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