Open Beta Progress for February 20

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Blog article by Jason Rosewell

Open Beta Progress for February 20

Flight Debrief, ATC Stability, and Continued Refinement

We’re back with another Open Beta progress report. Across the past several Open Beta builds, the focus has remained consistent: improve reliability, simplify workflows, and continue preparing for a stable official release. Some additions are highly visible. Others are structural improvements that strengthen the overall experience.

Here’s what’s new.

Read the full article →

Full Changelog (Recent Open Beta Builds)

New Features

  • Added a new Flight Rating page with an interactive debrief map, multiple leg support, landing stats, and an altitude/speed playback timeline
  • Added taxi speed limiting on the ground on Expert and Training servers, including an on-screen “TAXI LIMIT” indicator
  • Added taxi strobe-light warning on Expert and Training servers
  • Added aircraft search by type designator (e.g., “77W”)

Improvements

  • Simplified the Navigation page to a single Map + Flight Plan layout
  • Improved ATC frequency behavior:
    • Retunes to the same-airport Unicom if the frequency disconnects
    • Improves availability of radar and tower options and frequency handoffs
    • Allows “Expect Approach” without requiring a prior pilot request
    • Aircraft only blinks on the ATC map if tuned to the selected frequency
    • Preserves friendly frequency labels during ATC replay
  • Improved autopilot and AP+ resume behavior to continue on the correct flight plan leg
  • Fixed AP+ resume location on certain flight plans
  • Improved Oceanic Tracks add-to-flight-plan behavior
  • Improved Android search box behavior

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed a crash during replay loading
  • Fixed radio click volume issues
  • Fixed orange blinking highlight on the map for aircraft transmitting via ATC speech
  • Fixed ATC crashes related to message formatting with missing sender/receiver data
  • Fixed crashes during ATC speech playback
  • Fixed crashes when restoring ATC or flight session state after reconnecting
  • Fixed crashes when long-pressing on the ATC map in some cases
  • Fixed blank missed-approach readbacks when heading is omitted
  • Fixed various crashes when interacting with the map and flight plan
  • Fixed various crashes related to ending a flight, ground services, and replay
  • Fixed crashes on low storage or out-of-memory devices
  • Fixed Android crash when a connected input device reports missing information
  • Fixed an issue on the Flight Rating page that could cause freezing if debrief data fails to load
  • Fixed an issue where the destination airport could appear inside a procedure group instead of only at the end of the flight plan
  • Fixed weather not refreshing on the main page
  • Fixed Android login crash
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What do you think, is it good for release?

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This was from today when descending into Beijing, not sure whether the dark clouds are replicating a rainstorm or it’s just a bug? It’s been a while since I’ve been on IF, so maybe it’s something I don’t know :man_shrugging:t4:

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Very happy with this update, thank you for listening to the community! Great first steps to improving realism! :folded_hands:

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If it was, this would have been a release post.
It’s getting closer though :slight_smile:

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Seeing you implement strobe light and taxi speed limit warning are such simple yet highly effective way! And it’s proof that you guys did listen and wanted to make the game better. Keep it up!

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I experienced this on approach into Merida, I hope it’s not a bug as it actually looks pretty cool

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We are getting closer!

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Seeing the update progress step by step and getting better excites me.Thanks team :airplane:

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That’s another slot filled on the bingo card :laughing:

I am curious to how this works though

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Put it simply if you turn on the strobe lights while on a taxiway, it will send a on-screen warning.

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Is this warning instantly or after a small duration of time?

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It’s on a 25 second timer, since you need time between when you turn them on, and when you’re crossing or lining up on a runway. It was 15 initially but that was too quick.

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Thank you for the update

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not going to lie i really dislike this one

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It would be helpful if, in addition to noting your dislike, you were to note why you don’t like it, and what a good alternative might be.

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25 seconds still feels a bit too short in my opinion. Occasionally, when lining up a bit slower, the warning triggers. Perhaps 1 minute would be better, as there’s realistically no way that someone takes 1 full minute between being given the clearance to line up and actually entering the runway.

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The muscle memory is taking a while to get used to a missing button when using the zoom buttons :laughing:

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As it crams up the map and doesn’t give you enough room to see what your doing essentially…

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My personal preference is I would only use the flight plan to edit out /add waypoints or altitudes.

This just gives me less room to play with.

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Which one of you staff have slammed it? :sob:

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