X-Plane 11.05rc1 Beta: Airports, Airports, Airports!

X-Plane 11.05rc1 Beta: Airports, Airports, Airports!

The latest X-Plane beta is out (11.05rc1) and its main feature is new default airports. Once this beta goes live, X-Plane users will have 4,817 3-D airports to enjoy. This reflects over 100 new airports since the last release, and improvements (most often taking an airport from 2D with no buildings to 3D with buildings) for over 1,200 other fields. As with most of the airports in X-Plane, members of the X-Plane community have designed these fields, and I’m happy to say that new releases of X-Plane will feature these fields designed by yours truly (including KVNY Van Nuys, pictured above):

  • 1U7 Bear Lake County
  • 33U Dutch John
  • 38U Wayne Wonderland
  • 65S Boundary County
  • KCLW Clearwater Airpark
  • KOQN Brandywine Airport
  • KPUC Carbon County / Price
  • KSAA Shively Field
  • KSBD San Bernardino
  • KTHP Hot Springs County / Thermopolis
  • KTPF Peter O. Knight
  • KVNY Van Nuys
  • U07 Bullfrog Basin
  • U14 Nephi
  • U42 South Valley Regional
  • U96 Cal Black Memorial

This is a great update for X-Plane users. If you have “download betas” turned on in your installation you’ll get a prompt for this update the next time you load the sim. If you are not in the beta program, you can look forward to these fields in the next full release (which usually comes a few weeks after each beta).

The News

So I’ve mentioned a few times that things have been quite busy around here. Too busy to work on the book and too busy to do much posting or sim flying. The reason is that next week the Glideslope household moves from the Philadelphia area to the Tampa area. So expect a change of scenery in real-world flight posts, and know that I’m looking forward to learning a whole new area and airspace. It’s not quite certain where I will complete my training. My CFI here just got a job flying jets (which is great news), so I need to change instructors regardless. My work will keep me coming to Philadelphia often enough that I could theoretically take the final cross-countries and check-ride prep here, but my gut tells me that will probably happen in Tampa and that I will probably fly out of Albert Whitted.

More important for purposes of the blog is the sim. I built it expecting to take it apart one day, and while it’s not a short job, it shouldn’t be too complicated. Tomorrow is sim deconstruction day, and I’ll take pictures. Mrs. Glideslope has been good enough to grant the sim space in our new home. It’s probably going to be a large closet, but that’s the advantage of such a small cabin (and this might also be the time where I abandon the projector in favor of a 70-inch front screen, if I can manage one).

So that’s the latest, and as always, thanks for sticking with the blog while posting has been light.