X-Plane 9.0 and bad weather...

[SUBMAN1]

Man, this sim is better than I expected. They fixed all my problems from my previous versions, that is for sure. Running up from Cali in a turbo-prop last night, and the real weather throwing snow at me, and watching my airspeed drop as I'm obviously picking up ice.

Reminds me of real-life. Coming back from Los Angeles one night, I remember sitting there at midnight in the pitch black of clouds, IFR, and I notice the airspeed indicator had dropped to 160 knots. I'm thinking we had the throttles pulled back way too much to get range and thought nothing of it at the time (We could get about 6 to 7 hours I'm guessing with low throttle settings and we were bucking a headwind that night so any extra time was a blessing - the other choice is to stop somewhere and top off. Theoretically, that plane had enough fuel for about 1200 nmi with low power settings, but that is without a headwind). Later on, I noticed we were closing in on 120 knots, and that's when I spoke up! Crud. Grabbed a flashlight, and pointed it the wing! It was a block of ice, and I was probably a hairpin away from spiraling to my death (one wing stalls, and its all over - ice disrupts the flow of the wing, dramatically increasing its stall speed). Hit the boots, and prop de-icer, pitot heat, and heat plate - problem solved for the moment. What a racket as the right side typically slings its ice against the fusilage at high speed no less - it smacks louder than you can possibly imagine - something X-Plane doesn't give you. No nap time with ice slinging going on. I wonder if that ice we sling makes it intact to the ground? Just a thought.

I will tell you that X-Plane 'feels' like bad icing when it happens - take it from someone that has been there for real a few times. Had to ask for a new alt quickly that night that it really happened. Boots and prop de-ice will take care of the problem, but it won't allow you to stay in the problem. What will happen if you leave the boots on is that the expansion of the boot will eventually create a bubble and then the ice will simply form around the bubble making the boot completely ineffective. So De-Ice gear should be thought of as an out only, not a solution.

Get X-Plane. The snow passing the cockpit when its dark and the strobes light it up is amazing. Looks real. I can vouch for that!

-S

Sadly Computer issues won't let me play it =/

[SUBMAN1]

Originally Posted by Rilder

Sadly Computer issues won't let me play it =/

Whats your problem?

-S

[SUBMAN1]

Some pics of what it looks like.

Here is the snow with the red strobe light hitting it, though this pic hardly does what you see justice:



Some various other pics on my way up North under better weather at night. It was just not safe to fly under the clouds in the other icing conditions:

Originally Posted by SUBMAN1

Whats your problem?

-S

Short answer: Ati2dvag infinite loop, happens with several games.

[ReallyDedPoet]

Saw this the other day, almost bought it
It looks good.


RDP

[Loud_Silence]

I bought X-Plane V9 and it only gave me bad experiences... no buildings at airports, ugly interface and controls configuration, very bad helicopter flight dynamics, ugly atc, no flight planner, i couldn't start jet engines...
It doesn't deserve 9 GB of my hard drive

[SUBMAN1]

Originally Posted by Loud_Silence

I bought X-Plane V9 and it only gave me bad experiences... no buildings at airports, ugly interface and controls configuration, very bad helicopter flight dynamics, ugly atc, no flight planner, i couldn't start jet engines...
It doesn't deserve 9 GB of my hard drive

I have to disagree. Helo's are probably the most accurately modeled there is in any flight sim. You are probably used to dumbed down flight models.

I file flight plans and there is one in affect in the above screenshots.

Buildings at airports can be fixed by downloading the appropriate scenery for free, though buildings might detract from the flight model by slowing down frame rate, though higher HP systems should have no problem.

The only worse interface / controls configuration I can think of that is worse - FSX. :p

Some things that are done accurately:

Unlike FSX, its a 'real' flight model. That is why the graphics may not be as good as FSX is that FSX using a 'fake' flight model. X-Plane models the 'airflow' over the control surfaces and wings so flight dynamics are incredibly accurate. Of course this means you must maintain 12 FPS minimum to model it correctly, so graphics won't be as snazy as FSX, but feel will be incredible.

So I guess it comes down to what you want:

1. Snazzy graphics - Get FSX
2. Flight model - Get X-Plane 9

You decide - you watn an arcade game? Or the real thing? Not to hard a decision in my book.

Then you can design your own airports if you like with the built in tools, or design your own airfoils or aircraft. When you put your modeled plane into X-Plane, it will fly like you designed it just like in real life if it exists (The 4 place aircraft gyro copter had a lot of flight test time on X-Plane to get an idea how it would fly prior to its real flight if that tells you anything). Try this with FSX - you have to tell the sim how it flies.

-S

PS. I think your above comments are simply because you don't know what you had loaded up. Go take a second take. You'll be pleasantly surprised.

[SUBMAN1]

Another thought just occurred to me - Sea-planes. Landing a sea-plane in FSX, it sort of unrealistically lands then stops.

Try it in X-Plane. I suggest you check the wave height!

-S