Today developer FlyByWire Simulations released its Airbus A380 for Microsoft Flight Simulator, bringing the massive airliner to the virtual skies.
While it’s considered an “alpha,” the “A380X” is by all means an extremely complex rendition of Airbus’ big boy, and it’ll only get better with time, with more and more systems added over time as FlyByWire did with its Airbus A320 “A32NX” mod.
Of course, one of the most exciting parts of the deal is that you can get it for the extremely affordable price of zero dollars, which is rather amazing considering that add-ons of this complexity can easily cost close to $80 or more.
You can download it with FlyByWire’s own installer, which will automatically get it ready for Microsoft Flight Simulator.
This marks one of the biggest community achievements in the history of flight simulation. FlyByWire employs tens of volunteers contributing code, expertise, and art to its creations, with thousands of man hours over 4 years gone into getting the Airbus A380 ready for this alpha release.
Of course, there may still be bugs and issues, but FlyByWire has always been very good at being on top of these.
It’s worth mentioning that the team can also be credited with creating the first complex airliner experience for Microsoft Flight Simulator with its A32NX, which basically carried enthusiasts of this kind of simulation for a long time all on its own before payware developers finally caught up.
While that was already a large achievement, the Airbus A380 is certainly even bigger, not just in size, but in the fact that it isn’t a mod of an existing default aircraft. It’s completely built from zero.
Below you can find a few useful links to get you started:
- Release Notes
- Throttle Calibration Guide
- Installation Guide
- Simbridge Guide
- Beginner Guide
- Known Issues and Workarounds
This is pretty much the perfect sendoff for Microsoft Flight Simulator as the sim is preparing to pass the baton to Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024.
Of course, this doesn’t mean that the Airbus A380 will remain confined to the 2020 version of the sim, as it’ll be flyable on the new one via backward compatibility and its developers will convert it fully in due time.
Microsoft Flight Simulator is currently available for PC and Xbox Series X|S, but this aircraft will not be available on Xbox.
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 will be released on November 18 for PC and Xbox Series X|S. You can enjoy our hands-on preview with plenty of interesting details for your perusal.
You can also watch our interview with Head of MSFS Jorg Neumann and Asobo CEO Sebastian Wloch, another with Asobo CCO David Dedeine, and one featuring Chris Burnett of Working Title and Brandon Yaeger of Got Friends about their work on MSFS 2024.
Last, but not least, you can take a look at our A-10 flight through the Grand Canyon, our first look at the extensive pilot customization, another at the first mission of the Career Mode, a video featuring the new walk-around move showing off a Boeing 737 MAX up close and personal, and a challenge with the A-10 over the Blue Ridge Mountains.
