GotFriends Development – Mid-Summer Update
Hey everyone!
As our “Month of Soaring” comes to a close, we wanted to take this final weekend to sincerely thank the community for the absolutely phenomenal reception on our AS33Me Project. The team are thrilled that your first experience was a good one, and hope to continue using your feedback to further refine gliding in Microsoft Flight Simulator! Since the release of the AS33Me, we saw significantly more simmers gliding across MSFS 2020 / 2024, a lot more soaring visibility on twitch.tv, and a lot more buzz around our in-sim gliding communities like Sim Soaring Club, Diamond Soaring, WeSimGlide and much more. SU3 is on the horizon and the patch notes indicate some enhancements to refine the gliding experience. Our team hope its just the beginning of expanding our digital soaring community as the experience continues to evolve!
(Screenshot taken somewhere in the Western Himalayas—likely Himachal Pradesh. I was so locked in on ridge hopping, I completely lost track of where I was!)
I also want to personally extend a huge thank you to our streaming friends at FloxTrot’s Hangar, TheGreatFishoo, WildRiverBushLeague, OohCando, WestCoastWilly, ItzNorCally, JamJamAllTheWay, NotSlaamry, BurstixTV and others for sharing that stream presence with the community. Its been awesome joining you all on soaring expeditions late at night after work. If you guys have not yet checked out their channels on twitch, you’re missing out on a lot of fun!
What’s Next at GotFriends?
We’re wrapping up some post-launch quality-of-life updates for our gliders, and soon we’ll be shifting our focus to the Aeroprakt A32 Vixxen this August.
Here’s a ((very early)) sneak peek of a work-in-progress steam gauge panel, inspired by the analogue setup of the Aeroprakt A22 Foxbat. While most A32s come with current generation G3X or Dynon glass suites, analogue variants can be factory-equipped on request, and our Aeroprakt USA sales representative loved the idea of giving simmers both options in one package! I personally grew up simming on analogue instruments, flying a lot of Cessna 172 in FS9, as with many simmers here in our community. When I did my first IRL flight in a 172, it felt like second nature. We want to ensure simmers can still enjoy this trainer both ways in our modern sim platforms.
And last but certainly not least!~
Some more details on what might be our team’s sleeper crown jewel of the year: the 1940s Taylorcraft BC-12D.
This aircraft marks our team’s first shot at honoring the roots of taildraggers and bush flying. It will have all the love and attention you guys have come to expect with our bush aircraft. A full suite of options to kit your T-Craft with:
- 17" Vintage wheels with optional sleek wheel pants
- 26" Alaskan bush tires for off-grid landings
- Federal 1500 skis for winter ops
- EDO 1320 floats for water adventures
It’s everything that makes the “D” in BC12-Deluxe feel like comfort. Stunning soft custom upholstered fabric interiors, hand wrapped leather covers on a chromed Yoke, an additional 6 gallon wingtip tank to get that extra distance. We hope it makes for the ideal hand propped 40s era VFR explorer to fly along side the J3s, Champs and Cap10s we currently enjoy in sim!
Thanks again to everyone for the continued support. We hope you’re all having an awesome summer, with great weather, tasty BBQ, and good company.
See you in our digital skies!
— Mykrode & the GotFriends Team
