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Happy New Year from the X-Plane Team

January 3, 2018 | 1 comment

On behalf of the X-Plane (Laminar Research) team, we would like to share with you their latest newsletter.

December was a very busy month for the X-Plane team! X-Plane 11.10 was officially released in the beginning of the month, then the team moved full speed ahead into testing X-Plane 11.20. This second major update includes native VR support. Private beta testing started in mid-December and a public VR preview build was made available just before the end of the year.

Meet X-Plane in 2018

The X-Plane team may be coming soon to an event near you! Dates and times are confirmed for:

We’ll also be in attendance at various fall events with exact dates still to be determined:

  • Flight Sim 2018 (Cosford, United Kingdom) – October
  • PC Flugtage Oberschleißheim (Munich, Germany) – October
  • FSWeekend (Lelystad, Holland) – November
  • ILS Flightsim Weekend (Hergiswil, Switzerland) – November

Featured Add Ons

Payware

The Gate to the Great Lakes: Custer (KTTF) Region is a new scenery pack by Attitude Simulations. This scenery pack includes a 64 sq. mile region of insanely detailed scenery with thousands of hand placed buildings. This airfield offers the real world pilot and avid simmer the ability to simulate realistic VFR training as well as a tough workload in instrument conditions, while helicopter pilots can enjoy several helipads and fun landing zones off-field.

Freeware

The Airbus A330 Neo is a wide-body jet airliner that was launched in 2014, and had its first flight in October 2017. It is powered by two Rolls-Royce Trent 7000 jet engines. This month you can grab a freeware copy of this up and coming airliner!

Gateway Airports

In December, the Airport Scenery Gateway surpassed over 6000 3D airports! One of the many notable submissions was Guangzhou Baiyun Intl (ZGGG). This airport will be included with X-Plane 11.20.
Happy flying!

— The X-Plane Team

Just Flight Update Piper PA28 Arrow

December 24, 2017 | 0 comments

Just Flight released just before Christmas, an impressive update of their Piper PA28 Arrow.

For those who have forgotten the Piper Arrow, here’s a small reminder ….. the PA-28R Arrow III is a four-seat, piston-engine aircraft equipped with retractable tricycle landing gear and a constant-speed propeller – an ideal aircraft for touring and instrument training. The origins of the Arrow start with the Piper Cherokee, which began production in 1961.

The Cherokee was introduced as a more affordable alternative to Piper’s Comanche and to compete with the popular Cessna 172. Piper introduced the original Cherokee Arrow in 1967 and it was the first of the Cherokee family to feature retractable landing gear. The Arrow II followed in 1972 with a stretched fuselage to provide increased leg room for the rear passengers, and the Arrow III arrived in 1977 with larger fuel tanks for improved range and a semitapered wing and longer stabilator for improved low-speed handling.

Enough about this. Those who own the JF PA28 Arrow should have received an email from Just Flight. If you did not, then here’s the version update 1.3 comes with the following change log:

  • Improved prop disc visualization effects
  • Brightened landing spill light
  • Hiding pilot when static elements are enabled
  • Tweaked internal lit texture (text)
  • Improved electrical system
  • Fixed “Avionics Off” item in checklist
  • Added “Ground Roll” mixer to copilot volume knob.
  • Fixed flap deflection time
  • Revised gyro sound
  • Fixed halo artifacts
  • Adjusted idle ratio
  • Fixed NAV1/2 flip switch to be entered when in GPS mode.
  • Made starter key set to “Off” when starting from cold and dark
  • Upgraded SASL to 3.12

Log in with your Just Flight account to retrieve this latest update. Have fun!

Carenado Dornier DO228 Review

November 22, 2017 | 1 comment

A new day, a new challenge …. our dedicated reviewer Andy Clarke had a thorough look into the Carenado Dornier DO228 100. And, did Andy like the model, did Andy had any issues or was it all over a great dedicated X-Plane 11 add-on?

According to Andy “The model is very impressively created, both inside and out, with high levels of detail throughout. Most of the controls and dials in the cockpit are modelled to be functional, allowing the pilot to use the aircraft at increasing levels of complexity and authenticity. The experience is further enhanced by highly realistic and varied sounds for all aspects of the model, including the passengers in the back waiting for the aircraft to be started.”

And, Andy continues “The developers have clearly worked very hard to produce a high quality model which appears highly similar to pictures of the real aircraft. The flight characteristics also reproduce the qualities of short take off and landing, flexibility and adaptability that the real aircraft is renowned for.”

Want to read the whole review? Then you must check out his comprehensive review. Enjoy!

VSkyLabs Tecnam P2600T Review

November 19, 2017 | 0 comments

Your personal reporter Angelique van Campen drove all over to Italy to see, feel, and fly the latest VSkyLabs Tecnam P2600T aircraft. Although this model is only for X-pLane 11.10 and up, it was worth the drive and testing.

According to Angelique “I won’t say that I’ve covered all of the VSkyLabs Tecnam for X-Plane 11.10, but I’m quite sure most of it is discussed. For some reason, the review is longer and more complex then expected. I found it fair to discuss both the analog and G1000 cockpit layouts.”

“The models itself are the same, so no further comparison is needed. And it was worth the time and flying. There’s still some work to do, but as JetManHuss from VSkyLabs is saying .. we’re still improving the model”.

Curious what Angelique has to say? Then you should read her in-depth review here at X-Plained.Com.

X-Plane 11.10b8 Released

November 18, 2017 | 0 comments

A couple of hours ago – as of this writing November 18th 2017 02:24 UTC – X-Plane has been updated to version 11.10b8 and I got the impression that this will be the last beta, unless I misinterpret the note before updating my X-Plane version.

I couldn’t find a log file, but I found as usual, on Ben Supnik blog, a lot of information and although it seems not much, again a lot of bug fixes are completed. According to Ben “X-Plane 11.10 is the first major update to X-Plane 11. This update includes new features such as joystick & keyboard profiles, the G1000, new art assets for airport artists, and landmarks. It also includes numerous bug fixes and rendering changes.”

Ok, what’s new in beta 8?

  • Fixed tinting of colored metal.
  • Correct alpha for high cirrus clouds when close up.
  • additional SDK API fixes.
  • XPD-8174/XPD-8270 Restores acf_trq_max_eng dataref.
  • XPD-8200 Fixed Orbiter/HDR variant of clouds in front of aircraft.
  • XPD-8410 Gun dataref error “sim/weapons/action_mode”
  • XPD-8477 Cursor fix on Mac High Sierra.
  • XPD-8544 Fixed stutter when control pad polls the disk for airplanes.
  • XPD-8545 Crash after entering fix and crossing point in the FMS.
  • XPD-8554 Fix stutter when ex-visual is missing a livery.
  • XPD-8556 Corrected lighting on panel-based G1000.
  • XPD-8557 Control of near clip plane.
  • XPD-8558 Adjust time step via dataref for non-real-time simulation.
  • XPD-8562 Fixed nose wheel steering too slow in 11.05 aircraft.
  • XPD-8568 Removed N2 free-turbine model from UI. If an airplane was saved with the new model in beta, it is converted to the old one on load so no one is relying on the new behavior.
  • XPD-8592 Kingair Prop stuck on feather on first drag after cold and dark start.

Want to read all information about the 11.10 beta’s, then check out this web page.

Factory Rollout FlightFactor A350 XWB

November 4, 2017 | 0 comments

We’re pleased to offer you some exclusive screenshots of the FlightFactor/QPAC A350 XWB in the original factory rollout livery. Some of these screenshots have a painted tail, as is normal at the factory in Toulouse/Blagnac when the aircrafts are build together.

Added to these factory rollout livery you’ll noticed the presence of some cockpit shots. All screenshots are made somewhere in southern France near Toulouse/Blagnac, flying toward the Pyrenees. Ground textures are ortho material from ZonePhoto, use X-Plane 11.05, macOS Sierra 10.12.6 and just the default clouds, so no Lua scripts or whatsoever was used.

I think that fscabral did a great job and there’s more to come, but that’s for later. Enjoy these screenshots and when you like this factory rollout livery, feel free to download the livery package – only for registereed X-Plained.com members – via this dedicated link.