Innsbruck is one of the most beautiful and spectacular places on earth with an airport that can support a variety of airline equipment up to a small widebody such as the Boeing 767-300ER. I have traveled to LOWI for my entire “sim life” but sadly haven’t been able to see it in person yet.

To demonstrate this magnificent place, I chose horrendously gusty winds by manually editing the weather in both X-Plane 12 (XP12) and MSFS2020. I wanted to test terrain-induced dangers with modeled shear, downsloping, thermals, and maybe some rotor effects. 

The results were good and depicted simulated wind over steep peaks equally well. Both sims have enhanced their ability to handle wind flow over terrain and objects, such as buildings. Each will delight and tantalize you into taking risks you would not in real life. However, if you find yourself in a real-world situation that demands all your wind-battling skills, I am confident some, if not most of which you experience in either sim, will translate to useful skills. 

• READ MORE: Ultimate Realism ‘X-posed’ in 747-200 Classic

I started this exercise using the closest thing to a large bizjet I could find, which in MSFS 2020 is the Aerosoft CRJ 550 series with corporate livery. I enjoy this model and use it often, as I have seen these converted to private use in the real world.

I began and ended all my flights at LOWI to test terrain, feel out the winds aloft, as well as terrain-based wind flows and shear. 

The CRJ is interesting to fly with a lot of trimming required as it’s a long-bodied jet with a large swing either side of the CG. I have not flown one in real life, but I find flying pitch with stab trim almost entirely while hand flying. I mean, all jets I have flown are like that, but this is fairly sensitive to pitch, power, and flap configuration—all requiring lots of trimming. Taking off in violent winds was a task. The small aileron “tabs” were not doing a great job in crosswind ability.

Using live weather in my first view patterns was wild enough. On the downwind to the westerly runway at LOWI, I experienced a lot of up and down drafts, shear, varying winds, and sloppy controls. Even some unstable virga bursts were in the valley, corresponding to the actual METAR at the time. 

Snow cover is supposed to be realistically placed, and if it was, the coverage seemed quite believable. Snow still was deep in most elevated regions and spotty in the valley floor by the airport. Also visible was green grass and flowering trees. 

For the final approach, I calculated V_REF of about 128 was fought with much shear, with airspeed variances of up to 20 to 30 knots, providing a wild ride. In the CRJ you can not hear any engines from the cockpit, making for an odd audio sensation. You must look at your power settings only. This makes it easy to get behind the “power curve,” and often I found myself overcorrecting or undercorrecting on speed control. 

I imagine this is how a real CRJ pilot must feel. To me, engine sounds are extremely useful and one of the senses you can not operate without. I imagine MD80-style pilots are used to the same sensation.

I love comparing sims, so I loaded up manual weather in XP12 to mimic the same windy conditions, as live weather in the sim works well. 

I wanted unlimited visibility and no rain. Live weather in XP12 has a defect where it rains all the time, regardless of actual METAR. With a lighter corporate jet, that is powerful. As is often the case with swept-wing jets, sometimes extra drag is required beyond gear and flaps. In this case, I ran the speedbrakes often on final, as gusting winds often increase speed and put you high on the glideslope. 

It definitely was a jarring trip and was often violent with bank angles going beyond 40 degrees. Landing was wild, leading to the aircraft’s big wings striking the ground at times in the crosswinds approaching 35 knots. Its powerful reversers worked great, and slowing down was not an issue. The same monster engines worked great on climbout also, blasting through the shear layers.

Lastly, I tried the heaviest aircraft I could use at LOWI that I had in my library: the 737-700 BBJ models from PMDG and LevelUP for XP12.

Using 130,000 pounds as my test weight, I kept the same weather parameters going, with equally set manual weather in both sims, featuring the same winds. Hand flying the circuit, I blasted through the shear with ease, but the big wings made it even more noticeable in rolling motions and aileron slop.

I have noticed when flying big jets in my sims, the longer wings and winglets of newer airliners tend to “right the jet” quickly as it creates a stable platform in roll. However, it often results in necessary “tugging” or more force to start or end a bank. Older jets without winglets or shorter wingspans are much faster in roll and lack some stability in bank.

• READ MORE: A Better Virtual Flight Deck

I only have my real-world corporate jet experience to draw upon, but I do believe this is true. I have flown “wingleted” Challenger 300s and non-wingleted Falcon 2000s, Hawkers, and Beechjets. Of those, I found the Challenger 300 has a more stable roll and is more sluggish as well in that axis. When I flew Beechjets, with short stubby wings and no winglets, I realized it would simply roll off into oblivion if pushed more than 30 degrees over. There was no inherent stability. 

Some circuits were done taking off downwind. I could actually feel the requirement to push forward on the yoke, keep the stab down, and “dive away from the wind.” That technique works here as well. By neutralizing the yoke, I lost the ability to steer and attack whatever crosswind component was evident. Pushing too far down made steering overly sensitive, but pulling toward takeoff made steering impossible. It was a battle and balance that is realistically conveyed in both sims. 

Initiating the PMDG 737-700 BBJ was equally satisfying in XP12, with more fantastic weather modeling. The “violence” was real, and two landing attempts were met with sudden go-arounds as crosswinds, sudden sink rates, and warnings were severe. 

After a 50-degree sudden roll over at 500 feet, I was done and practiced wild go-arounds. This was in XP12. In both sims, if your sound settings are accurate, you can really hear the gusts on the windscreen on final as power is relatively low. This is something that is present in the real jet I fly.

Once again, I must tout the amazing XP-Realistic Pro, available at www.x-plane.org, for XP12, or the FS-Realistic Pro for MSFS2020. Both enhance and add necessary sound and visual effects for each sim.

Unexpected rolling motion hit me in XP12—and I loved it. Downwind washing wind flow is the reason I suspect, but I can imagine how nauseating this would be in real life. As a captain of jets for many years, I am OK while up front, but as soon as you make me a passenger, all bets are off for my stomach.

Even in the default XP12 scenery you do get the feeling of new worldly locations, with the local-style architecture and buildings changing. The European look is quite evident in Austria, creating an immersive experience, although not quite as dramatic as in MSFS2020.

Doing multiple takeoffs and landings to and from such a beautiful place is fun and satisfying to watch on the replay mode of XP12. I hope Asobo Studio will include replay into future versions of MSFS2020. You can learn a lot from sims, and being able to watch every aspect of it over and over during challenging situations is a great tool. 

The post Simulated Austria Is Wild, Wonderful appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

I was obsessed. Once college approached, I knew I was going to become an airline pilot, and I wouldn’t stop until I was an old man flying a Boeing 747. I was originally going to go to college to become a TV meteorologist, but failing grades in math kept that dream far away. I found it much easier to get into a state college with an aviation program, so off I went to one in New England to become a pilot.

While earning all my primary ratings, private through commercial and CFII, Microsoft Flight Simulator was right there with me. It provided all I needed for that extra boost when studying ILSs, holding patterns, VOR tracking, stalls, slow flight, cross countries, and more. Once the newer versions of MSFS were released (these major new versions were anticipated and sold in PC software stores in malls back then), it would cause so much excitement and anxiety for me that I’d be prepared to drive hours to get the coveted box in hand before the stores ran out, or other friends I knew grabbed theirs. Then the worries over computer strength and how the new version would run upped the anxiety. But it was a fun time back then, one that blew past any young child’s Christmas morning memory on any new release day.

After acing my IFR rating (the CFIs never understood how I knew all this stuff prior to beginning flying), my next big “ace event” was years later during my first real job as a Cape Air captain flying a nine-seat Cessna 402. I had to go for weeks of indoc and training, and my monthlong-stay hotel room was filled with some great multiengine hardware. Throttle quadrants, rudder pedals, and all were a fixture in my small room along with the PC. Today, I highly recommend the Sporty’s Pilot Shop Flight Sim Starter Set—quality Honeycomb equipment—or FLYING’s custom rig.

• READ MORE: Ultimate Realism ‘X-posed’ in 747-200 Classic

Some fellow classmates came to observe or try engine failures in a Cessna 421 add-on, the closest thing we had to the lower-powered 402. But it all worked and made sense. My multiengine failures and a simulated ATP check ride—complete with many single-engine NDB approaches to minimums in the real airplane—all seemed easy to me as I was able to fly all this before. The heck with imaginary “armchair flying”—I had the real thing in my hotel room as far as I was concerned.

Years later, once again another big event was my initial type rating in my first jet—the Beechjet 400A—in Wichita, Kansas. Most folks get a full initial type school of more than three weeks for most bizjets. However, my Part 135 boss was a cheapskate (imagine that) and wanted me typed within a four-day recurrent session the other pilots get every year. That was a lot to accomplish. The instructors said they didn’t think I could do it, as nobody gets a type off a recurrent session. And since it was my first jet rating, I had to take the four-day FMS ground training event as well.

Learning an aircraft FMS is the hardest thing for new jet pilots, and I had no time to learn it. Well, I said let me try the sim and see how I do in the FMS. I had a secret weapon nobody knew about. I had been using an FMS for years in MSFS, thanks to PMDG (www.PMDG.com), the makers of the finest Boeing airliners for the sim platform. Once I was in the real Beechjet sim, I discovered, sure enough, the FMS is exactly like the one in the Boeing jets. Even the glass cockpit was similar. The instructors were dumbfounded as to how I could suddenly bang away at all the keys, programming and modifying all the while learning to fly the jet. I let the cat out of the bag and told them, thanks to me being a geek on MSFS, I had learned all this years ago. They’re reaction was “no way” … but I was told to go ahead and skip the FMS course. I got my type rating in four days!

There was a fairly good Beechjet add-on for MSFS2004 made by Eaglesoft, and I used it during this training event and subsequent recurrents as I became a captain for the 135 outfit I flew with for several years before getting a new type rating on a big, beefy Dassault Falcon 2000 eventually. Sadly, no Falcon products existed for any sim platform, so I was a bit overwhelmed during that initial type rating. But, as most flying jobs change, so did this one. I was suddenly changing jobs and getting typed in a Hawker 800 series—a bit of a step back from the big Falcon.

Now, once again I had the sim advantage as one did exist from designer Carenado (www.carenado.com). The Hawker 850 was out for MSFSX at the time, and it was excellent in preparing me for the overall layout, look, and feel for learning the cockpit. However, it was not too big on exact systems modeling, so I used it as more of a visual familiarization tool than anything else, as well as for some basic flying qualities I believed were probably modeled pretty well.

Soon that 135 job ended, as those old 800s were poorly maintained and most flights were an exercise in using the emergency section of the POH. So I quit, only to find a job flying a much newer, late model Hawker 850, exactly as I had in MSFSX. This was a hoot. The newness and power was so much greater than the older sister. But that new boss suddenly traded in the 850XP for a big, powerful Challenger 300. This was the pinnacle of my career back then, and I had yet another sim weapon—the incredible Challenger 300 for X-Plane 11.

This favorite of many was sadly discontinued years ago, but I used it to the fullest extent while it was available. Systems, operations, layout, and flying quality were all simulated. I became extremely familiar with the CL300 during this time, and once I was type rated and flying the real thing, I became a reviewer of the X-Plane version. I was even able to help the author a bit on tweaking some parameters to better equal the real jet.

But the more I flew the real thing, the more I realized how well done the X-Plane version really was. I used to think it was too powerful, easily performing initial climb rates hitting 10,000 fpm, then I found out, yes, indeed the real thing does it too. What a ride!

Now that sims have helped me learn the real aircraft I fly, what about other stuff? How about life and death? Through no fault of my own, or perhaps a clumsy error, or maybe being even wreckless a bit while flying on the PC, I have found myself in sudden potentially dangerous scenarios that require immediate thinking and problem solving. I often leave the airplane on autopilot to do other things but have returned on a few occasions to discover one or more engines have failed for some reason. In jets it could be because of high-altitude weather, lack of anti-icing items being used, or other issues. Now I must think and react as a real pilot.

Even without a checklist at hand, it’s a brain exercise that is nothing but beneficial. So in a way, that is an actual emergency not planned at all and definitely a surprise. In smaller airplanes I have experienced total loss of power, so a visual landing off airport is an incredible “big picture” situational awareness type of tool that’s very realistic. I have written about such emergencies in past issues of FLYING’s digital platform.

Actual live weather feeding can provide an unexpected moment. So now, it’s time to dig out approach plates or perhaps attempt a visual with terrain. How about a planned emergency? Sure can. Options in either MSFS2020 or X-Plane 12 (XP12) give you the ability to randomly have a failure of anything you choose at a specific time, keystroke, or random period. XP12 goes farther and gives you the chance of random bird impact and resulting crisis, with hundreds more just waiting for you to activate. During jet recurrent events, we practice multiple engine failures at V₁, so that is easily something I’ll do in the sims at home.

Get a friend involved to secretly program something bad to happen. Back when I was a single guy and had a fellow roommate pilot pal (Rob, this is you) whom I taught how to fly, we’d call these randomized, intentional moments of doom “horror flights.” We’d set up the other guy while he wasn’t looking to have to fly the Cessna 182 and have total electrical failures combined with vacuum failure at night. Looking up to see nothing but a turn coordinator to live by is terror in IFR. Use engine sound for rpm and wind noise for pitch. If the outcome was bad, we’d throw each other down the stairs to simulate a crash and resulting injury. This added to the fun and realism. I don’t think any of us really lost too much blood.

I have been to many airfields in the real world where I’ve experienced that “been-there-done-that” feeling. Places like KASE, KTEX, KHSP, KJAC, KVNY, KSFO, KTRK, CYVR, PHLI, and dozens more where, if it weren’t for the sim, I’d be a level behind. Most involve high terrain or odd procedures. My first European trips in the Challenger were done in MSFS or X-Plane. Any new places I know of that I am heading to will be at least seen virtually before going in real life.

Every sim session is educational and keeps the brain in “big picture” mode. SA, or situational awareness, is key. I have flown with so many other pilots that lack this skill or are somewhat always behind the jet. A home simulator keeps these skills sharp. You’re always thinking ahead about “What if…?”

You don’t even need the latest MSFS or X-Plane to do this—or a fancy PC. Any version would do. I’d go as far as to say some of the big picture things can even be accomplished with an air combat sim. If you’re always thinking and doing, planning and preparing with a home flight sim, you’re leaps and bounds ahead of the traditional “armchair” pilot.

Going from class to a hotel room, sitting in a chair with a cockpit diagram in hand, isn’t going to cut it. You’re missing the other half.

This column first appeared in the December 2023/Issue 944 of FLYING’s print edition.

The post Healthy Obsession: What Flight Sim Has Done for Me appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Competition is good, and before 2020, we all began to think Microsoft was out of the game, and X-Plane creator Austin Meyer would be the savior, keeping this hobby alive forever. Certainly not swayed by Microsoft’s offerings, Meyer and his team forged ahead, putting the finishing touches on X-Plane 11. X-Plane 12 was released earlier this year after a long beta period. Not forgotten here, or elsewhere, the X-Plane series is continuously updated and developed. In fact, Meyer’s team at Laminar Research is the largest it’s ever been—tiresomely working on X-Plane 12.

I won’t hide the fact that MSFS2020 is gorgeous to look at and has the most stunning aircraft to visually drool over. Photorealistic qualities abound both in the cockpit and view outside. Worldwide satellite imagery turned 3D being fed to you as you fly makes for the most gorgeous earthly renditions I have ever witnessed on a PC. There’s worldwide live weather, even clouds that look real as they are fed via satellite imagery at high resolutions and a fast frame rate. But this can be detrimental to some that lack high-speed connectivity.

Offline play is also nonexistent. The MSFS world will only load well if you’re on a super internet connection. Otherwise, it will struggle and run too poorly to enjoy. Many of the installation issues or updating problems users experience is because of the lack of quality internet connectivity in other parts of the world. With X-Plane, you can still fly offline, anywhere, anytime, hassle free.

But I want to get into detail on one thing. The flight quality in MSFS—although improved since its release—still feels somewhat “too easy, or rail-y.” The development team has openly discussed how new programming of wind on terrain, weather, active thermals, and lift/drag all have improved flight models, and, yes, you can certainly feel the improvements over previous versions. But still something is missing, at least on some default flight models. The lack of momentum, lift being produced on individual surfaces, weight, and weather conditions at hand don’t touch the “blade element theory” X-Plane has rallied with since the beginning.

A Different Model

The realism of the flight model and the pure feel of flying any machine in XP12 is just pure joy. If you have high quality hardware, it’s even more noticeable. As I write this, I am flying a 747-200 with the masterful Honeycomb yoke and a throttle quadrant supporting up to four engines. (Sporty’s Pilot Shop is the place to go for the starter set and run it on a Doghouse Systems Flying Edition core).

I have fallen in love with the Felis 747-200 classic add-on, available for purchase from the x-plane.org online store. This to me is the absolute greatest example of top-end flight dynamics quality, resulting from the XP12 programming. Flying the greatest airliner of all time and being able to feel every aspect is what I love.

You can really feel the momentum to get moving and power required to break away on the tarmac. The sway, moving on body gear steering, is all there all while monitoring your brake temperatures from the flight engineer’s position. The entire cockpit is modeled with every system and switch performing some function with consequences.

I am not a 747 pilot nor engineer, so I really need to spend a lot of time studying all this from profiled documentation or many resources available on the internet. It is a dream to just “do patterns” in this beast—at light weights, pretty agile yet rock solid.

Flying the Felis ‘742’

When considering the Felis “742” in XP12, the lighting, sky, and weather depiction is improved, but jagged shadows and somewhat grainy textures still exist around the cockpit at times. The Felis 742 has an EFB that will calculate the necessary speeds, with corresponding flap settings, takeoff power, etc. This beast will react to weight extremely realistically, and you’ll feel it while hand flying.

The takeoff is the most realistically pleasing of any flight sim aircraft I have ever used in 40 or more years as a simmer. Partially because of XP12 itself and its brilliant modeling, and partially because of this particular aircraft add-on’s quality. As you go barreling down the runway, (don’t forget XPrealistic for the shaking and sounds not included in XP12 by default) the rattling and vibrations come to life. At V_R, you pull hard on the yoke and wait. Nothing happens right away then slowly the “Queen of the Skies” will relinquish her grip on Earth, bringing the nose up to takeoff attitude, and moments later the main trucks will unplant themselves and she’ll break ground. You can feel this with your eyes, and vertical speed, and even with your controls. It’s absolutely amazing—with wings bending and lifting, external flyby views are the best at these moments.

Magnificent in every way, the 747-200 for XP11 and XP12 demonstrates dominating realism—it could be the best rendition of any heavy jet for any flight sim. In cruise you’ll be constantly fiddling with the four power levers to tweak precise fuel flow just like the real 747-200. Holding four levers in your hand with real hardware ups the immersion 10 times, or cheat and use the primitive autothrottle. I will have to wait until the PMDG Simulations team releases its 747-400 series, sometime in the next year I believe, to see if it can outdo this model with the MSFS base. PMDG is the master of flight dynamics for the Microsoft franchise, featuring the 737NG, 747-400, and 777 previous version. But until then, the Felis 742 can not be touched.

Improving X-Plane

The current state of X-Plane 12 is under constant improvement. The folks at Laminar Research are working on some internal graphics enhancements to mesh with all the extra VRAM optimizations currently undergoing to bring XP12 to the next level. I’ve been told that the problems I have experienced with jagged edges, or blocky shadows, etc., will be drastically improved, but it all takes time. It’s a puzzle of memory allocation and individual pixel related algorithms.

Meyer’s efforts are to continually produce the most realistically accurate flight simulator in the world, not a scenery sim or one that showcases your home and driveway below. As we know, those things are in “the other sim.” For now, I have also been enjoying the proven XP11 with the Felis 747 and other top quality add-ons I have purchased over the years. They all perform flawlessly in XP11, from the standpoint of flight dynamics, in a world that is still tried and true. I have no doubt XP12 will dominate everyone’s XP world in the upcoming year or so, sending XP11 to the closet.

What XP12 now offers is a completely new scenery base model, with greater variability of the “plausible world.” The biggest overhaul was with ambient lighting, weather modeling, and effects such as standing water, puddling, spray, and ground icing and its effects on the aircraft at hand. The weather is so cool that I have often placed myself on a ramp, engine off, in silence to hear and watch an incoming squall line blast me.

To take a flight sim aircraft model and place yourself in an area on the ramp in silence, with no engines running, to watch and listen to the weather inbound is a testament to its realism. The roar of thunder, wind, pouring rain, and lightning flashes are the best I have seen. The same with icing, snow squalls and slippery runways, where water will freeze up on you—either all manually driven or via live weather. The XP thunderstorm model will destroy you if you choose to tangle. The MSFS thunderstorm may look good but is weak in comparison. There’s a feeling of danger in XP when it comes to the weather.

Weather Realism

Using live weather will dynamically change as you fly the globe. It’s accurate, fast loading, and works well on a weak internet connection. But a fun exercise is to build the weather manually. X-Plane doesn’t interpret METAR visibility well in automatic weather, limiting it to only 10 miles by default since that’s the upper limit on worldwide METAR reports. This is very annoying, as in-flight visibilities often go far above 100 miles. The XP world always looks too hazy. By taking auto weather off, and manually controlling it, you can enjoy all the preloaded winds aloft, etc., and then raise the visibility to something more fitting.

• READ MORE: Testing Live Weather and Winter Wonders Along the Way

Manually building more believable cumulus clouds and thunderstorms is great. For those of you who don’t like the automatically made clouds, try making a scattered layer of cumulonimbus with no rain, no change, and steady state. You’ll get some very believable puffy clouds on an otherwise nice day. Be sure to manually add thermals below the bases as well for typical daytime chop. Then make the clouds deteriorate on their own for the next level of greatness with the thunderstorms XP so perfectly demonstrates.

The X-Plane pucker factor wouldn’t be what it is without the ability to set up more than 500 combinations of system failures anytime, anywhere. This powerful tool is another feature that has made XP so incredibly real for flight training, awareness, and other real-life “big picture” skills that home simulators can perfect. From bird strikes and the resulting random damage to faulty maintenance that could lead to an aileron coming off sometime unexpectedly, it’s all there. Not for the faint of heart, yet absolutely necessary for one’s skills and processing strengths as a sim or real-world pilot.

The add-on market of available fully detailed systems for loaded aircraft is strong. Operating them in the X-Plane world (either version) gives the desktop pilot the best feel for what that particular real-life aircraft counterpart flies like.

This feature first appeared in the October 2023/Issue 942 of FLYING’s print edition.

The post Ultimate Realism ‘X-posed’ in 747-200 Classic appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

I am often inspired by the real locations and weather I experience when I am on a real work trip. With ForeFlight by my side, it’s fun to test the realism of the sims and how they’re interpreting live weather worldwide. Both X-Plane 12 (XP12) and Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 (MSFS2020) do a pretty good job of keeping up with it and both have shown continual improvements. It seems each month the message forums are showcasing live weather questions, observations, frustrations, and praise. 

I feel the most accurate live weather award currently goes to MSFS2020 as most of the flights I take, with ForeFlight next to me, are startlingly accurate. The altimeter, visibility, and clouds are really spot on. Locations of rain or snow are pretty accurate too with virga and visual depictions often having me saying “wow.” 

I made my way westward recently from the East Coast to encounter winter spots. The first was a stop into Cleveland Hopkins International Airport (KCLE) using a 787 Dreamliner. KCLE is known for lake-effect snow and this day didn’t disappoint. Snow bands were flowing west to east, and my flight session, down the ILS to an eventual autoland, took me right in the heart of it all.

Various moments from the cockpit view included bursts of snow whooshing past, some varying visibility, and not a lot of turbulence. Even as shown on ForeFlight, the snow showers ended east of the field near the city, allowing for an almost completely visual approach. As I got closer, some definite wind shear jibs and jabs made the wings bounce, something the 787 is famous for with its dampening, flexing wings.

Testing live weather was a success in this scenario. Let’s see the next one. 

I proceeded westward a few hours to the Dakotas and upon reaching there had some very windy weather and snowy bursts to contend with as well. I was using the amazing Learjet 35 I recently featured and it was a blast to feel this one out in surface winds gusting to 40 knots. The Learjet has enough fuel for about 1,500 nm tops, and in this case I traveled about 1,000 miles. I set out for a field in the North Dakota-eastern Montana area for fuel and aircraft change.

The somewhat higher elevations and wide-open areas with some gradual terrain will start making shear. The bumps were noticeable but not yet overly crazy. The wind flow over terrain effect within MSFS is remarkably accurate. 

For the next leg of the adventure, I chose the default Cessna Longitude bizjet, with more range and modern avionics to attempt a “visual” in horrendous weather, surrounded by dangerous terrain. Revelstoke, British Columbia, in Canada is spectacular as it gets, so I went to go check it out.

I vectored myself onto the arrival below the terrain. I would be landing on Runway 30 with the poor weather conditions, so I decided to use the modern technology at hand.

Following the 3D view with an eyesight-enhanced vision system on the Latitude, I could see right through the clouds and snow, down the river in virtual visual conditions. Now, I don’t think pilots with this avionics package do this yet, but I could see someday in the not too distant future the ability to just fly a visual approach in something horrendous.

I was led right down the shoot to the breakout point and runway in real visual conditions at a low altitude I would say was near ILS minimums.

In the real Challenger 300 I fly, similar to the Longitude, the reversers are so effective and rev up to such a high percentage, we don’t even touch the brakes until almost walking speed or something under 40 knots.

MSFS has great icing modeled with effects on performance. It doesn’t always come off cleanly, and sometimes even windows don’t get cleared very rapidly.

Continuing the adventure, I got into an A321neo (LatinVFR available on sim marketplace) for the rest of the journey westward. There is no better, more scenic place than Juneau, Alaska, and an unusual weather event was occurring at the time—clear skies! Alaska in winter is usually terrible with huge rain storms likely along the coast or wet snow blizzards. Apparently a cold snap following some heavy snows was occurring the day I tried this, and the built-in live weather matched the conditions almost to a T.

I have to stop somewhere, because the adventuring available in Alaska is endless. Maybe I’ll do this  again later this winter as there is so much to discover and tinker with. Setting up manual weather to something wild and dangerous is also fun, especially in mountainous regions. Using the variety of GA aircraft available in the sims opens up a whole new avenue of bush flying, where icing dangers are more noteworthy. 

As always, I have to link the “must-haves” as you fly: 

FS Realistic Pro for the best add-on ever made.

Sporty’s Pilot Shop for all the flight controls imaginable and an easy home setup.

ProDeskSim for the coolest affordable add-ons to the Honeycomb throttle quadrant that will leave you drooling. 

The post Testing Live Weather and Winter Wonders Along the Way appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Now that we have become accustomed to the visuals and feel of MSFS2020 and comfortable with all the available add-ons and updates to improve the experience, it could be easy to forget the “other” sim, X-Plane.

I have been an X-Plane customer and user since it was invented and have had phone calls and even met with Austin Meyer at a sim conference years ago. X-Plane 11 (XP11) was the only sim I used a few years back after the original MSFS X was discontinued and further development seemed over. 

• READ MORE: A Better Virtual Flight Deck

My love of XP11 didn’t transfer easily to XP12. Graphical glitches, texture shimmers, performance issues, incompatibility of add-on aircraft previously purchased, etc., made for a frustrating time. 

Up until just two weeks ago, I resigned to sticking with XP11. Then, suddenly, a new update to XP12 beta was released. The sky coloring, lighting, cloudscapes, and weather modeling all came together. 

Previously purchased XP11 aircraft all started getting updates to make them fully XP12 compliant. The performance issues I had in earlier updates in XP12 seemed to have gone away as well. Even the most complex jetliners now performed as well in XP12 as in XP11, all the while looking superior in the new lighting and weather. On my modest laptop with most detail sliders three-fourths of the way up and running in 2K native resolution, I often see frame rates over 50 frames per second. The in-game weather has not affected this, which is a real shock.

I recently started experimenting with live weather as it was occurring near my home. Flying various aircraft in XP12 at that exact moment has given me an appreciation of how accurate the live weather is, along with its stunning graphic depiction.

Flying the Toliss A319 from New York to southern New England provided some excitement as I headed toward a squall line approaching my home, Worcester Regional Airport (KORH) in Massachusetts. The clouds were bubbling up in the right places. 

Trying to beat an advancing line of heavy convection, you can see the lower buildups over 10,000 feet here, but much higher in the distance, corresponding with the bigger storms and tops. The accuracy and feeling of blasting through these tops is fabulous and is accompanied by clouds, bursts of loud rain, or ice, depending on the temperature. 

I could not get to my destination of KORH because it was below minimums, and I made a missed approach. As I proceeded eastward to my alternate airport—Laurence G. Hanscom Field Airport (KBED) in Bedford, Massachusetts—I broke out of the advancing weather to see the overhang of thunderstorms advancing my way. I used a ForeFlight app on an iPad to accompany my XP flights. 

Here, we see the overhanging anvil clouds coming out of the top of the lower convection zone. This is a realistic meteorological phenomenon that pilots see up high. Some lower-level haze and fogging is also seen. This effect is incredible and very accurate. It is probably the best depiction of weather I have ever seen in a sim. 

Using the same Airbus Corporate Jet ACJ319 in the Caribbean with convective weather produced visuals such as soaked runways, engine blowback, mist, tire spray, and reflectivity. It is all amazing.

The sim showed heavy rain being wiped away. The runway water model features performance degradation, as well as visuals. The rain impact, and especially the sound of the heavy rain, is better than the MSFS2020 version, which is quiet and weak.

The default heavy A330 circumnavigates around a big cumulonimbus cloud at altitude. 

Runway reverser action in the sim includes moisture fogging on the engine inlet. 

Flying across the U.S. and approaching the monsoon convection over New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah, I can parallel and see the entire event 100 miles away. This visual candy is so true to real life, as I often see at FL400 in the bizjet I fly for work. 

The fictional Columbia Airlines Flight 409 heavy makes her way westward. Look at that gorgeous shine on metallic surfaces and sunlight reflection with the new XP12 lighting effects.

Gazing southwards, you can see the weather systems with cirrus clouds now included. The far-away depiction of weather is my favorite new effect for realism and a sense of upcoming trouble. It looks no different than in real life.

Columbia 409, after a squall as the sunshine evaporates the puddles that formed during the rain. 

While X-Plane 12 makes weather enticing to fly in, I find the active, or live thermals are still not up to snuff compared to MSFS2020. Their new thermal model really knocks you around, and operates using live weather and time of day. 

I hope X-Plane will improve the thermal simulation, as currently, sunny days with live weather don’t bounce you around. However, as always, you can simulate this stuff easily by manually editing the live weather downloaded, introducing turbulence up to cloud lines, and playing with the thermal values in the weather menu. This helps the choppiness in GA aircraft down low. But as for the convection-related clouds and weather, X-Plane is superior. If you’re not careful, bad things will happen to you in and around thunderstorms. It’s enough to tempt even the most safety-minded sim pilots to act like fools just to see how scary it can get.

The post Weather Wonders of X-Plane 12 appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

FLYING Magazine (FM): As the inventor of X-Plane, you hold a remarkable position in the industry. How long have you been in game design?

Austin Meyer (AM): Since 1993. [The first] X-Plane was the first computer program I ever wrote.

FM: What inspired you to create X-Plane?

AM: I was taking an instrument proficiency check. You can’t actually fail those—you have to keep going until you get the signoff. I had to go up on like four flights to get the signoff, and I found that very frustrating. I decided to never put myself in that situation again. I needed to practice at home, but I flew a Piper Archer II—and Microsoft Flight Sim didn’t have a Piper Archer II at the time—and I knew they wouldn’t put one in for me, so I wrote my own simulator. It was called Archer II IFR. I didn’t have all the performance data for the Piper Archer II, so I said, ‘let’s look at the geometry of this airplane and see how it must perform according to the laws of physics,’ and when I did that, I had an airplane that flew just like a Piper Archer II. Then I realized that if I had that math and looked at the geometry of an airplane and then [flew] it…I could apply it to any airplane you can imagine—so I renamed it to X-Plane.This was in 1995.

FM: I’ve heard that X-Plane allows users to add their own scenery to the program. Is that true?

AM: Yes. [For example,] there are about 30,000 hangars in the [current] X-Plane right now. A person can build it virtually, then load it onto the server.

FM: You mentioned one of the triumphs of X-Plane 12—which was released in December 2022—was getting the clouds to change during the duration of the virtual flight. How was that accomplished?

AM: We finally got the clouds to be honest-to-goodness volumetric. They are three-dimensional, and we had that volumetric matrix to get the elevation, then all you need to do is manipulate it over time—and there is your fourth dimension, time.

FM: Is the X-Plane software designed for a particular brand of simulator?

AM: Our customers buy X-Plane, and once they have their copy…can build a simulator out of it. Precision Flight Controls in particular has [become] very, very good at this. Many companies buy X-Plane and then present it to the FAA for certification, but I would say the percentage of the sims that are certified by the FAA are minute. The vast majority use X-Plane because they love using [it].

FM: You mentioned that users of the software can ‘build’ airports to add to the airport library in X-Plane. How is that done? Does it take a certain level of skill or sophistication to do this?

AM: [You can use] Google World Editor, for X-Plane…sometimes called WED [an animation tool for Google 3D imagery].

FM: For the person who is just beginning their experience with X-Plane, are there any tips for getting maximum enjoyment? Is there a scenario you recommend?

AM: For newcomers, my primary recommendation is that they purchase an inexpensive joystick from Amazon (one that costs $30 or so). That $30 really goes a long way to making the experience with X-Plane more authentic.

FM: If you could go back to 1995 and give the younger you advice about the development of X-Plane, what would you say?

AM: Really I would not need any big-picture advice…I don’t think I’ve ever made a major big-picture mistake with this simulator. If I could go back in time, I would just want to bring my computer back with me with all of the source code on it just to save myself time, that’s all.

FM: Are there any aircraft on your bucket list in X-Plane? If so, what are they?

AM: My bucket list airplane is the T-38. I have not released that in X-Plane yet for contractual reasons, but I [have] flown it in [the software] for many hours, and it is a great airplane in the simulator as well.

FM: You mentioned that sometimes people get a copy of X-Plane and build a physical simulator around it. Are we talking individuals looking for fun or professional pilots?

AM: Both. In 2023 we will be focusing on the profes-sional use application of X-Plane. There are already simulator manufacturers that use X-Plane in their products, such as Precision Flight Controls.

FM: You describe the scenery of X-Plane 12 as ‘pretty basic.’ Any plans to change that?

AM: Many pilots are clamoring for more of a Google Earth experience—you know, they want to fly over their house—but that’s not what X-Plane was made for. When I write a simulator I am looking at the airport environment. When the nose is down, I want to see the airport. I want to see the avionics, I want an accurate flight model, I want to see the weather, I want the engines and systems and air traffic control to be changing just like they do during a flight. I want all those things you do to manage a flight from startup to shutdown. That is the type of aviation I am experiencing all the time, and that is the simulation I want to bring to people.

FM: What’s the most important thing for our readers to know about X-Plane?

AM: X-Plane lets you enter the design of any airplane and then see how that airplane would fly if you were to build it in reality. With that mathematical foundation, X-Plane accurately simulates how existing airplanes fly as well. This gives the most accurate flight simulation you are going to find in a flight simulation system with three-dimensional, ever-changing real-weather, air traffic control, and other aircraft in the sky with you. It’s not a glorified scenery-viewer.

Quick 6

Who’s the one person living or dead you would most like to fly with? 

Orville or Wilbur Wright…in my Lancair!

If you could fly any aircraft you have not yet flown, what would that be? 

The T-38…with Orville or Wilbur Wright!

What is one airport you’ve always wanted to fly into? 

The airport is just the “door”…I get excited about the airplane and the destination.

What do you believe has been aviation’s biggest breakthrough event or innovation?

The modern, reliable, high-bypass turbofans that make modern jet travel possible.

What has been your favorite airplane to fly?

My Lancair Evolution…so far…

When I’m not flying, I’d rather be…

Coding

This article was originally published in the April 2023, Issue 936 of  FLYING.

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X-Plane 12.0 was released just in time for the holidays, and it’s already gaining rapid use the aviation community.

According to Meyer, a 3,000-hour private pilot, the development of X-Plane grew out of his frustration when he was trying to achieve an instrument proficiency check (IPC). He had completed his training in Columbia, South Carolina, where the airspace was relatively uncomplicated, but found himself in southern California for the IPC. He was quickly overwhelmed by air traffic control, which put him behind the aircraft.

“With an instrument proficiency check, you can’t actually fail those. You just keep going until you get the sign off. I had to do four flights to get the sign off, and I found it very frustrating,” he recalls.

“I decided never to put myself in a situation where I have to go up four times to get an IPC again. I need to practice at home.”

Meyer, who was flying a Piper Archer II at the time, looked at Microsoft Flight Sim but noted they did not have a Piper Archer II in the program.

“I knew they wouldn’t put one in just for me, so I wrote my own simulator program. It was called Archer II IFR, and it was [an] instrument currency check in that it was highly optimized for instrument training.”

Meyer didn’t have all the performance data for the Piper, so he studied the geometry of the airplane and determined “how it must perform to the laws of physics and when I did that, I had an airplane that flew just like a Piper Archer II.” Meyer realized he could expand this model to any airplane, “and X-Plane was born.”

That was in 1995. Since then Meyer has been refining the product which is now in its twelfth iteration.

The challenge with writing a program like this, he says, is that when you change one variable it can potentially impact others in the program, so making changes takes much trial and error—in short, it takes time.

Bring on the Clouds

In this version of X-Plane the focus was on creating what Meyer calls four-dimensional clouds. The clouds change as the pilot flies through them just as they would in the real world.

“The clouds are volumetric,” said Meyer. “I actually felt [like] I used to feel in my old Columbia 400…where it is like ‘oh my gosh! I am not getting over this cloud build up, and I am not getting around it,’ and suddenly you find yourself in the middle of a three-dimensional maze of clouds. You wonder what kind of scud running is going to be in front of you, if you want to get under it, or if turning around to get out of it is even an option—just like you would in the real world.”

According to Meyer, he is hearing from users of X-Plane that the flight modeling for the aircraft has improved as well.

“They love that the aircraft flies more accurately. They also love how the lighting changes,” he said.

The scenery, which Meyer describes as “basic,” has also been enhanced for the seasons—if you want to go to New England in the autumn and watch the trees change color, you can. However, says Meyer, as many pilots are clamoring for more of a Google Earth scenery experience.

“People want to fly over their house, that’s not what X-Plane was made for,” he said. “That’s not how I use my airplane when I write a simulator. What I am looking at is the airport environment. When my nose is down, I want to see the airport. I want to see the avionics, I want an accurate flight model, I want to see the weather, I want the engines and systems and air traffic control to be changing just like they do during a flight. I want all those things you do to manage a flight from start up to shut down. That is the type of aviation I am experiencing all the time, and that is the simulation I want to bring to people.”

What Is Next for X-Plane

Meyer notes there are 30,000 airports in X-Plane right now, and more can be added via the Airport Scenery Gateway. “Anybody can take an airport they want to any level of detail, and load it onto our service. We have someone check it to make sure it is the best version of that airport and boom! We load it onto the master database and everyone gets it. All it takes is one person to build that airport.”

Because X-Plane uses a physics-based flight model that moves any aircraft through four-dimensional weather, it is a good training tool, says Meyer, adding that 2023 will be spent focusing on the professional use application of X-Plane. There are already simulator manufacturers that use X-Plane in their products, such as Precision Flight Controls. “They have gotten very good at this,” said Meyer.

Getting the Best Home Experience

X-Plane 12 can be downloaded from https://www.x-plane.com/. To get the best experience from the product, users need to find a controller, such as the Honeycomb yoke and pedal combination, or a joystick controller like the Logitech 3-D.

The price, says Meyer, is still $59.99, and that has not changed in several years.

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