A3XX series

[mohamed makhlouf]

Hello everyone and Hello to fslabs , I like to say I love your A320 and the latest update. 

I want to ask,  will fslabs are going to begin on the A330 and A340 ?

[Sabine Meier]

We dont know. It is just a project title they use.

[Matteo LEGROS-LEBON]

Please FSL, 3 years after the A3xx announcement, can we just have a clue ? Maybe the number of engines of the aircraft 

So, 2 or 4 ?

After 3 years, even a little clue like that would be cool to have 

[Sabine Meier]

We just have to wait till an announcement. It might simply be a project title.

[Matteo LEGROS-LEBON]

2 minutes ago, Koen Meier said:

We just have to wait till an announcement. It might simply be a project title.

Simply a project title ? wdym ?

[Sabine Meier]

Most companies have internal project names that don’t line up with the actual project name.

[Matteo LEGROS-LEBON]

4 minutes ago, Koen Meier said:

Most companies have internal project names that don’t line up with the actual project name.

I know, but considering that the upcoming A3xx will be a long-haul Airbus (A330, A340, A350 or A380), it would be cool to know if the A3xx has 2 or 4 engines

[John Barnes]

It has engines.

That should tell you we have no comments until an announcement is made.

[William Hudson]

Of course Airbus designated the A380 the A3XX in early development, but, we simply don’t know! 

Think of it like Schrödinger's cat, the A3XX can be anything you want it to be until they announce more. 

[William Hudson]

44 minutes ago, John Barnes said:

It has engines.

That should tell you we have no comments until an announcement is made.

Ahhhhhhh here’s me hoping it was a glider  

[Norman Blackburn]

56 minutes ago, Matteo LEGROS-LEBON said:

I know, but considering that the upcoming A3xx will be a long-haul Airbus (A330, A340, A350 or A380),

Who pray tell, said that?

Nobody said if it was long, medium or short haul - whatever that means.  B744 is used domestically in the Far East for example.

Nobody said which manufacturer the add on would be modelled on.

[William Hudson]

8 minutes ago, Norman Blackburn said:

Who pray tell, said that?

Nobody said if it was long, medium or short haul - whatever that means.  B744 is used domestically in the Far East for example.

Nobody said which manufacturer the add on would be modelled on.

I never did understand why the domestic variant lost the winglets of the rest of the B744 family

[Sabine Meier]

5 minutes ago, William Hudson said:

I never did understand why the domestic variant lost the winglets of the rest of the B744 family

Cause they didn’t need the efficiency on such short hops.

15 minutes ago, Norman Blackburn said:

Who pray tell, said that?

Nobody said if it was long, medium or short haul - whatever that means.  B744 is used domestically in the Far East for example.

Nobody said which manufacturer the add on would be modelled on.

a380 is used domestic as well in China on select routes.

[Craig Norman]

Well, it was mentioned somewhere that it'll have significantly more fuel capacity than the A32x, so methinks this is a long haul bird of some description. The A3xx still implies that it'll be an Airbus, but as the A330 was dismissed (much to my chagrin), process of elimination would make the A350, A340 or even A380 probable. So either 2 or 4 engines.

[Craig Norman]

It's got to be an Airbus. Can't be anything else or otherwise it wouldn't make any sense to use A3xx as a working title for, let's say a DC-10.

[Sabine Meier]

5 minutes ago, Craig Norman said:

Well, it was mentioned somewhere that it'll have significantly more fuel capacity than the A32x, so methinks this is a long haul bird of some description. The A3xx still implies that it'll be an Airbus, but as the A330 was dismissed (much to my chagrin), process of elimination would make the A350, A340 or even A380 probable. So either 2 or 4 engines.

what is saying the a330 is dismissed. currently it can be any aircraft and some misdirection can happen here.

[Craig Norman]

2 minutes ago, Koen Meier said:

what is saying the a330 is dismissed. currently it can be any aircraft and some misdirection can happen here.

Well, someone mentioned that FSL have 'no plans' to make one, but I insist they should, since there's a lot of commonality with the A320 that would surely speed up systems development, whereas an Airbus with entirely different systems would take longer. Though you could be right; the code of omertà does run deep.

[Sabine Meier]

some people wish for an a350, some for a380, some for a340, some for a330, some for a320 neo, some for a310 or a300.

forgot to add some people wish for the Airbus corporate jet.

 

Edited July 10, 2020 by Koen Meier

[Craig Norman]

Just now, Koen Meier said:

some people wish for an a350, some for a380, some for a340, some for a330, some for a320 neo, some for a310 or a300.

 

Well, I'd rather any modern long haul Airbus than the legacy A300/310. There's no longer many A300s and A310s flying now, and it wouldn't make any business sense to make the legacy Airbuses. Though some can make the same argument for the A340 and the A380, the A380 is still numerous, even after Air France prematurely retired theirs due to the pandemic, and the A380 would definitely be an interesting aircraft to fly due to its sheer size and systems, yet with GSX, I can finally have a study level A380 to take full advantage of triple-jetwayed gates. Either way, an A330, A340, A350 or even A380 would be great - the latter especially because I have a bad feeling about the one that's currently in production, especially since the NLS one got canned years ago, and I fear the other one will face that same fate.

[Rafal Haczek]

8 minutes ago, Craig Norman said:

the A380 is still numerous

Well... https://samchui.com/2020/06/28/current-status-update-on-all-a380-operators/#.XwjHZOdS-iM

[Michele Benedetti]

I'd rather prefer an A350 with ULR and -1000 expansions....than an A380 which is a plane that has no future...and little present...

[Riccardo Masia]

Don't think FSL will make a retired/unproduced Airbus aircraft, so no A340 (or 4-engine for that matter) aircraft either. I thought the A330 was the logical choice as it shared many systems with the A320.

Anyway... We need a wide-body!

[Sabine Meier]

the a330 and a340 also share a lot. from fuselage section and wings to flight deck and systems.

[Craig Norman]

35 minutes ago, Rafal Haczek said:

Well... https://samchui.com/2020/06/28/current-status-update-on-all-a380-operators/#.XwjHZOdS-iM

Pandemic notwithstanding. Whether or not UAE will still fly their vast fleet post-pandemic will be a moot point.

[Peter Hastings]

1 hour ago, Craig Norman said:

So either 2 or 4 engines.

No APU?

[Craig Norman]

21 minutes ago, Peter Hastings said:

No APU?

Trivia: the BAe 146 has 5 APUs: one at the rear of the aircraft, and 4 on the wings

[Norman Blackburn]

12 hours ago, Craig Norman said:

It's got to be an Airbus. Can't be anything else or otherwise it wouldn't make any sense to use A3xx as a working title for, let's say a DC-10.

Its an internal name so that we dont slip up and say Piper Cub....   Oops, now look what you have made me do  

[Craig Norman]

3 hours ago, Norman Blackburn said:

Its an internal name so that we dont slip up and say Piper Cub....   Oops, now look what you have made me do  

Well, can it make it from EGLL to KMCO with lots of excited Disney fans onboard at full payload?

[Norman Blackburn]

1 minute ago, Craig Norman said:

Well, can it make it from EGLL to KMCO with lots of excited Disney fans onboard at full payload?

We could never subject our virtual cabin crew to that.

[William Hudson]

2 minutes ago, Craig Norman said:

Well, can it make it from EGLL to KMCO with lots of excited Disney fans onboard at full payload?

I think a Cub can be given ETOPS.... No problem

[Sabine Meier]

2 minutes ago, Norman Blackburn said:

We could never subject our virtual cabin crew to that.

even a virtual thomas cook or virgin atlantic cabin crew?

[Norman Blackburn]

3 minutes ago, William Hudson said:

I think a Cub can be given ETOPS.... No problem

The Cub is missing half of the twin part.

[William Hudson]

2 minutes ago, Norman Blackburn said:

The Cub is missing half of the twin part.

I'm sure we can arrange another engine as an optional extra 

[Craig Norman]

10 minutes ago, Norman Blackburn said:

The Cub is missing half of the twin part.

So that would make it ESOPS.

Oh wait, that would make it a glider when the engine is out.

[William Hudson]

1 minute ago, Craig Norman said:

So that would make it ESOPS.

Oh wait, that would make it a glider when the engine is out.

Flap your arms, its all the systems redundency you need

[Craig Norman]

20 minutes ago, Norman Blackburn said:

We could never subject our virtual cabin crew to that.

My personal virtual airline is Disney-themed, so my cabin crew is used to it

[Norman Blackburn]

6 minutes ago, Craig Norman said:

My personal virtual airline is Disney-themed, so my cabin crew is used to it

Do they do much Cub flying?

[Timm Rehberg]

If there will never be a FSL A350, I am not going to buy the Sharklets.
Pressure on you. Do something. 

*drop the mic gif here* 

[Sabine Meier]

1 minute ago, Timm Rehberg said:

If there will never be a FSL A350, I am not going to buy the Sharklets.
Pressure on you. Do something. 

*drop the mic gif here* 

once those babies are out, i suspect even you will buy them. 

[Craig Norman]

9 minutes ago, Norman Blackburn said:

Do they do much Cub flying?

Only to Paris and back, but even that's mainly for £100 hamburgers and the typical hypermarché booze aisle shop one usually does when they're in France.

[phil highton]

On 7/9/2020 at 11:39 PM, mohamed makhlouf said:

Hello everyone and Hello to fslabs , I like to say I love your A320 and the latest update. 

I want to ask,  will fslabs are going to begin on the A330 and A340 ?

Oh no not again 

[Peter Hastings]

23 hours ago, Craig Norman said:

Trivia: the BAe 146 has 5 APUs: one at the rear of the aircraft, and 4 on the wings

It's also alleged that some A340 variants have the 'hair dryer' option on their wings 

[Ken Knowles]

Why assume it's even an Airbus? Only assumptions I would make is that it will be a popular aircarft and one that is not already modeled to a satisfactory level of systems / flight dynamics fidelity by another developer. 

From a software development standpoint, while the A330/40 may by similar to the A320 family from a driver's perspective, there are still significant differeneces in terms of it's EFCS system architecture (PRIMs/SECs vs ELACs/SECs/FACs). The re-useability of the code fslabs have developed probably lies more in their approaches to modelling systems (e.g. their fluid dynamics or components architectures) and the lessons they will doubtless have learned in relation to creating a realistic flight model - all of which probably lends itself to transferability between more than just airbus aircraft. 

I'd also hazard a guess that all bets are off at the moment and "pivot" is the watchword of the season given the recent developments in the world of flight simulation. Whatever the A3xx was when it was first christened, I reckon there's a reasonable chance it won't be the same thing fslabs ultimately announce and maybe internally they are giving themselves more room to manoeuvre by keeping things on the down low.

(Of couse this is entirely speculation and if it turns out to be an A330 or A350 after all then wild horses won't be able to stop me filling in my credit card deets!) 

[William Hudson]

35 minutes ago, Ken Knowles said:

Why assume it's even an Airbus? Only assumptions I would make is that it will be a popular aircarft and one that is not already modeled to a satisfactory level of systems / flight dynamics fidelity by another developer. 

From a software development standpoint, while the A330/40 may by similar to the A320 family from a driver's perspective, there are still significant differeneces in terms of it's EFCS system architecture (PRIMs/SECs vs ELACs/SECs/FACs). The re-useability of the code fslabs have developed probably lies more in their approaches to modelling systems (e.g. their fluid dynamics or components architectures) and the lessons they will doubtless have learned in relation to creating a realistic flight model - all of which probably lends itself to transferability between more than just airbus aircraft. 

I'd also hazard a guess that all bets are off at the moment and "pivot" is the watchword of the season given the recent developments in the world of flight simulation. Whatever the A3xx was when it was first christened, I reckon there's a reasonable chance it won't be the same thing fslabs ultimately announce and maybe internally they are giving themselves more room to manoeuvre by keeping things on the down low.

(Of couse this is entirely speculation and if it turns out to be an A330 or A350 after all then wild horses won't be able to stop me filling in my credit card deets!) 

I think you are absolutely correct! No need to fasten seatbelts and put our arm rests down and seats in an upright position for an announcement anytime soon. 

[Ross McDonagh]

On 7/11/2020 at 7:24 AM, Norman Blackburn said:

We could never subject our virtual cabin crew to that.

How about BOS-HNL in a Hawaiian livery with a full load of mai tai’s :-p