Flight Simulation developers shared news today, including an aircraft and an airport for Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024, MSFS 2020, and X-Plane 12.
Simulation Daily publishes a roundup every day for all the news across the flight simulation field, helping you keep up to date with the ins and outs of the industry.
Before we move on to the flight simulation news, make sure to check out our new video from the “This Week in Flight Simulation News” series to catch up on any big news you may have missed in the past seven days, and today’s episode of our “Can You Guess this Airport?” video series.
Without further ado, I leave you with today’s flight simulation news.
McDonnell Douglas MD-80 Maddog Gets Native MSFS 2024 Version
Leonardo released an MSFS 2024-native version of its popular McDonnell Douglas MD-80 vintage airliner family.
This is a free update for those who already own the add-on and comes with the following features.
- Fully native MSFS 2024 aircraft implementation with support for the new simulator technologies.
- Native windshield wipers for MSFS 2024.
- Numerous improvements to the external model, animations, and level of detail.
- Enhanced autopilot, VNAV, and FMS logic.
- Weather radar improvements for MSFS 2024.
- New male and female crew voice sets.
- Enhanced EFB with Instant Load and automatic night mode.
- Multiple system fixes and refinements throughout the aircraft.
- Updated documentation and Manager improvements.
Rockwell Commander 114 for MSFS 2024 and MSFS 2020 Gets New Screenshots and Details
Just Flight and Black Square opened the product page of the Rockwell Commander 114. As a consequence, we get to see plenty of screenshots and learn about the features.
- 150+ page manual with your complete guide to flying Black Square’s Commander 114, including systems guide, tutorials, limitations, performance tables and electrical schematics.
- Two aircraft in one: Normally Aspirated Commander 114, and aftermarket Turbo-normalized 114 with air conditioning and passenger/crew oxygen.
- Tablet Interface for configuring options, payload settings, failure management, and real time visualizers for engines, electrical schematics and environmental systems.
- Physics-based engine simulation with compression, magneto impulse couplings, blade angle, oil temperature and pressure, cylinder head temperatures, and preheating.
- Fuel-injected engine simulation with fouling, vapour lock, flooding and backfires. Even the magneto impulse couplings are simulated and have sound.
- 15 hot-swappable radios, configurable via tablet interface. Includes PMS & TDS & KLN-90B.
- 75+ random, scheduled or performance-triggered failures, settable via the tablet, including engine damage, compatible with third party UIs and instructor stations.
- NEW full state saving, with 210+ parameters. Selectable from only the basics to nearly everything: switches, payload, consumables, avionics, aesthetics, damage, failures, etc.
- Fully simulated environmental control system for heating, air conditioning, ventilation, ram air cooling. Cool things off by opening a door, or watch the aircraft heat up in the sun. Monitor via the new tablet interface.
- The most advanced turbocharger simulation in MSFS. Turbocharger sounds reflect the turbine RPM, and engine performance is dependent on boost.
- NEW – rough running engine sounds and effects for excessively rich/lean mixture, detonation, fouling, cold idle and engine damage.
- NEW – airframe vibration, resonance and engine animations bring the airframe to life.
- NEW – nose gear shimmy encourages holding yoke back-pressure and careful braking.
- NEW – MSFS’s first working stormscope with plausible lightning depiction for stormcell avoidance works with default and third party weather injection.
- NEW – Foster RNAV511 navigator supports autopilot with No-GPS configuration.
- Physics-based sound system. Sounds such as engine starting are not mere recordings, but instead are many layered sounds, constructed based on the underlying simulation.
- Engine preheating required for cold starts, with heater.
- Voltage-based light dimming, an immediately recognisable effect to night-time pilots.
- Gyroscope physics simulation for electric and pneumatic gyroscopes with precession and partial failures, based on a coupled quadrature oscillator, with manifold standby system.
- Magnetic compass effects, including fields from onboard circuits.
- Instrument needle stiction and friction. Analogue instruments can become sticky without engines running. Tap the glass to free the needles and get a more accurate reading!
- Strobe light system causes realistic distracting flashes in clouds.
- Functional exterior elements (interactive in MSFS 2024) and control locks: chocks, pitot covers, engine covers and preheater. Pitot flags blow in the wind.
- Mathematically accurate VOR and ADF signal attenuation and noise degradation.
- JPI EDM-800 Engine Monitor with engine-leaning optimisation ‘Lean Find’.
- Completely simulated electrical system, with 55 circuits, thermal breakers and failures.
- Carbon Monoxide leaks are possible, and can be detected with the CO detector.
- Crew/Passenger oxygen depletes according to pressure altitude, passenger occupancy.
- Ultra-custom dynamic registration number system for livery creators.
On top of that, we also got a new video introducing the sounds.
Bastia–Poretta Airport Released for X-Plane 12
FSX3D released Bastia-Poretta Airport (LFKB) in Corsica, France, for X-Plane 12.
It’s available on Simmarket and X-Plane.org starting at $19.99.
It includes the following features:
- Detailed recreation of LFKB Bastia-Poretta Airport
- Developed specifically for X-Plane 12
- Custom 3D models throughout the airport
- Highly detailed passenger terminal
- Custom hangars, technical buildings, cargo areas, and nearby facilities
- High-resolution textures
- Physically Based Rendering PBR materials
- Custom aprons, taxiways, roads, and ground surfaces
- Accurate custom ground markings
- Realistic dirt, tire marks, stains, and surface variations
- Carefully designed night lighting
- Realistic airport and surrounding area illumination
- Custom vegetation and 3D grass
- Detailed airport vehicles, equipment, and objects
- AI-compatible aircraft parking positions
- Corsica Z17 terrain included
- Corsica terrain created with Ortho4XP 1.40
- Enhanced Corsica autogen included
- Additional houses, cars, road traffic, and lights
- Ortho4XP and AutoOrtho compatibility for seamless integration
- Optimized to provide an excellent balance between visual quality and performance
- Full integration with X-Plane 12 weather, lighting, and seasonal environments
If you’d like to read more flight simulation news, you can find plenty in our previous roundup article from yesterday.
If you want to go further back, we have a handy overview video of the major flight simulation news in the past week. You can watch it below. As usual, leaving a like and a comment and subscribing to our growing YouTube channel is extremely helpful.
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