X-Plane 10 Manual

Note that FAA certification of a simulator requires not only that the user has X-Plane 10 Professional but also theappropriate hardware (cockpit and flight controls) available through the X-Plane Hardware page and companies suchas Precision Flight Controls and Fidelity Flight Simulation. This is because flight-training systems can only becertified as a complete package (a software and hardware combination). The commercial, FAA-certifiable software isavailable for 750 to 1,000 per copy and the hardware runs from 5,000 to 500,000. The retail version of X-Planepurchased at X-Plane.com is not certified for flight training right out of the box, since certification requires a softwareand hardware combination. However, the software available for about 80 at X-Plane.com is almost identical what isfound in the 500,000 full-motion, FAA-certified platforms. The biggest difference is that the FAA-certified versionshave custom aircraft files with larger instrument panels, which are set up to work with hardware radios like thosefound in the physical cockpits. The FAA-certifiable version also has some of the purely fun stuff (like space flight)removed even though those situations are simulated accurately in X-Plane, just like the FAA-certified subsonicterrestrial flight.X-Plane 10 GlobalThe standard X-Plane simulator is the retail copy of X-Plane. It requires one X-Plane 10 Disc 1 DVD or one digitaldownload product key for each copy of X-Plane on the network.This simulator is what users get when they purchase X-Plane from the X-Plane.com site and use it for whatever theydesire. It requires no USB key to be plugged in. Many copies of X-Plane on many computers can be networked toact as external visuals, external cockpits, instructor stations, and the like. One X-Plane Disc 1 DVD or one digitaldownload product key is required for each computer networked together running the simulator. This system cannotbe certified by the FAA or any other authority for logging flight training, due to the fact that it does not self-test for thepresence of flight controls or a usable frame rate. However, since only one X-Plane Disc 1 DVD or digital downloadproduct key is needed for each computer, this setup is amazingly affordable and easy to assemble at almost no cost,even though a user could never certify the system.For additional information on the digital download version of X-Plane 10 Global (available for versions 10.40 andlater), see this Knowledge Base article.X-Plane 10 RegionalUnlike X-Plane 10 Global, the X-Plane 10 Regional discs include only part of the world’s scenery (e.g., Europe orNorth America). These versions of X-Plane are available at a lower cost than the X-Plane 10 Global distribution. Apartfrom the scenery, however, X-Plane 10 Regional is identical to the Global distribution, the version sold at XPlane.com.X-Plane 10 ProfessionalThis version of X-Plane is for commercial use, FAA-approved simulators, and the EFIS App. It requires one X-PlaneProfessional USB key for each copy of X-Plane or EFIS App on the network.This is similar to the X-Plane 10 Global simulator, but it adds EFIS App, a standalone program that runs on its owncomputer that gives a very realistic Avidyne primary flight display (PFD) and modular flight deck (MFD). All that isrequired to run this is a copy of X-Plane or EFIS App from X-Plane.com and a Professional key for each computerthat will be networked into the simulator. Of course, two monitors can be hooked up to one computer running EFISApp so that one only has to buy one computer to run both the Avidyne PFD and MFD, which will save some money.Furthermore, this key enables X-Plane to drive real Garmin G430 and G1000 GPS units. Note that in order tointerface with a real G430 or G1000, users must get a Simulator G430 or G1000 from Garmin, then make the wiringharnesses to plug them in to the serial or Ethernet cables to the computer. Users unsure on how to do this are betteroff buying a simulator boxed and ready to go from Precision Flight Controls. PFC does provide ready-made unitswith real G430s and G1000s installed and running.

Additionally, this is the key that needs to be used for commercial purposes and FAA-approved simulators for flighttraining. It gives a Commercial Use message as X-Plane starts up, causing X-Plane to check for flight controls andself-test the frame rate, as required for FAA certification.Finally, this key enables cylindrical and spherical projections (see “Projector Setup for X-Plane Professional” for moreinformation.)This is the option designed to replace Microsoft ESP.Note that the Professional key, along with the simulator itself, can be purchased from X-Plane.com’s Ordering page.EFIS App can be downloaded from the X-Plane.com site. USB key drivers for both Mac OS and Windows can bedownloaded from the X-Plane.com site. Run those installers to make X-Plane recognize the USB keys.HistoryMany people ask us about the history of X-Plane, how we got started and where we’re going. Here’s somebackground information about Austin Meyer (the author) and the history of X-Plane.As you may know, the most popular flight simulator on the market historically is Microsoft Flight Simulator. This maybe predominately due to their early start with their flight simulator, which dates back to about 1982 or so. Over theyears, there have been many other upstart companies that have attempted to compete against Microsoft (FlightUnlimited, Fly and Fly–2k are a few examples). All but X-Plane have failed. From the very beginning, the greatestadvantage of using X-Plane was in the way the flight model is generated and the high frame-rate at which X-Planecan run. This has long given us an advantage in being able to accurately calculate and depict the flight response andfeel of an aircraft in flight. In the past, Microsoft had scenery that was superior to X-Plane’s, as well as many moreadd-ons. Microsoft’s advantage here mostly died about mid-way through the X-Plane 8 run. X-Plane 10 marksanother leap forward in our simulator, what we unhesitatingly believe to be the greatest flight simulator available.Over the years, we’ve consistently seen increasing sales, with a total of about 750,000 copies of X-Plane shippedthrough either Internet orders or retailers as of April 2009 (not counting the 500,000 copies of the new iPhone apps!).Furthermore, X-Plane is the only single commercial flight simulator available for the Macintosh, Windows, and Linuxplatforms. The set of discs sold at X-Plane.com includes copies for all three, so there is no possibility that a user willpick up the wrong version for his or her computer. (Note that some retailers have been known to stock Windows-onlyor Macintosh-only copies of X-Plane or sell X-Plane without global scenery to keep costs down. Read the boxcarefully if buying from a store shelf.)Aside from the improved accuracy and fluidity found in X-Plane, another big difference between Microsoft’s simulatorand our own is that, whereas Microsoft releases updates about every three years or so, we release updates for XPlane about every ten weeks! Thus, instead of buying a disc and having the software remain stagnant for the nextthirty-six months, X-Plane encourages users to go to our website every three months or so and download cool new(and free) updates to their software!In short, we are a few very driven and talented people that have made the improvement and accuracy of X-Planepretty much our life’s mission.Austin’s Bio, As of Mid–2006Hi! I am a private pilot with about 1,500 hours in a handful of light and medium-size Cessna and Piper singles (theairplanes I grew up flying) and a Cirrus SR–22 Centennial Edition 8141Q, which I purchased in 2003. In a month orso, I will be switching to a Lancair Columbia 400 for maximum speed to hop around the country serving customers.(My customer support guy, Randy Witt, flies a Beech Baron. I’m telling you this to make the point that the guys thatwrite and support X-Plane are pilots, aircraft owners, and engineers. Aviation is a huge part of our lives, and we lovewhat we’re doing.)

Anyway, back in 1988 or so, after I had gotten my instrument rating in the calm and friendly skies of Columbia, SouthCarolina, I found myself in San Diego, California, working for DuPont Aerospace, a small aerospace tech firm,working on some excellent but unusual designs that I cannot discuss in detail.I must digress here for a moment because this is interesting and also applicable to one of the aircraft in X-Plane. Oneof the projects that DuPont was working on back then was the well-known NASP, or National Aerospace Plane, asingle-stage-to-orbit aircraft that can, in theory, take off from a runway and fly clear to orbit. Tony DuPont, thepresident of the company, was the founder of this ingenious NASP concept. While the Space Shuttle and otherconventional rockets use rocket engines to blast up to their orbital speed (18,000 mph), the NASP breathes air to runits engines, so it must do most of its acceleration in the atmosphere. This use of the oxygen in the atmosphere,rather than carrying liquid oxygen on board, makes the vehicle much more light and efficient, but it also means thatthe aircraft must fly at many, many thousands of miles per hour in the air, which creates tremendous heat and drag.Circulating cool fuel through the skin of an aircraft is not a new idea in fact the bell-shaped nozzles on most rocketengines employ this technology to keep them from melting! For the NASP, this is one of the few options that will keepthe skin temperatures down and allow hypersonic flight (that is, flight at five times the speed of sound or greater).You might think that using an insulated tile system like the one the Space Shuttle has would be a good option, butmaintaining and replacing thousands of small tiles would be problematic, bulky, and expensive. Of course, circulatingfuel to keep the skin cool has its drawbacks too! The SR–71 Blackbird uses its cool fuel to keep its surfacetemperatures down, and in fact is limited to much lower speeds than Mach 3 when low on fuel because there isnothing left to absorb the heat! Open the SR–71 in X-Plane and rather than seeing a red line on the airspeed indicator(like just about every other aircraft) to indicate maximum allowable speed, there is a whole red arc! That big redregion is the speed range that you can only operate in if you have enough fuel in the tanks to soak up the heat fromatmospheric friction! How far into the red zone you are allowed to fly depends on your remaining fuel load—Now youknow.Anyway, enough about the fascinating NASP concept. That summer in 1988, while living in San Diego, I took aninstrument currency flight to keep my IFR skills sharp, and had a very difficult time getting up to speed in thecrowded, fast-paced, hectic ATC system of San Diego after the relative slow and laid-back ATC operations backhome in South Carolina. After finally getting my IFR skills up to a comfortable level (requiring about three or fourflights), I decided that I wanted an instrument trainer to keep my IFR skills up to snuff. Microsoft Flight Simulator waspretty much the only game in town back then, and I was pretty disappointed in what I found. Microsoft was runningon the little baby Macintoshes back then, which was great, but there were a few other little things I wanted done

If you would like to receive a free guide to many of the most important features of X-Plane, you can sign up for our free email course. By signing up, you’ll be able to learn all the most important features of X-Plane at your own pace, . Beechcraft Bonanza Boeing 727/737/747/787 Mooney M20J 201 Piper PA–16 Clipper de Havilland DH–106 .