Xavion Hack 3.16 + Redeem Codes

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.

Higher-resolution interface to fit all interface elements on the complete line of phones and pads.

More consistent resolution and detail across all Apple devices, which now have widely-varying resolutions.

Internal pad-orientation management so Apple can NOT flip the pad orientation in flight!
You can only set the pad orientation inside of Xavion in the settings screen!

Minor UI scaling and tweaks to make the fonts and buttons a little larger, and the main menus a good bit larger, and fit more nicely on the new iPads.

In the PREFLIGHT menu, where you see your enroute fuel and time expenses for all different altitudes, if you just enter ONE fix, then Xavion assumes you are going there from your CURRENT location and altitude. So, when enroute, you can simply enter your destination and see your optimal altitude at every moment of the flight! Change your mind on altitude at any time.

Now with the option to turn airspace-display off for the 2-D map as well as the 3-D map.
With the airspace on the 2-D map turned off, you can, at will, focus strictly on emergency use, where airspace is not a concern.
So this is actually a de-clutter that is based not on the map zoom, but on your preference of how you want to use the App.

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.

Xavion now waits for the first 15 seconds of start-up to confirm position before making any decisions about terrain alerts.

Bug-fix in sorting airports, and runway numbers visible even at airports you are NOT going to, to let you get the layout of ANY airport.

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.

When you are in the main (ADSb) weather map, and EXIT the loop-weather mode, Xavion now returns the map display to the CURRENT weather,
rather than holding at whatever point you were in the loop when you exited. This is much easier to use and understand.

As well, we now have more accurate enroute fuel estimates for turbine aircraft:
We used to simply give no time or fuel credit for the descent, but now we do better than that:
Now we assume a constant indicated airspeed and fuel burn all the way down, true airspeed deteriorating (but fuel burn not reducing!) during the descent.
This matches turbine aircraft more closely.

Full App functionality is now available in the Sectional, Low Enroute, and High Enroute maps!
Those old raster maps used to be just simple moving maps, but they now provide airport weather, information, and all other functions that USED to be available ONLY in the Xavion map. So now, you can fly Xavion in the old-school raster maps, but still get all of the new functionality!

As well, better handling of WHICH airport is selected for information and weather display at the top of the map: Much more intuitive.

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.

New display:
Winds aloft columns from ADSB are shown on the map when viewing winds aloft.
It used to be we would just show the interpolated winds aloft vectors between all the stations,
but now we show the raw ADSB data as well, numerically, so you have both the raw and interpolated data available.

New subtle interface adjustment:
In the PFD[MAP] mode, the speed and altitude tapes will auto-center in the available space not being used by the map.
It just makes a nice little adjustable PFD/MP where you can allocate how much space you want available in region by dragging the top of the map.
Give it a try: You can have mostly MAP with just a small POFD for enroute and then a quick swipe for mostly PFD with just a glance at the map for approaches.

Bug-fix: Flight replay interface:
The flight replay jog-slider hidden in the previous version.
This is now fixed.
It's fun and useful to make a real flight, then replay the flight in Xavion!
It's all over in the LOGBOOK tab. Give it a try!
And have X-Plane running on the same LAN, connected to Xavion in the SETTINGS menu in X-Plane, so see that real flight in X-Plane!
It's fun! (and useful: ADSb weather and traffic IS SAVED for the replays. so you can take a look at not just your flying, but also traffic and weather,
the consider your in-flight decisions from the comfort of your office... while not trying to fly an airplane at the same time!)

Small UI improvements:
Menu buttons pushed up a bit from the bottom on those tiny phones with the bevelled corners to make them easier to get to.
In weather screens, no-weather airports now show as gray, not red, which is more intuitive.
EMER button is now MAGENTA when engaged (not red) to match the magenta engaged flight path hoops, which is more intuitive.

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!

Pretty big new feature:
The emergency glide hoops are now ALWAYS visible, even if you are doing enroute navigation!
So, if you enter a destination for enroute navigation, the enroute navigation hoops are still presented, but the EMERGENCY hoops are also visible in a semi-transparent ‘ghost’ presentation, so you can still see what your emergency option will be if you ever have to push the emergency button! So now, we can do enroute navigation AND see our power-off alternatives every step of the way, all at once.

Refinement:
The CABIN ALTITUDE is now corrected for barometric pressure and non-standard temperature.
We have historically shown cabin altitude as exactly what it is: An actual pressure altitude!
But now, we correct that pressure altitude with the barometric pressure and temperature, so for un-pressurized airplane, you can use cabin altitude as a better a better altitude for emergency navigation.

Bug Fix:
The MOS forecast now shows weather for all forecast times.