GA

Finally, the plane that the entire X-Plane community has been following the development of, the Hot Start TBM-900, is approaching release. Cameron, the founder of X-Aviation – the storefront on which the TBM-900 will be distributed through – made a post on the X-Pilot forums today to announce that the aircraft is due for release this coming Saturday at 00:00 EST (that’s Friday night, or Saturday 0500z, for those unsure).

Hot Start, made up of experienced developers Goran Matovina (most widely known for his Leading Edge Simulations Saab 340) and Saso Kiselkov (known better as Totoritko), first announced the TBM back in March, though the aircraft had been in development for a little longer than that. Since then we’ve seen a number of previews showing Goran’s incredible modelling work, as well as Saso’s masterpiece of an avionics suite, which has left GA simmers drooling to get their hands on the aircraft.

The TBM is packed with immersive, study-level features. Some of the stand-out items include;

Released back in May for FSX & P3D, the oldest continuously operating airport in the Pacific Northwest is Bill Womack’s sixth Orbx airport and is now available for simmers on the X-Plane platform.

Pearson Field is a popular GA field on the banks of the Columbia River, and Bill has covered 12 square miles surrounding this with photo-real ground textures. Included in the coverage area is Hayden Island, Oregon and downtown Vancouver, Washington, the latter of which is modelled with an incredible amount of detail based on hundreds of reference photos that were made available, while paying extra special attention to the scenery under the approach path. Within KVUO itself, Bill has made use of X-Plane’s PBR materials and scattered static aircraft throughout. In doing this, these models have all been optimised with performance in mind.

KVUO Pearson Field is available now from Orbx for AUD $32.95. For more information on Pearson Field, and to see more of the beautiful screenshots, head to the product page on the Orbx website.