Gauged Approach

The work on implementing support for a Navigraph navdata database is progressing well.  Many of the basics are already in place at this point.

• Replaced the default Flight Simulator lateral navigation autopilot with custom code.
• Lookup and data for all intersections now come from the external database.
• Selection of a departure runway, a SID as well as any possible transition is in place.
• Selection of a destination runway, a STAR/transition and an IAP (arrival)/transition is in place.

The next step is the creation of all the custom waypoints that are defined by SIDs, STARs and IAPs.  Many of these terminal procedures have specific behavior requirements that the default Flight Simulator autopilot simply can not handle.  So after we load the waypoints correctly, we’ll next have to write yet more custom autopilot code to support the terminal procedures.

After we get the new autopilot code working, the last step of all of this is to implement a bunch of new flight plan drawing on the MFD.

Below is a screen shot in the VC.  If you look closely on the left-hand FMS console… you might notice that the arrival selections have been made by the pilot.  Simply click on the image to see the full size version.

It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything here.  The majority of my time is filled with work on the Citation X 2.0’s Navdata Service Upgrade that we’ve promised.  Because of this upgrade, we’ve had to do a bit of extra work to make it happen.

The Primus 2000’s flight guidance computer can handle some rather complex SID/STAR methods, which means the default Flight Simulator’s autopilot just doesn’t cut it.  We’ve replaced all of the Flight Simulator autopilot for vertical flight control with the exception of the basic altitude hold.  Our VNAV and FLC use custom code to control the aircraft’s behavior in the vertical path.  In VNAV mode it can fly a predefined climb/cruise/descent vertical path based on airspeed, altitude.  It supports waypoint altitude restrictions in both climb and descent and can fly an extremely accurate path either up or down.

Now we’re having to take the time to write a custom lateral navigation autopilot so we can support such things as a DME arc or an RNAV approach that uses a set of waypoints to define a circle to fly around.  These are but a couple of lateral control processes that Flight Simulator’s default autopilot can’t even spell, let alone fly.

Everyone’s chomping at the bit for the release, and I can certainly understand why.  However, we intend to take our time on this and work hard to get it as close to 100% as we can.

Well, tis the season!

Our Citation X 2.0 is released, just in time for the holidays.  We debated holding up release until after we had completed the nav data integration, but we decided to release so that people could start enjoying the aircraft now.  I'd like to thank everyone for being patient and understanding as I work hard at getting all the Navigraph nav data support in place.  In the mean time, the aircraft is still useable.

We had a few issues with the flight dynamics, but that's been taken care of.  As with any software product, there are issues.  Seems there's always issues. However, our commitment to the product is unchanged and we'll resolve any and all issues if it's possible.

Thank you for your patience and I hope you enjoy your new aircraft.

In case you missed the announcement in the Eaglesoft forums, the Citation X 2.0 has gone to beta!  Yes, that's right... it's release is getting closer.

It's been a long, hard road getting to this point and I hope that our customers appreciate the results.  For more information and details, head on over to the  Eaglesoft Forums.

If you didn't see the entry in Bobby Haye's blog regarding the Citation, you might want to wander on over.  We've added a feature that's not quite available yet on the real deal, but has been in flight testing for a while now.

We're still working hard on this puppy, with the visual 3D modeling almost complete.  Liveries are being designed, appearances cleaned up and finalized.

In the panel department, pretty much all the gauges are in place and functioning, complete with complex system behavior designed and programmed behind the scenes.  The flight management system is the primary focus at this point.  So, I'm spending hours on end working on implementing the user interface to support creating flight plans using the system's twin CDU's.

Here's a shot of the X, in flight flying a flight plan created inside the FMS itself.  The route is from KCMH to KFMY using "HNN,SPA,GRD,IRQ,J53,DUNKN" as the waypoints between.