We have received reports in the past about X-Plane 11’s seaplane dynamics when the aircraft is in the water.

If you would like to test sea plane water dynamics with an experimental build, please email Austin directly – he has some fixes for seaplane behavior and he is looking for early testing.

Update: fearless leader^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^HAustin says he is only looking for testers who have experience flying a real world small float plane with pontoons, so that he can get test feedback from someone who can validate the reality of the physics.

(You will need to install a custom build from him on top of X-Plane 11.31 to do this.)

Update 2: fearless leader^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^HAustin say he has enough testers. If you’re not getting builds now, you’ll have to wait for a public beta.

About Ben Supnik

Ben is a software engineer who works on X-Plane; he spends most of his days drinking coffee and swearing at the computer -- sometimes at the same time.

8 comments on “Seaplane Testers Needed

  1. Just one comment: I never flew a jet, but I can tell you that the flight dynamics in “Independence Day” were completely unrealistic. I guess similar for a seaplane: Even if I never flew one, I could tell you if it’s not realistic.
    BTW: Any crash in X-Plane so far does not loose enough energy to be realistic: The plane jumps around like a rubber ball, and the forces that make it turn are also completely unrealistic. I can tell you even though I never crashed in a real plane 😉
    Anyway I’d prefer to read what had changed; maybe I may not even need to try it in X-Plane…

  2. I am a freeware designer, and designed water textures for X-Plane “Beautiful Water for X Plane”, and love flying amphibians. I would like to test this out. I have been working on the graphics of the default water and have tried to make it look as realistic as possible, and would love to test out seaplanes such as my current favorite, the Grumman Goose. Also would love to share and maybe give feedback for water textures (i can send you my files to make it part of default x plane water.

  3. lots of experience in boats and been in the back of a seaplane (eca, before its demise). does that count?

    I can also attest to the currently extremely unrealistic seaplane behavior of the helicopters with and without floats.

  4. I have been testing the new files from Austin with the stock Skyhawk Float plane and as of X-Plane 2-22-2019-2.exe its’ behavior into a 6 knt wind 0.4′ waves is very close to perfict and the step taxing is very realistic. However when you cut the engine and steer into the 6 knt wind the aircraft has unlimited energy to continue into the wind for ever. When you quit steering in this 6 knt wind and waves (from 240 degrees) it will only head at 100 degrees?

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