Development

When did you start developing for flight simulators and what got you interested in it?

I began my real-life flight training in June of 2010 as a Sport Pilot student in the USA. My first trainer was a Tecnam P2004 Bravo Light Sport Aircraft. I also had just started flying X-Plane version 9 on the computer at home. I wanted to practice my pattern skills and navigation skills on X-Plane, but there was no Tecnam Bravo available for download for X-Plane. That's when I became motivated to learn how to create an add-on for X-Plane, and I began studying the PlaneMaker manuals and online tutorials. In a few months, I created my first effort, the Tecnam P2004 Bravo. It was pretty rough and ugly by any standards today, and certainly not of a quality that would compare to any commercially available add-on aircraft. More important to me, however, was that it flew very much like the real aircraft that I was training in. The instruments were the same, and the flight characteristics were the same. The things I learned in the real aircraft worked well enough in my X-Plane version so that I could practice my skills at home.

After the Tecnam, I became hooked on building aircraft for X-Plane, and I really wanted to improve my skills and techniques enough to produce products that any X-Plane pilot could enjoy.

Tell us about the nature of your designs and what you do?

Because my real-world flying experience is in small, general aviation aircraft, I've decided to stick with what I know. Almost by accident, my first four airplanes are Light Sport aircraft. The first two, the Tecnam Bravo and then the Remos GX are the planes in which I have over 60 hours of flying time. Both are powered by the Rotax 912ULS engine, and I know from experience how that engine works. I was able to model the characteristics of the Rotax in these small, lightweight aircraft fairly successfully.

I created the CSA (Czech Sport Aircraft) SportCruiser and the Renegade Falcon LS by request. The SportCruiser was requested by one of my customers who owned the Tecnam and the Remos GX. He was training for his Sport Pilot certificate in a SportCruiser, and wanted to fly the same model in X-Plane. I empathized with his desire to fly his training aircraft in the sim, so I was happy to create a working model in X-Plane. The Falcon LS was by request from Renegade Light Sport Aircraft. They wanted to have an X-Plane version of their offering for the 2012 Sun-n-Fun event in Lakeland, Florida, USA, and I was able to complete the Falcon LS just in time for the event.

I am very comfortable modeling the flight characteristics of small, GA aircraft because my real-world flying experience allows me to recognize how an airplane should fly in the simulator.

What do you consider your best or most popular work?

The Remos GX was a real "pet" project for me, because I loved flying the real thing. The Remos went through five upgrades as I learned more about modeling techniques in X-Plane. It won a second place vote on X-Plane.org's "Best Of" competition, and has been downloaded 650 times since the version 5.1 release. Two online X-Plane-based flying clubs have asked to add it to their virtual fleets. I am particularly proud of the Remos GX because I believe that it almost exactly emulates the real-world flight characteristics of the real airplane. I truly believe that a student pilot learning to fly in a Remos GX can benefit from practicing with my version of the Remos in X-Plane.

Both the Tecnam Bravo and the Remos GX are available as freeware downloads from the FlightSim.Com file library.

What do you find to be the most challenging aspect of a project?

When I began creating X-Plane models, I was totally blown away by how many hours of effort it takes to create a functional model with 3D cockpit and hi-res graphics! The level of detail and de-bugging it takes is staggering. I gained a new appreciation for the time and effort spent by those companies that bring the highest quality projects to market.

What have been your favorite projects?

My two favorite projects so far are the Remos GX freeware model, and the soon-to-come newest model that I am currently working on. It's too early to talk about the new model, but suffice to say that it easily surpasses any of our previous models in quality and sophistication. The Remos GX is a favorite because it is so darn fun to fly, and the hundreds of people who have downloaded it seem to really enjoy it.

What software packages and tools do you use to develop?

I begin with X-Plane's own PlaneMaker to enter the basic data for the aircraft. For 3D modeling, I use a mash-up of AC3D, Blender and AutoDesk 3DS Max 2012. Texturing is done with Adobe Photoshop. I recently found a wonderful freeware tool for creating bump maps and normal maps called SSBump Generator, created by Colton Manville (thanks, Colton!). I can't say enough about what a clever utility SSBump Generator is!

Who would you consider to be your mentors or inspiration in the development world if you have any?

That's too easy! My mentor and inspiration is Dan Klaue, of Carenado fame. He has graciously offered up his knowledge to the X-Plane community in the form of online text tutorials, video tutorials, blogs, and with his active participation on the XP forums. I started reading and viewing Dan's tutorials when I first started creating the Tecnam, and I didn't realize at first that Dan was associated with Carenado.

I've purchased every X-Plane model that Carenado (and now Alabeo) have released, and I'm still somewhat in awe of the quality and detail that goes into these aircraft. However, after almost three years, I am beginning to learn how these techniques work. I think the entire XP developer community owes Dan a great deal of gratitude for his willingness to share his knowledge.

Do you develop payware/freeware or both and why?

So far, I have offered two models as freeware, and two as payware. I hope to put out more freeware models in future, but the effort required to create a new commercial model leaves very little time to create the freeware models for fun. I do want to give more back to the XP community however, so I will definitely find some time to create something specifically as freeware again. I've had a number of requests for more Light Sport models, and I can probably now create those fairly quickly (3-6 months) using my library of objects.

The Team

How many people work with you or your team?

Until recently, it's just been little old me, by myself. I recently partnered with an extremely talented modeler/graphic artist on our new project, so this is the first time I've worked with anyone else.

What do the various members of the team do?

On our new project, I am doing a small bit of modeling and texturing, but mostly concentrating on PlaneMaker specs, animations, manipulators, LUA scripting, lighting and other aspects of creating a model that are specific to X-Plane. My new partner is creating most of the 3D objects and some truly amazing hi-res textures.

What other developers or teams have you worked with and what where their roles?

I have not worked with anyone else in the past. I spend a lot of time reading X-Plane related posts on the forums, and trying to soak up as much knowledge as I can about how this amazing, but extremely complex flight simulator works.

Real Life

Do you have any experience in real aviation?

As I mentioned earlier, I began real-world flight training in June of 2010 for my Sport Pilot license. For those not familiar with this license, the U.S Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) created the Sport Pilot certificate about 8 years ago to help spur more interest and involvement in aviation from common, everyday citizens. It takes one-half of the required training hours as does a full Private Pilot license, but Sport Pilots are limited to daytime flight only, in airplanes that cannot exceed 1,320 lbs. gross weight. Sport Pilots are also limited to carrying just one passenger. I passed my Sport Pilot check ride in February, 2011 and got my license. I flew the Tecnam Bravo for all my training, and to pass my test. Sadly, one month after I got my license, the Bravo was destroyed in a crash-landing only 3 miles from my home airport. Thankfully, the young pilot and his passenger walked away from the crash unhurt. The eventual cause of the accident was determined to be "fuel starvation due to undetermined causes." There were several gallons of fuel in the tanks when the Bravo went down.

After the loss of the Bravo, my FBO acquired a Remos GX on lease, so I flew the Remos for several months, and logged more than 25 hours PIC. I then became interested in becoming a full Private Pilot so that I could fly the "big boy" airplanes. I began training in a Cessna 152 (a "little boy" airplane), and also started flying Cessna 172s. I passed my Private Pilot check ride in July, 2012, and have now logged almost 100 hours PIC.

I've been fortunate enough to fly several different types of single-engine aircraft through my training and afterwards. I have now logged time in three different Light Sport models (Tecnam, Remos and Cessna SkyCatcher) and in four types of SELs (besides the Cessnas, I've got a small amount of time in a Diamond DA-20, and a Piper PA28-180). I also had the privilege of piloting a Piper Matrix for about one hour.

What started your interest in aviation?

When I was 10 years old, my father's friend took us for a flight in his Beechcraft Bonanza V35. My dad's friend allowed me to sit in the copilot seat, and let me "steer" the airplane for a few minutes. That was a magical experience for me, and I spend the next few decades of my life longing for the opportunity to fly again in a small airplane. Finally, the time came in my life when I could afford the flight lessons, and I seized the opportunity.

Any memorable flights in real life?

Yes, memorable and scary. My first cross-country solo in the Cessna 152 resulted in an unplanned precautionary landing at the halfway point of my trip. I was flying straight and level at 5,500' on a beautiful, warm sunny day. Suddenly, the engine began sputtering and almost died. I played with the mixture settings, thinking that I had over-leaned, but the engine continued to falter. I grabbed my paper chart on the seat beside me, and determined that I was only 8 miles north of a small, municipal airfield. I radio'd ATC and informed them that I was deviating from my flight plan due to engine trouble. During the next five or six minutes, I scanned the terrain below me for a flat field to land in should the engine completely fail. Fortunately, the engine continued to run, albeit roughly, to allow me to make a normal landing at the small airport.

Once on the ground, I called my flight instructor to let him know what was going on. He suggested that I had experienced carb icing, and to let the engine heat melt the ice for a few minutes. Although I had been trained to always apply carb heat when reducing throttle, it never occurred to me that icing could occur during straight and level flight on a warm day. I waited about 30 minutes, then took off again to test the engine, and performed three touch and goes to test the engine. Everything was normal, so I continued my flight down to the coast and completed my solo cross-country. However, during the remainder of the flight, I applied carb heat every once in a while, just to be sure! Lesson learned!

Would you like to share what you do in real life?

My career has always been in Information Technology, and I have had every job under the sun in IT, ranging from PC support, to server administration, to computer programming, and telecommunications systems design. I am currently an IT Project Manager.

What other hobbies or things do you do for enjoyment?

Besides flying, my wife and I are both sailors, and we've sailed in the Virgin Islands and the Bahamas on several occasions. We are also both runners. She is an accomplished tri-athlete, and has competed in the Kona, Hawaii IronMan three times. I have run two marathons, but now I stick to 5K and 10K races. I am also a motorcycle enthusiast, but do not now currently own one.

Have you ever considered doing flight simulator development full-time?

Yes. I am now middle-aged, and looking at retirement in six years. My goal is to become an accomplished developer in the next few years, then make development my second career. I enjoy creating X-Plane models very much, despite the huge amount of time it takes to complete a model.

Future

How do you choose your next new design or project?

It obviously does no good to duplicate the efforts of other developers, so I try to choose airplanes that have appeal to X-Planers and that have not been done yet. I also try to stick to what I know - I've flown real-life GA aircraft, so I have a pretty good feel for how an airplane should behave in the flight sim. I pride myself on being able to closely model the flight characteristics of the airplanes I've created. When choosing a new project, I also consider user requests, which often indicates the popularity of a particular aircraft for training and rentals. For instance, I've had several requests to do a version of the Breezer light sport airplane, and I'd love to produce one of these as a freeware offering.

What simulators do you design for now and what ones do you plan to develop for in the future?

Good question! I've only developed for X-Plane at this point, because I have such a great admiration for the science and accuracy built into the product by Austin and team. The fact that X-Plane is used by real-world manufacturers to test and model their products speaks volumes about the viability of the software. However, the world is not constant, and the market is fickle at times. If another flight sim becomes popular in future, I will investigate the possibility of developing for it.

In what ways do you see development changing in the future?

When I first began learning how to develop for X-Plane, I assumed that many learning tools would be available for the newbie. However, this is not the case. Learning the trade secrets is a painful and slow process of trial and error. Fortunately, there are X-Plane-knowledgeable benefactors out there who are willing to share their expertise and answer questions. Strangely, I don't see development changing too much in the future in this respect. I've been in the IT world for over thirty years now, and I've seen software programming progress from simple text editing to full graphical drag n' drop functionality. However, in the flight sim world, development is still cumbersome and time-consuming. The skills required to bring a high-quality product to market are unique and specialized, and will likely stay that way for quite some time.

Your Thoughts

What can sites like FlightSim.Com do to support you and the hobby better?

I very much appreciate the attention that sites like FlightSim.Com bring to the user community. The world of flight simulation is after all, quite small compared to motorbike enthusiasts, or even skateboarders. I love the fact that FlightSim.Com brings such a variety of news, information, tutorials, interviews, etc. to the limelight, and I sincerely hope that continues with great success!

How do you feel about the future of flight simulation in general?

I truly believe that flight simulation will soon morph into a truly immersive experience through the development of 3D visual technology, in the form of virtual reality headsets like the Oculus Rift, or perhaps even holographic displays. I look forward to flying X-Plane one day very soon using a true VR technology! I think the flight sim market, and indeed, the entire gaming market, will experience huge growth from VR. The users are going to love it, and us developers are going to be extremely busy trying to meet the challenge of bringing VR versions of our products to market!

What are some of the most important things a site or community can do to help the developers?

Just bringing the information out to the community about new products, new versions, etc. is extremely helpful. There's no substitute for publicity!

What would you like people to know about you or your team and work?

vFlyteAir is young and small, but we strive to constantly improve our work. We believe that the bar has been raised exponentially higher in the past two years by wonderful products like the Carenado and Alabeo models for X-Plane. That's a very healthy thing for X-Plane and flight sims in general. Because X-Planers are now enjoying some amazingly detailed and realistic airplanes, we are spending a lot of extra effort to make sure our next product release will be on a level equal to the very best on the market. It's more a labor of love than anything else for us. We appreciate the wonderful comments and helpful suggestions that our vFlyteAir customers have given our little start-up over the past two years, and we want to say...

Just wait until the next one - you're gonna love it!

Walker Guthrie
www.vflyteair.com
Download Walker Guthrie aircraft