What is new in SkyNexus since June

The last post on this blog is from June. That was not because nothing happened. Since then most of my time went into the performance side of SkyNexus, and it went from two aircraft to seven. This is a short tour of what shipped, roughly in the order it landed.

Takeoff performance that knows about terrain

In July and August the A320 takeoff got its obstacle check. The engine-out flight path is now checked against terrain and published obstacles in the departure sector, with turns in the engine-out procedure taken into account, and the engine-out acceleration height is computed instead of copied. A profile view shows the net flight path against the obstacles, so you can see why a FLEX temperature came out lower than you expected.

A QRH tab

In September the QRH tab arrived for the A320ceo, with the abnormal and normal procedures. The A320neo followed the same month and the A321 in October. From the QRH you can pick a failure and get the landing distance with that failure straight away (A320ceo, A321, A321neo and 737-800), and a diversion assistant ranks nearby airports by whether your landing distance fits, the weather and the crosswind, and shows which have ATC online. A “Divert here?” button on the enroute map starts the same check from the map.

Five more aircraft, and a deeper 737

Each aircraft has its own model, built on data for that type, not a scaled copy of the A320:

• A320neo (September), with LEAP-1A26 engines and its own characteristic speeds. See the A320 page.
• A321 and A321neo (October), with QRH landing distances and thirteen failure cases for both. See the A321 page.
• 737-800, in SkyNexus since May, got the 737 QRH side in October: landing speeds, the QRH landing distance, sixteen non-normal landings and brake cooling. See the 737-800 page.
• 777-300ER and A380-800 (October), with indicative numbers built from public planning data. Every result for them says so. See the 777-300ER and A380-800 pages.

Landing distance you can check

The landing side got the most attention. You get the required distance with the regulatory margin and the distance you will really use, for dry, wet and contaminated runways, and you can enter the runway condition code from the ATIS (not yet on the A320neo). On the A320ceo, A321, A321neo and 737-800 the QRH figure sits next to the model. I wrote up how it works on the new landing distance page.

Smaller things you may have missed

• A light theme for flying in daylight, in Display Settings.
• A Grid MORA layer on the enroute map, and a single timeline for radar and the weather forecast.
• An offline setting that turns off the VATSIM and IVAO lookups when you fly without a network.
• Other SkyNexus pilots show up in teal on the enroute map, and you can say hi.
• A Discord server where you can tell me what is missing.

Next on the list is more depth for the newest aircraft. If something you fly is missing, I would like to hear it.

Questions pilots ask

Which aircraft have takeoff and landing performance now?

The A320, A320neo, A321, A321neo and 737-800, and the 777-300ER and A380-800 with indicative numbers. SkyNexus picks the model from the aircraft type in your SimBrief flight plan.

Is all of this still free?

Yes. Create an account, enter your SimBrief Pilot ID and everything in this post is there.