Western US Upgrade v2 Roadmap

[Keith Smith]

Two more big changes coming to the Western US!

1) We're incrementally adding more towered airports to Western US until we have all the Bravos (already done), all the Charlies and a healthy amount of Class Delta fields. To that end, here's the road map for Western US V2: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1HAdWz ... sp=sharing

We're kicking off with the addition of Amarillo, El Paso and Four Corners Regional in the coming weeks

2) In light of the new direction, Western US will be strong enough to stand alone as its own product. As a result, we'll be adding additional subscription options to allow users to have a Western US subscription independently of a ZLA subscription (at the same price point as a ZLA subscription). Western US subs will have the ability to overfly ZLA in Class A airspace (FL180) but not below (so you can do PHX to SFO with a WUS-only sub, transitioning ZLA in the process).

Check out the google map linked above and stay tuned for the launch of the new subscription option.

Yes, we'll be keeping the ZLA+WUS combined option exactly as it is today.

Edit: Amarillo, El Paso and Four Corners Regional (Farmington) were added on 7/7/17.

[Apex_FS]

Fantastic news all around! I for one welcome the decision two make the two areas available independently from each other in terms of pricing. The combined pricing of the two areas was a little cost prohibitive for me, and having this new pricing plan will allow me to sign up with no doubts whatsoever.

Cheers

[Dean33]

I suppose if there was the ability to swap from one to the other from time to time might be good for those on a budget.
However this might not work for those who invested in the annual subscription. Just thinking!

Keith great news. Sounds like 'build and they will come' was right. Glad this is working out and thanks for your efforts and investment - and the new controllers - let's keep them busy.

[Keith Smith]

I suppose if there was the ability to swap from one to the other from time to time might be good for those on a budget.
However this might not work for those who invested in the annual subscription. Just thinking!

As you an imagine, we've considered that. If we allowed instantaneous swapping, there'd be little point to the combo subscription. As a result, you can schedule a change from ZLA to WUS and it will take effect at the start of your next billing cycle.

These are some exciting upgrades for sure.

[zerofay32]

As you an imagine, we've considered that. If we allowed instantaneous swapping, there'd be little point to the combo subscription. As a result, you can schedule a change from ZLA to WUS and it will take effect at the start of your next billing cycle.

These are some exciting upgrades for sure.

This aspect is certainly interesting. As a GA low and slow pilot/simer, the WUS really wasn't too interesting to me. Thus, I've yet to upgrade. I'm sure that when you say 'switch at the start of the next billing cycle' would mean that an annual subscriber would be able to switch every 12 months? This, with the added airports, does make the WUS more attractive although this brings no real benefit to PE other than adding traffic to WUS (while taking it away from ZLA of course).

Another aspect of the WUS that causes me to stay in ZLA is mountain flying. I use PE to support real-world flying and training and since I'm a flatlander (Mostly Ohio but some east coast) I don't want to fly in mountainous areas "unrealistically". A thought that I had a few days ago was to have Mountain flying workshops (in the vain of the excellent content already available) and maybe "Mountain flying ratings'. This would be in line with the PE training environment but may stray too far from it's main function, ATC familiarization/training. (One reason the video workshops are so interesting is due to the fact that Keith is so engrossed with ATC itself) Maybe this could be expanded upon to be more like WUS version of the CAT/IFR ratings but with only a few scenarios that lean toward more mountain flying (a rating focused at aspen or eagle would be interesting for sure).

Maybe I'm making too big of a deal of something that actually has no bearing or interest to the community at large.

[Keith Smith]

I'm sure that when you say 'switch at the start of the next billing cycle' would mean that an annual subscriber would be able to switch every 12 months?

Yes, although you can upgrade to a combo sub any time.

This, with the added airports, does make the WUS more attractive although this brings no real benefit to PE other than adding traffic to WUS (while taking it away from ZLA of course).

Sure it does. It offers a wider array of towered airports, weather, and terrain. It offers more variety for people who have been flying in ZLA and are looking for a change in scene.

Another aspect of the WUS that causes me to stay in ZLA is mountain flying.

WUS has a lot more to offer there, including the highest airport in the country, Leadville (KLXV).

I am considering an array of additional ratings that would take advantage of some of the unique aspects of the new airspace, including some mountain flying opportunities. However, some of the nuances of mountain flying require specific weather and would be tricky to grade by a controller. So, at best, they would be suggested flights that take place without specific grading from ATC. We'd just need a way to track the flights (which we have through peaware, of course) and encourage people to experience certain weather conditions on the given leg.

[asmartz]

Question about KHLN, is PE planning on simulating the non-radar aspect of that airport. In the real world, the airport is a non-radar "TRACAB" (approach controller is in the tower cab with the local controller).

[Keith Smith]

We'll find out when we get the data.

[Tim/Rodeo314]

Western US subs will have the ability to overfly ZLA in Class A airspace (FL180) but not below (so you can do PHX to SFO with a WUS-only sub, transitioning ZLA in the process).

That's rather interesting. I wonder whether it would make sense to have a similar rule for ZLA, allowing people to overlfly WUS (but not descend or land there) to complete e.g. a long haul starting outside either coverage area but ending at LAX. It's probably such a small use case it doesn't warrant losing sleep over, but my mind wanders in weird places, or so I'm told

Edit: is this really my first post ever on this forum?

[Keith Smith]

The ZLA overflight feature is being added purely because IFR flights within WUS do require ZLA overflight when flown via preferred routes.

If you have a ZLA-only subscription, there's no requirement for you to have WUS overflight.