CremonaSoft just announced their A310-304 that looks really promising, and will be released very soon. Who’s hyped?
The A300 and A310 are very particular aircraft. Indeed they were produced by Airbus, but at a first look, they are not clearly identificable as busses, also for the yoke that the european builder used before sidestick.
In X-Plane there are some freeware simulations of this planes, but they are not much detailed, of course.
That’s the reason behind the excitement after CremonaSoft announced their A310-304 today.
The plane is not released yet, but it looks like it will take a very short time, take a look at the list of features.
Flight Characteristics:
- Accurate weight distribution.
- Nice flight model.
3D Model:
- Accurate, high quality external models for fuselage, wings, stabilizers and engines- derived from measurements for the real aircraft.
- All control surfaces (slats, flaps, ailerons, spoilers, rudder, elevators, THS) accurately animated.
- Engine reverser animations.
- Detailed landing gear with claw angle and full animation.
- Open/close animations for both cockpit windows and all exterior doors.
- Highly detailed 3D cockpit with super-sharp 4K+ textures and 3D lighting.
- Detailed 3D gauges, counters, switches and knobs with animations.
- Metallic surface and glass reflection effects in X-Plane 11 render engine.
- Detailed flight control and throttle animations.
- Crisp 3D cabin.
- Super-sharp external textures.
- Accurate 3D reproduction of all external aircraft lighting.
Systems:
- Custom APU start-up and running parameters.
- Custom electrical system with AC/DC BUS simulation logic.
- Custom pneumatic system with bleed-air logic.
- Cabin temperature simulation.
- Hydraulic system logic simulation.
- Fuel system logic simulation.
- Engine start and crank (windmill).
- Complete exterior lighting control.
- Slats/flaps operation with accurate timings.
- Takeoff configuration test system.
- Landing gear operation with accurate timings and gear status test.
- Brake ‘Accu Press’ logic simulation.
- Pitch (with trim wheel animation), aileron and rudder trim.
Engines:
- General Electric CF6-80C2, with realistic performance and custom engine sound.
Custom Electronics:
- Airbus flight phase logic implementation.
- Flight warning computer implementation, with aural warnings and decision height + altitude callouts (integrated into the flight phase logic).
- Custom PDF and ND displays with close reproduction of graphical and functional operation.
- Custom ECAM system and displays (warnings display + systems display), with integration into the flight phase logic.
- PFD supports: full artificial horizon operation, heading scale, speed scale, target speed, target altitude, flight director, flight path vector, flight path angle, windshear annunciator, radio altitude, ILS localizer and glide slope index + scale, decision height annunciator.
- ND supports: rose view, arc view, map view, plan view, display scale, aircraft heading, aircraft track, ILS data + scales, VOR + heading, ADF bearings.
- ECAM warnings display supports: Red + Amber warnings list, status page.
- ECAM systems display supports all systems pages.
- Custom Vertical Velocity Indicator.
- Independent pilot/co-pilot electronics (in preparation for future shared cockpit operations).
Navigation/Comms:
- ILS receiver and control panel with adjustable frequency and heading.
- VOR 1 & 2 receivers and panels with adjustable frequencies and headings.
- ADF 1 & 2 receivers and panels with adjustable frequencies.
- VHF 1 & 2 comms radios and panels with adjustable frequencies.
Autopilot Modes:
- (A/THR) Auto throttle with speed/Mach hold, (ALT.HLD) altitude hold, (LVL CH) level change, (HDG SEL) heading select, (V/L) VOR/Localizer mode, (LAND) auto land.
- Command mode.
- Control wheel steering mode.
Hi-res A310-304 liveries:
- Airbus House colours (F-WZLK).
- Air Transat (C-GSAT).
- Air Jamaica (N837AB).
- S7 Airlines (VP-BSZ).
Hi-res A310-304 MRTT liveries:
- Luftwaffe, Hans Grade (10+26).
System Requirements:
- Microsoft Windows 64bit/32bit. (Mac/Linux not yet supported, but in the pipeline…)
- X-Plane 11 or 10.50+.
- Intel Core i3 processor or equivalent.
- 1.5GB hard disk space.
- 8GB System memory.
- Dedicated 3D graphics processor with minimum 512MB dedicated video memory.
Documentation:
- Standard Operating Procedures for: Preliminary Cockpit Preparation, Cockpit Preparation, Before Pushback or Start, Engine Start, After Engine Start, Taxi, Before Takeoff, Takeoff, After Takeoff, Standard Approach, Visual Approach, Landing, Go-Around, After Landing, Parking, Securing The Aircraft.
- System Documentation for: Electrical System, APU, Pneumatic System, Engine Start, Flight Instruments, Navigation Equipment.
I am personally a bit worried about the “nice flight model” and I think it will require some hours of accurate testing, but the rest looks very promising.
The developer specified that they will continue to expand their project, even completing a fully custom FMS integrated with the auto-pilot system.
For further, take a look here. This is meant to be a trending topic in the next few hours
