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Captains, A few weeks ago we announced that downloads were no longer going to expire, and that you would have unlimited downloads for life. That was the first pain point we wanted to rid for you, and so far the reception to it has been fantastic. Today, we'd like to announce the second pain point we are ridding of! Starting later today, you will now be able to self-manage your licenses and be able to authorize and de-authorize your own machines without ever needing to contact us. We are effectively doing away with the "All license slots used" message which required you to contact us for support. This system has been in the works for the better half of the last year, and has taken a ton of work to implement. That said we feel the effort was worth it, and that you'll find it much more customer friendly. Rather than make you read all about it, we have compiled a video to discuss what this is all about. You can find out more by watching below! We really hope you enjoy what you see! As usual, we thank you for your past patronage, and we're looking forward to serving you more in the future! Blue Skies!

SMP 4.5 has a Gizmo update in it.

Hi Tom, excellent post and all your observations were spot on! The reason for flaps 15 is the ability to fly a missed approach with flaps 15 without having to use the alternate system (electric engine) to retract the flaps during the go-around. Also interesting may be the fact that you had 10% of quantity remaining in the B system - this is due to the intricate "standpipe" design of the hydraulic supply lines in the hydraulic reservoir. If you have a rupture in the engine-driven-pump circuit (most likely due to engine failures), this highest standpipe will only drain so much fluid overboard, with enough remaining for the electrically driven pump. Should there be a rupture in that system (as in your case), the fluid will drain to the lower standpipe - with enough remaining (ca. 10%) to supply the automatic slat system via the PTU, should the need arise (stall while at flaps 1-5). In a real airliner you would probably divert to the nearest suitable airfield with declaring emergency, after all you are out of redundancy (the standby hydraulic system doesn´t really count) - but in a simulator it is acceptable to continue, of course . But you can see that even loosing half of the hydraulics is pretty much a "non event", piloting wise. You land with flaps 15 and are limited to CAT1 - legally. Plus there is a startle if it happens while you are on autopilot B, which will disconnect with the warble. Technically you could still do an autoland with a single autopilot and the flaps extended via the alternate system to 30 or 40. This would fall under the "emergency authority" of the Captain, and would only be done in very dire circumstances (inability to reach an alternate airfield with CATII or III weather prevalent). Cheers, Jan

Well I guess Gizmo is updated so we can expect really soon v.1.1 Why? Because SkyMaxxPro 4.5 which will be out tomorrow also needed updated Gizmo... Can't wait !!! Cheers

Captains, Beginning tomorrow you'll be able to enjoy SkyMaxx Pro v4.5! This is a pretty nice update we're excited to get out to you, and we're hoping you enjoy it as much as we do! Of things to note, you can expect the following: Procedural sky box (based on the Hosek model) to accurately simulate sky colors for any time, place, and weather Improved blending of distant clouds into the sky Cloud draw distance increased by 20% Stutters with high cloud draw area settings reduced More realistic and distinctive representation of “HD cloud puffs” stratiform clouds More variety of cloud shapes and positions New, much-improved cloud textures for “crisp” and “soft” cumulus clouds Added glare effect surrounding the sun Our own ephemeris model, for accurate placement of the sun, moon, stars, and planets at night Accurate moon phases and orientation of the moon Various bug fixes and graphical polish By replacing X-Plane’s skies with our own, it enables us to make the lighting on our clouds more consistent with the skies you see behind them. The screenshots below show what you can expect. This results in better blending and color continuity, which makes the clouds seem much more natural and realistic. This is a big upgrade to SkyMaxx Pro, and will be offered free of charge to existing SkyMaxx Pro 4 customers running X-Plane 10 or X-Plane 11. A few images to show what this update will look like. It's especially gorgeous in X-Plane 11! We'll see you in the 4.5 skies this weekend!

They just announced an update to their activation system. Maybe they had to get that change announced and out the door, before this update was released.

Will now plane disappear when flying in clouds, I think this would make it realistic Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

A little story from my last flight. Had a interesting flight yesterday between LSZH (Zurich) and ESSA (Arlanda) during a VATSIM event, when a failure was triggered. Its fun to (try) troubleshooting and find out what has happend without looking at the logfile or the failures menu. (All picture is taken on ground just to illustrate) I had about 400-500nm left on my flight to ESSA when I got this master caution. I obvious have some issues with flight controls and the hydraulics. So my next step is to look at the overhead panel. The first I notice is that both hydraulic pumps for SYSTEM B is indicating LOW PRESSURE. And I noticed the indicators for the flight controls, but my main concern was the hydraulics. So I checked the pressure and quantity for SYSTEM B and confirming that I have a total loss of that hydraulic system. So I was thinking, what to do, what to do. I had no problems flying the aircraft with the autopilot. And everything else worked fine. My next step was to check if the QRH was covering this issue. And it did. Luckly for me. First two steps is to set SYSTEM B FLIGHT CONTROL SWITCH to STBY RUD and set both hydraulic pumps for SYSTEM B to off. So far so good. Still flying. And I made a decision to continue my flight to my destination as planed, it was after all a nice VATSIM event with alot of traffic. I started planing my next steps. What system have I lost ? How do I handle that ? The QRH says this. Systems that are handled by SYSTEM B is. Outboard flight spoilers. Autopilot B. - No issue for me, flying on Autopilot A. Yaw damper. Alternate nose wheel steering. No issue SYSTEM A is covering Nose wheel steering. Normal brakes. SYSTEM A have to handle the brakes, and that means that Autobrake is INOP. Manual braking only. SYSTEM B is also covering flaps, so alternate flaps have to be used. The QRH says I should plan for a FLAP 15 landing. Not sure why, but could be performance issues with a go around or if I lose of a engine, since I cant retract the flaps with the alternate system. Active runway for landing at ESSA this night was 01R (2500 meters). I did ask ATC for 01L (3300 meters) for landing, but it was denied (shame on you ATC) So 01R it is. Winds calm. VREF with FLAPS 15 was 144knots + 15. So my approach speed would be 159kts. The QRH says that alternate flaps extension from flaps 0 to flaps 15 takes 2 minutes. So had to plan this and make sure I was able to set flaps 15 in time. On the approach. At < 230kts I enabled the alternate flaps. Set the flap lever to desired flap position and extend flaps on maneuvering speed schedule using the alternate flaps position switch. Landing checklist: I was able to set the flaps in time and the landing went fine. You can learn so much from the failures IXEG have made availble for us. And a 2 hour "boring" flight from A to B can be pretty busy when you need to start troubleshooting and flying the aircraft at the same time. Pretty sure I was doing a lot of mistakes, but it was great fun From the logfile. The flight on vatsim: https://vataware.com/flight/5926fe4253523315c9000008

Did you buy version 4?