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Busy but exciting times from the X-Plane camp - we're currently in the final stages of the development process for the 146 Professional X-Plane version and are aiming to have it released fairly soon.

Our dev partners Thranda Design have done a splendid job on the coding side and as such we have updated the product specs on the website. Well worth a read to see the extensive feature list along with the very detailed description. You'll note that the base pack will now include eight variants as opposed to the originally planned three!

Those anxious about which FMC will be included will be happy to learn that we're currently having a custom coded FMC developed by Javier Cortés (FJCC) for integration as soon as possible after release. The initial release will see the 146 come armed with the fully functional default FMC.

Here are some recent screenshots and we'll be adding as final set to the product page within the next week or so.

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Category: X-Plane News

Published: 15 April 2021

The VSKYLABS Aeroprakt A22-LS Project for X-Plane by laminar research has reached final preparations for version v1.0. The aircraft is now being prepared for its first flight in *your* hands, including the required manuals, documentations and other accessories such as "The Hand"...an easy to use *on-the-go* 3D checklist companion (Work-In-Progress screen shot is attached to this post). Release of version v1.0 is expected by the end of April 2021, if all goes as planned.

Project announcement: The VSKYLABS Test-Pilot: TT-3 Project!

Time has come (actually already came, about a year ago), and the VSKYLABS C-47 Project has reached its designated *split* milestone, where a completely new variant project is being developed in parallel to the *initial* C-47 Project.

A lot was considered before deciding on which variant it would evolve to, and the options were quite wide in scale. The somewhat obvious route was to develop a modern DC-3 variant along with a modern cockpit and avionics configuration. Since any development of a C-47/DC-3 aircraft is of a years-scale effort, once being committed to a development route, it quite shuts-off any other DC-3 variant development for about a year or two...so deciding which variant would be the *next* is quite crucial.

During early 2020, it was decided. The new VSKYLABS DC-3 variant is going to be based on the Conroy Tri-Turbo-Three DC-3 conversion.

From VSKYLABS perspective, this project is a natural choice. The unique aircraft, which is powered by three PT6-45 engines is within the core of the VSKYLABS experimental, 'Test-Pilot' projects series concept. There are so many flight dynamics, performance and operational aspects to explore with the Tri-Turbo-Three, and it "won" all other options...by far.

A little background regrading the Conroy Tri-Turbo-Three (TT-3) conversion:

Designed and built by John M. Conroy, a fascinating aircraft designer who also built the "Super-Guppy aircraft" that carried the 3rd stage of the Saturn V rocket, during the Apollo space program. The Conroy TT-3 was a DC-3, powered by three PT6A turboprop engines, with the #3 engine mounted on the nose. It was first flown in November 1977, and two aircraft were built. The TT-3 was designed specifically for long-range flights (up to ~2300 nautical miles) and it was capable of operating from unprepared snow "runways". It was able to cruise at about 200 knots. Its main missions were flying in the North Pole region, into Antarctica, and it was used also for maritime patrol and rescue missions.

The project is introducing a highly defined simulation of the 3 x PT6A-45 turbo prop powered TT-3. In the case of the real TT-3, actual data and documentations are quite rare, and VSKYLABS had to step in to fill in some missing gaps regarding its on-board systems. Although the VSKYLABS project may have several differences from the real TT-3, the design and development approach is being made with great care and deep understanding of the DC-3 aircraft, as well with a great respect to honor John M.Conroy and all other men and women that were involved in the TT-3 development and operations. Cockpit configuration and avionics are modern.

The project has reached advanced stages, and it is aimed to exceed v1.0 milestone later this year (2021).

Important Development Note

Although being a completely *NEW* aircraft and project, by concept, the VSKYLABS TT-3 project was designed to share similar design architectures with the VSKYLABS C-47 FLP. This is allowing to continue and develop the C-47 FLP Project side by side with the development of the VSKYLABS TT-3 Project, where each project is evolving from any relevant progress that is made with the other project. The VSKYLABS C-47 FLP development continues without any pauses, and the project will continue to evolve following its development road map. There are several major update releases that are planned for the C-47 later this year, with the main focus on visuals, 3D modeling and appearance and FMOD sound package.

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Category: X-Plane News

Published: 15 April 2021

HST Simulations have issued a statement regarding their environmental add-on "xAmbience" for X-Plane 11 (release date in a few weeks):

Weekly Report #2: xAmbience Pro - What's left before release? - HST Simulations.

Welcome to Weekly Report #2. The all difficults are behind and we are back to this.

Today we will talk about: current xAmbience Pro progress, 3D Clouds development resume and other upcoming events.

What's left for release?

In general, we are almost at the finish line. There are 2 elements left: a system for mixing samples of clouds (this is a system that interferes with the samples in the rendering stream and makes the clouds do not repeat) and debugging some functions. And there are a lot of these little things that are in progress right now, but we're expecting a general completion next week.

We have done a lot of work on optimization, modernization of all plugin processes. We redid almost everything. There are only a few small functions left. After that we will start testing with EA (Early Access team) and public launch. After that - we will go further. Namely, in 3D clouds. More on this in the next chapter.

Our plan for xAmbience Pro v1.00 Launch.

Now we plan to finish within a week (maybe a little more than a week) all the work that needs to be completed before entering the release candidate. After that, will be released 3 videos of product feature preview, where you will be able to see every feature. After that, we will short-term test all the main work and launch media access (media will have access to an early version of xA Pro and show you live or something else in action), after that we plan to approve the build for release and launch. We plan to implement this entire plan within a few weeks.

So, right now plan is: Final Works -> Testing -> Feature Preview -> Media -> Launch!

xAmbience Pro: Further 3D Clouds

Work on 3D clouds has been resumed in full. There was a break due to the fact that we were preparing xA Pro 1.00 for release, and we were only focused on that. A small brief: Now we are working with new people who have joined us and will help us set up the production of this pipeline. 3D clouds will be compatible with upcoming X-Plane 12 and Vulcan. FPS will not fall. The visual part will be changed beyond recognition. We will talk about this in the next development update.

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Category: X-Plane News

Published: 15 April 2021

A small teaser video just to whet the appetite of what's to come as we edge closer to the release of the 146 Professional.

Base package will include 100/200/300 variants along with the QT/QC/RAF variants too. The X-Plane FMC unit will feature and soon after release we'll also be adding a custom coded FMC that's currently in development.

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Category: X-Plane News

Published: 15 April 2021