I would have to say that I would miss the A300/A310 on my fleet if they weren't flyable on X-Plane 12. I don't think Microsoft care too much about X-Plane,but I would hope that iniBuilds do not leave X-Plane 12 behind. You cannot really afford to annoy your fan-base too much in these times.
Aircraft Review: Airbus A300 and A310 by iniBuilds
Update:
Inibuilds have confirmed they will update this aircraft free of charge for existing users. No date yet has been confirmed for this,but they expect 2023.
History:
The Airbus A300 was to be the first aircraft to be developed, manufactured and marketed by Airbus.
In 1972, the A300 made its maiden flight; its first production model, the A300B2, entered service in 1974. By 1979 the consortium had 256 orders for A300, and Airbus had launched a more advanced aircraft, the A310, in the previous year.
The A300-600, the subject of this review was first delivered in 1988. It differs from the A300-B2/B4 due to the two-person cockpit, and mixture of glass and analogue cockpit similar in design to the Boeing 757/767 family and features the same design as the later A310 from which the A300 is derived. It uses 6 small CRT displays as the did the first generation of A320 series aircraft
The Airbus A310 (initially the A300B10) was launched with orders from Swissair and Lufthansa. On 3 April 1982, the first prototype conducted its maiden flight, and it received its type certification on 11 March 1983.
Keeping the same eight-abreast cross-section, the A310 is 6.95 m (22.8 ft) shorter than the initial A300 variants, and has a smaller wing, down from 260 to 219 m2 (2,800 to 2,360 sq ft). The A310 introduced a two-crew glass cockpit, later adopted for the A300-600 with a common type rating. It was powered by the same General Electric CF6-80 or Pratt & Whitney JT9D then PW4000 turbofan jet engines. It can seat 220 passengers in two classes, or 240 in all-economy, and has a flying range up to 5,150 nmi (9,540 km). It has over-wing between the two main front and rear door pairs.
In April 1983, the aircraft entered revenue service with Swissair, and competed with the Boeing 767-200, introduced six months before. Its longer range and ETOPS regulations allowed it to be operated on transatlantic flights. Until the last delivery in June 1998, 255 aircraft were produced, as it was succeeded by the larger Airbus A330-200. It was available as a cargo aircraft version, and was also developed into a military variant, the A310 MRTT multi-role transport, then tanker.
Nowadays Aircraft manufacturers design their products around a specific engine type or variant, but when Airbus built the A300, they did not have this luxury, so they took the next-powerful engine on the market to exceed their requirements. This results in a very steep take-off angle-of-attack which is might throw some new pilots when first flying the aircraft.
In the case of the A300, there are two different engine variants, and each has a passenger and cargo version. When adding liveries, it's important to know that the liveries are dependent on the engine-type, so you will need to be aware of the engine-type (GE or PW respectively ) when selecting your aircraft you wish to fly.
The A310 was initially launched with a choice of three engines: the General Electric CF6-80A (originally the CF6-45B2), the Pratt & Whitney JT9D-7R4D1, and the Rolls-Royce RB211. The specific Rolls-Royce RB211-524B4 engine intended for this initial application was not developed.
Installation:
With the inimanager, the installation is now greatly simplified. It's now just a case of downloading the inimanager from here, and then selecting the products you purchased which then become installed to the X-Plane 11\Aircraft\iniSimulations\ folder.
Before the inimanager was released, you had to download each aircraft variant separately and then download the liveries.
The aircraft installation location is in X-Plane 11\Aircraft\iniSimulations. If you have purchased other variants such as the A300 BelugaST or A310, these will be installed in subfolders,so example
X-Plane 11\Aircraft\iniSimulations\iniSimulations A300 BelugaST or
X-Plane 11\Aircraft\iniSimulations\ iniSimulations A300-600R(F) v2 - Passenger.
To get the feel of the aircraft and its systems, I decided to do a quick (but still used) cargo route from EGNX to EIDW which is enough time to get a quick flight in, but keep you busy. The flight time is quite short, ~45 minutes so you won't have much time to get bored.
Before we start, here's a quick external view from both sides of the aircraft.
You can see the cargo doors and texturing is very nicely done here.
One of the most annoying aspects of X-Plane for me is the zooming of the views when trying to use the mouse-wheel to turn a switch or rotate a heading or speed knob, with this in mind, I really recommend the use of X-Camera, which gives you the option to disable mouse-wheel. True, this also disables the outside mouse zoom which I like, but it's a small inconvenience compared to the benefits.
I would also add that you will find a Navigraph subscription very handy, as the ILS for each airport is not stored in the database unlike the later A320/300/340 families so the ability to bring up an airport from the Avitab plugin makes life a lot easier when planning your approaches.
Airbus A300/A310 gotchas
Even if you are familiar with the Airbus aircraft in general, there are a few idiosyncrasies that might catch you out.
Some are listed below:
Scratchpad entries on FMC, clear existing data before entering new data otherwise it will not show.
Flex-To values will not show or become active, until you select an altitude in the ALT-SEL window.
External Power will not disconnect using EFB (Electronic Flight Bag) until you select "EXT PWR" on the overhead to AVAIL
V1 speed will show as default value 100 even after clicking "Send Data" - this value needs to be set manually with the "SPD/MACH" knob.
In order to activate the auto-throttle system, you need to manually select the speed, then click on the dial to activate "pre set" which will show up in yellow text. You then need to click on a small area to the bottom-left of the A/THR similar to the operation of the PMDG series (small screw to the below-left of the speed knob).
Engine spool-up will be slower than expected as these are older engines.
Landing gear needs to be set to "neutral" (middle position),otherwise the auto-brake system will not activate.
You can pre-arm the decent profile by using the mouse to the left of the ALT SEL knob. It shows as a down-arrow icon. You will then see a blue P.DES show on the PFD below the P.ALT annunciator.
The course and heading displays are dependent on the toggle-switch on the cockpit VOR/NAV/ILS three-way-switch. The VOR will display dashed lines until you select VOR from the glare shield.
The range values on the F.C.U (Flight Control Unit), are different to what you'd be used to in the A320, in the A300 series, they are 15,30,60,120,240 as opposed to the A320 series which show 10,20,40,80,160 and 320
There are only the iniSimulation House liveries installed by default when you install the aircraft, So you need to use the inimanager to install any desired additional liveries (of which there are many). You simply click on the livery tab and choose from Realistic or Fictional under the Freighter or Passenger versions. This is a great improvement on the original version of the aircraft which required you to download each livery manually, and if a new version was produced, it meant you had to download the new version again. With the inimanager system, you can remove or update the liveries as desired.
To see the aircraft type you're currently flying, on the FMC go to REF, then A/C Status. Here you will see engine-type ie: PW 4158
PFD/ND XFR is a nice hidden gem, it switches the two displays over in the event of a CRT failure.
General Electric Engines N2 is ~ 20
Pratt and Whitney startup N2 ~ 24
For comparison
Framerate for IXEG 737 ~52 in cruise ~35 in Dublin (Boundless Scenery).
Framerate for A300 in 55 fps in cruise. ~45 fps in Dublin cargo area.
New features in A300/A310
CDLPC implementation - you can import the flights with your Simbrief username.
Landing performance page
Load sheet is now changed so that data is directly entered using your keyboard, instead of sliding values.
Currently known issues:
At the moment, the only issue I have is with the pilot's side altimeter counter. Scrolling between the units 80 and 00 shows a slight skip as the aircraft climbs or descends. Oddly enough, it only happens on the freighter variants of both the A300 and A310 models. The passenger variants are working as expected.
Currently, the latest versions are as follows:
A300-600 version V2.09
A300 BelugaST version V1.12
A310-300 version 1.14
You can purchase this aircraft from the following sites.
https://store.inibuilds.com/pages/inisimulations (price does not include V.A.T)
A300-600 (£69.99)
A310-300 (£69.99)
A300-ST Beluga (£44.99)
Note that you are entitled to a 25% discount if you have one of their models already.
Comment
I would definitely recommend this aircraft as it is one of the best older-style aircraft out there. If you are getting a bit tired of Boeing and modern Airbus aircraft, this is the one for you. It's got the right blend of vintage and modern to keep you interested.
Review System Specifications:
Computer System: Windows - Intel Core i9-9900K CPU 5.00GHz / 64bit - 32 Gb DDR4 4300 RAM - EVGA GeForce GTX 2070 8Gb - Samsung Evo 1Tb SSD
Software: - Windows 10 - X-Plane 11.55r2
Addons: Saitek Throttle and Yoke : Sound -Soundblaster Audigy Fx
Plugins: : BetterPushBack - Free LiveTraffic - Weather ActiveSkyXP https://hifisimtech.com/asxp/
(Disclaimer. All images and text in this review are the work and property of X-PlaneReviews, no sharing or copy of the content is allowed without consent from the author as per copyright conditions) - All Rights Reserved
I can not recommend this scenery highly enough. It is very good, especially, if you couple it with Ortho4Xp and Simheaven X-Europe 5.5. It is just so so good and would truly deserve to get its own review.
As for the installation, when dealing with .exe installers: I can only recommend to create an empty folder and copy the Xplane11.exe into it. Point the installer to that folder, instead of your main sim-folder. Afterwards inspect the files that were dropped and manually copy them to your sims folder.
I did so with EDDW and did not encounter any of the errors and debugging you described here.
News! - Announcement : Boeing 787-9 coming from FlightFactor
FlightFactor announced last month that a completely new aircraft to add into the line up of a B777, B767/B757 twins, A350 and the Airbus A320 Ultimate is coming from the development house.
This aircraft is the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner and details are noted that the B787 will reach new heights in complexity, usability and have a variety of features. We are also taking our 3D and texturing to the next level with ever more detail in and out of the cockpit.
The first cockpit renders have been produced...
It is the first all new aircraft from FlightFactor since the A320 Ultimate, but FlightFactor note the B787 will be closer to the B757/B767 in design than use the Chromium Embedded Framework (CEF) than on the same A320U aircraft... either way there will be a lot of expectations and a quality delivery expected on this aircraft as the CEF development was a long and testing one, but also the coming B787 at a study grade level will be a big shot in the arm for X-Plane with the MSFS onslaught.
FlightFactor also noted "v2 plans for other models are simultaneously on the way, we just don't want to reveal it all at once! " that will be the v2 Boeing 777 and the v2 A350. I would expect the v2 B777 even before the end of 2020, but not the v2 A350 as the v1 just went with a serious upgrade with version Advanced v1.6 just being released, so that aircraft will certainly be a mid or late next year release, but an upgraded Boeing 777 (the current version is now seriously old) will keep the punters more than happy until the Dreamliner arrives.
Overall FlightFactor has noted that with this aircraft it wants to take simulation to the next level.... exciting times.
(Disclaimer. All images and text in this review are the work and property of X-PlaneReviews, no sharing or copy of the content is allowed without consent from the author as per copyright conditions)
Considering all the ho ha, MSFS has gone extremely quiet recently... the obvious is obviously, why buy airports that you can't use? Yes the GA's are usable, but why would you spend money on a mega airport that is empty, to fly to another empty mega airport? Yes the Dev Houses are pumping them out, but to who... I did notice a few new MSFS users poking around in X-Plane, why because they can use it. In early 2021, I think the penny will drop for the Dev Houses... That MSAFS will not be the gold mine they expected, if that aspect has not already dropped... but blind faith.
MS2020 is rapidly turning into an airport simulator rather than a flightsim. I bought the cheapest version with low expectations on it. Maybe in a year or so it might have potential.
You are right about having airports that form route networks, or at least provide some interesting alternatives in routes to fly. Looking at some of the airports under development or recently released for MSFS there’s a lot of niche stuff coming out. This for Xplane seems a worthwhile buy.
Having said that I do wonder if developers really think about their release dates as carefully as they might. This appeared just as Steam, and to a less extent the Org store are having sales. That means you’re competing against 50% off items. There’s always a temptation to buy those items when they appear.
This is well priced and I will pick it up. Your comment about the disappearing runway lighting is interesting. How did they achieve that? It’s not something I’ve noticed in other sceneries.
The review is presented as seen on release or with an update, yes Star-Altas has done an update, but in reality the release version should have been completed with the complete WT3 or ground routes in the first place, that was a bad oversight for them.
Aircraft Review : Boeing 767-300ER Professional by VMAX and FlightFactor
After the huge success of the late 1950's and throughout the 1960's for the Boeing Commercial Airplane's Company with their Boeing 707/727/737 and Widebodied Boeing 747 aircraft, it was always going to be a challenge for Boeing and keep their lead in the aviation production business to develop and create the next advanced series of passenger jets. Other manufacturers went down the Twin-Aisle three-engined designs that was signified by the McDonnell Douglas DC-10 and the Lockhead L-1011 Tristar.
Originally Boeing with the code-named 7X7 looked to be going down that route of three engine design, but the Airbus A300 from Europe changed the design to the more common current layout with Twin-Aisle, Twin-Engined aircraft as engine design and power had now progressed to allow big twins to have the power and range over their three engined counterparts in that now highly competitive mid-medium to large-size, long-range market.
Still Boeing backed its card hand both ways, not only announcing the Boeing 767 as their Twin-Engine Design to cover the Twin-Aisle market, but to also build a Single-Aisle aircraft in the Boeing 757 code-named 7N7, and both aircraft have a commonality design that was shared over the two different types of airframes, in the thinking that airlines would buy and operate both types with a single commonality rating with a small conversion to the larger Boeing 767. Three variants of the Boeing 767 were planned: a 767-100 with 190 seats, a 767-200 with 210 seats, and a trijet 767MR/LR version with 200 seats intended for intercontinental routes. The 767MR/LR was subsequently renamed 777 for differentiation purposes which was when finally launched a vastly different aircraft for a different market.
The prototype Boeing 767 aircraft, registered N767BA and equipped with JT9D turbofans, rolled out on August 4, 1981. By this time, the 767 program had accumulated 173 firm orders from 17 customers, including Air Canada, All Nippon Airways, Britannia Airways, Transbrasil, and Trans World Airlines (TWA). On September 26, 1981, the prototype took its maiden flight under the command of company test pilots Tommy Edmonds, Lew Wallick, and John Brit.
This version in the FlightFactor/StepToSky release is the The 767-300ER, the extended-range version of the 767-300. Which entered service with American Airlines in 1988. The type's increased range was made possible by greater fuel tankage and a higher MTOW of 407,000 lb (185,000 kg). Design improvements allowed the available MTOW to increase to 412,000 lb (187,000 kg) by 1993. Power is provided by Pratt & Whitney PW4000, General Electric CF6, or Rolls-Royce RB211 engines. This aircraft is the Pratt & Whitney PW4000 version.
FlightFactor/StepToSky
FlightFactor and Roman Berezin has no need of introduction for most fliers in X-Plane Simulation. Their Boeing 777 WorldLiner and Boeing 757 Series have made them the very best of the Boeing designed (and official product) available for X-Plane. Their foray into Airbus territory with their Airbus A350-900 also shows the design group's versatility. Here with the Boeing 767-300ER FlightFactor still uses the talents of avionics designer Phillipp Munzel, but are also now joined by StepToSky designers Denis Maslov and Alexander Khudekov, but the full development team is thirteen highly specialised individuals coming together to create this highly developed iconic aircraft the.... Boeing 767-300ER
Review
You couldn't cover every aspect of this review with a simple walkaround the aircraft and point to point flight like I usually write, because different points of the flying pointed to different areas to be explored. So this review covers three sector flights, not the quite Golden Triangle of some of the busiest air routes in the world between BNE-Brisbane (Queensland) to ADL- Adelaide (South Australia) to SYD - Sydney (New South Wales) and finally back to BNE.... MEL - Melbourne (Victoria) missed out because I wanted the longer stretch sector to Adelaide and the longer one back to SYD. When in service (All Boeing 767 aircraft have only earlier this year have been retired by QF Qantas) in the past three decades with Qantas these routes were its main service points (and also PER-Perth) and I have flown on a lot of flights on this aircraft over these routes.
So there is a little mixture in the look of some images in this review here as they are taken not in order as I usually do, but overall throughout the three distinct flying sectors.
External
There is a distinctly different feel to the Boeing 767, yes it looks like FF's Boeing 757 and B777 series aircraft and that design feel is certainly strongly still prominent. But there is a different technique at work here in the way the aircraft's outer-skins are presented. The design of the fuselage is simply exemplary, but what you are looking at is in fact two fuselage's in objects. The usual standard inner version, but now also another object fuselage built over it. This outer object creates a brilliant shine over the aircraft (a sort of holy grail in X-Plane) and gives you (another X-Plane holy grail) great chrome surfaces. These reflective chrome areas are noticeable around the inner front wing surfaces and in the front areas of the engine inlet cowling surfaces. Certainly static images do not give these reflections a good representation of their quality and shininess, but they are very, very good.
Externally the aircraft is excellent, how much detail do you want? how much more can you include in small detailing details? To highlight the sort of detailing you have here we will focus on an area, which is the wings and undercarriage (to cover every detail would take a small manual).
leading edge and trailing edge wing design is excellent, fully detailed and animated. The B767 uses a unique inner flap arrangement called a "Hinged Beam Four Bar Linkage" with Fowler flap, because of the interference of a drag problem the linkage has a shallow but wide fairing which was small enough to allow it to fix the drag problems. A variation was used on the Boeing 777 in the "upsidedown/upright four bar linkage" flap system.
The Boeing 767 wings are swept at 31.5 degrees and optimized for a cruising speed of Mach 0.8 (533 mph or 858 km/h). Each wing features a supercritical cross-section and is equipped with six-panel leading edge slats, leading single-and double-slotted flaps, inboard and outboard ailerons, and six spoilers.
Inner wing detailing is overwhelming, only when the wing is fully extended do you get the full detailing shown, amazing detail is what you get for your money today. The B767 here is one of the best yet.
As is the undercarriage design, complex and fully animated you get every link, pipe, nut and bolt in perfect harmony, it is simply a miniature version of the real gear system, but the real aspect of this undercarriage quality is in the motion of their working sum of parts, put the aircraft down in a heavy side wind and you see the whole system working to its maximum, the gear compresses and wheels work with the tarmac, and even the Hydraulic piping will flex and move to the gear movement. You can spend hours with replays watching the motions in action.
So external design is extraordinary good, every fuselage join, rivet, and body construction is perfectly realized, smaller items like pitot tubes, aerials, rudder and flap joints are all there to look for and see, only slight blemish is the front strut lights can shine through the doors, which is common theme with most X-Plane aircraft (noting a Laminar Research issue and not a developers one). There is the choice between the old original straight edge wing design and the newer upturned Aviation Partners blended winglets.
Internal
Internally it is a quick glance left into the cockpit, but let us have a look at the cabin first.
Two class cabin in five across in two - one - two first/business and seven across two - three - two in the main economy section, all blue seating is very 80's in seating design. Cabin is well designed and laid out, the fittings look the period that the aircraft was built in and the overhead lockers are tiny compared to the huge bins we have today. Overall the cabin is excellent.
Cabin has "Dynamic windows" (shades) that open and close to the angle of the sun like on the FF B757, but here you have the option of turning them off (thank you), for the windowhuggers the view out is excellent, early versions of the FF B767 had very dark orange opacity window view, but thankfully for the release they have been made a lot clearer and more enjoyable.
Cockpit first look.
The cockpit experience is astounding, this aircraft is not fully "cold and dark" because it is waiting for a transition crew to take it on to Adelaide.
The surrounding cockpit does feel different, but sit in the captains seat and it all suddenly becomes very familiar. If you already have the FlightFactor Boeing 757 Series you will find this view and all the controls, knobs and switchgear just like home, everything is the same and the only changes are the ones you can't see which is the aircraft's weights, fuel loads and fuel burn, all round the aircraft is of course heavier than its cousin in 99790 kg (220,000 lb) for the Boeing 757 which has a Max - takeoff weight to the higher 179168 kg (395,000 lbs) GTW for the Boeing 767-300ER.
From a pilots instrument perspective this is not a complicated aircraft, there are only the same basic tools that you would find on even a regional turboprop aircraft. It is in the setting up detail that makes this aircraft a professional machine.
This aircraft had some of the early glass style cockpits, not the full sized panels you see today, but the early style cathode ray tube (CRT) designs. These screens were and are fitted here usually two CRT's and the top smaller one is for the PFD (Primary Flight Display) and lower CRT is is for the MAP/NAV display. Two more larger CRT's cover the aircraft's performance and status are situated mid-panel. The rest of the instruments are standard clockwork gauges and dials.
We will get a better understanding of the PFD/NAV displays when flying, so I will pass over them for now. But the standard gauges and dials are on the Pilot's/Captain's side far left is the main Airspeed dial (KNOTS/MACH) combined and below is the Radio Distance Magnetic Indicator (RDMI) that shows DME-VOR/ADF distances and with dual needles display (switchable).
Right of the CRT's is the "Autoland Status" which can be switched to Auto1/Auto2/Manual on the OHP.
Below is the Altitude indicator with barometric settings. Lower is the Vertical Speed Indicator from 0 - 6000fpm, bottom is the timer/clock.
Centre are three standby/backup dials in Artificial Horizon, Airspeed dial and Altitude indicator. Autobrake setting knob is here as well. First officer right side position has exactly the same instrument layout, but there are a few extra dials and displays in a "Brake Pressure" dial, TAS/Cº display, Gear up/down lever, Flap position display (1, 5, 10, 20, 25, 30 degrees) and engine thrust parameter limits selection panel (also known as "thrust management".
As noted the panel looks complicated but it is really quite a simple layout.
Autopilot (AP) is very standard Boeing, so if you have flown any Boeing flightdecks then you would be very familiar with the layout, like the B757 each end of the AP is a frequency setting (VOR 1/NAV 1) left and VOR2/NAV2 right) both CRS (Course) setting knob are here as well.
There is slight (very slight) differences on the OHP (OverHead Panel), but the familiarity aspect is very strong. All areas on this FlightFactor aircraft are covered in systems and switchgear, the panel is very comprehensive in detail. Main panels are Electrical, APU (Auxiliary Power Unit), Hydraulics, Electronic Engine Control (EEC), Inertial reference, Oxygen, heating (external and internal), Air-Conditioning, Bleed and Pneumatic air, Cooling and anti-ice, call panel, Fuel and aircraft lighting.
Pedestal (or Aislestand) is well laid out as well, The central Throttle (engine reverse), Stab trim, flap lever, speed brake lever of course dominate the panel, The two start/cutoff fuel control switches are buried at the rear of the throttle set.
EFIS (electronic Flight Instrument System) panels are available for both Captain/First Officer and again a replication and use of exactly the same units on the B757. Engine, Cargo and APU fire controls and main radio communications panels are mid-section, rear is the ADF/NDB frequency dials and that difficult to find VOR1/ILS frequency radio set (click lower knob to activate). far rear is your Aileron/rudder trim wheels/knob.
There is a right side rear service panel, that is for observers and monitoring general aircraft systems.
MCDU and Flightplanning
MCDU (Multipurpose Control Display Unit) in the Boeing 767-300ER is one of the best in X-Plane. Bulletproof and well designed, you can easily programme in your aircraft's operating parameter's and route planning. Both Captain/First Officer MCDU's pop out for ease of use and are independent of each other. You can use it on your iPad as well and there is comprehensive instructions provided on the way to connect X-Plane to your iPad or if you already have that installed for the B757 system, the same one will work here also.
Setting up the route is very easy, select your departure (YBBN) and arrival (YPAD) airports, select your RWY 19 and SID (Standard Instrument Departure) and "Trans" point in my case LARAVALE "LAV", sometimes you may be required to select from a selection of NAV-AIDS to select the right one is to look at the co-ordinates. Then input your route waypoints and I tend to go for DME-VOR and NDB fixes for ease of input and distance measuring. On ARR (Arrival) you select RWY23 your STAR (Standard Terminal Arrival Route) which is the opposite of your SID and here it is "BLACK SIX" (A note is that I usually have to edit a STAR section to get the best approach, shouldn't have to, but I usually do?), when done then EXEC or activate the FlightPlan, you can save your route and also use flightplans you created in the FF B757 by moving them to the Plugins/767Avionics/routes file (the routes are in the same place on the B757). You can check your route by in the EFIS select PLN mode for the NAV/MAP display and press "SELECT" R6 Key to move down the list.
To get the best performance out of these aircraft it comes down to the way you programme and set up the aircraft with weights and balances, you get help of course which we will come to in a minute. But the professional serious pilots of you out there know the good nitty gritty is in the minor details of flight planning. To show the serious depth of programming in performance with the FF Boeing 767 it is how much detail is now available for you. It is certainly important to set up your aircraft's weights and fuel before doing the final calculations in the FMC (Flight Management Computer), if not it can alter your flightplan and it will need re-editing to fit in the new settings, worse it can ruin a STAR approach and you will need for serious editing to get the correct flow to lineup with the runway. But get the W&F numbers right and there is bounty of information at your disposal.
One such area is the option of using "ECON" performance. this data will fly the aircraft at the best "Economy" performance to save fuel and give you the information covering the best Climb (CLB), Cruise (CRU) and Descend (DES) and best flight altitude and speeds, transitional speeds and it is clever stuff.
Positional reports (even when sitting at the gate!) and Progress data is all at your disposal and is updated right to the conclusion of the flight.
But it is in the real details of the FMC that is excellent, the small things that make this FMC certainly the very best one out there in X-Plane
Weather and terrain radars are not new, but this version is more adjustable and more powerful than the standard X-Plane version, you can test the unit as well to see if it is active and adjust the beam up or down to to get the best perspective that you require more on them later.
Menus
Another FlightFactor aircraft and another different Menu design. But this is a better version than the X-Plane menu bar approach of the B757, as this B767 version is based around the iPad or Electronic Flight Bag as many are called.
You select the iPad by the smaller version in a pocket on the left of the Captain's position, and it pops up on the top right of your screen, X-Plane menu and key access (recommended) can also be used. The iPad can be moved around the screen but be careful as it can disconnect you from the cockpit controls unless when moved you re-click on the cockpit area background.
The iPad has seven different tabs in : General - Ground - Airplane - Failures - Avionics - About and PA (Passenger Announcements)
Main tab is "General". This tab selects all the general settings of the aircraft to select more realism or just general flying details. Items you can selects are:
High challenge – sets the frequency of custom failures (none, low, high)
Real limits – set the structural limits of the aircraft
Real time – set the time periods needed for some physical processes f/o in control – the pilots default position is the right seat
Throttles block – sets the special throttle block option
Advanced windshear – sets the windshear simulation so it can appear in specific weather conditions
Mouse wheel – alternates between 4 modes of mouse wheel usage (zoom, rotate, click-rotate, click-rotate-click)
Interflight data – sets the option to remember data between different flights (e.g. oil qty, oxygen qty and others)
Charts on – turns on the chart on yoke option (read bellow)
Hide yokes – hides the yokes
Realistic sound – sets the volumes of in-cockpit systems to realistic levels (instead of a mode familiar sim levels)
Real weather radar – alternates between a familiar full square radar and a realistic tilt-level based system
All settings and preferences can be saved, which is a huge bonus when resetting up for a new flight. Main aircraft volume can also be adjusted here as well.
Second tab is "Ground". Ground is split into two areas upper for external operations and lower for aircraft weight and balance management.
This is a very comprehensive tab, with a lot of settings and configurations. You have a lot of ground support vehicles, stairs, buses, fuel truck, de-ice truck, Air Start Unit (ASU), Loader (LSU) and gate configuration to park at a airbridge.
On early FlightFactor aircraft these ground vehicles were really good, but now they are really feeling their age. They actually now look odd at western airports as they seem more eastern European in design, X-Plane has moved on with more current designs and the de-ice truck looks a little hokey... You can save and recall your favorite support vehicles configuration. Push back is built in here and we will get to that in a moment. Ground "Maintenance" is needed to reset the interflight data – oxygen and hydralic fluid quantities, starter usage counters etc. To make it easier the (very) top of the overhead panel there is a special flight counter which tells you how many flight have passed from the last maintenance.
The lower panel is a very comprehensive way to set up the aircraft. You can set up your "passenger load", "Cargo" and "Fuel Weight". and you get the final weight and balance numbers to reflect your choices. CoG (Centre of Gravity) can be set automatically, but I found it to biased to the rear and making the aircraft nose light? The fuel truck has to connected to load in fuel, but when ready if you push the "LOAD/UNLOAD" button the aircraft will load up to your preferences. This can take a little time and with a lot of noise going on behind you, but it is very authentic. If you want to just change the cargo and passenger loads you can just do that by pressing the "RETOUCH LOAD" button.
But there was one slightly annoying thing with this arrangement. And that if you are not resetting the aircraft from "cold" then you have to "UNLOAD" everything in passengers and cargo (or wait ten minutes) before you can then load up your new flight preferences and wait another ten minutes while everything is reloaded that is all going on board, meanwhile you can't finish programming the MCDU/FMC data because the final weights are not yet completed? It is I'll go and get a cup of coffee time while you are doing all this unloading and reloading business. In normal arrival and departing conditions it is fine, but in starting a new simulation it is a bit of a waiting game... All custom weights and balances preferences can be saved and recalled. But it is a very powerful setup system, and better than past FF aircraft arrangements.
Next menu tab is the "Airplane" menu
This menu selects the aircraft items. On the left is the option of the movable cabin window blinds we mentioned and the option of standard wing tips or the newer winglets...
Either choice is great, and the detail on the non-winglet version is still to a high quality.
Three menu selections covers the "Wingflex" and this does not need to be set very high as it will be a little to flexible, only a small amount on the left is recommended, "Reflections" again you don't need a lot of glossy reflections as it looks odd with a sheen across your screen that looks unnatural at mid to high settings. "Effects" can be set low as well. All settings can be saved and are configured the same the next time you load up the aircraft.
Lower panel is the aircraft doors. spot click all passenger and cargo doors including that small lower cargo hold for oversized and last minute baggage. This Boeing 767 has a great upward sliding door animation that is extremely authentic. small great touchs that make this aircraft really great.
Next tab is "Failures".
As you use the aircraft it will start to produce failures that have to be rectified via the "Maintenance" selection... I didn't clock up enough brownie points to set this in motion...
Next is "Avionics"
Another big tab of settings, but at this point the dark ones noted here are not yet functional. EADI options include (PFD), EHSI (ND) and EICAS displays options.
EADI
Airspeed tape – this will set the airspeed tape in the EADI (PFD)
FMA on Top – this will set the FMA on TOP for the airspeed tape. This options is hard connected to the airspeed tape options
Integrated cue FD – this will alternate between the integrated cue flight director and the crosshair FD
Advanced radio altitude alerts – this set the advanced RA alerts
Round Dial RA – this set the round dial RA
ILS deviation warning – this sets the ILS deviation warning
Rising runway – this sets the rising runway option
Trend vector – this sets the trend vector option on the airspeed tape (requires the airspeed tape option to operate)
EHSI
Modern EFIS panel – sets the EFIS panel type (with or without TERR and some other options). Automatically set the EGPWS type
Heading up map – enables the heading up map
TAS and GS – sets the true airspeed and ground speed readouts
ADF pointers – sets the ADF pointers
Range arcs – enabled the range arcs
Digital wing bearing – enables the wing bearing indicator
EICAS
FF display – enabled the fuel flow readouts
APU oil qty display – enables the APU oil quantity readout
Hydraulic pressure – enables the hydraulic press readouts
APU RPM – enables the APU RPM readout
BULK temperature – enables the bulk cargo compartment temperature readout Brake temperature – enables the bake temperature readout and warning boxes
Tire pressure – enables the tire pressure indication
PIP FMS
This setting will alternate between the classical style FMS and the newer PIP type. See the FCOM for more detail EGPWS – this will alternate between the old style enhanced GPWS system which generates the warning text and has only the standard look-ahead display and a newer system which also has the peaks mode.
Lots of detail and settings available, you can see why you need time on the airframe to get the best settings configured to your own perspective.
In the "About" tab everyone takes a well earned bow, it take a lot of talented people to create a modern X-Plane aircraft in today's highly detailed simulation world... This is were your money goes.
The last tab is the "PA" (Passenger Announcements)
Released on the FF Boeing 757 series, these are quality (meaning very long) announcements, which are great to use and use them a lot I do. Just watch you are not disconnected to the aircraft when you select the tab, and you can kill an announcement or change the announcement volume by the knob on the radio panel.
Checklists and Tutorial
The Checklist and Tutorial menus are not on the iPad, but still like the system on the B757 which is on the X-Plane/plugin menu bar. But nothing is missing here and very good they are. You get a full startup and flight checklists that turn green when items are completed, and auto start functions are here as well and a complete reset page to clear the checklists for a new flight... four tabs represent: Normal - Procedures - Operational - Resets.
Flying the FlightFactor - SteptoSky Boeing 767-300ER
You would think that starting up a huge airliner would be a long procedural business, in fact it is quite the opposite.
Warning beacons on (red), main fuel pumps on, Cabin Air-Conditioning off (for engine bleed) and to note I am using the ground start air-compressor not the on board APU. Then select Ground (GND) start and finally the "Engine Start" switch to either 1 or 2, I need at least one engine running to take over from the GPU external power.
The centre MFD panel "Engine Indication and Crew Alerting System" (EICAS) will come alive on the start up engine, let N2 build to 25% and then flip in the "Fuel Control" (flow) switch and the engine will then complete the startup process to idle. When both engines are running then clean up the bleed/Air-Con and turn on the aircraft's engine power supply (DC) and disconnect the external GPU and High-Pressure Units. Startup sounds are extremely good and APU and air-conditioning sounds are constant in the aircraft, and it is weird when you finally shut down the aircraft later on how quiet or noisy it actually is.
The pushback truck is built in and a very good one it is...
Select push or pull and let off the brakes to move. You have full throttle and yaw control if you use the keys or a joystick and throttle system, so placing the aircraft correctly for departure is easy. Only slight visual issue is the truck does not fully turn on the front gear, so the aircraft tends to drag the truck sideways? But the turning wheels on the PB truck are a nice touch.
YBBN - YPAD
On the taxiways the aircraft is nice to manoeuvre around but watch that length it is a big aircraft on tight taxiways and hard turns, however the perfect taxi speed is easily found... anyway you are to busy enjoying the "PA" announcements to the passengers.
ATC clearance and 15º flap selected and your rolling by pressing the THR (Thrust button), on rotate Flaps up a notch and gear up, switching to SPD and Autopilot (AP) on and LNAV/VNAV are selected. The aircraft has plenty of power and I have a high takeoff weight, so climbing above 2000fpm is not a problem for this aircraft.
Your friend is the "Thrust Mode Management" panel in setting TO/GA, CLB, CON, CRZ and DERATE 1 & 2. If you programmed the MCDU correctly the Thrust Management will control your engines for the maximum performance and you certainly do feel the differences.
The sheer amount of information in route data and engine data available to you is extraordinary. PROGRESS page gives you perfect updates on the route and DIRECT TO is available when required. Finally at cruise you can breath out and relax.
One major thing that you feel is the absolute complete environment of this Boeing 767-300ER. The way you look through those lovely port-holed windows but mostly via the aural connection of the aircraft. I have flown on many aircraft and on the B767 many times and this aircraft is the one that really captures that feeling and the very sounds like the real aircraft... it sends goosebumps up your spine in the reality of it all. I have not been a big fan of FF external sounds (very clicky), but with the "realistic sounds" option on they are a lot better here. but internally they are excellent. Only slight annoyance is still that FF cabin communication "pinging" that you can't seem to keep happy.
So is the FF B767 different from the FFB757? From the cockpit yes it does even though the panel layout is the same, and it is a very different aircraft in many respects, more depth and the FF B757 was very good there. The B757 feels darker and far older than the brighter surrounds of the lovely B767 cockpit.
It is 2h 30min flightime between BNE to ADL, but it felt longer with the "real time" option on, and yet the clock is right.
Pretty soon you are coming over the Adelaide Hill's on the "Black" STAR approach path to RWY 23. FF created the best aircraft noises and this B767 does not disappoint on landing, throttle changes are excellent and wind noise with gear extraction is amazingly realistic, almost distractingly so, you are working hard on the pre-landing procedures and these great sounds are surrounding you with detail... realism par excellence.
You are working hard but the aircraft delivers, one natural thing is that the Boeing 767-300ER is just a very nice aircraft to fly, perfectly balanced and you love being at the controls...
Landing sounds are exceptional, thrust reverse can be set up so your add-on throttle will allow you to control the amount of thrust you need to stop, but pull the thrust back and close the doors before rubbing off to much speed as you will lose too much momentum as the reset period to forward thrust is quite high, if you want a bit more realism I recommend SimCoders free "HeadShake", but use it sparingly and at minimum settings.
Back on the ground and you clean the aircraft up and say goodbye to the passengers, the B767 has such a great visual impact in X-Plane, just a damn nice aircraft.
At Gate 14L the unloading of the aircraft works for me, but while the noise is going on behind me the reloading was now starting to start and I am working hard to finish off the reprogramming the MCDU for the next sector to SYD (Sydney), a top up with fuel is also needed but turnaround time is 45 minutes and you have a lot of work to get through...
YPAD - YSSY
Departure from YPAD is via RWY 23 and this is a great opportunity to test out the terrain radar which is a major feature and independent of the standard X-Plane version. The system notes the high ground to the left of the aircraft, and the radar in the nose is adjustable up or down to give you the feedback you want, the sweep of the radar beam on the CRT is really well done and is highly realistic.
There is one notable aspect in that the PFD instrument has no Altitude or V/S tape, there is the speed tape but you are looking to use the standard clockwork dials for the Altitude and V/S information. This EHSI (Electrical Horizontal Situation Indicator) is a little disconcerting at first as you are so used to having both items fore and centre, but you do get used to it and it makes the display less busy to use, there is still a wealth of data and information in there and the Localizer deviation scale and pointer (Horizontal) and Glideslope deviation scale and pointer (vertical) still appear on landing. Pitch, and Rate of Roll displays are excellent as is the Flight Director cues.
Lower MAP/NAV screen is highly configurable from the EFIS (electronic Flight Instrument System) panels and have all modes including VOR, APP (Approach),MAP and PLAN, switchable to the ROSE mode for heading flying. The display will also show the above Terrain/Weather displays.
Weather
On the face of the displays the Weather radar looks like the current default X-Plane version, but it is not. This weather radar is a totally new thing in X-Plane all together. It creates extrapolated 3D weather data and shows cross-sections using tilt and gain. Also shows windshear and turbulence visual data. It is controlled by "weather Radar" panel on the pedestal and this negative and positive look down feature into the weather is excellent.
Rain and wind effects are very good, the raindrops drip realistically down the window and then go horizontal as the speed grows, the wipers will clear away the drops and only have them reappear as the wiper moves past and returns. Combined with the radar you get a great all round poor weather conditions till you break through the cloud ceiling and altitude.
Route information to YSSY is again top notch. Note the T/D (Top of Descent) point which I found exactly spot on for my descent speed of -2000fpm.
One sector to go at YSSY back to BNE and it was another offload... reload and re-programming the MCDU and weights and balances for the lighter load and shorter distance flight back to Queensland.
YSSY - YBBN
Enroute you can can access pages within pages of data. Helpful is "Wind Forecasts" for different wind altitudes, and that wind data is also translated to the flight PROGRESS (page 2) data. Aircraft cruise (CRZ) ECOM data (page 2) is also available. So you can see that the correct programming of the MCDU is critical in many areas of flight for performance and visual data, this is one very intelligent aircraft. that flies to very specific inputs and weights and balances.
We are almost around the triangle and landing back in Brisbane is only a 20min away, and as the light is falling, let us look at the aircraft's lighting.
Lighting
FlightFactor was one of the pioneers of great internal aircraft lighting and the Boeing 767 here is very good. The only odd visual note is that the panel is more yellowish than the AP panel. It does give it a different visual look and you can certainly find that right point for having limited reflections for takeoff and landing in the dark in four different lighting adjustment knobs. On saying that if you turn up the lighting inside the cockpit the window reflections are excellent and highly realistic.
Overhead in two forward spot (chart lights) and two rear main (Storm) lighting fills the cabin with great working light in flight or setting up on the ground. Power overhead (OVHD) lighting gives you full cockpit illumination.
Rear Cabin is brightly lit and very realistic, feels very good and adjustable too.
External lighting is slightly compromised by Laminar Research's blobby v10.45 lighting, but with HDR on you have a lot of different lighting tools at your disposal.
Night view from the cockpit is amazingly realistic, your in the zone and to deep into your landing procedures to look out of the windows, you work hard in here, but the feedback and realism gives you an adrenaline rush...
Finals and the cockpit again fills with the huge noise of rushing winds and gear down lights.
Forward lighting is very good and the runway is well illuminated.
You have three sets of turnoff lighting and with the main, taxi and turnoff lights running you light up the whole area around the cockpit...
The view for taxiing is excellent and the lighting is powerful in selecting the right line around tight taxiway turns.
There is excellent wing/Ice lighting, but a strange deal on the tail logo light. There is a logo button, but the tail lights don't work? Then on the ground turn on the wing lighting and it comes on, turn off the wing lighting and the logo stays on? weird? It is not centre either on the logo...
Three sectors and four ports and it is a big day flying, no doubt the Boeing 767-300ER is one challenging but hugely rewarding aircraft.
Liveries
You get (noted as "Free") liveries, including: American Airlines, Air France, Garuda Indonesia, British Airways, Star Alliance Lufthansa (a strange choice) and Canadian Westjet.
There are also nine livery packs available at $US10.00 per pack, noted are: Asia 1 & Asia 2, Europe 1, Europe 2 & Europe 3, Middle East, North American, Oceania and South America, that is altogether over 100 + liveries for the aircraft...
Summary
The basic conclusion to this Boeing 767-300ER Professional is that in every way and every department it is a step forward in X-Plane simulation. Three areas stand out though, the sheer depth and complexity of the aircraft and its systems, it is certainly another level again and the amount of data you have at your disposal is breathtaking. The aircraft's design quality and the weather (Radar and Terrain), over gloss and chrome features are other stand out features.
Third is with all this huge amount of detail, design and the sheer amount of code that must be in the aircraft and yet.... yet it is so frame-rate friendly, so light on your computer, that alone is a significant amount of genius.
Negatives... minor but there are a few niggles, It takes a long time to set up for flight, there is a lot of inputting and detailed areas to cover, so it is not a jump in and fly aircraft by any standards, but creating routes and saving them can really help in reprogramming the MCDU, but your work is certainly cut out in there. The ground vehicles are looking a bit out of date and wrong in a modern airport context, a bit 60's Eastern Bloc. That cabin crew constant communication "pinging" drives you mental, yes you are required to satisfy its needs but a lot of "pinging" 500ft out from landing it is more like "just shut up and sit down"
The biggest point to make is that many uses will note that the Boeing 757 has everything the Boeing 767 has and certainly why bother as the cockpit is the same anyway. That is like saying here that my brother or sister is the same as me because they come from the same parents. They are totally different aircraft, and in fact the familiarity is actually a bonus as you don't need to relearn that side of procedural process, but in every other way, in feel, in use and certainly in the depth of the simulation they are quite different aircraft, and you will fly them for different reasons.
Overall it is the feeling that no aircraft comes closer to the real aircraft in feel and sounds than this one does, start it up and fly, and your memories come flooding back of being on the real machine, up there high... yes it is that realistic.
The best heavy aircraft in simulation in X-Plane, well that is a big call for this excellent Boeing 767-300ER, but certainly it again raises the standards to another level again in every area, it is not in the first look that it really delivers but in the minute detailing of systems and programming and flight performance, in that area it is simply outstanding.
Yes! the Boeing 767-300ER Professional by VMAX and FlightFactor is NOW! Available from the new X-Plane.Org Store here :
Boeing 767-300ER Professional
Price is US$64.95
Features
Flexible Options
A very flexible architecture : You chose the set up
Different options for many avionics instruments including two types of FMC.
Options to composite your own EICAS, EADI and EHSI displays.
Most of the options included in the real 767
Checklists and 'Autohelper'
Full electronic interactive checklist with automatic action detection.
Automatic mode 'Helper' who performs all the actions for you, you just CHECK the items.
A tutorial which shows the user what to do and when.
Perfected Flight model
Accurate flight model, as close as it gets to real performance. Tested by real pilots and translated to X-Plane
A dynamic and customizable center of gravity that depends on actual cargo and passenger load
Fully Functional Professional FMS and EFIS System
Custom Flight Management Computer, integrated with other plane systems.
Custom programmed LNAV logic for terminal procedures from updatable database.
VNAV-managed climbs and descends.
Optimum cruise performance and step climb calculation.
Two independent analogue instrument sets for captain and first officer.
Two independently simulated EFIS (EADI/EHSI configuration) for captain and first officer.
Dual-FMS with two independently working CDUs.
Working instrument comparators.
Triple IRS and triple symbol generator systems with realistic instrument source switching.
Dual air-data computers with custom failure modes and source switching.
Independent 2 nav and an ils recievers.
Realistic inertial, radio and GPS position updating, you can see the individual inaccuracies of those systems.
Triple-channel autopilot with realistic dependencies.
Fail operational and fail passive auto land with mode degradations based on system failures.
Load company routes generated by Professional FlightPlanner X (or other compatible programs) directly into the FMC.
FMC can be used on external touchscreen or tablet, optimized for the Retina iPad.
Custom Systems and Failure model
Detailed and deep simulation of almost every system in the real aircraft.
Custom air and pressure system.
Electrical system with all AC and DC busses modeled - see which system depends on which bus.
Hydraulic system that uses a little fluid when treated correctly and a lot of fluid if used incorrectly.
Multistage custom failure system - over 200 more failures than X-Plane.
Ability to fix failure by following proper procedure.
Persistent failure and maintenance system. Aircraft wear and misuse will carry over to your next flight.
Warning system and radars
Fully functional GPWS with all the modes the real plane has.
Fully functional terrain radar, with custom database (just like the real plane), a look-ahead warning system and many other features.
Weather radar that works like the real thing. Including tilt and gain functions, ground clutter, turbulence detection and windshear prediction.
3D Modeling
Accurate dimensions based on exterior drawings provided by Boeing.
Very detailed exterior modelling with high resolution textures.
Very high resolution 3D cockpit with every switch functional.
Spatial rain simulation with high detail.
Very detailed passenger cabin graphics including galleys.
Additional graphic features: real working oxygen masks both in cockpit and cabin, dynamic window blinds that react to sunlight etc.
New and improved wingflex.
Special effects
Multilayer dynamic reflections on all glass objects.
Reflective metal and plastic objects in the cockpit.
Glossy exterior that reflects the outside.
XP weather enhancements like custom windshear.
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Installation : Download aircraft file size is 2.27gb - Liveries 426.20mb. Installed file size is 2.6gb
Authorisation key is required, and I highly recommend a desktop startup when Key activation is complete.
Notes: You will need a lot of time to programme the aircraft before actually flying it.
Documents : Both a Official Boeing B767 Operating Manual and FlightFactor aircraft manual and Remote CDU set up guide (iPad).
I also recommend to download this: B767_Flightdeck_and_Avionics guide 14.6mb for a more quicker overview than the extensive official manual.
B767_Flightdeck_and_Avionics.pdf
Requirements :
X-Plane 10.40+ (any edition) running in 64bit mode.
Windows 7+, Mac OS 10.9+ or Linux 14.04 LTS or compatible. 64bit mode
1Gb VRAM Video Card Minimum. 2Gb+ VRAM Recommended. 3Gb+ VRAM Preferred
(Note aircraft is exceptionally good on framerate, playback is current with similar sized aircraft and features)
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Review System Specifications:
Computer System: - 2.66 Ghz Intel Core i5 iMac 27”- 9 Gb 1067 Mhz DDR3 - ATI Radeon HD 6970M 2048 mb- Seagate 512gb SSD
Software: - Mac OS Yosemite 10.10.4 - X-Plane 10 Global ver 10.42 (final)
Addons - Saitek x52 Pro system Joystick and Throttle : Sound - Bose Soundlink Mini : Headshake
Scenery or Aircraft
- YBBN - Brisbane International by tdg (YBBN - Brisbane Airport 1.0 - X-Plane.OrgStore) - Free
- YPAD - Adelaide International by Chris K (ISDG) (YPAD Adelaide Airport Photo Scenery 1.31 - X-Plane.OrgStore) - Free
- Adelaide City Scenery by Chris K (YPPF Parafield Airport and Adelaide City Photoreal) - Free