Wow.

NetFlight is coming up on it’s nine year anniversary. (The code at the heart of the plugin has a timestamp of 15 March, 2008.)

Here we are, in March of 2017. While not a whole lot as changed with the core of NetFlight (minor updates of the SDK to version 2 and 64-bit for X-Plane 10 are all I had to really recompile for), X-Plane went from version 8 to version 11 Beta (as of this writing), and I started working on shared cockpit, which proved to be a much more difficult task than expected.

I also started thinking about what else has changed in that nine year period, and thought it would be interesting to note a few things (Apple product launches included for fun and time reference).

• 2008 – NetFlight created; Our 4th child is born; iPhone 3G is released; the App Store is launched; X-Plane 9 released
• 2009 – NetFlight (SE) is launched; Our family moves; 5th child born
• 2010 – Attend my first WWDC, where iPhone 4 is launched; iPad launched in October (got it on day one–funny store there)
• 2011 –  I return to school to finish my degree; NetFlight arrives on Facebook; X-Plane 10 released around Christmas
• 2012 – 6th child born; NetFlight recompiled for 64-bit for XP10 support; iPad Mini introduced; iOS devices support LTE
• 2013 – Trip to Europe (NL & GR); NetFlight gets a new website (flyingwith.us); New Mac Pro (trashcan edition) introduced
• 2014 – Our family moves, 7th child is born, I receive my BS in IT Management; NetFlight raises $100 in donations (thank you!)
• 2015 – Family 1st time to DisneyWorld; NetFlight backend security tweaked; iPad Pro and Apple TV 4 come out (yes, got them both)
• 2016 – Built streaming TV service (for work) for tvOS, iOS & web; 1000 likes on Facebook!; 8th child is born at home (very cool experience)
• 2017 – NetFlight turns 9!  (And let’s hope Apple launches some cool things that I can put here in the future)

I mentioned 1000 likes on Facebook.  That’s awesome.  But what you don’t know is:

Nearly 4000 unique users have used the plugin over the past nine years!

That means I have touched a lot of X-Plane users at some point. That’s exciting to me.  Thank you for using the plugin and service.

NetFlight has always been a hobby. It has only cost me time and the price of new versions of X-Plane (the server hosting to this point has been free).  The benefits are that it hasn’t really taken me away from my family or my job, which is a good thing.  But, unfortunately, it hasn’t gained features over the past nine years, including the long-awaited, way overdue shared cockpit feature.

This month all of that is going to change.

In the next few days, I will make an announcement regarding those changes coming to NetFlight.  I think you’re going to like it.

Thank you all for the support over the past nine years.

— Bryan