Goran_M

That's definitely something on your end. I have flown the Sundowner today in order to make my tutorial and after taking off and reaching about 1000 feet, I hit hdg hold with the aircraft trimmed and it turned to capture the heading but continued the climb. Once I hit my desired altitude (6500 feet), I pressed the alt hold button (yes, without trimming for straight and level flight :-[ ) and it pitched down to capture the altitude. Can I ask what version of x plane you are using? Any plug ins that may be conflicting with the Sundowner? Did you change anything in the acf file in Planemaker?

The way the autopilot was modelled at first was with an alt select button. I didn't want to have that much functionality in an autopilot for a GA. So I told Theo to map only an alt hold function. I saw the panel regions and it is definitely the alt hold switch being used. There is absolutely no alt select function. After testing it now, it still works only as an alt hold function, however, I do not have any of the flight controls that others have so that may be your issue.

There will be a paintkit made available very soon. Just don't drink and fly.

Ok, I've been going over some of the issues mentioned in the forums here. We're going over these things in the package and in the process of fixing them. Here's what has been fixed so far. -Viewpoint adjusted -MORE accurate engine specs (SFC) -Circuit breaker textures -Manual amendment What is being worked on -Clearer gauge displays (apologies for this one as I have a 24" monitor and could see them) -Flaps power (I MIGHT make an electrically powered flap system with flap indicator.) -DG power -More repaints -POSSIBLY adding an aileron trim

I had a look at the Nav radio problem you are having issues with. What you are seeing is most likely 2 verts with an edge (most likely left over from a delete but wasn't selected) and that has actually been mapped unknowingly to an older version of the radio knob when we exported the panel regions. I'm thinking it's 2 verts with an edge because it is so small. Fortunately, it has no interference with the actual button. Many apologies for this oversight.

Ouch! I'm normally extremely anal about my grammar and spelling. I bet you can't find any other errors though. Ok, I am working on the tutorial as I type this. It should be done in the next few days. I'll get the flaps fixed asap. There are also 1 or 2 other small, unnoticeable tweaks I have added to make an even more accurate flight model. I got my hands on some extra tech data. Purely engine specs. I'll look into the DG power issue. If it is what I think it is, it's a 2 second fix. Now THAT'S unusual. Everything with the radios worked fine during testing. I'll look into it.

Very nice!

No problem at all, Markus. I'll talk to Theo about possibly making the gauges with a higher resolution. I'm actually working on a tutorial right now with my old flight instructor to get people familiarised with the Sundowner. It'll be ready very soon. Hopefully it will shed some light on a few things.

Perhaps an AA and/or AF issue. At worst case, it may be a graphics card issue. I can see by your screenshots, you may be using a lower resolution set up in your sim settings. Make sure they are on EXTREME RES. I have my FOV set between 50 and 65 (depending on what I want to see) and everything is readable for me. The Sundowner, unfortunately, does not have aileron trim. The constant bank is a result of a single GA's propellor torque. I did manage to reduce the bank tendency quite substantially in the acf file, but I could not eliminate it without ruining the flight model. To compare, the Falco has the same effect. If enough people would like an aileron trim added, I could easily do that. -The (engine) sounds, from what I can gather, are what one would expect to hear while flying with a headset on. The flaps are not electrically operated. They are operated by the handle located between the seats and they are constructed of a cable linkage system. Which means no sound when extending the flaps. -thank you. I worked hard on the mesh to make it fps friendly. -the viewpoint was replicated by me sitting in the actual plane when I took photos of it. I took a photo out of both sides and the front of the aircraft to use for reference while sitting in the pilots seat. Of course, the actual Sundowner has a seat adjustment to go back and forth. -I plan on explaining the approach with a tutorial. This will explain the 1800 RPM and trim. When you approach the runway (in a Sundowner anyway) the nose will almost never be pointing down. At an approach power setting, the aircraft will be level with the artificial horizon but the AoA will be greater than normal. What you have to remember, flying an aircraft involves a ton of reading. But every single pilot will tell you, "study, but at the end of the day, when you are flying, simply FLY THE PLANE". It's ok to go out of the bounds of the text as long as you land safely. I've flown the x plane sundowner many times. Please make sure your approach speed is correct. The Sudowner is quite a heavy plane and will land hard if your touchdown speed is too low. Even if it is still in the white band. (I know this from real world experience. My instructor was not happy) I did mention in the manual that you should not have to touch the trim until the "flare". That's the absolute latest point you can fly without touching the trim. It's generally not advisable to completely disregard the flight controls. While descending, always keep 1 hand on the controls and 1 hand on the throttle console. If the aircraft is properly trimmed, you should only need to adjust your power settings. Again, it's ok to go below the 1800 RPM but carb ice will most likely occur. The door animation will be added. We have a half built pilot figure (strangely enough, it looks like Theo) and will be added soon. On climb out, the Sundowner will never reach it's 2700 RPM and will rarely hit it's 2500 RPM mark. It will usually sit around 2300 to 2400 RPM, as you say, depending on weather conditions. As mentioned before, it is a heavy aircraft. It's like a car going up hill in 4th gear. Once reaching cruise, it will easily hit 2500-2700RPM. Thanks heaps for the feedback. I will never reject justified critiques. The Sundowner is kind of a unique aircraft and may take a bit of getting used to. Even Theo had an unusual experience with it because it wasn't something he was used to. The very first time I landed a Sundowner, it felt very nose heavy as the airspeed dropped. Almost like the CG was moving with loss of airspeed. I also found myself adjusting throttle input, at times going down to idle. It's ok to do this, as long as you land safely. Please note, I do say "you should not have to..." at some points in the manual. On a perfect day with perfect conditions, it will be more textbook flying. I will definitely be writing up a tutorial to give people clearer guidelines on what to do in certain situations. Goran

Sure Zach. The Sundowner I have based this one on is VH-WMI. The Sundowner, when built, was built with a fixed tricycle gear configuration. It has wheel fairings that are streamlined to minimise drag and is non retractable. However, it also has "options" for advanced features. Such as electric trim, electric flaps, retractable gear, etc... When Beechcraft made the Sundowner, they allowed for these modifications to be installed by the owner/operator should they choose to do so. Otherwise, it is left in its factory configuration. Now when I say this aircraft is based on the real Whiskey Mike India, I don't mean it is loosely based. This is an extremely close replica to the real aircraft in its functions and performance. The only things that are obviously different are the repaints. Check out the photos below that I personally took of WMI. I hope that somewhat answers your questions.

I'll let Cameron help you with your situation then. He should be on in the next few hours.

When you get to your shopping cart, you can click on "checkout". After that, you can select the credit card option. However, you must have an account with x-aviation. Hope this helps

The Sundowner has a carburettor powered engine. It sucks fuel instead of fuel being squirted in by fuel injectors. Which means rough idle at high altitudes and cold temperatures. Always have the throttle pushed slightly forward either by the manipulators on the throttle or the joystick throttle. It also depends on pressure altitude. The higher you are, the more chance there is of the engine stalling unless the mixture is set accurately. It's a balancing act. The joys of carb reciprocating engines. AND, apologies to the wife for me, Simon. Tell her to blame me.

lol Simon. I thought as much. Please enjoy it, gentlemen. Both Theo and myself have enjoyed making it AND flying it. It really is a fun little aircraft to fly.

Thanks gentlemen. BTW, Simon, it's Theo. Not Robin. Although I do wish I was Batman sometimes.

First off, THANK YOU! Well, it's been a year since I started add on development and here we are...FINALLY! Please post any tech issues you may find. However, we're sure there won't be many...if any. ;D

The Sundowner is available. ENJOY!! http://www.x-aviation.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=21&products_id=56

We're making sure all the installers are working. There is an activation involved which literally takes about a minute. Similar to the Flight 1 wrapper (except it's just email and password for your X-Aviation account). I've tested it on my system (Windows). Linux is working and the Mac version is currently being tested. Won't be long now.

Many apologies. Certain factors during the last week have delayed the Sundowner release. Cameron was tied up with other issues that have been sorted out and the Sundowner had to be put aside for a few days. We also found a few bugs that we missed and sorted them out as well as adding something new (clickspots to hide the yokes). The Sundowner is being packaged into a new delivery system as I type this post. No Gizmo activation. Everything has been OK'd by Cameron and its definitely ready. It is compatible with Linux/Mac/Windows so it has to be packaged for each OS and should be up on the X-Aviation site within hours. For anyone who gets it, I welcome any feedback, comments, criticisms. Goran

No, I didn't get it through anyone at XPFW. While I was searching for 747 material, I came across it. I will say it was not through any developer in the X Plane world. However, as you say, it wasn't easy to get. And was given to me in confidence. Goran

Like I said, I can guarantee you Boeing didn't give him anything that isn't already publicly available. Remember, we have a B787 flight engineer on our team. Further, he does not have the FCOM which means; 1. Flightmodel is 100% guesswork 2. Systems and avionics are mostly guesswork 3. Cockpit dimensions are mostly guesswork I have nothing against Heinz or his work and respect him as a designer. I however have something against his MARKETING which gives a totally wrong picture of what documentation he has for this acf, which is close to nothing and which means the acf accuracy will be thereafter. So from a designer perspective I don't understand why he is even making it when he knows so little about it. But thats his choice. Is this the FCOM we're talking about? I'm obviously not going to post the whole thing. But this thing is 1400+ pages. And definitely not the easiest thing to get but certainly not too hard either.

I can see your point, but, you have to remember, no one (AFAIK) has criticised any of Heinz's previous work. The 787 is being criticised because many people question the value of the Boeing License. Add to the fact that it's payware, and people expect a level of quality equal to PMDG systems modelling. You also mention that Boeing has given the information to Heinz to reproduce the 787. In his own admission, Heinz has said he does not have the FCOM and other relevant documentation. I have to say, to make any heavy airliner accurately without an FCOM, AOM, etc... is near to impossible. I can understand you are wanting to help Heinz and want this 787 to be a success. I do too. There's room for all of us to make these add ons. I just think if a developer is going to endorse a product, he has to be able to back it up with accurate (systems and 3D) modelling. Saying he doesn't have some of the documentation is not really helping his case. Regardless of what Boeing has sent him. When I was researching the 747-200 I am making, I actually stumbled upon the official 787 FCOM, QRH, Systems and Performance Manual and Flight Operations Manual when asking for information about Boeing aircraft in general. Anyway, I've rambled enough. As I said, I am looking forward to seeing Heinz finish this aircraft. We need more airliners to get the MSFS crowd even remotely interested in X Plane. If Heinz contributes to that, it can only be a good thing. I guess independent reviews will take any assumptions by the general public and set the record straight anyway.

Simon No one is doubting this is a huge leap for Heinz. I can safely assume the flight model will be extremely accurate based on his past work. It's the promotion he and Nicolas are doing. When someone says "Officially Licensed by Boeing", "No guesswork involved", a vast majority of the public take that as meaning a very close to 100% flight model, systems model, FMC, programming, Accurate 3D modelling (exterior and Interior), pretty much something to represent a study sim. When I heard about it, I was very skeptical about this being an accurate object and systems model. Mainly because Heinz himself said he doesn't have the FCOM, POH, flight manual, etc... Not to mention that only a small handful of Boeing employees have access to the supercritical airfoil data and I seriously doubt they will part with that information lightly. Officially licensed or not. I don't want to accuse anyone of being a liar, however, comparing the 787 and the CRJ, I think we can safely say which product will most likely represent a study sim. In any case, I'm sure many people will buy the 787. And with the help of your videos, more people will see what he has produced via youtube. I sincerely hope they do as Heinz is a highly respected member of the payware community who, from what I have heard, makes great flight models. Maybe I'm being over-critical, but I'm far more critical of my own work. I guess time will tell. Goran

Thanks for the feedback, gentlemen. Mick, yes, I am still using Blender for all the 3D modelling and I use Yafaray for the renderring.

While Theo wraps up UV mapping and texturing of the Saab, I have finished optimizing the mesh for the Hawker 4000. As I was doing so, I saw many things I didn't like on it (objects). So while I chopped off another 80 000 quads from it, I completely re-modelled about a third of the aircraft. (Landing Gear, FMC's, overhead knobs and dials, Center Console levers, etc...) Just have to add some pilot seats and the modelling is finished on this. Then Theo will texture this one while I get all the gauges, knobs and switches working on the Saab. And a couple of screenshots. Maybe some fine tuning in various places.