Oh happy day! There is nothing more satisfying than fixing an annoying computer problem, and finally I figured out how to use the “quick look” feature in the X-Plane flight simulator. For some time, I wasn’t able to use quick look, which lets the user create simple keyboard shortcuts for various cockpit views. Quick looks are invaluable for moving around the cockpit without delay; for example, when you need to access the autopilot control panel, it’s much faster to push the preset quick look key on the numeric keypad than to try to move the view using a mouse or arrow keys. It turned out that my problem was simple: quick look doesn’t work with a wireless keyboard, which I use on my Mac. Once I plugged in a USB keyboard, it worked perfectly and vastly improved my X-Plane experience.
However, now that I’ve got quick look working, there is still a big issue with X-Plane, and that is avionics emulation. There are many brilliant designers replicating an amazing number of airplanes for X-Plane, from Cubs and DC-3s to 787s and everything in between. Some of the airliners are even done under license from Boeing, and while I haven’t tried any of these yet, apparently they do a good job of replicating the actual cockpit. Even the 777 that comes with X-Plane has a pretty accurate cockpit and flight dynamics.
Matt Thurber, editor-in-chief at AIN Media Group, has been flying since 1975 and writing about aviation since 1978 and now has the best job in the world, running editorial operations for Aviation International News, Business Jet Traveler, and FutureFlight.aero. In addition to working as an A&P mechanic on everything from Piper Cubs to turboprops, Matt taught flying at his father’s flight school in Plymouth, Mass., in the early 1980s, flew for an aircraft owner/pilot, and for two summer seasons hunted swordfish near the George’s Banks off the East Coast from a Piper Super Cub. An ATP certificated fixed-wing pilot and CFII and commercial helicopter pilot, Matt is type-rated in the Citation 500 and Gulfstream V/550. Based in the Pacific Northwest, Matt and his team cover the entire aviation scene including business aircraft, helicopters, avionics, safety, manufacturing, charter, fractionals, technology, air transport, advanced air mobility, defense, and other subjects of interest to AIN, BJT, and FutureFlight readers.
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