Atlanta Scenery Drama And A Phenom Obsession

We run through the biggest flight sim headlines after a brief break, from Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 Sim Update 5 to major add-on releases that change what flying feels like day to day. We also unpack a kernel-level DRM blowup around a new Atlanta scenery and talk about why mission-based flying and deeper aircraft “experience” design is where the hobby is headed. 
• Sim Update 5 scope and quality-of-life improvements 
• Aircraft Avionics Update 4 and bringing payware up to 2024 standards 
• GSX UI overhaul, improved stability, and in-sim hotfix workflow 
• New releases including the BO 105 helicopter and PMDG DC-6 compatibility 
• SayIntentions Skynet Live multiplayer and hopes for better AI traffic for XP12
• FS Reborn Phenom 300E as an end-to-end light jet experience 
• Career mode, JetCard, and why missions create replayability 
• Phenom performance, G3000 feel, and the FBO placement feature 
• Citation Sovereign Plus and Falcon 50 anticipation, CPDLC talk 
• Orbx Atlanta kernel-level DRM controversy and the subsequent pivot 
• Practical Atlanta install advice, disabling default scenery, performance notes 
• DCS updates including the Heatblur F-14 and storage relief plans 
• Flight Sim Expo plans and why the community matters 
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Transcript

Welcome Back And Quick Housekeeping

SPEAKER_01 0:00

From the laboratory. Welcome to the Plus Traffic Podcast, an ABA Central Flight Simulation show. Welcome aboard.

SPEAKER_00 0:45

I'm Johnny, and we're running some single pilot ops today. It's been been a bit of a hiatus, so definitely apologize for that. Summer graduations, you name it, it's been happening. You know, the whole adulting thing, you guys get the drift. But I did not want to go a minute longer without touching basis with you guys and going over. Man, it's it's it's been uh it's been a lot of news here uh in the past past couple weeks. And I mean we're talking sim updates, um, some releases, and you know, you guys know the tried and true flight sim drama. You know, there's it's just it's you know, we we get them in cycles, right? We get it in cycles, but nevertheless, first and foremost, shout out to our Patreon backers, guys. Thank you for keeping bills paid. Definitely, definitely appreciate it. Be sure you guys check us out on our Facebook, all of our socials, and all that fun stuff. Call to action over. Let's slide into it.

Sim Update 5 Highlights

SPEAKER_00 1:53

Sim update five. Most of you guys have already picked it up, but um, you don't have a choice probably now at this point. I think all of our platform I think all of our sims have already updated or whatnot. And yeah, I mean, pretty sizable in terms of scope, some quality of life improvements. I think they did a lot of things with career mode, some B tolls, heavy aircraft, things of that nature. Also, with that, I think, yeah, so we got the the aircraft avionics update number four, and brought some, also brought some payware aircraft up to 2024 standards, uh the ATR 4272 and the Antonov AN2, which man, I had not I have not flown that guys in quite some time. I think the last one I've flown, it was Payware. Oh, I forgot the name of it. Those of you who have flown an AN2, and not a real one, but an AN2 and SIM probably know the one I'm talking about. I I'm not sure. I can't remember if it was a P3D or 2020, but very unique yet capable airplane. Uh I'll give them that. I think and freaking get in anywhere out. There's only like one or two win estates that's flying. But super cool and glad to see that we were able to get one for 2024. I gotta put that put that on the docket. There's a lot of yeah, there's a lot of aircraft I just have not touched. And it's this is totally my fault, guys. It's totally, totally my

GSX UI Changes And Stability

SPEAKER_00 3:34

fault. And let's see here, and also there's been a lot of air, there's been a lot of a lot of updates and such with GSX as well. I'm not sure if you guys, like the GSX4.0.whatever update. Completely changed the UI, which I'm not quite sure how I feel about that, guys. What do y'all think? I mean I'll say this. It's refreshing. It is refreshing. It's it's nice to, you know, the the UI that we know is GSX has been around for like a decade, so I mean I'm I'm here for it. It's it's just taking some getting used to for me. I mean, most everything is still there, it's just you know, kind of bigger and blown up, but I don't know. That's just me, me and my me and my quirkiness. But I I will give FS Dream Team some credit for me, and this is speaking for me. I think the stability has definitely improved. Um, I like the ability to apply hot fixes in sim. I can't tell y'all how many times, you know, you fire up the sim, and you guys know especially if you hadn't simmed in, you know, like a couple weeks. You're like, oh yeah, you know, get everything fired up, you know, you're updating this, updating that, or whatnot. And you get into sim and you fire up GSX, and GSX has this big, you know, big warning that says, you know, you need an update, and you're like, man, should I send it now or should I go back and and and try to pick up this update? So it's it's pretty cool that uh that now we have the ability to you know apply a hot fix and you know, boom, Bob's your uncle, you're off to the races. Now I think probably more significant updates. You of course you still got to go through the installer, but nevertheless, you know, I kind of see where Umber Umberto's going with it. So, you know, I'm I'm totally here for it. Totally here for it. Some big releases as well.

New Aircraft And Multiplayer Drops

SPEAKER_00 5:41

Definitely had some big releases. No, Miltech just released a helicopter that I was really looking at, and I haven't picked it up only because I I don't know when I will send it. Actually, it's Stratorware, and Miltech dropped the MBBO 105 helicopter, helicopter for Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024, and it's pretty cool. Pretty cool. It was the and I remember it from the uh forget the pilot's name, but he flew the one with the uh with the Red Bull paint. You guys are familiar with it, and you know, I mean, just guys like full send with it, you know, running inverted or whatnot. Super cool machine, super cool machine. And I was like, man, it'd be pretty interesting to try that out. But you know, less, you know, it's just been, you know, you got so much time and there's so much to send. It's like, you know, choices, choices, choices, choices. Also, PMDG uh brings the DC6 over to 2024. Now, that being said, I don't think they have dropped it with a 2024 native model or like taking advantage of all you know the awesomeness that 2024 has to offer, but I think they just made it compatible with 2024, from what I gather. Um, guys, keep me honest. It's pretty cool. I mean, it's you know, things still flying in Alaska, fucking Everett's air cargo, something like that. They're still running the ever-living docks now, I think. I think between uh the DC 6 and uh what else is up there? I think our friends of our Buffalo Airways are still sending the C47 as DC3. I don't think those things ever die. It's just I don't know. That and CRJ 200s. I don't think CRJ 200s would ever die either, even though, you know, it's so completely off tangent. It's so sad to see a Spirit Airlines A320 that's you know R321 Neo hit the bone yard and get scrapped, four years old, and you got CRJ 200s that are like 40 years old and are still, you know, subjecting people to just horrible experiences to this day. Oh my gosh. All right, yep, yep, all right, cool. I'm back. I'm back, guys. Crashed out for a minute. We're good, we're good, but yeah, nevertheless, they did make that happen. It looks looks pretty good in 2024. Looks pretty good in 2024 for sure. Say Intentions also launched Skynet or Skynet Live, uh multiplayer for X-Plane, which I think is pretty cool. And I'm I'm hoping this is kind of segueing into getting that AI traffic experience that we're getting in 2024 with Say Intentions and X Plane 12. If they do that, which I'm pretty sure they're working on it, but they made it clear that 2024 is the priority, which I get it. I get it. But I'm hoping this this movement or this this this hearing will eventually kind of get us toward that direction. I think that'd be really be really cool. Let's see here.

Why The Phenom 300E Hits Different

SPEAKER_00 9:17

Oh man, last but not least for 2024. I say that, but there's still quite a bit. We're just we're we're we're hitting at a high level for sure. But FS Reborn drops the Phenom 300 Echo, Phenom 300E or the FSR 300 from FS Reborn. It's definitely been a long time coming. I remember meeting Raola Expo, him showing us, you know, some just some previews there, and just seeing his sheer excitement over the project. Just, you know, you you can feel his passion for the project. And, you know, when we, you know, you know, when we this was what, I think we're in Houston. So I was what, 2023? Yeah, I was like, 2023. You know, of course, we you all know how we are as consumers, you know, we want it now, want it now, want it now. But I definitely can appreciate the fact that Raul took his time and released an absolute banger of a product for a number of reasons. And I think, you know, I know a lot of you, especially those of you who have already purchased and you know flown it for a week or whatnot. Uh outside of operating the aircraft, it encompasses the whole experience, right, of you know managing a light jet. You know, the majority, the majority of these aircraft are not only in 91 ops, you also see them in 135 operations. And you got to take care of the passenger, right? You know, and and not only take care of the passenger, you know, the uh aircraft and you know, 135 operations, they cater to a certain type of passenger. You know, I'm not gonna, you know, we're not gonna, you know, say anything in particular, but and then you know, let's just be honest. You're gonna deal with super needy passengers. I mean, that's just you know, that's just the nature of the beast, right? That's the clientele that, you know, those type of operations like AirShare, NetJets, and all those guys cater to. And, you know, there's certain aspects of that. You know, of course, you're dealing with dealing with catering, you're dealing with passenger comfort, you're dealing with operating the aircraft within an envelope that's comfortable for the passenger, right? And to me, that adds more value than any piece of eye candy you can give me. And I think for me, and this is just speaking, you know, for Johnny, I think that's what brings me back continuously to the hot start 650. Yes, yes, I know, I know. We're we're we're you know, that's an X-Plane 12, that's a super mid-size or whatever, completely different aircraft. I totally get it, but but I'm speaking in terms of experience, even though the Hot Start 650 is you know starting to show its age in some aspects visually, but I think the overall, you know, experience of operating said aircraft brings a lot of replayability. I can't tell you guys how many aircraft that look absolutely amazing get you from point A to point B, you know, has all the little digits and gadgets, and I'm making up my own words to describe an aircraft that always ends up in a hangar after maybe like a month of usage, y'all know what I'm talking about. You know, you you pick up this air, I mean, and the hype is real for this aircraft, and you you pick it up and it's great. But once you get past the the clickable, clickable exterior, the you know, the the awesome engine sounds, the you know the 50th iteration of you know the GTN 750 being mounted in such a way on the panel. I I'm just yeah, I'm I'm just yeah. You know, eventually ends up in a hangar. And you know, it's you know, it leaves one wanting, you know, I think after a few hours, you know, in some of these aircraft.

Missions Career Mode And JetCard

SPEAKER_00 13:55

And I think you know, in a certain way, I think this is kind of moving us in a direction of having meaning to getting a you know CJ3 from point A to point B. Or, you know, spending, you know, however many hours in sim. You know, we you know, we see it with the career mode, we see it with Jet Card. I'm not sure if you guys have you know heard about that yet, but you know, apparently it's this complete ecosystem that allows you to operate, you know, a myriad of different aircraft for hire, you know, so it could you could be transporting a some oil and gas execs, you could be transporting a sports team, you could be in something as small as a citation, or you could be something as large as a you know, an Airbus CJ or Boeing BBJ. And being the old guy in a room, I will I'm not gonna lie, I'm be honest. I was a little apprehensive. I was like, man, you know, who needs that? You know, I just need to give me my point to point B, give me my, you know, procedure turns, give me my, you know, you know, complete comprehensive ATC simulation, my bat sim, my say intentions or whatever, and I'm good. But I can't help but appreciate what a lot of these developers have been able to do by incorporating, you know, real-world schedules, various data feeds from real-world sources to build, and I know we're kind of going off going off a tangent here from the FINA, but you know, to build a platform that you know gives you a plausible mission base. Um I think that's really cool. I'm definitely definitely been looking at JetCard and shout out to uh my man Leo Sticks. He did a really good uh check out his channel, by the way. He did a really good uh walkthrough with Jetcard, and I think I may check

Phenom Specs Handling And FBO Builder

SPEAKER_00 16:23

it out. I think I may check it out, especially when you're getting aircraft like the uh like the Phenom 300. For me, you know, just speaking in terms of aircraft, the aircraft's very capable. Mop.80, although I think I've been I've been hitting about mop 0.78 range of, you got a range of like 2,000 miles, so you're hitting LA to Chicago or Miami to Boston, you got a service ceiling of 450, I believe. Some screaming Bratt Whitney, I think they're 53 Pratt Whitney, 53 E1s or something like that. Great takeoff performance. You know, you're you're flying in 3,200 feet, so you know, you can hit the small regional airports, you can get into your teeterboroughs, you can get into your, you know, of course, Atlanta, your decap peach trees, you name it, you know, you can get in there. I think the passenger capacity is, you know, I think eight, eight or nine, something like that. Very capable aircraft. And it's and it may be just just me, but I have so have you guys have, you know, like for example, you may heard of an aircraft, but you know, you hear about some of the capabilities, like, oh I guess that's pretty cool. But until you are actually able to fly the airplane in sim and really see even an approximation of set aircraft's capabilities, you kind of look at it differently. You're kind of like, man, like if I was if I was just looking for a people mover, you know, this may be something, you know, I would like take a hard look at a hard look at this, maybe something I would drop $8, 9 million for however much these things are worth. Uh, you know, but you know, you guys know me. Like, if I if I had my dream aircraft, it would be a Pilot PC 12. Everyone knows that. You know, we all know that, you know, Johnny loves his Pilotus PC12. And GX, by the way. But with that being said, if I had a number two, I would legit say that the Phenom 300 would probably be my number two for sure. Just because I have a very needy family. Like, I I I can't get my wife in 172. Like, I got her in 172 once, and that was it. But she just won't do it. But, you know, if you're pulling up in, you know, something like a Phenom where, you know, you got a you know, complete airline style service lab, you know, a cabin management system, you got the Wi-Fi, and I'm pretty sure someone has a STC Sterling kit for that thing by now. So, you know, you got your interwebs and your LED lighting. I mean, you're just it's the perfect machine to, you know, head from wherever to the keys, right? Uh Aspen, California. And there aren't very many places that, you know, you're gonna need to, you know, you're gonna need to make a gas stop. Now, you know, when you're talking like TransCons or something like that, you're really getting out of the mission profile for the phenom, I think. You know, when you're looking at, you know, your LEX to Teeterbarrel, you know, we might need to be looking at maybe like a citation 680 or aka the Silverin, wink wink, you know, or something in that mid-sized class to really give you those long legs. And, you know, but anything to me, I think anything like under 1500 miles, I mean the 300 all day long for sure, without a doubt. Without a doubt. Of course, you know, certified for single pilot operation. It runs the Garmin 3000 Prodigy Touch, I believe. Very intuitive. Of course, you know, it's the G3000. It leverages, you know, the working tiles G3000 avionics platform, but it's extremely, extremely well done. I think the only thing, I'm not even gonna really say negative, it's one of those characteristics where, you know, I've never been the real thing. So I can't sit here and tell you that, you know, oh, this is awesome. I'm not gonna do that. But it did feel a little squirrely on the takeoff role. It could be something heart-related, I don't know. It could be how the real thing is. I don't know. However, I think after I think we're we're on 1.0.6 or .8, I forget. It's one of those. But since the latest update, guys, it's been way better for me. Way better. And I've think I've logged about 20 hours in it. Uh it's it's it's that good. Though, and and again, the the passenger experience, very well done. The air conditioning, even like managing the VCS, very well done. The little nuances as it relates to operating a FedEx equipped aircraft. If you're doing a, you know, you fire up two, come off of the GPU. When you fire up one, the N1 on two comes up to keep the generator spinning at a frequency high enough to support, you know, to support. The interest. It's, I mean, just the little new, it's the little things, guys, right? It's really the little things for us that really, you know, just make you say, just uh, you know, what an amazing experience. Trying to think of anything, you know, any gotchas, anything. And I I really hadn't had, I don't think I've had in 20 hours. I hadn't had a bad trip yet. And the FBO is a completely different, you know, completely different topic on its own. Absolutely amazing. Very intuitive as far as setting it up. It's nothing super cumbersome. You can place them, I think, pretty much anywhere. That being said, I haven't messed with it much. I think I dropped one in like Dustin. Uh Dustin, Florida. I dropped a random FBO, and it's just, I mean, it looks gorgeous. Oh my gosh. Looks absolutely has uh upstairs and uh yeah, yeah, upstairs and downstairs, two-story. And of course, you can walk through the entire FBO, the upstairs area, kind of go on like a little balcony, just really, really cool. The only thing I can probably, you know, I've I've I've kind of noticed it's a little because most of the airports I go to, like, again, I'm just speaking for myself, most of the airports are already custom. So, but I can I can totally see if you're in a very bland airport and you're trying to, you know, add a little seasoning to your to your local airport or whatnot. I think I think that I think the I think the FBO would, you know, kind of tie everything, complete the experience, so to speak. So just well done, Raul. An amazing job. Of course, we all know you're not done with it. So looking forward to more updates for sure. And we're not done with the business

Citation Silveren Plus And Falcon 50 Watch

SPEAKER_00 24:01

yet. So we still got another one that's been on final approach for a while, actually. I think they I think we're getting close. We might see it next week. Of course, we're recording this on the 30th of May. But citation silver in plus from Skyward Simulations. So now we're hitting again, we're hitting that super mid-sized realm there. So, you know, we're looking, we're definitely looking at some long legs for sure. The feature list is pretty extensive. You guys can look it up. One thing I thought was pretty cool though, the CPDLC is gonna be built in as well. And I think, if I'm not mistaken, that uses the G3000 as well. So you'll be able, I think it's one of the first to equip CPDLC in a 3000. I could be wrong. I could be wrong. I already know folks are you know, gonna come for me. They're like, oh, you know, you're completely wrong. Blah, blah, blah. I'm I'm I'm probably am wrong, but but I'm just saying. It it it you know, it definitely looks like a first from what I've uh looked at. Hydraulic simulation looks like it's pretty extensive as well. It's gonna be interesting. Gonna be interesting for sure. Okay, so yeah, it looks like it's gonna be a full CPDLC system that's baked into garments for DATIS, departure clearance, oceana clearances, and you know, with looks like multiple support for I mean support for multiple networks like Hoppy, Beyond ATC, and say intention. So that's that's gonna be sweet. Definitely looking forward to that one for sure. And I mean it's it's we're we're we're starting to see the shift, guys. Like I'm really I'm really excited for what's to come. We hadn't even really heard much from Contro. I'm curious to see what's gonna be you know be brought to light during Expo. I know last we heard from Contro, who's doing the Falcon 50, I believe, for Flight Simulator 2024. Yeah, I'm just in here because I'm double checking. Yeah, the uh Falcon 50. Uh they were pretty far along, so you know I'm I'm thinking sometime maybe Q3. This is just my pure speculation. I don't have any inside inside tips or anything like that, but yeah, it looks like most likely we'll probably see it here pretty soon for sure. Certified up to 40, 49,000 feet. Whoo! So this is when, you know, like when you're when you're looking at this caliber aircraft, you're starting to look at some London to New York, TransCon, and Transoceanic. That's where you're well, that's what you're doing in the Falcon 50. Oh man. Yeah, it's gonna be sweet. Going to be sweet. Speaking of sweet, there's definitely been some things that's been kind of sweet, but not so sweet.

Orbx Atlanta DRM Controversy Explained

SPEAKER_00 27:19

I don't know. The whole controversy thing that you know I was telling you guys about at the start of the show. Yeah, so Orbix is or has actually as of today, they dropped it today, actually. They released the their version of Atlanta Hearts Field, brought to you by Orbix and Matteo Benzani. So sorry if I butchered your last name. And oh, let me uh yeah, so this was pretty interesting. I'm not gonna lie, guys, I was pretty, pretty darn excited for this one. I I I have a Madine Sims version, which for me, I guess, I don't know. It it it it accomplishes the mission for me, but I I do understand people have had horrible experiences with it. I did as well, which is probably the reason why I didn't venture to Atlanta much, but that's neither here nor there. But so yeah, it's been a lot of drama in the past 40 hours. So Orbix revealed that uh Atlanta install instructions would require users to navigate to their community folder and run a third-party application called L3 SimGuard Launcher.exe. And users will have to input a key and leave the software running to use the airport. Sound familiar? There's more. So hours later, the the community uh discovered that the uh DRM required kernel level access. So for the uninitiated, you know, we're not talking about oral rettenbacher or you know, smart popper, any kind of popcorn, anything like that. So kernel level access is essentially the core of the Windows operating system. You're talking like at the machine level, at the hardware level. And the problem is, and that's this is not unheard of, there's a lot of software that has to operate at that level in order to do their job. Here's the problem if the software running at said level has a bug or gets compromised, it can barbecue your system for lack of better terms. Or, you know, open back doors for some malware, things of that nature, all kinds of no good can transpire if you know the things aren't done correctly as it relates to software that has access at that level. So, to I guess to further exacerbate matters, the developer of L3 SemGuard on DRM joined Orbix. They all got into the Discord. I was it was um, I'm just gonna be honest, guys. It was some pretty darn good reads. You guys get the opportunity, you know. Don't sleep on Discord for your news. I'm just saying. Just saying. But but they uh, you know, they did mention that the DRM was coded using AI-assisted tools, and he and uh again, this is when the validity, I'm not entirely sure, but you know, I'm just gonna put it out here and I'll let you guys do your own due diligence. But the uh individual mentioned that he had only completed five semesters of a computer science degree, and the community, the community was outraged that an inexperienced developer was asking for the deepest possible access to their PCs. So, of course, and you know, I seen this. I'm just like, oh my gosh. And yeah, there was backlash across Reddit, Discord, Ab Sim. It was bad. It was so bad until Orbitx management apparently stepped in. They uh did a complete pivot, and this morning when they dropped it, the um L3 Simgar was removed entirely, and the scenery was released for $30 without any external DRM attached. So, what do you guys think about that? Of course, you know, feel free to drop feedback, leave us a voicemail. I I really want to get your guys' input on this one.

Smarter DRM Choices And Atlanta Install Tips

SPEAKER_00 31:44

I think for me, and this is just my thoughts, DRM isn't going anywhere. I just think this this is just really this is poorly executed, right? You know, I think there were some different ways of doing it. Other developers in the hobby have been using DRM for years. You know, it's there for you know, it now we you know use it all that time and explain. But for me, I think at this point, if I'm looking, you know, to protect my intellectual property as a developer, and you know, I want to do it in the least intrusive way as possible. I mean, marketplace is the way to go for me. And and that was, you know, when I first seen this, I was like, well, if you're that concerned about it, and then and and I get it. As a developer, I I totally get it. But just drop it on marketplace. You know, I mean, you got the encryption there, you know, got the backing of a sobo as relates to that. Let's drop it on marketplace. If I have to run 90 different types of DRM just to run my sim, I mean I might as well just start buying for marketplace. You know, and I think I so there was some other talk as well in the Discord. There was some mention of Contrail events like the because I uh I'm not sure if this was the developer of the because it was it was a different different Discord name, but said individual mentioned that, you know, of course this DRM isn't going anywhere, that you know, Contro is going to be using it, etc. etc. Basically that's gonna happen whether you wanted to or not. Like that's it, that's literally how some of the, you know, some of the dialogue in the Discord was, you know, that was that was the tonality of the dialogue. So, you know, again, I mean, we're you know, I think at that point, you know, as a consumer, you know, I I will start looking at the marketplace for sure. You know, if let's say if something's gonna drop, you know, I'm just gonna throw out a name on SEMMARKET and it's running its own DRM, and then you got Orbix and it's running DRM, and then you got this, and you know, you got like nine different EXEs running in your services, you know. I mean, wouldn't it just be easier to just wait for it to drop in marketplace and just pick it up in marketplace and be done with it? I don't know. And then as if the developer even chooses to drop in the marketplace, right? You know, it's purely at the discretion of the developer. So, you know, totally get that. But yeah, you know, but DREM aside, the airport's great. I did pick it up again, it was like $29.99 something, whatever, $30 US. And it's solid. It's solid, but I will say, just make sure, and I don't know why 2024 does this, but it does it to me all the time. Make sure that your default Atlanta scenery is disabled. Even if you disabled it already at one point, double check and make sure disable it's disabled because whatever reason, again, it could be something I've done or whatever, it re-enabled itself for me. And I'm like, I was I landed on there's like two sixths left or something like that. And I mean, my 737-900 kind of slip and slid like right off of the taxaway. It was, it was, it was, it was crazy. It was crazy. But yeah, just double check and make sure you disable all your previous Atlanta scenery, otherwise, you may have a Grand Canyon in between Taxiway, in between concourse, box truck, wherever that is back there. Yeah, it was like a massive canyon right there in the middle of it. But anyway, but yeah, solid, been ascent, several flights in and out of it, and performance was decent. It was a little heavy. I'll give it that. It was pretty heavy, but I mean, most of the most of the scenery is uh like you know, for example, DFW, but it's not to the point to where it's immersion breaking, but you can definitely tell it's a little heavy. It runs a little head on the heavy side. So, you know, just keep that in mind and yeah, check it out while the DR while the DREM's not there for sure. I'm not sure if buddy's going back to the drawing board or or what he's looking to do, but yeah, that was um I mean I I just you know uh it's really not even DRM that kind of that that really that just had me concerned. It was just the fact that it was just horribly executed. And you know, I think, you know, the you know it's it's one thing that's make that makes this hobby great. And you know, I think it's an aspect that, you know, kind of, you know, kind of puts the consumer in a weird position. You know, anyone can develop for flight, you know, uh, you know, can can develop something for flight sim, right? And you know, as long as it, you know, does what it needs to do and provides an experience, you know, you can upload it to a publisher and you know, boom, there you go. But, you know, when you start talking about software that's requesting, you know, kernel level access, for me, you know, it's the little one settling that, you know, one would take a risk as to you know build an application, you know, using AI assisted tools. And again, there's in a and there's nothing, absolutely nothing wrong with, you know, leveraging AI to improve your workflow, you know. But when it's driving your workflow for me, and you know, this is you know, this is coming from a developer, that's where I kind of draw the line. So, you know, hopefully, you know, hopefully said gentleman, you know, goes back to the drawing board, you know, figures out what he needs to figure out, and you know, I'm I'm I I don't think this is the last we've seen of this. So, but yeah, like you know, and again, solid airport, you know, you guys check it out. Yeah, usual DRM drama. But let's see here. Oh, yeah, almost forgot, guys.

DCS F-14 Milestones And X-Plane Updates

SPEAKER_00 39:01

The DCS. Really excited about this one as well because the F-14, Heat Blur F-14s finally came out of early access. And we're also going to see the F-14A export variant and the AIM, I think it's the AIM7E Sparrow, and the TARP serve, the tactical airborne reconnaissance pod functionality. So that's gonna be pretty cool, which I hadn't I hadn't flown the F-14 in a while. I'm gonna have to have to fire that guy up. And also, another one I'm pretty, pretty stoked about. Grinnelli Designs, their F-100 is getting closer to release. Pre-ordered my copy. Looking forward to the Super Saber or aka the Hun. There used to be one at Gila Bend. Was it Hila? No, it wasn't Gila Bend, it was Casa Grand, Casa Grand Airport. Those of you who are out there in Arizona, let me know if that airplane's still there. But it was like a display. Maybe it was Casa Grand. But yeah. Every time I do like a little cross-country there, land or whatever, and you know, get out, get a Coke or something, and you see this massive, I'm like, what the heck is that? It was massive. And you really don't, when you see the F-100 on, you know, on the video scope or the TV for the younger people. But when you see this airplane in person, the thing is massive. I mean, absolutely massive. So every time I'll fly into there, I always kind of, you know, I'll park, go out, and just look at it. It's like, wow. I mean, just very impressive machine. Watch the videos, guys. That's all I can tell you. Grinnelli designs have completely blown me away. There also gonna be an expo, by the way. We're gonna touch a little bit on a little bit on expo for this show. We're actually gonna do an expo pre-show June 7th, I believe. I'm gonna have Evan on and a few other guests, and uh, we're gonna chop it up by expo. So two weeks away, guys. Two weeks away. Hotels are, I think pretty sure the hotels in the immediate area are pretty booked. Pretty booked. But yeah. So, and what else are DCS? Storage release, uh, storage release. My goodness, it's late. Storage relief is coming for uh from Eagle Dynamics. They uh have announced that they're actively testing new terrain optimization tech to reduce install sizes. True story. Yeah, the install sizes for DCS are horrendous. You can, it's one of the few, like any piece of software where you can legit install a two-terabyte hard drive and darn near fill darn near fill the thing up. True story. So that's really cool to see that. So crucial news, yeah. So yeah, if you're trying to fit the massive Afghanistan map and the Iraq maps on the SSD, it's it's yeah, it's tough. It's tough for sure. So lots of movement going on in DCS as well. I explained 12, fly JSM 737-200. Looks like we're finally getting a release window for the 200, which I'm trying to think, as what who's still flying the two? Is Canadian Noor still flying that thing? Or didn't they have like a gravel version or something? I'm curious. But yeah. So looks like they'll be getting old, the old school 73-2 coming up soon. And also Hot Start starting to get some updates as well for the Hot Start 650. It's looking looking pretty sweet. I think there are some graphical updates coming eventually down the road as well, so it's gonna be cool. And so yeah, X-Plane. I think we're on what 12.4, something like that. And even X Plane 12 is looking great as well. It looking great as well in its own way. In its own way. Again, we're not gonna do the whole pears thing, but yeah, it's they're definitely moving in the in the right direction. So kudos to Laminar for that. Absolutely. Last but not least, let's see here.

Flight Sim Expo Plans And Final Thoughts

SPEAKER_00 43:56

Oh, yeah. Lights and Maxpo 2026. Guys, we are getting down to the wire. And again, we're recording this May 5th, and expo begins June 12th, I believe. Yep. So right around the corner, guys. Right around the corner. And St. Paul, Minnesota, of course. Grinnelli Designs. You guys heard me mention them before. They're going to have a pretty pretty sweet booth. It's gonna be a pretty sweet looking booth where you can test fly the Super Saber as well. So please know the warrior will be there. So if you guys are heading the expo, look for us. We'll be in the Close Traffic Podcast shirts. There, there you go. Close traffic podcast shirts. We'll be uh bringing a little swag as well. So yeah, come come reach out, shake a hand. Definitely looking forward to it for sure. Looking forward to it for sure. All right, what else, guys? Let's see here. I think that is it. That's I think that's really all we wanted to touch on. Real world aviation. I mean, I think Spirit kind of stole the airwaves with that, with their uh untimely divine. So thoughts definitely go out to all the employees and the crews involved. That being said, I did I did see a phenomenal response from the industry. They did an amazing job rallying around those guys and you know doing what they can to you know you know get those guys employed or you know, give them get give them opportunities for employment. Passengers, you know, I saw some saw some airlines run some promos to get passengers back home, et cetera, et cetera. So now we're starting to kind of see the aftermath. You know, we're seeing the you know, the aircraft, aircraft movements to storage or to new customers, things of that nature. Definitely unfortunate, but you know, I'll be lying to you if you know this is the first time, you know, first time I've seen this, and probably won't be the last, right? We all know that the industry is very fickle. Um, it's how it's always been. So, you know, definitely gotta be on your P's and Q's for sure. Definitely gotta be on your P's and Q's. But nevertheless, guys, again, thank y'all for listening in for sure on my my solo rant. Appreciate y'all. You know, appreciate all of our all of our partners out there for sure. Um again, Expo, Expo, Expo guys, if you have the opportunity, please, you know, and especially if you haven't been to one, take the opportunity, pick up your tickets, and head out there. And you know, the the level of camaraderie is absolutely amazing. So, all right, guys. I have taught y'all's ear off enough. Again, thank y'all for uh for listening in, and we'll see y'all on the Flight Sim Expo pre show June 7th. Take it easy and get the blue side up. Yep.