The best advice that I can give anyone when deciding to build their own home cockpit is to know what you want to fly. What aircraft do you want to model it after? The more aircraft specific that you can make your own simulator, the more accurate that your experience will be which would enhance your immersion. The real world benefits to that is the ability to build muscle memory and your flows will come more naturally. The more enclosed that you can make yourself, the less that the outside world will detract from the immersion. Whatever you decide, the internet is an invaluable source of information. My personal goal is FAA certification for Felicity, after I acquire the professional version of X-Plane, but I think I am going to wait until the release of X-Plane 12 and hope that it has a professional version available for certification. The ability for simultaneous dual controls is going to be a great addition, but I’m really looking forward to taking off from a snow covered Morrow County, Ohio.

Grandpa never did get any benefit from Felicity, but I believe that he’s always in the right seat while I use her to maintain proficiency as a student pilot until I can finish training. Blue skies and happy flying!”

The post Michael M. first appeared on X-Plane.

The post Michael M. appeared first on X-Plane.

The post Jose A. first appeared on X-Plane.

The post Jose A. appeared first on X-Plane.

When I grew up, I even worked a few years in a news helicopter as a cameraman just to be close to aviation… but I never did have the time or money to get my PPL. Always wanting to learn how to fly has been a goal of mine, but working almost 70 hours a week, I just didn’t have the time or money to dedicate to it.

When I found out how far computer simulation had come, in particular with X-Plane, I started using the sim as well as an online network to learn real world procedures and teach myself.  While I wouldn’t be a real world pilot, I could at least learn what real world pilots do, how everything works, and the dynamics of X-Plane are so realistic that I felt that I was flying.  I trained in real world weather, with real world maps, with real world landmarks, with real world training books from the FAA.

After several years, including training with people in the online community (who many are real world pilots), I have completed my goal. I get to fly using X-Plane whenever I have time – if that is 30 minutes, so be it. I also get to fly planes I would have never been able to afford, learn new things each time I am in the simulator, made friends with fellow enthusiasts, and train from PPL all the way to ATP (and even take tests and earn ratings on the online network). I may not be able to fly a plane in the real world, but I trained like I did and have an amazing time every time I load up X-Plane. It feels real to me, and I have satisfied my aviation dreams with X-Plane. What an amazing program!

I am most looking forward to the weather and all that it affects in X-Plane 12 – no other simulator will have gone so in depth to how weather interacts with the flight surfaces and environments – how it dynamically changes as you fly along to different areas and terrains, how the wind moves the trees, or puddles up on the ground after a rain shower. The unpredictability of weather and how it affects flying is something that has never felt right in any simulator, and X-Plane 12 will be the first to really model this with true accuracy.”

The post Kris B. first appeared on X-Plane.

The post Kris B. appeared first on X-Plane.

I enjoy watching my aircraft designs being simulated in real time in XP and I also like scenery creation. So I started learning the Plane Maker and I immediately felt very happy with the ecosystem because I was learning a lot through it, for me is all about doing my own designs while I learn. As for sceneries I also use geographic software to update terrain data in the topography of a scenery, so I am constantly learning and I also love singing and making sounds that I could apply to my creativity but also expand my 3D services.”

The post Martin P. first appeared on X-Plane.

The post Martin P. appeared first on X-Plane.

As time evolved, I purchased the Toliss A319 and adapted my setup to it and of course I run X-Plane 11 now. Because X-Plane and most of the addons for it are so open and transparant to the user (exposing Datarefs and Commands) X-Plane is the ideal base for a project like this. I can read and write all signal between X-Plane, the Toliss simulation and my hardware to generate the type if behaviour I want for my simulation. For a few years this setup has now proven a reliable platform for me to fly my Airbus flights around Europe – it does not take me longer to setup my home cockpit than to start X-Plane. With all the external controls it is possible to fly “mouse free” from take off to parking. I only use to mouse to go through the overhead flows and of course to setup X-Plane.”

The post Alexander K. first appeared on X-Plane.

The post Alexander K. appeared first on X-Plane.

As I kept on, I did eventually change aircraft. Glad that the 3rd Party market was so vast, found the exact aircraft I was looking for, and kept studying that aircraft’s procedures. X-Plane truly did help me in my flight training. As time passed I started working college, and received my Associates degree. From there a door opened up to truly become an airline pilot, I bit the bullet. I started my time at ATP in McKinney, Texas this past year and have received my Instrument Rating, and after the new year am beginning my Multi-Engine training.

Thanks for the great things you do as a simulation, Laminar!”

The post Jonathan first appeared on X-Plane.

The post Jonathan appeared first on X-Plane.

The post Filippo S. first appeared on X-Plane.

The post Filippo S. appeared first on X-Plane.

“Peach State STARBASE is a federal Dept. of Defense youth program, locally sponsored and supported by the Georgia National Guard, with a mandate to increase the interest in and abilities at STEM topics, centering on aerospace engineering, in an at-risk, 5th-8th grade student population attending public Title I schools. The national STARBASE Program has existed for about 30 years, Peach State is now 20 years old, starting its first academy class in April, 2002. Since the beginning, we have used X-Plane in our 42-station Flight Simulation Lab, starting with version 6.70, as an activity to bring together our classroom and lab lessons in basic aerodynamics and aeronautics. These students start off by using the stock Cessna 172SP to take off and practice controlled flight, they progress to doing the same with a payware Lockheed C-130H; Lockheed-Martin is one of our major corporate sponsors, and we are physically located across the runway at KMGE from their C-130 assembly line. As time permits we set up X-Plane to let them fly the (old) stock Lockheed F-22 Raptor, and conduct a few other adjunctive lessons in aerial navigation, flying in and out of unfamiliar airports, and attempting the land the Space Shuttle. To date, over 14,500 students have participated in this art of our programming, all with hand-on experience with X-Plane, and this has proven to be one of the most popular parts of this course and a serious draw for other schools applying to join in our community.

While a few other STARBASE locations have conducted flight simulation activities, most use other software products, until they attend one of the STARBASE training sessions we offer, and experience the power, flexibility, and incredible flight modeling X-Plane offers. During these sessions, we dive into some of the deeper aspects of flight simulation, including radio aids to navigation, concepts of load & balance, and in a new set of lessons we are currently developing, conducting experiments in airfoil design and testing, along with our 3D CAD, 3D printing, and wind-tunnel labs. Our partners in the 1-111th Aviation Brigade have used our flight simulation lab and X-Plane loaded with a payware UH-60 Blackhawk, to let their new pilots have some ground school familiarization with the routes they will be flying , while supporting the 5th Ranger Training Battalion at Camp Merrill, GA; these pilots have frequently remarked about how accurate the stock terrain mesh is in X-Plane, and how their simulated flights reflected what they experienced in their subsequent real-world missions.

Peach State STARBASE has been recognized as a national leader in this mil-ed community, in part for its advanced use of flight simulation that effectively impacts our targeted student population, and I fully credit Laminar Research for developing this excellent product that has in no small way helped us achieve this reputation, and impacted the lives of these very at-risk students in such a radically positive way.

I am most looking forward to the continued improvement in graphic realism in X-Plane 12, which gives a more immersive experience to our students. I am also very much looking forward to seeing what the third party developers will be able to create, given the new features sets. “

The post Peach State STARBASE first appeared on X-Plane.

The post Peach State STARBASE appeared first on X-Plane.

“I’ve been using X-Plane 11 since 2018. My passion for aviation has been around since I was young, however I’ve been able to dig into my passion thanks to your program. I still use it today to further my career.

In early 2020, I was hired on as a maintenance helper for a FedEx Feeder operator, working on Cessna 208B Cargomasters. At first, not thinking that I would be flying the aircraft someday. However I’d soon realized working on aircraft is my real passion and how I want to provide for the aviation industry. By next year, I’ll be eligible to test for my airframe and power plant license, all thanks to you guys for helping me pinpoint my passion.”

The post Tayler F. first appeared on X-Plane.

The post Tayler F. appeared first on X-Plane.

The post WJ Sibley first appeared on X-Plane.

The post WJ Sibley appeared first on X-Plane.