Developer Black Square has released its highly-anticipated TBM 850 single-engine turboprop for Microsoft Flight Simulator. Claiming to be one of the most technically advanced aircraft simulations for Microsoft Flight Simulator, the TBM 850 features 100 possible failures, hot-swappable radio configurations, and the most advanced pressurization and cabin temperature simulations in MSFS.
The aircraft Black Square chose to recreate for MSFS is a 2006 TBM 850 and it features a flight model customized to match the real-world aircraft based on real in-flight data. In fact, the developer says that the TBM’s takeoff, climb, and cruise performance matches POH book values within 2%. The flight model uses the most up-to-date features available in MSFS including CFD propeller and stall physics, and improved ground handling.
Users of Black Square’s Steam Gauge Overhaul Analog series for the Bonanza, Baron, Caravan, and King Air will be familiar with the developer’s attention to detail when it comes to aircraft operation, failure modeling, and instrumentation. The TBM continues to build on this with every 3D gauge in the instrument panel modeled and coded to meticulously match their real-world counterparts, with reference to real-world manuals. Black Square has also modeled persistent wear, MTBF (mean time between failures), and scheduled failures for nearly every component in the aircraft, many with multiple different failure modes. Users can experience real-world failures that have been documented in the developer’s series of YouTube videos. A 100+ page manual provides instruction on all equipment and over 600 checklist items are provided for 55 Normal, Abnormal, and Emergency procedures.
The Black Square TBM 850 is available from Just Flight for $41.99 USD (excluding any applicable taxes).
System Features
- Improved turbine dynamics (ITT, TRQ, Ng, Fuel Flow, Inertial Separator) and hot starts, with the unique ‘850 Mode’ torque limiter
- Turbine engine failures, such as compressor stall and surging, and fuel control failures. Engine limit excursions that decrease engine health and will eventually lead to failure.
- Gyroscope physics simulation for electric and pneumatic gyroscopes with precession, and partial failures based on a coupled quadrature oscillator
- Turbine bleed air-driven pressurisation system and cabin climate system
- Completely intractable electrical system with 15 buses and 85+ circuits
- EFS 40 EADI & EHSI Electronic Flight Instrumentation System and Engine Trend Monitor
- State saving for fuel, radio selection, radio frequency memory, cabin aesthetics, etc.
- 95+ system failures, set via an in-cockpit interface. Either random, based on settable MTBF, or schedulable with optional time acceleration.
- Cabin environmental control system for heating, air conditioning, ventilation, ram air cooling. Cool things off by opening a door or watch the aircraft heat up in the sun.
- Crew/Passenger oxygen system that depletes according to pressure altitude, passenger occupancy, and weight
- Mathematically accurate VOR and ADF signal attenuation and noise, and remote compass
- FOD ingestion damage demands use of inertial separators and ice protection systems
Sounds
- Black Square’s TBM 850 features a highly customized version of the MSFS-native (Wwise) 3D TBM 930 sound package, with many new handmade sounds added for warnings, environmental control systems, electronics, and more.
- Default sounds have been carefully assigned to all interactable cockpit elements for an authentic 3D spatial audio experience, and engine sounds have been integrated with Black Square’s turbine engine and propeller simulation.
Model
- Accurately modeled TBM 850 created from hundreds of reference photos and technical documentation with the help of real TBM 850 operators and maintenance technicians.
- Engine visual model, opening cabin and passenger doors, and baggage compartment.
- 100% MSFS native animation code for the smoothest animations and cockpit interactions using either legacy or new cockpit interaction modes
- PBR (Physically Based Rendering) materials with real-time environment reflections for superb quality and realism, and vector-graphic-like decal quality.
- Detailed normal mapping for leather, fabric, plastic, stitches, scratches, carpet, and tooling marks, resulting in a texture resolution of 10,000 pixels per square inch (90.0kB)
Cockpit
- Faithfully recreated interior and cockpit with Black Square’s hyper-realistic art style.
- Custom-coded steam gauges with lowpass filtering, needle bounce, and physics provide ultra-realistic and silky-smooth animations like you’ve never seen before. New gyroscopic simulation makes analog instruments more realistic than ever!
- Carefully modeled components match the depth and character of the real instrumentation, based on reference photos, schematics, and real-world measurements.
- Every knob, switch, and button is interactable and implemented, along with its respective electrical circuitry. Turn systems on and off or pull circuit breakers to see the impact it has on your generators and battery via the analog meters. Alternating current inverters and bus ties are correctly simulated. Many pieces of equipment respond correctly to electrical configurations with warning messages and diagnostic codes.
- Fully 3D cockpit lighting technology for every gauge and panel, with ambient bounce lighting, and all lights dim with battery voltage and load, an immediately recognizable effect to nighttime pilots.
- 4096×4096 (4K) PBR textures in the cockpit and panel for crisp instrumentation.
- Hideable yokes, adjustable sun visors, and other cockpit aesthetics
