Primarily for general aviation discussion, but other aviation topics are also welcome.
By ffg
#1699463
For those that haven't seen it, X-Plane 11 is a rather superior flight sim for Mac and Windows, and there is now an RV8 model for the platform, along with a nice YouTube video of it in action.

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By Rob P
#1699464
Ewwww! Nosewheel!

Ewww! Tele screens!

Rob P
By chipmeisterc
#1699483
Thankfully there is a tailwheel version that can either be purchased in a pack with the A or as a standalone.

There were a few quirks in the initial version but it's nice to see a developer so receptive to feedback and get updates out to address any issues - it's shaping up nicely after a few iterations.

Not affiliated with them in any way but had lots of fun capturing some real world performance data for them to help fine tune the flight dynamics :)
#1699494
ffg wrote: X-Plane 11 is a rather superior flight sim for Mac and Windows, and there is now an RV8 model


So , what does it simulate then ?

The bit that I watched looked like little more than something that kids play on an x-box .

Flight simulators are what airline professionals use to simulate situations that they will hopefully never experience. e.g. EFATO's , system failures , IFTB's and their various causes . hot starts , hung starts ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,etc , etc.

Do these things really have any use in a GA context ? Over and above what any Instructor worth his salt could teach you in the real thing .
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By derekf
#1699524
Chris Martyr wrote:
ffg wrote: X-Plane 11 is a rather superior flight sim for Mac and Windows, and there is now an RV8 model


So , what does it simulate then ?

The bit that I watched looked like little more than something that kids play on an x-box .

Flight simulators are what airline professionals use to simulate situations that they will hopefully never experience. e.g. EFATO's , system failures , IFTB's and their various causes . hot starts , hung starts ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,etc , etc.

Do these things really have any use in a GA context ? Over and above what any Instructor worth his salt could teach you in the real thing .


You'd be surprised what you can do with a decent setup for including all of the failures you describe. The difference is off-field EFATOs and Engine failures at height can be to land, and if you want to spend a lot of time doing MEP EFATOs where you still need rudder etc without spending a significant amount of money it works well.

I'm becoming a bit of a convert and will set it up for some IR 'practice' with Mrs derekf where I can use my iPhone as an instructor station to simulate all sort of failures it's not possible to simulate in an aircraft.

And having done my ME/IR renewal (the IR part) in a sim in December I can assure you it's the toughest workout I've ever had in terms of different failures - and you can do a fairly reasonable cheap impersonation with x-plane for sub £1.5k
By DarrenBe
#1699533
Chris Martyr wrote: Do these things really have any use in a GA context ? Over and above what any Instructor worth his salt could teach you in the real thing .


Not really. X-Plane flight models have some very strange quirks, the default C172 in X-Plane has very strange flight dynamics, compared with the real thing. There are some decent add-ons , but have yet to find anything GA that has acceptable flight dynamics or is worth the price.

To be honest, by the time someone has bought a decent spec PC, with decent flight control hardware and decent add-on's, they are in the realms of being able to afford getting a NPPL or getting a share in a GA aircraft or even buying a 3-axis microlight, which is what I ended up doing - buying myself a 2 seat X-Air.

Must admit, nowadays, my 'flight sim' kit gathers a lot of dust, as have more fun flying for real as neither X-Plane nor Prepar3d come anywhere close to replicating that experience.

Darren
ex-flightsim geek
By Chris Martyr
#1699556
SimonM wrote: Nice graphics though.


Very nice graphics actually . :thumright:

Although I still remain somewhat unconvinced of the proper 'flight-sim' value of these type videos though .

But the Top Ten Tractors vid. that came next was brilliant . :D :D
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By Rob P
#1699557
SimonM wrote:Microsoft is finally releasing a new version of flight sim but it looks like its only for the xbox at the moment. Nice graphics though.


viewtopic.php?f=6&t=112492

PC version also coming at launch.

Rob P
By Nomad63
#1699560
stevelup wrote:For procedural stuff such as instrument flying, sims are great.

For seat of the pants stick and rudder stuff, no chance, no matter what you spend.



Agree on that, with the addition that they can also be fun treated as just a game getting together with others in multiplayer and go doing silly stuff like formation flying down the grand canyon can be entertaining, but even then It gets boring rather quickly

But all those endless nerdy arguements about flight dynamics and how X-Plane is so superior in that aspect, are IMO pointless as none of them can replicate the dynamic feel of flying no matter how close the numbers are

The only proper Sim I've been in was the old VC10 Sim that used a camera tracking an actual physical model of the flying area, unfortunately that was so long ago I've forgotton how realistic or not it felt.
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By stevelup
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1699561
TheFarmer wrote:Last time I played a computer game it looked like this....


That's what you want people to believe, but you're just hiding the fact that you sit in your tractor playing Candy Crush Saga whilst TractorDemon drives it around the fields.
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