The flap and slat animation is very neat and someone has even gone to the trouble of adding detail under the spoilers if you care to look. The oleos flex, the wheels revolve and the gear and bays are fully detailed, so I am sure that these planes are going to be watched as much in spot view as they will be used in cockpit mode.
There is a flip side to all this and it is worth bearing in mind that reflective texturing is very power hungry. Gorgeous though the planes are, my 1. I lock my frame rates down to 20 using Lago's FSAssist, which I am currently evaluating, and this helped a great deal, by freeing up processor cycles for the display overheads, but it didn't cure the problem completely.
Nonetheless, I still got some single figure dips, particularly on approach to more complex sceneries like Gary Summons' Stansted, which features in some of the screen shots. The frame rate issue is known to PSS and at the time the review was being written, they were working on a fix. The flight models are in the ball park for this class of airliner, though the take off runs seemed rather long in the versions I tested. Teesside has a meter runway and I used the whole of it up getting airborne in the , which didn't feel right.
However, at the time of testing, PSS were actively upgrading the flight dynamics and it is possible that this will have been fixed by the time you read this and also the problems with bank angles.
Given that the flight envelope is controlled to a large extent by interaction with the panel code, this may be a tough one to get right. Judging from my own experience and from feedback in the forums, this is probably the minimum config that it is logical to install the package on if you want to enjoy it to the full. OK, so now we will fly it. If you do what I did, after working out how to see outside, you will hold the bird on the brakes, floor the throttles, let N1 build up and then trickle off the runway, bouncing just on the far side of the threshold lights before you struggle skywards at about feet per minute.
After a quick visual check to make sure that I didn't have a comfort truck attached to the back of the plane and another to ensure that Johan Dees really had done the flight dynamics, I went back to school with the manuals. After all, I can't recall ever outclimbing an A in a Cessna The answer wasn't so hard to find, and it illustrates just how different this simulation is to other packages that are available. Unlike other big jets, the thrust levers on the A series move through a series of five gates, known as detents.
Under normal circumstances, this package is designed to be flown using the keypad, rather than the throttle - which makes perfect sense when you understand how the real plane is flown, which is under the control of the flight computers. One thing this is not, is a turn and burn sim, and the plane is designed, like the original, to be flown on autopilot, all the way there and all the way back.
The glory of this package isn't in the panel, it is in the glass it contains. These display a vast selection of annunciators which will bewilder the novice and delight the expert and their implementation is complete right down to such nuances as a flight path vector bird and an animated display of flap deployment.
The seriously large amount of data on these gauges is hard to absorb even when you are looking at them on the expanded panel and the text can be quite hard to read, so PSS have thoughtfully provided larger pop-up versions, which I presume is where the advice of Enrico Schiratti who is mentioned in the credits came in. Since the pop-up gauges can be undocked, I would assume that they can be moved onto a second monitor, if you have one, and they can be resized as much as you want, though this inevitably impacts on display capacity.
You will need to use the pop-ups, because the text on the panel gauges can be hard to read, especially the ND, even on a nineteen inch monitor.
I shan't describe every function on the panel, as otherwise I might as well just post the pdfs, but suffice it to say that while every single last bitty function of the A avionics isn't simulated, PSS have got as near to a complete implementation as it is logical to get.
The gauge programming seems to be reliable and there are some very neat features, like an eleven mode Electronic Centralised Aircraft Monitoring ECAM control panel, which is hardly vital to the sim, but at least gives you something to play with on long flights while the computer takes care of the plane. Just for example, on the wheel page, you can monitor the brake temperatures on those days when the braking action isn't as good as it might be now that would be an interesting enhancement to FS Hal, you reading this?
No, I am not joking about the fans. To look at, there is no difference between the two and guess what, when you play around with them, they do the same things, but Airbuses have to be different. While it is intimidatingly different to the Boeing standard, the Airbus FCU has to be understood if you want to fly the plane for any more than short hops between airfields - while it only has ten pages allocated to it, they are the most important ones in the manuals.
Mastering the use of the selector controls on the FCU is absolutely vital - these can be "pushed" as well as "pulled" and if you don't discover how to do this, you will have to try to fly the plane as best you can by hand. The FCU briefing starts on page 30 of the Systems Manual and I suggest that you read it very thoroughly before you leave the ground.
If you get your head around this section - and it is very well written - then you will have a firm base for understanding how the glass works in the rest of panel, because there are enough annunciators, mode displays and memos to keep the most hardened techno freak interested.
The mouse "capture" areas on one or two of the knobs didn't display properly on my installation, which led to problems a couple of times when I inadvertently "pushed" the knob when I was trying to set a new speed or flight level limitation. Engaging a new FCU mode at the wrong moment can play havoc with a flight and this area of the panel deserves some extra thought, as accidentally engaging the wrong mode can lead to the loss of a flight.
The downside of all this electronic wizardry is that finding out what is going on in flight isn't as easy as you might think and differences from the Boeing panels add up to a serious need to read the documentation and learn some basic procedures before you fly.
I can see that some users may find it tough getting to terms with it all, especially if they only use the package occasionally. Like the PIC, this is a simulation with which you must stay "current", or you will find that your enjoyment of flights is spoiled by having to check through the manual every time you want to do anything.
I am no exception to this rule, by the way, much as I enjoy the , the less I use it, the less comfortable I am with it. Great sim, nonetheless. The MCDU isn't quite as well specified as the unit on the PSS , though, knowing the way PSS develops things, it will no doubt gain functions through incremental upgrades as time goes on.
Now you are either a flight computer person or you are not, and I know from email that many simmers think life is too short to be bothered with such things, but failing to use the one provided with this Airbus package would be a bit like buying a racehorse and then tying its back legs together. Real Airbus drivers get most of their flying hours done with this baby in charge and if you don't use it, a high proportion of the features of the sim will be inaccessible - for example, it isn't easy to do an ILS approach without it.
The device has an exceptionally sharp vector graphic, which I have shown here dragged about as large as I could manage; as you can see, even allowing for a bit of jpg compression in the screen shot, it remains exceptionally clear and more than anything else, this makes the MCDU easy to use.
Experienced sim instrument gladiators you will know if you are one, if looking at the graphic has made your hands start to shake are going to love this mother. It was further established by the investigation that, contrary to applicable SOPs for an inoperative thrust reverser, the aircraft commander, as PF had after touch down initially moved both thrust levers into the reverse position. When the aircraft began yawing to the right, he responded by moving the LH thrust lever out of reverse to the extent that it reached the TOGA position.
With the normally-functioning RH engine thrust lever remaining in the full reverse position, the resultant thrust asymmetry greatly increased the right yaw effect and crew rudder and brake inputs did not adequately compensate so that the aircraft left the paved surface of the runway.
Some of the functionality in the FMC goes beyond that of a product on Prepar3D that many including myself consider being the most realistic representation of an Airbus product. One example shared was the use of an FLS approach. No, not a typo. The team at Fenix Sim has taken this relatively new technology in the real world and has already implemented it into their product. This goes beyond what other simulated Airbus products do.
Something that was mentioned before the reveal of the Fenix Sim A was the fact that this aircraft will feature a comprehensive failure system. At the time of writing, failures are currently available to use within the aircraft.
The list of failures ranged from hydraulic issues and fuel leaks to engine failures and even radio malfunctions. One, of many, examples I was shown was the push to talk button for the captain getting stuck.
This seemingly small issue will still prompt an ECAM message and expect you to run through a brief checklist to try and fix the problem. The combination of systems depth of the Fenix A and exemplary visuals from MSFS make this a pleasure and exciting to fly — just like the real thing. Not to mention the fun I have failing one of the many systems it has to offer! I am truly ecstatic to share this with the world and bring people closer to the real thing than has ever been possible before.
That feature is the functional use of circuit breakers. Some circumstances will require you to pop a circuit breaker to reset a system or to complete switch off something in the aircraft. This will be modelled in the Fenix A and all from within the cockpit. All of these great-sounding features will mean nothing if the performance is poor. This was something Aamir is very conscious of and shared some comparison imagery with me. First up was the default Asobo A Neo, which was holding an average of What was important to note was the spikes in the frame rendering, which is what causes the stuttering or choppy frames.
There were a few of these spikes in this scenario. In the same conditions, the sim was holding an average of This is expected considering the more in-depth systems and enhanced modelling.
The final performance preview was with the current, unoptimised build of the Fenix A Same settings again, but performance, on average, saw With the influx of new information about this project, today we also got the first video showing the A in action , and performing a CAT II autoland , of all else. In the video, that you can see below, we go for a long final approach to Sydney International Airport.
Fenix Simulations is definitely up to something. They clearly have a very competent team that has already put a lot of work into this. As time goes by, we will certainly continue to get many more details and insights into the ongoing development of this incredible machine, so make sure to keep coming back for further updates! It goes without saying that this airplane is looking absolutely remarkable, beautiful and […].
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