FS2Crew has today announced plans for a brand new line of products which will be compatible with the FSLabs Airbus Series. The developer took to the Avsim forums to confirm to the community that work has been on-going for several months to bring the product out. As of right now, it has been said that the product is 90% complete.
The developer has been working extensively on the product and even has personal experience with the aircraft to it due to now being Airbus type rated since the last fall. This new experience has made it easier to develop as it means he doesn’t have to rely on third parties to consult information. The product itself will focus on Airbus procedures directly from the FCOM and FCTM. This means you it FS2Crew for the FSLabs will focus on Airbus SOPs, but they will add airline specific callouts and checklist options for the user.
Whilst there is still not an official SDK for the FSLabs, FS2Crew have found a way to implement alternative methods. FS2Crew did say that some things can only be controlled via simulated mouse clicks and control of the FCU heading, alt and speed values is a bit restricted. However, some knowledge was passed on to say that typically, the pilot flying would control speed, heading and altitude values in the FCU, not the pilot monitoring.
Confirmed further down in the forum thread, FS2Crew said that the product will feature both voice and button controls.
Two new features were also confirmed for the first time in an FS2Crew product. The first of which is you can now fly as pilot monitoring. There are some restrictions in place, such as the fact you can only do this from takeoff to rollout on landing. Furthermore, the automatic pilot flying cannot handle vectors or non-precision approaches because the system can’t see the outside. With that said, the team are looking into trying to do a full flight from gate to gate, but they need to figure out how the aircraft can taxi through the airport unaided.
The second new feature is that you’ll be able to use FS2Crew for FSLabs Airbus from the right-hand seat. You will be able to select the appropriate option and the simulation will act accordingly.
The final other bit of information is in regards to the Aerosoft Airbus version of FS2Crew. Bryan said that there are huge differences between the two. The Aerosoft version was more specific to a specific airline, whereas the FSLabs version will follow current Airbus flows and standard callouts. He did confirm that a Reboot for the Aerosoft version will be developed after the FSLabs one.
Still no further word yet on the upcoming FS2Crew Ground Crew X since January of this year.
