AOA Simulations has today chosen to speak out about conflicts within the team, due to disagreements, threats and dishonesty.

Posting to their Facebook page, Fabrice Kauffmann explained what had happened in full, starting from the beginning.

"AOA Simulations was founded more than 6 years ago by David Austin and myself. Like the majority of addon creators for X-Plane, we carry on this activity after our work time. Like all of you, we are passionate people.

"Initially, we had imagined to make only VTOL aircrafts. After the release of our F-35B under X-Plane 9.70, David proposed to work on the V-22 Osprey, which he had already made a freeware version."

Two team members soon became three with the introduction of Franco Pizzaggalli, who at the time had just released his SU-57. Fabrice worked with Franco to improve the SU-57's cockpit, before the trio worked on the V-22 osprey.

"I am very proud of the result," said Fabrice. "PC Pilot magazine gave us an 85% rating. It was a great reward for all the teamwork."

However, Fabrice took time away from development to deal with personal issues, leaving David and Franco work on their next aircraft, the AW-609 TiltRotor.

"I isolated myself a bit from the group. I didn't tell them about it. They will surely be surprised to learn it by reading these lines.

"But I needed a creative activity to push away my bad thoughts. I got into the F-35A alone. Also because I was a little annoyed by the negative reviews on the cockpit of the F-35B and I wanted to do better."

Development of the AW-609 was fraught with disagreements. Fabrice described David being unhappy with the cockpit quality, whilst Franco complained about David's constant rearrangement of the cockpit panels.

"I hope that both will recognize that I really tried to play the peacemaker between them during that period," explained Fabrice. "I hope not to upset them by saying that they are both strong personalities with very clear opinions."

The RV-8 was the next adventure for Fabrice; a training centre contacted AOA Simulations about developing the aircraft, which included the manufacturer's support.

It was "an opportunity that could not be refused," but in accepting the RV-8, progress on the AW-609 stopped.

As a result, Franco left the group to complete the AW-609 alone, but David was unwilling to give away his flight model.

"For his part, Franco believes that no copyright can be placed on ACF files made with PlaneMaker. You can read his very controversial argumentation on the forum."

The relationship between Franco and David continued to deteriorate in the weeks that followed, with the two bickering about the copyright of ACF files.

One month ago, Franco put the AW-609 on sale, and Fabrice cut his payments coming from sales of the V-22.

"Today, Franco threatens us to ask the removal of the V-22 from the store. He claims in compensation every day a bigger percentage on our sales.

"It threatens to undermine our reputation. He claims to have now completely redone the ACF of the AW-609 in 12 hours so that we can not put pressure on him anymore.

"What pressure? We do not even ask him to stop selling his models. Just withdraw the complaint and stop the threats.

"To date, Franco has received more than 100 times the money he would receive by selling his 3D model on TurboSquid or CGTrader. I think he was largely rewarded for his work."

Fabrice says that the copyright.txt file included with the 'MV-22B for X-Plane' indicates all right belong to AOA Simulations.

"Is it enough to protect us against this withdrawal request? I hope so."

In closing, Fabrice said: "We must also learn the lessons from this sad story. We have been negligent in not defining the conditions of compensation and the exclusion clauses within our group. We were naive and trusted. This is our biggest twist.

"But we do not accept threats and dishonesty.

"That's the reason why I have chosen to speak about this conflict publicly.

Drama aside, however, work on the RV-8, V-22 and F-35 aircraft continue. The developer's progress may be followed on their Facebook page.

Further information about the upcoming update to their V-22 Osprey is available to view here.