Marc Collins

The only thing I've noticed is the G3X does not display visual approaches when they are activated on the PMS GTN750. The G3X will show a magenta line going straight to the destination airport, rather than showing the STRAIGHT and FINAL waypoints. But that's pretty minor in the grand scheme of things. As long as I'm using the GTN for flight planning and map, it works just fine.

I also agree that the current combination of G3X and stock Asobo GNS430 is a deal-breaker and I will not be buying it for now. I understand the choice to use the G3X -- it's very common in real-world RV-10 builds. And I can understand the complexity of trying to support TDS and PMS options when PC and Xbox versions are involved. But there are a wealth of airplanes with similar capabilities to the RV-10 in the sim, and many of them have superior avionics: The Carenado V35B Bonanza currently is flyable with the WT GNS530 (with a few bugs in the altitude preselector and the HSI not depicting RNAV glidepath). I suspect this will be patched soon, as Carenado has been patching all of their planes to work with the WT GNS units. The G36 improvement mod features the G1000NXi The stock Cirrus SR22 also has the G1000NXi Carenado's other high-performance single-engine offerings (Mooney M20R, Cessna 182T) have already been patched to work with the WT GNS, and they also work with both the TDS and PMS GTN 750 units. The Just Flight Arrow and Turbo Arrow work with the GTN 750. As Bert mentioned earlier in this thread, the RV-14 from Simworks can be modded to accept the TDS GTN750, and I've also successfully modded my own copy to accept the WTT mode in the PMS50 GTN750. The G3X doesn't perfectly match the flight plan I program in the GTN (although it is actually close), but if I use the G3X as a flight instrument and the GTN as the sole source of navigation, it works just fine. I will be sticking with the RV-14 for now.

Assuming that you're flying on PC, this behavior can be caused by having the "automixture" assistance option enabled. The turbocharger logic in the 414 conflicts with the MSFS automixture assistance.

My biggest gripe with thermals in SU11 is the decay of vertical speed with height. I've seen multiple comments from users who have measured thermals in the sim at 40,000 ft. This is not realistic. In the real world, the only "thermals" that reach 40,000 ft are thunderstorms! I don't understand why the thermals in the sim are not modulated by atmospheric stability. If there is a strong temperature inversion near the ground, for example, no thermal turbulence will penetrate it. MSFS already ingests temperature data at a bunch of altitudes from the MeteoBlue NEMS model. It should be possible to modulate thermals and prevent them from rising above inversions, etc. Seb mentioned in the most recent Q&A that SU12 will include a more complete CFD simulation of thermals, so I'm hoping atmospheric stability will be factored in soon. It would make the experience more realistic, and more satisfying. Imagine taking off on a mid-summer morning in the sim, feeling the bumps from morning thermals starting to build, and then entering smooth air as you climb above an inversion. That would be fantastic! And it's perfectly possible in mountainous regions as well as flat areas. The air can be incredibly smooth above rugged terrain as long as you are above an inversion and there aren't strong mechanical or wave phenomena. It's worth noting that many types of dangerous mountain turbulence are not caused by ground-based thermals. Rotor clouds, clear air turbulence, and hydraulic jumps can form at high altitudes downwind of mountain ranges. Simulating those correctly would be pretty difficult!

I haven't had a chance to fly in SU10 yet, so I can't offer any opinion on the gusts in live weather. I will say that the sim video (from 737NG Driver on YouTube) and the real-world video aren't directly comparable. From what I saw in the sim video, Emmanuel set up custom weather with a strong crosswind and intense gusts. The real-world video probably doesn't depict such extreme conditions, so I would not expect it to look as dramatic. That said, it's certainly possible that the crosswind effect on yaw is exaggerated in the PMDG 737. I'd be interested to see real data on that, rather than personal impressions which can be anecdotal and based on personal experiences under varying conditions that might not be comparable. I agree with @ryanbatc about thermal turbulence and lack of smooth air in MSFS. Overall, I think thermal turbulence is too widespread in the sim, especially at higher altitudes. I suppose it's a good first step, but I am puzzled by why turbulence is not modulated by atmospheric stability. Asobo is receiving weather model data from MeteoBlue with temperature data at all altitudes. They could easily calculate atmospheric stability parameters (thermal lapse rate, Richardson number, etc) and modulate turbulence based on those values. I'm discouraged to see more heavy-handed, simplistic approaches like this statement from the SU10 release notes: "turbulence and drafts have also been reduced by 50% at high altitudes." Why reduce them by 50% everywhere? If the atmosphere is stable, reduce thermals. If it's unstable, keep them, regardless of the altitude. For surface-based thermal turbulence, another option would be to disable thermals above the forecast-derived planetary boundary layer (PBL) height. Almost all forecast model data contains a PBL height parameter. I would think it could be easily imported into the sim from MeteoBlue.

I've been noticing random, split-second spikes in the pitch and roll axis while using the Fulcrum Yoke. When I first received the yoke in March 2021, I had just purchased the Just Flight Arrow for MSFS. Every once in a while, I noticed the yoke in the Arrow's virtual cockpit would spike for a split-second -- moving to a different position and instantly moving back. For several months, I assumed this was a graphical glitch. I've never had any trouble controlling the plane because of these random spikes. Recently, I've been learning the FlyByWire A32NX, and the random spikes are causing the autopilot to disengage multiple times during each flight. This is the first time the spikes have interfered with flying, and it led me to realize that they aren't graphical glitches but actual noise (or interference?) in the pitch and roll axis. Has anyone else experienced this with the Fulcrum Yoke? I'm still trying to determine whether the axis spikes are caused by the yoke or by something else interfering with it. I deleted all the keyboard assignments for elevator and aileron controls, but the spikes continue. I double-checked to ensure that my throttle quadrant didn't have any control assignments for elevator or ailerons. I am not using any third-party software like Spad.Next or AAO -- only the native control options in MSFS.

How do you like the Thrustmaster TPR pedals? Did you upgrade from anything else? Are they worth the price?

Yep, turns are much quicker than before. The autopilot is a little twitchy for my liking now, at least in the DA62X mod, which is the only plane I've tried since the update. But I imagine twitchiness can be more easily tuned and smoothed than the excessively slow turn rate in the last update.

I've also experienced two CTDs since the USA update, and I only had one other CTD in the entire time since the sim was launched (that was after the update that needed a hotfix due to USB controllers crashing the sim). Before downloading the USA update, I completely emptied the community folder, installed the update, restarted the sim without any mods, then I restarted it again with mods. The first several flights were fine. I didn't add any new mods to the folder, and I flew several great flights over Thanksgiving weekend. Then with no warning, I had a CTD yesterday while sitting on the ground at Tokyo Narita (RJAA) adjusting the G1000 in the DA62X mod. Today, I had another CTD while in the middle of a gradual descent to intercept a localizer in the Cirrus SR22 near MYGF (Grand Bahama Airport). After today's crash, I removed everything from the community folder except the G1000 mod, rebooted my computer, and tried again. I've had no issues so far. So far, the crashes have been random with no discernible cause. I'm using a lower-end graphics card (Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660)

I'm still enjoying the Turbo Bonanza a lot, and honestly, I don't find the new autopilot to be a deal-breaker. Sure, it turns very slowly, but not so slowly that it's completely unusable. And the pitch control is much quicker than the heading control. It will follow a glideslope with no trouble. It usually doesn't turn fast enough to properly intercept the localizer, but after a few gradual s-shaped turns, it will line itself up nicely.

I'm also finding the Bonanza autopilot to be much better now. If anything, it's a little slow in completing a turn, but that's better than the abrupt banking and pitching with every heading or altitude change in the previous version.

I'm truly enjoying V3. The lower control authority at low airspeeds on final approach is well-tuned. One question for anyone who knows about the real-world turbo kits for the Bonanza: I was surprised to see that the reference cruise data in the PDF Robert included are usually specified at or near wide open throttle. Is it normal to cruise at wide open throttle in the Bonanza? My only real-world experience is in fixed-prop trainer aircraft (Piper Warriors and Archers), where it's standard to reduce the throttle to achieve cruise RPM. Even in a constant speed prop, wouldn't cruising at wide open throttle cause more wear and tear on the engine?

Thank you for this update, Robert. I just tried my first flight with version 3. Everything is working nicely, and the plane flies beautifully. I switch between this mod and the G36 Improvement Project mod. They are both nicely done, but I enjoy the higher cruising speed in the turbo version.

Excellent news! Were you able to adjust the huge amount of power needed to get the plane rolling from a stop in the Asobo version? Even the community mod on the Flight Simulator forum requires near 20% power just to get the plane rolling from a stop. That's better than the ~60% in the stock plane, but still seems suspiciously high. I could be wrong, though, since I've never flown one in real life.

I think that must be correct. I have automixture turned off, and I always adjust mixture manually when I fly the Bonanza G36. When I fly the Baron G58, the mixture levers move, but there is no effect at all, except at cutoff. There is a discussion on the Microsoft Flight Simulator forum where someone pulled the EGT simvars from the Baron and found that moving the mixture lever had no effect on EGT or CHT. I'm guessing that automixture is hard-coded for the Baron. This is apparently also true for the Cirrus SR22 GTS in the Premium Deluxe pack.