Closed Traffic Podcast
Average aviation enthusiast covering all things aviation and flight simulation.Hosted by Johnny Green Michael Salmon and Charlie Roper
Closed Traffic Podcast
Navigraph Survey Reality Check
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We dig through the Navigraph Survey 2026 results and talk honestly about where flight simulation is growing and where it still feels stuck. We compare MSFS 2024 vs MSFS 2020 adoption, debate performance and hardware reality, and look at how AI ATC and new aircraft systems are reshaping what “realistic” means at home.
• MSFS 2024 adoption trends and why some stay on 2020
• Console growth and what it changes for add-ons and features
• Biggest pain points: stability, default ATC, weather radar
• Why simmers fly: immersion, mastery, real-world skill building
• Hardware talk: GPU pricing, DX12 performance, DLSS clarity
• VR usage: why it is growing and why it is still a hassle
• Favorite add-ons, replay tools, camera frustrations, long-haul quality of life
• Online ATC split: VATSIM vs BeyondATC and SayIntentions
• Microsoft dev stream notes: Praetor 600 systems and avionics depth
Website: www.closedtrafficpodcast.com
Facebook: @Closedtrafficpodcast
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Welcome And Housekeeping
SPEAKER_01Live from the laboratory, welcome to the Close Traffic Podcast, an aviation and flight simulation show.
SPEAKER_03Welcome aboard.
SPEAKER_00Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Closed Traffic Podcast and Aviation and Flight Simulation Show. I'm Johnny and uh flight in the flight deck with me. And I can talk eventually. In the flight deck with me is our main man, Charlie. Charlie, say hello to people, sir.
SPEAKER_02What's up, everybody? Good to be back. Hope everybody's doing good. Welcome back to another wonderful edition of the Close Rapper Podcast. How are you, man? What's going on in your neck of the woods?
SPEAKER_00Man, I don't know. I'm like half asleep still. It's it's half asleep, man.
SPEAKER_02It's like what, nine o'clock out there?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's I don't know, man. On a Saturday.
SPEAKER_02It's been a long day. Them weekend mornings do hit a little different.
SPEAKER_00They do hit the different, man. Because we had a we had a late ball game yesterday, so it was you know everybody else. Yeah, it was been pretty rough. Been pretty rough. But nevertheless, glad to be here, glad to be back. Quite a bit to talk about, guys. The navigograph of 2026 results are in for the survey. We got new service pack five, I think. Well, SU5 is about to drop five in the corner. Sure. Maybe hopefully. Which I got a little bit of a gripe on that. We'll get to it every minute. And man, DCS, they're doing their thing as well. Some VR news for X-Plane. Can't wait to get to it. But housekeeping and all that fun stuff out of the way. Be sure you guys rank us on all your podcast platforms, whatever you feel we deserve. And also, shout out to our friends and family over there on Patreon. Thank you for your support. You guys pay the bills. And nevertheless, man, let's dive on in here.
SPEAKER_02Let's get it,
Navigraph Survey Highlights Begin
SPEAKER_02man.
SPEAKER_00So the results, man. Uh, you want to do the PowerPoint slide, or should I? I'll let you handle that. No, I was kidding. No, we're not gonna bore you guys with a uh PowerPoint.
SPEAKER_02But however, what do we say is like a hundred and how many pages?
SPEAKER_00116 pages? 116 pages. And let me let me let me just be clear. Shout out to Navigraph for putting all this together. I don't want even I don't even want to do this for my job. So much less. So you know, much less, you know, gather all this data and compile it in such a way to where it's easily digestible for for us for us users. And I mean it's well organized. It's just a lot of data, right? So a lot of data. Yeah, I mean you got 116 pages of it, but the graphs are absolutely amazing, easy, easy to sift through. But I mean and and shout out to, you know, shout out to the you know, to all the to the industry and to the hobby. 42,000 users participated, which I want to say uh in my opinion, I think it's pretty indicative of the fact that 2024 has just taken taken the industry and you know, shot it to new levels I don't think we've seen in the hobby thus far. So the numbers weren't too terribly surprising for me. Um I think one of the things for me, and I know you have some, I know you have some uh some thoughts on it as well, that you know, which I was kind of surprised, really wasn't surprised on the you know rapid adaptation of uh 2024. I mean, we all knew it was going to it was going to come to this, but I mean of course it's the primary primary platform right now looks like it's roughly what 49.5% of users, and uh of course 2020 is dropped to uh 27.8. I mean, there's still some you know you can tell there there's still some lingering hesitance there. There's some folks as far, yeah, you know, but I mean I get it, you know, but for me, I know it was just time to move on. There's just a lot of a lot of products out there that were transitioning from 2020 to 2024. A lot of developers out there are like, hey, we're no longer supporting 2020 to kind of further facilitate that transition. What are your thoughts on it, Charlie?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, man, kind of the same sentiments. I wonder of the 27%, how much is uh performance based?
SPEAKER_00Good point. Good point.
SPEAKER_02You know, PC hardware these days, bro, you might as well sell a kidney and a spleen to afford some of this stuff.
SPEAKER_00So oh my gosh, man. Yeah, I think that could be part of that driving factor. Absolutely, which in addition to that, to further add on to your point, Charlie, could it be, you know, the reason why you see a lot of Xbox users, you know, more so than we ever before seen, which in 2020 wasn't even a thing, but could that be the reason why? I mean, it's already optimized. Nope, you know, it's pretty much plug and play. Once you get your peripherals and things like that lined out, I mean it's pretty much plug and play. So why not? You know, yeah.
SPEAKER_02Well, and the hardware coming out for the consoles, man, like sheesh, and then they get this you know PS5 VR thing figured out, and it's like, man, kind of want to look at it a little harder, you know what I mean? Absolutely, like you're never gonna get force feedback, you know, you're never gonna get that on a console. I ain't gonna say never. I ain't gonna say, bro, like you know, but man, just the I don't know, that that's a tough sale for me. Like full force feedback hardware, but like if I just want to jump on the couch and have my little controller and send it, it's very, very doable.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, but yeah, and but I could see desktop simulations, I mean desktop simulators set up in such a way to where the the build is built around the console. You know, I could see someone, you know, let's say you know you purchase the uh Purchase an Xbox Series X, you know, there's tons of peripherals out there that are available now to give you a really good experience from you know from your Xbox. So who's who's to say, you know, one of these hardware manufacturers, you know, since you and I both know it's they have been making just huge steps and improvements on, you know, whether it's yolks, rudder pedals, what have you, uh incorporating that force feedback tele technology, you know, to consoles. I mean, I you just at this point with hardware, you can't rule jet squad out.
SPEAKER_02You know, you got me on that. You're exactly right.
SPEAKER_00But, you know, another another aspect on the report that's that you know, people were saying that, you know, default aircraft. No, they they did notice a you know pretty substantial improvement in default aircraft. I can I can see that. I can see that. I agree. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02But then some of them you get in, it's like, God, dude, like seriously.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's like, man, we're yeah, it's like, man, we're you know, we're what a couple years in the life cycle. Man, we're we're we're hurting, we're hurting bad for P because I saw that I don't know if you saw some of the uh well, I lie. I saw part of the dev update that Sobo put on not too long ago, and they were talking about the and I screw this name up all the time. The Praater.
SPEAKER_01The Praater. My name is that old Prater!
SPEAKER_00The Prater. Well, at first it sounded like somebody said Predator, so I'm like, whoa, dude, we got like spaceships in uh 2020. Watch it. P A R T A R Prader. Prater. Well, that's what happens when we get a bunch of hicks on here and trying to talk about you know these fancy aircraft, but the Praetor 600. That's what I'm calling them, sticking to it. And I mean look great, but I'm like, man, there's so many other aircraft that are default that still needs work. And I don't know, because 20 the PC 24, for example, I've been trying to send that thing for forever, and I still, I mean, there's still some issues I had like I can't, like I can get the the I love the aviant, so I think it was really cool. I got that part of work, but then you know, there were some issues with the controls, like the spoilers were kind of jank, and it's just doesn't seem fully fleshed out yet. But then, you know, when you think about it, it's Caronado, so it's like are you surprised? I don't know. Not at all. I don't know.
SPEAKER_02B200.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. But well, man, where's the dang it?
SPEAKER_02Where's my I got I I let's see here, let's see. I wish we could throw like sad emojis up on here.
SPEAKER_00I know, man. That'd be pretty cool. Yeah, we have to reach out to our yeah, we have to reach out to uh to production on that one. Yeah. Don't take away our gifts, man. Oh man. But but no, and uh this and sliding on sliding on to the uh to the uh next point there that's room for improvement, Charlie.
What Needs Fixing In Sims
SPEAKER_00Get get this. This one kind of this one kind of I'm like hmm. Air traffic control, weather radar, and simulator stability. Now, simulator stability, let me just be clear. Totally get that. Safely spoke in the back. Yep, totally get that. Air traffic control, ATC.
SPEAKER_02Who the heck using that default stuff?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, who use it? But you know, uh, again, Charlie, console.
SPEAKER_02You know, I don't think man, that's what is. I think PC and PC only we're we're we're we're still transitioning, Charlie.
SPEAKER_00We're still transitioning to this new era to era to where we're you know, we we share the space not only with you know all us PC users, but you know, we have our console friends there as well. Yeah, not against them.
SPEAKER_02I just never think about it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and so you really, you know, the I definitely can see the need for an all-inclusive experience within the sim because you know, being able to, or although, hey, let's not rule out beyond or say intentions, you know, working out something with you know, some sort of integration with Microsoft, and boom, you know, you got beyond and you know, you got beyond, and then you got say intention options there too. I mean, I'm here for it. I think it'd be pretty cool.
SPEAKER_02Oh, no doubt, man. Use your phone to connect to it or something, man.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, with that pocket stick with that uh pocket sky app or whatever. Yeah, oh man, yeah. It's already freaking amazing. Like, you know, you should you know, do a um kick you off uh one of uh one of old Mike's long hauls or whatever. Yeah, and I'm gonna create a segment, Mike's Long Hauls. Mike's oh man, I just pick him because he's not here. But you know, being able to track and you know, follow the flight, you know, like oh crap, I'm running late. I'm not gonna be able to make it in time. Hit pause. That's game changing, man. Absolutely game changing.
SPEAKER_02So yeah, or be out of the yard, you know, sending one and it sends you a notification, hey, you're 20 minutes from top of drop. So yeah, it does, and it does with it have you tried it. Oh, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Or switch to this frequency. Here's the frequency, you know. It's like yeah. And being able to do it from your phone and not imagine. From your phone.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely. Pretty cool. Absolutely, absolutely, man. Weather radar. Did see a lot of a lot of talks on weather radar. I think it's gonna be I think it's gonna be pretty cool. I was kind of waiting for Microsoft to do something with that since X Plane and you know Laminar, they kind of took it and ran with it. The I don't know if you've been in X Plane 12 here lately, but not in a minute. Yeah, it's pretty the uh weather radar is legit, bro. It's really yeah, it's it's legit. You know, the ability to actually scan, you know, get a full scan, and the returns actually depict what you see outside, you know, like the tilt and everything works. Oh, yeah, tilt, gain, all that, you know. So, you know, you got you know, intensity, you got shadows, you know, things of that nature. So it's pretty cool. So, like I said, I was kind of waiting for you know Microsoft to catch up, and they you know, it looks like they came back with an answer. So I'm definitely looking forward. Have you even tried the uh uh SU5 beta yet, Charlie?
SPEAKER_02I sure haven't, man. I've been kind of thinking about it. I may try it this weekend. I don't know.
SPEAKER_00Go ahead and try it, Charlie. You know you want to.
SPEAKER_02I do, man, but my perf is so bad in this sim right now, I don't know what it is.
SPEAKER_00Why is that? Um I'm gonna say this, Charlie, and you know, I'm probably gonna, you know, well, I always catch flex or stuff I say, because you know, you know, lay it on me. Yeah. But no, man, it's I still feel Microsoft has a ways to go as relates to their engine leveraging latest gen hardware. I mean that's just a fact. You can just call a body.
SPEAKER_02I mean their DirectX 12, I don't think, is working properly.
SPEAKER_00Really?
SPEAKER_02Still I don't know. Well they're I mean when 13700 and it's choked down, it's like, really? Yeah, I mean, yeah, it's not the biggest processor out there, but it's better than average, and yeah. Yeah, it's not no slouch. You're choking it to death, even using DirectX 12. So I don't know, man. Multi-thread, all that. Like, I don't, I'm not a I know a little bit of hardware, but I don't know the ins and outs of it.
SPEAKER_00But it's just like, man, but you know, but you know enough to say, like, man, like something something's wrong in the sauce. Like the sauce ain't tasting right, you know what I'm saying?
SPEAKER_02Exactly. When you're choking down, you know, GPU sitting there waiting, it's like, dang, it's like a $400 processor. GPU's like, well, hey, over here.
SPEAKER_00No, no, we we can't, but yeah, I mean, it's it's I don't know. For me, you know, I've been able to kind of tune and tweet to get some resemblance of stability with my experience, so it's not horrible, but I can definitely see the difference when you go to like other game or other sim, and it's like, man, this thing's beautiful. You got like, you know, 80 plus frames a second, you know, even though we all know frames isn't everything as it relates to the experience. No, but you know, like but you're stable. Why I think that's the issue, no, 50 whatever, and I'm still getting like 20 frames a second, you know, make it make sense. I don't know. So yeah, I definitely think there's some work, you know, some work there to be done. And who knows, you know, maybe what 2028, whatever the heck they're gonna try to call it, you know, maybe they you know fully like transition to you know a completely different engine. I don't know.
unknownI don't know.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I think the route they need to go, I just don't think it's working.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Didn't they go to a new engine or start? Yeah, so I mean this is a fairly new. I can't remember which one it actually is.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, because I don't even think they're using any more of the legacy code, are they? I think there's they've got to be some in there.
SPEAKER_00There's gotta be. Yeah, I'm not gonna sit here and pretend like I know, but you know, what I do know is like you know, hear I hear a lot. It's like, man, you know, I just you know, I you know, just built this new rig, and you know, my my sim's still you know running like butt. And yeah, you know, we don't, you know, we don't want that, especially when you, you know, you you're going to like DCS or something like that, and you know, it's like, oh my gosh, it's freaking amazing. So yeah. I don't know, man. I don't know. But
Who Simmers Are And Why
SPEAKER_00you know, going back to the going back to the onto the survey, there's a few other few other items to note that I thought was pretty cool, especially, you know, when we're looking at like the demographics and the community as a whole. Which again, you know, some of it was like, okay, water's wet, you know, we know this. You know what I mean? Yeah. But like, you know, the community consists of, you know, 97%, you know, male, majority of which are in their late teens and 20s, you know, which again, you know, we kind of get the I know not too many of us old folks really got the time, the time of this busy world we're living in. Yes, man, it's like, man, let me run this long haul, you know, and crap, I got baseball practices. Yeah, baseball practice gotta run down to Costco. Lowe's, low, cut the grass, cut the grass, you know, back back, yeah, vacuum. Faiting chickens. Yeah, freaking feet freaking chickens, man. It's like, yeah, where the heck did I get chickens and all this? You know, it's like you know, go out in your back.
SPEAKER_02We're trying to tell you about them things one time, man. You know, hey, it was your fault. It's all your fault.
SPEAKER_01It's all your fault. No fluffy nuts. Yeah, man. Yeah, they are, dude. Man, they're just kind of and they kind of waddle. They said they waddle. Yeah, they're just like me.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, man, I was like, you know, I I hear you, girls. I I I feel y'all's pain. And then like when the kids chase and they can't do anything, so it's kind of squat down and accept their paint. Like, I'm barbecued anyway.
SPEAKER_01So here we're doing it, just get it over with.
SPEAKER_00Oh man, but but yeah, so you know, uh, you know, those, you know, that those numbers there totally make sense. As far as the global footprint, I thought was I well, I thought was pretty interesting. I thought I actually thought our European brothers and sisters had us beat on this one.
SPEAKER_02But um I really did too. Just yeah, simply off of you when you jump on vacuum. Exactly. It's like, dang. I mean, it's every day. You just jump on it. I just jump on there to look, see what's going on. Yeah, uh, it's like, man, you folks straight sending, and it'd be two o'clock in the morning over there, and then everything full black cargo ops galore, man.
SPEAKER_00Like it, like it is, it is happening. But actually, it says uh United States led in total respondents 24.6 percent, followed by Germany and the United Kingdom. On a per capita basis, though, Norway and Switzerland have the highest concentration of flight simmers. So shout out to my Norwegian friends out there for sure, and over there in Switzerland as well. That's awesome. That's awesome. I love to see it. And as far as aviation professionals, which again, water's wet, we kind of knew this. Nearly 18% of the community works professionally in aviation with pilots making up the largest share of the group. I we kind of figured it is because I mean again, you know, we're you know, we're in an age now where having the uh the accessibility, you know, from accessibility perspective, you know, being able to, you know, practice certain procedures, things of that nature, you know, from the from the confines of your home or domicile. You know, can't put a price on that. So again, totally get that. The why behind the sim as far as you know, as far as motivations, a lot of users said they're looking for like immersion and mastery. Most simmers are driven by the desire to understand complex systems and improve their real-world flying skills. Guilty. That's yeah, that's that's me. And you know, another I think another side of that, which, you know, it kind of, you know, they they they kind of I mentioned that as well. For example, like I love old and quirky airplanes, airplanes that, you know, were a little bit before my time, somewhat. Like the L1011. 727, I like I remember those. They were still pretty pretty prominent when I was flying commercially. But uh like the L1011, the the the feeling of being able to master a complex aircraft, especially an aircraft that was designed for a crew of three, it's just it's for me, it takes the experience to a whole nother level. I think it's super cool. You know, I think it's very I think it's extremely historical. And you know, uh it's a learning tool. You know, it's almost like having a interactive encyclopedia for me. You know, I remember, you know, I don't know about you, but like, you know, my parents they bought that encyclopedia Britannica set. Oh yeah. It took up yeah, like the whole took like a whole wall in the house or whatever. I remember like pulling up the Concord and like, you know, messing with the page and like tearing pages and like writing it in and getting in trouble. But anyway, but yeah, you know, pulling up like the A encyclopedia and the A and the A encyclopedia was like this thick. Yep. And um just going straight to the airplane. And like, bro, it's it's crazy, man.
SPEAKER_02You just joke on a wiki or just Google it. Yeah, just Google it.
SPEAKER_00AI and people still don't freaking know. It's like, oh my gosh, and I tell my kids all the time, you know, they're like, hey dad, you know, when they ask me some you know random question, I'm like, dude, you have a phone. Like, what why are we having these conversations now? It's like daddy's input. Like, look at that. But no, you know, but just like you know, achievement and accomplishment as well, I think was mentioned. The sense of winning comes from you know, comes from completing a flight without errors or nailing a difficult approach. I get that, you know, especially you know, when you hand fly, like you know, hand fly a complex, you know, eyeless approach down to minimums or whatnot. Yeah, I mean it's and I think that's what draws a lot of us to aviation, just period, you know, much less flight sim. So I totally get that. But now here's the interesting one, Charlie. And I think I think you have may have a bone to pick with this one. Hardware
Hardware Costs Console And Cloud
SPEAKER_00and software trends. And a couple bullet points here, and of course, we all know, ladies and gentlemen, uh, PC is still a thing. I think we're uh Windows computers remain a the dominant platform, nine ninety what nine point nine percent. Yeah, and um X Xbox, of course, seeing gradual, gradual growth. Yep, man, I mean it makes sense, right? It does. And that's right, I really think that is one of Microsoft's goals uh as it relates to the platform in general, you know, long-term speaking, that you know, they're looking to really leverage hard on that console, you know, community.
SPEAKER_02Well, the new gen, isn't the new gen basically gonna be a PC?
SPEAKER_00Pretty that dumb much, yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, pretty that gum much. I don't think it's I don't know if it's gonna run Windows, but like it's basically gonna have its own OS and stuff, I think, from what I've read. Yeah. I don't know, man. We all may be on an Xbox or something for Software.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, the way deep, man, the way hardware is moving, bro. Five thousand dollar graphics cards. I mean, yeah. You know, it's almost like you know, tinfoil hat moment. You know, it's almost like we'll, you know, I wouldn't rule out the fact that you know these corporations are wanting to move us to where you know we have to lease, you know, PC, PC power, right? You know, it like becomes cloud-based or something crazy like that. And the only, you know, the only way you would be able to, you know, uh, you know, efficiently, you know, afford you know, a high power computers if you rent one or lease one, you know, from a cloud search. You know, like uh NVIDIA now and all that, yeah. GForce Now, whatever it's called. GForce, does it theme do something like that? I think or is it Microsoft? Hold on, hold on, hold on. No, now I know Microsoft has a cloud gaming platform as well.
SPEAKER_02But I think I can't remember who it was. I swear I've used it before. Hold on here. That you literally can like your subscription, you can lease, you know, you can either download it to your console or you can like stream it using their equipment to get better frame rates.
SPEAKER_00Well, I know I know Xbox, I know Xbox Cloud Gaming, you know, like I said, that's maybe what it is. Yeah, I've actually used it, and it's pretty man. I was playing Flight Sim on a Steam Deck, so that's crazy. Yeah, it's it's it's nuts. But you know, I you know, I I just I wouldn't rule anything out at this point. I really wouldn't, you know. I I hope it doesn't come to that, but I mean the way you know prices are for hardware and there's like no end in sight. Good grief, man. Well, where are the video cards running now? Um video cards. I'm just curious. So it looks like you can get a penny wine, a P PN wine, and VAG Force 5070. I see one here for $5.99. That ain't terrible. I ain't horrible. I mean, yeah, so it looks like okay, so it's like we're not like completely cooked just yet, Charlie. I think we're all right. I think we're good. What about like CPU?
SPEAKER_02Sorry, guys, we're like 59ers are like three plus. Yeah. Uh three grand plus.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I'm let me look at these CPU motherboard combos here. I know people are like, oh my gosh. CPU.
SPEAKER_02And that's I think that's gonna be that's what you're already seeing that uh those combos like that. CPU graphics card with RAM. I mean, you're seeing those packages start to come out there.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, absolutely. Because that's how that's how I built mine. I did a CPU motherboard combo on Amazon. All right, now you can get like uh i5 14 six uh 14 600k with the motherboard for you know 450 bucks. So you know, I mean it'll get you in the door. I don't see too much with the CPU and RAM, because you know, RAM is always it's been like a point of contention here lately. But you know, I'll say this if you're needing to upgrade, I will probably do it pretty daggum soon. Just saying. Yeah. Before like things go further off the rails, but anyw, but yeah, so of course, you know, we all know like Spacey Steel King, GPU power looks like the RTX 4090 is still the most common high-end graphics card, which I'm using in 4070. So again, I'm not very surprised in that. Yeah, not too surprised in that. Has anybody have you heard of any meaningful improvements, Charlie, with like the 550 series?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, man, it's like 30% better. Is it yeah? Interesting, interesting and then these new ones coming out are gonna be just stupid. Yeah, well, you know, NVIDIA is actually, I can't remember what it's called, but they're working on a new technology to help increase your frame rates, it's not DLSS.
SPEAKER_00Oh, what it's probably what it's like AI powered or something.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, some I can't remember what they call it, but I was doing a little research on it, and man, it looks promising. Really? That'd be cool. That'd be cool for sure.
SPEAKER_00See, here's my thing. I know if I the probably the next do you run DLSS at all?
SPEAKER_02Sorry to cut you off. Um, do I that's a good question? See, I will give a Sobo and Microsoft credit on that where I used to, you know, a couple updates ago, sim updates, I was full DLSS, but now I'm running TAA, so yeah, still running auto FPS, but it's it's a lot more stable and you don't get all the blurriness.
SPEAKER_00The blurriness, yeah. I don't think I do anymore. I think after SU4 for me, things kind of like yeah, lined out. So I mean, but even I think the latest DLSS, like 4.5 or something like that, whatever the latest DLS is, I've heard like substantial improvement blurriness.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, so those things you still get it, at least I do.
SPEAKER_00But it is substantially better. Yeah, so that's I mean that's cool to see, man. So shout out to NVIDIA for still putting in that good work and not going just all in on the AI on the AI spree and like leaving us behind. So yet now, like watch like news like Monday, you know, NVIDIA stops all consumer GPU GPU products and goes all in on AI. Yay. You know what's interesting?
SPEAKER_02I know we're not a tech show, but the all the AI buzz that was happening, say what, three or four months ago. Yeah, all that's kind of comes up.
SPEAKER_00Simmering down, yeah, yeah. I kind of noticed that too. That's kind of interesting to me.
SPEAKER_02I mean, they straight up did that. They said, Well, you'll get what you get because we're developing AI who was it.
SPEAKER_00I think it was what crucial. What was that memory manufacturer that just went? Was it crucial? Yeah, they just went all in on AI and just said, you know, sorry, we're seeing consumers someone. Oh man, it's layer or externals, that kind of stuff.
SPEAKER_02I think AC wiped out all of that.
SPEAKER_00Well, yeah, so I don't know, man. It's it's it's wild out here in these streets. VR. So
VR Reality Check And Setup Talk
SPEAKER_00virtual reality usage is still from the data, still pretty small, but definitely growing, sitting at like 9.7, which it kind of aligns. Because I I truthfully, for me, Charlie, I'm I'll I use my VR, but I'm not in VR all the time. Uh take off a landing. Yeah, well, pretty much, man. I mean, I just got too many kids for all that. So it's unless I'm VFR, I will usually yeah, yeah. Now DCS man, locked in, bro. Locked in.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. There again, man, it goes back to cost. Well, absolutely now are not cheap.
SPEAKER_00Mm-mm. No, not at all. What about uh isn't uh in meta about to come out with a new one or something like that? I thought I heard rumblings about that. Let me look here or something like that.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, meta vr. That's what I did last weekend. I I fired up the old quest and how she do it in the earth flip. What? Yeah, for me and that link cable, man, it just don't man. I don't know, bro.
SPEAKER_00I ain't mess with no link, and I'm still perplexed. You know, I had a problem with that virtual desktop, and I love that uh I'm still perplexed at that. Like, I felt weird, man. Like, I felt like I saw aliens, and like I was trying to tell, like, hey, dude, like these aliens are real, and everybody's like, bro, we went out and looked at the same place, we didn't see anything. I'm just like, bro, I'm telling y'all what I saw. You know, freaking crazy hair, you know, conspiracy theories guy and all. But yeah, man, I don't know. Like I said, every time I fire up virtual desktop, and it's like robust for me. Like, I can I can like fire up virtual desktop now and like it run and it'd be smooth, you know. Yeah, I don't know. I don't know. But and I lost my train of thought.
SPEAKER_02We see like Mike, I know him and his he's linked up using the problem at all. Yeah, not one issue. Mine looked like you stacking pancakes or something, like it was gosh, that's awful, man. That's so turning the buttons down, doing everything.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, because I mean I know, I mean, I'm you know, I I totally understand it really depends on your network environment. Since that's you know the meat and potatoes of virtual desktop. Yeah, but man, it's I don't know. I really hate that because to me, like the wireless thing is just next level. Like it it really, really helps me out a lot.
Favorite Addons Cameras And Replays
SPEAKER_00See, oh favorite add ons. I almost forgot. And let me let me let me guess. Can you guys guess what? There you go. I was gonna say, can you guys guess what was favorite add-on? Was everybody?
SPEAKER_02Oh my gosh. The real interesting was TOLUS coming in. Yeah, I mean, man, TOLUS is legit, bro. I mean, it's no which I guarantee it's X-Plane and they're the only one, but still that notable mention there.
SPEAKER_00I was like Yeah, Tolus, Tolis is definitely a legit. I even like his attempt in in the MSFS arena with the uh 340-600, man. That thing is pretty solid. I know some folks had issues, but I think one thing to kind of keep in mind is that it's his first entry into you know into the platform. So I kind of you know, you kind of gotta give him a little bit of grace here. But I do love his attempt with the instant replay. Like the replay is pretty freaking cool. Yeah, that is cool. Yeah, pretty freaking cool. Yeah, yeah. You know, and the first to do it, in my opinion, in such a way to where the workflow is pretty dang fluid. I know you got that FCR card. Man, I still ain't freaking really. I think I use that once. I think I use that freaking once. Now, some people swear by like, oh, I love it, you know, but I'm sorry. Laminar like has it when in terms of the replay functionality. I mean, that's just a fact. Yeah. But basically the cameras in general are superior.
SPEAKER_02Well, I mean that kind of stuff, which Chase Plane's trying, man. They're trying to.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, they're trying.
SPEAKER_02Have you have you updated yet? Mm-mm. I installed it just uh because I hadn't messed with it, and uh just see if they fixed the VR thing, flipped the VR and crashed the desktop uninstalled.
SPEAKER_00Really? Was that late? Was that recent?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, about a month ago. Okay.
SPEAKER_00Oh, I know they I know they not well.
SPEAKER_02What I've been reading on that is they're waiting on SU5 to drop, and that's their next phase. Oh gosh, man. Oh, every freaking time. According to their roadmap, like they're this one coming is supposed to be, you know, a lot better, user-friendly, all that yada yada yada. And then the next one, they're already working on it, is supposed to be the one for VR. Gotcha, man. Every freaking time. There's another, there's another one, man. Like, especially doing like we talking about, like a long haul, man. Dude, yes, just having it rotate through. I want a freaking and it's not just a static engine image cockpit or whatever.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I want a freaking tower view, man. Like in the worst way. Yeah, I know, I know, yeah, guys. I know rolling taxes, you know. Yeah, guys, I know you can finagle and get your tower view with you know what we have offering out.
SPEAKER_02But it's just I'm not doing all that trying to operate the aircraft.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's I don't know, guys. Uh yeah, it's hard for me. Yeah, it's pretty bad. Um, but but yeah.
SPEAKER_01So y'all's got that kind of patience.
SPEAKER_00I'm telling you, man, sit there and take an hour, try to uh fart with that camera to get it to get it to do what you want it to do. It's just not for me, man. Maybe Miami by then. Yeah, maybe in my old age, man. I just don't have patience or anything, but like, man, screw that. Like old man hollering at the sky.
unknownDang it.
SPEAKER_01I remember my day.
SPEAKER_00Freaking stroke out. And like if you notice that too, man, like it's like some of the things like it really didn't bother you anymore. And especially when it comes to like this hobby, it's like, oh my gosh, you know, sometimes I have to like, you know, I have to temper my, I have to like legit. All right, it's not that serious, Johnny. You know, I mean, I don't know. You know, especially with you know, some of the stuff. Because I'm looking forward to, I'm not sure if you guys have heard of, you know what, let me just pull it up because I don't want to butcher this dev's name. You guys know how I am with names, and you know, Praetor. I'll never I'll never forget it, man. Like I was, you know, I was talking to the because I don't know if y'all remember an expo, like we ran into that uh oh yeah, the a Prater. Yeah, that Praetor and I wanted to make sure it's like so is it Prater or Pra is like, yeah, Prater. I'm like, so Praet. It was like my brain, like it wasn't like the just it wouldn't translate, like it wouldn't like it start from here and then like it just like got lost here. I like I don't know what happened, but it was just like I don't know, bro. It just did not compute. Uh but yeah, Skyward Simulations, they're working, and I'm talking like they're right at the cusp of releasing. I don't know if that pop hit the microphone, but the cusp of uh releasing the uh citation 680 for Microsoft Flex Simulator 2024, and they're literally waiting for SU5. Yes, absolutely, looks absolutely amazing. Does man, I can't wait.
SPEAKER_02That glass, bro.
SPEAKER_00Man, y'all ain't all the glass, man. Like you're gonna be.
SPEAKER_02Oh my gosh, man. Y'all ain't on the glass. You taking most stain gauges back to the old husky cub or whatever.
SPEAKER_01You get a glass, husky, bro. I thought you were gonna say husk of arno or something. Husk of Arnold. Heck ain't even got a lecture on a rejection now. Give me my carburetor, my discriminator. I ain't got no gas in it.
SPEAKER_00Oh my gosh. But yeah, but yeah, plan, let's see. So, and just a few things on the 680. Looks like it's gonna initially be available in the in-game market release. When it will release soon, I'm just going through the F FAQ. Will we know before release? The plane will definitely not be released without advanced notice. So, yeah, we'll we'll we should definitely hear something here. Um, as far as price, how much it will cost, the price will be in, we'll be with comparable products. Will you include upgraded version with winglets? Winglets are only available for the legacy sovereign. Technically, you have to fit them to the plus. So it looks like it's like a different wing or something like that or whatever. Saturday night. Oh, Mike's in the chat. Mike, ain't you?
SPEAKER_02Man, it's almost lunchtime over here. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, man. I think yeah, I think I did. I think it is, I think it still is Saturday night ops on there. But like I I changed it for the record. I did change it and just didn't translate. So, you know what? Whatever.
SPEAKER_02We fix it after the fact.
SPEAKER_00Nobody will be alright. It's like one and a half persons on here now. The half a person is a bot. Oh yeah. But uh, but yeah, so cool. Sorry for the tangent, but yeah, I'm really excited for the six eight. But anywho, yeah, so you know, we're always, it seems like, you know, with a lot of these releases and and I I get the reasoning. I'm not arguing, I'm not arguing the reasoning, but it seems like, you know, there's all always pre-drop of something really cool. We're waiting on an update. Like, I forgot, was it PMDG or one of them a while back? Man, we were literally like waiting for it for every it may have been like the Lear G. I forget, but we're literally like waiting for like SU4 to drop or something like that. So it's always like I think it was the lyre, wasn't it? Was it the lear? It may have been, it may have been the lyre, but we were like everybody was just like waiting to see because it's legit, man. Like some like we've seen where products have released and service pack, you know, service pack whatever drops, and just you know, boom, like yeah, the whole thing, yeah, completely explodes the experience. So I get it, man. But yeah, it was just like, oh my gosh, it's always the timing, always the timing. But I digress. I digress. Media
Media Habits Discord And Online ATC
SPEAKER_00and industry consumption. I don't think anybody would be surprised with what we found here, but media giants, of course, YouTube is the undispute undisputed leader for that wasn't me. Content consumption. No, that was my I was my you know that adulting thing, yeah. So let's see here. Yeah, adulting.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it always gets in the way of fun time, yeah, man.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, man. But we're actually kind of towards the end here, so that's pretty cool. YouTube, of course, you know, still the leader in for content consumption, like used by over 90% of the community. Discord is 51.3, and though it's used as on a slight downward trend. I wonder if it's because of the ID thing, the little ID scandal Discord got involved in. Yeah, you heard about that? Yeah, but so apparently for I don't know if it's for like I forget the whole context behind it, but for like age verification or something, Discord was requiring folks to like upload their ID, and folks felt the way. And I had never I hadn't ran into that yet.
SPEAKER_02So now I have mixed feelings about Discord in general. Yeah. You get a lot of information, but it's sifting through everything to get to that information. It's back to a patience thing for me. I just want to give me the black and white of it, you know. Just you know what, Charlie. What you're doing, you know what, man? It's probably it's probably more of an age lane, too, because like I just I don't have time either, man. I just I don't, I just man, it's funny. The older I get, the less patience I got for extraness.
SPEAKER_00That's old people.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Good times.
SPEAKER_02Old man hollering at the clouds.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Oh. But yeah, so yeah, no, I got to you have to do that.
SPEAKER_02I haven't heard about this.
SPEAKER_00What no, no, close your eyes. ID to verify that you're up? No, I hadn't ran into that. I think I I think it's for our uh for uh for younger individuals, I'm assuming. I don't know.
SPEAKER_02Like under 18 or something like that.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I think my I don't even think my my oldest has to has had to do that on Discord, but I don't know. Either that or you probably like I don't know, hacked or something. I don't know. But um but yeah, so I mean I I mean again, at least you know that there I kind of understand. Yeah, traditional, but as far as traditional news consumption, good friends over at FSLE, they're definitely leading the way flight sim.com. For real? Folks still using flightsim.com. Yeah, is oh, is this still up? Because then I thought they took it down. Didn't the dude let me go back over here? Yeah, flightsim.com is currently unavailable. I've yeah, I figured that.
SPEAKER_02That happened, I guess, after the survey.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it maybe, yeah, you're right. Maybe I had to survey. So yeah, it looks like they're they remain popular, but have seen declines in traffic as more users turn towards social media or disengage from traditional outlets. I think I see that like outside of flight sim. So, like again, water is wet, you know, totally get that. ATC networks. Keep it pushing. VATSIM remains a as far as sorry, ATC networks what we're talking about. So for the next topic there, VAT sim remains the most popular online network at 40.1%, but AI driven solutions, I'm like Beyond ATC at 27.8%, and say attentions 14.4 are seeing rapid growth, and I totally get it. I'm on say intentions like 9% of the time, and probably Vatsim on like 10%. And the only reason don't be I don't want to hear like you know, like, oh you know, Giants going totally AI or whatever. I don't know, but uh no, like a lot of the places where I go, like there's very seldom any ATC online, you know. I mean it's a volunteer system, so I mean it's a lot of things.
SPEAKER_02Well the time you're flying too, man. I mean, yeah, you got a couple minutes in the afternoon, it's like that they ain't gonna be on to be uh on till evening, you know, and then it might be one or two spots.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Especially like in the morning, sometimes I'll like I'll get up, you know, like man, I'm just gonna run a quick trip and DFW to whatever.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, hot on, it will. Yeah. It's gonna I would be interested to see how close it is this time next year.
SPEAKER_00Oh, absolutely. I think it's gonna be like a dead split. Absolutely, absolutely for sure. Especially, you know, if beyond or say intentions are both incorporated and uh are incorporated in like the console experience as well. Yeah, you know, it's gonna be good nuts. Yeah, seldom staff is now nonsense. Bro, um yeah, you know, but they don't seem to care.
SPEAKER_02I mean, that's what I mean.
SPEAKER_00It's like what can you you know, it's like what can you do though? You know, it's like you know, I'm gonna report you to the supervisor, and then they just go and open up another spam account, and you know, yeah, you're they're back at it. And then but I think that's him got caught up in some nonsense as well, didn't they? Wasn't that a thing where you had to like upload an ID or something? An ID or something. They were trying to do that, trying to do that, or are they doing it? Yeah, I don't remember, but that was a while ago. I do remember that. Yeah, it was a while ago, man. Folks were like, what? I ain't giving you my ID. I don't even pay you money. Why do you need my ID? I don't know, man. It's for me, my personal opinion is not that serious. Like, it's really not, but all right. So yeah, I mean, that was that was really all I had for for the survey. I mean, again, shout out to Navigraph for like aggregating all this data and like presenting it, you know, in a really cool way. Uh they know I wrote up a ticket and they responded with some nonsense about proof. Like, yeah, alright, guy. You know what I mean? I mean, nobody who would take the time to write up a ticket if the offense wasn't warranted. You know, like, you know, I when you want to write up a I don't I I don't want to like you know put in a service ticket for my air conditioning. Like, like, you know what I'm saying? Like, no one wants to take time out of their day to do that. I take time out of my day to like report, you know, a viable issue, and you know, they're like, provide proof. You know, it's all right, whatever.
SPEAKER_02I we don't care, it is what it is, and you know, and I'ma say this, I'ma say this. Because I do that on pilot edge and see what happens. Oh man, yeah, we're out here. You're out here.
SPEAKER_00You off on the spot and take your money, yeah, and and still charge you that whatever they're charging you. Well man, but it's it's why. But yeah, I mean I've heard Pilot Edge, dude. It's you ain't getting none of that. Like it's it's not happening. Yeah, not happening. So I don't know, man. I I I I I hope that sim continues to, you know, maneuver and improve, continue to improve to maintain relevant in the industry. Because if these AI solutions continue to, from a technological perspective, think continue to move forward in such a way to where I mean, between having like legit traffic, the that's for that's my the phraseology is getting way better, the cadence, the cadence of uh the control instructions are getting better. You know, that you know, over time I've noticed I've noticed less of less of a robotic nuance to them as that continues to improve. I don't know, man. I just I don't know. You know, and then you know, it's like the more users they get, I can see those prices start to kind of come down in such a way to maybe, you know, at some point it'll be a little more conducive for, you know, like for example, like my 16-year-old, you know, hey, you know, I can toss up $10, $10 a month or $15 a month or whatever for a subscription and you know, get a solid experience without having to deal with the nonsense. Now, that's not to say that there's not nonsense on say intentions. I haven't experienced it, but apparently people like some folks drop F-bombs or something, and you know, whatever. Yeah, it gets clicked or something like that. I don't even use my voice, I don't want nobody hearing me. Yeah, man.
SPEAKER_01Who's this brother? Try not make a right.
SPEAKER_02Oh belly's on tonight.
SPEAKER_00Man, you joke, bro. We had this guy, man. We had this guy in Memphis. He always worked approach control, and like he had that, you know, you can tell he was from Mississippi. He was like either from like Arkansas or like South Mississippi, and it was oh man, it was thick, did he? Thick, bro, you know, thick, and you know, like in and as you transition in different locales and areas, you know, sometimes you have to like adjust because the cadence is quicker. Like you go up to like many or you know, you start heading east, you know, they're like, you know, and it's like, oh what the heck, you know. Bro, you gotta slow down. Yeah, especially, especially, you know, for folks from the south like myself, it's like, you know, brain like if you but you like like when bro was on, bro, when when the bro was on the scope, you have no issues, bro. It was you know, the just the the cadence was just perfect. And then your mind is blown as soon as you hit you know the toilet or something. But but yeah, so I don't know, man. It's it's it's it's definitely gonna be interesting next year to see what to see how this whole you know ATC movement's gonna go.
SPEAKER_02Question for you. What do you think about all this flight radar stuff and how that's gonna oh with FSTL?
SPEAKER_00That's right, yeah, because FST was shut down, bro.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah. Their traffic conductor is done. Yeah, they uh I like the AI programs because it's kind of stinks. You get on Vatsim and there's like three planes in Atlanta and oh dude's terrible. You get on standard and there's 50. Yeah, yeah, it's freaking terrible.
SPEAKER_00And y'all have heard me grab about this on Vatsim before. Like, don't like don't it's terrible. I'm going to uh uh don't jump on like center and beat me while I'm on takeoff roll. Like, bro, you see me on the rad, you see me on the radar, like on roll. Man, let me go. Just just let me let me at least let me uh let me at least finish the act of taking off so I don't end up in the trees, then I'll hit you up. We're on two. I don't know. Yeah, exactly. You know, unless we're on 280, you know, end up on 285 or yeah, you know, hot start. Anywho, uh yeah, yeah, so I don't know, like lots of good information on the survey. You guys definitely have an opportunity to definitely check it out. FS Elite also had a really good breakdown of it as well, so definitely check that out. A couple couple other items there, a couple of other flight sim related items. So
Praetor 600 Dev Stream News
SPEAKER_00the uh Microsoft uh gave some details on the and of course, you know. I was uh the Prater, Charlie. Um I'm gonna let you talk about the Praetor because I seem like I screw it up every time. So yeah, uh Prader. What about the Praetor, Charlie?
SPEAKER_02Whoa, heck, man. I just lost my train of thought.
SPEAKER_00Happens, bro. Happens, man.
SPEAKER_02But no, uh they uh Microsoft yeah, I've literally lost my time.
SPEAKER_00No, dude, like I didn't know.
SPEAKER_02I'll tell you, bro, it's getting old.
SPEAKER_00No, man, but they uh Microsoft had a uh their latest uh April 2026 dev dev stream and they touched on a few things. We touched on some of it as well with the uh weather radar and all that fun stuff, but one of the bigger items is uh they're released some information on the uh on the Prater 600 when they're you know talking about how the hydraulic systems are gonna be simulated, the and it's like individual circuits are gonna be modeled as well, the APU is gonna be gonna include some pretty advanced and gnarly logic. So definitely, definitely looking forward to that. It's gonna implement oh, looks like they're also gonna implement a pretty fleshed out version of the Collins uh Proline Fusion as well. Yeah, independent flight management systems, LNAV and VNAV as well, performance coups, all that. Yeah, it's gonna be pretty freaking sweet. It's gonna be solid, man. I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm here for it for sure. I am definitely here for it. Let's see here. What else I want to touch on? Show notes. Anything I missed, Charlie, that you know of. Let's see here, yeah.
SPEAKER_02Oh, we did like get some new screenshots of the 220.
SPEAKER_00Oh, yeah, yeah. I don't know, man. It's it's one of those. Drop it already. Yeah, just call me when it drops. And I'm not not taking anything away. Let yeah, you took your time, do your thing. But just like with just like with the 7.5, call me when it drops.
SPEAKER_01Let me know when it's dropped.
SPEAKER_00Yep, absolutely. Absolutely. But other than that, man, it's kind of been a little quiet. Yeah, it's been it's been pretty quiet, actually. Nothing just like earth shattering, you know. Uh PMDG releases.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, they're their stuff.
SPEAKER_00So yeah, you know, their high def updates just hit the dash nine. I mean, yeah, dash nine, dash eight, and of course the seven released with it. So looks great, you know, as always. Form form is really good. If y'all hadn't picked it up yet, you know, go ahead and hit that update and check them out. But yeah, man, FX Expo again, y'all, right around the
FlightSim Expo Reminder And Signoff
SPEAKER_00corner. If y'all hadn't booked yet, got everything, you know, locked in for as far as reservations. You're late. You're late. Yeah, right around the corner, man. And we're all gonna be there. So definitely looking forward to seeing yeah, man. Yeah, man. Absolutely. Yeah, yeah, no, looking forward to meeting uh each and every one of you as well. So yeah, uh, again, guys, um definitely check it out on uh flightsim expo.com forward slash register. And yeah, that's that's all I got, man. Uh any final parting thoughts for for the audience, Charlie? Uh I got nothing. Everybody just take care of yourself. Yeah, man, absolutely. And make sure to spade and spade neuter your animals, yeah. Yep, spade neuter animals, don't buy chickens and keep the blue side up. We'll see it. See it.