The release of X-Plane 12 is coming very soon if the latest word from Laminar Research is any indication. A statement posted on their social media channels indicates that they are testing a build that may very well be our first public early access version. Here’s what we know.

Early access candidate

Laminar Research’s work on X-Plane 12 looks to be reaching a new milestone as the team is reporting that they are testing a candidate for early access. Like many products, X-Plane 12 will be released with a public beta/early access period where the product will undoubtedly undergo some growth and some potential growing pains as they open the product up to a much wider array of people – meaning us!

Here’s what they had to say:

Quick X-Plane 12 Update: We’re currently packing up a build that we consider to be a candidate for public Early Access. Testing will likely start tomorrow and give us a better idea of timeline. If this Alpha build is accepted, we will be able open Early Access to everyone! pic.twitter.com/lGKBwPDZoC

— X-Plane (@XPlaneOfficial) August 30, 2022

This is no doubt exciting news for those of us looking to get into X-Plane 12 at the earliest point. This early access version will no doubt come along with some bugs and issues, typical of an early access release, but it should hopefully in a good enough state to be ready for most of us to start diving in and seeing what the latest iteration of the sim is all about.

This message comes on the heels of a unsourced and unconfirmed rumour floating around some parts of the community that X-Plane 12’s early access release would be delayed until December or later.

It also comes after X-Plane 12 mobile was quietly updated on Apple’s App Store and on the Google Play Store to version 12.

For now, that’s all we know. Release does appear to be imminent and puts us pretty close to Austin’s “about 30 days” response at the X-Plane event at Oshkosh airshow at the beginning of the month. Stay tuned folks!