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Friday, May 10, 2013

FSLabs Airbus - New Shot + New Info!

FSX. Finally some new content from Flight Sim Labs and their Airbus narrowbody project! First, the developer has posted a new screen capture depicting a Swiss Airbus 320. Interestingly, the screenshot description states "A little bit of rain won't delay the A320-X from arriving!"... Next, the developer was interviewed by a well known Russian flight simulation news site regarding the product and future plans. Plenty of interesting information disclosed in the interview. See the latest shot and interview inside.

Latest preview shot as posted on the developers Facebook page - Swiss International Air Lines Airbus 320 with the accompanying description, "A little bit of rain won't delay the A320-X from arriving!"


Next, the entire interview as "publicly" posted on the developers Facebook page - no source provided for original interview:
------------------------------------------------------------------------
We were interviewed by a well known Russian flight simulator news site recently. Here's what our team had to say:

Lefteris Kalamaras: Thank you for the opportunity to answer some questions regarding our upcoming Flight Sim Labs A320-X airc...raft. I felt this was a good time to let our developers voice their own thoughts regarding their hard work, so I selected Andrew Wilson and Philippe Gleize to respond with feedback on your questions. Andrew is responsible for systems, special effects and all-around code programming, while Philippe is our flight and engine dynamics model developer. Truth be said, though, all our developers have their hands on various bits and pieces of the code, so those job descriptions are only part of what our associates contribute: Our real strength is the unity of our team and the synergies it provides.

1. Which models will be included on initial release?

(Andrew) Initially we’ll be releasing the A320-X, which will serve as the base package for our Flight Sim Labs A320 series. Following this, we’ll be adding expansion products that will extend the A320 series product line to include the A319-X and the A321-X, each of which will be simulated to the same standard as our A320-X and will include many of the intricate details that are unique to both airframes. There are many things that the A319 and A321 do differently, and we’ll be simulating these differences in our products.

2. Are you planning to realize other Airbus series in future (330/340)?

(Andrew) Yes – we have developed our own specialized infrastructure to support the various digital data networks that form the foundation of the Airbus series. These include ARINC 429 (with ARINC 600/615 data stream support), ARINC 424, and RS422 (with ARINC 600 support).
We have also designed code libraries to handle the analog data systems found on the A320 – ones that use electrical current to send and receive a flow of data between the systems. Most of the components that make up an A320 have been modeled – from relay switches, fuses, circuit breakers, diodes – to fuel pumps, servo control valves, hydraulic accumulators, batteries and transformers. In total we have over 60,000 of these components running in our simulation of the A320-X. The result is a simulation of an A320 that is very much like the real thing.
We anticipate the infrastructure we’ve developed will be used to expand our A3XX fleet at Flight Sim Labs.

3. If possible, please tell us your own opinion about your A320 project. What in this model makes you proud? What is strong side of this model?

(Philippe) The level of realism achieved in our FSLabs A320-X makes us very proud and we are certain it will be a major step up in the development of desktop flight simulation industry. The modularity of its design will allow the professional version of the A320-X (which will follow in the footsteps of our FSX release) to fulfill expectations and requirements of professional pilots and training personnel in their day to day operations: systems, flight dynamics, ground dynamics, engine models, and visuals.
Our team has avoided several FSX limitations by developing flight and engine models that function outside the FSX internal update cycle to render drag (friction, induced, wave, trim, flaps, etc.) and thrust components of each aircraft variant allowing freedom in calculating components of flight such as atmospheric influence, bleed air demands as well as damage caused by overstress conditions.
Realism of a successful simulation doesn’t only depend on the time the aircraft spends in-flight. As such, a lot of attention was paid to the ground model to get the correct ground friction and handling: the lateral component during turns and cross wind landings and the longitudinal component for realistic taxi thrust. A correct wheel shock model was added to absorb the huge mass transfer that occurs during aborted take-offs and while the aircraft is braking after landing.
Hard work has gone into making all this possible: Over 2 years of research and development, hundreds of hours of Class-D simulator testing, in-flight measurements made by our dedicated technical advisor pilot team, technical documentation data mining and high-end tools such as neural network realization software.

4. Are you planning to realize variations in cockpit, for example CRT/LCD displays, different STBY instruments?

(Andrew) Our A320-X is based upon the latest v1.7.0 software standard update to the A320 series with EIS2 LCD displays, which includes the Integrated Standby Instrument System (ISIS). Given the level of detail we have modeled the A320-X, it would be almost impossible to model the former EIS1 system (v1.3.2) without a significant rewrite of our code. We will, however, be looking to extend the FSLabs A320-X series with a number of airline options that are available to the various operators of the A320 series.

5. Are you planning to make a wing flex?

(Philippe) One of the characteristics of the A320 wing is its rigidity. Those of your readers who have been passengers inside an A320 will have noticed that the wingtip doesn't move much at all during take-off and landings, except for a somewhat small bounce. The wing certainly does not flex due to lift forces, as would, for example, the wing of the larger A340 in the series. Expect to see the same thing in the FSLabs A320-X: The bounce is properly modeled – it would be unrealistic to add wing flex.

6. Are you planning to make terrain and wx radars?

(Andrew) The A320-X is equipped with a working terrain radar – a very complex system to simulate properly. At this time, we are still investigating the possibilities of simulating a weather radar, but our sentiment remains that without proper data that would accurately inform of cloud droplet contents, any wx radar depiction is not less than fake.

7. Are you planning to make payload and fuel loader?

(Philippe) Yes definitely. Our simulated aircraft models weight and balance components with a very high degree of accuracy. The dry mass of the aircraft has been designed for each variant following the W&B manuals accompanying its real-world counterpart.
The fuel model has been treated mathematically in three-dimensional space, resulting in each tank fuel quantity causing a correspondingly accurate CG impact as a proper 3d vector. We owe significant gratitude to our technical advisors who provided us access to their LPC software, allowing us to verify that our modeled configurations were properly following real aircraft specifications during our cross checks.

8. Are you planning to make some non-standard configurations of airplane, for example, A320 from AIR INDIA or A319 with engines from A320 (as in Drukair)?

(Philippe) One of our team’s strong sides is the modularity of the models featured through the A320-X design. If an A319 aircraft needs to wear A320 engines, this is certainly allowed through our configuration files, as the engine component mechanism is plug-and-play.

9. Which liveries will be included in initial release? Will you release a paint kit (before or after release)?

(Andrew) The paint kit will be free and available to all customers of the A320-X.
We expect that the main product purchase will include our default Flight Sim Labs livery, but we’re still exploring our licensing options regarding inclusion of extra liveries to be installed as part of the A320-X base package (we do not wish to step on any toes, given how close our product will be to simulating the real aircraft).
We have been running a poll on our Facebook page (it can be found at http://www.facebook.com/flightsimlabs ) where we ask our friends to vote for their favorite airline liveries – the most popular of which will either be included with the main installer, or be made available to download (as free add-on components) at or around the same time the A320-X is released.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

See the developers Facebook page - click here

80 comments:

Anonymous said...

"it would be unrealistic to add wing flex." ??? How cannot anybody see that the wings of the A320 bends to a certain degree. Of course it's not like the 737NG, but if it looks stiff like crackers, they have failed with the external model. How I see it, PMDG modelled the wingflex so that you could turn off advanced animations or so, and you would have stiff wings. Why not do the same??

Anonymous said...

I wish these developers would give up on the A320 family, we have so many on the market now, Wilco, BBS, Aerosoft and now FSlabs.

Would be nice if other aircraft are made.

Anonymous said...

But the FSL one will be the best, both graphically and system wise, all of the other buses will pale in comparison. The FS community needs a bus like this, we've been waiting far too long. This bus will be the PMDG of Airbus, literally the boss Lefteris at FSL used to be the head developer at PMDG, so this bus is going to be the best, PMDG standard and more going on the hints they've been giving.

Anonymous said...

"PMDG modelled the wingflex so that you could turn off advanced animations or so"

PMDG did not model it that way inorder to make it optional via the advanced animation setting.
Wingflex in FSX can only be made via so-called "bones" which uses the advanced animations - so it´s not a PMDG design decision.

Anonymous said...

There have always been A320's available for MSFS - the difference is that no one has ever simulated an Airbus properly and provided us with a realistic simulation. There are plenty of professionals/hard core enthusiasts among us who would really like to see this aircraft simulated properly.

Judging by the interview above, that's exactly what these guys are trying to achieve.

Anonymous said...

Wilco, BBS and Aerosoft Airbus aren't realistic renditions/simulations of the A320.
But of course, only those interested in realistic sims can see that and only these simmers are still waiting for FSL...

Anonymous said...

Just going to chime in here to post this:

http://imgur.com/a/6TUGp

What an overwhelming failure on FSLab's part not to notice this...

Anonymous said...

EVERY single A320 dev has failed with the A320 model then... Since none of them modeled 'wing flex'. :)

Anonymous said...

dude did you understand the interview?
why some people complaining for something when you have never spent any money yet and of course you dont have fly the aircraft?
Tell me something?
When u are flying what do you see? your instruments or the god damn "unrealistic" wingflex??
Stop please writing "bullshits"

check

"The wing certainly does not flex due to lift forces, as would, for example, the wing of the larger A340 in the series. Expect to see the same thing in the FSLabs A320-X: The bounce is properly modeled "

All regards



Anonymous said...

IMO, FSLabs is not best graphically.

Anonymous said...

And here's the original video, I don't know about anyone else but I can see that wing flexing bright as day.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=PQMQVVOULT8#t=43s

Anonymous said...

Wrong, wingflex can be done the old FS9 way even in an FSX native model. Source: I do for my freeware FSX aircraft.

Anonymous said...

"IMO, FSLabs is not best graphically."
Yep.
Plus their engines look weird. The CFM look kinda thick and is lacking textures in the reverser doors... And their IAE is definitely over sized. Hope they correct these before release...

Anonymous said...

I read some place they're going to release a crippled version of the a320 first and then a professional one... what a joke, guess they've lost my money.

p3

Anonymous said...

I totally agree with you. I thought there's finally a very good Airbus A320 for FSX with systems and wingflex.

But without wingflex, it isn't any better than the Airbus X Extenden or now Airbus A320/A321 from Aerosoft.


Sorry but this add-on is not a cent worth.

Anonymous said...

Yeah to second what someone said about put these two photos in different tabs and flick between them:

http://i.imgur.com/wXdMpoT.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/Yv0VkOn.jpg

I hope they have something to say about this...

Anonymous said...

I'm sorry, that's not flex, in the first shot the slats are extended, in the second they're retracted. That's the difference between the two shots.

Anonymous said...

Correct.

CAT3Dual said...

You read that wrong.

The aircraft for FSX and the "professional" version have the same systems, behaviour, aerodynamics etc.

The "professional" version is just targeted at training facilities for active airline pilots and therefore featuring some more very specialized things.

http://forums.flightsimlabs.com/index.php?/topic/4257-a320-compact-information/

It's very much the same as if PMDG would do a commercial/training version of their NGX.

The FSX version of this Airbus is already targeted to be at/above FSX-NGX level.

Anonymous said...

I agree that the 320 series does not flex as much as a 737 that has the engines a bit further inboard - but the 320 wing still flexes. I guess you can see the bump the developer is talking about here:

http://www.airliners.net/photo/Monarch-Airlines/Airbus-A321-231/2228823/L/&sid=82200ce2551cf36a2f79672591f3c95c

Anonymous said...

Please stop asking for wingflex. Put your time to better use and ask for things like rain drops in vc, structural/engine wear, early release of training manuals, etc. Anything to stop the wing-flex-whining-syndrome.

Anonymous said...

Ok guys..
Seriously anything that's hinged will bounce (i.e. the wing to the body of the aircraft). I to recall seeing movement of the wings on all my A319 / A320/ A321 flights; but what I feel now, after looking at the video is perhaps we have our terminology wrong. The wings bounce and does not flex as seen with other aircrafts. So I guess what we should be asking is if they will simulate the bouncing. I know that the camera addon I use with BBS gives a slight illusion that he wings are bouncing ever so slightly. Ha-ha, but I know that probably has more to do with head latency settings.

Let's not shot down every progress step we make as a community. As with computers, everything gets better with time

Anonymous said...

Sorry, but even without the slats there's still flex...

L. said...

Oh come on! What do you want to be? Passanger or Pilot? I guess you would buy an add ons becuase you wanna "play" pilot. And I haven't seen a Pilot moving every 30 seconds the head to the back-left side and watching the wings goeing up and down 3 cm.
I want to have good systemes and a nice VC, from my point of view the external model also looks very good. However, i will be sitting in the Cockpit and not at seat 20E with my sandwich and the AirBerlin Bord Magazin.
Really looking forward to this, hopefully nice Bus to drive with

Anonymous said...

Yeah very obvious, good post.

Anonymous said...

What is it with people and wing flex?

Unknown said...

"wing-flex-whining-syndrome" LOL
Well put!
Hard to understand people arguing about wing flex. That's crazy.

Anonymous said...

Nope, wings on the A320 buses do not flex, stop making up stuff.

Anonymous said...

"I wish these developers would give up on the A320 family, we have so many on the market now, Wilco, BBS, Aerosoft"

Actually we have none (up to now):
- Wilco -> a complete joke
- BBS -> incomplete, and we do not know if they will complete it or run out of money before they do
- Aerosoft -> seriously? -> With v1.10, they still haven't fixed its critical inability to fly procedures with radial interceptions and/or DME arcs -> something that they should have done 5 months ago from the beginning, since they promised/advetised "managed lateral navigation".

Anonymous said...

Wow! 20+ comments about wing flex. It's the AXE forums all over again.

Anonymous said...

Not buying it since it doesn't have wing flex. Wing flex is the #1 feature for me, it's a make or break. Too bad FSLabs, I really wanted to get the A320 but not if I'm only going to get a bounce instead of a flex.

Anonymous said...

Yes no wing flex just ruins the whole thing. Flight simulation and aviation in general is all about wing flex, and if its true the A320 irl has no wing flex, not only will I not buy the FSlabs A320, I will make sure I never book a flight again on any airline that flys the A320 as no wing flex would just ruin the whole trip. This is all just very disturbing.

Unknown said...

Ffs, I cannot believe the number of people who are banging on about wing flex.

As mentioned numerous times above, you are meant to be enjoying the vc and flight characteristics not the funking wobble on the wing.

No wonder we simmers are branded as geeks, anoraks, nerds etc.

Get a funking grip!

Anonymous said...

Get a grip. Wing flex tantrums??? Ffs this promises to be the most detailed airbus to come along and you are whinging about this.???

Seriously, get a grip. It's no wonder that we simmers are branded as geeks, nerds, weirdos etc.

Pull yourself together.

Anonymous said...

As a RW A320/321 pilot, I can tell you that the wings do flex by at least a foot. If the wings in the FSLabs A320 don't flex then I don't see how you can call it a faithful airbus simulations.

CAT3Dual said...

This wingflex discussion is the most stupid and amusing thing, I've ever read here. :D

The FSL-wings are going to bounce, so there IS actually a wing movement animation. Just wait for the first video of it showing the bounce/flex/jump/whatever you call it.

Meanwhile I enjoy the fact that there is a TRUE and REAL Airbus SIMULATION coming, not something that looks like an A320 and flies and handles like, well nothing that exists on earth... :D

jibhi said...

well, im gonna get it. Wing-flex or not.

Anonymous said...

I really hope you're not a RW pilot!

Anonymous said...

Why, because I personally observed the wings of the aircraft I fly flexing? That seems like a pretty stupid reason.

Anonymous said...

I say we boycott FSL until they model the actual Airbus A320, wing flex and all.

Anonymous said...

How can you actually allow such comments on your pages, ADX?

Anonymous said...

Wow if wingflex is #1 feature in FSX, then I'll make an freeware colibri bird for'ya...with wing views & all..yoy can fly it and watch the wingflex for hours..

DAndre Newman said...

I think he was being funny.

Anonymous said...

Abacus modeled the wing flex very well with their 787 so I don't understand why this is so hard for Fslabs.

Anonymous said...

I'm glad they're not modeling wing flex, its always scared the crud out me when flying commercial, watching those wingtips bob up and down like rubber, wondering how many times they can do that till they just plum snap off! Don't need to be frightened simming either. Kudos to FSLabs for leaving it out.

Anonymous said...

Good point. I find gravity and flying through the air scary as well so I'm glad that the FSLabs won't have gravity, turbulence, flying or reality modeled either.

Captain obvious said...

Amen to that brother

Anonymous said...

ROFLMAO!

Anonymous said...

The overall tone of the comments is a little ridiculous, but I have to admit that we have pictures, and even a real world A320 pilot, to back up the claim that the A320 does have at least SOME wing flex. Why not make everyone happy and include the wing flex animation? Is there some performance based reason for why this would be too difficult to implement?

Anonymous said...

You are going to have an amazing A320 simulation and you guys are crying over some wing flex that you can barely see.

Anonymous said...

I don't care about wing flex, even though I think there is some wing bending in the real A320.

What I DO want however is a timely release. We are desperate for a good complex Airbus, and especially the A330/A340. (The A340 is my favourite, even though it flies like a turd)

Anonymous said...

For pete's sake, all wings flex, even a Cessna. If they didn't, they would snap off a lot sooner. The fact is, the A320 wing is a lot stiffer than the 737's.
True, there is some movement, but not much. Flex due to the aircraft weight in the air is noticeable on close scrutiny. But the distance the tip travels is obviously dependent on TOW and is not more than 20-30cm. This is barely visible. I am not saying "not visible" but barely. Is this barely visible so important that all of you here are dissing the FSL project before it even releases?
If this were all I had to worry about in life, then I would be a happy man.
For me, I will sit back, enjoy the previews, look forward to the release and check it out. Wing flex or not.
AE

Anonymous said...

Yes, it will have a performance impact because it's being built for a platform where resources are limited (32Bit FSX).

No doubt these guys whining about wing flex are the same crowd who scream bloody murder about OOM's too.

The A320 has an inch or two of wing flex (no where near a foot as stated above) - even if FSL did decide to simulate it, most people wouldn't ever notice it. But everyone would suffer the performance drop for it being included. Hence, I suspect, FSL's decision not to include it at this time.

Anonymous said...

I doubt a rw pilot would come out with something like that! I fly on a Airbus A320 almost every week back and forth from London Heathrow and at most times the wing flex is barely noticeable.

Aaron Graham said...

Wing flex does have a FPS impact and if you choose to have wing views in the VC and they have to flex your FPS will rapidly decline on a complex model like this.

Anonymous said...

I love the people who keep saying "they should have done 5 months ago .." etc etc.

PMDG advertised their LNAV as complete as well, but the NGX dont do DME Arcs, so should we have another NGX?

Haters always hate.

John Barnes said...

All these RW pilots.lol Wannabees more like.

John Barnes said...

Errrrm Do you not think they have RW pilots on the books? Get real or shut up.

Anonymous said...

There's someone claiming to be a real world pilot saying that. Go ask Captain Ronan O'Cadhain on AVSIM, a proven A320/A330 pilot, about wing flex! If he says there's wing flex then I'll complain to FSL too but if he doesn't then end of, he's the FS authority when it comes to everything to do with Airbuses.

Unknown said...

A RW A320 pilot?! Come on...

DowgZ said...

lol, he is, for Aer Lingus

DowgZ said...

Ref: WingFlex..

What a bunch of SAD ACTS!!!!!!

Get a life man!

Infact go get a new hobby..you and your lame ass complaints are pathetic...

Also...you can kick and scream all you bloody want about...''if it doesnt have this im not buying''...***News Flash!***...the Devs dont give a rats ass...you are 1 person = 1 sale. Now, i would hazard a guess that your little minds think that your 1 payment you say you wont make if it doesnt have ''xyz'' is really going to effect them on the grand scale of things then you a sorley mistaken..

Anonymous said...

The NGX replaces the DME arcs with a series of points, that will do the job more than adequately.

On the contrary, the Aerosoft Airbus X A320/A321 (former Extended), will crash you to the side of a mountain/hill, the DME arc was there to avoid.

Anonymous said...

I agree, Ro's the one to ask about this!!! As it says above, he's the be all and end all when it comes to Airbuses in FSX, he's the go to man, there's no one out there with more knowledge about it, that has actually proved themselves to be a real world Airbus pilot. We just need him to come on here and put all these rumours to bed. There's probably no wing flex, but if the community needs an answer let an ACTUAL real pilot tell us, not some random anonymous poster that claims to be a real A320 pilot!!!

And @Essono, he is a real pilot, for Aer Lingus like it says.

Anonymous said...

Rónán O'Cadhain is an advisor on this project, I suspect you will find; along with a few other Actual (Read..Not wanna be..) A320 type rated drivers...

Anonymous said...

For some wingflex seems to be the end of the world & they won't buy it without it??? LOL! be very thankful that soon AEX & BBS aren't going to be our only Airbus choices!

Anonymous said...

This is going to be a great simulation given their approach of the design

Unknown said...

Don't worry guys. I know exactly who Rónán O'Cadhain is... I was just joking actually. This thread is is so crazy I couldn't help myself. Ah ah ah.

Anonymous said...

Blah Blah. So what? It's still false advertising. and no, in certain RNAV approaches you will crash because of lack of DME arc curves in the NGX.

The anoymous above criticized the false advertising but he is biased. (yes I am biased too). if he wants to bring out the spilled beans about false advertising, let's bring in the NGX too otherwise, it won't be fair.

Anonymous said...

Yup, some people need to look up the word SARCASM lol

wideloadwhitford said...

http://youtu.be/msn9c61zI4o?t=9s

Whoah just in time for the wingflex battle, did I miss anything?

Anonymous said...

Wtf... But notice the nice flex in his movements. FSLABS, IF HE CAN DO IT WHY CAN'T YOU??!

Anonymous said...

60,000 components we will never actually interact with or see. Seriously as cool as this is we do not need it. I hate to be so impatient and picky but come on, I am tired of waiting for a good Airbus and it is a bit annoying to find out the reason it is taking so long is because useless features are being modeled. By now you coul have done the entire A32X series just fine without these 60,000 components.

Anonymous said...

This is what is most frustrating. FSLabs is modelling 60,000 useless components we will never interact with or so, but can't model the wing flex that is noticeable on every single flight. WTF?

Anonymous said...

I was wondering why those people think WILCO, AEROSOFT,BBS are the good product. Have you flew the Level-D sim for A320 before? Go try it, then you will delete your Aerosoft, Wilco and BBS airbus.

Anonymous said...

Then you go fly your Aerosoft or Wilco bus.

Unknown said...

I just want to throw out there that the Freeware project airbus had modeled wingflex in thier a320 models, is it really that hard to add it even as option to a payware model

Unknown said...

asdfasdf

data63 said...

+ 10!!

please make all of that "wing flex obsessed" seat 40e flyers leave

it's not funny any more :-(

Unknown said...

unless it has wingflex then by default it CANNOT be classed as 'realistic'
external model wise they failed like aerosoft.

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