Updated X-Plane 9 for iPhone & iPod touch: More airports, more planes

Version 9.06 of X-Plane 9 has been released from Laminar Research, and if you haven't updated your iPhone or iPod touch with the new edition, you'll want to do that as soon as possible.

X-Plane has been updated for free over the last few versions with the most-requested features that users asked for:

• More flying regions and airports; the initial release had only the area around Innsbruck, Austria. Now you can fly around Southern California, Hawaii, and San Francisco as well.

• More airplanes. The Piper Malibu single and Beech King-Air twin have been added to the X-Plane 9 fleet.

• EFIS (Electronic Flight Instrument System). For budding or real pilots, having a real "glass cockpit" adds to the realism of X-Plane 9. According to Laminar Research, pilots are actually beginning to use X-Plane 9 Airliner (a sister product) for practice prior to simulator check flights!

• A much improved flight model. This makes the handling characteristics of each aircraft type much closer to the real thing.

• A pause button so you can actually get back to reality on occasion, then return to a flight in progress.

• Better animation frame rate for more realism.

The app is still US$9.99 and is available in the App Store (click opens iTunes).