A3XX-X

[olibarke]

To those in the know...

Before I go and shell out €70 on Aerosoft's A330 "lite". Lite because any Airbus other than an FSLabs product does not compare. Is there any opportunity to save me some money by hinting what this secret project may be?

I would have thought it would be an ideal business opportunity for FSLabs to retain some custom by announcing a competitive A330 product is in the making just prior to Aerosoft releasing theirs. Like me I'm sure there are plenty of people willing to wait until a better more accurate product is delivered. However without such information, and now there being a credible sim version of my real life bus, there is only one place my money will be going. 

[Alexandre Kubatko]

You can save 70€ if you can wait (an undefined amount of time).

FSLabs made the A320, the A319 and then the A321 but not the A318 ; it's not a mystery why, the last one is barely used IRL and it would be quite an investment to look for and develop the technical differencies of the babybus for an uncertain money income (I would not buy the A318 for instance, nor the A321 because I like to stay with one company in the sim and it does not operate it ). That's just the way I like to fly, but for most customers who fly many companies they still like to fly real operators and the logic applies to them as well, I don't think that many people would buy the A318 only to do some AFR hops to LIRQ.

If they develop a long-haul Airbus, it will be the A330 (hopefully the one that is most used by operators - I would have removed "hopefully" in my sentence if they had released the A319-111 instead of the A319-115). I can see it followed by the A340 later. I think so for the following reasons :

• The A330 and A340 are closer to the A320 family than both the A350 and A380 are.
• The A330 and A340 got more customers than the A350 and A380
• Study-level infos of both A350 and A380 are hard to get
• Once the A330 is made, the A340 is not that far away

That's only my opinion, and I have no idea what's in the making. But if they are making one, I bet it's the A330

[Sabine Meier]

6 minutes ago, Alexandre Kubatko said:

You can save 70€ if you can wait (an undefined amount of time).

FSLabs made the A320, the A319 and then the A321 but not the A318 ; it's not a mystery why, the last one is barely used IRL and it would be quite an investment to look for and develop the technical differencies of the babybus for an uncertain money income (I would not buy the A318 for instance, nor the A321 because I like to stay with one company in the sim and it does not operate it ). That's just the way I like to fly, but for most customers who fly many companies they still like to fly real operators and the logic applies to them as well, I don't think that much of people would buy the A318 only to do some AFR hops to LIRQ.

If they develop a long-haul Airbus, it will be the A330 (hopefully the one that is most used by operators - I would have removed "hopefully" in my sentence if they had released the A319-111 instead of the A319-115). I can see it followed by the A340 later. I think so for the following reasons :

• The A330 and A340 are closer to the A320 family than both the A350 and A380 are.
• The A330 and A340 got more customers than the A350 and A380
• Study-level infos of both A350 and A380 are hard to get
• Once the A330 is made, the A340 is not that far away

That's only my opinion, and I have no idea what's in the making. But if they are making one, I bet it's the A330

Or fly G-EUNA on one route out of lcy.

[Alexander Polcher]

@olibarke

to be honest, I would abstain from buying the (edit: unknown developer...)Airbus A330.

Having seen several streams and talked about it on our Teamspeak (+several Discord server) I don't see any advantage.

The outside model is pretty (besides 2D textured windows...), the cockpit is kind of a personal feeling. I was working as a technican on the A330-300 and A340-300/600 a lot in MUC and I do not recognize this cockpit anyhow.

Wheter the colours, nor the dimensions of the displays are matching. The FCU panel looks like a darkroom wall (you know, everything looks a little bit blurred and somebody touched it way to often with it's wet fingers...sorry for the comparison) and the flight dynamics might have been done by Captain Sim...

Inserting a route Offset leads to the aircraft flying strange orbits, switching times or anyhting in the EFB lead's to CTDs.

The question, which I would asky myself, what do you expect? You could have a weird add-on with a coughing First Officer which obviously suffers from a previous Smoke & Smell event and have a longrange aircraft which is not capable of even flying basically required SLOP (Strategic Laterl Offset Procedures) nor switches in G/A Mode during a Missed Approach.

On the other hand, you can wait for some more days and enjoy the pretty Airbus A321-X and fly for example from MK-Studios beautiful Dublin scenery to FlyTampas Boston in EI137 and enjoy flying for the first time within the NAT HLA with a working CPDLC (Controller Pilot Data Link) in the Data Link Mandated Airspace, request your weather enroute in the ATSU menu, keep in touch via ACARS with your virtual airline and enjoy arriving in Boston, having a fully adjusted GSX interaction.

It's up to you to buy the flying Lada or the Porsche

[Alexander Polcher]

By the way, if FSLabs is going to build an Airbus A330-200, I would highly appreciate this.

One of the world's most used aicraft, nearly found everyhwere replacing the Boeing 76's, and beeing a wonderful widebody aicraft to fly. Not the most powerful, but having capabilites to fly midrange from Copenhagen to Gran Canaria or flying from Germany up to Asia.

I do really enjoy the Airbus A340 series, but to say it clear, this aircrat is as much dead as the 747 passenger versions are.

Thinking about even taxiing an Airbus A330 out of the Seychelles or Barbados would give me literally the chills...charge me 200€ for this product, I'll pay it.

I have paid in a summary at least ~90€ to have walking passengers in my sim, I would pay a lot more for a A330.

[Andrew Debidondi]

Lets Start with A330 and A340 and then A350 and A380

[Phil Tereny]

I'd say it's quite likely, the secret A3XX-X project is going to be an A330, but I don't think we are going to see it in the near future.

[Alexander Polcher]

From the point of view of FSLabs, or any other business economist, you have to calculate the hard facts.

Along the perspective of creating a great product and having a interest in it, you have to sell it and make a positive business case out of this product. See PMDG's MD-11 - I also had it for FSX but the sales figures did not lead to a continuation in the product. So far for the preamble of what I am trying to say.

The A330 is the aircraft we can expect to have in view in reallife for the near future besides the A350, because the airframes still have a long lifetime and are pretty young usually.

The A380 are already phased-out by all major airlines and I would bet that we'll see the Boeing 747-8 flying way longer than the A380. It's simply a dead airframe and it will have a quick ending without much glory. The A340 is obsolet by all those two-engined aeroplanes which use approx. 50% less fuel than they are doing.

So, If I had to bet or give any advise to the colleagues here, I would have an eye on the A330 series.

[Rémy Vidali]

If Fslabs announces an A330, it will kill Aerosoft ...

[Charles Harris]

With the shadow of FS 2020 looming larger each day the flightsim landscape will evolve dramatically in the coming months. PMDG and I suspect FSL are already moving to have products for the new platform. FSX for all intents is as dead as Blockbuster was the day the first streaming platform went live. The X-Plane team has already stated that this will force them to up their game to stay relevant going forward.

Add to this the real world concerns of airlines. The 737 Max will reenter the market and be accepted and used(yea accept it). Fuel burn vs capacity concern will kill off certain airframes. Embrear and Bombardier will continue to pick away at short haul routes. So in terms of realism thats what will exist in the sim world.

The companies like FSL and PMDG will offer high quality products and go forward. Others not so much(remember Abacus?)

[Rafal Haczek]

2 hours ago, Rémy Vidali said:

If Fslabs announces an A330, it will kill Aerosoft

Apart from the fact that before FSL A330/340 is out, Aerosoft will have sold tones of their actually only flyable A330, not everyone is as insane as most of us here, to prepare for a 1-hour flight for 2 hours, do all the ATSU stuff, de-ice, follow all procedures, watch voltage and engine parametres and sweat for the realism of the challenge (and pay a lot for all the pleasure). If all simmers needed FSL, Lefteris and Andrew could quit other jobs and get tanned on Hawaii. There's lettuce for hares and pray for tigers and that's the way the world is contructed.

[Artur Araripe]

They all need FSL. They just don't know yet. Once you taste the A32X-XX, there's no turning back. 

 

[Nicolas Matus]

4 hours ago, Artur Araripe said:

They all need FSL. They just don't know yet. Once you taste the A32X-XX, there's no turning back. 

 

I was discussing this with some colleagues today. The FSLabs is like the Retina Display iPhones, you can't go back!

[Artur Araripe]

If it ain't as real as it can be, it ain't for me. 

FSL master race

[Atul Mishra]

Man oh man... 6 years of development and can't even operate "man engine start" switches on the overhead panel. Dreaming of FSLabs A330.. 

[Artur Araripe]

It can't even behave properly on final appr let alone do  that 

Same boat, fam. Same boat 

 

[Scott Harmes]

Then again, there is one A330 that is currently flying in the sim, and one which has not even been announced and may never be developed.......

[Atul Mishra]

Really hope FSLabs come up with an A330 way ahead of our expectations just like NGXu lol... The wait for a proper A330 has been super longer than any other airliner for me.

[Frederic Nadot]

6 hours ago, Atul Mishra said:

Man oh man... 6 years of development and can't even operate "man engine start" switches on the overhead panel. Dreaming of FSLabs A330.. 

By reading feedbacks and videos, I really would have replaced "Professional" by "For kids". I think they will be able to use the "Professional" word when they will reach the FSL level, if it happens one day...

[Christoph Sebek]

They always brandmarked themselves making addons for pilots, who tend to fly after work and don't want to spend much time with setup or procedures. So compared to FSL of course it looks different by all means. Mister Kok recently confirmed this in a post of his, which I am not able to find now on their forums, targeting different flight simmers, which also explains the price difference because FSL clearly is more in-depth Simulation.

[Artur Araripe]

Yea, they target a different market. It's like FIFA and PES. FIFA for the ones that just wanna have some fun, dribbling the whole defense, even the manager and supporters and then volleying it into the goal, and PES for people that actually enjoy properly simulated football. The build-up of a counter-attack, real life tactics that work (who doesn't love a little bit of Gegenpressing)

Modeling is nice and all but the fact that the systems are not like the real thing is such a turnoff for me. Might not be for some. But if i can't start it up and do everything just like the real pilots do, it sorta feels like a waste of time. It's such a letdown when you expect to use a function and it's not even there, ya know?

But at the very least, it's a long-haul Airbus that will take you from A to B and it sorta works. Looks better than the other A330 and probably handles better too.

I kinda wanna get into long haul and stuff but idk. I might end up regretting it because of it not being like the real thing in pretty much every aspect like the FSL A320. It's part of the fun. There's nothing more exciting than loading it cold and dark and start it up step by step, and then fly to your destination safely. It's rewarding. Not to mention that it allows you to go deeper. There's no such thing as going in deep with the other bus. It's the basic procedures and that's it. Might entertain you for a couple hundred hours at best. When it comes to study level, though, it's basically endless. It will never feel like you are doing the same thing over and over again, because every flight is different, and it sure feels like it. Almost like a living machine. Once you taste that kind of depth, you can never go back. It just doesn't feel right.

Study level stuff is a double edged sword, because it makes everything else that isn't near that feel dull and useless even though it could possibly entertain you to an extent. But there will be always something missing, stopping you from fully enjoying it.

 

 

 

[duartevieira]

Please let’s hope it is a330 cos the ones available are bad and that’s being polite 

[Rudy Fidao]

No body dare type any Airbus model here unless it includes the number 8 between a 3 and a 0

[Dominik Jensen]

Honestly, I would rather look forward for an A320neo than for an A330. I have the other new A330 and I must say, if the bugs are fixed (I'm sure they will sooner or later), it's a very fine plane. As they say, it's a "normal operation" simulator and not a system simulator, and that's fine for me. If both products were availible, I would chose for FSLabs despite the higher price (as I did with the A319/320), but I won't buy both. So, unless FSL has been building the A330 silently in the background at a very advanced stage of development, it will be quite some years from now, when it would be released. Who even knows which platform it will be made for. So, even if that's the case, I wouldn't be too much interested for another A330 at the moment, because the other one is pretty good and at the time a possible FSL A330 would be released, I will already have flown the other A330 for years.

Look at the development stage now: Not even the A321 has been released, let alone the sharklet versions of the A319/320, as it obviously takes a lot of time to make an aircraft of this quality. So, wouldn't it make more sense to make something that no one else has touched yet?? ...for example an A320neo.. the A350 or A380 would be awsome of course, but I doubt there is enough data availible for that. Maybe really an A340, even if its time is nearly over in reality.

[Alexandre Kubatko]

@Dominik Jensen Many people had the "other" A320 before buying this one, so should they have done an A330 straight away ? And if the A330 has been in the work silently (which has been most likely), should they now make an A340 straight away instead ? You see where I'm going...

Plus, the problem is not really what they wish to make. It would be easier to make both the A20N & A21N since it's obviously closer to the A320 & A321 CEOs and the cockpit remains the same~. You add some ECAM messages, and there you go, easy money ! The problem is the data required to make such plane, they already don't want to add a satcom because they don't have the data on it. It's an antenna, I would assume that you need to add a tiny bit of drag which would result in what, a 0.x% fuel consumption increase ? But they can't really get a hold on that 0.x%. Just imagine all the data they need to develop the NEOs then.

[Marc Ehnle]

On 12/10/2019 at 4:08 PM, Alexandre Kubatko said:

 

• The A330 and A340 are closer to the A320 family than both the A350 and A380 are.

I might be totally wrong, but isn't the 340 actually very similar to the 321 when it comes to the "behind the scene" systems? I think I've read about that somewhere...

[ChristianReber]

Hmm... let me throw in a different view, one that I secretly pray for will turn out to be true. The A3XX-X is in fact an A350-900. The A359 is in service now since some years, FSL might actually have gotten hold of some data, and will now give themselves 2-4 years for the plane to be developed and released. By the time it will be released there will be even more A350s flying in the real world, so simmers' interest will also be larger. 

So the decision is one of a trade-off between (i) releasing in c. 2022 an A330 to compete with another A330 released in 2019, that surely is not as good as FSL, but maybe not sufficiently better to attract enough customers who already have the current A330, and (ii) developing the A350 for which there is no competition yet and for which there surely will be a market even bigger than today.

Hence, I am speculating and hoping that I am right that it'll be an A350-9, followed by the ULR and -1000 version afterwards.

[Thiago Braun]

Whatever it comes, it will only be relevant if it is released for MSFS. Hopefully the rest of the products are also ported and that there is a hefty discount for the P3D A32X owners.