Latest News

Precision Manuals Announces X-Plane Development

Precision Manuals Development Group (PMDG) has announced their entry into the X-Plane 10 market. A developer from the X-Plane community has been brought on to assist in the transition.

Robert Randazzao, Owner and Operator of PMDG, stated:

"I have seen/read a bunch of hyperbole on this topic of late- so I wanted to make very clear that yes, PMDG is going to develop a product for Xplane10. It is going to be a conversion of either the BAe JS4100, the NGX or the [secret project: censored]."

You can read the full announcement in this post on their support forums .

Additionally, some X-Pilot community members have chimed in on this subject and you can too! Check out this thread here in the forums.

Read story →    0 comments   

X-Aviation Previews LES Douglas DC-3!

X-Aviation and Leading Edge Simulations (LES) have posted previews of the upcoming Douglas DC-3 aircraft for X-Plane 9 and 10!

Previews can be seen by going to the official preview thread located in the Leading Edge Simulations section of the forums.

Read story →    0 comments   

X-Aviation Releases CRJ-200 1.4.2 Update

X-Aviation has released an update to the Take Command! CRJ-200.

This update brings the product to version 1.4.2 and contains some very important bug fixes from the last update!

See more info about this update by viewing the update thread in the forum.

Read story →    0 comments   

Want to win some free add-ons from X-Aviation?

X-Aviation is pleased to announce they are the main sponsor of the ZLA ARTCC 2012 Poker Run!

X-Aviation will be giving away over $700 in prizes to those that secure one of the top positions in the competition!

Details about this competition and how to win can be found on the ZLA ARTCC 2012 Poker Run page.

The event takes place January, 28, 2012 @ 2100Z, so check it out!

Read story →    0 comments   

Laminar Releases Version 10.04 Beta 1

Laminar Research has released a new version of X-Plane 10, so get those updaters going! The list of fixes/additions includes:

ATC:

• AI Aircraft now climb/hold altitude better dramatically reducing the frequency of hearing ATC yell at them.
  
• Protect against aircraft doing something WAY out of bounds like departing instead of taxiing or holding short.
  
• Stability improvements
  
• Step descents dramatically improved
  
• ATC should now tell the user what approach they're setting them up for
  
• ATC "Radio" box text color tweak
  
• Fixed AI aircraft names

Lots of tuning and tweaking to make everything just right here in this release:

• Plane should be able to hold still quite a bit better during runup, and not slowly drift with the brakes on!
  
• Manifold pressure model is now improved to be more like real planes.
  
• French and Spanish translation improvements to make the menus a hair more accurate in those languages.
  
• Better vertical resolution of the NMEA strings for newer (real) moving maps that plot vertical paths as well.
  
• More resolution in the FDR replays, so even little RC drones with small movements can have their paths recorded perfectly.
  
• Cylindrical projection should be able to handle changing the screen-res on the fly with no problem now.
  
• Better metar parsing: X-Plane should not be confused over various comments in the metars about the wind.
  
• As well ATIS should report the visiblity accuratley in all cases. Earlier versions did not report the very low-vis cases correctly.
  
• And, an option to re-scan real-weather to go along with re-download.
  
• The heat-blurr rendering effect is now offset by the exhaust offset specified in Plane-Maker, which is useful.
  
• As well, the heat blurr now draws for ALL planes, not just the one you are flying.
  
• As well, you can specify the exhsust offset PER ENGINE!
  
• Proper cloud textures used even if you have both cumulus and cirrus layers at the same time.
  
• The yaw-string is visible for the gliders and helos.
  
• A-I airplanes should be a bit more robust, really adding power if needed to get out of ditches or up hills, and not having systems break, rendering the plane stopped or otherwise motionless.
  
• TCAS system should only call out guys with their transponder on...and the AI should only turn on their transponder for flight, not taxi! This is getting down to a pretty crazy level of realism, here.
  
• New failure: brown-out! In the upper right of the first page of failures.

A pretty nice failure for helos, added for use in real military training now!
Aircraft and Attached Objects:

• Aircraft can now have any number of attached objects; the interface is revamped to show this.
  
• Attached objects now have per object control over LOD, shadowing, and pre-fill. These options let you tune your plane for maximum performance. Click the "More Info" button in the Plane-Maker screen to view a description of what the settings do and how they should be used.
  
• The 747 and CirrusJet now have some of the pre-fill and shadow options set to improve 3-d cockpit framerates; we'll work through the other planes during beta.
  
• Wing flex for v9 planes now defaults to off; this prevents graphic errors when the attached parts aren't authored to flex with the wings.
  
• Plane-Maker taxi lights don't shine into the interior of the P-180.
  
• Fixed culling and drawing of OBJ-based weapons in the sim and Plane-Maker

Other random stuff:

• The fps test is fixed to not sit in the joystick calibration screen.
  
• New smoke puff artwork

Read story →    0 comments   

Carenado Releases C185F Skywagon

Carenado has released their Cessna 185F Skywagon for X-Plane. The aircraft is said to have similar behaviors compared to the real aircraft, as well as a detailed 3D exterior and interior model. This package includes high quality sounds, various types of eye candy, four liveries, and more.

For a full list of features or to purchase the aircraft, head on over to Carenado's C185F Skywagon page.

Read story →    0 comments   

X-Aviation Releases CRJ-200 1.4.1 Update

X-Aviation has released an update to the Take Command! CRJ-200.

This update brings the product to version 1.4.1 brings the CRJ simulation to a whole new level with all-new holding pattern logic, support for STAR transitions, and much more!

See more info about this update by viewing the update thread in the forum.

Read story →    5 comments   

Shade Tree Micro Aviation Releases K-1200 K-MAX

Shade Tree Micro Aviation (STMA) has released their latest project: the Kaman K-1200 K-MAX.

They state that the "K-MAX is a unique helicopter used for lifting operations. Thanks to its two rotors turning in opposite directions it is extremely stable in all conditions."

More information can be found by visiting their product page at the org store.

Read story →    5 comments   

Laminar Releases Version 10.03 Beta 6 Patch

Laminar Research has just released Beta 6 for X-Plane 10.03!

Start up those updaters and get the ball rollin'!

A list of changes are as follows:



ATC:

• Fixed bug preventing lowercase routings from working
  
• Fixed numerous crashes in the ATC system.
  
• Fixed bug causing AI planes to suddenly taxi through a hold short line wildly.
  
• Fixed bug causing the view to change while using the arrows to navigate ATC menus.
  
• Adjusted timers to let users communicate with ATC more easily.
  
• Adjusted "off course" tolerances to make it less annoying.
  
• Improved automatic layout generation at KTCM (and hopefully other airports that are long and thin)

Aircraft:

• CRJ and other aicraft cockpits should work at night in HDR mode on OS X Lion.
  
• Sim is more tolerant of missing textures - the rules now match v9 for OBJs.
  
• Slight improvement to braking model to aid in erroneous aircraft drifting.
  
• Baron 58: Added cockpit night lighting. Use the four lighting knobs under the copilot yoke to adjust.
  
• F4 Phantom: Adjusted the flight model for better in-flight handling and more reasonable manners on approach and landing.
  
• Fixed seg fault in weight/weapons window.

Rendering:

• Fixed cut-off global lights on ATI hardware.

Read story →    1 comments   

Carenado Begins Holiday Sale!

Carenado has announced a special 10-day Holiday Sale on all of their products, including those for X-Plane!

From December 15th to the 25th, Carenado will be giving discounts of 50% off on all X-Plane products.

To get in on this great deal head on over to Carenado's website!

Read story →    0 comments