro avionics modeled with generic instruments for all X-Plane capable Vulcan instrumentation
- JERA engine sounds sampled from Olympus engines
- Compatible with X-version 9 including 9.4 on Mac, PC and Linux
- 14 Liveries
The Vulcan is really like nothing else you have flown. The cockpit is very military and you will need to read the manual (Flight Manual) to work yourself around the cockpit... Flaps? There isn't any. but the speed brakes are very effective.
If you feel like starting a Nuclear War then here you have a tactical nuclear bomb in the bomb bay... The Vulcan initially carried Britain's first nuclear weapon, the Blue Danube gravity bomb. Blue Danube was a low-kiloton yield fission bomb designed before the United States detonated the first hydrogen bomb. These were supplemented by U.S.-owned Mk 5 bombs (made available under the Project E programme) and later by the British Red Beard tactical nuclear weapon. The UK had previously embarked on its own hydrogen bomb programme, and to bridge the gap until these were ready the V-bombers were equipped with an Interim Megaton Weapon based on the Blue Danube casing containing Green Grass, a large pure-fission warhead of 400 kt (1.7 PJ) yield.%5B133%5D[N 6] This bomb was known as Violet Club.[ Only five were deployed before the Green Grass warhead was incorporated into a developed weapon as Yellow Sun Mk.1.
The aircraft here also includes Avro Vulcan BMk2 modeled on XH558 "The Spirit of Great Britain". Which is the last flying Vulcan that is flown by the Vulcan to the Sky Trust.
Operation Black BuckThe only combat missions involving the Vulcan took place in 1982 during the Falklands War with Argentina. This was also the only time V-bombers took part in conventional warfare. The missions flown by the Vulcans became known as the Black Buck raids, which flew 3,889 mi (6,259 km) from Ascension Island to Stanley on the Falklands.] On 1 May, the first mission was conducted by a single Vulcan that flew over Port Stanley and dropped its bombs on the airfield concentrating on the single runway, with one direct hit, making it unsuitable for fighter aircraft. The Vulcan's mission was quickly followed up by strikes against anti-air installations, flown by British Aerospace Sea Harriers from nearby Royal Navy carriers.
In total, three missions were flown against the airfield, two further missions to launch missiles at radar installations; another two missions were cancelled. Victor tankers conducted the air-to-air refuelling; approximately 1.1 million gal (5 million L) of fuel were used in each mission. At the time, these missions held the record for the world's longest-distance raids. The Vulcan's ECM system was effective at jamming Argentine radars, British aircraft in the vicinity had a greatly reduced chance of coming under effective fire. Considering the Vulcan was never part of a long lasting conflict (Falklands War aside). The Aircraft had a very colorful history. The Sky Trust history is well worth reading in that many missions including Operation Black Buck (And the other Black Buck Missions of which there was 7 in all) are all highly detailed.
So the Avro Vulcan BMk2 is well worth the download and It would be nice if you could support and donate at the Sky Trust to keep XH558 in the air.
Avro Vulcan BMk2 by Daniel G Is available here - Avro Vulcan BMk2
Stephen Dutton
11th February 2014
Copyright©2014 : X Plane Reviews
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Stephen got a reaction from Anthony96 in Free Aircraft Release! : Concorde by Dr Gary Hunter
Free Aircraft Release! : Concorde by Dr Gary Hunter
Growing up in the sixties was a time of huge speed advances. The predictions were of New York in 3 hours and Singapore in 7 hours via Bahrain, and then we went far faster again... to the moon.
Looking back now it all feels like we lost have something, yes we can afford to travel the world on a few thousand dollars... but the excitement and the sheer feeling of the momentum of advances in technology has now been reduced to smart phones.
The real tragedy was that the machines that gave us our biggest breakthroughs were then never advanced forward, there was no Concorde Mk2 or Space Shuttle Mk2. And so there came no advancements on their ideas and weaknesses, like the noise and sound barrier on Concorde and the better insulation tiles for the Shuttle. Instead they were all consigned to museums and with that a negative backward feeling now exists. You know it can be better, as we lived through that now past era of huge ideas and advancement that actually came true and real.
But you can still relive a little of what one machine of that era was, in the Concorde. Dr Gary Hunter created a Concorde for X-Plane9®, so yes this aircraft is old now even by X-Plane standards. It didn't fly very well either lately because of the advances of the simulator, so an update to v10.50 was carried out and the aircraft has been gratefully passed over to the X-Plane.Org to be released... yes that is right this Concorde is for free!
And no matter which way you look at it this aircraft is still one of the very best looking machines ever built, The modeling is slightly old, but not enough not to make it feel totally outdated.
The panel is from an era of X-Plane seasons past, and the instruments are quite blurry. But it is totally functional and does have a 3d Virtual Cockpit.
There is also a great engineers station, and you need to watch those fuel gauges, they gulp down fuel like no tomorrow, but hey you are also covering the ground at a one mile every two and three quarter seconds!
Full cabin as well with the all important speed Mach numbers and altitude.
You are seriously moving at m2.2, you can feel the speed even over the smooth Atlantic Ocean, watching my moving map on my iPad, the aircraft is moving as you are watching it even at a high distance, the Nm counter is clicking over click, click, click fast as well... this is no sub-sonic slow ride to China or as in this ride... to New York.
Distances of descent to any airport will need a bigger or longer distance with this machine as it is a long way down from 50,000ft or even 60,000ft if you are game.
Liveries included: Blank or Eurowhite, BA Union, BA Landor, BA Flag, AF, AF Retro, Prototype and Singapore.
New York and "Look Mum, no Flaps!" drop the nose and the speed to 195knts and you get that over familiar hawk look...
The aircraft is surprisingly easy to fly on approach, but watch for a high nose in the air after landing.
Concorde is back in New York!
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There is a big thanks to the work of Dr Gary Hunter in creating this X-Plane Concorde, and now passing it over to Nicolas of the X-Plane.Org for you to download... for FREE!, yes just go to the link below (sign in first) and download this Concorde and go.... Supersonic!
Yes! the My Planes (Dr Gary Hunter) Concorde is available for download here:
CONCORDE
Price is Free!
Features:
Accurate dimensions 2D and basic 3D Cockpit Object-based model, Very detailed model 8 liveries Cockpits have been totally redesigned. Go to the virtual cockpit and move to the center laterally (right arrow key) then translate backward through the aircraft (shift-pagedown key) to see the virtual cabin interior. All cabin windows are in 3D, and the cabin interior is modeled (seats etc). These differences are most obvious when using LIT textures as you can see inside the cabin more easily. Try circling the plane when flying in low level lighting conditions (sunset for example). Updated and tidied up the 3D virtual cockpit a little. The horizon is 3D now but its hard to notice so I may drop it in future versions. All fuselage doors are operable using keys 8 fuel tanks Full 3D Model Regular Concorde and Concorde 'B' included
The model B was to have been the definitive airline version of Concorde, produced from airframe number 17 onwards. As production stopped at airframe number 16, the model B never actually took to the air, though much of the design work and improvements were retrofitted to existing Concordes. The most noticeable difference would have been the big wing of the model B, non-afterburning (more powerful) engines and a much greater range. This version also features an airbus style “glass” cockpit.
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Overview by Stephen Dutton
6th October 2016
Copyright©2016: X-Plane Reviews
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Stephen got a reaction from chrstphd in Behind the Screen : January 2017
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