320 Sim Pilot is a real-world Airbus A320 pilot based in the UK who often showcases real-world operations of various aircraft, particularly the Airbus A320. On this occasion we join him on a flight from Southampton, UK to Milan Milpensa airport in Italy, some 600 miles away, pushing the BAe 146-100 to its limit.
To start off, we get a full 360 view of the Jumboliner on the stand at Southampton as 320 Pilot discusses what Just Flight have done to bring the aircraft up to the standard of Microsoft Flight Simulator which includes lots of retexturing from its X-Plane counterpart. Although the aircraft is still a work in progress, many of the features both inside and out are near completion. These include external texturing, animation and fine details such as intricate landing gear and flap/slat features as well as an internal cabin and working doors and airstairs.
Within the flight deck, 320 Sim Pilot runs through powering up the aircraft and discusses some of the features unique to this release, such as an in-depth EFB that includes states, settings, announcements, fuel and weights. Just Flight is working to include Navigraph and Simbrief integration before the aircraft is released too. Over 90% of buttons are now working in the flight deck, these include tests, warnings, annunciator and circuit breakers. Even the battery level on the EFB runs low if the aircraft is not powered correctly.
Unfortunately, the FMC system is not yet implemented and 320 Sim Pilot mentioned that the team are working hard to try and get this ready before release, if not, shortly after as they did with the X-Plane release and therefore the flight will showcase radio navigation only. Another system that is yet to be implemented is the weather monitoring system. This is due to limitations of MSFS rather than the aircraft and the team will revisit this, should Asobo bring further support for wx functionality.
To check out the full tutorial of the BAe 146 a few weeks before its release, head over to the 320 Sim Pilot’s Youtube channel.
