Leaderboard

Kicking off a series of development updates, we will travel to the past, from when DC-3 was born to today, to understand the significance of this aircraft for the whole airline industry. Douglas Aircraft Company, after a TWA inquiry, started development of a new series of aircrafts, designated as Douglas Commercial (DC), the DC-1 in 1933, and DC-2 next year. Although DC-2 was successful, it was a bit narrow for what American Airlines wanted, which led to the development of one DST prototype. DST stands for Douglas Sleeper Transport! Yes beds in the airplane! Flew first time on December 17, 1935, the 32nd anniversary of Wright Bros first flight. The aircraft was fitted with 21 seats (instead of 14-16 sleeping berths), and designated as DC-3! Totally built, up to 1943, 607 DC-3 aircrafts. But WWII has begun and many DC-3s were put into military service. The needs for a military transport aircraft were huge, and with DC-3 fitting the bill, the C-47 Skytrain was created. It was based on DC-3 with few changes needed for the operations in the military, most notably the reinforced floor that allowed for higher gross weight, and the dual cargo doors. A total of around 10,000 C-47 aircrafts (and variations) were constructed. Many C-47s, after WWII, became available for civilian use, and even today, there are many DC-3s and C-47 in use! Later, in 1990, another variation was developed by Basler Turbo Conversions, retrofitting P&W PT-6 turboprop engines, and airframe modifications, designated as BT-67. Our Leading Edge Simulations DC-3 (v2) is based on the original, 21-seats, variants. The aircraft has a maximum gross weight (MGW) of 25,200 lbs for take off and landing, and can reach speeds up to 207 mph (180 knots). 2 Pratt and Whitney PW R-1830 Twin Wasp radial engines, providing 1,200 hp each, driving a 3-blade Hamilton Standard propeller. In the next weeks leading to the release, as development progresses, we will look into each area of the aircraft in more detail. For now, I will leave you with a few more random images. Keep in mind that everything you see here, up to the release, is work-in-progress, not final! (source: Wikipedia)

Yes, they're done (apart from Inter European which I think still needed some work, but to be honest I gave up on this aircraft because of the lack of development and for me personally lack of certain dataref availability - I switched to the 732 and developed my cockpit software around that. I have a load of 90% finished liveries - if they do update it as indicated then I have several liveries which could be released once I dust off my painters hat. Would be nice to see a new version of the IXEG, I have a lot of real-world affection for the 737 Classics. A handful of WIP shots from 2017.

Happy to see the problem seems to have been found. Enjoy the upcoming update.

Cooper I removed XGS and everything is good now. THANKS Dennis Volz

Please keep this new cloud lighting I love it and I was about to write about this new change. Looks completely realistic to me thanks!

No single answer here - it just depends on personal taste too much. There is the "hardcore realistic" viewpoint - according to the FCOM from Boeing. Then there is the "go back as far as possible to see everything" option. Throw in different FoV settings. I think 60 deg is probably the most realistic - but you will have to turn and squirm a bit (or set up different views) to see everything. Going higher distorts the view unnaturally (fisheye view), but has the benefit of seeing more without having to turn your view. Ultimately the answer is VR. Yet that brings its own problems (mainly resolution and framerate concerns). I am considering moving the cockpit default viewpoint (W key) to cater to the new yoke height/slant...but am afraid that this will throw off a lot of people that are used to flying with it that way, too. The married man knows that problem. Whatever you do... Cheers, Jan