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NEWS! - Peters Aircraft adds Aircraft package for Airbus A380 When the upgraded Airbus A380 for X-Plane 12 was released in July it was only in one variant, the -842, the version flown by Qantas. At the release Peters Aircraft promised to deliver all the other Airbus A380 engine variants... the -841 and the -861. Notable is that these extra engine variants are now included free with the A380 package, not in being purchased in separate modules, so now you not only get one engine option, but all the engine options together in the one package. Package Includes Three (3) different versions of the Airbus A-380 with several liveries: A380-841 with liveries of Lufthansa, British Airways and Singapore Airlines A380-842 with more powerful engines for Qantas. A380-861 Engine Alliance for companies like Emirates Airline Main Features: New flight model, engine physics and performance set extremely close to real values. 3D-Cockpit with hi-resolution displays. Far more system depths than previous A380 for older XP versions: All System pages All Performance page tabs with optional pre-selection of SPD / MACH for CLB, CRZ and also pre-setting of MANAGED SPD / MACH for DES. Improved TAXI camera displays. Improved flight plan display and flight guidance, based on the default FMS. Exterior model with 8k textures! Dynamic view angle change for taxi. The rear pairs of the body landing gear steer at low speed. A full X-PlaneReviews review of the AirbusA380 by Peters Aircraft is here: Aircraft Review : Airbus A380-842 XP12 by Peters Aircraft The Airbus A380 XP12 is available for only X-Plane 12, and is not available for X-Plane 11. If you have already purchased the A380 XP12, you can update to the "Package" for free, just go to your X-Plane.Org Account. Images are provided by Peter Hager _________________________ The Airbus A380 XP12 by Peter Hager scenery is Available now from the X-Plane.Org Store here : Airbus A380 Package XP12 Price Is US$59.90, You Save:$10.00(14%) Retail Price:$69.90 Requirements X-Plane 12 (not for XP11) Windows, MAC or Linux 8 GB+ VRAM Recommended Download Size: 650 MB - Last Updated September 9th 2024 ___________________________ NEWS! by Stephen Dutton 10th September 2024 Copyright©2024: 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) All Rights Reserved
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Aircraft Review : Airbus A380-842 XP12 by Peters Aircraft The Airbus A380 is a very large wide-body airliner that was developed and produced by Airbus. It is the world's largest passenger airliner and the only full-length double-deck jet airliner in service. Airbus studies started in 1988, and the project was announced in 1990 to challenge the dominance of the Boeing 747 in the long-haul market. I am first going to acknowledge that the Airbus A380 is an absolutely monumental aircraft. I personally have a lot of adulation for the machine. I think it has had a lot of unwarranted negative statements about it, but getting close to one, and flying on a A380 (four times to date), it is a brilliant addition to aviation. What the A380 achieves is not being recognised, and only then will its impact on aviation be it's lasting legacy when it is gone. So I am a little biased here in this review towards the aircraft, any A380 to fly in X-Plane 12 is going to fill my reasoning, it is the biggest and hardest long-haul machine to fly, or to fly correctly. There has been three A380's in X-Plane, Riviere's A380 is the most known, but I never really liked it, as the performance was shocking. There was another freeware, but that design was even worse in it's cardboard quality. There was an announcement back in April 2024 by X-Works that they were indeed developing a payware A380, but that project is still very much in it's infancy... the last payware A380 was from Peter Hager, or Peters Aircraft. Originally an X-Plane 10 era release, but the aircraft has then fell into a long decline, and since X-Plane 12's introduction it was grounded by the dysfunctional FMC and the lighting in being totally outdated and also non-functional. Well that A380 aircraft is back, in an upgraded X-Plane 12 wrapper. This A380 XP12 is not a completely new development, it is basically the same one, and it is still Planemaker based, in that it makes the origins in the year 2013. Can a 11 year old design compete with the same today? Outwardly it is different. The external model has been totally remodeled and now has 8K textures, it shows with the XP12 shine and the better detail, you can now read the textures as well, instead of the earlier ziggy buzzy lo-res images. The Airbus A380 wing is a work of art. I have a 1-300 model of the A380 to marvel at the shape and design, it was built only 5 miles away from where I was born, my family relatives built that wing... this area again has been remodeled, and it looks excellent in the bulky midsection and the hanging shape and design. Flaps are well done, and the leading edge foils are also well modeled. The engines here are the Trent 900 Rolls Royce engines of 70,000 to 80,000 pounds-force (lbf), only Qantas flies the A380-842 variant, pods are well done as is the rear exhaust cones and internal fans, the 900 has a fan diameter is approximately 116 inches (294.6 cm).... Only the inner engines (2 and 3) have reverser doors and all four engines have internal integrated drive generators (IDG). Noticeable however is the Planemaker gap between the fan and the cowling, once seen it is very hard to unsee it. Other variants on the A388 are the A380-841 Engine Alliance GP7200 - Trent RR 970 engines and the A380-861 Rolls-Royce Trent 970 engines, which serves other airlines including the biggest 125 aircraft fleet operator Emirates (uses both 861 & 842 variants). These other variants will becoming soon to the same package, as will those engine option operators. Four bogie gear is also remodeled, they now has more and quite intricate detail and better textures, the tyres are good, but are too shiny for me. And the rear set of bogies will now turn with the nosewheel, as on the real A380. There is no cabin, no opening doors or even any external elements? and is completely created in Planemaker... you could call it a pure X-Plane aircraft design. Externally though it does not look out of place in X-Plane 12, the mass of the Airbus just dominates the space around it. My flight today is YSSY (Sydney) to WSSS (Singapore) or QF01, the oldest sectional route on the "Kangaroo Route" to London, QF02 does the return route LON-SIN-SYD. The actual cockpit is the originally the same, looked brilliant a decade ago, still has that same punch today, but let us be clear, the functionality needs a fair bit of work to bring it up to current standards, as a lot of the switches don't work, and some are even doing the wrong action, some doing two actions in one (lighting). There is no First Officer interaction either, or any menus in here. The cockpit does feel great, but there are still far too many light gaps? even some shining through the OHP and mostly the lower floor and rear bulkhead, even through the OHP... it shows of an age back then... Seats are blocky/minecraft in design, worse is the very lo-res purple carpet, that needs replacing ASAP. Airbus joystick controller is well done, but not animated, this was all first rate detail back then, sort of holds up. All that power at your disposal via such petit throttles, note only the twin inboard thrust reverser levers. One area that has (thankfully) had attention are the instrument graphics, they used to be terribly crappy lo-res to use, even hard to read... now they are all bright and crystal clear... The main item that grounded the XP10/11 Peters Aircraft A380 was the outdated FMC (Flight Management Computer), it just didn't work anymore? The fix in here is quite surprising, just insert in the X-Plane generic FMC. It shouldn't work, but it does as it gives you access to routes, AIRWAYS, SID and STARS and DEP/ARR Approaches, and it pops out as well for ease of use. So it is not an Airbus FMGS installation, certainly not the later A350/A380 style FMGS. So route setup via the standard FMC is very easy, I admit not very Airbusy, but it is functional to use with STEP to plan awkward waypoints. Maybe Peters Aircraft should switch to the default A330 FMC, it might fit in better here? What is Airbusy is the PERF setup. Again not highly detailed, but you can at least add in the numbers you want for six PERF options; T.O (TakeOff), CLB (Climb), CRZ (Cruise), DES (Descend), APPR (Approach) and GA (Go Around). T.O... You can set the FL (Flight Level), Speed Bugs (V1, VR, V2) and either TOGA or FLEX... FLEX is recommended and is set at +45c, Flaps 1 or 2 and that gives you the THS FOR trim setting, Thrust Reduction and Acceleration altitudes can also be set. Finally you can set the Transitional Altitude, and that sets the EQ Acceleration altitude. Other options include Cost Index (CI) and .M speed, Descent .M/knts speed, Trans, Managed Speed... I haven't filled out the APPR tab, because I usually do that at around 100 nm before the approach to get the correct weather numbers. But OAT and QNH, either BARO or RADIO Minimums, and Trans Altitude are available You can choose between (landing ) CONF 3 or FULL flap, VAPP speed (VREF + Wind Correction), the landing speeds are then shown. GA (Go Around) speeds are also available as is the Thrust Reduction height. Weight and Fuel load is done via the X-Plane "Weight & Balance" menu, basic... Only set the "Total" fuel and don't use the individual tank sliders, then the system will set up the correct tankage for you, same with the trim as we shall see. The only other parameter to be set is the payload. The SYD-SIN route is quite short for the A380 as this sector is a 3484 nm and 8.0 hours flying time. The Airbus A380 can do a 8,000 nm (14,800 km) range, so the tankage here is only 110,721 kg, of a gross weight TOW 437,914 kg. The A380 can therefore be far, far heavier on T.O if flying a Pacific or Europe/Asia run and that is were your "Heavy" skills comes in and the challenge of flying the Super Jumbo. Pushback... and then we can start the engines. APU (Auxiliary Power Unit) has to be running, and you select on the OHP, the APUBLEED (it is locked to Auto), then select IGN START (Engine Mode Selector) on the ENG START switch. You start an inner engine first (2 or 3) for the pneumatics, environmental and IDG power, then the other inner engine (say 3), then engines 1 then 4. Basically when N2 reaches around 20-25%, you can move to the next engine in the sequence, the full startup procedure is very well done as the engine goes through it's start cycle to a configured N2 55%, the lower SD (System Display) gives you more information on the vitals. Engine start up sounds are actually excellent, yes the Hager A380 doesn't have every dynamic range, but the sounds were, and are still very good, and you can (slightly) hear them from the cockpit, as your sited a long way from the noise, and it is quite muffled as well, externally they are actually very good. Your powered up and ready to go... It is VERY important to set the T.O TRIM THS correctly. The position (usually around 39.5%) is set out on the lower right PFD, you will need to align the white line within the purple rectangle, certainly don't be out of the green rectangle range. The A380 is HEAVY so if the trim is out, then your not going to fly... anywhere! This brings us to a slightly controversial feature... When you let off the park brake, your view will shift? to seat down. You can adjust the view up and down to see through the cockpit window but otherwise it feels frozen. You are now connected to the nosewheel steering, so if you turn the nosewheel, then your view moves left or right as well? If you want out of this viewing tool, then press on the "Taxi" camera on the instrument panel, and your views go back to normal... In "Taxi" mode you get a double view (tail and nosewheel) to navigate the taxiways, it is very good actually... the same camera view can be put on the SD, but it doesn't cancel out the dynamic steering views... The dynamic view has several parameters to having it (auto) switched ON... if the aircraft is on the ground, taxi camera is OFF, parking brake is OFF, and the aircraft is NOT in T.O mode and if in ROLL OUT mode, with when the ground speed is below 30kn. Note that make sure you have the "Taxi" mode switched on when using push back... one you can see the pushback truck doing it's job, cool, but also that with the pushback tool turning and rattling the nosewheel, it affects the view by shaking it and turning your angle weirdly. But on the taxiway the "Taxi" image is great for following (holding) the centre line, and it shows your current taxi speed as well. The A380 doesn't taxi... it just rumbles along very nicely. 34L north track... this is were I have an issue with the feature view tool, if you turn the "Taxi" off you get shakes through the steering as you move it? so you can't read the instruments.... "Taxi" on then you still can't read the instruments to take off? It needs a full kill switch! The T.O distance depends of course on weight, airport altitude, runway conditions, but the average TO run is around 9,800 feet (3,000 meters) of runway for takeoff. So you can only use certain runways, same with using only certain taxiways with it's A380 size.... Up those four petite throttles and your moving. There is no CHRONO button (PFD)? to start? that aspect is needed, but the CHR panel does work. Your moving, but the Airbus won't leap off the line, or move fast... it is a strange aircraft in this respect, as everything goes into a slow motion aspect, that wing is very efficient, best in the business as it produces huge lift, so you sort of glide into the air with no dramas. 300,000 lbs of combined thrust, gives you the power you need, certainly at this lighter weight... again the climb rate is between 2,000 fpm and 3,000 fpm depending on the load factors, but 2,000 fpm is always a good yardstick. Gear up and Flaps to position 1 Watch that complex undercarriage store itself up in the aircraft, a feat of engineering. You can check the gear condition via the lower SD display. All Airbus developers have found a different way to imitate the Airbus button logic... The Peters Aircraft way is for in pressing the knob, is to pull it out, or Manual operation, there is a hotspot rear above the knob (green) to push in for the Auto operation. If there is a dot on the display it is noted as being in the auto setting... The original FBW or Fly-By-Wire is used in here. FBW takes pilot inputs, which are converted into electronic signals that are sent to flight control computers. These computers then process the inputs and send commands to the aircraft’s control surfaces. Also is it's flight envelope protection (LAWS) of Normal Law and Alternate Law. The system prevents the aircraft from exceeding operational limits, such as stall, over-speed, and over-G, enhancing overall safety. The FBW in Hager's A380 is a very good one, mainly because it was created by Mr X-Plane Airbus himself or Torsten Liesk of ToLiSS. So you have the quality feel and handing of Airbus Aircraft. So the A380 here handles and flies really well, and the system has been here refined for X-Plane 12 dynamics. So the Airbus systems and logic is very high, good a decade ago, still very good today. As noted I am under halve the range weight, so I have a lot options to climb up to my cruise altitude, in fact almost straight up to the assigned altitude. But if you are at MTOW (Maximum Takeoff Weight) then the A380 will handle very differently, not only in the initial climb, but climbing to altitude. If at MTOW, I usually climb first to about 30,000 ft, then step up the altitude to the final Cruise altitude in 2,000ft segments over 500 nm, burning off fuel and weight. It is all about efficiency Being a long-haul, you will settle in for the "Long Haul"... You can monitor the A380 via the excellent SD information, and overall you have 12 different options to observe; Engines, Bleed, Cabin Pressure, APU, Cond (Environment), Doors, Elec AC, Elec DC, Fuel, Hydraulics, Wheel, F/CTL (Flight Controls) and Video or Camera. The FMC two Progress pages are now accessible as well, unlike the original... Long-Haulers love their toys... here you can drop the front window blinds by pressing the "HotSpot" centre window, also you can pop out the worktable with a built in (non-working) keyboard. Performance is surprisingly very good, within and counting the same numbers as you follow the route in SimBrief, you have to make allowances for winds, which are quite heavy at the cruise altitude, but I found it was impressive and being within a 100 kg of fuel. Being a four engined aircraft... it is the lamentable situation that the aircraft is not super efficient like the A350 or B787, it costs money to run, but it's substantial running costs are out weighed by it's immense load factors, and that the passengers adore the machine. On the right routes (a bit like Concorde) it is highly regarded, even profitable. Worse is the fact that there is nothing to replace the A380 with, as the Boeing 777X is years away, even then how are you going to replace a 100+ fleet. You can get the most out of the A380, because the documentation from Peter Hager is excellent. Not only a deep manual (78 Pages), but there are also two detailed route tutorials. They are all the original manuals, but updated where needed for this XP12 release. In the late afternoon sunshine, Bali, Indonesia shines below. Yes the A380 is now flying in a more realistic 3d world, X-Plane 12 can create a very different atmosphere from the one I first flew this aircraft in X-Plane 10, that cardboard look and feel is now well gone, replaced by the dynamics of the latest version of the Simulator... it's impressive, because it is. Now approaching the STAR of UGEB1B for the approach into Changi, Singapore at dusk... it is a pretty time to arrive. Even using the older style of liveries, the Airbus looks very nice in the low light. Cockpit lighting is basic... all instrument displays are adjustable, as is the integral lighting for OHP and Pedestal. There are three STORM settings, Bright-Med-Off, that gives you the three moods in the cockpit... The Med STORM lighting setting is fine for most night operations, including the approach and landing, it's dull enough to see everything, but not too bright to distract you. There are no spot lights or any other siding lighting in here, but it's not too bad actually in feel. The external lighting has been upgraded to X-Plane 12, it looks good with the bloom effects, but misses the earlier better lighting that shone in the daylight, which I loved. The NAV WING, RWY Turnoff and LOGO are all under one (both) switches (NAV-LOGO), so you can't have the separated detailed lighting. STROBE, BEACON and LAND are thankfully separated, a shame as it could have been good if all the assigned switches had worked. The A380 has a brilliant lighting set up, six landing and twin wing lights will bring the aircraft alive at night. Turning into the 20R approach, you have to set up the ILS Landing Frequency... It's complicated here by the various ways you can insert the ILS Frequency... There are options on the three RMP (Radio Management Panel), but also on the Co-Pilot MFD, it is also on the FMC Radio setting... so actually which one do you use? You have to switch the NAV setting from VHF to NAV to insert the ILS Frequency as noted in the manual... only it does not work? the only option I could get the Frequency to work with, was on the First Officer MFD lower insert 108.90 MHz It's tricky to get right as you have to be almost on top of the glideslope before the ILS Freq will be accepted (it bounces back to the other Freq), if accepted it is then shown in the PFD when you press the LS button right EFIS Control Panel, and it shows you the ILS name "ICH" Freq and distance to the runway... Only now can you select the APPR button to lOC in the localiser It's all still very old school, and even frustrating to use effectively, as there is no set the frequency and be ready for landing deal here. Approach speed (Vref) is around 145 knts (FULL Flap), the A380 can be really slow on a landing approach, again you get that slow-motion effect, that gives you time to adjust before landing. In finals you can adjust down to below the 140 knt threshold... You get all the "LOUD" callouts 2,000, 1000, 500... but there is nothing like the thrill of landing a "Heavy" after a long flight, your nerves and muscles are tight, your focused on controlling this massive machine down onto that runway. "Retard, Retard"... Once the AP1 clicks off, you flare the A380 slightly, so the rear bogies touch cleanly at around 130 knts. Once the nosewheel is down, you can then activate the thrust reversers, only engines 2 and 3, but it is enough to slow the bulk of the A380 down... lighting on the ground is very good, even with the landing lights on or off. On the roll out you have to be aware of the steering view coming activating again, and it can come in with the thud! So you quickly turn on the "Taxi" camera again to get your views back... not a big fan to be honest. There are two liveries provided with this RR Trent engine choice, the earlier 2016, and the current 2024 livery. Summary The Airbus A380 is a very large wide-body airliner that was developed and produced by Airbus. It is the world's largest passenger airliner and the only full-length double-deck jet airliner in service. The origins of this Airbus A380 are over a decade old, back in the X-Plane 10 era, and the core design here is Planemaker based. The externals have however been fully redone for XP12 including quality 8K textures. So it looks very nice. The cockpit is basically the same as the earlier aircraft (XP11), but there has been added in new functionality and systems. The same original Torsten Liesk (ToLISS) plugin is still used but upgraded to X-Plane 12 dynamics, as has the overall aircraft performance (spot on). The solution to the broken FMC, was to replace it with the X-Plane default FMC, the intergration is clever and it works in giving functionality to the systems, but the A330 FMS would have have been a better more airbus style optional choice. Lighting is hampered by the switchgear, but the sounds if not dynamic are still excellent. The nosewheel guided camera is a good idea, but doesn't work that well in practice, as it changes you view at critical times of the takeoff and landing roll out, it buggers up the pushback tool as well. There are no static objects, or menus here, not even a cabin. light holes in the engines, OHP and cockpit can't be unseen, but they are all related to the Planemaker foundations. Flying a A380 is always a great sensation, it is a mega sized aircraft with a mega sized reputation. I am very familiar with the Peter's Aircraft A380, so fell back into the aircraft very easily, yes it is a bit of a nostalgia journey and it is great to have the aircraft flying again. Coming soon are all the different engine options and the airlines that fly them, unlike the old separated different variant purchases, and that aspect alone will put a lot of value into the package. It's an Airbus A380 in X-Plane 12, long haul and X-Plane 12 dynamics together... a great combination! _________________________ The Airbus A380 XP12 by Peter Hager scenery is Available now from the X-Plane.Org Store here : Airbus A380 XP12 Price Is US$59.90, You Save:$10.00(14%) Retail Price:$69.90 Requirements X-Plane 12 (not for XP11) Windows, MAC or Linux 8 GB+ VRAM Recommended Download Size: 172 MB Current version: 1.0 July 11th 2024) Installed in your X-Plane Aircraft folder 168Mb. Installation 305Mb, Authorization is required by inserting a licence txt in the aircraft folder. Documents __TUTORIAL FLIGHT PLANS 1 LFBO ILS.fms 2 LFBO RNV.fms 3 LFBOEDHI.fm _A388 ReadMe.rtf A380_manual.pdf Design by Peter Hagar Support forum: Peter Hagar A380 XP12 _____________________ Review System Specifications: Windows - 12th Gen IS1700 Core i7 12700K 12 Core 3.60 GHz CPU - 64bit -32 Gb single 1067 Mhz DDR4 2133 - PNY GeForce RTX 3080 10GB XLR8 - Samsung 970 EVO+ 2TB SSD Software: - Windows 11 Pro - X-Plane 12.1.1. Plugins: Traffic Global - JustFlight-Traffic (X-Plane.OrgStore) US$52.99 : Global SFD plugin US$30.00 Scenery or Aircraft - YSSY - FlyTampa Sydney (X-Plane.OrgStore) - US$28.00 ___________________________ Review by Stephen Dutton 22nd July 2024 Copyright©2024: 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) All Rights Reserved
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News! - Airbus A320-251N LEAP by Peters Aircraft Airbus's latest generation of A320 series aircraft is the NEO or "New Engine Option" of this one of the most popular modern aircraft ever built. There are two new engine options with the Pratt&Whitney PW1100G and CFM's Leap 1A, and both engines use the geared turbine (GTF) technology to get large bonuses in performance, range and of course the ever wanting better fuel consumption by their airline customers. But it hasn't been a smooth sailing ride for both of either the engine manufacturers in this highly specialised geared turbine technology era. The PW1100G has easily outsold the Leap 1A with airline preferences going to the PW in a 10 to 1 ratio on orders. But the engine is already having durability issues. The Leap has had a far smoother EIS (Entry into Service), but this engine also has had issues with coatings on the ceramic matrix composite (CMC) shroud in the high-pressure turbine have shown parts of flaking off and again durability issues have raised their ugly heads. Both engine issues have delayed Airbus deliveries and airline operations over the last six months, but this is all a very high-technology front and with all new very ground breaking areas, you will always get issues of short-term pain, of course airlines won't hear of such things, but in reality it is the nature of the forward progressive technology to not always be totally perfect and completely reliable. In X-Plane there is already a few aircraft with the PW1100G neo fitted and available with the JARDesign A320neo and Peters Aircraft A320-271 NEO PurePower Engine. Now Peters Aircraft have released the CFM's Leap 1A version on the same A320-251N airframe as his PW1100G version. We are already very familiar with the the Pratt&Whitney GTF and the LEAP is in many ways very much the same in mostly the size of the 81 in (206 cm), 20 blade fan diameter on the P&W. The Leap 1A is only slightly smaller fan diameter at 78 in (198 cm) with a Bypass ratio (BPR) of 11:1 were as the P&W has a BPR of 12:1. Thrust is -1A versions 30, 32, 33, 35 - 143.05 kN (32,160 lbf) and the P&W GTF versions 4G/22G - 107.82 kN (24,240 lbf) and so the 1A engine is significantly more powerful. One of the highlights is the Leap 1A sound. It is very different aurally from the P&W GTF and is excellent at engine startup and shutdown. There is no FMOD, but the sounds are high grade and overall are excellent and recorded from a real CFM Leap 1A engine. Cockpit is unchanged from the P&W GTF except for the underlying new Leap performance numbers. Peters Aircraft does note that all aspects of their aircraft is focused on performance and handling of the actual aircraft. So you can be confident the performance numbers are very close to the original aircraft. Lighting for X-Plane11 has been reworked and very nice it is, not totally adjustable as airbus cockpit lighting is complex, but still very good. There are some really nice liveries as part of the Leap A320neo package. With a wide variety of fifteen airlines and three great Frontier logo aircraft. The Pegasus livery is default. The aircraft is available in X-Plane11 and X-Plane10 or the package of both XP11/XP10 versions, which is an upgrade cost. ______________________________________________________________________ Yes! the Airbus A320-251N LEAP by Peters Aircraft is NOW! Available from Peters Aircraft here : Airbus A320-251N LEAP Price is Euro €39.90 for the X-Plane11 version _____________________________________________________________________________________ News by Stephen Dutton 4th December 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)
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News! - Aircraft Released! VFW 614 by Peters Aircraft Peter Hagar has done Airbus's for the last decade, and has now released a quite different type of aircraft in the: Vereinigte Flugtechnische Werke - Fokker VFW 614! The VFW-Fokker 614 (also VFW 614) was a twin-engined jetliner designed and was built in West Germany. It was produced in small numbers by VFW Fokker in the early- to mid-1970s. It was originally intended as a DC3 replacement. Its most distinctive feature was that its engines were mounted in pods on pylons above the wing, to create a more shorter and sturdy undercarriage and less debris ingestion for operations from poorly prepared runways. Only three airlines and the German Air Force operated VFW 614. The aircraft was initially prone to engine problems, and it was too expensive for the small regional airlines for whose needs it was designed. Three aircraft were flown but never delivered, and four airframes were later broken up before completion. The programme was officially cancelled in 1977, and the last unsold aircraft flew in July 1978. (wikipedia) This X-Plane version of the VFW 614 is designed from an aircraft at the Aeronauticum museum, located in Nordholz, just a few kilomenters south of Cuxhaven, Germany. Where it was extensively photographed and detailed. This aircraft can be used with the CIVA Navigation System which was used by the Luftwaffe VFW 614 version. And in a Peter Hagar first you get a fully modeled cabin and opening doors... ______________________________________________________________________ The VFW 614 by Peters Aircraft is NOW available! here : VFW-614 at X-Plane.org Price is $33 Images & Text are courtesy of Peter Hagar© Developer site : Peters Aircraft ______________________________________________________________________ Stephen Dutton 22nd October 2016 Copyright©X-Plane Reviews: X-PlaneReviews
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News! - New Liveries : Airbus A320-271N neo by Peter Hager Peter Hager from Peters Aircraft has added more liveries to his A320-271neo series. As more NEO (New Engine Option) aircraft join the world's fleets then more liveries are required for the newer bus. Peter Hager likes to match the engine version to the particular airline, so all the liveries presented here are for the Pratt & Whitney PurePower® Geared Turbine engines that are already in service or due for delivery this calendar year. The other neo engine option for the A320 of the CFM LEAP-1A engines will also be released soon by Peters Aircraft. The new liveries now include: The NEO launch (first in service) Lufthansa livery Spirit Volaris (Mexican) China Eastern LATAM (South America) - HK Express (hong Kong) Viva aerobus (Mexico) - Air Astana (Kazakhstan) All liveries are free for current purchasers of the Peters Aircraft Airbus A320neo series (not to be confused with the JARDesign version) Peter Hager does also note the new v7.3.5 version is not yet updated to X-Plane11. _____________________________________________________________________________________ The Airbus A320-Neo Pratt&Whitney by Peters Aircraft is available from the X-Plane.org Store : Airbus A320-Neo Pratt&Whitney Price is US$49.95 All the new liveries are currently updated at the X-Plane.OrgStore, so go to your account and download the v7.3.5 updated version. Features Detailed 3D cockpit Systems and procedures Detailed systems and procedures managed by plugins. As close as possible to the real aircraft systems Complete cold and dark procedure Airbus A320 Neo Liveries House Color, Lufthansa and Qatar Manual The Flight Crew Operating Manual comes with 196 pages of illustrated descriptions of systems and procedures. Fly by Wire and Auto Thrust The FBW system precisely simulates the normal mode, including all protections Auto Flight The Airbus autoflight system, including FCU, FMA and A/THR, is authentically simulated FMGS This model simulates FMGC, FAC, and two large scale MCDUs, to be displayed in a pop-up panel. The MCDU the flight plan aspects a lot more detailed and sophisticated, than XP does Custom Sound System Realistic sound effects recorded on a real aircraft newly created after recordings of the real P&W PurePower engine sound. Images & Text are courtesy of Peters Hager Developer site : Peters Aircraft _____________________________________________________________________________________ Stephen Dutton 10th January 2017 Copyright:X-PlaneReviews 2017
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News! - Updated - Peters Aircraft Airbus A380 and A320 Series Peters Aircraft have issued updates to his A380 and full A320 Series (A319, A320, A320-NEO, A321) aircraft. Airbus A380 The A380 has at this point just had a lighting update to cover the new X-Plane v10.40 lighting feature that allows for the lighting to widen or compress depending on the angle that you look at it. Also the A380 COM1/2 frequency selection of digits are also fixed, and finally the new SASL-plugin does not crash anymore in El Capitan. More significantly noted is that a more comprehensive update of the A380 is coming (Which is well overdue by current standards) that includes the ECAM or Electronic Centralized Aircraft Monitor systems display. (at this point the current ECAM is limited to just a few functions) The systems on the A380 are of course complex and the point of the ECAM is to reduce the system complexity to a visual overview that is easier to monitor all aspects of the machine or to troubleshoot systematic failures within the aircraft. Just adapting the A320 Series ECAM to the A380 is a far more complex job, but the results will be worth waiting for. Hopefully a more intergrated 2-D to 3-D cockpit input is also on the update list. The A320 Series (A319, A320, A320-NEO, A321) update is mostly on the APU start up procedures. The original APU START was simply the triggered OPEN FLAP and APU START. Now it is APU MASTER button triggers OPEN FLAP, the APU START button triggers APU START. As Peter Hagar notes why this operation is needed. "This is how it works on the real Airbus. So the pilot has the option to open the flap early, even some minutes before APU start. This is of advantage when the taxi time after landing is difficult to predict, since opening the flap does not burn fuel, but it shortens the entire APU start procedure by ~20 seconds. So the APU can be started shortly before reaching the parking position, thereby avoiding unnecessary running time of APU or worse, of main engines." X-PlaneReviews will keep in tune of any A380 update news and release dates. You can get the A380/A320 updates via Emailing Peter Hagar or checking your X-Plane.OrgStore Account. ______________________________________________________________________ Yes! the Full updated A380 Series by Peter Hargar is available from the new X-Plane.Org Store here : Peter Hagar : Airbus A380 Price is US$54.95 Includes 3-D Cockpit Peters Aircraft Site: Peters Aircraft ______________________________________________________________________ ECAM images are courtesy of Peter Hagar Stephen Dutton Updated : 11th January 2016 Copyright©2016: X-PlaneReviews
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News! - Airbus A319 (Babybus) is released by Peters Aircraft Peter Hagar of Peters Aircraft has released the next aircraft in the A320/A319 series with the A319 Series. As usual with Peter's aircraft the aircraft comes in many different variants and packages. There are two packages in BASIC and EXTENDED. In the BASIC Package there is : A319-114 with CFM engines and WINGLETS with liveries: Lufthansa, LAN, Air Canada, AirFrance, Delta, US Airways, Finnair, Finnair (One World), Easyjet (New livery) Easyjet (Old livery), TAP, TAM, Swiss, Germania, Iberia (New livery), Iberia (Old livery), Alitalia (New livery), Alitalia (Old livery), China Southern and Austrian . A319-112-15 with CFM engines and SHARKLETS with liveries American and Avianca. In the EXTENDED Package as well as the above package is: A319-115LR with CFM engines and WINGLETS which is a LONG RANGE version with 4 Additional Center Tanks (max. Range: 8250 km) AirFrance livery. Special A319-115CJ models with CFM engines and WINGLETS which is the AIRBUS CORPORATE JET with 6 Additional Center Tanks, max. Range: 11100 km which comes in five versions: Operator: Emirates, Luxury airliner & VIP charter and Large roof antenna for media & communication via satellite. Operator: DC Aviation, Germany, Luxury VIP charter. DC Aviation belongs to Mercedes Benz Group. Operator: Czech Air Force, Presidential aircraft of the Czech Republic. Operator: Italian Air Force, Presidential aircraft of the Italian Republic, Medium sized roof antenna for media & communication via satelite. Operator: French Air Force, Former presidential aircraft of French Republic. It has been sold to Senegal, where it also serves for the government. Special A319-115CJ models with CFM engines and SHARKLETS (range 11,500nm) Operator: K5 Aviation, Germany, Luxury VIP charter. Operator: Global Jet Luxembourg, Luxury VIP charter The Airbus A319-115 CJ and LR variants comes with a beta version of Engine Warning Display and System Display (ECAM) A first on Peters Aircraft designs. The A319 with IAE engines is noted as coming. Winglet version Corporate Version The Airbus A319-114 CFM by Peters Aircraft is NOW available from the New X-Plane.Org Store here : Airbus A319-114 CFM - Passenger Prices are noted as: Basic Package: US$54.90 Extended Package: US$68.90 Requirements Windows, MAC or Linux - 64 bit Operating System is required X-Plane 10 .36+ (any edition) running in 64bit 4GB RAM/1Gb VRAM - For more information go to Peters Aircraft Images are courtesy of Peter Hager Stephen Dutton X-PlaneReviews©: X-PlaneReviews Updated 11th Sept 2015 A319A19-115 LR and CJ-115 LR an
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Peter Hager has released 3 new A380 Series versions besides his “British Airways” G-ALEA aircraft in July 2013. Unlike the usual situation where as you purchase an aircraft type and then you have a selection of liveries to chose from, Peter’s aircraft are a single model or version of a certain aircraft. The version is correct to type, rating and engines of that registration. Here are the four new versions: First is G-ALEA, which was the first of 12 aircraft to be delivered to British Airways on 4th July 2013. (LEA is under going route trials now between London Heathrow and Frankfurt). This livery is exceptionally good with fine detail and very good LIT (night textures) Second is A380-841 version 9M-MNE of Malaysian Airlines and it is equipped with 4 Rolls Royce Trent 970B-84 engines. Third is a Thai Airlines A380-841 version HS-TUB and it is equipped with 4 Rolls Royce Trent 970B-84 engines. Fourth is a China Southern A380-841 version B-6138 is equipped with 4 Rolls Royce Trent 970B-84 engines. This is the first aircraft to be operated by a Chinese Airline. All these new versions come with a few updates to the A380 series, gone are those bland orange cockpit windows of which have now been replaced by a 3d clear view and now with two pilots of which are very realistic - Now flying late at night the glow from the 3d panels is very realistic. This change should be soon updated through out the rest of the A380 series as well. For X-Plane9 users there has been a Plugin update to configure the aircraft for the 9.70 version of X-Plane and a change over plugin folder is included with these versions. The issue seems to be the VC cockpit, so if you haven’t recieved the update from Peter then download the plugin here: http://petersaircraft.com The new additions are now Available. (all versions now come with the magnificent VC Cockpit installed (above) Airbus A380-841: British Airways - US$ 59.95 Airbus A380-841: Malaysian Airlines - US$ 59.95 Airbus A380-841: Thai Airlines - US$ 59.95 Airbus A380-841: China Southern - US$ 59.95 Or you can purchase the full A380 series (Collection Package): Airbus A380-861 House Color - First test aircraft - Bonus Plane Airbus A380-841 House Color (demonstration aircraft) - Bonus Plane Airbus A380-861 Air France (Alliance GP7200 engines) Airbus A380-961 Emirates (Alliance GP7200 engines) Airbus A380-961 Korean Air (Alliance GP7200 engines) Airbus A380-841 British Airways (Rolls Royce Trent 970B-84 engines) Airbus A380-861 Lufthansa (Rolls Royce Trent 970B-84 engines) Airbus A380-841 Malaysian Airlines (Rolls Royce Trent 970B-84 engines) Airbus A380-842 Qantas (Rolls Royce Trent 972B-84 engines) Airbus A380-841 China Southern (Rolls Royce Trent 970B-84 engines) Airbus A380-841 Singapore Airlines (Rolls Royce Trent 970B-84 engines) Airbus A380-841 Thai Airlines (Rolls Royce Trent 970B-84 engines) - US$ 69.95 (includes future all updates) both single purchases and the collection package are now available from the .Org Store: Peter's Aircraft A380 Series Developer Site: Peter's Aircraft X-Plane Reviews: 2nd August 2013
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Freeware Releases Roundup September 2013 : Skyhawk A4 - Falcon7X - Airbus A380 In late August and September 2013 we had a really huge choice of quality “freeware” aircraft released. You could say be spoilt for choice in the range and high quality workmanship that became available on the .Org. Of the releases I have picked three of the best to have a fly around and comment on in the Skyhawk A4, Falcon 7X and Riviere’s Airbus A380. Douglas A-4 Skyhawk 1.7 This version was designed by Ben Harber, aka Mid7night and was for sale on the X-Plane .OrgShop site. But now the aircraft has been decommissioned by Nicolas Taureau and put up for freeware on the .Org downloads. The Douglas A-4 Skyhawk is a carrier-capable attack aircraft developed for the United States Navy and United States Marine Corps. The delta winged, single-engined Skyhawk was designed and produced by Douglas Aircraft Company, and later by McDonnell Douglas. It was originally designated the A4D under the U.S. Navy’s pre-1962 designation system. The Skyhawk is a light-weight aircraft with a maximum takeoff weight of 24,500 pounds (11,100 kg) and has a top speed of more than 600 miles per hour (970 km/h). The aircraft’s five hard-points support a variety of missiles, bombs and other munitions and was capable of delivering nuclear weapons using a low altitude bombing system and a “loft” delivery technique. The A-4 was originally powered by the Wright J65 turbojet engine; from the A-4E onwards, the Pratt & Whitney J52 was used. The Navy issued a contract for the type on 12 June 1952, and the first prototype first flew from Edwards Air Force Base, California on 22 June 1954. Deliveries to Navy and Marine Corps squadrons (to VA-72 and VMA-224 respectively) commenced in late 1956. The Skyhawk remained in production until 1979, with 2,960 aircraft built, including 555 two-seat trainers. The last production A-4, an A-4M of Marine squadron (VMA-223) had the flags of all nations that operated the A-4 painted on its fuselage sides. A-4 Skyhawks played key roles in the Vietnam War, the Yom Kippur War, and the Falklands War (Argentina). There are four versions of the A-4 available in the 107.60mb download package. Blue Angels - flight demonstration squadron. It was formed in 1946. And the A - 4F Skyhawk was the demonstrator aircraft between December 1974 – November 1986. The aircraft design is very good and well done but it is now showing its design age in the modeling and liveries department. The cockpit (on all versions) is 3d and very well created with an opening canopy and dropping tail hook. On the Blue Angels aircraft you can pick your own number on the tail by changing the liveries. A-4F Jester - The aircraft of “TOP GUN” fame. Air Combat Maneuvering (ACM) training brought on with the establishment of the Navy Fighter Weapons School (TOPGUN) in 1969, the availability of A-4 Skyhawks in both the Instrument RAGs and Composite Squadrons at the master jet bases presented a ready resource of the nimble Skyhawks that had become the TOPGUN preferred surrogate for the MiG-17. Here the air-brakes are activated with split wing and fuselage opening air-brakes. Lady Jessie - Recreation of historical aircraft. This is the Naval version of the Skyhawk, with the humpback blister and wing fuel tanks. The tanks were designed for a wheels up landing, and most Skyhawks carried them. Note - the excellent forward leading edge spoiler, and the air-brake/flap arrangement that drops down under the wing. BAE - Recreation of experimental model. You can feel how agile this aircraft was to fly, you are just a finger and thumb on the stick and it will just maneuver by just your light touch and feel. No wonder pilots could feel part as one with the aircraft and the reason for its longevity and success. If you like killing things you can arm the cannons and fire away, but your supplies don’t last very long. Overall a great aircraft and one savor and now available for a free download: Douglas A-4 Skyhawk 1.7 Dassault Falcon7X The Falcon7X by after, Won the "Best Aircraft of September" on the .Org monthly Poll. This is a great version of the Personal Jet that is almost payware quality. It is not a completely new file but an updated version for X-Plane10 from v9.510. The Dassault Falcon 7X is a large-cabin, long range business jet manufactured by Dassault Aviation. It is the first fully fly-by-wire business jet. It is also equipped with the same avionics suite, the Honeywell Primus EPIC “Enhanced Avionics System” (EASy), that was used on the Falcon 900EX and later on the Falcon 2000EX. The Falcon 7X is notable for its extensive use of computer-aided design, the manufacturer claiming it to be the “first aircraft to be designed entirely on a virtual platform” using Dassault Systemes’ CATIA and PLM products. It is also unusual in having an S-duct central engine, and is one of only two trijets currently in production, the other being the Dassault Falcon 900. It was also the first production Falcon jet to offer winglets. First Flight was on the 5 May 2005, The first 7X, MSN05, entered service on June 15, 2007. Maximum speed: 953 km/h (515 knots, 593 mph), Cruise speed: 900 km/h (486 knots, 559 mph), Range: 11,000 km (5,940 nm)8 passengers, Service ceiling: 14935 m (51,000 ft) At first glance the Falcon 7X feels like a very good payware project. It was updated from the v9 aircraft and quite considerably so for X-Plane10. Outwardly the design work is excellent and the modeling is first-rate. The cockpit (3d) is excellent and very functional, the centre console is as good as anything else and well detailed. Most of the upgrade work has centred on the displays and systems, and the central display is fully functional. Quite comprehensive in their detail are the center screens, the lower upper tabbed screen shows you your Nav, Trim, Engine, Electrical, Bleed, ECS and Failure options. The lower screens main layout is your FMS settings and Navigation Inputs. And then Fuel status and consumption. The next two tabs are the same as the upper screen in Engine and Trim and finally there are three MAP/GPS positions in MAP, FR (France) and USA (Local). The systems are quite deep in operation and the aircraft is excellent just for these systems alone. The Cabin is well fitted out as well with club seating and tables (a, la, Challenger 300) and the front door opens back on Terra Firma. It flies very well as well. Nice to the controls, fast with an enormous range of which you can cross any ocean or continent and in all counts it is an excellent aircraft. But the Falcon7X doesn’t reach payware quality yet, as it just falls short... But however this is a project still in progress and still bound for payware and to reach that goal then some issues will have to be reviewed. Like the main cockpit panels are a mixture of sharp and fuzzy labeling that annoys after awhile. You would put up with this in XP8 or XP9 for payware, but you want to feel it needs to be better than it is, even now with such a lot of considerable detailing and screen functionality already completed. The outer aircraft design are parts beautifully done (like the leading edge and rear flaps systems), but let down by the poor tires that make the aircraft wobble as it taxi’s around the taxiways and the lighting shows through the panel work. The Falcon7X displays the differences of quality that is needed to become payware, the gap is “oh so small” but it is still a gap to be crossed and as a lot of the work already completed by “after” does show the quality is in there to bridge that gap - It just needs that final polish and realism touches to be a really worthy contender. You can download the : Falcon 7X V9.510 for X-Plane V10.22 Here. Airbus A380 If you have been around X-Plane for a few or so years the name Christian Riviere will be well known to you. In fact Christian’s work is significant and varied throughout many versions of the X-Plane simulator. So when he releases any aircraft it will certainly catch your attention as his skills are very well regarded. The surprise is that it is the Airbus A380, Yes Christian Riviere has done airliners before but they tended to be iconic aircraft and old propeller dogs from the 1950’s. But lately he has gone all modern Airbussy in the A350XWB and now the big daddy in the A380. The outside modeling on the A380 is superb, with a high 3d quality that is very well crafted and detailed. From this aspect it is payware quality and very well done. Detailing in the engines (Wide chord fans are excellent) and well created and detailed landing gear. Flap arrangement is also very well done and so are the leading edge spoilers. and comes with a great selection of liveries : Emirates, Air France, British airways, China southern, Korean air, Lufthansa, Malaysia airlines, Qantas, Singapore Airlines and Thai. The doors open and inside there is a first class section with chairs and fittings. And then we will get to the cockpit. I will admit I have had many hours on A380’s in X-Plane. The best at the start was the EOLE-CREATION & VALERIAN BAYLE version which was not half bad and quite well done. But you soon realised it was not configured correctly in the fact it would not fly over 33,000ft and a stopover for fuel was required (LON-SIN) in Chennai to fly the last leg to Changi did not look good on the copybook. Peter’s (Aircraft) A380-800 is the deal to have, but it is costly (cheaper now than when I purchased it), but you soon understood why you have to pay for quality. If you follow Peter’s (extensive) guidelines, you soon become quite proficient because the basics are correct. And that is an important point to note, because if you hit the correct targets (height/weight/speeds) and the aircraft does what it is supposed to do, then you fly and learn much better. In other words “good data in” will produce “good data out” by your flying skills. If the aircraft tuning is not correct then you have “bad data in” and so “bad data out” in the fact the aircraft won’t do what it should do in the real world. Here Peter’s A380 excels because if you look at the real world data, the aircraft will hit those numbers perfectly (The low and approach speeds are simply outstanding) and flying these big A380’s is more an art form than a sum of total procedures, so if the numbers are right then you can fly them closer to the mark. The art in motion part is that this aircraft is very heavy, and flying long distances means getting the weight and climb performance right, 33,000ft is the go to number before losing weight to go higher. Running the Riviere A380 version the same procedures as Peter’s A380 version out of London (to Frankfurt) and at first it feels the same, but then it does not. No doubt that flying Peter’s Aircraft demands very precise points in the changes in speeds (you can set it to auto/FBW, but that is missing the fun) and V/S, so you are very busy in there compared to the Riviere version. For a start Riviere’s version is really only the default X-Plane cockpit setup, no FBW (Fly-By-Wire) or Airbus Logic Law. and the cockpit layout is very different from the real aircraft. Riviere's A380 Cockpit version Peter's Aircraft A380 Cockpit version If fact Riviere's cockpit feels really odd, the shape and the front windows is more Concorde with the visor down than an Airbus, The panel is crammed together and not very wide either? The basic controls are all there, but most of the detail is missing and the overhead panel is a standard Riviere item of a photo background with a few switches on it. Jumping over to Peter’s version and it feels like home again. All the switch gear is correctly placed and works. The wide windows feels far more realistic, but the much needed wipers are still missing (they are on the 2d cockpit, but are very poor). The only really frustrating annoyance is the (mostly the Autopilot) manipulators are impossible to find, I have missed many an approach in just trying to adjust my speed?... drives me simply nuts. But there is a difference in style. The Riviere version is not bad in many aspects, from climb to the FL330 ceiling but it is in the subtle differences you notice the more tighter programming that makes the difference if you are doing a serious simulation profile. Leaving London (EGGL) I ran both versions at MTW over the same route. At VOR “CLN” moving into the serious point of the climb (I call it the “lift”) the Riviere version is struggling to keep it’s speed and the V/S (Vertical/Speed) is down to 1200fpm. Peter’s version however is at the correct speed (285knts) and lifting at V/S 1600fpm with ease and with plenty of power in reserve (N1 is at 61%). Past 25,000ft I usually pull the A380 into a climb of 500fpm and reducing it down again to 300fpm as the climb goes past FL300. With a full load you have to adjust for wind strength with the V/S and watch for the limits before the nose starts to stall. Landing at EDDF (Frankfurt) I found Riviere’s A380 hard to perform at slow speeds and worse it wouldn’t turn past the 5º turn angle to align for runway (top). (odd because it would turn correctly at other points). and I missed the approach by a (country) mile and then had to do a complete (slow) 180º turn to realign with the runway. The speed dropped away badly as well and the A380 came close to a stall. Flying into EDDF (from the opposite direction) Peter’s version (lower) was rock solid on 185knts, and the degree turn was directly in line to the correct approach alignment. And the aircraft was so much more precise on how it performed. The question is “Is it fair to compare a Freeware aircraft with an expensive Payware Aircraft”? Well really “no” is the answer. But the point is this is simulation and the aim is recreate the aircraft’s systems and its flying abilities. There is no doubt that Christian Riviere has done a really great piece of work with his A380, but the constraints of just using the default X-Plane tools to build the aircraft shows in the performance, and you really miss those FBW systems. And that is the interesting part because Airbus Aircraft are built around these complex logic systems and that at the end of the day is what you pay for when buying a payware version of an aircraft. You can download Rivere's A380 : Airbus A380-800 for XP9.70 Here. (43.31MB download) You can buy Peter's Aircraft A380 : Airbus A380 X-Plane .OrgShop. Here - Price is US$59.95 Stephen Dutton 4th October 2013