Litjan

What is RNP equipment?

We are not going to rush it. It will be done when we feel that we can release it without being ashamed. We are not going to release without our internal minimum feature set. We have never promised that it would be before Christmas, 2015, or even this century, if you read all the statements we have made precisely. No one is entitled to a release at or before a certain time, and if the release date does not fit your schedule, you are more than welcome to pass on this product. . The team has - over the development timeframe - faced many unforeseen events and unplanned obstacles. Several babies were born, family members have been severely sick or even died, jobs have been lost, the team has had personal changes, development goals have changed... I know that everyone is excited to see this plane out, and so are we! Please realize that we are not taking this long to piss anyone off. I know many of you say "just release it, I don´t care if stuff is missing!" But please take a look into the support forums of recently released planes - people are NOT content with the "just release it". They will say so, but then bitch about every rivet or seam that is not exactly like they saw on airliners.net. In conclusion: We will release when ready. It might even take another 5 years, if WE feel that we need the time. Oh, and don´t cancel your skiing vacation to play the 737 just yet. No amount of moaning will change that, except maybe for the worse, as our motivation to finish it suffers. I know it´s hard to stand the wait, but even if you throw yourself on the floor and thrash about with arms and legs, this will not go any faster...(though maybe it will releave the frustration, so maybe give it a try!) Cheers, Jan

That is correct. We are making a simulation. If operating a 737 realistically (within the confines of a PC simulation) is too tedious, there are always youtube videos of real flights one can watch .

I was in contact recently with a Captain from Aloha Air Cargo, they got some of Lufthansa´s old 737-300s. So I guess there IS still life in those old ladies... . Cut a big hole into them, though! Jan

I´ll try to stay under that time!

No, we haven´t. I plan to make a quick video soon, it will be boring and nerdy, however. It will be showing how to add/edit/fly an SID, FMS behaviour, VNAV editing (adding/deleting speed and altitude restrictions), T/C calculation change, CLB page behaviour, etc. This will be a milestone video, showing what Tom has accomplished these last few weeks. Once the plane is feature-complete and we are satisfied that we have reached a "releasable" status, we are going to have a countdown to release, with periodic releases of the 6 tutorial videos I have prepared (to go along with the written tutorials). At least thats the plan! Jan

Yes, full support, including editing, adding or deleting restrictions, changing runways, adding transitions, etc. Also correct "magenta" including turn-radii, bypass behaviour, etc. Also conditional waypoints like "when passing 800..." or "fly until intercepting radial..." Correct fly-by and fly-over waypoint behaviour, etc. Jan

I use mostly the SHIFT-9 "3-D Cockpit Command Look" view. Then click the right mouse-button to pan, mousewheel to zoom. Also use keys "forward, aft, left, right, down".

You are way above our minimum specs! You will need to unpress your TURBO button to run the 737...

We´ll be there for you when you are back above the surface on your bank account!

Yes - and I was not aware of X-Planes default limitation to 20NMs!

There will be an installer - every time a new version comes out, you get a notification from the store. The winglets can be added and removed with the click of a button, even mid-flight.

I added those to the list for now - sorry ;-) I definitely want to have those eventually, so you have an ally! I remember some of my Captains back then who insisted to always take out the sun-shielding in the eyebrow windows "in case an airplane comes straight at you from that angle"... I guess it could have happened... By the way, the length of the list is nibbling on everyone´s pride here at IXEG - it´s like moving house and you think you have everything in the last truck, only to find out that there is almost another truckload of stuff spread all through the rooms... The list is not final - in both directions. We are still hopefull that we can scratch the odd item off the list, as time becomes available. Tom can´t do VNAV straight for days, he would crack at some point. So that´s when he turns to some mundane 3D, for example. Jan

It would be possible, but not likely included for V1.0 - To tell you the truth, I don´t see this as a big inconvenience. You are not going to write long letters home on the CDU, and clicking the keys with the mouse is pretty fast, for the limited amount of stuff you enter. Certainly as fast as clicking on the CDU to have input-focus, then typing on your keyboard, then clicking on the CDU´s LSK again to insert where you want it. It´s a reality of operation (and I have written lengthy text on those CDU´s...) and something that is presented fairly realistically in the 3D cockpit. Jan

Good videos, thank you. I am not saying there is no wingflex on a 737. Certainly less than on a 767, maybe less than on a NG (not sure if the wing is different), but definitely more than none. We will look into adding it later - but the initial comment stands, it has been shifted down in the priority order as our first objective is to get the functionality of this plane right, then release what we have and keep building and improving on that. We will solicit the opinion of our customer after release and adjust post-release efforts accordingly. If wing-flex is what everyone wants, then wing-flex is going to go up on the list! Cheers, Jan

None of us is that good-looking, though .

Undecided - it is likely that we make the page "operational", so you can enter something. We have to see if its worth adding the data into the calculation, though. X-Plane only offers 3 wind levels (iirc) natively. Even if you have a more advanced weather "injector" in the future, chances are that users will have no way of knowing what the wind during the descent will be - so how can they enter it accurately? If they enter data that doesn´t reflect the reality, then the whole descent calculation will get messed up. We currently envision to take cruise wind into account to recalculate the descent when you approach the pre-calculated ToD. This is also what the real FMS does if you don´t enter a descent forecast (few real pilots ever do...). The FMS assumes a " wind correction factor" for the descent - since the wind speeds usually get slower the lower you get, this corresponds with your TAS getting slower, the lower you get. So if you have a 20% tailwind speed increase, this 20% factor can be applied to the whole descent "angle". In reality, very few descents can be flown "idle" power as calculated. The real atmosphere is just too unpredictable, and even a 10kt unexpected headwind will make you come up short 3-4 miles, unless you add power (which the A/T will do for you in a VNAV PTH descent if you get too slow). The real FMS also has a problem with the "wind-shift" factor. Let´s say you enter a strong layer of headwind. In the long run, this will make your idle-power descent "steeper". The FMS adjusts for that during descent planning, if you enter the wind into the descent forecast page. But as you ENTER the wind layer, initially your IAS will increase (positive windshear). This initial shear is not planned for and surprised the FMS. It assumes that it will need to descend steeper (due to the headwind), but suddently finds that the airspeed increases unexpectedly! This will often cause you to be forced out of VNAV (as the speed gets above the allowed speed error). So in conclusion, VNAV is not the magic bullet and the FMS isn´t almighty or omniescent. It is a 80´s computer facing a very complex and dynamic reality, and while its a great helper, it has it´s limitations. Jan

Well, one thing that always seems to work is some well-endowed female copilot - no matter how bad the 3D-model might be, the male mind seems to glaze over the shortcomings with the power of imagination... . Jan

Good point, added that (and the inevitable mousewheel-scroll and iPad output) to the list... Jan

I do have skymaxx pro version 2, and I used it on some of the movies I made. I feel that it helps with performance compared to the default clouds, for example. Yes, I use a SSD, but if I remember correctly, it doesn´t help much with the loading times. At least not as much as you think it would. Cheers, Jan

Core i5 2500k running at 4.0Ghz. Geforce GTX 970. Recording with FRAPS. Cheers, Jan

Updated September 2023, Version 1.5 Hi everyone. While it seems to be the economically "smart" thing to do to NOT talk about the shortcomings of your product (and then sometimes to just ignore the complaints after you cash in the money), we are trying to run things a bit differently here at IXEG. I would therefore like to share a list of things that will NOT be in version 1.5, and also give a little background of why, and wether we are planning to add it later. I will try to make this list as encompassing as possible, if I forget something, please don´t sue me! I will add/remove from this list as warranted. Aircraft visual 3D model Ancilliary vehicles (catering, fuel truck, loading crew) - this is now accomplished by using the XP11 native ground vehicles, the docking locations for those are correctly added in planemaker. Cockpit keypad entry mechanism Omitted due to security reasons. Deployable emergency slides.Omitted due to time constraints, planning to add later. Deploying oxygen masks. Omitted due to time constraints, planning to add later. Sound effects/visual model for passengers and their (assumed) behaviour. Too complex a simulation off it´s own, most likely won´t be added for fear of having something repetitive or cheesy. Cabin crew voice interaction. You can communicate via menues that are invoked by pressing the cabin call button, though. FMS Pilot entered HOLDS. While we have database-inherent holds (like at the end of a missed approach), we won´t feature the HOLD page where you could enter all sorts of HOLDS. Omitted due to time constraints, definitely planning to add later. RTA feature. Omitted due to time constraints, planning to add later, but low priority. OFFSET feature. Omitted due to time constraints,planning to add later, but low priority. ABEAM points (after shortcutting route, for example). Omitted due to time constraints, definitely planning to add later. You CAN enter stuff in the FIX page, and "find" a PBD point that way (enter a fix, enter a radial and a distance to see the green radial and distance-circle) Entering descent wind forecast (normal wind entry on PERF INIT page possible). Display of "RTE DATA" on EHSI/map, i.e. showing ETA and restrictions next to waypoint. You can see that on the LEGS page, for now. Omitted due to time constraints, definitely planning to add later. Automatic entry of performance data (weight, etc.). We might include that for the "ready to fly" scenario, not decided yet. For now it must be entered manually, if FMS performance assistance is desired (not mandatory). Fully working PROGRESS page - we started to code it, but much of the things shown are placeholders. We expect this to be one of the first things we will add soon after release. Full VNAV functionality for descents with speed and/or altitude restrictions. The FMS gets confused by changing the cruising altitude while enroute and multiple descent restrictions and restrictions of a certain type. Basic unrestricted descents work, though. GUI Dedicated flight-planning software. We feel that this is not necessarily within the scope of our add-on. We model the plane like you get it after delivery from Seattle (+ free lifetime fuel!). There are plenty of flight-planning solutions out there, we include a basic "ballpark" fuel calculator. Complex and visually appealing load+trim software. We feel that clicking empty seats to fill them and pulling sliders to load cargo is fun for a few times - but really all you get is a weight and a center of gravity. And you might just as well set those directly in the gui. We have simple sliders and click-buttons for that (or you can use the default X-Plane menus). No way to output any CDU, EADI or EHSI onto an external device like iPad or such. Would like to have that (especially for cockpit builders), though. Exception: it is possible to use AirFMC, available at the Apple App Store. No pop-out 2D displays of flight instruments/CDU/EFIS to make reading or entering stuff easier, no hiding of yoke to not obscure view. We feel that the ergonomics (or lack of) an airliner cockpit is an important part of the experience, so we don´t want to "help" too much. We have "preview pop-ups" of the EHSI when making changes on the EFIS control panel to help you see if you have the right setup. Other systems Wxr radar returns can only be displayed on the left EHSI/map. Omitted due to time constraints, definitely planning to add later. Terrain colour display can only be shown on the left EHSI(map. Omitted due to time constraints, definitely planning to add later. Operating circuit breaker (CB). We decided that most CBs will never be moved in normal operation. We will add moveable CBs with the yellow collar later (to be used in abnormal situations), and possibly some others as well (standby altimeter vibrator!). Automatic startup/shutdown "macros". Won´t add that. This plane is about realistic operation (it´s not hard!). If not desired, just select "ready to fly" or "turnaround-state". IRS using "false" position. It is not possible to deliberately enter a "false" position and have the IRS align to that. The entry will be rejected unless reasonably close to the real position. In the real plane the GPS would also "correct" your wrong entry (if close enough) or warn you. A position far from the old "shutdown" position would be rejected once. A wrong latitude would be detected during the alignment process...It would be a lot of coding effort to maintain a "wrong" position with the corresponding effects (map-shift, etc.) A dedicated way to fly the same plane together in multiplayer. Note that SmartCopilot has made great progress in making our plane flyable with a crew of 2, and while not perfect yet, it is working very well, going by user reports: http://forums.x-pilot.com/forums/topic/9714-smartcopilot-first-attempt/?page=1 Volume control for radios/navaid ident checking. We have implemented a better volume (more loud), but it can not be adjusted yet. We are trying to be as upfront about the shortcomings of our model as possible. I have myself bought many aircraft for flight-simulations boasting great things, only to be disappointed. I want to avoid that for everyone, so if you find a "must have" feature on this list, I encourage you to hold off on purchase until we added your feature in a later patch. I could make a feature list of things we have that would take you hours to read, but instead you can assume that our plane can do everything that the real one does, except for the things noted above. Cheers, Jan

Thanks for helping out, guys!

We have some code in place to switch the plane into a flyable state if you use X-Plane´s "position onto final" buttons on the local map. There is another way I use to "set myself up" wherever I want, either at a 10NM final or at 37.000 feet mid-air: Spawn the plane on the runway. Set up flaps the way you like. Use the local map to position the plane, set the desired altitude and airspeed. Click close. Now the plane is where you put it, raise the gear, turn on the autopilot and autothrust and click ALT HOLD. Now you can take over from there... As far as more screenshots and video is concerned: They are coming. We are pondering to release the videos I am making to accompany our written tutorials. There will be at least 6 of them, and I think we will space them to lead up to release. That being said, we won´t really start posting them until we have a "finished product" and what is remaining is documentation and packaging. Our beta testers will also be free to share their impressions before we release, so there should be a flurry of media in the timeframe before release. Cheers, Jan

This is correct. Our 737 will have only one FMS, just like most of the Classic 737´s out there. So it´s just one computer connected to two control-display-units (CDU´s). If the one FMS fails, you loose it all. Therefore this (our) model would not be allowed to fly in the North Atlantic MNPS airspace. That being said, I can guarantee that our FMS will not fail on you during the transatlantic flight, and I will not rat on you for taking the trip with just one FMS, either. If you want to take the trip "full realism" you have to take the detour out of MNPS airspace, maybe top off the fuel in Keflavik, then over to Iqaluit or Gander. Depending on the headwinds... The challenge is actually in getting this setup working. You can enter stuff on two different "keyboards", but need to keep tabs on each one, update information on both...its not trivial. You can have the LEGS page on both CDU´s, and both pilots *could* be editing away, that stuff makes a programmer drink too much coffee... Having two or more FMS computers is easy. You just say "we have 5 FMS computers". Thats it. They all share and sync information (kinda like a raid 1 harddisk system). All computers have the same information. Unless all 5 fail, nothing happens (except for the error message that they failed). Jan