jcp@phoenix64 /mnt/divers/donnes Xplane/X-Plane 8.32/Custom Scenery $ ls
Auvergne2_6        EDDM 2_1_G8_Beta_1    IT-LIMA         Mars Demo Area     SYDNEY3.5.9
Belgium            Elba                  IT- LIML_LIMB   Ouessant           Toulouse LowDef
Bretagne Nord-HD3  Gillot                IT-LIMZ         PARIS              Trindade
Chateauroux-Deols  Helicoland 1.0 Final  IT-LIPK         Pyrenees           VTBD-ALL7-Oct30
CH-LSZS            Ile_d'Yeu             IT-VILL         region_bordelaise  X-Plane Default Demo Area
Cyclades 1.3       IT-LILE               KSBD Demo Area  Rising Sun Beta

02-07-06    Cessna 421C Golden Eagle has been updated to v8.32. New features include alternate panel. Fixes include flight model adjustments, autopilot adjustments, and new sound file format

OK X-PLANE 8.40 BETA-1 IS HERE NOW, MAC, WINDOWS, AND LINUX!
 
http://www.x-plane.com/beta.html
 
YOU DO NEED TO GRAB INSTALLER 1.09 IF YOU ARE ON MAC.
 
here is the new stuff.. have at it!
 
There are a nice handful of little improvements to this version, but  
the really big one is SUPPORT FOR THE NEW INTEL-MACINTOSHES. These new  
Intel Macs REALLY SCREAM (several times faster than the G5's in many  
cases!) but you HAVE to have X-Plane 8.40 Beta-1 or higher to get the  
maximum SPEED! (called a "Universal Binary" ).
 
So, Mac-Users: Get an Intel Imac and X-Plane 8.40 and you will see more  
speed in X-Plane than any other Macintosh made. Ever. I see 58 frames  
per second with plenty of rendering options turned on with the new  
Imacs.
 
Another nice new feature is smooth JOYSTICK RESPONSE for Windows, so  
BOTH platforms will get some very nice increases in smoothness. Other  
important new features include retractable wings and solar-powered  
airplane dynamics, and we have simply smoothed and refined a pretty  
good handful of things... Read on!
 
 
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OK, here are the new things for 8.40 Beta-1:
 
 
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Flight-Model:
 
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New wing option: RETRACTABLE WINGS! Select the "retract" handle in the  
"handles" folder, and check the wings as being "retractable" in the  
"airfoils" window, and you can retract the wings... the best way to do  
it is to make a wing of 2 separate wings (as most people do now) and  
let the outer panels retract into the inner ones. This lets you extend  
wings for landing, and retract them for cruise, for best blend of lo  
and hi-speed performance.
 
New battery/solar-power options! See the "engine" screen in  
plane-maker, SFC tab... enter your panel and battery specs there! You  
enter the portion of the wings covered by solar panels, the solar cell  
efficiency, the battery storage in kilowatt-hours, and of course the  
electric motor horsepower in the "engines" screen as always. X-Plane  
will look at the ambient brightness for the time of day and weather  
conditions, and the atmoshperic thickness (the atmosphere soaks up some  
light, so solar cells get more light as they get higher, whcih X-Plane  
DOES consider) to see how much power you are getting into your battery,  
and the engine to see how much power is coming out... can you design a  
solar plane that can take with battery-assist, but maintain flight  
without drawing any mroe battery voltage? There is a data output for  
the solar cell situation (#115) so you can see what the power inputs  
and outputs are.
 
Rev-limiter! See it as a new option in the "Engines" screen in  
Plane-Maker... It cuts out power if the engine rpm goes above redline.
 
Hydraulic system can be pressurized by either the engines or the props  
in the "equipment" screen in Plane-Maker...good for helos which are  
pressurized by the rotors or planes which may be pressurized by the  
engines.
 
 
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Notable Features:
 
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Edit all the navaids in X-Plane now, if desired, in the MAP screen.  
Quick and easy!
 
Historically, X-Plane has ADDED artificial stability values to the raw  
values to get the final control deflections on the plane.
  Now, you can tune OUT the raw joystick input so you are flying ONLY on  
the artificial stab equations if you like.
 
New autopilot and joystick button: Approach. This arms both localizer  
and glideslope with ONE mode-select on the autopilot.
 
Different buttons now avail for each layer of map options: tcas,  
airport, vor, etc.
 
 
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Minor Features:
 
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Plane-Maker option to drop red fire retardant instead of water.
 
Seatbelt and gear switches make the little bing-sound.
 
New data outputs: hydraulic system and solar system.
 
New weather-screen slider: ICING PROBABILITY. Use this to determine how  
likely icing is when in icing conditions.
  (Icing conditions are between -20 and 0 degrees C in visible precip or  
cloud)
 
The wxr presets in the set wxr screen now can set the clouds as well as  
the visibility.
 
 
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Refinements:
 
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Aircraft checklists from the "special" menu can be up to 400 items long  
now.
 
Full support for PFC turboprop quadrant. Flap and gear are now  
operative on the PFC throttle-only quadrant.
 
Data output lines come up in the data output file only as often as  
really needed.
 
More frame-rate improvements... the sim may run a little faster on all  
machines.
 
FADEC defaults to OFF if you are starting with engines not running.
 
Flight realism sliders in the "joystick" screen handle helos better now.
 
No rudder pedals? Then the roll axis will now operate the rudders as  
well as the nosewheel steering.
 
Better orbital mechanics... fixed a few minor bugs that caused the  
gravity to be off by just a hair.
 
Smoother path-tracking in chase-view on external visuals.
 
Real-weather wind transitions are now smoother as you move from one  
reported weather area to another.
 
Joystick is now 10x finer in allowable resolution on windows... we have  
gone from 100 steps to 1000 steps,
  finer control than your hand or joystick hardware can indicate. Macs  
have not had this joystick limit.
 
 
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Bug-Fixes:
 
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You can't set a time offset from real GMT if real-time tracking is not  
on.
 
ATIS will only come on if you are tuned to the ATIS frq AND ACTUALLY  
HAVE RADIOS IN THE PLANE, not just have the ATIS frq left in from the  
last plane with radios.
 
 
austin

Want to be in Popular Mechanics?
 
Here's the deal:
 
Popular Mechanics is getting ready to do a COVER STORY on where
aviation will be in 20 years for 2-person personal-flyers. One way to
predict this future? Let X-Plane tell you! The angle the story will
take is this: Austin and his band of customers can use X-Plane to
predict where aviation will be in 20 years by entering futuristic
designs and seeing how they fly. By simulating what we can't build yet.
By planning what is soon to be built!
 
The plan here is to see the first-generation of nearly automatic planes
with "highway-in-the-sky" systems, where you really only need a
throttle and stick and maybe flaps and a simple interface to enter your
destination and you can easily fly the plane through hoops to get where
you are going in any weather. Artificial stability systems are allowed
and encouraged. Morphing wings, including variable sweep,
variable-dihedral, variable-incidence, and wing-retraction (a new
feature in the Plane-Maker airfoils screen) are all allowed and
encouraged.
 
So, here is the contest: Design an airplane in X-Plane 8.32 or later to
meet the requirements below, and whoever has the best plane according
to our scoring system wins. We may also award for fastest plane,
best-flying plane, most practical plane, and weirdest plane design. Be
sure to TEXTURE these planes as well... no gray whales for Popular
Mechanics! If you win in any category, your plane may be featured in
the cover story, and YOU may be featured as well!
 
So get to work! Design the coolest, fastest, longest-range,
best-handling 2-place personal-flyer you can, and email the aircraft
pack to me (zip-file to austin@x-plane.com with a note on the
power-setting and altitude you want me to fly it at) BY FEBRUARY 28 for
judging. Feel free to do your submission earlier and I will give you
feedback (IF I have time!) so you can improve your design and re-submit
before the deadline.
 
OK, here are the specs:
 
The plane must have room for 2 people.
The empty weight must be 750 pounds.
The fuel must be 150 pounds.
The gross weight must be 1300 pounds. This leaves 400 pounds for
payload.
 
The plane may have:
a single turboprop engine of 125 hp with an SFC of 0.45 (Specific Fuel
Consumption)
or
a single jet engine with 450 lb of thrust and an SFC of 0.45.
 
The plane should have a parachute.
 
The plane must be able to get airborne at max weight in 500 feet.
The plane may NOT fly above 24,000 feet to achieve it's score.. we
DON'T want these things smacking Airbus A-380's with 900 mph closure
speed!
 
The score will be as follows:
 
When flying at MAX weight (1,300 pounds), and taking off in 500 feet or
less, and climbing to 24,000 feet or less, the score is the CRUISE
SPEED IN MILES PER HOUR TIMES THE RANGE of the plane in statue miles,
where you specify what altitude and cruise power setting to use when
you submit the plane, so that I fly the plane the way you want me to so
I can fly your best-possible score.
 
I have already done a few preliminary designs, and have achieved scores
of about 280,000. Can you do better?
 
GET TO WORK IN PLANE-MAKER AND MAKE YOUR IDEAL PLANE OF THE FUTURE AND
EMAIL IT TO ME! YOUR DESIGN COULD MAKE THE COVER OF POPULAR MECHANICS
IF YOURS IS THE BEST!