Thrustmaster announced back in the summer that they would be bringing a new range of Airbus approved controls to the world of flight simulation. We have already seen the release of the TCA Sidestick and the TCA Throttles, but many were wondering when the TCA Quadrant Add-On would be released. It has now been confirmed that the Thrustmaster TCA Quadrant Add-On will release on November 26th 2020 in the US, Canada, Latin America and Asia Pacific, with Europe, the Middle East and Africa having a release on December 29th 2020. 

The TCA Quadrant Add-On features a speed brake, flap and gear lever, along with a parking brake and autobrake switch panel. This is an add-on to the recently released throttle set and will need to ba combined to make the product work as intended.

The Thrustmaster website will be updated shortly with all of the details, but looking at other distributors, the add-on looks to retail for €89.99. Of course, this could just be a placeholder FlightSimWebShop and we’ll confirm pricing for other regions once we learn more.

We’ll soon have a published review of the TCA Throttles, or you can read our review on the TCA Sidestick.

Whilst there have been some issues with supply and demand, Thrustmaster said they are working hard to ensure that retailers around the world get the products as soon as possible.

Aircraft developer Supercritical Simulations Group has updated their E-Jets and B 747-8 Anniversary Edition aircraft on X-Plane 11. The updates for both of the aircraft were released over the past few days and can be downloaded and applied to your aircraft now.

Starting with the E-Jets, and perhaps the most significant of the two updates, the changelog indicates various improvements with the aircraft. The PDF and HSI have both been improved, whilst the COM radios now enable .833mhz capability. Furthermore, the update has improved the flight dynamics for X-Plane 11.50 users, along with visual improvements to the cockpit itself. There have also been fixes to the VNAV system, small graphical errors on the MCDU and also with some SID information disappearing after take off. Finally, VR users will appreciate the fact the aircraft is now “VR friendly”.

The Boeing 747-8 Anniversary Edition from SSG has seen a smaller update. Three fixes have been issued with the new update including a fix to the “Direct To” function, the ND map flickering during pushback and also an increase to the glossiness of the external model on the 747-8i.

As mentioned, all of the updates are now available from the X-Plane.org store and can be download and installed.

You can view more about the Supercritical Simulations Group E-Jets here.

You can view more about the Supercritical Simulations Group B 747-8 Anniversary Edition here.

Final Reminder: You have a few hours left to complete the survey. Click here to take it!

The biggest flight simulation survey is now ready for you to complete. For the past few years, Navigraph has put together a detailed and comprehensive survey to help developers, publishers, media outlets and content creators better understand the current situation within the world of flight simulation. The FlightSim Community Survey 2020 can be accessed by clicking this link.

Between November 13th and November 23rd 2020, flight simmers around the world will be able to take part in the largest flight simulation survey. Whilst the survey may be long in terms of time, the aim is to help a variety of companies ensure that future products and services are made with the results in mind. As such, it’s really important you take the time to answer the questions so that developers, publishers, content creators and media outlets can create flight simulation content suited to your needs. Your response will influence the future of the community.

As with other years, there is a focus on major simulators such as Lockheed Martin’s Prepar3D and Laminar Research’s X-Plane 11. However, this year will focus on mobile simulators, combat simulators, and of course, Microsoft Flight Simulator.

Following the survey, Navigraph will release the results publically so that everyone can see what’s going on in the industry and where people’s hearts and minds are at. Right now Navigraph anticipates releasing the results on December 10th 2020, but we’ll be sure to report and provide an analysis of the results when they are available.

For us here at FSElite, we’re really keen to learn how you consume content, what we can do in the future and how we can continue providing the community with transparent news, reviews and original content to inform you of the latest in flight simulation.

Click here to participate in the FlightSim Community Survey 2020.