It was about as gorgeous an evening as can be digitally created on X-Plane 11. I took off in my virtual Cape Air-liveried Beechcraft Baron from Nantucket, Massachusetts, at sunset, climbing to 4,500 feet after requesting VFR flight following from the live air traffic controller handling Boston Center flight sim traffic. I pointed the Baron toward Martha’s Vineyard, which would serve as the first visual checkpoint on the way to Providence (KPVD) in Rhode Island, some 45 miles ahead. After setting the props, throttles, and mixtures to a comfortable cruise setting, I trimmed out the airplane so I could hand fly it. I wanted to practice holding my course and altitude, since it had been three weeks since I had last flown the Baron.
Months before this flight, I added the Reality Expansion Pack (REP) plug-in by SimCoders to the default X-Plane 11 Baron. For $19.99, the plug-in brings additional aircraft systems to life in X-Plane 11 and improves upon the default version. This “study-level” simulation requires precise management of the engines and other aircraft systems, and models additional parts within systems that can be set to fail randomly or at specific intervals. As a result, flying with the reality expansion pack makes the sim pilot responsible for more of the digital aircraft and can increase the workload.Unbeknownst to me, a random failure was lying in wait, destined to alter my flight this particular evening.
