SANTIAGO BUTNARU’S KMIA HAS BEEN RELEASED.

You can get the file here.

We’ve got some clouds and settings in XP10/3 to go over today, as well as some images taken using CloudsMAXX – in both versions 1 and 1.3 – and we’ve got FlightTime56s DHL B752 livery installation guide to get into your mitts for the weekend, and there’s a new Beta for XP10 just out as well and we’ll be going over this later over the weekend and have a first look up then.

But we’ll lead off today with reader’s screenshots submitted earlier in the week. There’s some fantastic work included here today, and we’re posting these images in the order received so don’t read anything in the order of presentation here! Now let’s take it away!

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John’s Baron

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from Graham H

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And these from the SuperCritical Simulations Group, and thanks, Carlos!

And one more image from Carlos, for good measure! This one flies a little differently then the 748, no?

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And then we received several images from Kevin Grimm, and I almost fell out of my chair when I saw his work. Kevin’s been converting MsFS scenery and then really going to work on the files, modifying layouts and tweaking textures and in the process creating some of the most stunning imagery I’ve ever seen in a SIM environment. Let’s read what he has to say then look at this work, because it’s a real eye-opener:

“I still fly in X-Plane 9 to certain airports just because of the time I have invested in building them up and adding to the scenery around them. The first image is a Fly Tampa payware conversion of Kia Tak in Hong Kong. The daylight image of Hong Kong and the rainy night shot of the 747(i added the reflection) are from X-Plane 9, all the other images in this email are straight from X-Plane 10.

“The two images of the grass field and airport are examples of one of my creations. I started with a great free airport scenery package of LHPP and extended the runway, added tons of new structures and buildings in and around the airport.

“The last 3 panoramic shots are from Saint Maarten, It started as a Fly Tampa payware conversion, but I added 3 other scenery packages to it to enhance the ground textures. I opened them up each texture and repainted them also, I added tons of buildings, boats and planes… and then I added new X Plane 10 lighting. it’s one of my favorite airports to fly into in X Plane.”

In the last image above, look at the boats at anchor to the right, and note the shadows they cast on the sandy seafloor just a few meters below. This kind of detailing just boggles the mind, but scenery developers need to study Kevin’s work, because he appears to be a real master.

And here are a few more images he sent along.

The image above and the two below are at KPHL Philadelphia. Just stunning images.

Maybe we can talk Kevin into writing up his experiences and techniques? Oh, he advises he’s not tweaked images in Photoshop, and all the effects seen here are straight from the SIM.

So! This was a good first time out for images and we hope you’re inspired by what you see to go out and take some good ones! And again, if you feel like dropping a few screenshots our way feel free. We’ll post the best each Saturday for the time being, and don’t forget that the Flight Simulator Network has a great screenshots gallery and a monthly screenshots contest! Now…let’s look at some clouds!

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XP10 rapidly developed some bad press concerning clouds after a very promising start in the first few Betas, as around Beta 1/8 settings were simplified and seemed to make getting realistic clouds almost an impossibility. Even so, with the first versions onward it remains an impossibility to create those spring and summertime monsters that inhabit the great plains of the central United States…

What, you’re not familiar with these creatures? Well, take a look:

These monsters put the fear of God in pilots, and they brew upwards to FL450 – and even higher midsummer. Finding yourself in one of these is usually a death sentence too. They are unforgiving, violent creatures, and best avoided at all cost:

And I think omitting these from the SIM environment is a real bad move, no matter how difficult they may be to achieve. As a training aid, simulating these monsters is vital. You don’t want to fly through them of course, but learning how to recognize these features at night and in low visibility (with radar or via ATC instructions/WXR updates) is a vital skill too. Second point to consider: these monsters are gorgeous. If you’ve ever been up in the front office at night skirting these lightning-filled behemoths you’ll know what I mean, but there’s a certain anxiety that comes along with all this beauty, too. Maybe respect is a better word, because tangling with one – just once – in the SIM would be enough to convince you to never go anywhere near one of these out in “the real”. I’ve been in a couple, the worst experience in a 421, and we were caught between two fast-blooming cells over central Texas – at two in the morning! One moment we were climbing through 8000 and the next we were almost inverted at 6500 and it was like we were being pushed into the ground by a wrathful demon. ATC was asking us to check Mode C, the folks in back were screaming and everything smelled like barfed-up cheeseburgers (let’s not talk about the cleanup, okay?). When we landed at Hobby everyone, I mean everyone, had soiled their jeans and walked unsteadily for hours. You don’t take these puppies for granted, and XP needs to account for them. That said, the weather landscape in XP will remain an unfinished work until these monsters are a part of the simulation. Someone will figure it out.

While working through settings in v10/3 we found that the CLOUD DETAIL setting on the main rendering/settings page has a lot to do with more than just the appearance of clouds in XP10, and that this control in fact changes density – and dramatically so. As such, we thought it was sharing what we’ve uncovered so far, but keep in mind the situation with weather and clouds is changing rapidly in each new update. AND, each time you make a change in weather settings the cloudscapes are regenerated, so these images are at best an approximation, so keep that in mind.

Let’s look at this first set of images, of a single layer of SCATTERED CUMULUS clouds set at o to 2000MSL:

Simply by changing the DETAIL setting, coverage AND density increases. Next, below, THREE layers of SCATTERED cumulus are set from 0-2000, 4000-6000, and 8000-10,000 MSL. With detail set at below 30% the clouds were all but invisible, but by moving DETAIL up first to 40%, then 70%, once again density increased along with detail. And again, this was in v10/3, and not the latest 10/4 released a few hours ago.

Now, switching from scattered cumulus to broken cumulus, let’s look at a single low-lying layer over downtown Seattle.

At 70% only a few building tops emerge from the clouds (above), while at 50% more building detail emerges and some street level details emerge.

There are some subtle changes in this paradigm in XP10.04.1, the latest Beta release. Let’s take a look:

Using SCATTERED CUMULUS (above) and BROKEN CUMULUS) below, you can see that the DETAIL setting still has some effect on cloud density, but not as much…

In the latest beta, there’s a marked difference between SCATTERED and BROKEN cumulus that wasn’t there in the last few betas. Good move, but broken cumulus at low detail is still very much like scattered.

Another consideration here, and most relevant: if broken cumulus at low detail is the same as scattered at higher detail, and if higher detail settings eat framerates, then using broken cumulus at lower settings ought to be a nice way to improve framerates if you want some subtle VFR weather. Check it out!

Now, let’s take a look at another paradigm. CloudsMAXX.

CloudsMAXX is a new product from the developer of UrbanMAXX, and the aim with this file is to improve framerates while improving cloud shape and color.

These first images are from an early Alpha of the program, and with multiple layers (three layers of scattered cumulus set at 0-2000, 4000-6000, and 8000-10,000 MSL), and once again CLOOUD DETAIL influences appearance greatly. First up, the CloudsMAXX clouds at 30% detail:

Then at 70% detail. Framerates WERE a little improved…maybe 3-5 fps being a good average figure.

John at MAXX advises he feels CloudsMAXX will best render a single layer and at lower detail settings, and we tested this in the latest version (v1.3) to see what this looks like. First, we ran it a the three layer/50% configuration and this is what we saw:

In early morning light there’s some yellow and purple just fringing these newest clouds, a nice, subtle detail.

And here’s MAXX with a single layer (below), and at multiple detail settings. For true “scattered cumulus” look, I’d say 30% -50% detail is about right, as with higher detail levels the clouds begin to look more like “broken” or even solid overcast.

CloudsMAXX is available here. It’s freeware and worth tinkering around with. We’ll keep you updated on new releases/features.

Now let’s wrap up todays post with FlightTime56′s DHL livery tutorial, so pull out a pencil and notepad and let’s go back to school!

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XPFW Boeing 757-200 DHL Installation and Use Tutorial by FlightTime56

The Boeing B757 from X-Plane Freeware is taking on the mystery of some mythical legend, created in a time beyond our past.

Some say it was born of parents long gone of 2004, anyway it is still here, with us and alive, in fact this amazing product is running quite well and runs in the new XP10 world better than most aircraft created only a few years old, more amazing is that the B757 does not in anyway look it’s age, the x737 from EADT is X-Plane’s best freeware, but the XPFW B757 is the sentimental core of the simulator.

It has been passed from one generation of X-Plane to the next, and in every version it is added to or enhanced, the latest from donbach is another D Check and some mods added, the problem is it is quite a big D Check, which helps in the _LIT department, It puts in _LIT type objects .obj into the B757 of which create a nice feeling aircraft in the dark, I never saw the point of having an aircraft pitch black, pain to land, not as much now in XP10, but certainly in XP9.

The reflection works of course far better in HDR, It positively glows under any lights,

Another fix is the front steering gear which stuck out under the aircraft and now it stows correctly,

Another enhancement is 3d cockpit lighting, turning up the panel brightness to maximum and it will enhance an already well lit cockpit, the new view from the outside is excellent as well,

To complete your D Check is the fitment of engine covers, which is a lovely touch if you are leaving the aircraft outside in the cold northern winter,

So lets do our D Check…

When you have downloaded the file from XPFW, it comes with all the parts and instructions, which are quite detailed, but not as hard as they look.

I took my XPFW B757- 200 RR WL Continental and duplicated it, most XPFW Aircraft don’t have livery folders, so you need to create one within the main File, then take the DHL folder from the download and insert it into the liveries, it should look like this:

Because there are new files in the livery folder for _LIT objects, you have to replace the old main object files to see the difference,

There are instructions if you want to change the files via each TEXTURES_LIT object, but that is not required, all you have to do is open the” edited default objects folder” in the download and replace them with the main object files in the “objects” folder:

That is the _LIT files placed,

Now we will install the engine covers, open the DHL engine cover folder from the download and “B757DHL_enginecover.png” in the:

livery/DHL/object folder

the same folder you created in the liveries folder, and make sure it is with the rest of the _LIT.png files in the objects folder.

Next take the leftover “DHL_engine_covers.obj” and put that in the main “Object” folder,

Both completed files should look like this:

Another change is to open the “cockpit/engine/engine-number folder and insert the dig_FF4.png from the download file:

To finish just transfer the “XPFW_B757PF_Repaint.png” into the main folder

That is the completion of the transfer of the different files, now we have to activate them to make them work, to do that open the aircraft in planemaker, and then select the DHL livery.

You will notice two things, first if you used an airliner as the base RR file the windows will  be removed, second is the the nosegear will be missing, the nosegear is correct, just stowed, it will be fine when opened in XP.

To set the 3d lighting which works in XP v9.4+ and v10, Open in the menu

 Standard/veiwpoint/Int Light,

 which you open in planemaker, in the “3d cockpit lighting section”, adjust the settings as the seen in the diagrams and double-check they are correct. Be aware that one in the upper section and one in the lower section is a – Minus sign.

On dataref 1, 2, & 3 select “Flood”

Then move back to main menu and then to Standard/Misc Objects/OBJECTS 2

And adjust all the 757vc# T.obj files to” inside”, make sure you tick the “Cockpit object gets interior lighting box” down in the lower left.

Select OBJECTS 1 (Misc Objects) and find an empty file, locate the “DHL_engine_covers.obj” from the aircraft/objects folder (as installed earlier) and select it, nothing else needs to be done other than the selection.

Save the file and quit planemaker:

You have completed the D Check.

Amazingly this old file will solder on like its real world companions for a few years yet, certainly through v10, and why not as that 3d cockpit is one of the really great ones, the 3d lighting shows well also through the cockpit windows,

Adjustment I found could only be done in the 2d cockpit via the  PNL switch,

you can adjust the 3d lighting if you want to via planemaker, but I am happy with what I already have and it is simply a great file in v10, only a couple of notes, I noticed the red fuselage beacons didn’t flash, and the main gear doors don’t quite fit flush,

There was a difference with HDR on and HDR off, in the HDR on position you had great lighting that in this case came from a waiting B777,

When HDR was of it was highlighting over areas, it a preference which one is better as both have their points, personally I prefer the HDR off as it highlights the excellent taxi lighting.

And when you have finished flying for the day, shutdown the engines and turn off the “BATTERY” and she’s all covered up on the engines…and ready for work again the next day.

We’re going to look over a few new liveries today after we take a quick look at the news, as well as a quick look at a new scenery in Central Tejas (or Baja Oklahoma if you’re into that sort of thing), but first this little item that was cause for a few chuckles here at Chaos Manor last night.

Chuckles? Here, in the über serious world of XP? Why, you ask?

Because there was quite a stir in The Force yesterday when it was announced that the McPhat ATR-72-500 will be sold at the Aerosoft Store.

“Well”, the perplexed youngster mumbles, “there’s nothing particularly funny about that!”

“Whoa-there!” the old man replies. “Not so fast, Kemosahbe!”

It was, you see, entertaining to read the thread – if only just to stare open-mouthed while the MsFS True Believer types whined about not getting this ACF for FsX. Oh! The irony! The pure unadulterated, leg-slapping IRONY of it all! I spilled a whole glass of pear cider!

(Sorry, I promise never to do that again…I hate wasting pear cider…)

So, yeah, the new night panel looks good, and you can follow progress here. But really…”You mean (sniffle) we’re really (sob…gasp) not going to get this in FsX?”

Well, here’s one other thing FsX doesn’t have:

When we got our first look at this one a few months ago we were expecting something special from Santiago. He’s dedicated himself to learning the ins-and-outs of scenery development over the past year, and moving from SKBG to KLGA was a huge leap for anyone – but he handled it, and well. Torrance and Midway followed and these were incremental improvements. Well, then there’s KMIA. Santiago is through learning now, so get ready to meet the new Big Kid on the block.

What amazed us here at Chaos Manor was simply this. It takes the big FsX scenery houses a long, long time to make an airport like this…a year isn’t unheard of and the finished job may require a team effort to wrap it up. It took Santiago a couple of months to do this, and you won’t find to many rough spots either.

When you look this one over…well, just take your time. It’s Santiago’s best yet and the level of craftsmanship is generally overwhelming.

The file ought to be out soon…very soon. This is the first “must have” file of 2012, and we’ll have a full review up in a little bit.

But in the meantime the proof, they say, is in the pudding. Or the testing, as the case may be. When you arrive over this airport and look down at it from the pattern it simply takes your breath away.There’s never been anything like this made for X-Plane before, and in XP10 it will look grand when the new GI lighting is applied. When you land and see three jets holding short you begin to realize just how much potential XP10 has…all 10 needs is more scenery like this and we’ll be entering a whole new era.

Again, more soon.

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Okay. Well, in other less spirited news:

• Eurocopter reported a 12.5% increase in revenue for 2011, to $7.1 billion. The helicopter manufacturer is a division of European Aeronautic Defence & Space. Eurocopter’s net helicopter orders rose to 457 for 2011, compared with 346 net orders in 2010. Reuters
• Learning to fly can be accomplished by people from all walks of life as long as they have passion, writes columnist Marc C. Lee. “The common denominator in each one is the burning desire to fly and the drive to challenge themselves to achieve a goal that only a tiny percentage of the world ever will.” Plane & Pilot magazine
• While being a pilot is the most recognized career in general aviation, there are several other career paths for flying enthusiasts. General-aviation airports employ managers, technicians, mechanics and air-traffic controllers. Larger airports also need information technology professionals and cargo operators. General Aviation News
• Learning to fly in the upper peninsula of Michigan begins with instruction at Boreal Aviation or another flight school. “It’s the feeling of freedom, being able to sort of go anywhere, fly like a bird,” said pilot Fred Joyal. WLUC-TV (Negaunee, Mich.) 
• Savannah Technical College in Savannah, Ga., broke ground this week on its Aviation Training Center. The center will provide training in aviation technology. “It’s our time now, particularly with this Gulfstream expansion that we can provide the workforce that they need,” said Kathy Love, president of Savannah Technical College. WSAV-TV (Savannah, Ga.) 
• Bombardier Aerospace completed deliveries of 245 aircraft in 2011, the aircraft manufacturer reported. Bombardier delivered 163 business jets during the year, including 33 Learjets. “With our comprehensive portfolio of business, commercial and amphibious aircraft, we are well positioned to meet the long-term needs of our customers,” said Guy Hachey, president and chief operating officer of Bombardier Aerospace. The Wall Street Journal/Dow Jones Newswires
• A U.S. senator is looking into behavior by a person claiming to represent LightSquared during an investigation of the company. Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, has sent LightSquared principal Philip Falcone a letter over contact made by the person “that intimated benefits for Grassley if he softened his inquiry of government approval of the project.” Bloomberg Businessweek

I can’t believe it! You mean…someone actually tried to bribe a senator? I may faint.

Meanwhile…back at the ranch…it’s time for some paint…so let’s take a look…

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RocketMan has crafted (and I use this word advisedly) two liveries for the X-PlaneFreewareProject’s 757/200, and both are extraordinarily well conceived and executed – and both are not particularly easy to install – but each comes with thorough documentation that ought to see you through the process. We’ll look at one today for air cargo carrier DHL, and in v9.70 as well as v10. FlightTime56 will guide you through the installation tomorrow.

First up: v10 – and seen here at LSZH Zurich (and which looks very good in v10). Please note that having HDR active dramatically alters the way this file looks in 10. In the images below HDR was active and at max AA.

And now, departing the same airport in v9:

So-called specular highlights seem to show up better in v9 than v10, yet the logo lighting on the tail seems almost blown out in v9 when compared to the effect in v10 – but there’s some contrast fall-off in 10 – so it’s a trade-off. Ain’t it always!

As part of the download there are instructions on how to tweak the 3D lighting in the 752′s cockpit; here are the results – and first in v9:

And in v10, yet probably with a bit too much twilight in the image…but the lighting in v9 is still much more vibrant at this point… Click to enlarge…take in the runway lighting…

RocketMan/DonBach’s files are rich, complex, and work not to be undertaken lightly; the results are, however, worth the effort. You’ll have an XPFWP 752 with nicely detailed LITs, glossy textures, and with a tweaked cockpit to show for your efforts too. All in all, not a bad deal and highly recommended, but we’ll have another look at this file when we look at FlightTime56′s impressions and installation tutorial in our next post…

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Valery12′s Atlant-Soyuz for the 752 is another very good effort, and includes LIT textures in the initial release.

About the only quibble I have with this one is the shield on the tail, with the mounted rider: it seems to be tilted aft a bit too much…

Still, this is a very nice looking effort, and is a handsome aircraft indeed.

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jiggyb2 fired off this EgyptAir paint for the default 744/v10, and there’s not much to say here that images can’t say better, so have a look:

This effort is not as “filthy” as earlier efforts and has what appears to be just the right amount of dirt and grime on the fuselage, and the tail logo looks very, very good on this bird. This is an older livery, not the newest, and Jiggy notes that the carrier only used the 742. Highly recommended.

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negonn added to his growing portfolio Thursday with this Sichuan Airlines paint for the QPAC A320-200.

This is a decent effort and is worth including in your liveries folder if you routinely operate in the People’s Republic of China, and you’ll find this carrier operating mainly scheduled domestic flights out of Chengdu Airport and Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport (and here are their current destinations, which include the Maldives, South Korea, Taiwan, Indonesia and Vietnam). Recommended.

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N76JG adds to his Minor Airports of Central Texas series with KHYI San Marcos Municipal Airport. The city is located south of Austin, Texas and is a popular tourist destination year-round due to the crystal clear waters of springs that originate in the area, and the area is thought to be the oldest continuously inhabited area in North America, with Clovis culture sites dating back to 10,000BCE located near the springs. A National Job Corps training facility is located adjacent to the airport terminal and tower.

The airport file uses OSX and XP10 elements and should be considered an XP10 only files, but you’ll get limited functionality out of the file in XP9 should you need it. The OSM data around this facility makes it a richly detailed area, and XP10 fills it in nicely with appropriate housing (there’s not much difference between housing in suburban Texas and California).

Notable here is a large hangar with lots of glass skylights, and with HDR and dynamic shadows active in XP10 the effect is really quite nice to watch, and you can see a still of the effect below. OSX elements are located elsewhere – in abundance!

You’ll find the three runway layout typical of Army Air Corp bases that popped up during WWII, and this airport was in fact an AAC base; in the image below note the built up area south of the ramps. This is the Job Corps training facility mentioned above, and note that the Job Corps program was implemented in the 60s as a way of getting recent college graduates out into rural and poverty stricken areas as teachers and tackling minor public works projects.

And here’re a couple of charts to help you on your way…

This is an excellent, small GA airport file for XP10, and the developer’s plans will ring the Austin area with equally interesting airports. This is a recommended file for 10, and don’t miss the shadows in that big hangar!

And that’s about all we got for the day! Hopefully this will keep you busy for a while, but we’ll have some more out in just a few hours, including a close look at clouds in XP10. We’ll seeya then. C&S

So, you know us well enough by now to understand we just had to start this off with an ultra-dark image.

Why? Well, it’s got something to do with texture resolution and rendering ability at extremely dim light levels, and when you use very high res textures all kinds of details “pop” in little or no light. Take a look, just click to enlarge and take in the details – and note that the sun is still several degrees below the horizon here. The landscape, in other words, is still almost in total darkness and the fact that you can see anything at all is a testament to Carenado’s extremely good texture sets…but look closely.

Yeah.

So…first things first: the file is available at the Carenado e-store as well as the OrgStore, but it’s not showing up yet at the AeroSoft e-store. The unzipped download is 162Mb, and includes 3 liveries as well as basic documentation.

At first glance the panel may be hard to distinguish from later model Cessna singles, but consider the -185 series first appeared on the drawing board in 1960, and production ceased in 1984 – but only after 4400 examples were built – so panel similarity is almost a given between models from this era. The -185F was a six seat high wing GA and agricultural aircraft powered by a 300 hp  Continental IO-520-D, and had a gross weight 3,350 lbs. The -F was first certified on 16 October 1973, had a service ceiling of 16,400 feet, a range of 500 miles, a max speed of 136 knots and a max rate of climb on the books at 960 ft/min. I had a hard time getting more than 800fpm and only took her up a few thousand feet.

The “old school” tail dragger configuration is often favored among bush pilots for better ground clearance of the prop as well as better rough field handling; you’ll find – if unfamiliar with the type – that it takes a little practice to get comfortable with tail draggers but that they’re really kind of fun…an interesting change of pace. If you really want to get into bush OPS this one ought to be on your short list of “must have” files.

But of course, this is a Carenado file so it has a a certain level of quality “built-in”, and Dan Klaue has handled the conversion this time out with apparent care, and the feel in the ‘pit as a result is so three dimensional it’s downright spooky!

The panel is loaded with 3D objects and manipulators; the effect is perfect and in operation all manipulator zones save for the overhead sun visors worked perfectly. I never use the visors so feel this is no great loss, but should you use them you’ll need patience to get them stowed correctly again.

Instrument clarity in this file depends, as it almost always does, on your basic settings in XP. In XP9 I was carrying settings at “extreme res” and AA at 8x and the panel is gorgeous at these levels. In XP10 I had HDR active and set at max AA, but res was only set at “high”. If I go with much higher settings (e.g., very high) framerates in 10 head south fast, so this is a compromise setting at this point. Regardless, panel clarity and lighting suffer in XP10 as a result of this. Note however that the lighting in this file hasn’t been modified for XP10, and Carenado advises the ACF isn’t really XP10 compliant yet, though a patch will be released when it is.

Another big factor regarding the night panel arises almost immediately: there is NO, repeat NO internal instrument lighting on this panel, and Carenado advises this is intentional and reflects real world aircraft. ALL PANEL LIGHTING is accomplished through the three interior lighting controls seen here:

• map light “a” located on pillar
• white cabin light “b”
• red panel light “c”

And this is the range of lighting control you’ll achieve – at least in XP9!

1. all interior lights “off”
2. with cabin light “b” on
3. with cabin light “b” and map light “a” on
4. with cabin light “b”, map light “a”, and red panel light “a” all switched on

The biggest failing of this setup (and of this ACF) is that the engine and fuel gauges are simply not as visible at night as they need to be. Over on the top right of the panel they’re just too hard to make out at night. Out there in the real world I suppose that’s why flashlights are so popular in these airplanes, but that’s not really an option here. Still, the panel looks about as real as real can get in a 3D pit, and it earns high marks in my book – from worn and grimy panel elements to dancing reflections on glass gauge faces – this is fine work indeed and once again Carenado and Dan Klaue should be proud of this one.

One further measure to take stock of here: all the small details:

Look at the antenna cabling…braided wire! The control cables on the tail wheel, ditto. The fuel fillers on the wing-tops. Look at the aileron detail…on the side of the aileron! And the tires are by Goodyear. Once again, Dan Klaue and Carenado are proving to be a hard team to beat!

There’s a simple autopilot on this panel, and a pop-up provided for access as well. The a/p will control heading or lock onto a VOR or LOC, but this is NOT a full featured pilot. It will help out when you need it, but you’ll never mistake it for an FMC. The pop-up also controls multiple views and will shut the baggage compartment door.

You’ll find your way around in XP using one of two VORs and/or the NDB. If you want a Garmin 430 you’ll want to look elsewhere. If you need an HSI you’re out of luck.

Carenado’s Cessna C-185-F SkyWagon is old school. Very old school. But like a lot of things, some aircraft just get better with age, and this new ACF represents one such old gal. Buy this one for the traits she has, and don’t shy away from her because she lacks features you think you have to have. Buy this one to broaden your horizons, expand your skills, or just to appreciate the diversity of aircraft Cessna made. I doubt you’ll be disappointed when you take her to the dance.

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Now let’s look at the ACF from another vantage…Kevin Mee’s! He sent along the following images while passing over Wengen and Interlaken on his way to Piz Gloria for yet another encounter with Herr Blofeld! Cue the theme music to On Her Majesty’s Secret Service – and let’s go!

And Kevin advises he loves this one, and that he did took him by surprise. Like a lot of folks, Kevin has been lusting for some of Carenado’s newer models, yet this is not one of them…in fact, far from it. There’ve been rumors on this release day about Carenado releasing a King Air next, but when we asked Carenado’s Fernando Herrara if this was true he advised this is just one more unfounded rumor. So, what’s next? Who knows, but there will be a lot of wishful thinking between now and then.

Me? I could hardly care less. At this point whatever they release is fine by me. I have fun with them, use them, enjoy them. The only one I never touch anymore is the Mooney M20J, the first Carenado for XP, but it’s not a bad file – far from it, in fact. Still, the Bonanza is my favorite so far, the Piper Archer II next, with the Cessna 172 next. This 185F? I don’t know yet. It’s better detailed than the Saratoga, and while it’s no speed wagon like the Mooney it is the perfect bush plane. After five flights, and about five hours in her, I’m very happy with the file.

Which leads me to one further thought. If you opt to get this ACF, I’d highly recommend Tom Curtis’s Inside Passage and/or Final Frontier package. The Winter World images above were shot in and around Tom’s Final Frontier, specifically PAJN Juneau, Alaska. This aircraft was made for that market, and Carenado’s ACF fits it like a glove.

Conclusion: This is another extremely high quality Carenado GA single, but it’s old school and with a panel that is very “low-tech”. It’s perfect for bush flying and with a 300hp engine decent for mountain flying too. It’s simple panel makes it a perfect VFR trainer, the tail dragger layout makes it a fun change of pace. All in all, we’ll give this one a “most highly recommended” rating despite the “old school” heritage, because sometimes old gals still know how to dance.

No surprises here, just a nice, solid, and VERY OLD looking Cessna – of the tail-dragger variety. Let me just politely say that when an aircraft looks OLD to me, you know this puppy is ancient!

Well, we’ve had her an hour or so and she flies well, and again, no surprises.

We’ll work her through the paces over the next day or so and have a full review up for the weekend.

The file is up at the Carenado e-store for now, link here.

UPDATE: contrary to earlier practice, the ACF has been released at the ORG today as well, link here.

That’s all for now. We’ll seeya in a little bit. Thanks for dropping by. C

A couple of new files to take a look at today, and a little bit in the news too, so let’s take a look:

• A compromise reached by Senate and House lawmakers on labor issues removes a major roadblock for long-term funding for the Federal Aviation Administration. The compromise would strengthen the rules that airline and railroad workers must follow to hold union elections. The FAA funding extension expires Jan. 31. The agency has been funded by short-term extensions for more than four years, which has stalled a plan to improve the nation’s air traffic control system. Reuters
• GE Aviation reported a profit of $850 million for the fourth quarter. GE Aviation booked $6.9 billion in orders for the quarter, including $4.2 billion in equipment orders. The aviation division of General Electric is the largest manufacturer of aircraft engines in the world.American City Business Journals/Cincinnati
• Boeing has announced that it plans to boost spending with Kansas suppliers by 50% “over the next three years,” this feature says. “This is a great place to do business and to spend our supplier dollars,” said Boeing spokesman Forrest Gossett. “We really believe it’s important to tell the community that Kansas is vital to Boeing.” The aircraft manufacturer recently announced the planned closure of its plant in Wichita, Kan. The Wichita Eagle (Kan.) 
• Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., is urging the Federal Communications Commission to deny a license for LightSquared’s proposed network. “Any proposal that could have negative impacts on aviation, navigation and safety is unacceptable and cannot go forward without unequivocally proving that it doesn’t interfere with these systems,” Roberts said. KLKC-AM (Parsons, Kan.)
• John Leahr, 91, relived his piloting career as a Tuskegee Airman during a screening of “Red Tails.” The new film tells about the Tuskegee Airmen, an elite squad of African-American pilots during World War II. “It was real,” Leahr said of the film’s depiction. “That was pretty much the way it was.” Cincinnati.com
• CME IMPACT: As predicted by analysts at the Goddard Space Weather Lab, a CME hit Earth’s magnetic field on Jan. 24 at ~1500 UT.  A geomagnetic storm is brewing in the aftermath of the impact, but it’s too soon to say how weak or strong the storm might be.  High-latitude sky watchers should be alert for auroras after local nightfall; the hours around local midnight are often best for seeing the Northern Lights.  Chances for a good display favor observers in northern Europe, Greenland, Iceland, Canada, Alaska, and possibly northern tier US states such as Maine, Wisconsin and Minnesota.
• The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) advises that a third of the current fleet of Airbus A380s will undergo immediate “visual inspection” for cracks in wing/spar elements. A few planes, which have carried out more than 1,800 flights, will need inspections within four days, it said. Airbus said the cracks were not an immediate threat to safety, and if cracks are found they will carry out repairs.The problems could affect a/c operated by Singapore Airlines, Emirates and Air France. BBC News

A reminder that we’ll be posting reader screenshots this weekend, so if you’ve taken a few you’d like to share with all of us fire ‘em off to the “rocketmail” email address over on the sidebar. We have some extraordinary images in hand already, so send us your best work…no theme…no rules…and no prizes!

And speaking of screenshots, I was thumping around EDDM again yesterday and tinkering with AI aircraft and thought these images worth sharing. They are very dark (sorry) and detail won’t emerge unless you click to enlarge. What a beautiful job the EDDM team has done so far with the airport, yet it’ll be interesting to see how well it stacks up against payware files of EDDM… I think it will hold up quite well.

And on the subject of new scenery files, Simon advises this is one forum thread you need to keep an eye on, especially if into New Zealand’s airports. Check out some of the screenies there!

And still no word yet from Aerosoft on release dates for EHAM or LSZH, nor from Santiago on his KMIA.

We did, however, note with satisfaction that jiggyb2 has gotten past his Christmas Day fall and is back at work making files for XP. He had of course been making paints for the new 744 in XP10 up until he broke his wrist, and his efforts have been uniformly excellent too, but he’s dabbled in scenery work before so we weren’t completely caught off guard to find he’d released an airport yesterday.

We were surprised to find this effort is intended for XP10, and given his penchant for detail work we think you’ll find this revised airport looks excellent. FlightTime56 and I decided we’d look this one over together and share some thoughts, so away we go, with FT56 leading the charge!

EGCN + Doncaster-Sheffield + DSA “Robin Hood International Airport”

First Look by FlightTime56

Fancy having on your E-Ticket “Robin Hood DSA”! The government will love this of course, for here again they can take from the poor and give to the rich. UK Airport Taxes – that which have just gone up again courtesy of the Air Passenger Duty (APD) – makes this the perfect excuse to visit an airport named after a folk hero that rallied against such outrageous behavior! Robin of Loxley he would be rolling in his grave wanting to take on these cowardly thieves, and even after hundreds of years it seems nothing changes. Taxation is still a money grab whichever way you look at it.

jiggyb2 (and I wonder what happened to jiggyb1?) has done an MSFS scenery conversion of EGCN, and for me any port that has FlyBe routes that I can use the Dash-8 Q400 is always going to straight in my Custom Scenery folder! Better still if the file is any good at all, but that’s just a bonus! And jiggy’s EGCN is very good, not quite “Oh, wow!” great, but very good indeed. Some features show their MSFS roots – by the flashing textures which can be seen on building floors and some windows – but that’s just a mild distraction.

The front of the terminal looks very good with the glass facade showing through to the inside, but sadly the carpark is a little too empty at this point, which is a shame as it might have looked quite good full of cars and vans…

The OSM derived roads and such don’t come close into the airport either, which is a missed opportunity to utilize XP10′s potential. I looked at the file’s elements and there are no boundaries, so it must be an overlay object cutting off OSM, and I can’t see that either but it must be there. But there is some nice OSM a little distance away including a road that crosses the southern airport boundary.

The airport hangers are Traditional British and well textured, and feature a few nicely placed G.A. aircraft parked in front.

The Control Tower is Trad 50′s British as well, yet again great textures, and a Fire Station is right next door:

Overall the scenery is great, but turn down the lights and switch on Ben’s HDR and…Wow!

Everything comes alive, and except for the bright square windows (seen left) the airport looks brilliant, lovely fill everywhere you look:

The textures used behind the glass in the terminal look really good, (except for the two people standing on a ledge!), and from a distance or close up the element works very well indeed.

In this perspective the apron area looks excellent, with apron lighting filling out the ground to near perfection, but turn down your room lights and you’ll see the City of Doncaster in the distance; in fact this night-scape urban scenery is all around the Robin Hood Airport…

Traffic and highways ring the area, so if you’re wanting to visit Sherwood Forest then arriving at night is certainly the best time to arrive.

So yes, this Doncaster-Sheffield EGCN is a great download; my only comment would be when XP10′s WED comes along then give it a little more airport equipment, cars in the car park, and perhaps a few more structures to fill out to the roads a little distance away, and find a way of connecting up the roads to the outer OSM. Otherwise this is a very good effort…yet with these few extra details it could be truly excellent.

Thanks, Jiggyb2

FT56

+++++

And here’s my take on Robin of Loxley International!

First thing, as mentioned in the download info, this airport file is already available for earlier versions of XP, the original MsFS  material attributed to John Young and then converted for v8.3x by SIGOO, and at first glance there’s not much difference…but again, that’s just after a simple cursory examination. When you look a little deeper you’ll find some nice v10 specific tweaks – mainly to lighting, but around the GA hangars as well – enough to make this a must have file for v10 as it is right now. Let’s look at SIGOO’s v8 original now to give us some perspective:

As you can see, the basic layout was adhered to and many of the original components carried over as is, so most of the effort here comes from lighting tweaks – and that’s a good thing as the original is quite sufficient to the cause! Oh, we imaged two new 757-200 liveries here in v9.70 as well, so let’s look at these in context:

The AirUnion (KrasAir) paint, as well as the Utair, are by Valery12 – and both look very good on the -752 and fit in with his VIM livery released over the weekend. Now, let’s look at the facility in XP10, and you’ll want to enlarge my perpetually “enshrouded in darkness” images in order to see the detail in these nightscapes:

This is another one of those facilities that just looks splendid at night, though once again runway lighting is too dim. Even the rotating beacon is all but invisible – day or night – but that’s not jiggyb2′s fault! I am curious if this will be changed globally in XP at some point or if this will have to be addressed airport by airport by individual developers (?). I realize real world airport lighting is NOT as bright as that found in XP9, but the lighting in XP10 is an overcorrection. Somebody pay the electric bill and get the lights back on to full power! Now, here’s the area in GE:

EHAM, EGLL, ENZV, destinations in Ireland, France and the Channel Isles are all easy RJ and Q OPS flights, and ACF with longer legs will find this airport useful as well. Here’s the list of carriers/destinations:

And here’s the real terminal, rampside and streetside:

Running four other AI aircraft in XP10 is about all this facility can cope with, by the way. Here are a few of them…once you get out of the car park (uh, that’s parking lot to us Tejanos) that is.

And here are some images around and over the airport showing OSM elements (sorry for the daylight…hope you don’t mind…), and you’ll note the dim runway lighting too. At this time of day you might as well be on instruments if you want to find this puppy, and camouflage would be superfluous. Airport charts are included, by the by, and a link for approach plates is provided. Well done!

So, any conclusions?

Yep. This file is nicely updated for XP10 and this was, I think, the author’s intent. Reading over Jiggy’s notes, and FT56′s First Look above, there remains a bit to be done – but knowing Jiggy it’ll be sorted out soon. OSM integration, cars in the lot, a few more outlying buildings to give some scale and perspective on final approach, an angry housewife chasing her bare bottomed husband across the active with rolling pin in hand…you know, the basics… A few more of those items and jiggyb2′s EGCN will be a hard one to beat in XP10.

So…Well done Jiggy…and may this be the first of many for XP10!

+++++

Well, that’s about all we got for you today. We’ll leave you with one more thought before we sign off for the night: If Love is blind, why is trashy lingerie so popular? Think about it.

Y’all have fun, and we’ll seeya again soon. Thanks for droppin’ by. C&S

An expanded post at IXEG concerning the status of the 733 Classic was posted yesterday, and it’s worth a look as it affirms development priorities and posits a probable dual development timeline for both XP9.xx and 10.xx. Don’t ignore the comments either, as there’s more to be learned there. My take on the evolving discussion so far? Well, in one of the comments the reader states he has moved on from XP9.xx and is a firm 10 user at this point, and obviously he’d like to see a version for 10 released concurrent to a v9 ACF, and you can’t fault him for that. Other comments fall back on patterns from prior experience with Laminar and infer that it could be some time before 10 is a developmentally stable platform – so this group would like to see the release of a v9.xx ACF as soon as it’s ready.

Sounds like a fitting tribute to our typically bi-polar world, doesn’t it?

My feelings? Assuming that one price gets me an ACF that works in both versions, I’m not sure it matters. I’d love a v10 version right off the bat, but frankly this ACF is going to be all about systems and procedures and I’m not at all sure I’m going to give two hoots about cloud textures and roadway lighting when I get my hands on this one – whatever the platform. Second, we’re going to have this file for years, and I presume we’re going to enjoy being challenged by this ACF as much a year or two from now as we will on day one, therefore the overriding concern has got to be to get the systems right. If v9 systems are stable and work on v10 remains a great unknown, why not sell the v9 version and keep plugging away on the v10 version until stable, then release it as an update?

XP10 may indeed not be developmentally stable for months, as some pundits seem to think, but by “stable” I think this may mean that things like clouds and ATC may still be getting tweaks, while secondary programs like WED may be in flux as new features are added, but don’t you think it fair to say that more basic issues surrounding ACF related features will have been addressed much sooner than these tertiary concerns? But then that’s the issue, isn’t it? No one knows.

So…is this a new verse of The Trailblazer’s Lament?

Well, I doubt it, and that’s just because of the very nature of the 733, as I think we’ll be getting almost as much from the file in v9 as we will in v10. What we’ll be missing is indeed the “eye candy” – nice, but not really an essential ingredient to our being able to learn from the file, and that’s what this ACF will be all about.

And consider this. Hasn’t all the drool spilled on our keyboards so far come from images made in v9?

+++++

Still, it’s beginning to feel like I’m already one of those dyed-in-the-wool v10 converts right now, isn’t it. I bounce back and forth between the two versions all day but there are times now that I almost dread going into v9. I’ve heard the expression “cartoonish” used to describe v9 a lot lately, and I almost agree with that one…almost – but not quite. A lot of early gripes with early betas of 10 revolved around framerates, and while we’re not out of the woods yet, I am getting better framerates at EDDM in XP10 now than I do in 9.7 (and you have to admit that EDDMv3.2 looks luscious in 10). So, if v9 isn’t exactly cartoonish in comparison, you might say it almost feels lifeless in v9. Lack of GI lighting is certainly a big issue here, but so are all those AI aircraft running around the ramps (even if they are bumping into each other and careening through terminal buildings), not to mention the new rendering engine in 10 that makes everything look so razor sharp. Still, to XP9′s credit, München itself looks better from some angles in 9 than in 10, but in the end all that OSM derived road–and railway detail in 10 carries the day. Adding UrbanMAXX to the equation can really bring things to life, too, so there are options to fill in this world – right now. Who knows what Laminar will come up with six months from now.

This emerging v9 vs v10 conundrum reminds me of celestial navigation’s demise. I was teaching a course in celestial nav on a sail training cruise back in the mid-90s and the course developers prohibited GPS receivers even being consulted by instructors! Presumably to keep students cheating, we couldn’t even use it to double check student work and doing celestial on a thrashing sailboat in the Gulf Stream the CEP was about 2 miles. These were purists however, “True Believers”, and GPS was for Newbs who simply didn’t understand that Celestial was for real men and GPS for wannabes. Within a few years that group of purists was out of business and pretty soon I began taking my beloved sextant out once a year to polish it and clean the mirrors and filters – whether needed or not – but I could navigate with 99.9% confidence in total fog for days at a time if need be and know exactly where I was (and within a few meters, not miles) at all times – with only a depth sounder and GPS. I did so from Maine to Panama to California for years, and was always sure of my position. Paradigm shifts are nasty things for True Believers.

Yes. “Things fall apart…the centre cannot hold.” X-Plane has changed. It’s quite probable that a year from now development for XP9 will be but a shadow of it’s former self, while XP10 will be roaring along at full speed, but those who insist on sticking with XP9, or even v8 for that matter, and whether developer or end user, are certainly free to take up sextant polishing. There are of course lots of good memories to embrace by holding that course, but not much of a future.

Oh…here’s a flash: Big sunspot 1402 erupted today, 23 Jan 2012, producing a strong M9-class solar flare and a fast-moving coronal mass ejection (CME) is headed for X-Land!  Analysts at the Goddard Space Weather Lab say this large CME should reach Earth on Jan. 24th at 14:18 UT (+/- 7 hr, and Mars a little more than a day later if you’re so inclined to look for Martian auroras).  Strong geomagnetic storms are possible when the cloud reaches Earth.  Our magnetic field is still reverberating from a CME impact on Jan. 22nd, so another blow could spark impressive auroras at high latitudes.  All you sky watchers in northern Europe, Russia, Canada, Alaska, and northern-tier US states such as Montana, Minnesota and Wisconsin should be alert for Northern Lights. Besides, what else have you got to do but stand outside in the freezing cold and look at the sky?

Now…let’s look at some flies! What? No flies around? Well, how ’bout some files then!?

And to top the list today, a v10 only scenery file! Is this a first? Well, it looks good in 10, but one comment in the DM thread advised he ran the file in v9 without much visible difference…so your mileage may vary but KECD Austin Executive is a sweet little GA airport on the outskirts of Austin, Texas that’s worth having whatever the platform! The developer also advises this is the first in a planned series of airports in the Hill Country of Central Texas (if you don’t know what Luckenbach Texas is all about – let alone where, or who Hondo Crouch was, you just might not want to bother with this series, either!). Then again, if you understand that Shiner Bock is indeed better than water on a hot August afternoon…and better still in the shade of a live oak tree, then, well, there just might be some hope for you yet. You might even like this scenery file. I do, for what it’s worth, and here’s what it looks like from “up there”:

The airport is NE of Austin proper and close to Georgetown and RoundRock, and appears to be under development in the image above. And here’s the view from down yonder, in X-Plane.

Yeah, I know, the fuel depot…right? We’ve seen that before…in early previews of XP10 last summer. And that’s an STMA “0″ hangar! Hoorah! Oh, check out these charts.

The two STAR charts map out a pretty good FMC routing if you want to practice working on FMC skills FlightTime56 passed along yesterday.

Interesting features for a first effort, with good lighting and neat buildings. Nice airport this is then, and recommended for GA hops in and around the Hill Country. Maybe you can find Luckenbach and land on the dirt road out front. Or not. You might check out the Waylon Jennings tune anyway. Willie’s ain’t bad, neither.

+++++

And another new series getting underway, but definitely not in Luckenbach. Not even close. Nope, this is way up north, where it actually snows every now and then. In fact, DwarfG’s scenery file is almost surrounded by water and one can only imagine that snow depths there during a typical January are – deep.

So, here’s the GE imagery:

Note the runways? 5900 feet, so keep in mind you won’t be landing the Space Shuttle here! Now, the general area, and consider that this one is close to the upper US midwest, Ontario, Toronto, perhaps even Calgary and Montreal/Quebec. Lot’s of choices from here, in other words!

Here’s the list of operators:

Below, the file in v10…except for the image with the Q400, and note the ramps are filled with RJs and Qs:

The LIT’s look very good in v10, but again runway lighting is a little dim. Still, we recommend this one and will keep an eye on the series for you. This one is perfect for CRJ and Q400 OPS…right, Joe?

+++++

RoyalOak is kind of taking a slow cruise through Tennessee this week, or at least spending a lot of development time thereabouts; note his latest – M33 Gallatin County Airport – is close to his next most recent airport, KMBT Murfreesboro.

And note also the industrial surroundings of this airport:

And now, the airport in v9 first, then v10:

Interestingly, v9 gets the surroundings “right” while v10 fills it with housing! Oops! Where’s OSM? Asleep at the switch? Regardless, the housing in v10 looks pretty good regardless, and with traffic dialed up there’s a nice feel on final.

Oh well. Nice airport, highly recommended.

+++++

We skipped over these last week during the Cami de Bellis upset, but if you’re patiently waiting for the first update to the D0328, you can at least do so in style. Peritas released six files for this ACF and they’re each very well done, so check this link and see which one floats your boat and have a go! All are government liveries of one sort or another…coast guards, NASA, an eclectic list…so take a look and take up that Dornier!

In general, detail appears excellent and well executed; all must have files too! Now, would someone please make a really good Antarctica? And get some skis on that D-O?

+++++

And seen in our headline image today, Valery12′s new paint for Russian airline VIM was released Sunday for the XPFWProject’s 757/200, as it’s a brilliant effort – but alas, no LITs working. Still, quite nice.

+++++

And finally, some new files from audiotracker! Filling out some old requests for Yugoslav Airlines paint, he’s concentrated on an older 727/2 by the XPFWProject, and an even older DC10 (safeflight’s file), so check out the links and have a blast from the past, as audiotracker’s latest looks grand on both ACF. Keep in mind AT advises the 2D panel on the DC10 actually looks real good, and he’s enjoying the file…

Well now, that’s about all she wrote today. Y’all have some fun, maybe listen to some Willie and Waylon while on your way down to Luckenbach, Texas for a brew on the porch. Thanks for comin’ along, and we’ll see you again soon! C&S

The Lockheed L-1011 (or L-Ten, as folks in the know sometimes called her) was a workhorse aircraft with an excellent reputation for in-flight handling – and for being built like a tank. 250 aircraft were produced between 1968 and 1984, yet this low number prompted Lockheed to withdraw from commercial aviation manufacturing – for good. Development time of the prototype was prolonged by Rolls-Royce’s oft-delayed and troubled development of the then-new RB211, and Lockheed needed financial assistance from the US government to continue business as a result of delays, and while RR was going through receivership. Some feel that this checkered development history gave the aircraft a PR black-eye that it never recovered from.

Which is a shame, for while the L-Ten was, from a passenger’s perspective, a comfortable, reliable performer, the aircraft was a showcase of technical innovation. This from Wikipedia:

The L-1011 featured a highly advanced autopilot system and was the first widebody to receive FAA certification for Cat-IIIc autolanding, which approved the TriStar for completely blind landings in zero-visibility weather performed by the aircraft’s autopilot. The L-1011 used an Inertial Navigation System (INS) to navigate;this included aligning the navigation system by entering current coordinates of longitude and latitude.

It also had a unique Direct Lift Control (DLC) system, which allowed for smooth approaches when landing, without having to use significant pitch changes while on the approach path. DLC helps maintain the descending glideslope on final approach by automatically deploying spoiler panels on the wings. Thus, rather than maintaining the descent by adjusting pitch, DLC helps control the descent while maintaining a more consistent pitch angle, using four redundant hydraulic systems. Production also utilized a unique “autoclave” system for bonding fuselage panels together; this made the L-1011 extremely resistant to corrosion…

…The two L-1011 aircraft delivered to Pacific Southwest Airlines were configured with internal airstair doors that led into an entry hall in what was normally the forward lower baggage hold. This was to allow operations from airfields that did not have terminal buildings with jet bridges. These two aircraft were later in service with Aeroperú and Worldways Canada.

Out of the 250 built there were only five hull losses, and of those, four were attributed to pilot error. An interesting aside: the aircraft had four (yes, four) redundant hydraulic systems that on more than one occasion saved stricken aircraft from loss after catastrophic engine failure ruptured lines to three of the four systems. On another note, the DLC systems automatic use of spoilers on approach reportedly played a role in the loss of Delta Flight 191 at KDFW in August 1985, but of course, the Number One engine ingesting a Toyota pickup truck had something to do with that event as well. Today, when commercial pilots encounter wind shear in the simulator they more often than not encounter a programmed replay of events from Dallas, where everything that could possibly go wrong…did. Still, when you consider the magnitude of the impact it’s considered a testimony of the aircraft’s build quality that so many people survived.

Anyway, at a time when the Douglas DC10 was hard at work earning a horrific safety reputation, L-Ten operators took great pride in the aircraft’s well deserved reputation for build quality and passenger satisfaction. Pilots, by the way, generally loved the L-Ten.

Wilson Aircraft produced a remarkable L-1011 for X-Plane several years ago, and this affordable file has been quietly generating interest recently when plans were announced to go ahead with the development of a 3D cockpit for the original 2D-only equipped ACF, and we decided to take a look at the file as a result of this pending development.

The download includes the three major versions of the aircraft – the -100, -200 and -500 series – AND each version comes with correct, model specific liveries. You’ll end up with high quality liveries used by almost all the major carriers that operated the L-1011, and the paints look quite good overall, and some are simply excellent. In addition, the -500 series comes with an additional full ACF download simply called “enhanced realism”; this model takes fuel planning to new levels and is designed for those who really want to get into technical aspects of flight planning. There are checklists and performance charts included as well.

And here are a few of the real world operators that used the bird:

Now let’s take a look at the front office, and first in the real aircraft:

And here’s the pit in XP, under a variety of lighting conditions:

Lighting in the ‘pit is completely adjustable, and though simple the setup provides a full range of control. A detriment to some, the panel features the default FMC and not the triple redundant INS systems found in the original aircraft; the benefit of this approach will only be appreciated by those who have programmed a real INS, however! In practical use, flying this ACF is quite satisfying given the file’s vintage, and although graphically the panel shows it’s age it’s still a pleasure to use: instruments are razor sharp and I find this cockpit to be an easy rider for long flights. The ACF includes only one FMC so technically Cat III landings ought to be a no-no; in practice I’ve tried a zero-zero landing with no trouble in XP9.

And note that while the ACF was developed quite a while ago it performs very well in XP10, not to mention the ACF simply looks extraordinarily grand in the new version. Lighting updates to make the file fully compliant with 10 are planned.

The wing in particular looks very good in either version of XP, though there is room for improvement:

Spoilers and flaps could use some tweaks, but leading edge detail is awesome. Another side benefit found only in XP10 is engine inlet “fogging”, and of all the heavies I’ve looked at so far none produces a more intense effect than these RB211s:

And on the ramps you’ll be hard pressed to find a more elegant and imposing aircraft – in any SIM.

So, we were looking to post an interview with developer Mike Wilson a few weeks back but unforeseen events intervened. He’s back at it now and feeling better, and we were able to complete the interview…so let’s get to it!

Developer Interview + Mike Wilson

xp+10+reviews: So, why the L-1011? Is this aircraft a sentimental favorite, or was there something about the real aircraft that you wanted to capture in X-Plane?

MW: Yeah, a little sentimental. I used to see TriStars landing and taking off at JFK when I used to live in Brooklyn, near JFK, back in the late 1980s. I’ve never flown a jet but I have a pilots license with 200 hours in Cessna 150/152.

xp+10+reviews: Did you have any real pilot input when developing this model?

MW: Most of the real life pilot input has been from Andre Poirier, who flew the L-1011 (or the “L-10″ as he calls it) with Air Transat. He has flown many different planes during his career, but he says the L-1011 was his favorite. He has been very actively helping me through consultation and he also has adjusted flight model settings on the .acfs. I’ve also been in contact with an RAF refueling tanker TriStar pilot (retired), as well as an L-1011 flight engineer who was also previously a 707 copilot. I’ve also received comments from another L-1011 flight engineer (also retired).

xp+10+reviews: The exterior of this model appears particularly good, the wings’ leading edges especially so. As you work on revising this ACF, will you be making many updates to the exterior?

MW: The main things on the exterior that I think needs detail as far as I can see is cutting the wheel well bays and the detailing the landing gear doors in object format. Also the spoilers/speedbrakes need detail on the undersides. Stephan has sent me the improved rear half of the fuselage (rudder/nacelle) which I will put on, and you can see a screenshot on the TriStar 3D pit thread. This is a bigger job than I thought because all of the paint maps need to be moved down to the exact pixel in order for the .obj format rudder/nacelle paintwork to be attached to the .obj fuselage paintwork, and while keeping the stripes etc matched up on each side. I will do this as soon as the 3D pit is finished.

xp+10+reviews: Can you tell us about the 3D cockpit? First, to what level of detail are you going to make this cockpit? The renders look comprehensive, but what about systems? Will a passenger cabin be added, and opening doors and cargo holds?

MW: I would like to make the 3D cockpit as detailed as I can, including systems. The 3D cockpit is my first priority. Derek Jacob did some great work on the pedestal and overhead panel and I would like to get the 3D pit working as soon as possible, but I’ve been slowed down by health problems recently.

Opening doors and cargo holds can be done later since the fuselage already has an object format part; that’s a good idea, thanks.

xp+10+reviews: This work is being done in AC3D. Do you find it easier to work in this program rather than, say, Blender?

MW: I’ve never tried blender. Most people say AC3D is easier to learn than blender. I will probably learn Blenders “baking” ability (subtle shadows preset into the cockpit’s paint work) to use on 3D cockpits. So far people seem to think blender is better for baking than AC3D.

xp+10+reviews: We’re assuming the same 3D cockpit will show up in the -150, -200, and -500 models? Will there be differences between them?

MW: There will be very little difference between the 3D cockpits in the -150, -200, -500 models.

xp+10+reviews: What about pricing? Will there be a price increase, or any incentives offered to current owners?

MW: There will be a price increase when the 3D cockpit is completed. I don’t think it will get too much more expensive; my current guess based on other planes I see is that it might get to around 20 USD, but I’m not really sure yet. I try to keep a watch on other peoples prices to make sure I’m not pricing too high.

xp+10+reviews: Can you tell us about other details in the L-1011 that you might include, like the flight engineers station, or whether INS or revised FMC will be included?

MW: At the present time I think the flight engineers station will be non operable, included just for looks, but in the future it could be made operable, and because I do not plan starting any more ACF projects other than the ones I already have. There’s a chance I might make the Hawker Siddelly trident payware if I upgrade the cockpit to high detail and add the longer body Trident 3.

Someone is working on an INS plugin and I have told him I’m interested in the possibility of using it on both the TriStar and 707, after the 3D pit is completed. I would like to eventually include an INS since the L-10 mostly did use this technology, and I think it was only a few Saudi TriStars that used FMS. Operating X-Plane’s default GPS is closer to the way INS would work, but it seems like 99 percent of “planers” I speak to are asking for the TriStar to have FMS, and I suppose because they are so used to it.

xp+10+reviews: Any other kinds of details we can expect to enhance the aircraft in XP 10?

MW: I mainly just want to get the TrSstar cockpit done as I’ve had so many setbacks, including health related stuff, and I just really hope to get the TriStar 3D cockpit done as soon as possible. 

Thanks, Mike

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And our thanks to Mike as well. We’re glad he’s able to keep at it, and wish him the very best.

Complete information about the file is currently available at the Wilson Aircraft site:

http://forjets.netfirms.com/page9.html

As well, you’ll find a link for the manual at this link if you’d like to review before purchase.

The file can be purchased at the OrgStore as part of the complete Wilson package for about 29 USD, or singly for 9.95 USD. Yes, that’s less than ten bucks for the four ACF in the series…not quite freeware but an incredible value.

If you enjoy ACF such as the EADT x737 we’re pretty sure you’ll really, really like these TriStars, and we highly recommend them. Thanks for coming along with us, and we’ll see you again soon. C

So…it’s Sunday morning and you’ve got all day to work with some new files, right? Well, there are some real gems in this bunch so let’s get to it!

Jack439′s F-86E Sabre 2 is a royal kick in the pants. Get it. Anything else I have to say will be superfluous and unnecessary. Just get it.

The cockpit is, BTW, well executed and useable night or day. It’s gorgeous, too.

Oh…performance was unaffected by high speeds, inverted flight…

…or by blowing the glass out of PriFly on the Nimitz. Very fun stuff. Can’t recommend this one highly enough.

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negonn released three gorgeous liveries for the QPAC320 this weekend, and first up is this ultra-modern Mexicana, and a fitting tribute to another airline gone but not forgotten.

Also released this weekend, Volaris (Mexico) and a jetBlue special for the New York JETs football team, both for the QPAC320, both excellent.

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Jacques Brault’s latest CYPQ Peterborough Ontario airports package is full of some interesting – if small – GA airports, as well as a couple of nice resort/seaplane bases worth checking out. Here’s the list:

• CYPQ Peterborough
• CPJ5 Stirling
• CPY4 Norwood
• CPS2 Keene/Elmhirst’s Resort
• CNQ6 Keene/Elmhirst’s Resort (Water)
• CNF4 Lindsay
• CFG8 Sturgeon Lake (Water)
• CPV5 Head Lake (Grass & Water)

And here are the airports (minus CNF4, which failed to load):

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There’s not a lot to say here. Nakajima KI-44 by zenya is a great new v9.xx only file, and it flies almost as good as it looks. As it looks drop dead gorgeous just note that you’ll have a lot of fun in this one, and you might be impressed with the pit as much as I was. Highly recommended? YES, and a natural for Cami’s Cook Islands package!

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This is FlightTime56 signing off…

And so are we. Time for a cider at Chaos Manor, but as always thanks for coming along, and we’ll see you again soon. C&S

X-Plane 10 continues to shake me up with the visuals it produces. The above was imaged while puttering south from LSZH to LFMN and when nearing the coast. I’ve always felt this section of the Alps, the so-called Maritime Alps, a particularly beautiful place, but this sequence of images began to feel like it had been painted by Caspar David Friedrich, particularly his iconic Wanderer Above a Sea of Fog. I know we’re talking about a flight simulator and this isn’t the place to wax ecstatic about early 19th century Romanticism, but holy cow!

I was listening to Diana Krall’s Dancing in the Dark (very moody jazz, introspective lyrics…you know, old fart music) and just drifting along in the night as I looked these over and that was a moment! The visual environment in 10 is special, I mean really, really good, and even the way the Star Alliance logo on the tail is glowing just hit me as beyond perfect. Yeah, you gotta have the horsepower to run it, but if you do? I’m just not getting tired of this at all, and find new features that visually are just stunning – every time I go out (and the specs here: I had “broken cumulus” set in three layers between 500 and 16000AGL, ground temp 80 degrees F, cloud detail to 50%, and the sun was setting + HDR ON, res HIGH).

Okay, enough of that blather! Let’s see what’s been cooking this week. Say, perhaps a few new scenery files? Well sure, but let’s take a look at some news first, then XPFR’s latest and a new airport from RoyalOak…and maybe some fresh paint, too…

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• STMA’s TrackerXP is out now. Price: 19.95 USD, at the OrgStore.
• A new preview of the On The Wings of Dreams DVD has been posted at the FSN, and this is worth a look if you haven’t ordered your copy yet.
• The Cessna 172 has been revised, and the new price is just a little over 300 grand. No, not the Carenado ACF…the real one. You remember? The one made by Cessna? Check it out!
• Canada’s Bombardier will build five to 10 CSeries CS100 aircraft for PrivatAir — a deal that could be worth $636 million if all options are exercised. “The CS100 jetliner is very well suited for our route expansion plans and we look forward to introducing this very modern aircraft into our fleet,” said PrivatAir CEO and President Greg Thomas. FlightGlobal.com (U.K.)
• Tom Gilmore wants beginning pilots to start out with a heartfelt trust in instruments rather than intuition. Gilmore’s new book, “Teaching Confidence in the Clouds,” details the instrument pilot training provided by desktop flight simulators. “Many early pilots died by flying by the seat of their pants,” he said. TCPalm.com (Fort Pierce, Fla.)
• The Reno Air Racing Association is working to retain its special events license four months after a fiery air-race accident killed a pilot and 10 spectators. “We’re wounded, but we’re not critically wounded,” said Mike Houghton, who heads the Reno Air Racing Association. Reno Gazette-Journal (Nev.)
• Santiago advises his KMIA will be released soon, perhaps as early as next week. We’ll let you know.
• Karingka is working on a v10 makeover of his KBOS scenery and is having an issue with WED; he’s started a forum thread here and asks that any interested/knowledgeable scenery gurus drop by and lend a hand. As Simon is on a wine tasting tour in Middle Earth I fear any advice he might get from there would be…questionable!

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Reader GNW sent in the following images of his travels this past week. Good v9 lighting on that last Mooney M20J, too.

If you’ve got a good image to share drop it in an email and we’ll post “the best of the week” on Saturdays!

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LFCY | Royan Médis is XPFR’s latest, and this is a sweet little GA airport right in line with their most recent French airports along the Bay of Biscay:

You can now fly from northern Spain along the Atlantic coastline and never be far from an XPFR facility, keeping in mind that the pins in the map above are only the most recent additions! Below, the airport in XP10, and LIT textures are not as vibrant in 10 so keep that in mind. The para-gliders make for a fun slalom course, too…

Hey…I’m just saying’…

XPFR continues to release the best of the best! And they dropped another fun morsel mid-week too, one just perfect for fighting off the wintertime blues…

Not to be confused with that OTHER runabout XPFR released last winter, this Riva Super Ariston is an all new effort and is really quite gorgeous, and with a panel that reminds of a ’59 Chevy Impala!

Detailing is just out of this world super kewl…but this is from XPFR, so what do you expect! Dust off your NTAA and dive on in!

Our thanks to Kevin Mee from the FSN for the look around!

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RoyalOak’s KMBT Murfreesboro is located in the middle of Tennessee and supports activities at Middle Tennessee State University’s aviation program. He advises this was a rush job – but he must be getting efficient because this effort looks anything but rushed, and is in fact another really sweet little GA airport – and located near America’s Great Smokey Mountain National Park! You want some scenic flying? Try out this area!

Imaged here in XP10, KMBT just looks grand, and the ramped 727 seen in the overheads is included. In XP10 runway lighting and buildings are a little dim, but we know that, right?

All in all, don’t be in any rush to pass this one up. It’s a Must Have file for GA OPS close to the US mid-Atlantic region and the mid-west corridor, and it simply looks excellent in 10, even without global illumination lighting!

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UPDATE: EDDM to v3.2, and this is a no nonsense MUST HAVE update. Subtle improvements, yes, but this one is rapidly reaching payware quality (the change log hits about a dozen items).

Seen just above, a FINNAIR A340-300 paint by tramkp888, and at LFMN below:

Generally well done but the underlying LITs on the tail bled through on mine at night. This is for the Peter’s Aircraft file, BTW.

Also imaged today at EDDM, a revised Alitalia paint for the default 744 in XP10 by I-Lair.

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Continuing our test flights of the freshly revised x738 this week, I flew several roundtrips between LSZH and LFMN and set the weather for this first flight to clear and sunny on the northern side of the Alps, then closed it in on the south side to solid muck from the ground up to FL160. It’s just fun to watch all the traffic on the ground in XP10 too, hence the clear stuff. Sometimes watching the AI circus is like taking in a well choreographed ballet, other times like watching The Three Stooges going at it. Below in the first image, the jet roaring across the runway about 300 AGL was on yet another go-around, and when you get right down to it watching these AI antics is getting painful. It seems like they never lock onto the ILS and come in way too high on their approach – then act like WWII dive bombers and scream down for the runway at the last possible moment. Of course, approach speeds approaching 350 kts on final probably ring all sorts of alarm bells in the AI and the offending ACF gets the boot and off it goes…on yet another go-around! Uh, anyone ever read something called “published missed approach procedures”? This guy sure hadn’t!

Images two and three below, default scenery and with UrbanMAXX in the same general area, then approaching the Alps on the way to VOR SIO; this routing takes you past the Matterhorn, Milan (VOR CSL 116.75), then south past LIMZ and FIX VAMTU and on down to the first approach fix (NERAS) then on to FIX RIVRU, NDB NC 338, FIX MN222, FIX R2524 at the threshold, and this was for LFMN RWY 4R.

One thing I hadn’t done in a long time…I set the panel up in the x737 with the narrow panel option, which adds a windscreen center post and compass and which also makes instruments a little bigger (and, ahem, easier to read). NAVCOM heads are no longer visible with this setup (you have to scroll down to get ‘em), and the FMC is down in the weeds too, but like so many things it’s a trade off. I’ve been flying the x737 with the wide panel for almost two years now and maybe it’s just a change of pace but I kind of like it this way (again). Still, I enjoy the wide panel too. Nice to have the option.

Below, just a couple more images crossing the Maritimes.

And here we are turning onto final.

Then onto the approach, with weather still well above minimums.

But there was something not quite right about the alignment flying into LFMN. In the image below I’ve penciled in the line of the runway in blue. The runway heading is 44, the aircraft’s heading was 44, yet the ILS is centered and it’s quite obvious there’s a discrepancy between the two. Something’s not adding up here!

I disconnected the A/P about 200 AGL and finished the landing manually, then set it up and ran it again. Here’s the same flight, daylight, blue skies, and with exactly the same results on final:

Tried the XPFWProject’s 733 next, and on the exact same circuit/FMS entries, with the following results:

Runway alignment was dead on in the 733, so obviously I’ve done something really wrong in the x737 or am slowly but surely going bonkers. Reader Carlos Garcia advises he’s getting similar issues with his x737, and the misalignment is not showing up in other ACF either, so maybe I’m not losing it. About all I can ask is that a few more folks give this routing a try and report what happens. If you can send the text of your FMC/flight plan, so much the better. Oh, the XPFWProject’s FMC advances normally through the flight plan, while the x737′s readout doesn’t. The 733′s HSI advances the lubber line and changes over to a VOR or ILS rose as required  (automatically), and this is a very nice real world feature. Not so the x738.

Oh, another comment received earlier this week about turbulence causing erratic A/P behavior and causing a disconnect on final (and this when using METARs/real world weather). I set up another flight with wind out of the north at 15 and turbulence dialed up about a third of the way up the slider, and while this did NOT effect the coupled approach, but at those settings ACF behavior was over the top, and anyone inside that airliner would have been deathly airsick (if not dead), yet the x737 held the approach until I disconnected the A/P (about 50 ft AGL) to line up for the flare. The XPFWProject 733 was used under the same conditions and it held the approach as well. Sorry I couldn’t repeat that well enough without knowing what turbulence in XP was set at, but An Observation may be in order here (or rant, depending on your point of view). The turbulence generated in XP10 is getting outrageous. Not “good” outrageous either, but completely over the top silly, and it’s becoming a detraction – not an attraction – with comments to us already to that effect. Turbulence is usually an intermittent phenomenon, and to encounter such persistent turbulence as found in XP, and of the sort I encountered around LFMN, would probably be realistic for a hurricane hunter P-3C  –inside a Cat 3+ hurricane. Obviously if someone is flying under METARs and his 738 is being tossed around so violently that it causes an A/P disconnect, well, then something is wildly and badly amiss. I don’t think the problem lies with the x737, either. This is an old problem that appears to only have gotten worse in XP10.

If you don’t believe me, dial the turbulence in XP up a third on the slider – or to half way if you want a thrill ride – then take off and watch the ACF from external view/rear. Ridiculous. It’s about time this was fixed; as it is now it’s just not realistic – and if using real world weather it’s going to run each and every potential FsX convert right off the reservation. If the behavior was realistic I’d say “so what”, but this constant jack-hammer approach to the phenomenon is just wrong – unless you find yourself deep inside an anvilling thunderstorm.

We’ll have more on the x737 from FlightTime56 tomorrow, as well as a few new files to poke through – including some more at EDDM. Thanks for coming along, and we’ll see you then. Sorry for the rant. Chip