Leaderboard

I completely understand your frustration with the lack of weather radar functionality in the Challenger 650, especially considering the significance of weather navigation in real-world flying. However, I must clarify a misconception regarding the situation. The absence of weather radar is not due to any negligence or unwillingness on our part. Rather, it is a technical limitation tied to the way X-Plane interprets and represents weather within the simulator. While Laminar Research has indeed made commendable improvements to weather depiction in X-Plane 12, they have not yet provided a way for plugins or aircraft to accurately identify the specific cloud patterns, storm cells, or their exact locations within the simulated environment. This is more than a minor obstacle; it renders what you're asking for technically unfeasible at this time. Even if we were to access real weather data, it would not correlate with Laminar's approximated in-sim depiction, leading to potentially inaccurate and misleading information. Please know that we share your eagerness for this feature, and our hands are literally tied until Laminar extends the necessary support in their API. We remain committed to enhancing our products and are hopeful for future developments that may allow us to provide the weather radar functionality you desire. I hope this sheds light on the complexity of the situation, and we sincerely appreciate your understanding.

You could do that, but it might be just easier to change the DEST in the FLT PLN page once you're heading towards your alternate airport. The go back into the LEGS page and build the route to the alternate. First, get the airplane going to the first fix on the route. Let's say that Wichita KS (KICT) is your destination and Hutchison KS (KHUT) is your alternate. You're tired of shooting and missing the ILS 01L approach at KICT due to fog, etc., whatever. Time to go to KHUT. Wichita gives you the following clearance to KHUT: "N1234 is now to cleared to the Hutchison airport via direct Wichita VORTAC, Victor 73, Hutchison VORTAC, then direct, climb and maintain 6000". By the way, this was a common clearance we gave in the sim when I was an instructor in the Learjets while at FlightSafey. Step 1: On the LEGS page, type in ICT to go direct, then EXEC Step 2: On the FLT PLN page, change DEST to KHUT Step 3: On the FLT PLN page, delete any remaining approach going into KICT Step 4: on the FLT PLN page, type in: V73 HUT DIRECT KHUT (this is optional) Step 5: On the DEP/ARR page, select KHUT and enter the expected approach, e.g., ILS 13 Your performance data should remain, i.e., PAX and CARGO, ZFW entry, etc. With ALT LEGS page, you can set some of this up ahead of time. However, as practical matter, I have never used the ALT LEGS page to preload my flight the alternate. Most of the time if you are diverting to your alternate, ATC will clear you direct. In mountainous areas, that might different. ALT LEGS page is mostly used for programming your engine failure departure procedure, so that it is ready to use if the engine fails on takeoff after V1, assuming that it is not a straight-out departure. Rich

I recently acquired the aircraft CL650 (Not TBM900, until this date, it's not yet available for XP12), designed for X-Plane 12, and my sole regret is not having made the purchase earlier – even when it was exclusively functional on X-Plane 11. In essence, my initial judgment was mistaken. This aircraft is truly phenomenal.

that's kinda correct Frank... though 'sometime later' is actually to begin asap after the bug-fix phase following release. The term "major lift" is probably somewhat relative to each individual though. This is more evolution than revolution. The plan is to prioritize the FMS/VNAV improvements first, then in parallel as able, swap the sounds over to FMOD and begin a new 3D exterior model. So for folks who spend 95% of their time enjoying the cockpit and don't care about the rest much....then elements of a "major lift" may not seem so major. For folks who live for VNAV descents, then they may see the VNAV work as a major lift etc. Either/or, the plan is to continue on those elements listed above after release for sure and we'll evaluate other features along the way. -tk

Been quiet here a while. Sorry for that. Yes, still on this every day We have slapped a release date on our own calendars finally, but of course we're not tossing that date out because our crystal ball isn't the latest model. To at least be able to see a firm date is encouraging. The delay since wrapping up the 3D/visual work is mostly due to my reworking of my code infrastructure to be more 'decoupled' and "libraryish", such that it can more easily be reused and applied to future work. Because we're wanting to do new projects while improving the 737 also, I needed my old code to be a bit more flexible and it was just easier to begin that process now. So hopefully the benefit of this phase of work will be seen with more rapid development down the line. I hope that's the case . Sorry for delay in reporting, I'm still happy to be doing this and ensuring I can continue to do so. -tkyler

There are a couple of ways that you can accomplish flying another approach or diverting to an alternate. During simulator training, we have transition from one approach another quite often. The first option is to re-load the same approach or a different approach (e.g. due to a runway change) by just going to the DEP/ARR page. Flying many different FMSs over he years (Collins, Universal, Garmin) there is one thing that I have learned. If you are flying the missed approach and plan to enter the missed approach hold, don't touch a damn thing until you're in the hold. Now, in the Collins FMS, re-loading the same approach or a new approach from the DEP/ARR page will not hurt you since if you load another approach into the FMS for the same destination, it's "smart enough" to load that approach AFTER the current missed approach procedure and missed hold. I don't know if this is simulated in HS650 this way off the top of my head (I believe so), but by reputation of its designer, I would not bet against it! If you select and load another approach in the Universal or Garmin FMS BEFORE you are established in the missed hold, you will wipe out the previous missed approach and missed approach hold if you try to load another approach before you are established in the hold. If ATC needs you to hold, or the instructor needs to see you enter the hold for grading purposes, your co-pilot is now a$$s and elbows re-loading the missed approach hold, and you are buying the beers at dinner that evening! Lesson: Wait until you are either in the missed approach or wait until ATC starts vectoring you for the next approach. Then load the next approach. You should be able to do that without any issues since the the DEST on FLT PLN page has not changed. On the DEP/ARR page, just select the desired approach. If you are diverting, there are two options. The first one is not simulated in HS650 and that is to use the ALT LEGS page. If you have an ALT entered on the FLT PLN page, then if you cycle through all of the LEGS pages to the very end and after you pass the last LEG associated with the destination airport/approach, you will go to the ALT LEGS page. This is where we will load the OEI escape procedure for takeoff, but it can also be used to load the waypoints for the flight to the alternate, which is usually "DIRECT", or something simple like that. If your CFP has a route to the alternate, you can load it on these pages. This will get you pointed towards the alternate airport until you can update the FLT PLN page and change the DEST entry on the FLT PLN page to the alternate so that you can bring up the approaches on the DEP/APP page. I do not use the SEC FLT PLN page for diverting because it will drop all the performance information, including my ZFW (PAX and CARGO load information if you use that) on the PERF page, and now I have to re-load all that to get my landing weights and VSPEED data accurate on the APPROACH REF pages. I just made more work for myself or my co-pilot. Same thing happens if I use the SEC FLT PLN for my OEI escape procedure. All my PERF data including my V-Speeds (e.g., VT) drop and must re-entered. That's a pain when climbing out at V2 speed and your V-speeds suddenly go away. Again, more work for you when already have enough work to do. More beers at bar that night for my long suffering sim co-pilot, too! Been flying the Collins FMS for nearly 20 years now. That's how I do it. I hope this helps! Rich Boll

It's a major re-write of code to get it properly working in 12, and that work continues. We will e-mail all customers once this has been released.