M$ Flt Sim advice please

[BOAC]

YES! ... and I'm not ashamed to say it.:)

Since my prospects for getting 'hands on' in an AB type are nil, and likewise for getting any real AB sim time, can any experienced (real) AB pilots recommend a module for M$ Flt Sim 2004 for, say, a 318/9 or 20? PMDG/????

I might then stand a chance of beginning to understand which buttons get pressed and how and this GS Mini thing...........................

[Doors to Automatic]

There is a good discussion on the topic here:

Whic A320 air file is good for FS2004 - The FS2004 (FS9) Forum - The AVSIM Community (http://forum.avsim.net/topic/360997-whic-a320-air-file-is-good-for-fs2004/)

[Teevee]

BOAC, I'm not a RW 'bus pilot, and I'm not sure many RW bus pilots and MS pilots come on here. The few there are seem to inhabit VA's. The Wilco needs quite a few modifications to its cfg file and airfile before it gets close to a RW bus (according to the RW bus pilot in the VA I'm a member of, but then he's approved them) and the best ones coming out now are all for FSX. The search for a really good MS bus is a bit of a Holy Grail I'm afraid. Something about the bus seems to make developing one extra difficult for MS developers.

[BOAC]

Thanks both - I'm not TOO concerned about 'flight dynamics' - I would mainly like to see the knobs, buttons and different control modes and how they are used primarily, plus the panel indications.

[musicalaviator]

FSlabs is still developing an A320 product for FSX only. It hasn't been released yet and will likely not release till 2014 sometime.

If you really want to see how A320's fly, and I'm talking about the computer avionics systems, MCDU etc not just flight dynamics on the stick, the way the Flight Management systems manage navigation, engines, SID/STAR, Vertical navigation including maintaining altitude restrictions, RNAV approaches, Course offsets and all of that kind of thing, I suspect any FS9 (FS2004) offerings will fall short somewhat.

This is however said as a bit of an FS Addon snob, for me "Good" is never quite good enough. PMDG's 737NGX (737-600 -700 -800 -900) series aircraft for FSX are just about perfect.

FSlabs is a company founded by one of the guys that used to work for PMDG, and was one of the main people behind the MD11 product. PMDG are currently focusing on Boeing due to a business relationship they have managed to form with Boeing. Their attempts to form a similar relationship with Airbus was not successful.

PMDG is very proud of the fact that they are now able to source data directly from Boeing itself in their product development for the addons, and their up and coming releases, the 777LR and 747-400 and 747-8 are going to benifit from this kind of information immensely.

The FSlabs A320 may not have direct access to the aircraft manufacturer, but I'm fairly confident that the product will be very competently made and be a good representation on the actual systems in the A320. Their talk of using actual AIRNC programming language, and a very specific model of A320 avionic systems.

For more information take a look at some threads on their forum Flight Sim Labs Forums (http://forums.flightsimlabs.com/)

Suggest general reading around till you have any specific questions. Remember to use the search function to avoid asking questions that have already been asked.

This is the product I'm waiting for, and as an Airbus fan (more A330 than A320 tbh) I'm patiently waiting for it while flying the PMDG Boeing products.