CJSouthern

Translation: "Lot's of 'PR speak' but we're not yet even at a point where progress is worthy of an update". That's depressing, but somehow not surprising. What an appalling way to treat customers. I'm out. Unsubscribing & (probably) selling up. /DoneWithThis Nonsense

Reading "between the lines" I suspect what everyone would like is simply a projection of when - at the current rate of progress - we're likely to see some results. Open-ended timeframes that go on for this long with no end in sight don't cut it IMHO - they're just demoralising; to me they feel like a lazy, arrogant response. I don't need an exact date - I'm not going to "hold" anyone to it. Communication is key; things happen - I get that (I run a small company too). As their customer, what I would appreciate is something along the lines of "Sorry about this chaps - we didn't think it would take this long, but we've come up against "this, this, and this" challenges, and to overcome them we're doing "this, this, and this, which we anticipate will take us about "xx" months to solve at this time". If the goalposts have to be subsequently moved that's fine - just keep us updated. The current "strategy" is akin to treating me like a child. I'm not a child. One thing that I can say with certainty is that if I treated my customers with this little respect then I wouldn't have any left.

In all seriousness, after waiting almost 2 years, I'd be happier if I just knew what year it will be seen again. 2024 is almost over; what are the chances that I'll see it in 2025? (I'm an old man now and I don't have too many more years left).

From my perspective, when the TBM was the flagship product things were much different; once the Challenger 650 took over pride-of-place, the TBM appears to be "out of sight, out of mind, and out of favour". I can't speak for others, but I personally have no interest in heavy metal - no interest in poor-quality simulations - no interest in low-performance GA aircraft - and absolutely zero interest in games like MSFS; so for me, it's not a case of "the TBM 900 being my favourite aircraft" as it is "the TBM 900 was the ONLY aircraft I enjoyed flying"; but under XP11 that experience now feels extremely dated. I also have XP12 but never use it because it doesn't have the TBM. So at present I just don't fly sims anymore; it's got to that point for me - which is why I'm getting thoroughly disheartened at never hearing more than "yes we're going to adapt it. No we can't/won't give you a time frame"; we've had that for almost 2 years now - and nothing to suggest that we won't still be hearing the same after 3, 4, and 5 years. I know that having to re-write the turbine library isn't a trivial task, but it needs to be given a higher priority and more resources; I for one would be more than happy to pay full price again for a XP12 compatible model. We've been patient - we've put our thoughts and feelings as diplomatically as possible - but at the end of the day we're powerless and at their mercy. At this point, for me, it's gone beyond disappointing into just damn depressing. Sigh. I'm feeling very let down; it's like having a missing pet and not knowing if you'll ever see them alive again.

Let's all not forget to wish X-Plane 12 a happy 2nd birthday next month. I'm looking forward to using it (if there's ever a compatible TBM aircraft released for it). Please Santa - I've been a good boy for the past 2 years.

I have, unfortunately. XP11 is too long in the tooth for me now and - despite looking - I just can't find ANY other plane that appeals to me; I'd rather stick pins in my eyeballs than fly heavy jets - and available GA aircraft are either ridiculously slow or ridiculously badly designed. So at this point I've just given up simming and am using the time to get some hiking in which - truth be told - is probably better for my 63 year old health anyway ... I appreciate that the TBM authors also have other priorities, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed in the time it's taking; I'm wanting results, not explanations. I'd happily buy it again if it sped the process up.

The "big" question is possibly "were the failures in flight?" or "were the failures that resulted in everything being marked as 100% damaged just the result of the ensuing crash?". Case in point, just the other day I had something that appeared to be similar; I was descending from FL 310 - I was a bit puzzled by the dropping airspeed - and then all of a sudden all hell broke loose; I was unable to control the aircraft and ended up crashing despite pausing the sim several times on the way down to "think things through". It dawned on me a couple of days later that it was due to icing; I didn't have the various icing protections on (apart from Pitot heat) and I don't normally have long periods descending IMC. So it was just a case of some bad habits catching me out. Perhaps something similar? All I can suggest is to have the sim set to not throw any failures, and keep an eye on the maintenance (I scan mine after every flight and replace anything that's not "as new"). I have had periods where I've had unexpected things happen (like an engine quit for no apparant reason), but of recent it's been pretty good.

I'd pay serious money for a study-level Piaggio Avanti EVO; With your experience in existing multi prop turbines this could be right up your ally? One of the few passenger turboprop aircraft faster than a TBM.

Same. I've tried several of the others and they just don't come even close to the pleasure it provides. In a moment of weakness I even reinstalled MSFS2020 hoping to find something better (and ended up uninstalling it, again, less than a day later; that simulator ie "game" just isn't for me). The only thing I would enjoy more would be a TBM 960 (having auto-throttle would be perfection). For me, having tried the generic VisionJet, C172, and F14, XP12 now sits unused whilst I continue on with XP11 and the TBM900 ... and continue waiting & hoping (in equal proportions).

Thanks for the update. Fingers crossed that you'll be able to get everything done that you need to sometime this year.

I purchased X-Plane 12 yeasterday. I'd love to say that it "blew me away", but the reality was that I was pretty disappointed; without my beloved TBM900 (the only airfraft I fly in the sim), X-Plane 12 is like a brain-dead patient in a hospital ... it's "there", but at the same time "all that I knew, loved, and remembered has gone". I took the 172 on a flight ... boring. I took the Citation on a flight ... even more boring. All I want is a TBM 900. As such I'll again be continuing on with XP-11 and the TBM 900 until we get the update. @Cameron& @Goran_M I appreciate that you good folks respond far more kindly to "carrots" than "sticks", and I know it involves more than just a "bit" of work (especially with the engine as you've previously mentioned), and I know that you're also busy with other things (like the Challenger) but even with all of that it's still my beflief that the wait for something like this should be measured in "a few months"; as it stands, it's looking more and more like the wait will be measured in "at least several years". I can't speak for others, but I would be more than happy to pay full price again (or even more) if it means I was able to get it up and running under X-Plane 12 in a more timely manner. If a gofundme page was setup to finance the new version being made a priority I'd happily donante a not inconsequential amount. I'm getting desperate here - and I suspect tht I'm not the only one.

Many thanks. FWIW I have XP failures turned off. Is there anything I can do to help you get to the bottom of it? Monitor DataRefs etc?

@Cameron @Goran_M Hi folks, Something to add to the whiteboard for when you start the TBM900 / XP12 update. For a while I've been plagued with seemingly random in-flight engine failures despite the engine being new or correctly maintained and being operated well within limits. I've traced this with 100% certainty to when using Ctrl + T to speed up simulator time (so I can have the speed of a jet whilst retaining the sim experience of a superb model and the ability to operate from short fields). I've been monitoring the Turbine wear DataRef ... it increments slowly as expected (even when at increased sim time) (I estimate several months of flying before a failure occurs) and then at some point - WAM - it's at 1.0 - engine is on fire - and I'm going down. Sometimes after only a few hours on a new engine - sometimes after a few days. This has happened a dozen+ times now and every single time it's when I've been at an elevated sim speed. In contrast, now that I've restricted myself to time 1.0, I haven't had a single failure. Would be absolutely superb if this little bug could be addressed when you do the update - it would make a HUGE difference for me. Many thanks, Cheers, Colin

"TBM930 and Xplane 12 - How long we have to wait? :-)" For a TBM 930? I'd say we'll be waiting a very long time. A TBM 940 with autothrottle would be even better!

Hi @david_wi, Not that I'm aware of. I can't speak for the developers (I'm just a user), but with the apparent focus being on an accurate simulation experience (ie not a "game"), I wouldn't expect a quick start procedure anyway; that's probably something more likely to be available for the TBM930 in MSFS2020 (which I class as a "pretty but hopelessly unrealistic flying game" far more than an accurate aviation simulation) (no flames please; I own both and as a licenced pilot that's just my opinion). Personally, I find most of the fun is in powering up the aircraft - configuring the avionics - starting the engine correctly - and just in general treating it with the reverence that it demands.