Late in August, FlightFX revealed that they had been doing some extensive updates to their popular Citation X business jet for Microsoft Flight Simulator. The aircraft released with widespread acclaim but it did have a few issues here and there and the developer has been working to make it even better. Little do we know that they were also working on the Hawker 800XP which the Citation X has benefited from. With all of that in mind, I set out to do a couple of flights in the updated jet to see what I noticed most in the upgrade. Let’s check it out!

London City to Nice

Been a little while since I last did a departure from London City so I set myself up in the Citation X at this airport. Its not actually certified to fly out of there but… we’ll just ignore that for a moment. For the glamour of it all!

Going through the setup and start-up, the first thing I noticed is that the updated jet seems to be running even more smoothly than I remember. It was never a performance hog but its certainly running great these days.

Another instant change I noticed is the updated EFB, called VAMS 3.0 (and pictured later), which features more apps and information on it than before. FlightFX have been iterating on their EFB system over time and it just keeps getting better and better. Weight and balance was much easier to configure than before and everything feels seamlessly integrated into there rest of MSFS.

I’ll admit that I did need to jump through a few extra hoops as the aircraft told me it wasn’t quite ready for takeoff. Turns out, I had forgotten to set my trim. Problem solved and away we went! After taxiing to the end of Runway 27, it was off and up into the moody skies over London.

The next thing that I noticed that becomes immediately apparent is the new “Inertial Immersion System” which adds various camera and body effects to the aircraft and your virtual pilot. Slight amounts of ground shake and turbulence once in the air helped make the takeoff more immersive and communicate what the jet is doing. I kind of dismissed the feature when I read about it, however, I have to say that its great in action!

Another new feature is a custom wing flex system. Its subtle but I did notice it slightly during our departure. I think it’s really well done and is often one of those features that you “don’t notice” if its done right. I think its been done right!

The interior was never a bad point with the Citation X and here, with a full load of fancy jet-setting passengers, we’ve got plated dinners served together with some of what is certainly the finest virtual wines around. All of the bins, doors, and even the toilet area are all represented beautifully as they always have been in this product.

Crossing out over the English Channel and over to France, we were well on our way to Nice and cruising at an easy 33,000 feet. The Citation X is certified all the way up to 51,000 feet so this was easy for the high performing business jet.

Back to VAMS 3.0 and the updated EFB features. We’ve got a cool chart showing off turbulence features. You can see in the image that while we have “none” listed as turbulence that the aircraft is still shaking a bit. I’ve been in heavier turbulence with the aircraft later on in the flight and the chart started to swing a little more wildly. Audio and visual effects helped sell the whole experience. MSFS has pretty good weather effects here when the rest of the aircraft is plugged into the experience!

I also explored the available LIDO charts which was great to see as an addition to the aircraft. Kudos to FlightFX adding that feature in!

I did do no autothrottle on this first flight and its relatively easy to manage here. I’m not sure if its a systems depth thing or if the engine synchronization and FADEC systems were doing their job but it was easy to keep both engines doing the same thing and not having any real thrust issues. N1 and N2 seemed to be identical or near identical on both engines. Nonetheless, cruise was very enjoyable!

Cruising over the alps!

Soon it was time to land and here the VNAV system seemed to be working better than ever to bring us down at a constant descent rate and right on target with the flight plan. Flight FX have done some avionics work and I think the thing that stands out here is just that everything seems to be working so smoothly together. I’m certainly not an expert on the systems here and I’m pretty rusty with my Citation X flying but things felt good, made sense, and any mistakes I was making were mine and not the jets. That’s a good feeling!

Even better feeling? I touched down a little late but otherwise managed to do one of my smoothest landings in recent history and that was so good to experience. Thrust reversers deployed and the aircraft decelerated beautifully. Great sounds and those visual effects were working hard to give me the sensation of being back on the ground again.

Jackson Hole to Denver

World Update 22 added Jackson Hole Airport (KJAC) to the bespoke scenery list and I had yet to check it out. Great place to fly some business jets into and out of so this seemed like a great way to pull a couple of different experiences together.

Setting up the jet for the second time, this flight had me doing an auto throttle experience. It’s a little easier to maintain speed with it but you do have to work with the AT system to make sure that you’re managing it correctly. That took me a little remembering.

After I got things setup, the weather had changed so I made a few adjustments and dealt with the darker skies by managing the screen brightness in the cockpit. I taxiied to the end of Runway 19 and setup for takeoff.

The scenery nearby features the stunning peaks of Grand Teton National Park and the scenery is just stunning. I will be flying back into here in a future flight for sure!

After that, we spent some time following the procedures and climbing out through some moderately thick clouds. Ice warnings flashed on the display and the windscreen began to ice over. I needed to use the screen and wing deicing equipment to keep things running smoothly.

After that, it was an easy cruise through the vast skies of Wyoming before crossing into Colorado.

As we flew along, we got away from the thicker clouds and into a high pressure dominant region that is covering much of North America right now. Clearer skies made for a beautiful arrival into Denver area.

I was once again a little high coming in but managed to get things under control with a slightly late touch down.

Overall this was a great flight and I really enjoyed my second full flight in the Citation X V2.

Flight FX have been doing a great job of maintaining their back catalogue and the Citation X, not being all that old really, has had a pretty decent V2 update adding extra depth, refining features, adding new ones and keeping it relatively closely matched with the latest and greatest products.

Recently I had a conversation on Reddit with someone who, while very respectful, seemed put off by a product like the Citation X. While it doesn’t reach Fenix or PMDG levels of sophistication and system depth, its also not a simplistic second rate experience either and the overall experience has just gotten better than before. This jet looks great, flies great, and has seen a good amount of attention to add features and remove any quirks with the flight computers and avionics from before. I was impressed before and I’m still impressed with this experience.