A new beta has just been published, with some fixes and improvements based on feedback from the last beta.

There's a prototype of a new feature in this beta called Mountain Terrain, which colours terrain dynamically depending upon its threat to you. Terrain higher than 500 feet below you is red, for example. This is quite a good safety feature for mountain flying as it makes it easy to find a safe route away if the cloudbase comes down. To activate the feature in flight (or when simulating), open the Map Layers screen and select Switch to Mountain Terrain. This feature may not actually make it into the forthcoming release because it's quite immature, but testing is still appreciated.

Hi Tim,

I had a look as soon as I discovered you post

The situation awareness is the thing I was missing the most when flying with SD over (or under!) the Alps. I even start another tool in order to keep the big picture and an extra security margin to some flights.

It seems I won't have to in the near future, since the way the "Mountain terrain" is implemented is just great. You even kept the map readable, which is not that easy!

Some remarks :
- It would be great to be able to activate it when using the planning mode too (it seems it works only when flying at this time). I know the virtual radar should be enough most of the time but the Mountain view is very efficient and can be very helpful to fine tune a route.
- A shortcut or a more direct way of switching between Standard and Mountain view could be nice since. 4 clicks (if not selecting the wrong menu at a time) is a long process when in need of such a view

Anyway, perhaps it's not mature yet but the SD team never ceases amazes me.
Keep up the great work!

M