Tracking Thread

Announcement (IFC) 28th Of August 2019

Pilots!

Since we attended Oshkosh, the news has leaked out about our latest GA rework. Laura has also been spotted flying the 172 for testing. For those speculating that the 172 is indeed our latest GA rework, you are correct!

Let’s address the elephant in the room by answering these three questions right out of the gate:

Q: When will it be released?
A: Since we don’t set deadlines for our developers, we don’t set release dates. We’ll keep you posted on our developer timeline and social media.

Q: Why are you delaying the A350 and B777?
A: We’re not. More in the blog post!

Q: Will the 172 be free?
A: At least to some degree, yes? This decision hasn’t been made yet. We may follow the same path as the XCub where a version of it will be free with the app. We’ll update you when we know more.

Announcement (Blog) 28th Of August 2019

The Cessna 172 is one of flight training’s flagship aircraft. It’s no surprise then, that it’s also one of Infinite Flight’s oldest models. Now, with the addition of live instruments in the XCub and A320, Infinite Flight has quietly been at work giving the 172 a much-needed overhaul.

Community members will be wondering why this rework was kept a secret. Well, it was and it wasn’t. Our online community has made their requests known and the vast majority prefer flying the big iron, a.k.a. airliners. We have focused our social media works in progress posts, as well as our 3D modelling efforts on the development of the A350 build, and next in line the community-voted B777 rework. At the time of this post, both are still in the 3D modelling phase due to their size and complexity.

While it’s true we didn’t announce the 172 specifically to the community, co-founder Laura Laban did hint at it during a radio interview when she said we had a new GA aircraft in the works. Where we have not kept this fact to ourselves is at real-world aviation events such as AirVenture in Oshkosh, WI. One of our long term goals is making ourselves available to the real-world training market. Today’s pilots have many tools available to help them practice before getting in the cockpit, and for many, a PC-based simulator isn’t of interest to them. To provide pilots with adequate practice tools, we had to start upgrading our fleet to accommodate instrumentation that would help them.

Enter, the 172. Outfitted with two functional G1000’s which will allow pilots to practice VOR navigation, the 172 is an upgrade to the fleet that was necessary in our quest to further discussions with flight schools and pilots. Pilots will also be able to track multiple VORs at the same time with NAV1 and NAV2 support, as well as perform GPS navigation just like in the XCub. In addition to this, switching to HUD view won’t be necessary anymore when locking in the localizer to NAV1 or NAV2 as this will be done directly from the nav settings. We began our selection of glass instruments with the G3x and G5 in the XCub, implementing technology that has led us here, to the 172 rework. We should note that we’re not implementing interactive controls for the 172. This may come in the future, but for now we are focusing on functionality and performance.

So to our airliner fans, the A350 and B777 have not been delayed! In fact, improvements to these instruments allows us to move more quickly on the glass airliner displays. A release date has not been set for the 172, however our staff have just begun to test the flight model and instruments.

Announcement (Instagram) 28th Of August 2019

Announcement (Twitter) 28th Of August 2019

Cessna 172 Live Instruments 30th Of August 2019

Most young and aspiring pilots (and presumably most pilots, though I am not one and therefore can’t be sure) would be excited to sit in the cockpit of a 172 and be presented with a pair of G1000’s. The newly reworked 172 in Infinite Flight will have just that, with a nice collection of working features to start. As exciting as that is for many of us, there are many users providing feedback and saying they’d really like to see a good old 6 pack. So, our 3D artists in charge of the 172 model are on it.

It’s unclear whether the alternate cockpit version will make it into the initial 172 release at this point, but stay tuned for more updates (and for goodness sake, no, this won’t delay thee A350). Until we have something to show you with that version of the cockpit, here’s a not-yet-released low-poly shot of the current version.

Cessna 172 Promo Video (Instagram) 31st Of August 2019

Cessna 172 Steam Gauges

“How can you rework the 172 without a 6 pack?!” This is what we head the most upon announcing a surprise 172 rework. Our developers and artists heard you and have quickly started work to add both a glass and steam gauge version of this iconic aircraft!

New Civil Air Patrol Livery

In flight Video of The Cessna 172