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Aerosoft Airbus X - Preview


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  • Aerosoft

Hi Mathijs,

This is my first post, but I have been viewing this board, and the Airbus preview threads in particular, since you announced your Airbus X product.

I am in a category of customer that you may not have identified yet for this product. I like accurate, complex airliners (Level D 767, DA Fokker 70/100, PMDG J41 are my favourites), however I never really get into the very obscure systems or failures (I have little time to do that). I just like to start up the aircraft, input the flight plan (generated by FSX, no fancy flight planning software), fly from A to B using normal procedures, enjoy the scenery on the way, and then land using normal procedures (sometimes ILS, sometimes manually, depending on the weather). I don't care about setting the cargo hold temperature or doing emergency procedures. I put a premium on realistic, immersive looks of the aircraft and cockpit, good FPS, and accuracy of the few systems that I use.

So, even though I only buy complex airliners, I think that your Airbus X (with the systems concessions that you have made) will still be perfect for me. I think I only ever use 30% of the systems that have been programmed in the other products I've referred to above (but I pay a high price for the unused 70%).

Now, I have three questions.

One of the most important things that I look for in an addon aircraft is accurate flight dynamics. So when it is on autopilot or flown manually, I need to know that the aircraft is 'on the numbers' and feels correct (as much as is possible on a personal computer). So my first questions is, have your beta testing airbus pilots verified that the Airbus X handles and performs correctly in comparison with the real aircraft?

I am a little lazy when I program the FMS/MCDU on addon aircraft. I like to have the option of automatically inserting weights and v-speeds. My second question is, can you give us the option to do that automatically by, for example, right clicking the LSK next to the relevant item on the MCDU (some other products, like the PMDG 737 for FS9 gave this option).

I know you have had some delays completing this product, and I see that you still aim for a May release. Unfortunately for me, and my fellow Australian customers, our currency has started to fall rapidly against the Euro and US dollar. Every day that passes, this product gets more expensive for me. So my third question is, can I pay for this product now and then download it when you release it? I've done this before with another Airbus-that-must-not-be-named and got burned, however I have faith in Aerosoft, as one of the most reputable flight simulator addon publishers, that I will have a much different and more satisfying experience with the Airbus X.

The third question is made a little tongue-in-cheek, however I confess that every day waiting for this product to be release is killing me with suspense (not just burning a bigger hole in my wallet)!

Anyway, good luck with the remainder of your beta testing. I look forward in great anticipation to your release of this product. I hope you can answer my questions above.

Regards,

JusJ

PS- Despite my preference for straight-forward flying, I will still buy your advanced systems upgrade if/when it is released (just because I like to know what I am flying is as realistic as can be).

1) Yes. Now I got to say I am always a bit hesitant to call any flight model in FSX realistic but we done some seriously fine work on it, certainly on the engines. Of course in an Airbus 320 a flight model is not at all what it is on other aircraft as it so simplified by all the systems. But flown manually in Normal Mode she feels mighty nice. And when you get used to an aircraft that stays where you put it, it's hard to fly anything else. No more messing about with stabilized turns, loosing altitude when you bank etc.

2) Yes, in fact you sound like my ideal customer and a lot like me, I like to fly and not mess around for hours on the ground.

3) No, I would feel very unhappy taking money for something that's not finished.

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  • Aerosoft

Hi Mathijis,

what about the actual or future support for external home cockpit, maybe with something like project Magenta drivers?

cheers

Fra

One of the reasons we use default FSX parameters as much as is feasible (only when they are not too silly) is to make it easy to merge it with other software and hardware addons. Should all be rather straight forward. The only thing that could cause problems is the auto throttle systems, FSX simply does not know about the way Airbus handles that.

Always funny to see people stare at the throttles that stay in CLIMB mode until you lower the flaps for landing.

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One of the reasons we use default FSX parameters as much as is feasible (only when they are not too silly) is to make it easy to merge it with other software and hardware addons. Should all be rather straight forward. The only thing that could cause problems is the auto throttle systems, FSX simply does not know about the way Airbus handles that.

Always funny to see people stare at the throttles that stay in CLIMB mode until you lower the flaps for landing.

Thanks Mathijs,

Yes but this is the less important thing to me since an airbus throttle replica cost like a hell and always stay in CL mode!! :-)

I will at least use a very simple one.

Fra

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Hi Mathijs, Sorry to bother you, but how is the manual coming along and are you still intending to send it to me for mono printer checking?

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  • Aerosoft

Hi Mathijs, Sorry to bother you, but how is the manual coming along and are you still intending to send it to me for mono printer checking?

Yes, we had a bit of delay in the manual but I'll close it this weekend. We'll be in touch.

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Yes, we had a bit of delay in the manual but I'll close it this weekend. We'll be in touch.

Sounds great. But is a release of the downloadversion in may still possible ?

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I asked this before but it wasn't answered:

If you are flying at night through clouds with landing lights on, do the clouds light up in the beam of light?

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Bingo, I really am looking forward to this product like you wouldn't believe!! But that statement right there hit the nail on the head.

Well honestly, I fly a lot on IVAO and need to use sid & stars, and I had no issue inserting them, I mean look at the chart, entre the couple missing waypoints and you are all set.

This is often done in real life as FMGC don't have all the world's SID & STARS...

They might be available in the advanced version but stop complaining about that please ;)

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I asked this before but it wasn't answered:

If you are flying at night through clouds with landing lights on, do the clouds light up in the beam of light?

Good question, I haven't tried and won't have a chance to try before monday, maybe a fellow tester can try in the mean time...

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Well honestly, I fly a lot on IVAO and need to use sid & stars, and I had no issue inserting them, I mean look at the chart, entre the couple missing waypoints and you are all set.

This is often done in real life as FMGC don't have all the world's SID & STARS...

They might be available in the advanced version but stop complaining about that please ;)

Yes, i fly on VATSIM (Didn't know people still flew IVAO?) I know that's what a majority of real life pilots do and i honestly dont have much of a problem with it. However like others mention, i don't want to spend a long time on the ground and having to manually enter the SIDS and STARS happens to slow down the process, but only a little. And don't worry, im treated too well at Aerosoft to complain! Mathjis and others don't complain to us, we can return the favor ;)

Cheers!

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Not I am not at my desk so I do not have all documents, but I do not think you calculate trim settings because all stabilizer trim is fully automated in normal conditions. But you will need to (or rather you can) enter the weights and they will be used to calculate the FLEX settings. The whole preflight is pretty realistic, we only skip the fake INS things as those are just nonsense in FSX.

Hi Mathijs

The take off trim setting is not automatic, you need to manually set the stab trim, the figure in the real world is a function on the center of gravity, and usually presented to the crew on the load sheet. I hope some simple method of correctly setting the trim for takeoff will be provided for different C of G positions. This could be done via a load manager for example. Its very frustrating when purchasing a new addon, lite or not to find you have to guess important pre flight data.

Stu

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3) No, I would feel very unhappy taking money for something that's not finished.

And there you go, folks. That's why some developers are successful, and some aren't. ;) Thanks for taking the honest route, Mathijs! :)

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I know it says that we won't be able to insert sids, just waypoint on the sid if we feel we need it,

Some points on a sid are inaginary, they just don't exist, they are radials and distance points but they still have a logitude and latidude referance.

As in the real bus will us more advanced users be able to enter way points useing lat - lon (ie. N53,24.5 W006,04.0) into the FMGS as a waypoint as done in the PMDG 747-400?

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Guest Redhawk

:D

I appreciate the idea of a simplified simulation of a complex airliner, giving me the opportunity to take some flight time in command without spending a lot of time to prepare for a flight after a busy day and still having a lot of realistic features to come.

Being comfortable with this version after a while a following pro version would be also and only a realistic progression to more complex system depth and much easier to take.

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just read about SIDS and STARS not being supported. I'm very disappointed about this :-(. Is it really very complicated to include that functionality? It was even on the old PSS Airbus A320.

I guess it's another case of "wait for the advanced version" then.

Otherwise, the plane looks great...

Chris

ps: also realised that entering airways will not be possible :( It'll take an age to enter a long or more complex flightplan. Mathijs: will there be an option to import flightplans from another format? (e.g. FSX, PMDG). Thanks!

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just read about SIDS and STARS not being supported. I'm very disappointed about this :-(. Is it really very complicated to include that functionality? It was even on the old PSS Airbus A320.

I guess it's another case of "wait for the advanced version" then.

Otherwise, the plane looks great...

Chris

ps: also realised that entering airways will not be possible :( It'll take an age to enter a long or more complex flightplan. Mathijs: will there be an option to import flightplans from another format? (e.g. FSX, PMDG). Thanks!

Yes you can import flightplans. Havent you read any of this thread?

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Yes you can import flightplans. Havent you read any of this thread?

Thanks! I didn't read it in Mathijs' initial post and haven't managed to get through 32 pages of the thread as yet.. but getting there.

Chris

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I know it says that we won't be able to insert sids, just waypoint on the sid if we feel we need it,

Some points on a sid are inaginary, they just don't exist, they are radials and distance points but they still have a logitude and latidude referance.

As in the real bus will us more advanced users be able to enter way points useing lat - lon (ie. N53,24.5 W006,04.0) into the FMGS as a waypoint as done in the PMDG 747-400?

+1

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Why not invest in something like FSCommander... If you want SID/STARS so bad.. In fact it's 100x better than just an FMC alone...at least you get a map of everything including the actual SID's and STARS...

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1) Yes. Now I got to say I am always a bit hesitant to call any flight model in FSX realistic but we done some seriously fine work on it, certainly on the engines. Of course in an Airbus 320 a flight model is not at all what it is on other aircraft as it so simplified by all the systems. But flown manually in Normal Mode she feels mighty nice. And when you get used to an aircraft that stays where you put it, it's hard to fly anything else. No more messing about with stabilized turns, loosing altitude when you bank etc.

2) Yes, in fact you sound like my ideal customer and a lot like me, I like to fly and not mess around for hours on the ground.

3) No, I would feel very unhappy taking money for something that's not finished.

Thanks for your response Mathijs. I'm really looking forward to seeing your fly-by-wire implementation.

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Why not invest in something like FSCommander... If you want SID/STARS so bad.. In fact it's 100x better than just an FMC alone...at least you get a map of everything including the actual SID's and STARS...

Well the ability to use lat -lon is also needed for NAT's but you wouldn't really be going over the atlantic in a A320.

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I asked this before but it wasn't answered:

If you are flying at night through clouds with landing lights on, do the clouds light up in the beam of light?

Imagine someone would be able to do that, would be so amazing. :D

But I guess that's just dreaming.

Long time I've been out from here, it seems this bus is coming really soon!

No SIDS & STARS, oh...

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