Many X-Plane users will be familiar with the very popular Zibo Mod for the default Laminar Research Boeing 737-800, and with the latest default airliner being the Airbus A330-300 to ship with X-Plane 12, a new group has formed to give it a similar treatment, all as freeware.
After receiving permission from Laminar Research to modify and improve the default Airbus A330-300, the small team got to work in planning what to tackle first. with the first release, the team have worked hard to revamp some of the internal systems along with some cockpit visuals including an upscaled 4K and 8K version of the cockpit textures, improved PFD colours to better represent the real system.
In terms of systems development, the team have tackled some issues with the autopilot disconnecting during cruise, alterations to the fuel consumption modelling is now more representative of the real aircraft. Finally, as part of V0.9.0, the aircraft autopilot will predict better turns when LNAV is engaged.
Aerogenesis have an ambitious future with plans to revamp the entire cockpit texturing, aircraft displays and sounds by implementing a FMOD sound pack. The team are also working on implementing new engine options in the form of the GE CF6 and Pratt and Whitney PW4000 engines. Although there is no mention whether they plan to create their own or implement an off the shelf option, the team plans to implement an Electronic Flight Bag too. All of these initial plans are set for the version 1.0.0 release but they have not yet shared a timeline for these features to be complete.
What is evident is that the small but busy team have long term plans for the aircraft to bring it to a good level of realism, all for free. Longer term plans include more information to systems as well as additional variants in the form of a freighter, passenger to freight conversion and Multi Role Tanker Transport versions.
If you would like to download the Aerogenesis A330-300 modification, you can find it on the X-Plane Forum and to find out more about the project or if you have skills to help the team develop the aircraft, head over to their Discord channel.
