Xavion

Source for wind, temperature, and baro pressure are now shown on the PFD so you can verify where your info is coming from.
This matters when you have manually-entered baro pressure, internet weather, and ADSB weather all coming in at once.

Crash-bug fixed in the "Where-to?" preflight FMS.

Other recent improvements:
Now you can choose your altitude in the FMS per-fix: Hitting a crossing altitude is as easy as: Aiming at the crossing fix.
By looking at it and flying to it.

The instrument approaches keep you as HIGH as possible for safety BEFORE descending to the IAF, and then getting you as LOW as possible for safety to break out!

Dozens of user interface tweaks, almost all to make the UI fit better on more devices.

Just a UI bug fix that overlapped the fuel capacity and tail number, now fixed.
Other recent upgrades are speed and range charts based on the performance you enter, both with and without the current wind, and a best-range pointer on your airspeed indicator (corrected for wind!) which might come in useful in a pinch!

More fuel-efficient instrument approaches:
-Xavion now plans for power-off from top of descent for the smoothest-possible continuous descent during instrument approaches. Enter you IAF altitude into the FMS if you want to hop down the IAF ASAP.

More accurate fuel/range planner:
-You can now enter more cruise data, and the planner uses that data to dial in the fuel and time expense for the trip.

New stall-warning indication: Teeth that come down from above: Stay under them!
-Be sure to enter your max AOA in aircraft settings!

Small tweaks:
-No more map 'flickering' as you move between airports, as would occasionally happen.
-No more duplicate aircraft icon when using instrument approach plate overlay, which now tracks both north-up and track-up properly.
-No more accidentally zooming in on airports when making weather selections on the map page.

New feature: Runway light consideration!

We now consider runway LIGHTS when choosing an airport in dark conditions.
But how do we know what conditions are dark when the light varies with so many things, including visibility and cloud cover?
We make this decision based on the light level you are actually seeing at the moment... as determined by the brightness setting you set on your iPad!
If your biPad brightness is set to a high level, I assume you are in bright conditions and consider the runway lights of little or no value when choosing an emergency airport.
If your iPad brightness is at very low levels, I assume you are operating in dark conditions, and give preference to LIT runways for emergency selection.
As well, Xavion interpolates in between, giving some modest preference to lit runways in the twilight and dusk hours when you have your iPad set to intermediate brightness.
So, be sure to keep that brightness set as appropriate for the conditions you are actually in: You've been doing that anyway, but now Xavion is using that as your indication of how bright or dark your environment is, and considering runway lighting accordingly when choosing the best airport to glide to in the event of power-loss.



Some UI tweaks:

When you zoom in on an airport, runway length and width now display correctly at all map orientations... they were previously sometimes inverted.

Warnings for airports that are marginal for emergency use are now displayed on the PFD even if you are doing routine navigation... they were previously hidden if you were doing routine enroute navigation.

Flight Director data-entry buttons moved to never interfere with the menu bar.. they could previously sit behind the menus when in PFD-only mode.

Directional Gyro always visible... it could previously be partially hidden behind the menus in some cases.

More accurate altitude determination from the GPS sensor: We now correct the GPS altitude to be closer to the pressure or true altitude used by other aircraft. This matters because it gives us a more accurate atltitude comparison to other traffic for traffic and wake turbulence avoidance.

Slight improvements in the map de-clutter, to make that a little more clear.
Runways for a given airport are now always listed longest-first, to be a little more intuitive to quickly scan.

Bug fix: Aircraft motion on approach plates and diagrams is now always depicted correctly, even for plates that are NOT oriented north-up.

The sky is now a bit darker to make this app cast LESS LIGHT!
This is to lower heat-generation and the resultant automatic brightness reduction in the daytime,
and lower the light-pollution and the resultant loss of night vision at night.

The airport data up at the top of the map now shows in a larger font IF the resolution is high enough to allow it,
so your glance at the airport info, weather, and enroute time and VVI required are easier to read on the high-res devices.

Label clarity: The AOA display selection is now labelled as "AOA" not just "clean-stall", to make it easier to find.

Bug fix: No more erroneous alerts about not being able to download charts for Georgia (the State).
This was just recently broken because Seattle Avionics now offers Georgia (the COUNTRY)!
So we had to make sure the State and Country were not confused in the downloader.

Just some UI clarifications in this small update:

NEXRAD precip-color map is slightly adjusted to correlate with XM-Weather, so we see the same color-map on both displays, so both display will look very similar.
Chart never-installed vs expired warning messages are now more clear, so you will see if a map is expired, vs simply never installed.
NEXRAD REPLAY button on the chart will only appear if you had an internet connection that loaded radar HISTORY... ADSB is real-time only.
AIRWAY and SPEED labels could have some overlapping in some places, which is always confusing... those should be addressed.

So, these are simply some small UI improvements, to avoid any confusion at all during use!
When I fly, I don't want a single confusing or overlapping label! This build addresses that!

Approach plate expiration date and last-modified date now shown in the approach-plate view.
This confirms approach-plate currency in case you get ramp-checked, and also so you can check it yourself!
Of note is that to save time, we only download plates that have actually CHANGED!
So showing this expiration date is useful, in case the plate has not actually been changed, and therefore downloaded, for some number of cycles.

UI fix, where some buttons were not functioning.

Other recent stuff: New ADSb wind columns in the winds aloft screen if you an have ADSb receiver... good for more winds aloft awareness and planning.

Tiny UI tweak: No double-press of the EMER button needed to get the emergency hoops up.
You used to have to double-tap the EMER button when in PFD or MAP mode, but now the first press is all you need.

Bug fix when connected to X-Plane: Now Xavion won't use your iPads' ACTUAL pressure sensor for cabin altitude when its' being used in the SIMULATOR!
IPad pressure sensor still used for cabin altitude in actual flight, though!

Bug fix: Now the FMS cannot be confused by any length of route.
(extremely long routes could confuse the FMS in previous version)

3-D instrument approaches are now back!
The FAA discontinued some data needed for 3-D instrument approaches, so this update gets that data ANOTHER way to keep bringing us those very very useful 3-D approaches!
Remember, in Xavion, you just touch one button to load an approach, and once you've done that, you get 3-D hoops for from where you are to the IAF, through the whole approach, and even the miss and holding pattern!
This is by far the easiest way to load and fly an instrument approach that I have ever seen... it makes them as fun and easy to fly as the next-gen Highway-In-The-Sky concepts we are seeing!


The winds aloft forecast was previously scanned incorrectly... that is now fixed!


Let't talk about cabin altitude: Cabin altitude is clearly defined as a pressure altitude, based on standard barometric pressure setting of 29.92 inches of mercury and 15 degrees C at sea level.
So if a given pressure in the cabin is 8,000 feet of cabin altitude, then the pressure is what we would see at 8,000 feet ON A STANDARD DAY! This is the pressure pushing OXYGEN into our LUNGS!
But we don't usually FLY on standard days, so an 8,000-foot cabin altitude does NOT mean that we are 8,000 feet above the GROUND! Differences in baro pressure and temperature change that altitude, which is why we enter baro pressure into our airplanes every time we fly.

So how do we reconcile these two completely different needs for cabin altitude: one to be UNCORRECTED to show us actual oxygen pressure on our lungs (!) and one to be CORRECTED to show us height above sea-level?

The answer is:
Go to the diagnostics screen: You will see the CABIN ALTITUDE in the upper-right area of the window. This is for STANDARD ATMOSPHERE, UNCORRECTED. This is the actual pressure acting on your body right now.
If this is more than 12,500 for more than 30 minutes, you need oxygen.
If this is more than 14,000 ever, you need oxygen, NOW.
THIS is what you use to make your oxygen decision, especially in pressurized airplanes.

Now, go to the PFD on the main screen: If you are in an UN-pressurized airplane (as set in aircraft setup) and don't have an iLevil with pitot-static ports, then Xavion will use your CABIN ALTITUDE SENSOR, but of course CORRECTED FOR BARO PRESSURE AND TEMPERATURE!

Look at the baro pressure, if it is not exactly 29.92, and you will see that the PFD is indeed showing an altitude offset from the cabin altitude by about 950 feet per inch of mercury!

Nice!

Now want to have some fun?

Go outside to get a good GPS signal and then go to the aircraft setup and tell Xavion your airplane is PRESSURIZED.
Now, of course, cabin altitude in a pressurized plane is useless for seeing how high you are, so Xavion will use GPS for your altitude on the PFD!
See the label up above the altitude... it will switch from CABIN ALT to GPS... and, if Xavion has gotten a correct baro pressure from the net, then the altitude tape won't move very much!
You will get almost the exact same altitude from your phone or ADSb receiver pressure sensor as you get from your GPS: Both are corrected by all known technology!

OK if you are like me then you will forgot precisely all of this the moment you have to keep an airplane right-side-up, so here it is simple:
The cabin altitude shown in the diagnostics screen is the pressure in the cabin: Use that to tell if you are safe to... BREATHE!
The altitude shown on the PFD is corrected for everything we have: Use that to... FLY!

Just be sure to set whether or not the airplane is pressurized in the aircraft setup, and get yourself a nice ADSb receiver so Xavion grabs the local baro pressure from ADSb in flight, and auto-loads it into the system to apply it to your altitude on the PFD!

Nice new map mode: Approach plates!
Now, in the PREFERENCES page, you can select APPROACH PLATES for a background alongside the usual sectional and enroute charts. This lets you have an approach plate in the MFD portion of the screen, and synthetic vision in the PFD portion of the screen, both at the same time. This new view option lets you see your plane on the approach, and have a synthetic vision PFD, all at once!

As well as the new T-routes, a number of small user interface improvements.

Now with T-routes on the Xavion map!
We continue to offer Sectionals, Low Enroutes, and High Enroutes as always, but now have those T-routes available for the base map as well!

Now with quick emergency off-airport fields.
Here's how it works:
If you are ever directly over a field that you would like to keep in mind as a possible emergency site later, just push and HOLD the map at that exact location.
Once you have held your thumb down on the map for about 2 seconds, an emergency field will be placed there.
Then, Xavion will color that field based your ability to glide there in current wind conditions continuously (green for easy access, red for barely able to make it) just like we do with airports.
No HOOPS are presented, because we DON'T have a RUNWAY we can line up with, but accessibility is shown as the color of the field on the map when in the default Xavion map.
Push and HOLD the field again to delete it, and send your fields to other iPads in the PREFS menu to share the fields with friends or your other phones or pads.

Internal improvements to the subscription-purchase to improve reliability.
24 hours of forecast weather without any pauses during load: The weather is downloaded in the background to avoid any pauses in the interface.

New feature:
Small icons showing GPS, ADSb, battery, and ADSb battery all appear at upper-right of main screen for at-a-glance system status.

UI tuning:
The 3-D Highway In The Sky hoops are now not quite so TALL, which helps with precision in using them to hold altitude as well as course. This is especially useful, of course, at lower altitudes. Visual wind-vectors move at more natural speed as well.

Bug fix:
When the NOAA server would go down it could crash Xavion in previous version. Now fixed!

Minor bug-fix on data subscription.

Minor tweaks:
Bigger warning if you request a VFR approach that would intersect terrain when the hoops are rejected, so you really know WHY the approach was rejected.
30-day recollection of your last AppStore sign-in to make sure your subscription is current... but only once per month!

New feature: Timer:
Go to the NOTES screen. There is now a timer there.

New de-clutter: Winds:
The density of wind-vectors in the maps has been reduced to de-clutter.

New-approach display: Auto-reject of any approach that would touch terrain:
Xavion now refuses to present any approach that touches terrain.
This has always been the case with instrument and power-off emergency approaches, but is now the case with the VFR approaches as well.
This is to make all approaches consistent, and not risk even PLOTTING a hoop that touches terrain, even in the VFR case where terrain-clearance is assumed to be pilot-responsibility.

Better frame-rate and airport selection for display.
Details:
Smoother frame-rate on the new GetWeather section in the PreFlight screen.
Better airport-selection for the GetWeather section in the PreFlight screen.
Only showing colors for airports that actually report METARSs when in METAR-viewing on the map.


OHER RECENT STUFF:

This update has a whole new SUITE of FORECAST weather, and it is getting amazing.
Go to the PREFLIGHT tab.
Go to the “WHERE TO?” sub-tab. Enter a departure ID, space, and destination ID.
Now go to the “SEE TRIP” a few sub-tabs over, and choose all the different weather types.. WITH ALL THE ZULU TIMES FROM NOW UNTIL 24 HOURS IN THE FUTURE.
Now go to the “GET WEATHER” a few sub-tabs over, and see a briefing for how the weather is NOW.
Slide down a bit to see how it will look in the FUTURE!
I’ve never seen a briefing so fast, with current and forecast entire flights so quickly displayed.



MINOR TWEAKS:

Now Xavion looks for the ADSB receiver even if it was previously logged into your home WIFI!
So it like this:
1: At home, connect to WIFI BEFORE your flight to get a load of weather (see PREFLIGHT:SEE TRIP)!
2: Go to airport.
3: Go to iPad system settings and connect to your ADSb receiver.
4: Fire up Xavion, which you never fully dismissed since you only hit the home button, not swiped up… the internet weather is memorized, and the ADSb weather starts coming in!

This means you have good internet weather to start your flight, even before any ADSb data has arrived!
This is done in preparation for a future where we will have internet in the cockpit!

IFR fixes for New Zealand.

New feature:

Support for new engine-temperature displays for eVTOL aircraft being manufactured by Beta Technologies.
Xavion is now entering the cockpit of next-gen eVTOL aircraft.
Everyone will have access to this new engine data when Betas’ new eVTOL starts flying in numbers.

Flight parameter improvement:

We now use a somewhat-higher speed for the ‘cruise glide’, which defines the WORST-CASE glide.
You will indeed need to re-fly your descent rates at the new speeds to update your calibration of the App.
Hey, it’s good practice!


Tuning and Bug fixes:

Tuning of the display of the fixes in both map and profile view to avoid clutter but still present that minimum altitude, needed for instrument approaches!
METAR scanning bug fixed: We were not getting all METARs in the previous build... fixed now!

Other recent stuff:

New features: More weather!
The internet-driven Pre-Flight weather page now has GLOBAL turbulence, icing, and visibility!
New Temperature/dewpoint SPREAD in that map as well! This nicely complements the density altitude display.
To see all this new weather, go to the PRE-FLIGHT tab, and enter a nice flight in WHERE-TO? Just enter a few airport ID’s separated by spaces.
Then, hop over the SEE TRIP tab and GET WEATHER tab as well to get a quick enroute glance at the weather.

Critical Algorithm modification:
The FAST-GLIDE speed USED TO BE at least 1.5 times the best glide speed.
Now, the FAST-GLIDE speed is at least 1.41 times the best glide speed.
This keeps the fast-glide speeds a bit lower to let you do calibration with less-steep descents.
Everyone SHOULD go to the SET AIRCRAFT menu, GLIDE tab, and re-enter their “fast-glide configuration" vertical speed at the new, slightly-lower, fast-glide speed.
As always, do this in flight, at a safe altitude, by going to idle power and gliding at the fast-glide speed and entering the resulting vertical velocity.

Critical Data Presentation:
Now, when you zoom out to global viewing scale on the map, ALL airports are visible.
This helps people see what regions are covered by our airport database at-a-glance.

Critical Data Saving for Weather Replay:
Xavion now MEMORIZES the NEXRAD image every ten minutes, so Xavion keeps updating the NEXRAD weather LOOP in flight,
even though ADSb looping NEXRAD is not actually a feature provided by the FAA!

Critical Data Saving for Flight Replay:
Previous flights are now CLEARED from the logbook, and flights moving forward are saved in a NEW format
that saves all of the hoops that you are actually flying, so that in replay, no hoops will be displayed if you are not flying them,
and hoops will always instantly be displayed accurately if you are flying them.

Let me know if you need anything! I'm at austin@Xavion.com

New feature:

Profile View now shows fixes, both enroute and for your upcoming instrument approach, and is pan-able and pinch-zoom-able... give it a try!

Maintenance tweaks:
Now we can run Xavion and other Apps that listen to your ADSb receiver, all at the same time.
We can enter negative CG arms now, as needed for some nose baggage compartments.


Other recent stuff:

New features: More weather!
The internet-driven Pre-Flight weather page now has GLOBAL turbulence, icing, and visibility!
New Temperature/dewpoint SPREAD in that map as well! This nicely complements the density altitude display.
To see all this new weather, go to the PRE-FLIGHT tab, and enter a nice flight in WHERE-TO? Just enter a few airport ID’s separated by spaces.
Then, hop over the SEE TRIP tab and GET WEATHER tab as well to get a quick enroute glance at the weather.

Critical Algorithm modification:
The FAST-GLIDE speed USED TO BE at least 1.5 times the best glide speed.
Now, the FAST-GLIDE speed is at least 1.41 times the best glide speed.
This keeps the fast-glide speeds a bit lower to let you do calibration with less-steep descents.
Everyone SHOULD go to the SET AIRCRAFT menu, GLIDE tab, and re-enter their “fast-glide configuration" vertical speed at the new, slightly-lower, fast-glide speed.
As always, do this in flight, at a safe altitude, by going to idle power and gliding at the fast-glide speed and entering the resulting vertical velocity.

Critical Data Presentation:
Now, when you zoom out to global viewing scale on the map, ALL airports are visible.
This helps people see what regions are covered by our airport database at-a-glance.

Critical Data Saving for Weather Replay:
Xavion now MEMORIZES the NEXRAD image every ten minutes, so Xavion keeps updating the NEXRAD weather LOOP in flight,
even though ADSb looping NEXRAD is not actually a feature provided by the FAA!

Critical Data Saving for Flight Replay:
Previous flights are now CLEARED from the logbook, and flights moving forward are saved in a NEW format
that saves all of the hoops that you are actually flying, so that in replay, no hoops will be displayed if you are not flying them,
and hoops will always instantly be displayed accurately if you are flying them.

Let me know if you need anything! I'm at austin@Xavion.com

Optimizations:

Weather overlay plotting on the maps is about 15% faster.
RAM use is about 5% lower.

Weather-downloading progress reports are consolidated into just one alert.

Various small tweaks in the UI to be a bit more clear, and reduce clutter.

Other recent stuff:

New features: More weather!
The internet-driven Pre-Flight weather page now has GLOBAL turbulence, icing, and visibility!
New Temperature/dewpoint SPREAD in that map as well! This nicely complements the density altitude display.
To see all this new weather, go to the PRE-FLIGHT tab, and enter a nice flight in WHERE-TO? Just enter a few airport ID’s separated by spaces.
Then, hop over the SEE TRIP tab and GET WEATHER tab as well to get a quick enroute glance at the weather.

Optimizations:
Texture compression to save RAM... base App RAM lowered by 20%!

Little UI tweaks:
Red alerts more legible in bright sun.
Higher-res scratch-pad... but with LOWER RAM-use thanks to texture-compression!
3-D hoop size and spacing tuned a bit to not make the hoops not feel quite so 'close'.
A reminder to reset your level reference at the start of each flight.

Bug fixes:
NEXRAD replay did not always show the current image at the end of the replay. Now it does!
Nearest airport was not being used for auto-setting of baro pres. Now it is!


Other recent new features:

Critical Algorithm modification:
The FAST-GLIDE speed USED TO BE at least 1.5 times the best glide speed.
Now, the FAST-GLIDE speed is at least 1.41 times the best glide speed.
This keeps the fast-glide speeds a bit lower to let you do calibration with less-steep descents.
Everyone SHOULD go to the SET AIRCRAFT menu, GLIDE tab, and re-enter their “fast-glide configuration" vertical speed at the new, slightly-lower, fast-glide speed.
As always, do this in flight, at a safe altitude, by going to idle power and gliding at the fast-glide speed and entering the resulting vertical velocity.

Critical Data Presentation:
Now, when you zoom out to global viewing scale on the map, ALL airports are visible.
This helps people see what regions are covered by our airport database at-a-glance.

Critical Data Saving for Weather Replay:
Xavion now MEMORIZES the NEXRAD image every ten minutes, so Xavion keeps updating the NEXRAD weather LOOP in flight,
even though ADSb looping NEXRAD is not actually a feature provided by the FAA!

Critical Data Saving for Flight Replay:
Previous flights are now CLEARED from the logbook, and flights moving forward are saved in a NEW format
that saves all of the hoops that you are actually flying, so that in replay, no hoops will be displayed if you are not flying them,
and hoops will always instantly be displayed accurately if you are flying them.

Let me know if you need anything! I'm at austin@Xavion.com

New features: More weather!
The internet-driven Pre-Flight weather page now has GLOBAL turbulence, icing, and visibility!
New Temperature/dewpoint SPREAD in that map as well! This nicely complements the density altitude display.
To see all this new weather, go to the PRE-FLIGHT tab, and enter a nice flight in WHERE-TO? Just enter a few airport ID’s separated by spaces.
Then, hop over the SEE TRIP tab and GET WEATHER tab as well to get a quick enroute glance at the weather.

Optimizations:
Texture compression to save RAM... base App RAM lowered by 20%!

Little UI tweaks:
Red alerts more legible in bright sun.
Higher-res scratch-pad... but with LOWER RAM-use thanks to texture-compression!
3-D hoop size and spacing tuned a bit to not make the hoops not feel quite so 'close'.
A reminder to reset your level reference at the start of each flight.

Bug fixes:
NEXRAD replay did not always show the current image at the end of the replay. Now it does!
Nearest airport was not being used for auto-setting of baro pres. Now it is!


Other recent new features:

Critical Algorithm modification:
The FAST-GLIDE speed USED TO BE at least 1.5 times the best glide speed.
Now, the FAST-GLIDE speed is at least 1.41 times the best glide speed.
This keeps the fast-glide speeds a bit lower to let you do calibration with less-steep descents.
Everyone SHOULD go to the SET AIRCRAFT menu, GLIDE tab, and re-enter their “fast-glide configuration" vertical speed at the new, slightly-lower, fast-glide speed.
As always, do this in flight, at a safe altitude, by going to idle power and gliding at the fast-glide speed and entering the resulting vertical velocity.

Critical Data Presentation:
Now, when you zoom out to global viewing scale on the map, ALL airports are visible.
This helps people see what regions are covered by our airport database at-a-glance.

Critical Data Saving for Weather Replay:
Xavion now MEMORIZES the NEXRAD image every ten minutes, so Xavion keeps updating the NEXRAD weather LOOP in flight,
even though ADSb looping NEXRAD is not actually a feature provided by the FAA!

Critical Data Saving for Flight Replay:
Previous flights are now CLEARED from the logbook, and flights moving forward are saved in a NEW format
that saves all of the hoops that you are actually flying, so that in replay, no hoops will be displayed if you are not flying them,
and hoops will always instantly be displayed accurately if you are flying them.

Let me know if you need anything! I'm at austin@Xavion.com

New data: Density Altitude is computed and shown in the airport METARs and Pre-Flight Weather Briefing cards now.
This nicely complements the Density Altitude weather overlay in the Pre-Flight map, and brings awareness to this important factor in summer flying.

UI Optimizations:
Map labels for the exact density altitude, temperature, dew-point, etc in the Pre-Flight screen now float near an area of this value on the map, which is probably easier to read and interpret in a pinch.

Other recent new Features:

Critical Algorithm modification:
The FAST-GLIDE speed USED TO BE at least 1.5 times the best glide speed.
Now, the FAST-GLIDE speed is at least 1.41 times the best glide speed.
This keeps the fast-glide speeds a bit lower to let you do calibration with less-steep descents.
Everyone SHOULD go to the SET AIRCRAFT menu, GLIDE tab, and re-enter their “fast-glide configuration" vertical speed at the new, slightly-lower, fast-glide speed.
As always, do this in flight, at a safe altitude, by going to idle power and gliding at the fast-glide speed and entering the resulting vertical velocity.

Critical Data Presentation:
Now, when you zoom out to global viewing scale on the map, ALL airports are visible.
This helps people see what regions are covered by our airport database at-a-glance.

Critical Data Saving for Weather Replay:
Xavion now MEMORIZES the NEXRAD image every ten minutes, so Xavion keeps updating the NEXRAD weather LOOP in flight,
even though ADSb looping NEXRAD is not actually a feature provided by the FAA!

Critical Data Saving for Flight Replay:
Previous flights are now CLEARED from the logbook, and flights moving forward are saved in a NEW format
that saves all of the hoops that you are actually flying, so that in replay, no hoops will be displayed if you are not flying them,
and hoops will always instantly be displayed accurately if you are flying them.

Various new features:
We now have a global density altitude Map!
Low air density, or 'thin air', or high density altitude, is what limits take-off acceleration and climb, and now we can see it on the Pre-Flight Map!
This lets you see at-a-glance if the density altitude is high for your region.

The dew-point map is now GLOBAL (not USA-only), which helps provide ESTIMATED METARS globally.
Remember, Xavion now gives an ESTIMATED METAR, based on National and Global weather data, if no ACTUAL METAR is reported for a given airport!

The PREFLIGHT section now has new internet-based weather, which is nice to get a heads-up even if you have no ADSb handy.
This is designed to check at home, or at the airport right before you go.

Also, if you touch an airport to see it's weather, and that airport does NOT report METARS,
then Xavion will auto-generate an ESTIMATED METAR based on nearby airports and the internet and ADSb maps that it DOES have!

Let me know if you need anything! I'm at austin@Xavion.com

New features:
We now have a 30 day demo with no sign-up for the demo... you can subscribe AFTER the demo is expired if you like the App!

We now have a global density altitude Map!
Low air density, or 'thin air', or high density altitude, is what limits take-off acceleration and climb, and now we can see it on the Pre-Flight Map!
This lets you see at-a-glance if the density altitude is high for your region.

The dew-point map is now GLOBAL (not USA-only), which helps provide ESTIMATED METARS globally.
Remember, Xavion now gives an ESTIMATED METAR, based on National and Global weather data, if no ACTUAL METAR is reported for a given airport!

Other recent new Features:
The PREFLIGHT section now has new internet-based weather, which is nice to get a heads-up even if you have no ADSb handy.
This is designed to check at home, or at the airport right before you go.

Also, if you touch an airport to see it's weather, and that airport does NOT report METARS,
then Xavion will auto-generate an ESTIMATED METAR based on nearby airports and the internet and ADSb maps that it DOES have!

Critical Algorithm modification:
The FAST-GLIDE speed USED TO BE at least 1.5 times the best glide speed.
Now, the FAST-GLIDE speed is at least 1.41 times the best glide speed.
This keeps the fast-glide speeds a bit lower to let you do calibration with less-steep descents.
Everyone SHOULD go to the SET AIRCRAFT menu, GLIDE tab, and re-enter their “fast-glide configuration" vertical speed at the new, slightly-lower, fast-glide speed.
As always, do this in flight, at a safe altitude, by going to idle power and gliding at the fast-glide speed and entering the resulting vertical velocity.

Critical Data Presentation:
Now, when you zoom out to global viewing scale on the map, ALL airports are visible.
This helps people see what regions are covered by our airport database at-a-glance.

Critical Data Saving for Weather Replay:
Xavion now MEMORIZES the NEXRAD image every ten minutes, so Xavion keeps updating the NEXRAD weather LOOP in flight,
even though ADSb looping NEXRAD is not actually a feature provided by the FAA!

Critical Data Saving for Flight Replay:
Previous flights are now CLEARED from the logbook, and flights moving forward are saved in a NEW format
that saves all of the hoops that you are actually flying, so that in replay, no hoops will be displayed if you are not flying them,
and hoops will always instantly be displayed accurately if you are flying them.

Let me know if you need anything! I'm at austin@Xavion.com

New feature:
The PREFLIGHT section now has new internet-based weather, which is nice to get a heads-up even if you have no ADSb handy.
This is designed to check at home, or at the airport right before you go.

Also, if you touch an airport to see it's weather, and that airport does NOT report METARS,
then Xavion will auto-generate an ESTIMATED METAR based on nearby airports and the internet and ADSb maps that it DOES have!

Improvements:
Much faster Map and Approach Plate download!

Bug fixes:
Once per month, you used to have to re-start Xavion to get all the latest Maps and Plates.
This bug is now fixed, and you can get them at any time!

Other recent new Features:

Critical Algorithm modification:
The FAST-GLIDE speed USED TO BE at least 1.5 times the best glide speed.
Now, the FAST-GLIDE speed is at least 1.41 times the best glide speed.
This keeps the fast-glide speeds a bit lower to let you do calibration with less-steep descents.
Everyone SHOULD go to the SET AIRCRAFT menu, GLIDE tab, and re-enter their “fast-glide configuration" vertical speed at the new, slightly-lower, fast-glide speed.
As always, do this in flight, at a safe altitude, by going to idle power and gliding at the fast-glide speed and entering the resulting vertical velocity.

Critical Data Presentation:
Now, when you zoom out to global viewing scale on the map, ALL airports are visible.
This helps people see what regions are covered by our airport database at-a-glance.

Critical Data Saving for Weather Replay:
Xavion now MEMORIZES the NEXRAD image every ten minutes, so Xavion keeps updating the NEXRAD weather LOOP in flight,
even though ADSb looping NEXRAD is not actually a feature provided by the FAA!

Critical Data Saving for Flight Replay:
Previous flights are now CLEARED from the logbook, and flights moving forward are saved in a NEW format
that saves all of the hoops that you are actually flying, so that in replay, no hoops will be displayed if you are not flying them,
and hoops will always instantly be displayed accurately if you are flying them.

Data Presentation for Pre-Flight:
See the Pre-Flight section, enter your departure-arrival pair under “Where-To?”, and see the pre-flight weather briefing data in the next tabs over!

Optimizations:
Approach and landing flaps extension speeds re-labelled as flaps-1 and flaps-max, to address some customer confusion.
Keyboard auto-invoked on pages that only have one keyboard usage, to speed up the UI just a hair.
Slightly faster response on the notes-entry page so if you write really fast with an Apple Pencil, Xavion keeps up.
NEXRAD time-replay holds the last position for a bit to really focus on the most-recent NEXRAD data.
Much faster METAR scanning, so all of your METARS are available just several seconds after App-start.
Faster approach plate downloads... we only download ones that have actually CHANGED... not just every plate in the new expiration group! This speeds up plate downloads a lot.
We now allow tenth-of-an-inch weight and balance entry, just to hold right to the book if desired.
Battery-usage reduction, which is nice for the longer flights.
RAM-use reduction and UI tuning.
The metric units selection applies more thoroughly throughout the App.

Bug fixes:
Procedure turn was in the wrong direction at KCXO… now fixed!
Possible crash-bug if a server is missing NEXRAD data is fixed.
Scratch-Pad fixed.

Let me know if you need anything! I'm at austin@Xavion.com

Critical Algorithm modification:
The FAST-GLIDE speed USED TO BE at least 1.5 times the best glide speed.
Now, the FAST-GLIDE speed is at least 1.41 times the best glide speed.
This keeps the fast-glide speeds a bit lower to let you do calibration with less-steep descents.
Everyone SHOULD go to the SET AIRCRAFT menu, GLIDE tab, and re-enter their “fast-glide configuration" vertical speed at the new, slightly-lower, fast-glide speed.
As always, do this in flight, at a safe altitude, by going to idle power and gliding at the fast-glide speed and entering the resulting vertical velocity.

Critical Data Presentation:
Now, when you zoom out to global viewing scale on the map, ALL airports are visible.
This helps people see what regions are covered by our airport database at-a-glance.

Critical Data Saving for Weather Replay:
Xavion now MEMORIZES the NEXRAD image every ten minutes, so Xavion keeps updating the NEXRAD weather LOOP in flight,
even though ADSb looping NEXRAD is not actually a feature provided by the FAA!

Critical Data Saving for Flight Replay:
Previous flights are now CLEARED from the logbook, and flights moving forward are saved in a NEW format
that saves all of the hoops that you are actually flying, so that in replay, no hoops will be displayed if you are not flying them,
and hoops will always instantly be displayed accurately if you are flying them.

Data Presentation for Pre-Flight:
See the Pre-Flight section, enter your departure-arrival pair under “Where-To?”, and see the pre-flight weather briefing data in the next tabs over!

Optimizations:
Approach and landing flaps extension speeds re-labelled as flaps-1 and flaps-max, to address some customer confusion.
Keyboard auto-invoked on pages that only have one keyboard usage, to speed up the UI just a hair.
Slightly faster response on the notes-entry page so if you write really fast with an Apple Pencil, Xavion keeps up.
NEXRAD time-replay holds the last position for a bit to really focus on the most-recent NEXRAD data.
Much faster METAR scanning, so all of your METARS are available just several seconds after App-start.

Other recent new Features:
Current and future airport weather available in flight:
On the map, we now have VFR/IFR Airports based on METARs and TAFs, so you can get the weather now or as predicted in the future!
Replay is now available without a net connection!
This is useful for replaying your flight right after landing, still out at the airport with no WIFI.
As well, the replay shows your complete path on the map!

Starting now, your Xavion subscription INCLUDES all USA charts and plates!
Looping NEXRAD radar with auto-set resolution based on zoom.
New Map and PFD imagery, tracking real-world terrain coloring.
New dynamic wind display on the map.
New user interface, which contains help-tips throughout the App, and auto dark-mode for instrument approach plates if you set your brightness below 50%.

Optimizations:
Faster approach plate downloads... we only download ones that have actually CHANGED... not just every plate in the new expiration group! This speeds up plate downloads a lot.
We now allow tenth-of-an-inch weight and balance entry, just to hold right to the book if desired.
Battery-usage reduction, which is nice for the longer flights.
RAM-use reduction and UI tuning.
The metric units selection applies more thoroughly throughout the App.

Bug fixes:
Procedure turn was in the wrong direction at KCXO… now fixed!
Possible crash-bug if a server is missing NEXRAD data is fixed.
Scratch-Pad fixed.

Let me know if you need anything! I'm at austin@Xavion.com

New for 2.57: We now see all global airports on the map... not just those that may be within emergency distance! This is one of countless new features making Xavion a full EFB, not just emergency backup.

Optimizations: Metric vertical speed is now in meters per second, not meters per minute, as per convention... Touch longer selects airports that are de-cluttered out of the display... was confusing... Various UI color and size tweaks based on flight test in a wide variety of conditions.

Other recent new Features:

Current and future airport weather available in flight:
On the map, we now have VFR/IFR Airports based on METARs and TAFs, so you can get the weather now or as predicted in the future!

Replay is now available without a net connection!
This is useful for replaying your flight right after landing, still out at the airport with no WIFI.
As well, the replay shows your complete path on the map!

Starting now, your Xavion subscription INCLUDES all USA charts and plates!
Looping NEXRAD radar with auto-set resolution based on zoom.
New Map and PFD imagery, tracking real-world terrain coloring.
New dynamic wind display on the map.
New user interface, which contains help-tips throughout the App, and auto dark-mode for instrument approach plates if you set your brightness below 50%.

Optimizations:

Faster approach plate downloads... we only download ones that have actually CHANGED... not just every plate in the new expiration group! This speeds up plate downloads a lot.
We now allow tenth-of-an-inch weight and balance entry, just to hold right to the book if desired.
Battery-usage reduction, which is nice for the longer flights.
RAM-use reduction and UI tuning.
The metric units selection applies more thoroughly throughout the App.

Bug fixes:

Procedure turn was in the wrong direction at KCXO… now fixed!
Possible crash-bug if a server is missing NEXRAD data is fixed.
Scratch-Pad fixed.

Let me know if you need anything! I'm at austin@Xavion.com

Replay is now available without a net connection!
This is useful for replaying your flight right after landing, still out at the airport with no WIFI.
As well, the replay shows your complete path on the map!

Other recent new Features:
Starting now, your Xavion subscription INCLUDES all USA charts and plates!
Looping NEXRAD radar with auto-set resolution based on zoom.
New Map and PFD imagery, tracking real-world terrain coloring.
New dynamic wind display on the map.
New user interface, which contains help-tips throughout the App, and auto dark-mode for instrument approach plates if you set your brightness below 50%.

Optimizations:
Faster approach plate downloads... we only download ones that have actually CHANGED... not just every plate in the new expiration group! This speeds up plate downloads a lot.
We now allow tenth-of-an-inch weight and balance entry, just to hold right to the book if desired.
Battery-usage reduction, which is nice for the longer flights.
RAM-use reduction and UI tuning.

Bug fixes:
Procedure turn was in the wrong direction at KCXO… now fixed!
Possible crash-bug if a server is missing NEXRAD data is fixed.

Let me know if you need anything! I'm at austin@Xavion.com

New for 2.52: New Map and PFD imagery, tracking real-world terrain coloring.

Other recent new stuff: Starting now, your Xavion subscription INCLUDES all USA charts and plates!
As well, this build offers free data until July 15, even if you have NO subscription!

New Feature:
We now have National NEXRAD for the USA via WIFI or CELL, so you can get a look at the NEXRAD weather radar on the ground before you get going... even if you don't have an ADSb receiver!

Optimizations:
Faster approach plate downloads... we only download ones that have actually CHANGED... not just every plate in the new expiration group! This speeds up plate downloads a lot.
We now allow tenth-of-an-inch weight and balance entry, just to hold right to the book if desired.

Bug fix:
Procedure turn was in the wrong direction at KCXO… now fixed!

Other recent new features:

New user interface, which contains help-tips throughout the App, and auto dark-mode for instrument approach plates if you set your brightness below 50%.

We now have ELECTRIC “fuel type” for trip energy consumption… the ePlanes are coming!

If you have an iLevil BOM or other receiver with a pitot tube, then Xavion will use it unless the pitot tube becomes unplugged and registers zero speed in flight… then Xavion will revert to estimated indicated airspeed. As well, if you have an external attitude sensor, then Xavion will not supplement that data, but instead use that sensor exclusively, unless it disconnects, a which point Xavion will revert to internal sensors for all attitude data.

Battery-usage reduction, which is nice for the longer flights.

We now show the best wind-corrected glide speed when the emergency hoops are engaged… never go below that speed in the glide!

Flight replay in the LOGBOOK menu now contains a bit more data, and has a cleaner UI to operate it.

Let me know if you need anything! I'm at austin@Xavion.com

Starting now, your Xavion subscription INCLUDES charts and plates!
So now, whenever you subscribe to Xavion, you get charts and plates for all of the USA as well at no extra charge.
This applies to all existing subscriptions as well.
If you have a Charts subscription, you can cancel it now since the base Xavion subscription now provides charts.

As well, this build offers free airport data until June 15, even if you have NO subscription!
Use this free demo to test-fly Xavion with airport data until June 15, and lock in airport and chart data with a single purchase if you like.

As well, moving forward, if you drive Xavion from X-Plane, then Xavion will unlock the official, current airport data for use when flying connected to X-Plane. For flight in X-Plane, previous versions of Xavion used an older dataset that could not be kept current (which was problematic for possible certification), but Xavion now keeps current airport data even for use in the simulator.

Minor bug fixes: Diagnostics Screen fits properly on all devices in all orientations.

Free airport data until June 17, 2020, to let everyone give Xavion a try now.
Updated user-interface for main menu to let you get to each page more quickly.

Now with improved stall indicator accuracy.
To take advantage of this new feature, be sure to enter your V-speeds correctly in the aircraft setup menu.
Then, fly your plane with Xavion running for 30 seconds or so at (clean) minimum controllable airspeed until the stall angle of attack, shown at the top of the AOA tape, stabilizes.
Then, fly your plane with Xavion running for 60 seconds or so at high cruise until the zero-lift angle of attack, shown at the bottom of the AOA tape, stabilizes.
That completes the calibration of the AOA indicator in Xavion.

As well, we now have a smoother flight director, small ui tweaks to the PFD to be a little more sleek and de-cluttered, and the obstacle and terrain callouts now only happen if the craft is in flight or take-off or landing roll, not stopped or taxiing.
This is done to avoid spurious terrain or obstacle warnings.

We now have AOA indicator and backup FLIGHT DIRECTOR!
The AOA indicator is synthetically-generated based on any-available data on GPS, attitude, speed, and G-load.
The flight director follows internal autopilot code based on the heading, altitude, vertical speed, climb speed, and any destination that you enter.
So now, AOA indicator and flight director are added to the list of things that Xavion backs up!

New more efficient charts and plates data access, and region-selection to let you more quickly select your desired flight region to get charts and plates.

Simpler login: No more username and password except for the ones you enter for Apple.
Significant performance improvements on downloading, especially useful when you just want to grab ALL the plates in the USA.

The main menus are now a little larger, as per request.
This is being done by moving the EMERGENCY button out of the menus and opposite the WEATHER button.

The profile view renders a little bit more nicely.

Small performance tweaks, and some future-proofing of input formats to handle e-VTOLS in the future!

Now with weather and airport data in the PROFILE view!
This lets you see terrain, weather, and airport data in a profile view for your flight. This is now a whole different way of looking at your flight, visually seeing terrain and cloud top clearance, and the winds at all different altitudes, allowing at-a-glance look at winds at all altitudes and terrain and cloud top clearance... as well as vertical clearance from icing and turbulence!
So now, in addition to the plan view to let you see what your alternative are for destination selection, you have a fully-functional profile view to provide at-a-glance information for altitude selection.

Also, the weather renders FASTER now, which lets Xavion run more SMOOTHLY in all conditions!

The PROFILE view, which shows a side view of your cruise and also descent to landing, now shows ADSB weather.
We've had weather on the plan-view chart for years, and now have profile-view weather as well.
This allows you to see freezing level and winds aloft at all altitudes, quickly helping with at-a-glance altitude planning.
The profile view also continues to show terrain and obstacles, to give you another view of terrain and obstacle clearance ahead.

Also, we now use the iLEVIL-3 AW pitot-static system for speed and altitude if you have it, with an automatic fall-back to GPS if that system fails for some reason (pitot-static port tubing coming loose is a common cause).
This lets you fly air-data from your iLEVIL if you have it, and know that you have an auto-GPS backup ready to go if that system fails.

Now, in the Preflight menus, Time and Fuel section, you can enter the default winds for Xavion.
If you have no internet or ADSb, Xavion will use these default winds for trip planning and emergency-descent hoops as well.

The hoops are tuned to favor lower bank angles to increase safety, and a final-approach length that is about the same every time to give a consistent final approach length if you have the energy fly it.

The VFR/IFR airports now show up even on the Sectional and Low and High Enroute charts when you are asking for those in the weather selection.

The FMS responds a little faster… a faster UI is always good when you're in a hurry.

Tuning of the instrument approaches and engine-failure approaches with this update:

There is now a DIRECT button for each fix in the FMS to let you take a shortcut with just one button-press.
As always, you can still enter any fix on your route into the first slot of the FMS and then hit the SHORTCUT button to bypass all fixes up to that waypoint, but this lets you do the same thing with just one easy, labelled, button-press.
This is useful when you have a long routing and ATC clears you direct to some fix along your route.

Even after an instrument approach selected, hit direct to any fix to go right there without the instrument approach.
This is useful if you had the instrument approach loaded to fly and then things turned out a bit more VFR than you thought and you just want to beeline to the field visually.

If you are carrying plenty of speed and have an engine failure at that point, the hoops stay level for the distance expected to bleed off energy down to glide speed, to make high-speed engine failures a bit more graceful.

This is interesting: When flying at high altitudes in winds that are very different from surface winds, the vertical speed to airport function in other avionics platforms is just not accurate.
Why?
Because as you descend into the thicker air at lower altitudes, the TRUE airspeed will come down as the air thickens, and the ground speed will change as well as you fly into different wind levels.

This causes errors in the vertical speed to airport function in all of the other avionics packages and makes a constant-VSI descent from altitude generally impossible.

Now, Xavion 2.36 solves this problem.

The vertical speed to target (when you enter any destination airport in the NAV screen) now considers the increase in air density (and resultant decrease in TRUE airspeed for a given INDICATED airspeed) during descent, and the fact that the wind at your current altitude will ultimately bleed off as you descend.

This results in what is technically a CURVED descent path, which is actually what we want to hold a CONSTANT VERTICAL SPEED, which is the lowest-pilot-workload and most comfortable and fuel-efficient way to descend.
Much like the estimated indicated airspeed display and power-off approaches, this is a first for general-aviation avionics, brought to you in Xavion!

Small interface enhancement:

The sky is now rendered a bit darker, with the terrain fogged more in distance, to help provide sense of distance and have clear iconography over the darker sky.
This will also will save a little battery and reduce the need for the iPad to reduce brightness for overheat-protection.

Bug fix: Crash-on-launch bug fixed, which could happen if you have added custom-airports.

Other recent improvements: For power-off airport selection, Xavion now gives a bit of preference towards selecting airports that are CLOSER, even if farther airports are still technically within glide range. This gives you the ability to descend quickly if you want (as desired for pressurized airplanes that have lost pressure, a guaranteed result of losing power in a single-engine pressurized plane!)
This will also make it a bit more likely that you can CIRCLE down rather than glide TO a destination, allowing you a bit more flexibility in your descent.



Small UI Improvements and Bug fixes:

The resolution used to go to poor settings when rotating between Portrait and Landscape on some older devices.
This is now fixed, and Xavion is confirmed to run all the way back to the iPhone 8!

The main menus used to disappear sometimes when Xavion was in HUD mode. This is now fixed.

The touch-zone for the numeric entry is now displayed as larger, to make it easier to see where to touch.

The due-date for your medical exam was previously confused if you were within a dew days of turning 40 on the day of your medical, but this is now fixed!

Improvements:

For power-off airport selection, Xavion now gives a bit of preference towards selecting airports that are CLOSER, even if farther airports are still technically within glide range. This gives you the ability to descend quickly if you want (as desired for pressurized airplanes that have lost pressure, a guaranteed result of losing power in a single-engine pressurized plane!)
This will also make it a bit more likely that you can CIRCLE down rather than glide TO a destination, allowing you a bit more flexibility in your descent.



Small UI Improvements and Bug fixes:

The resolution used to go to poor settings when rotating between Portrait and Landscape on some older devices.
This is now fixed, and Xavion is confirmed to run all the way back to the iPhone 8!

The main menus used to disappear sometimes when Xavion was in HUD mode. This is now fixed.

The touch-zone for the numeric entry is now displayed as larger, to make it easier to see where to touch.

The due-date for your medical exam was previously confused if you were within a dew days of turning 40 on the day of your medical, but this is now fixed!

New feature: With portable ADS-b receivers we now show the FORECAST winds aloft in the TAFs.
Bug fix: We now properly shoe the AGE of the latest METARs and TAFs.

Some font size increases to increase ease-of-access to critical data.
Hoops placement and altitude tuned a bit more for 3-D instrument approaches to match the publish approaches.

This is a fairly significant UI change: In the XAVION map, we now we draw terrain for the ENTIRE map, rather than just the gliding range, with the gliding range now shown as LINES.
(Green line for glide-range at worst glide speed, yellow line for the best-glide stretch-case).

Here’s why:

Previously, the XAVION map only showed you the terrain you could GLIDE to.
This hid away mountains, water, and other terrain that might still be noteworthy for safety in the engine-running case.
But now showing all of the terrain, with green and yellow lines indicating glide range, you the same glide information as always, while still showing you distant terrain.

As well, this technique also works with the Sectional and Low and High Enroute charts, continuing to show you gliding range even when those charts are invoked for normal VFR or IFR chart-based navigation.

As well, this technique also shows you glide range even when in NAV mode, using hoops to navigate to a distance destination, or fly an instrument approach!

So, using this new UI, we still see glide range, while getting a lot of other info as well.
(Interestingly, this was the way Xavion USED to show glide range about 15 years ago when it was called X-Vision, and that original technique is now back!)


Another UI tweak: The fonts and UI are now larger for iPad MINIs, to help keep things a nice size on those smaller pads.

Now our 3-D instrument approaches include Alaska and Hawaii, so we have a broader range for 3-D instrument approaches now.

When you set the map zoom to path or glide scale, Xavion now gives the perfect amount of extra room for the airport data drop-down if you have that invoked, so you can see the total path and airport data all at once with no overlap.

We now have a few more small frame-rate improvements, and slightly greater terrain visibility, which is nice.

The buttons and fonts are now a little bigger, since when flying we don't always have time to study tiny fonts and details: We want things pretty big and clear.

other recent new stuff:

The AGE of the METAR for any airport is shown in the weather at the top of the map... good to know how old that weather is!

Wake turbulence is now only shown if it is at least a yellow-level threat... non-threat wake turbulence is not shown.

If you use metric airspeed, then we now display METAR and TAF visibility in km to go along with that.

Considerably faster start-up, which is really useful for older, slower devices.

We now have 3-D airspace visualization!
For many years, we've seen 3-D DRAWINGS of airspace, and more recently we've seen 3-D renderings on the web.
But we've never had 3-D airspace actually drawn in our avionics in real-time, allowing us to avoid airspace visually in flight.
Now, that changes: Xavion draws airspace in 3-D on the PFD so you can avoid airspace without fumbling around looking for the ALTITUDES of the airspace you are flying through or over.

As well, many small refinements:

Twice the visibility on PFD, letting you see terrain and airspace much farther away, allowing planning farther in advance for high-speed and high-altitude flights.

Glideslope for instrument approaches set to steepest of standard 3 degree approach and the published glideslope.
(Previous versions of Xavion brought you in a bit steeper than those standards).

800-400-200 ft altitude warnings back by customer demand... you can hear them with a bluetooth connection to your headset.
(They are applied with the terrain warning option in the settings.)

Small battery savings far from any airports, small performance and RAM improvements, small pixel-resolution tuning for both Mini and Pro iPads.

The AGE of the METAR for any airport is shown in the weather at the top of the map... good to know how old that weather is!

Wake turbulence is now only shown if it is at least a yellow-level threat... non-threat wake turbulence is not shown.

If you use metric airspeed, then we now display METAR and TAF visibility in km to go along with that.

Considerably faster start-up, which is really useful for older, slower devices.

Slightly larger buttons and fonts, useful for older eyes! ;-P


Other recent new stuff:

We now have 3-D airspace visualization!
For many years, we've seen 3-D DRAWINGS of airspace, and more recently we've seen 3-D renderings on the web.
But we've never had 3-D airspace actually drawn in our avionics in real-time, allowing us to avoid airspace visually in flight.
Now, that changes: Xavion draws airspace in 3-D on the PFD so you can avoid airspace without fumbling around looking for the ALTITUDES of the airspace you are flying through or over.

As well, many small refinements:
Twice the visibility on PFD, letting you see terrain and airspace much farther away, allowing planning farther in advance for high-speed and high-altitude flights.
Glideslope for instrument approaches set to steepest of standard 3 degree approach and the published glideslope.
(Previous versions of Xavion brought you in a bit steeper than those standards).
800-400-200 ft altitude warnings back by customer demand... you can hear them with a bluetooth connection to your headset.
(They are applied with the terrain warning option in the settings.)
Small battery savings far from any airports, small performance and RAM improvements, small pixel-resolution tuning for both Mini and Pro iPads.

We now have 3-D airspace visualization!
For many years, we've seen 3-D DRAWINGS of airspace, and more recently we've seen 3-D renderings on the web.
But we've never had 3-D airspace actually drawn in our avionics in real-time, allowing us to avoid airspace visually in flight.
Now, that changes: Xavion draws airspace in 3-D on the PFD so you can avoid airspace without fumbling around looking for the ALTITUDES of the airspace you are flying through or over.


As well, this release has many small refinements:

Twice the visibility on PFD, letting you see terrain and airspace much farther away, allowing planning farther in advance for high-speed and high-altitude flights.

Glideslope for instrument approaches set to steepest of standard 3 degree approach and the published glideslope.
(Previous versions of Xavion brought you in a bit steeper than those standards).

800-400-200 ft altitude warnings back by customer demand... you can hear them with a bluetooth connection to your headset.
(They are applied with the terrain warning option in the settings.)

Small battery savings far from any airports, small performance and RAM improvements, small pixel-resolution tuning for both Mini and Pro iPads.

NAVIGATION UPDATE:

On missed approaches as published, there are sometimes instructions to maintain the runway heading until you get to a certain altitude, and THEN turn to the missed approach fix.
Previously, in Xavion, the hoops went IMMEDIATELY to the missed approach fix.
But now, we run the hoops along runway heading assuming a 3-degree climb angle and THEN turn to the missed approach fix.
This way, the missed approach hoops run out along a path that is above the minimum climb gradient of 2 degrees, thus guaranteeing that the hoops are within the charted missed approach corridor.
As well, we now we have DME arcs so you can fly DME-arc approaches with full 3-D hoop guidance!





REFINEMENTS:

Wake turbulence is now scaled in the 3-d synthetic vision screen to give a better sense of scale.

Emergency hoops used to take up to about a second to engage once called for: Now they appear INSTANTLY, the MOMENT you hit the EMER button, since they are pre-planned.

Manual barometric pressure entry is now available in inches Hg or hPa as per preferences settings.

We now have weather options on the Approach Plates screen so you can view or close weather on the Approach Plates screen just like the main screen.

Approach Plates are now broken into smaller groups to make large airports more accessible:
Diagrams, Hot-Spots, Take-Off Minimums, SIDs, STARs, Approach Plates, and Land-And-Hold_short groups are now all available.





OTHER RECENT UPDATES:

Now we have some pretty cool REPLAY options!
Here’s how they work:
First, go for a REAL flight (flights connected to X-Plane are NOT recorded).
Then, right after you land, or whenever you get home, go to the POST flight menus.
Then, go to the XAVION REPLAY tab.
Now, simply choose the flight you just flew (or any other flight) and a jog slider appears at the bottom so you can replay it!
Hoops are saved, as is other traffic and the major indications. You see it all on the PFD and MAP shown above the jog slider!
And, if you have a copy of X-Plane running on Mac, Windows, or Linux that you have connected to that copy of Xavion, then X-Plane will show the replay as well! Turn on the flight path following in X-Plane to see your path in the X-Plane world!

Enter barometric pressure manually in the PREFERENCES menu now, if you don't have an ADSb receiver or in-flight WIFI.

Other new stuff: Now we have some pretty cool REPLAY options!
Here is how it works:
First, go for a REAL flight (flights connected to X-Plane are NOT recorded).
Then, right after you land, or whenever you get home, go to the POST flight menus.
Then, go to the XAVION REPLAY tab.
Now, simply choose the flight you just flew (or any other flight) and a jog slider appears at the bottom so you can replay it!
Hoops are saved, as is other traffic and the major indications. You see it all on the PFD and MAP shown above the jog slider!
Now here is where it gets pretty cool: If you have a copy of X-Plane running on Mac, Windows, or Linux that you have connected to that copy of Xavion, then X-Plane will show the replay as well! Turn on the flight path following in X-Plane to see your path in the X-Plane world!
So, now you can replay your flight in Xavion right after landing, or any other time, and see your actual flight in X-Plane as well simply by replaying the flight on Xavion while connected to X-Plane 11.30 or later! Cool!

Other recent new stuff:

Refinements:

Now we have DME arcs so you can fly DME-arc approaches with full 3-D hoop guidance!

We now have weather options on the Approach Plates screen so you can view or close weather on the Approach Plates screen just like the main screen.

Approach Plates are now broken into smaller groups to make large airports more accessible:
Diagrams, Hot-Spots, Take-Off Minimums, SIDs, STARs, Approach Plates, and Land-And-Hold_short groups are now all available.
(Also whenever you enter the time-fuel or use the FMS to enter any enroute hoops, the destination airport ID is auto-loaded into the plate-selector.)
(Also plate selections are remembered whenever you go back to the plates menu... just hit the plates menu button again to select a new plate.)

New requirement:

Current airport data is now required for all use of this App!
Xavion is moving into the cockpit of a REAL eVTOL (see www.Beta.team) that will ultimately be FAA-certified, so I am pulling OUT the old X-Plane airport data and going to FAA-certified airport data only.
This is a needed part of the certification path we are taking, since Xavion will be sending airport data to in-cockpit certified avionics.

Now with some pretty cool REPLAY options!
Here is how it works:
First, go for a REAL flight (flights connected to X-Plane are NOT recorded).
Then, right after you land, or whenever you get home, go to the POST flight menus.
Then, go to the XAVION REPLAY tab.
Now, simply choose the flight you just flew (or any other flight) and a jog slider appears at the bottom so you can replay it!
Hoops are saved, as is other traffic and the major indications. You see it all on the PFD and MAP shown above the jog slider!
Now here is where it gets pretty cool: If you have a copy of X-Plane running on Mac, Windows, or Linux that you have connected to that copy of Xavion, then X-Plane will show the replay as well! Turn on the flight path following in X-Plane to see your path in the X-Plane world!

So, now you can replay your flight in Xavion right after landing, or any other time, and see your actual flight in X-Plane as well simply by replaying the flight on Xavion while connected to X-Plane 11.30 or later! Cool!

Other recent new stuff:

Refinements:

Now we have DME arcs so you can fly DME-arc approaches with full 3-D hoop guidance!

We now have weather options on the Approach Plates screen so you can view or close weather on the Approach Plates screen just like the main screen.

Approach Plates are now broken into smaller groups to make large airports more accessible:
Diagrams, Hot-Spots, Take-Off Minimums, SIDs, STARs, Approach Plates, and Land-And-Hold_short groups are now all available.
(Also whenever you enter the time-fuel or use the FMS to enter any enroute hoops, the destination airport ID is auto-loaded into the plate-selector.)
(Also plate selections are remembered whenever you go back to the plates menu... just hit the plates menu button again to select a new plate.)

New requirement:

Current airport data is now required for all use of this App!
Xavion is moving into the cockpit of a REAL eVTOL (see www.Beta.team) that will ultimately be FAA-certified, so I am pulling OUT the old X-Plane airport data and going to FAA-certified airport data only.
This is a needed part of the certification path we are taking, since Xavion will be sending airport data to in-cockpit certified avionics.

Refinements:

Now we have DME arcs!
So, you can fly DME-arc approaches with full 3-D hoop guidance!

We now have weather options on the Approach Plates screen.
So, you can view or close weather on the Approach Plates screen just like the main screen.

Approach Plates are now broken into smaller groups to make large airports more accessible:
Diagrams, Hot-Spots, Take-Off Minimums, SIDs, STARs, Approach Plates, and Land-And-Hold_short groups are now all available.
(Also whenever you enter the time-fuel or use the FMS to enter any enroute hoops, the destination airport ID is auto-loaded into the plate-selector.)
(Also plate selections are remembered whenever you go back to the plates menu... just hit the plates menu button again to select a new plate.)


New requirement:

Current airport data is now required for all use of this App!
Xavion is moving into the cockpit of a REAL eVTOL (see www.Beta.team) that will ultimately be FAA-certified, so I am pulling OUT the old X-Plane airport data and going to FAA-certified airport data only.
This is a needed part of the certification path we are taking, since Xavion will be sending airport data to in-cockpit certified avionics.


Bug fix:

Multi-segment airways with unused sections in the middle are now handled correctly, like V266 between SPA and GSO.

I am working on this airplane:

https://www.beta.team/news/

This is a zero-emissions, vertical take-off and landing aircraft designed to (finally) move our personal transportation into the third dimension.

Xavion will be part of the avionics of the successor to this craft, and this version of Xavion lays out the menus in the format that will be used to fly this airplane.

The layout involves NEVER hitting a “BACK” button, but instead working in linear order through:
SETUP (configuration for the airplane)
PRE-FLIGHT (pilot, map, and chart currency, weight and balance, and flight time and fuel estimates)
IN-FLIGHT (synthetic vision, weather, traffic, FMS, many types of approaches including instrument in 3-D)
POST-FLIGHT (data-logging for logbook entries and flight-replay in X-Plane)
DIAGNOSTICS (to see what data Xavion is consuming and outputting)

So this new menu setup is a little different than what we might be used to, but gives a linear flow through all phases of flight, thus providing a more comprehensive avionics package.

Coupled with the FMC, VFR approaches, instrument approaches, and power-off approaches all being presented as 3-D hoops, the power provided in navigation and situational awareness is, for me, comprehensive.

I now routinely navigate all over the country in my Evolution doing Northeast-Corridor 10-airway / 20-fix IFR routings, VFR approaches, instrument approaches, and simulated engine-fail approaches all without even TOUCHING the Garmin G1000 in my cockpit for anything other than changing the radio frequencies.

Xavion now guides me through the National Airspace System without the Garmins being of any further use to me except as a partial backup to Xavion.

We now show the published holding patterns at the end of every instrument approach.
This is the final bit of detail to get those3-D hoops instrument approaches perfect, all the way through the hold!

As well, we now have VFR approaches!
Simply enter your destination airport in the NAV screen and then select a VFR approach to any runway.
This gives you a path from your current location to that runway touch down zone with a 3-degree glideslope.

So now we have terrain-checked VFR, complete and current IFR, and engine-failed 3-D approaches: Just follow the hoops!

As well as these approaches, we have a slightly larger MAP, and slightly smaller PFD.
This is useful because of the plethora of information now available on the map.

Also for this rev we added more data on ADS-b traffic reports: We now see speed and vertical speed of the other craft in addition to their usual track, which really lets you see how fast they are closing on you and how you might adjust your planning accordingly.

As well, some performance and battery-usage improvements... we always want to run faster with less battery drain!

Also some minor tweaks:

Now whenever you minimize the weather menu, the weather stays invoked on the map so you can get a map full of weather without the weather menu being in the way
simply touch any weather selection again to toggle it off.

Now if you have an FMS plan in place and you hit the EMER button, then when you hit the EMER button again to cancel the emergency, the previous flight plan is automatically restored.

Now if you have an external AHRS unit like an external ADSb receiver, the iPad totally ignores its' own internal gyros so you can put the pad in your lap, etc, without the horizon moving at all.
BUT, if the AHRS receiver fails or disconnects or runs down its' battery, then the iPads' internal gyros take over in 5 seconds to resume normal attitude indication.

Now with 3-D instrument approaches and a lot of refinements pursuant to a lot of flight-testing:

-The 3-D instrument-approach hoops are a bit smoothed for the turn-in and turn-out to make it a bit smoother to fly them, which is nice.
-The descents are also smoothed, allowing for very nice, smooth, precise instrument-approach flying if you stay in the hoops.
-NAVAID frequencies are now shown on the Xavion glide map when you show NAVAIDs, which just saves a bit of time trying to find frequencies on a chart.
-The chart installer screen now shows disk space available and time and disc space and minutes required for an install, and shows the download-in-process regions as yellow, and the download-completed regions as green, so you can stop an in-process download and run out the door if you want, knowing what regions you had time to get.
-Pressure alt from iLevel or iPhone or iPad in non-pressurized planes now corrects for non-standard lapse-rate due to temperature to try to dial that alt in ever better.
-METARs from airports with malfunctioning equipment handled more robustly: Even if only SOME of the weather is reported for each airport, we take what we can get from each METAR more completely.
-Your Stratus 3 and iPad each have their own pressure sensors, and now we only listen to ONE of them at a time, falling back to the other if one fails, to avoid fluctuations due to the data being a little bit different between the two.

Now with 3-D instrument approaches!

In the NAV menu, simply enter any destination airport... via all the fixes and airways you like.
For any US airport at the end if the plan, all of the published instrument approaches in the FAA digital database will be shown!
Simply hit the button for VECTORS or for the initial approach fix you want to use, and then go back to the regular PFD screen...
The instrument approach is now thrown into the sky as 3-D hoops to fly through,
from your current location,
through the IAF you chose,
through the runway threshold,
through the missed approach
through the teardrop entry into the hold at the missed approach point!
And all of the hoops are shown at a great altitude: The minimum for each fix with a 3-degree descent angle to allow continuous, smooth step-downs from any initial altitude!
It's all there: just fly through the hoops!
Finally, an instrument approach that even I can fly, without having had a instrument refresher course within the last WEEK!

Now with new tuning for 2.17:
We now have much longer-distance coverage for the 3-D elevation maps, now out to about 250 nm in all directions from you.
You won't glide this far in most planes, but now you can switch to the profile map view and see terrain compared to your flight path for the next 250 nm!
So even if you never have an engine-failure in a U-2 spy-plane at 70,000 feet, you can still use Xavion to look far ahead for terrain.

As well, there are various subtle UI improvements, including:
Better support for iPhoneX screen, using more of that screen to really maximize what you can see.
The hoops narrow in to the runway a bit for those 3-D instrument approaches to tighten guidance in close.
Airport, weather and descent-planning data shown at the top of the main map are now organized in a manner that saves space.
The "on" state of the menus and buttons is not quite so bright, to minimize un-needed lite leakage, which is very useful at night.

Now with 3-D instrument approaches!

So here is how it works:

In the NAV menu, simply enter any destination airport... via all the fixes and airways you like.
For any US airport at the end if the plan, all of the published instrument approaches in the FAA digital database will be shown!
Simply hit the button for VECTORS or for the initial approach fix you want to use, and then go back to the regular PFD screen...
The instrument approach is now thrown into the sky as 3-D hoops to fly through,
from your current location,
through the IAF you chose,
through the runway threshold,
through the missed approach
through the teardrop entry into the hold at the missed approach point!
And all of the hoops are shown at a great altitude: The minimum for each fix with a 3-degree descent angle to allow continuous, smooth step-downs from any initial altitude!
It's all there: just fly through the hoops!
Finally, an instrument approach that even I can fly, without having had a instrument refresher course within the last WEEK!

And some fine-tuning:

Synthetic vision colors are now tuned to show the mountains more clearly... hopefully this will do a nice job of making that rising terrain even more visible!

Navigation hoops with multiple fixes now turn at each fix more precisely, like an instrument approach, and are grey when seen from behind to make it easier to see which hoops are going in the other direction.

Internal AHRS should run a bit smoother as well, doing work per frame instead of per-GPS-reception.

NAV FMS now show cumulative distance, not leg distance.

TAWS improvements: We now look ahead 5 minutes for TAWS alerts with terrain (previously we looked ahead 2 minutes).
As well, the TAWS system now has more accurate obstacle warnings to reduce false alarms.

Map color tuning: We now see the airspace and airways better, while still preserving visibility of glide distance.
As well, this will help preserve night vision: We only send out light where we really need to.

Also recently added:
We now have AIRWAYS on the Xavion gliding-map, with an FMS that allows you to fully navigate them.
Here is how it works:
Go to the PLAN tab and enter your destination and any number of waypoints along the way, including airways!
Enter your desired cruising altitude.
Then, in flight, just fly through the hoops in 3D to get to your destination, traversing fixes and airways along the way!
As well, if ATC ever clears you direct to a fix along your route, just enter direct to that fix and hit the SHORTCUT button, and Xavion will update your Highway-In-The-Sky hoops direct to that destination, with all of your flight plan after that point remaining intact!
And, while doing this, Xavion shows you the airways and your gliding range at the same time.
This is literally lets you navigate the busy north-east corridor, IFR, following Highway-In-The-Sky hoops, with the FMS on your phone, while always knowing your power-off options for landing.
It is a new level of professionalism and safety.
Also new is AIRSPACE display on the Xavion gliding-map!
This is useful for watching out for airspace during routine flight operations, while still keeping an eye on your glide options on a continuous basis, putting you way ahead of everyone else in the sky in situational awareness, since you are seeing both airspace for LEGAL operations, and gliding options for SAFE operations, all at once.

30% high-res DEM files, with higher-contrast terrain textures, rocks splattered across the ground, and marked 'tower' height to give you scale when getting within 200 feet of the terrain.
Fly this connected to X-Plane to really enjoy skimming the mountains and seeing how it all works.

Also improved deduced reckoning to continue tracking you location after an intermittent or permanent GPS outage or failure.

Also recently added:

We now have AIRWAYS on the Xavion gliding-map, with an FMS that allows you to fully navigate them.
Here is how it works:
Go to the PLAN tab and enter your destination and any number of waypoints along the way, including airways!
Enter your desired cruising altitude.
Then, in flight, just fly through the hoops in 3D to get to your destination, traversing fixes and airways along the way!
As well, if ATC ever clears you direct to a fix along your route, just enter direct to that fix and hit the SHORTCUT button, and Xavion will update your Highway-In-The-Sky hoops direct to that destination, with all of your flight plan after that point remaining intact!
And, while doing this, Xavion shows you the airways and your gliding range at the same time.
This is literally lets you navigate the busy north-east corridor, IFR, following Highway-In-The-Sky hoops, with the FMS on your phone, while always knowing your power-off options for landing.
It is a new level of professionalism and safety.
Also new is AIRSPACE display on the Xavion gliding-map!
This is useful for watching out for airspace during routine flight operations, while still keeping an eye on your glide options on a continuous basis, putting you way ahead of everyone else in the sky in situational awareness, since you are seeing both airspace for LEGAL operations, and gliding options for SAFE operations, all at once.

New for 2.06: Quicker synthetic vision response in turns, to make it easier to fly the hoops!
This is surprisingly important: A smooth, rapid synthetic vision system is critical to being able to fly these hoops at night or in IFR conditions!

Stratus-3 AHRS lock-out in unusual attitudes: The Stratus-3 AHRS system fails above about 65 degrees or about 2.5 G’s.
When this failure occurs, Xavion automatically takes over attitude display, which I have tested to 3G’s and 120 degrees of bank.

Memory optimizations: The RAM requirement is now a little bit lower.
This matters a lot, because Apple has a way of shutting down Apps when the memory usage gets high, so memory efficiency is critical!

Also new for Xavion 2: Airspace and airways in the Xavion gliding map, and FMS capabilities.
Now with ADS-B integration: You now enter your TAIL NUMBER in the aircraft preferences.
Do this where you enter whether the plane is pressurized or has retractable gear.
Then, Xavion will filter your plane out from the traffic display to avoid warning of a collision with yourself!
This is a common occurrence with all portable ADS-B receivers, and solved by simply entering your own tail number into Xavion.

Also recently added:

We now have AIRWAYS on the Xavion gliding-map, with an FMS that allows you to fully navigate them.
Here is how it works:
Go to the PLAN tab and enter your destination and any number of waypoints along the way, including airways!
Enter your desired cruising altitude.
Then, in flight, just fly through the hoops in 3D to get to your destination, traversing fixes and airways along the way!
As well, if ATC ever clears you direct to a fix along your route, just enter direct to that fix and hit the SHORTCUT button, and Xavion will update your Highway-In-The-Sky hoops direct to that destination, with all of your flight plan after that point remaining intact!
And, while doing this, Xavion shows you the airways and your gliding range at the same time.
This is literally lets you navigate the busy north-east corridor, IFR, following Highway-In-The-Sky hoops, with the FMS on your phone, while always knowing your power-off options for landing.
It is a new level of professionalism and safety.
Also new is AIRSPACE display on the Xavion gliding-map!
This is useful for watching out for airspace during routine flight operations, while still keeping an eye on your glide options on a continuous basis, putting you way ahead of everyone else in the sky in situational awareness, since you are seeing both airspace for LEGAL operations, and gliding options for SAFE operations, all at once.

This Xavion 2.04, now with airspace and airways in the Xavion gliding map, and FMS capabilities.

Now with ADS-B integration: You now enter your TAIL NUMBER in the aircraft preferences.
Do this where you enter whether the plane is pressurized or has retractable gear.
Then, Xavion will filter your plane out from the traffic display to avoid warning of a collision with yourself!
This is a common occurrence with all portable ADS-B receivers, and solved by simply entering your own tail number into Xavion.

Also recently added:

We now have AIRWAYS on the Xavion gliding-map, with an FMS that allows you to fully navigate them.
Here is how it works:
Go to the PLAN tab and enter your destination and any number of waypoints along the way, including airways!
Enter your desired cruising altitude.
Then, in flight, just fly through the hoops in 3D to get to your destination, traversing fixes and airways along the way!
As well, if ATC ever clears you direct to a fix along your route, just enter direct to that fix and hit the SHORTCUT button, and Xavion will update your Highway-In-The-Sky hoops direct to that destination, with all of your flight plan after that point remaining intact!
And, while doing this, Xavion shows you the airways and your gliding range at the same time.
This is literally lets you navigate the busy north-east corridor, IFR, following Highway-In-The-Sky hoops, with the FMS on your phone, while always knowing your power-off options for landing.
It is a new level of professionalism and safety.
Also new is AIRSPACE display on the Xavion gliding-map!
This is useful for watching out for airspace during routine flight operations, while still keeping an eye on your glide options on a continuous basis, putting you way ahead of everyone else in the sky in situational awareness, since you are seeing both airspace for LEGAL operations, and gliding options for SAFE operations, all at once.

Other new tweaks:

Minor tweaks to the flight plan entry and modification.
New font, which everyone will hopefully like.

This Xavion 2.02, now with airspace and airways in the Xavion gliding map, and FMS capabilities!

We now have AIRWAYS on the Xavion gliding-map, with an FMS that allows you to fully navigate them.

Here is how it works:

Go to the PLAN tab and enter your destination and any number of waypoints along the way, including airways!
Enter your desired cruising altitude.
Then, in flight, just fly through the hoops in 3D to get to your destination, traversing fixes and airways along the way!
As well, if ATC ever clears you direct to a fix along your route, just enter direct to that fix and hit the SHORTCUT button, and Xavion will update your Highway-In-The-Sky hoops direct to that destination, with all of your flight plan after that point remaining intact!
And, while doing this, Xavion shows you the airways and your gliding range at the same time.
This is literally lets you navigate the busy north-east corridor, IFR, following Highway-In-The-Sky hoops, with the FMS on your phone, while always knowing your power-off options for landing.
It is a new level of professionalism and safety.

Also new is AIRSPACE display on the Xavion gliding-map!
This is useful for watching out for airspace during routine flight operations, while still keeping an eye on your glide options on a continuous basis, putting you way ahead of everyone else in the sky in situational awareness, since you are seeing both airspace for LEGAL operations, and gliding options for SAFE operations, all at once.

Also new for 2.02: Performance, memory, and rendering improvements, allowing faster performance on more devices, including older devices.

This Xavion 2.00, now with airspace and airways in the Xavion gliding map!

We now have AIRSPACE display on the Xavion gliding-map!
This is useful for watching out for airspace during routine flight operations, while still keeping an eye on your glide options on a continuous basis, putting you way ahead of everyone else in the sky in situational awareness, since you are seeing both airspace for legal operations, and gliding options for safe operations, all at once.

We now have AIRWAYS display on the Xavion gliding-map!
This is useful for routine navigation, while still keeping an eye on your glide options on a continuous basis, putting you way ahead of everyone else in the sky in situational awareness, since you are seeing both airways for legal navigation operations, and gliding options for safe operations, all at once.


Performance improvements:

Very large performance improvements for more frame-rate with weather displays on.
Also, low and high resolution weather radar options, so you can get close-in detail or far-out predictions, based on which weather you ADSB receiver has gotten for the area!


Rendering improvements:

Slight hoop visual improvement for distant hoops.
Heads Up Display mode: We now have thinner lines for terrain, and the non-warning colors are green not red, which shows up a bit better on sky backgrounds.

When operating in HUD mode, Xavion is now full-featured.
There are various HUD hardware options.

Expiration dates displayed as per the FAA not Seattle Avionics standard, so there is now a one-day overlap between old plates expiring and new plates being available.

Bug fix: Units for speed, altitude, weight and balance, all customizable again!

Interface improvements, both in 2D and 3D:
Obstacle plotting is now a bit more clear in crowded areas, helping with any possibly-needed obstacle avoidance.
Terrain now turns red around any area of projected terrain impact, which is much more visually noticeable than the red X that we used to have to mark possible terrain intersection.

Now with better short/long runway landing choices: We TRY for the center of the runway, but will land short or long if those are the only options left!
This helps stretch that glide that last tiny bit if needed, or pushes back along a long the runway if you are in close and high.

This version of Xavion switches to landscape and portrait modes using the standard IOS convention, which lets Xavion work in projectors of all orientations,
so Xavion can be used for HUDs and other projectors! This should work regardless of the device's orientation.

Fresh installs default to the Columbia 400, not the Lancair Evolution, to provide a start-point very close to a Cirrus or Columbia or Corvalis.

Better weather visualization.
Now you can really see the CELLS of the thunderstorms rather than the map of pixels like we use to have.
This is also useful for seeing the towering clouds in the cloud tops section, and the intense areas of icing and turbulence!

As well, we try different landing locations ALONG each runway to try for better obstacle clearance, or to allow for more flare of braking distance, as appropriate for each runway and surrounding terrain.

Wake turbulence auto-declutter for a smooth an un-cluttered look at the wake turbulence of other airplanes.

Emergency-glide guidance automatically stops whenever you use Xavion for routine 3-D Highway-In-The-Sky navigation.
(You used to have cancel the emergency gliding hoops before doing routine 3-D navigation).

This is a nice refinement of the App, with a lot of small things to dial it in:
Access to your existing Seattle Avionics Charts Account at no charge, IF you already have a Seattle Avionics charts account.
More rapid and reliable charts download, whether the account is formed by Seattle Avionics or In-App purchase.
Smoother on-screen map loading for rapid zooming and panning of Sectional and Low Enroute charts.
Shadowed fonts are now a bit easier to read, especially at night with dim settings on your iPad.
Various small graphics tweaks to make the presentation cleaner, which you will hopefully like.
So, the App is really dialed in here to be as nice as possible to use... let me know if I missed anything at austin@Xavion.com!

Xavion now has a new deduced reckoning system to continue navigation in the event of intermittent GPS failure!
This is actually quite common when you bank the airplane, because the antenna frequently loses the GPS signal for a few moments during the turn!
Here is how it works: As long as you HAVE a GPS signal, Xavion tracks your speed and location.
Then, whenever the GPS signal is lost, Xavion propagates your flight both laterally and vertically at the last-known speed, based on your current pitch, roll, and heading!
Now here is the amazing part: EVEN WITHOUT GPS, Xavion tracks your pitch, roll, and heading based on the internal accelerometers, compass, and gyros of your iPad or external ADS-B receiver, so the flight is propagated in location with the iPads’ INTERNAL sensors, even when the external GPS signal is lost! Xavion uses this data from an external ADS-B receiver if you have it, and the iPads INTERNAL sensors if you have no ADS-B receiver or the ADS-B receiver signal is lost as well! So we fall back from external GPS, to external ADS-B receiver, to internal iPad sensors, as needed based on the situation, making location-tracking extremely fault-tolerant.
This is a very basic inertial navigation system, propagating your position you through those GPS signal-loss cases in the turns.
The propagation is updated based on the pitch, roll, and heading of the aircraft as you bank and turn, thus propagating your position in 3-D and around turns as well.
This is very nice for keeping your position tracked even in those turns as you maneuver in the last stages of a power-off landing.

Now with support for the iLevil BOM!
This shows angle of attack indication from the BOM.
So now, angle of attack indication in light airplanes!

As well, we show all the new ADFS-B weather products, which include icing and turbulence forecasts, as well as cloud tops, and have countless new refinements to the UI and internal code.

In addition to the new ADS-B weather products for 1.88 including cloud tops, turbulence, and icing, 1.89 includes a number of tuning refinements:

Now the iPad GPS and accelerometers start up the MOMENT they suspect an external receiver has been turned off or lost its' battery rather that waiting for a few moments as in previous versions.
So, if an external ADSB receiver goes dead or loses signal, the iPad or iPhone sensors are turned on with 3 seconds (though a GPS LOCK might take some moments to acquire).

The various zoom modes are now tweaked just a hair to fit the path to the screen a little more nicely with some room around the edges.

Be sure you check whether or not your aircraft is pressurized in settings and then Xavion can use best altitude for your receiver, either GPS or pressure-based, which SOME ADSB receivers get!

The ‘This is level' button now levels out external ADSB receivers as well as the iPad and iPhone attitude in case they are not sitting quite level on the dash.

The airport expiration date is now properly displayed whether you have the optional chart data or not.

Now there is no need to re-start Xavion after driving it with X-Plane and then switching over to use in the real airplane... Xavion now automatically notices that you are no longer connected to X-Plane and engages internal sensors.

Various other minor UI tweaks.

New for Xavion 1.88:

In addition to full Stratus support and an overhauled internal AHRS system for iPad-based attitude, we now have support for THE NEW ADS-B WEATHER PRODUCTS!
Lightning, cloud tops, icing, and turbulence!

Here is how it works: There is now just a SINGLE weather option in the SETTINGS page called WEATHER.
Once that single option is turned on, then in the MAP screen of Xavion, just a FEW buttons show up in the lower-left, but each one DOES a LOT!

NEXRAD/Lightning
Icing/Freezing
Wind/Turbulence
Cloud/Tops
VFR/IFR/Airports

Just five buttons! That's it!
And just these five simple buttons display ALL of the ADS-B weather, including the new weather products that just came out this year!
Here is how we get the ENTIRE suite of new ADS-B weather with just five little buttons:

NEXRAD/Lightning
THIS is the button you hit when you are flying around storms!
This shows NEXRAD precip, and also the clouds around the precip so you can see how far out the clouds go from the storms, AND all of the lightning strikes in the area! All of this info is easily plotted at the same time, and is all relevant to summertime flying: This is what lets you avoid storms! Hit one button and you have all the weather you need to avoid thunderstorms and other types of heavy precip.

Icing/Freezing
For those flights where ICING is you concern, just hit this ONE BUTTON!
This shows the icing forecast from the NOAA at all altitudes from 2,000 to 24,000 feet.
As well as the icing severity and risk forecast, I also lay a cloud map over it so you can see where the visible moisture is (ice can only form in visible moisture!) and I throw down the freezing level as well so you can get a quick-look at how low you have to limbo to get out of the ice in the descent! This is especially cool because the ADSB broadcast does NOT include the freezing level!!! (WHUUUUUUUUT?) Yep, they never send the freezing level, but I still show it to you! How? Easy! ADSB DOES broadcast winds and temperatures aloft, so Xavion looks at the temperatures aloft and just finds where the freezing level must be from interpolation on those temperatures aloft! Simple!
So, with a single button-press, you get the clouds, freezing level, and icing risk all on-screen at once: Surely enough to avoid icing!

Wind/Turbulence
Now for those flights where you are NOT afraid of bad weather, you are instead annoyed by headwinds.
We often want to try different altitudes to duck headwinds, but that often puts us in turbulence!
So, now with Xavion, we show the winds aloft as arrows with speed indicators overlayed on the turbulence forecast map!
This lets us see the winds and turbulence all at once, easily! Now, just ONE button press to see both the WINDS AND turbulence, so you can make your altitude selection.

Cloud Tops
OK maybe everything with storms, icing, winds, and turbulence is just fine, but you just feel like getting out of the clouds anyway.
Just hit the could tops button to see how high you will have to go to escape the clouds to the top.

VFR/IFR Airports
And if you just want to see where you can go in a hurry for a VFR landing, then just hit this button and all the airports with weather reports will be shown in color (green for VFR, yellow for MVFR, red for IFR), with clouds as well so you can see what is VFR or clear at-a-glance. This is the sum of escape options available with a single button-press.

So, that is how the weather (including the new ADS-B weather!) is shown in Xavion, all with just five buttons right on the main map!
No more fumbling around for weather in flight: Everything is right there at a glance with one button-press for any given situation!


Oh yah and one more tiny thing: When you are NOT on the main PFD page, a screen-saver comes on after 5 minutes to prevent burn-in if you leave the phone alone for a long time to download all the charts and plates!

PHRASEOLOGY:

Minor change in the PHRASEOLOGY of the of the emergency power-off approach:
Now, when you hit the red button, the on-screen alert says: "HOOP CENTER, THEN 140 KIAS IF ABLE" (or whatever the speed is for your airplane).
This makes it clear that the first priority is to get to the center of the hoops, and holding that bit of extra speed is secondary.
Now, it should be known by ALL pilots that if you are below the center of the hoops, then you should NOT go below best glide speed.
This should already be clear to all pilots: Hold best glide speed if you are below the hoops, letting your shallow glide hopefully intercept them
since they comes down a bit steeper than your best glide ratio. Then, once you have gotten to the center of the hoops at best glide speed, then
your NEXT, SECOND priority is holding a bit of extra speed down the hoops to give yourself a bit of glide margin, which the recommended speed does for you.
Use gear, flaps, slips, prop control, speedbrakes, s-turns, or whatever you like to do for power-off speed-control in your airplane to hold that target speed.


INTERFACE:

Interface tightened up just a hair, with a bit more data shown about each airport when you either enter it as a destination, have emergency hoops going to it, or just touch it while flying to learn about it.
Since time enroute and descent rate to get there are always shown, you can just touch airports when enroute to see their critical frequencies, runways and lengths, METAR weather, time to get there,
and decent rate required to get there. This is just the info that I like to know when I am considering a precautionary landing when enroute.

Slightly better attitude indication in the absence of any portable ADS-B receiver with attitude, and even in the absence of a GPS signal (!)
New "haze-layer" synthetic vision has a haze layer in brown that goes right up to zero pitch, like the brown in a traditional artificial horizon.
This gives the precision of an artificial horizon, while still showing the terrain of the synthetic vision, which is nice.


Now we load map images on multiple threads to make them load a bit faster and smoother as you scroll and zoom on your Sectional or Low or High Enroute charts.

New landing algorithm: Altitude-permitting, Xavion now places you abeam the numbers, where visually-guided engine-out practice is normally done from!

The placement is great for power-off approaches, since this is the point from which we typically practice our power-off approaches, so this new guidance brings us right into the situtation we practiced.

If it is night or IFR you can continue to follow the Xavion hoops all the way to the runway same as always,
but if it is day VFR and you see the runway, you can at this point abeam the numbers abandon your iPad and fly a standard, well-practiced power-off turn to base and then final and landing,
simply rehearsing your usual training from that well-known spot abeam the numbers.
In other words, the approach technique in this Xavion update gives you the night/IFR guidance all the way to touchdown that you might need,
but sets you up for a standard power-off traffic pattern if possible (altitude-permitting) to let your attention go off the iPad and out the window
to a standard power-off approach at the time of your choosing.
Also, it is really nice to be brought right to that point abeam the numbers on a 45-degree intercept... it gives a great sight-picture for setting up your power-off approach and landing.

NOW, if you do NOT have enough altitude for this standard approach, then a direct path to base and then final is indeed executed by Xavion,
so no precious altitude is spent on standard traffic pattern entries in that scenario. Sometimes you just have to come straight in,
and Xavion will build that approach if needed (if your altitude does not allow for the full 45-degree entry to a point abeam the numbers).

New hardware support: Stratux AHRS
New hardware support: iLevil BOM AOA display

The approach interface in the nav menu is a tiny bit different: we now get confirmation (or rejection due to terrain or obstacle intersection) of each course we try to enter as a text message in the NAV page.
As well, in the main screen, we now see a message as a small alert up top, notifying us of any specific concerns that Xavion has about the currently-displayed approach, such as requiring power to make it (you are too low) a tight turn or short final approach being needed, or there being limited facilities at the airport, for example.
So, we now have a bit more diagnostics to let you see what Xavion is thinking as it builds the various approaches for you, either manually in the NAV page or automatically for engine-out guidance.

Various small user-interface clarifications and improvements.

"Emer Circling" approaches now get you into any airport in a pinch, with lateral AND VERTICAL guidance for power-off approaches:
In the NAV page, enter any airport ID. "Emer Circling" buttons will appear for each runway on the field.
Hit one, and an approach will be generated to that runway (if no terrain or obstacles interfere with it from your present position).
This approach is generated at your power-off glide steepness, to let you fly to the hoops power-off to drop in.
This is a little bit of a 'slam-dunk' approach, since it is power-off at nominal glide descent angle, but that is probably the best option to get down quickly with maximum terrain clearance.

New close-in "short-game" approaches. Now, Xavion also considers close-in approaches where you throw flaps and gear down in a hurry to decelerate quickly.
Historically Xavion has always been oriented towards the possibility of power-loss when far from runways where computer guidance is most needed, but now we handle the close-in cases better as well, which may be useful in dark or low-visibility situations
where a runway may be close, but you still depend on synthetic-vision to see your options.

Slightly tighter hoop spacing for a little more detail on those close-in approaches, and slightly more-frequent airport checking to adapt to rapidly-changing situations in those close-in approaches where things happen faster.

New tighter UI. Leaves more room for the PFD, map, and landscape modes on tall, thin phones like the iPhone-7.

Tuning for the new wake turbulence display!
Xavion tracks the location of airplanes using ADS-B, and based on the aircraft location, wind, and elapsed time, tracks the wake turbulence that those airplanes are leaving.
Xavion then displays that wake turbulence on the PFD and map, complete with altitude difference from your aircraft, so you can avoid it.
This update tracks more wake turbulence 'breadcrumbs' from each airplane, so you can really see a solid path, even from fast-moving airliners, whose wake will be the most dangerous.

Landscape mode!
We now have full landscape mode for all pages.

Other traffic altitude correction for the SageTech Clarity ADS-B receiver.
The Sagetech Clarity can sometimes send in partial or incomplete traffic altitude data, and we filter and correct for that now as needed to get proper traffic display.
This is useful not just to see other traffic, but also the wake turbulence that is leaves!

WAKE TURBULENCE DISPLAY! People say that a wake turbulence encounter is one-in-a-million, as if it is rare, and unpredictable.
BOTH of these things are wrong.
I have only a few thousand hours, and recently had a violent encounter that actually hurt my neck from my head slamming into the cockpit roof from the wake of a DISTANT MD-80 that had crossed my path several MINUTES before.
Wake turbulence is NOT random, it IS trackable, and now Xavion tracks it and shows it to you. Here's how:
All aircraft that show up on ADS-B (which include all airliners!) leave little wake-turbulence 'breadcrumbs' every few moments in Xavion's little brain. Xavion descends the wake turbulence over time (as actually happens) and moves it with the wind as well, as in reality. Doing this, Xavion tracks where the wake turbulence must be, and shows it as little spinning tornados on both the PFD and Map so you can easily avoid them.
Airplane crossing your path, perhaps even ones that you DO NOT SEE, can leave turbulence that could damage or destroy an airplane, and Xavion shows this turbulence to you now, knowing where it is by simply noting the location of the other aircraft. The next question is: "Why the heck don't ALL avionics displays do this?!"

All of the flights flown in Xavion can now be replayed in X-Plane for Mac, Windows, and Linux.
This feature was temporarily un-available in version 1.81 but is now again functional.
So now, after any flight, you can fire up X-Plane version 10 and import any Xavion flight to replay it in X-Plane!
To do this, simply get your iPhone or iPad with Xavion on the same network as your home computer with X-Plane 10 on it, and in X-Plane, go to the FILE menu and select IMPORT XAVION FLIGHT.
Now, X-Plane will show you all of the flights that Xavion has saved for you to re-play in X-Plane! Cool!

Now with mew online METAR source! The nation Weather Service closed the old online METAR down so we have moved to the new one!
So this keeps us in WIFI and CELL METAR reports.

Now, extended centerlines pop out of the runway now for quick-reference if you just want a quick line-up.
Nice enough for quick runway line-ups on the top-down map.