October 11, 2024 / admin / 0 Comments
I figured it wouldn’t take long before someone would write to be about the recent release of the Aerosoft Airbus A330 and I wasn’t disappointed. I’ve had several readers email me in the past 24-48 hours about this and here are my thoughts on the matter. But first, let me show you the email from Joseph.
Hello Jerry, I’m a long-time reader, but this is the first time I’ve contacted you. BTW, I always find your “Reader Question” blog postings interesting as most of the time I’ve asked myself those same questions. Anyway, I wanted to ask you your opinion on the Aerosoft A330 and additional get your opinion on why developers release products before they are ready for prime time? It seems Aerosoft should have known the state of this aircraft and continued working on it before launching it to the masses. Thank you for your time and I hope you’ll use this email on your blog. Sincerely, Joseph.
Well Joseph, the short answer is NO! I don’t have any first-hand experience with the Aerosoft Airbus A330 as it wasn’t on my radar to actually buy the aircraft (at least not at this time) and to be honest, I probably won’t purchase this aircraft ever. The only Aerosoft aircraft purchase I’ve ever made was back in the late FSX and early P3D days when they released their Airbus A320 family of aircraft. I purchased and used their A318/A319/A320/A321 suite of aircraft. While these models were lacking to some degree, they served me well until I moved to FSLabs in P3D. But Aerosoft was a very different developer back then to what they are today.
To move to your second question about why developers release products before they are well and truly ready for prime time is a very valid question. It’s a question that I’m sure many have pondered, especially if they’ve found themselves making a purchase of this type to find out later it’s junk in the present state.
At 58 years old, I consider myself a “Man of a Certain Age” and I remember the Paul Masson wine advertisements from the late ’70’s where Orson Welles closes the advert with the famous line “We will sell no wine before its time.” Obviously I wasn’t drinking wine at this time of my life, but that advert has stuck with me over the years and is very much applicable today as it was back then.
The general consensus around the flight simulation community with respect to the recent Aerosoft Airbus A330 release is it comes down to competition. It is well known that iniBuilds is working on an Airbus A330 that is rumored to be included with MSFS 2024. Of course iniBuilds is also working on an A350 and an A380. When these release is not known at this time. But as we’re just a little over a month from the release of MSFS 2024, this feels like Aerosoft rushed their A330 to market as nothing more than a money grab. They priced it low enough that people rushed to purchase it to find out afterwards that it’s crap and a long ways away from bring anything but crap. Most likely it will remain just that….CRAP!
Aerosoft lost me as a customer (at least a customer of their aircraft) when they sold they sold the Twin Otter for MSFS then revoked it sometime later. I loved their Twin Otter in FSX/P3D and thought it would be a great aircraft to have in my MSFS hangar. I was disappointed from the first moment and then they decide to pull it. So, while I may purchase Aerosoft add-on airport sceneries….I most likely will never purchase another aircraft from them. At least not until such time as they can prove they are capable of releasing a quality aircraft that works from day one.
I get frustrated at reading comments around the flight simulation community about how long it takes PMDG or Fenix to release and aircraft. But you know something? When a new Fenix or PMDG aircraft hits the market, it’s solid and any weakness is generally addressed and resolved in a very short manner. So this my friends is why I will never complain about the time it takes for a quality developer like Fenix or PMDG to bring an aircraft to market.
Well…I hope that explains a few things. It absolutely sucks for those who did spend their hard earned money on the Aerosoft A330. Because while it may get an update, I doubt it will ever be as solid as what iniBuilds will bring to MSFS 2024.
In closing, I will say this. Before spending money on something, DO YOUR RESEARCH! There are many videos from some of the top content creators showcasing new aircraft releases. I haven’t found a single video (and I’ve watched several) who have anything good to say about this A330 from Aerosoft. So my advice…if you haven’t purchased it. Don’t! You won’t be happy!
Until next time…
Happy Flying!!!
Jerry
May 6, 2024 / admin / 0 Comments
I mentioned a little while ago when I wrote about the recent delay to system update 15 for Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 that I would take the time to write about the new version of MSFS2024 which is due to release sometime this year. While we don’t have a release date at this time, if history repeats itself (as it often does) we could expect a end of summer timeframe release. But considering (at least in my opinion) MSFS2020 is absolutely fantastic and should get even better once SU15 drops the wait for me is a non-issue.
A New Sim Really?
Like many, when I first learned that Microsoft/Asobo were working on a brand new sim I was surprised. Of course if you’ve been around the flight sim world as long as I have, you’ve seen many iterations of the sim. After all, Microsoft released six different versions of Microsoft Flight Simulator between the years of 1996 and 2006. Each of these new versions contained new features and functionality from their predecessors and in many ways they each took advantage of the quickly developing PC technology of the day. I firmly believe this is also why we’re seeing a brand new version of Microsoft Flight Simulator some four years after the successful release of MSFS2020. Let’s face it, while MSFS2020 released to us on PC in August of 2020, the planning and actual development began many years before.
Most Popular Sim?
As I’ve said before in other blog posts, when MSFS 2020 released, the flight sim community expanded immensely almost overnight. This is especially true when MSFS2020 became available on the XBox platform almost a year later. While the flight sim community might still be relatively small and niche compared to other game genres, we have proven to Microsoft and Asobo that we’re here, we’re active and we want the very best flight simulation that can be developed for the home flight simulation enthusiast.
We may never really know if at the time MSFS2020 was released, whether Microsoft had the plans at that time for MSFS2024. While they may have speculated it would be a popular release, I think the direction the flight sim community wanted Microsoft to take the franchise has proven to be worth their efforts in continuing the franchise for many decades.
All The Benefits
There are many, many benefits to us as consumers of flight simulation add-ons (including both software and hardware) for Microsoft to continue updating the sim for hopefully decades to come. While the software add-on market has always been relatively strong, the hardware market is also making a huge comeback. The hardware market had sort of become a bit stale in the last few years before the release of MSFS2020. Today we have many different hardware developers creating everything from yokes, joysticks, pedals, throttles and all the various components to truly become free of needing to use the mouse and keyboard. I firmly believe this increase of the number of software and hardware developers is testament to the success of Microsoft Flight Simulator.
MSFS2024
I’m sure everyone has already viewed the teaser videos Microsoft released around the time of the announcement last year. Much of the new mission content are things I’m really not interested in. True, while I will probably spend time doing some of them…it’s just not something I’m overly excited about. For me, what I enjoy about any flight sim is the open world opportunity to fly what I want to fly, wherever I choose to fly it. But what might we expect to be included in MSFS2024 that we don’t have available today?
New Aircraft
I would expect much of what we consider the default aircraft included in MSFS2020 today will be made available in MSFS2024. But there are a few new aircraft which should make their way into MSFS2020 such as the Beluga Airbus and Airbus A300M. But again, these are probably aircraft that I will rarely fly in the sim. But wait…there’s more to MSFS2024.
Weather Data Capabilities
Asobo have commented in a few of the developer streams of late that MSFS2024 weather data is going to get some changes from what we know about weather in MSFS2020. Could we finally be able to import historical weather into the sim? Again, time will tell and this is one of the reasons I’m holding out on purchasing ActiveSky FS which I discussed a few weeks ago.
Freeware Marketplace
Now this I’m potentially excited about. The amount of good, quality freeware add-ons that we have witnessed come onto the scene with MSFS2020 is exceptional. While I own a great deal of payware airport sceneries for MSFS2020, I’m using several freeware airport sceneries in some locations as either there is no payware available or the freeware looks and performs better than the payware. But Microsoft have noticed the demand of freeware content and may one day offer it to be available in the Microsoft Marketplace. Like I said, I’m really excited about this as while I keep track of all the scenery I have installed in my sim (which you can see here), having this ability to install from Marketplace and hopefully be notified of any updates is a game changer for me. This of course will also be HUGE for those on the XBox platform. But we’ll see if this comes to fruition.
Release Date
As I’ve previously stated in this article, at this time we do not know when MSFS2024 will be released. While history can always be a good indicator of things like this, we really just don’t know. We may learn more after the FSExpo taking place in June (21-23 June), but I’m going to take a huge guess and say that MSFS2024 will release sometime between August and the end of the year.
Future of MSFS2020
I’ve spoken to many fellow flight simmers and currently it’s about a 70/30 split on whether they’ll move to MSFS2024 once released. This being approx. 70% saying yes to MFSF2024 and approx. 30% have said they’ll stay on MSFS2020 for now. But what is the future of MSFS2020? Well we do know that sometime in 2025, Microsoft/Asobo will release SU16. With SU16 Microsoft/Asobo might bring some of the features that will be available in MSFS2024 into MSFS2020. How much or how little just isn’t known at this time.
800lb Gorilla
I can’t close out this article without addressing the 800lb Gorilla in the room and that of course has to do with all the purchased add-ons from MSFS2020. What will be available? When will they be available and what will it all cost?
Unfortunately we really don’t have an absolute set of answers to those above mentioned questions. What we do know is the vast majority of 3rd party developers have publicly stated while they are just as much in the dark as the rest of us concerning when MSFS2024 will release and the amount of changes required to make their add-ons available into the new sim, they all have plans to make them available for MSFS2024 just as quickly as possible. In addition, most have stated that any already purchased MSFS2020 add-on will not require a full repurchase once available for MSFS2024. However, depending on the level of effort to bring them into MSFS2024 is simply unknown at this time and therefore I suppose there could be a minimal charge necessary to offset any of this development work.
Once again, if history repeats itself….most 3rd party developers will not have access to MSFS2024 until we all have access to it. So the clock starts on any work required on these 3rd party add-ons the very same day we all can make our purchase of MSFS2024, download and install it. While some in our community will be absolute idiots and begin posting in 3rd party developers forums, Discords etc. about when XYZ will be available…I urge everyone to be patient and just wait. It will happen and it will happen just as soon as possible.
In Summary
For me, Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 will be a day one purchase for me. I will take the same, exact approach I did with MSFS2020. I will install it and I will experience it most likely in a default Cessna 172. I will continue to use MSFS2020 as my primary sim, utilizing the PMDG 737, (hopefully the 777-300ER), the Fenix A320 (and hopefully their A319/A321 as well) and patiently wait. At such time these aircraft are available in the new sim, I will add them and progressively utilize MSFS2024 more and more, Then at some point down the road MSFS2020 will be uninstalled and simply forgotten about just like P3Dv5 was.
Oh, One More Thing
Join me in crossing your fingers, toes etc. and perhaps even going so far as asking St. Joseph of Cupertino (Patron Saint of all things aviation) to intercede on our behalf, that from day one, MSFS2024 will open up their camera API functionality so that third party developer //42 can finally bring Chaseplane to MSFS. While over the past couple of years I’ve managed to get somewhat used to the MSFS default camera system, for those of us that used Chaseplane back in P3D this would be a true game changer if it could be developed for the new sim.
If you’ve made it this far, Thank you! My apologies for the lengthy blog post, but there was a lot that needed to be shared. I will continue to share what information I can find on MSFS2024 as soon as more is known. Of course, I’ll blog about all my experiences in the new sim once it’s on my PC. What an amazing time this is for those of us involved in the hobby of flight simulation!
Until next time…
Happy Flying!!!
Jerry
April 27, 2024 / admin / 1 Comment
Yes ladies and gentlemen and children of all ages, the highly anticipated SU15 or Sim Update 15 has yet again been delayed. Microsoft announced just a few days ago that while SU15 had been delayed from the original date of March something or another to the end of April, they now believe they need another week or so to get it all polished up before it is ready for our PC’s. While I’m just as excited and looking forward to SU15 as much as anyone else is, I certainly applaud Microsoft/Asobo on their actions. The last thing we want is a half-baked update that will cause us more problems.
The Final Update
Unless something changes, SU15 will be the final update to Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 that we’ll see this year. Yes, that’s right! Once SU15 is released (and pending that meets everyone’s expectations), we won’t see another system update for MSFS2020 until sometime in 2025. I think the reason for this is perhaps two-fold. First, we’ve known for some time now that Microsoft and Asobo believe they have developed MSFS2020 just about as far as it can be developed. Second, of course MSFS2024 is just around the corner. While Microsoft and Asobo will continue to support MSFS2020 for some period of time after the release of MSFS2024, their focus after SU15 will be focused mainly towards the new sim. Of course at the present time we do not have a release date for MSFS2024. Perhaps we’ll learn more during the FSExpo in June. But until more is known…we’ll just focus on MSFS2020.
Worth The Wait
Yes, I do believe SU15 will be worth the wait. As I previously stated, it is truly best that Microsoft and Asobo takes all the time they feel they need to get it right. But if you’re like me and have somewhat forgotten all that we can expect from SU15, here’s a little mental refresher for us all.
Stability and Performance Improvements
Microsoft and Asobo believe the SU15 update will bring us better sim stability and overall better performance with memory utilization. Hopefully these changes will reduce the amount of stuttering we sometimes experience on short-final.
Better Ground Handling
SU15 promises a bit better friction and rubber simulation with a more realistic feeling when the aircraft is on the ground. We do know that the developers of the Fenix A320 are eagerly awaiting this update to further enhance the ground physics of the A320 and hopefully other 3rd party developers can take advantage of this in the very near future.
More Live AI Traffic
While this one is not that important to me as I either fly on the VATSIM network or I use the FSLTL traffic injection, but SU15 will include more live AI traffic at the default level. Of course this will come with a possible cost with performance. But hopefully the performance improvements already mentioned will counter this impact.
Better land/water masking
SU15 will do a better job with how the water and land meetup and hopefully all the blocky textures and color differences around where water meets land will be a thing of the past.
iniBuilds A320
Yes, for those who are eagerly awaiting the new iniBuilds A320neo, that should finally be available with the SU15 update. While again this isn’t something I’m that bothered with as I do absolutely love the Fenix A320, for those on the XBox platform you should be getting a really good aircraft in your virtual hangar. Especially considering those on the XBox platform do have have access to either the Fenix or the FBW versions.
Final Thoughts
I’m hopeful SU15 will deliver all these wonderful things and I’m looking forward to the future to see what MSFS 2024 will bring. I know a lot of people are still confused as to why Microsoft is releasing another brand new simulator and not just further developing MSFS 2020. I plan to write about all this in the very near future and share some of the things I’m looking to see in the new sim. For now, let’s be thankful for what we have and hope SU15 makes things even better until the new sim is here.
Until next time…
Happy Flying!!!
Jerry
April 22, 2024 / admin / 0 Comments
Well, the 2024 VATSIM Westbound Cross the Pond event is history. By now all those VATSIM servers will have cooled down from the vast amount of traffic they were handling on Saturday during the event and of course PMDG didn’t release their Boeing 777-300ER just before hand. While this is disappointing, I know from being a PMDG Customer for over 20 years that PMDG only releases when the aircraft is ready to be released.
Looking Forward
There are plenty of things to look forward to in the coming weeks and months. Immediately on the horizon is the SU15 update from Microsoft. While SU15 will bring us the new iniBuilds A320neo, what I’m most looking forward to are the expected performance enhancements we’ve been hearing about in SU15. While SU15 has been delayed from the original target date of 26 March 2024, the new release date is expected to be on 30 April.
Fenix A319/A321
If you already own the awesome Fenix A320, then you also most likely know that the Fenix team have been hard at work to develop both the A319 and the A321 for MSFS. As mentioned in this press release dated 14 April 2024, Fenix states that their A319 and A321 coming along swimmingly and should be entering beta testing very soon. While I don’t want to speculate any possible release date…hopefully we could have these two new Airbus aircraft sometime later this summer.
BlueBird Simulations 757
This is a project I’ve mentioned a few times on my blog. I’m really looking forward to having a quality 757 in MSFS. While we don’t really have any new news on this aircraft or the release date, BlueBird Simulations have recently confirmed they will be at the FSExpo taking place on the weekend of 21 – 23 June and will be showcasing a preview of their new Boeing 757. I’m hopeful we’ll see this release before the end of the year.
iniBuilds A350 and A380
The team at iniBuilds are hard at work creating not only awesome airport scenery, they are also working on two very much needed aircraft for MSFS. While I believe they have every intention on these releasing this calendar year, I believe these would appear somewhat in the later part of 2024 if it happens, or sometime early 2025. Time will tell….
PMDG 777-300ER
Once again…I was wrong with my anticipated release time for this aircraft. Honestly, based on where we thought (or at least I had thought) this aircraft was back in early March…the timing just shouted it would be available in time for the VATSIM CTP. Now I’m honestly scared to speculate. Especially considering we haven’t heard from Robert Randazzo since the 6th of April. OK…I’m game. I’m going to predict we’ll have the PMDG 777-300ER before 1 June. That’s over a month away. But I could still be wrong.
Final Thoughts
As we all know, Microsoft and Asobo are hard at work with the development of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024. While it should be safe to think we’ll have the PMDG 777-300ER and even perhaps other variants of the 777 and possibly even the PMDG 737Max before MSFS 2024 is released, I have a feeling the BlueBird Simulations 757 and the iniBuilds A350 and A380 won’t come out before MSFS 2024.
While MSFS 20204 will be a day one purchase for me, my expectations on when purchased add-ons for MSFS 2020 will be compatible with 2024 may not be a day one thing. What I mean by this is while I’m very much looking forward to MSFS 2024, I am comfortable in knowing that it may take several weeks or perhaps even months before some of our favorite add-on aircraft and scenery will be made available for the new sim. But then again, we really don’t know exactly when MSFS 2024 is expected to be available. Hopefully we’ll all learn more about this after the FSExpo taking place 21-23 June.
Until next time…
Happy Flying!!!
Jerry
April 12, 2024 / admin / 1 Comment
Today I’m having a relaxing semi long-haul flight out of the new iniBuilds OMDB Dubai International Airport enroute to London Heathrow in the Boeing 787-9 by Horizon Simulations and flying as British Airways. While in the real world BA operates this flight in a Boeing 788 or in a Boeing 777-200. Well….I had been doing some flying in previous days in the 789 and I wasn’t sure if the 788 was updated to the latest and greatest version and of course we still don’t have a Boeing 777 available from PMDG and that sort of brings me to the main topic of this blog post.
As the title reads, we are just 8 days away from the VATSIM Cross The Pond event and the last update we’ve received from PMDG regarding progress of their Boeing 777-300ER was a week ago. To the best of my knowledge and after scouring various Twitch and YouTube channels, I see no one streaming any pre-release content regarding the PMDG 77W. While I generally “never say never”, it’s becoming increasingly less likely that we’ll see the PMDG 777-300ER before the VATSIM CTP event on 20 April. So…I’m afraid the prediction I made way back in early March is just not going to happen.
On Thursday, Microsoft announced a new tentative release date for Sim Update 15 (SU15) to be 30 April. While PMDG have publicly stated that the release of their Boeing 777-300ER is not dependent on SU15, they may still decide that a “wait and see” release is in their overall best interest. After all, if I were in charge of one of the most highly anticipated aircraft releases of this year, I believe I would make this same decision to wait until SU15 was publicly available, test thoroughly in that release and schedule a release date sometime afterwards in very early May.
Of course, (and this is just an effort to keep the dream alive) a lot can happen in eight days. PMDG may be tying up the last of the loose ends with a plan to release the 77W to a few select content creators this weekend and if all goes well could still release it mid week just ahead of the CPT event. But I believe it is safe to say that if this hasn’t happened by Wednesday, 17 April or Thursday, 18 April at the very latest that it just won’t happen before CTP.
Until next time…
Happy Flying!! (Just not in the PMDG 77W YET)
Jerry
December 24, 2023 / admin / 0 Comments
It’s hard to believe the end of year is just days away. The year really went fast, but I guess that is also part of getting older. Anyway, I’ve been thinking about some of the MSFS add-ons which released this year and also wondering how it compares with 2022. During 2022 we had some really amazing and much needed add-ons appear on the scene. Most notably the Fenix A320, PMDG 737-800 and GSX Pro. To be brutally honest, 2023 hasn’t really been as exciting as 2022 and much of that has to do with developer delays.
Most of us speculated that PMDG might be able to get their Boeing 777 out before the end of the year and Fenix had also hoped to release their Airbus A319 and A321 airliners. But unless something changes in the next few days, we’ll have to wait until 2024 for these. I recently wrote about “What’s in store for us in the new year”? Have a peek at that article and see if you agree on some of my non-scientific speculation.
I’ve come up with a short list of the add-ons that I added to the sim in 2023 that truly impressed me.
Horizon Simulations Boeing 787-9
Anyone who publishes their top add-ons for 2023 and does not list this one at the very top or very near the top needs their head examined. In my opinion, prior to the release of the Horizon Simulations Boeing 787-9 we were absolutely starving for a truly capable long-haul, widebody aircraft. Naturally, the Horizon Sim 787-9 wouldn’t have been possible without the AAU2 Aircraft & Avionics Update released back in June. This revolutionized both the default Dreamliner and 747 in MSFS and of course the developers at Horizon Simulations capitalized on that and released their aircraft. The truly awesome thing about the Horizon Simulations Boeing 787-9 is it’s freeware. Pending you own the Premium Deluxe version of MSFS, this aircraft is 100% free. In addition to the bit about it being free, in my opinion it is just as good as the QualityWings 787 from P3D which we most likely will never see in MSFS.
Kuro Boeing 787-8
Directly behind the above mentioned Horizon Simulations 787-9 is the Kuro 787-8. These two could be interchangeable as for what might go into the #1 spot or the #2 spot. I’m ranking the Kuro behind the Horizon simply because the Horizon Sim 787-9 was released about a month before the Kuro. But they are both grade A representations of the Boeing Dreamliner and both (again in my opinion) exceed the QW Dreamliner which again, I must say we’ll never see in MSFS.
Headwind Simulations Airbus A330-900
While I believe this aircraft may have actually released back in 2021, it really didn’t catch my attention until earlier this year after it had had plenty of time to get all the kinks worked out. This was my first Airbus widebody to ever fly and I’ve had pretty good luck with it. While I’m mostly a Boeing sim guy, this has been a fun aircraft to fly and I highly recommend checking out the Headwind Simulations Airbus A339X.
Various Airport Sceneries
I’ve added some really awesome airport to MSFS over the past year. While I can’t be 100% certain that every one of these are new to 2023, they are new to me in the past year. FlyTampa EHAM, iniBuilds KPSP, Flightbeam KMSP, MKStudios EIDW, Dominic Design KPHL and KIND (along with a few others that I am pretty sure were released in late 2022) all are excellent representations of their real world counterparts.
Looking ahead to 2024
With regards to all the aircraft I mentioned in this recently blog post titled “What’s in store for us in the new year?” I failed to mention the FBW A380X. Based on some of the screenshots and updated information which was released around the middle of December, the project is coming along and hopefully we may see this aircraft sometime in the new year. Also, iniBuilds also just announced their plans to release an Airbus A350. I’m not sure if we’ll see that in 2024, so time will tell.
I’m also really hopeful that someone will someday, someday really soon release a quality Dallas/Ft. Worth KDFW airport. The Asobo version is ok, but it really doesn’t do this awesome airport justice. FSDreamTeam has always been the developer to make DFW, so hopefully it is on their list for the new year.
Of course, I’m really excited to see what Microsoft/Asobo releases with MSFS 2024. I know this is a sore subject among the flight simulation community. I provided some of my thoughts and opinions way back in June which you can read about if you so desire. But I’m really excited about MSFS 2024 as I believe this new sim will be a truly amazing upgrade to what we have now.
Well….that’s about all I can think of at the moment. Yes, I do believe perhaps 2022 was a much bigger year for add-ons….but while 2023 might have been a bit of a sleeper, I think 2024 will really blow our socks off.
I hope you all have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! I look forward to all that the new year has in store for us.
Until next time…
Happy Flying!!!
Jerry
P.S. I started writing this blog post in very early December. The teasers from PMDG regarding their 777 and the assumed 737 MAX began gaining serious traction around the middle of the month. As I’ve always released my “Top Add-ons” blog post just before Christmas, I did have hopes that I might need to edit it and slot in a new PMDG release. After all, if PMDG had released either the 777 or the 737 MAX in the calendar year 2023, that release would have been my #1 add-on of the year. However, as the 777 only went into beta testing around the 17th, I don’t anticipate it releasing until sometime in the first quarter of 2024.
November 10, 2022 / admin / 1 Comment
Hello to all my loyal readers. I recently received an email from one of my long-time blog subscribers that I wanted to answer and share with the rest of you. I figure many of you might be wondering the same thing as well…so let’s get started.
Hello Jerry,
I hope you and your family are doing well. You might remember me from many years ago. I’ve been a subscriber of your blog site from the very beginning and you helped me with some issues I had been experiencing with FSX and the PMDG 737 about 10 years ago. Like you, I recently made the transition to Microsoft Flight Simulator and have been having so much fun in the PMDG 737-800 and the Fenix A320. I’m amazed at just how far flight sim has come over the past decade. I’m curious if you have any insight into when we might see our first study level widebody long-haul aircraft? By the way, thank you so much for the article you published back in September about using caution when purchasing add-on aircraft for MSFS. I had been tempted to purchase the Captain Sim 777, but I vaguely remember you writing an article about that plane many years ago in FSX. Anyway, I hope all is well and I look forward to hearing from you soon. Randy
Before I get into answering Randy’s question about “Where are the widebodies” allow me to just briefly explain exactly what a wide-body aircraft is in relation to Microsoft Flight Simulator. By definition, a wide-body aircraft is any aircraft which is wide enough to accommodate two passenger aisles with seven or more seats abreast. Popular wide-body aircraft are the Boeing 747, 767, 777, 787 or the Airbus A310, A330, A350, A380. The typical wide-body aircraft I just referenced are also sometimes referred to as long-haul aircraft due to their range. In comparison, a narrow-body aircraft (like the Boeing 737, 757 or Airbus A320 series) has a single passenger aisle. Of course, in modern day aviation we’re seeing many narrow-body aircraft replacing their wide-body counterparts on transatlantic routes. But I digress….
Now in some respects, I personally have only started missing the wide-body aircraft I knew and loved in P3D and were lacking in MSFS when SU10 released in late September. The reason I say this is before SU10, MSFS would typically crash on most users after 3-4 hours of flight due to a memory leak that has existed in the sim for some time. But with this issue now resolved, I’m truly looking forward to the availability of my favorite wide-body, long-haul aircraft so I can stretch my wings and do some transatlantic flights in MSFS. I’m currently tracking the progress on several planned wide-body aircraft which I want to share what information I’ve learned with all of you. Let’s get started!
iniBuilds Airbus A310-300
Depending on when I actually finish this article and publish it, the first wide-body aircraft I want to discuss is the Airbus A310-300 which will be part of the Microsoft Flight Simulator 40th Anniversary Update (Sim Update 11) which is scheduled to be released on 11 November. SU11 will include the much anticipated Airbus A310-300 which was developed in partnership with Microsoft/Asobo by iniBuilds. The iniBuilds A310-300 will be the first complex, immersive wide-body aircraft for the MSFS platform and will (at least temporarily) fill the void in the wide-body category.
Other Future Wide-body Releases
Unfortunately, all we really know about possible future wide-body aircraft releases for MSFS are simply the what and by who. In other words, we have a general idea on what the aircraft type will be and who is developing it. But as for as expected release timeframe….well that’s anybody’s guess at this point in time. So let’s break this down by developer and I’ll share with you what I know about each.
PMDG
Out of all the wide-body, long-haul aircraft that we know about currently being developed for Microsoft Flight Simulator, the PMDG 777 and 747 are perhaps the most anticipated (especially the 777). PMDG long ago announced the release order for their MSFS products which included the 737-700, 737-600, 737-800 and finally the 737-900. As we all know, only the –700, –600 and –800 have been released at the time of this writing. The –900 is long overdue but we certainly know that PMDG is burning the midnight oil to get it out to us as soon as possible. We’ve also been told that once the complete 737 series has been made available (including the EFB) the next aircraft we will see from PMDG will be the Boeing 777, followed by the Boeing 747 and then finally the Boeing 737 MAX.
While I’m sure the PMDG team can multi-task and have some individuals working on the 777 alongside the 737-900, but if I were a betting man, I would wager we won’t see the PMDG Boeing 777 until late Q3 or Q4 of 2023 at the earliest. Of course, we could all be surprised and see it appear earlier….but PMDG is a developer that prides itself on only releasing their products only when they are 100% ready and as bug free as humanly possible. So with all that said, I seriously don’t believe we’ll see the PMDG Queen of the Skies (747) until sometime in 2024.
TFDi
If you are relatively new to flight simulation you may not have heard of TFDi. They are a small developer who are behind such add-ons as PACX and if you fly for a virtual airline you may also use their Smartcars flight tracker to log your VA PIREPs. A few years ago, TFDi released their Boeing 717 for FSX and P3D and we’ve known for some time they have been working on an MD-11. Their MD-11 for MSFS has been getting a bit of attention in the past few weeks and the expected release timeframe could be as early as the end of September 2023.
Aerosoft
The team at Aerosoft have been working on their Airbus A330-300 for quite some time and judging from the information I’ve seen on their forums and other social media outlets, we could actually see the Aerosoft A330-300 in Q2 or Q3 of 2023.
FlyByWire
When it comes to the Airbus A380 we’ve heard of several teams attempting to develop the aircraft for P3D. Each of these efforts have sadly evaporated into thin air. However, the team that is behind the highly successful FBW A320 in MSFS are developing an open source Airbus A380 for MSFS. While there is no release date currently available for this highly anticipated aircraft, the team are steadily making progress. You can learn more about the FBW A380 from the FlyByWire Facebook page. Based on what I’ve seen I believe it might be safe to say we could see this beast of an aircraft come to MSFS sometime in 2023.
QualityWings
Unfortunately, all we know about the QualityWings 787 Dreamliner is the team has plans to eventually bring it to MSFS. While I understand why developers don’t want to provide key details behind expected release dates, QualityWings has (in my opinion) dropped the ball and gone completely silent the past several months. But this is really nothing new from QualityWings. They’ve gone dark before for months and then out of the blue will surprise us with some news and images. Could we see the QW Dreamliner sometime in 2023? I hope so, but I’m also not going to get my hopes up based on the fact that we haven’t had an update on any progress in a very, very long time.
Bluebird Simulations
While this last aircraft isn’t a wide-body, this aircraft is absolutely one of my favorites behind the Boeing 737 and 777. The team at Bluebird Simulations is developing a Boeing 757 (in conjunction with Justflight). There will be two variations of the 757. One will be a simplified version and the second will be a more complex version. The plan is to release a passenger variant in both the 757-200 and 757-300 versions. A cargo variant is planned but will be released as an expansion add-on. I believe the expected release timeframe is Q2 or Q3 in 2023.
In Summary
As we are quickly approaching the end of what I have said has been an incredible year for Microsoft Flight Simulator, I truly believe 2023 will far surpass what we’ve experienced this year as far as add-on aircraft is concerned. The sim itself is stable and it’s exciting to see the level of commitment from not only Microsoft/Asobo….but also from all the 3rd party developers who are working extremely hard to bring us all the extra bells and whistles we desire in a flight simulator. For someone like myself who has been involved in the hobby of flight simulation for almost four decades, this is truly a great time to be alive and be involved in this wonderful hobby.
Thank you all for taking the time to read. If I hear updated news on any of the aircraft I mentioned above, I’ll certainly share that information right here on my blog site.
Until next time…
Happy Flying!!!
Jerry
