A new Carenado 206, a milestone for the E-Jets, an ambitious 787 and an excellent Addis Ababa — but the night’s Cheyenne III test tells a very different story.
It was nine degrees outside and twenty in the man cave. The usual midweek shuffle took in preparations for Bristol, a discussion of SayIntentions.AI’s recent announcements and an unexpectedly thorough detour through the finer points of late-night garlic chips and the pronunciation of Addis Ababa.
Watch from 4:10What began as a proper flight test became the strongest opinion of the night. Murph explored the Cheyenne III’s cockpit, engine and aircraft behaviour, and its SkyPass training layer. The experience raised questions about the aircraft’s systems, flight modelling, value and release readiness — even after a patch.
During testing, Murph demonstrated an artificial-horizon problem and questioned the aircraft’s ability to remain inverted without an apparent fuel-flow consequence. These were observations from this livestream, not a claim that every user or version will encounter the same behaviour.
“The aircraft shouldn't have been released in this state.”
His conclusion was critical but not dismissive of the developer: he wants PropAir Flight to fix the problems so he can revisit the Cheyenne in a few months and tell a better story. The marketing emphasis on SkyPass did not, in his view, make up for the aircraft’s shortcomings.
Watch from 1:54:12
The freeware 787-9 project is being rebuilt for a more ambitious second version. Murph discussed the work-in-progress presentation and the increasingly competitive Dreamliner landscape. The screenshots are development images, not evidence of a released product.
The familiar high-wing utility aircraft returns with conventional instrumentation and multiple practical roles. Murph noted the mismatch between a Microsoft description mentioning modern glass displays and the classic panel shown in the aircraft.
After years in early access, FlightSim Studio’s Embraer family reaches its first full version milestone. Murph recognised the long development effort, but reserved a final judgement until he can fly the updated jets himself.
An Italian carbon-fibre two-seater returns to the developer’s roadmap with support from the real aircraft manufacturer. The picture here is a real-world Dardo, not an in-simulator preview.
Ethiopia’s high-altitude international hub is now available for MSFS 2024. Murph returned for a detailed tour later in the show and ultimately called Addis Ababa the winner of the evening, while noting a few scenery issues he intended to report.
A fresh interpretation of Venice Marco Polo joins the scenery market. The discussion covered the terminal and airport presentation, along with the appeal of flying into one of Italy’s most recognisable destinations.
Gaya’s Santa Barbara scenery offers a coastal Californian destination with a strong general-aviation appeal. Murph welcomed the prospect of more quality West Coast flying.
The smaller Washington State airfield caught Murph’s attention for its attractive GA setting. He also reflected on the value of carefully made regional airports compared with the inconsistent quality of default fields.
In the live airport tour, Addis Ababa delivered the most convincing scenery experience of the evening. Murph liked the overall modelling and atmosphere, though he spotted people sinking into the ground and some concrete/ground-detail issues. He planned to pass that feedback to iniBuilds.
“I think the iniBuilds Addis Ababa — that's the show winner tonight.”
Murph discussed plans for traffic injection in X-Plane, including a proposed way of using converted MSFS aircraft models for traffic. Version 2 maps were also demonstrated later in the programme, with improved interaction for requesting stands and parking. The model-conversion feature was described as forthcoming, not already released.
The collaboration aims to preserve aircraft state between sessions and connect flying with a persistent operational layer. Murph explored what this could mean for airliner simmers.
The development footage showed launch operations and booster separation. Murph was enthusiastic about the prospect of a broader spaceflight experience inside the simulator, while acknowledging the ambition and early state of the project.
A proposed free cockpit overhaul for the X-Plane A330neo focuses on refreshed 3D modelling and textures. The discussion was about a future update, not an already-shipped replacement.
The Tomahawk reaches X-Plane 12 through a Just Flight and Thranda collaboration. Murph looked forward to flying the trainer and highlighted Thranda’s configurable avionics and livery tools.
The show preview covered exhibitors, presentations and a Just Flight A300 beta expected to be available to try. Murph also outlined his plans to visit and stream from the event.
Murph used Whitehorse for part of the hands-on flying. He questioned some taxiway surface textures and discussed aggressive level-of-detail transitions he encountered.
Watch from 1:28:43Watch the closing assessment for Murph’s distinction between promising ideas, the SkyPass package and the basic aircraft issues that he felt still needed work.
Watch from 3:07:20