Foxtrot
Flight
Designs
Hello everyone! Welcome to Foxtrot Flight Designs.
I’m Michael, a real-world private pilot, lifelong flight-simulation enthusiast, and the creator behind Foxtrot Flight Designs.
My journey into immersive flight simulation began with my grandfather. He was a commercial pilot and ATP, the finest aviator I’ve ever known, and the person who gave me the aviation bug. In 2010, illness cost him his FAA medical certificate. I wanted to give him back what flying had always given him...things such as freedom, purpose, and joy, so I set out to build one of the most realistic general aviation flight simulators possible.
That project became N8033F, “Felicity.”
From the beginning, immersion was non-negotiable. I didn’t want a desk simulator, I wanted the pilot to feel inside the aircraft. Multiple displays, accurate sightlines, realistic flight characteristics, and aircraft-specific design drove every decision. After extensive research, X-Plane stood out as the clear choice, particularly for its multi-view flexibility and its exceptionally accurate flight model. Please find my X-Plane review here which was written prior to the release of X-Plane 12: X-Plane Review
While my grandfather never had the chance to fly Felicity, he passed away in 2011, I like to believe he’s still riding in the right seat. Today, Felicity continues to help me sharpen my skills as a real-world pilot, building muscle memory, refining flows, and reinforcing the discipline that good aviation demands.
That same pursuit of realism eventually led me to X-Plane scenery design, and from there, Foxtrot Flight Designs was born. As an X-Plane Scenery Gateway artist, I design airports for inclusion in the core simulator; focused on accuracy, performance, and real-world fidelity so pilots everywhere can experience airports that feel right, not just look right.
At its core, Foxtrot Flight Designs exists for one reason and that's to honor aviation by recreating it as faithfully as possible.. A running list of my projects included with X-Plane can be found here: N8033Fox's Gateway Airports
My current Gateway masterpieces include:
Clermont County - I69
Norwood Memorial - KOWD
Winterhaven Regional/Gilbert Field -KGIF
In addition to several X-Plane Gateway airports, I’ve developed a number of custom add-on sceneries for X-Plane that real-world pilots actively use to practice approaches and landings into unique, and often challenging, airports and STOL strips.
Some of my more notable works include the ArkanSTOL challenge course at Byrd's Back Country Airstrip (51AR) which retired in 2023, along with Cheat River Island (56WV) in West Virginia, the RAF's (Recreational Aviation Foundation) Trigger Gap (17A) and the iconic Alton Bay Ice Runway (B18) in New Hampshire.
All of those sceneries and more can be found here: N8033Fox's X-Plane.org Addon Sceneries
I invite you to follow or subscribe to either or both of the channels below. Your support is greatly appreciated!
My Twitch live streaming channel is where the majority of live full scale Cessna 172 simulator flights take place. Please feel free to drop by to say hello!
https://www.twitch.tv/n8033fox
Several of the previous live flights are sent over to my YouTube channel in case you're interested in seeing a previous flight. Several of the larger events and flights are showcased here, along with some of my real world flights! I invite you to hop over and subscribe!
https://www.youtube.com/@n8033fox