Mesa Aviation Consulting
Judge's-eye view from the judging line: an RV-7 inside a white wireframe aerobatic box against a clear blue sky, with a loop ring around the airplane.

X-Plane 12 · native plugin

The practice box that didn't exist.

I built Practice Box because the product I wanted did not exist.

Edward Mesa

Coming soon

01 — Plugin

Practice Box

Practice Box is a stand-alone native C++ plugin for X-Plane 12, 64-bit. It runs on Windows, macOS (universal), and Linux. It was designed from the ground up for both VR and a normal 2D cockpit, and it is highly optimized so its effect on frame rate stays small. It does not use FlyWithLua, and it does not use the internet. The license is checked on the computer running the simulator.

Coming soon

What it does

Boxes
Place an aerobatic competition box in a few clicks. Boxes can be saved. Each one draws a 3D frame and a grid. A licensed copy can put a box anywhere. The demo includes the L08 Borrego Springs box.
Pilot card
An in-cockpit card. Cards are PNG images, so they are easy to make on openaero.net or from any other source. A licensed copy imports the PNG, and the card can be positioned anywhere. Sportsman Known Left and Sportsman Known Right cards are built in. The card works in VR and in 2D.
VR and 2D
Both views were part of the design from the start, not added later. Drawing is kept light so the plugin does not carry a large frame-rate cost in either one. Measured on an RTX 4090, the frame-rate cost is 1 fps or less with every 3D element on screen at once: frame, dividers, all three tubes, wing sighting gauges, and pilot card.
Sighting marks
Wingtip zero-lift crosses and a zero-lift axis. These are a close approximation of the zero-lift angle, for sighting lines in the box.
Training aids
A loop ring, a roll tube, and a vertical tube.
Judges' view
A camera on the judging line follows an airplane, live or during Instant Replay of an X-Plane .smo file. On a licensed copy, the Follow list can pick another airplane in the simulator within 250 m of the box. Practice Box adds no networking of its own. It rides along with VATSIM or multiplayer when those are already running.
Share a box
Licensed copies export and import contest boxes as .pbox files. A group, for example a VWAC chapter, can fly the same box.
Demo and licensed copies
Capability Demo Licensed
Competition box L08 Borrego Springs only Any location, with saved boxes
Built-in Sportsman cards Included Included
PNG import Not included Included
Follow list Not included Another airplane within 250 m of the box
Export and import Not included .pbox contest boxes

Does Practice Box score figures?

No. It does not score figures.

Does it record flights?

No. It does not record flights.

Does it write scenery?

No. It does not write scenery.

Practice Box is for anyone serious about competition-style aerobatics, in a real airplane and in the simulator.

See it in action

Practice Box demo, flown in my free Van's RV-7 for X-Plane 12.
A wireframe roll tube and aerobatic box over desert mountains and farmland.
Roll tube and box frame over the desert.
Top-down view of a wireframe aerobatic box and white ground markers beside a runway.
Box markers beside the runway, from above.
White and orange ground markers for an aerobatic box, with the runway along the near edge.
Ground markers for the box.
Pilot card in the cockpit, with the runway visible ahead.
Pilot card in the cockpit.

Plugin window

Small captures of the Practice Box window. Open one for a larger view.

  • Practice Box window on the Box tab, with class, marker size, heading, and saved boxes.

    Box

  • Practice Box window on the Pilot Card tab, with built-in Sportsman cards and position controls.

    Pilot card

  • Practice Box window on the Visual Aids tab, with loop ring, roll tube, vertical tube, and zero-lift marks.

    Training aids

02 — Airplane

Free Van's RV-7 for X-Plane 12

A free Van's RV-7 for X-Plane 12, built by Edward Mesa and available on x-plane.org. It is the airplane flown in the Practice Box demo.

Van's RV-7 on x-plane.org

A black RV-7 on a runway, seen from the side, with desert and mountains behind it.
On the ramp.
A yellow and white RV-7 on a taxiway with the canopy open.
Canopy open.
A yellow and white RV-7 on the ramp, seen from the front quarter.
Yellow and white.
Placeholder

Further notes on this airplane — systems and flight model — will be added here.

03 — Pilot

About Edward Mesa

Edward Mesa is an Airline Transport Pilot and an FAA Airspace System Inspection Pilot. His products aim at functional and aerodynamic realism, within the limits of the simulator, not appearance alone. That comes from real flight testing and flight-test engineering.

Total time
11,280
Turbofan
4,593
Turboprop
2,185
Tailwheel
740
Aerobatic
169

Airline Transport Pilot (ATP). Certified flight instructor for airplane single-engine, multi-engine, and instrument (CFI, CFII, MEI).

  • 2007–present
    FAA Airspace System Inspection Pilot. Flight inspection, functional check flight pilot, and operational test and evaluation certification flights of the FIAPA and MMS flight inspection systems.
  • 2004–2007
    FAA TERPS developer.
  • 1999–2004
    Part 135 pilot.
  • 1989–1999
    USAF radar air traffic controller.

He built, flight-tested, and flies a fully IFR, fully aerobatic Van's RV-7.

04 — Support

Questions or support

A support and contact form is coming soon.