Design Process

X-Plane provides built-in software to create aircraft and simulate them. It begins in Plane-Maker, a program that allows variables such as dimensions and weight to be set. After the basic design is completed, systems must be set up to fly the aircraft, including controls. Controls are set up by specifying which part of a surface moves due to an input, and then defining that input.

The most important part of the design process is troubleshooting and correction. Since X-Plane is also a flight simulator, it essentially provides a virtual wind tunnel to test planes. Aircraft can be tested and corrected with this system.

Probably one of the most basic aspects with respect to realism are the airfoils. X-Plane is based off of a blade element model, which means that it models every airfoil and the forces generated by each airfoil. The basis for this airfoil modeling comes from a table which is created by the user. X-Plane includes Airfoil-Maker, which graphically displays the forces that an airfoil will generate.

Plane-Maker also includes more advanced tools, such as those used for defining artificial stability. Basically, those tools work by specifying the ideal behavior of the aircraft, and then specifying how much the aircraft flies itself to attempt to achieve this behavior.