Yet, before we get down to business, here are a couple of links to flight simulation news that did get their own individual articles.
You can check out all the news below.
Madeira Airport Released for Microsoft Flight Simulator
Developer Atelic released its new rendition of Madeira Airport (LPMA) also known as Cristiano Ronaldo International Airport. It’s available on Orbx Direct for $22.46.
It includes the following features.
- Handcrafted Airport area
- High-definition terrain
- Up-to-date ground layout
- Full terminal interior
- Custom vehicles
- Accurate runway slope
- Enhanced nightlife
- Custom-placed buildings on the hill
- Animated elements — ground traffic, go-karts, windsocks, flags
- Lead-in lighting system (rabbit lights)
- Detailed runway bridge structure
- Sports complex under the runway
- Roads in the vicinity of the airport
- Caniçal port
- Santa Cruz village
- Detailed models on runway 05 approach path — Hotel Vila Galé, Gelo buildings, Aquaparque Madeira, etc.
- Custom vegetation
- Statue of Cristiano Ronaldo
Lockheed JetStar Released in Early Access for Microsoft Flight Simulator
Big Radials released the early access version of its Lockheed JetStar business jet. It’s available on the developer’s own shop for €27,95. It includes the following features.
- Full native flight model, 3D assets, sounds, 4K textures, PBR, everything!
- Goes without saying right?
- Custom XPDR Instrument
- Fully interactive cockpit
- Complete Fuel System Management for all 6 tanks
- Autopilot
The following features are work in progress.
- Liveries (Elvis IS coming!)
- Sounds
- Flight Model
- Custom ADF Instrument
- Custom CIVA INS Instrument
- External 3D Model
- External 3D Textures
- Checklist
- Overhead Panel (Bottom row is complete)
- Left Side Panel
- Right Side Panel
- Paint Kit
Airbus A330-900 Released for X-Plane
The Airbus A330-900 by ToLiss for X-Plane 11 and 12 has been released and it’s now available on Xplane.Org and Simmarket for $89.99 plus taxes.
It comes with the following features:
A330-900 specific features:
- HUD – Head up display on both the pilot and co-pilot sides providing all relevant flight information in the pilot’s field of view during all flight phases
- DRAIMS – Digital Radio and Audio Integrating Management System providing easier management of radio frequencies, transponder settings as well as backup radio navigation
- ATSAW – Airborne Traffic Situation Awareness showing detailed information about surrounding traffic on the Navigation Display (ND)
- ROW/ROPS – Runway overrun warning & Runway Overrun Prevention System alerting the crew if the available runway length becomes insufficient for a safe landing
- TOS – take off surveillance alerting the crew if it attempts taking off from a taxiway or a runway different than selected in the FMS
- ISCS is now available in the EFB also, but can also be used in a separate window
Detailed FMGS:
- 3 independent MCDUs providing real life FMGS programming capability
- 2 independent autopilots
- SID/STAR and airways support in a fully custom FMGS backbone supporting all A424 leg types (Arc, course or heading to intercept, Radius to Fix, Holdings, etc.)
- Support for all approach types present in real life A330-900s, including GLS, ILS, SLS, FLS, LOC backcourse, etc.
- Full VNAV guidance with TOC, TOD, Deceleration point, speed limits, fuel prediction, etc.
- Altitude and speed constraints as the real aircraft deals with them
- Support for Go-Arounds and diversions
- Nav Aid autotuning
- Pilot item database, such as pilot fixes, pilot navaids etc.
- Flight plan saving via the Pilot routes page
- Equitime point computation and nearest airports page
Accurate systems:
- Fly-by-wire system with reversion between normal law and alternate law 1, alternate law 2 and direct law as per real life logics.
- Hydraulic model for flight control actuators computing hydraulic flow through the actuators, the control surface hinge moment, maximum feasible deflection etc. This gives realistic surface floating angles if a control surface is lost due to combinations of hydraulic and computer faults.
- Quantitative hydraulic model considering the maximum hydraulic flows of the different pumps as a function of engine speed. This is most noticeable when flying on RAT or with wind milling engines
- Quantitative bleed model considering the bleed mass flow for engine start, wing anti-ice air conditioning packs etc.
- High fidelity fuel system including inflight CG control by pumping fuel to and from the tail tank, fuel jettison, manual and automatic transfers between the different tanks
- Detailled model of each ADIRU including alignment, small pressure sensor differences between the units, switching of sources for PFDs and autopilot inputs
- Fault injection system allowing to trigger over 250 system faults either at a specific point in flight or randomly during a flight phase
- Cockpit display system simulating the dependency of the displays on the Display management computers resulting in real life display limitations
- ECAM system with over 30 warning and over 200 caution messages including associated ECAM actions.
- Backup Speed Scale (BUSS) to provide an estimated speed based on Angle of Attack data and an estimated altitude based on GPS data.
3d modelling
- Detailed 3d cockpit with animated switches
- Mouse gesture system for interaction with push-pull knobs emulating the motion on the knob with the mouse
Detailed cockpit lighting with reading lights, console light, tray table lights etc. - 2 class passenger cabin
- Custom particle effects for engine heat trail, Fuel jettison etc.
- Custom landing gear model for bogey touch down.
- Animated tray tables, HUD, cockpit window, cockpit seats, front window shades
Usability features
- Situation loading and saving. It is possible to save the flight at any point in time and resume it another day. This can also be used, e.g., to save the position just before approach and practice just the approach many times
- Autosaving allows recovering where you left off, should the X-Plane session end unexpectedly
- Jumping waypoint-to-waypoint through the cruise phase: Shorten your flight to focus on the more interesting parts as you like
- 4 different startup configurations from Cold and Dark to engines running and ready to go
- Ability to set each of the startup configurations at the click of a button without reloading the aircraft.
- In-screen popup displays or use of x-plane windows for popups
- Adjustable Wingflex via a slider in the ISCS
- Adjustable sounds via a slider in the ISCS
- Possibility to turn the screen reflections on and off
- Ability to update the product with the Skunkcrafts updater
SR-71 Blackbird for Microsoft Flight Simulator Gets New Video
Blackbird Simulations released a new video of the SR-71 Blackbird, showing it in flight and providing an update on the development status.
You can watch it below and see this marvelous bird in action.
Bournemouth Airport for Microsoft Flight Simulator Released
UK2000 Scenery released Bournemouth Airport (EGHH) for Microsoft Flight Simulator. It’s currently available on Simmarket for $21.56.
It includes the following features:
- Full detail Buildings
- Realistic Ground Markings
- Hi Res ground image
- Stunning Night Effects
- High details Airport Vehicles
- Excellent Frame Rates
- Full set of signs
- Fencing
- Vegatation
- PBR Materials
- Static aircraft
VFR 2025 Madeira Island for P3D and Flight Simulator X Released
Atelic’s release isn’t the only Madeira we get today, as Flightsimdesign Chile released its “photoreal” scenery portraying the island itself for Prepar3D and the venerable Microsoft Flight Simulator X.
It includes the following for $12.57 on Simmarket.
- Fully Autogen Coverage
- Custom night lights
- Custom MESH
- Shores of lakes and sea
- new algorithm for reducing irrelevant data for higher data compression and a new algorithm for finding and correcting errors
- Required 4.1GB HDD Space
If you’d like to get into flight simulation but you’re perhaps a bit intimidated by its apparent complexity, you can read our introductory guide, alongside the second episode focusing on installing add-ons, and another showcasing the basic instruments.
You can also read more flight simulation news in the previous roundup article.