Shirley Capabilities
Shirley's current capabilities and available tools: How you can interact with Shirley, as well as features we are working to improve. You can follow updates as they happen on our Change Log, Discord, or our Blog.
Things Shirley Can Do
| Capability | Example |
|---|---|
| Current Location | "Shirley, what town am I flying over?" |
| Airport Database & Location Information New | "What's the nearest large airport within 50 miles?" "What's pattern altitude at KPBG?" "Shirley, I'm looking for a scenic airport with a restaurant near Burlington." Search 35,000+ airports by location, amenities, and type (large/medium/small airports, seaplane bases, heliports) or lookup by FAA/ICAO code. Get detailed information including precise coordinates, elevations, runway details (length, width, surface, lighting, displaced thresholds), and scheduled service status. |
| Navigation | "What's the heading to JFK?" "Let's fly by the Hollywood sign!" Navigate to places and airports worldwide with enhanced navigational awareness throughout your flight. |
| Aircraft Information | "Where's the carb heat in this thing?" |
| Telemetry Information | "How close am I to red line on turbine temperature?" "How's this approach looking?" |
| Flaps | "Shirley, give me a notch of flaps?" |
| Landing Gear | "Configure us for landing Shirley." |
| Lights | "Turn on the taxi lights." |
| Speed Brakes & Thrust Reverser | "Shirley, deploy speed brakes and engage reverse thrust." |
| Radios & Transponder | "Tune 121.5 active in the number two radio." "Shirley, standby 110.9 for the JFK 22L ILS." "Squawk 7600 until we regain contact." |
| Practice Engine Failures | "Have my left engine fail at 1500 feet AGL." "At 100 knots or 2000, fail number two." |
| Set Airspeed & Altitude | "Hey Shirley - teleport us up to 1000 feet and 100 knots." |
| Change Simulator Time & Date | "Shirley, make it a summer afternoon." |
| Change Simulator WeatherNew | "Set up some cumulonimbus clouds and make that runway puddly!" Configure runway condition, precipitation, sea level temperature and pressure, visibility, thermals, bases and tops, cloud types or coverage percentage. Set real world, static, improving or deteriorating weather, regenerate weather, and configure wind layer speed, gusts, turbulence or direction at particular heights. |
| Bugs & Altimeter New | "Shirley configure the bugs for our climb - heading 270 to 6000 feet, altimeter 29.93." |
| Enable Heading-based Autopilot Functions New | "Level the wings, then configure us for heading mode!" Engage the autopilot, activate wings leveler, heading mode, or altitude hold mode. |
| Control the Simulation New | "Freeze our position Shirley!" Activate position freeze, pause the sim, repair aircraft systems, or toggle through sim speed ratios. |
| General Q/A | "What's the speed limit under the Class B shelf?" |
| Traffic Pattern Operations New | "Let's enter downwind for runway 33 at Burlington!" Superior guidance through entries and traffic pattern operations. Tracks vertical and horizontal deviations from extended runway centerlines, identifies runways and taxiways, and monitors runway distance remaining. Available at 10,000+ training-ready airports worldwide. |
Other Tools Shirley Has
| Tool | Example |
|---|---|
| Real Weather Lookup (USA METAR) | "What's the current weather at JFK?" |
| Timers | "Shirley, start a timer." |
| Waypoints & Destination Runways | "Plot a course to Albany airport." "Set our starting point so we can measure landing distance?" "Give me pattern headings for runway 33 at KBTV!" |
| Requests for Shirley | "For time critical actions, do the thing before talking about it!" |
| Pilot Notes | "Remind me to keep an eye on altimeter during steep turns." |
| Assistant Mode "Shirley Mode" | "Don't respond unless you hear Shirley!" |
| Maneuver Analysis (Select Lessons) | "Analyze that landing." |
Shirley Limitations for Certain Tasks
| Task | Example | Potential Issue |
|---|---|---|
| Pretend to be ATC | "Shirley, pretend to be tower-- 'Cessna 12345 ready for takeoff.'" | Shirley will act like tower, but may give inaccurate instructions. |
| Taxi Routes Improved | "Shirley, what's the route to runway 33 from here?" | Shirley can identify your position on runways and ramps, and guide you toward specific runways, but can not provide detailed taxi instructions. |
| Aircraft Performance | "What's my best climb speed?" | Works well for Cessna 172. Information for other aircraft is often not exact. |
| Checklists | "Before Takeoff Check!" | May be a general or abbreviated version of the checklist. Accuracy may vary by aircraft. |
| Instrument Approach Procedures | "Shirley, what are the minimums for this approach?" "What are the departure minimums?" | Shirley doesn't currently have access to instrument approach charts. |
| Radio Frequencies | "Shirley, what's the ATIS frequency at KBTV?" | Frequencies are most accurate for major airports. |
Aircraft With Shirley Profiles
| Aircraft | Variant | Shirley |
|---|---|---|
| Airbus A330-300 | X-Plane 12 | Sees: Throttles, Engine N1s, Turbine Gas Temperatures Controls: Flaps, Landing Gear, Speedbrakes, Pitot Heat, Parking Brake, Lights |
| Alexander Schleicher ASK-21 | X-Plane 12 | Sees: Variometer, Total Energy Variometer Controls: Total Energy Audio Switch, Parking Brake, Lights |
| BETA Technologies ALIA 250 VTOL | X-Plane 12 | Sees: Battery Connectivity, Lift Lever & Pusher Thumbwheel Throttle Positions Controls: Battery Connectivity, Pitot Heat, Parking Brake, Lights |
| Boeing 737-800 | X-Plane 12 | Sees: Throttles, Engine N1s, Turbine Gas Temperatures Controls: Flaps, Landing Gear, Speedbrakes, Pitot Heat, Parking Brake, Lights |
| Cessna 172 SP | X-Plane 12 Fixed-Gear Edition | Sees: Throttle, Engine RPM Controls: Flaps, Pitot Heat, Parking Brake, Lights |
| Cessna 172 SP (Floats) | X-Plane 12 Floats Edition | Sees: Throttle, Engine RPM Controls: Flaps, Landing Gear, Pitot Heat, Parking Brake, Lights |
| Cessna Citation X | X-Plane 12 | Sees: Throttles, Condition Levers, Prop Levers, Prop RPMs, Engine N1s, Engine Torques, Engine ITTs, Pitot Heat, Lights Controls: Flaps, Landing Gear, Speedbrakes, Parking Brake |
| Diamond DA42 | Aerobask X-Plane 12 Add-On | Sees: Throttles, Prop RPMs Controls: Flaps, Landing Gear, Pitot Heat, Parking Brake, Lights |
| Lancair Evolution | X-Plane 12 | Sees: Throttle Position, Condition Lever Position, Prop Lever Position, Prop RPM, Engine N1, Engine Torque, Engine ITT, Prop Heat Switch Controls: Flaps, Landing Gear, Prop Heat, Pitot Heat, Parking Brake, Lights |
| Robinson R22 | X-Plane 12 | Sees: Collective & Throttle Position, Manifold Pressure, Rotor & Engine RPM, Low RPM & Clutch Annunciators, Governor Switch Controls: Governor Switch, Lights |
| Sikorsky S-76C | X-Plane 12 | Sees: Collective & Throttle Positions, Turbine Gas Temperatures, Rotor RPM, Governor Switches, Low RPM Annunciator Controls: Governor Switches, Pitot Heat, Parking Brake, Lights |
| Fixed-Gear Single Piston Aircraft | X-Plane 12 | Sees: Throttle, Mixture Ratio, Engine RPM Controls: Pitot Heat, Parking Brake, Lights |
| Complex Single Piston Aircraft | X-Plane 12 | Sees: Throttle, Mixture Ratio, Prop Lever, Prop RPM, Manifold Pressure Controls: Flaps, Landing Gear, Pitot Heat, Parking Brake, Lights |
| Twin Piston Aircraft | X-Plane 12 | Sees: Throttles, Mixture Ratios, Prop Levers, Prop RPMs Controls: Flaps, Landing Gear, Pitot Heat, Parking Brake, Lights |
| Complex Single Turbine Aircraft | X-Plane 12 | Sees: Throttle, Condition Lever, Prop Lever, Prop RPM, Engine N1, Engine Torque, Engine ITT Controls: Flaps, Landing Gear, Pitot Heat, Parking Brake, Lights |
| Twin Turbine Aircraft | X-Plane 12 | Sees: Throttles, Condition Levers, Prop Levers, Prop RPMs, Engine N1s, Engine Torques, Engine ITTs Controls: Flaps, Landing Gear, Pitot Heat, Parking Brake, Lights |
| Single Jets | X-Plane 12 | Sees: Throttle, Engine N1 Controls: Flaps, Landing Gear, Pitot Heat, Parking Brake, Lights |
| Twin Jets | X-Plane 12 | Sees: Throttles, Engine N1s Controls: Flaps, Landing Gear, Speedbrakes, Pitot Heat, Parking Brake, Lights |
| Single Piston Helicopters | X-Plane 12 | Sees: Collective, Throttle, Rotor RPM, Engine RPM, Manifold Pressure, Low RPM Annunciator Controls: Governor Switch, Pitot Heat, Lights |
| Single Turbine Helicopters | X-Plane 12 | Sees: Collective, Engine N1, Engine ITT, Rotor RPM, Low RPM Annunciator Controls: Pitot Heat, Lights |
| Single Rotor Twin Turbine Helicopters | X-Plane 12 | Sees: Collective, Engine N1s, Engine ITTs, Rotor RPMs, Low RPM Annunciator Controls: Landing Gear, Pitot Heat, Parking Brake, Lights |
Last updated: April 5, 2025
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