Many years ago, when FSElite first came onto the scene, I took a call from an up-and-coming developer. “We are developing an Airbus A380 for X-Plane 11,” said the young and ambitious new developer. I distinctly remember the conversation because he was passionate and excited, saying that they had all the resources and knowledge they needed in order to create something special. That, of course, was iniBuilds in their early days, primarily focused on creating liveries and GSX profiles.
It wasn’t long before that idea pivoted to other Airbus aircraft within X-Plane. Those were well-received at the time and gave credence to the talent of the team and also to the idea that these guys could be the ones to finally bring the Super Jumbo to life in flight simulation. Years passed, and developers from across the simverse announced their own plans to take on the huge aircraft. Fast forward to now, and we have not one, not two, but three renditions of Airbus’ biggest aircraft.
For iniBuilds, the release of the A380 represents more than just a new product release; it is something that has been the result of years of groundwork and applying all the lessons learned from their past releases. It is clear from my first flight with the plane that the A380 is their most ambitious project yet, and it feels the most complete of any iniBuilds aircraft released so far.
First Look at the iniBuilds A380
To be clear, I have done a single full sector with the aircraft, but it was enough to give me a first impression that I am happy to share. After all, this is a hugely anticipated plane, and one that comes with a price tag that requires a bit of consideration before buying. But rest assured, a full review will be coming shortly, once I’ve racked up a few more hours in the plane.
External Modelling and Textures
My first impressions begin with the external modelling in Avatar mode. It’s clear iniBuilds has had some pretty extensive access to the plane in order to capture a lot of its nuanced details. My favourite area has to be the wings; the detail here is incredible. The sheer scale and size of the wings have been faithfully represented, including the droop when the tanks are full of fuel. Once the flaps and spoilers are deployed, you can see hydraulic and fuel lines running through, and it’s all incredibly detailed. The texture work is also something to be admired. Text is extremely legible, dirt and grime are present, and those who like to count rivets will be pleased.
You can open up the engine cowlings for inspection, add engine covers and investigate various ports and bays across the plane. It’s something that has become common practice amongst aircraft in MSFS 2024, but it’s still fun to interact with nonetheless. In general, the sheer scale and dominance of the A380 is enough to make jaws drop, and I feel as though iniBuilds has captured that essence incredibly well within the sim. It’s been fun to explore the outside of the plane… until I stepped inside…
Inside the A380 Cabin
…and then I found there was even more to discover. Some may say that cabins are not important to the experience, but in this day and age, it’s now become standard to include them. Not just include them, but start adding interactive elements and details. I’ll come to some of those interactions shortly, but exploring an entire Emirates cabin in this level of detail was a blast. The whole cabin has a personality, and what you do in the flight deck has an impact on those cabin details.
For example, in my rush to get airborne, I forgot to load any potable water into the tanks. This then meant the toilets for my 7-hour flight were INOP (as well as the onboard shower). Sorry, virtual passengers, we were on a tight turnaround!
Flight Deck Modelling and Sounds
Moving into the flight deck, just like everything else about this plane, it’s huge. I would say that the A350 takes the crown for the most spacious flight deck (pilots tell me I’m wrong), but once again, I was left impressed.
As we have come to expect now from iniBuilds, the modelling is top-notch and the texture work is a great balance between creative choice and realism. There has been a lot of attention paid to the material texturing throughout, with seats looking authentic and the panelling looking more used and worn than on more modern aircraft. I appreciated the dust, scratches and fingerprints found in some areas, whilst the reflective qualities of the sunshades added a nice touch (this is particularly noticeable when flying at night when the ND/PFD is bright).
I personally found no issues with the modelling or texture work upon first impressions. I interacted with many elements, such as the sunshades, the armrests, the tray table and the flight deck door – everything was smooth and looked great.
Turning on the ground power for the first time and hearing the aircraft come to life was another wow moment for me. Hearing the avionics start to power up whilst the air comes rushing through the air conditioning system was great. There is a constant buzz/hum that comes through, which I’m told is a quirk of the A380.
Getting Ready to Fly the iniBuilds A380 Airliner
Working through the flows to get her started, I found everything worked as expected, with nothing untoward happening as I started to align the IRS, program the MCDU and begin adding payload and fuel. Managing payload is done through the new-look iniBuilds onboard EFB. It’s their most visual EFB yet, with a huge number of options to play around with.
Setting up throttle calibration was easy, changing callout settings was a breeze, and turning on the built-in RAAS functionality was as simple as turning on a few toggles. As with other iniBuilds aircraft, you can sync up Navigraph charts, update FMS navdata on the fly, import SimBrief plans and have full control over GSX right from the EFB. Again, everything just worked as intended, even when I was really pushing it by adjusting every option to see what would happen. There were a few gripes I had with some failures, which I will explain shortly.
Flight plan imported, aircraft fuelled and loaded, performance calculations set, and tug connected, we were ready to head off to Dubai from London Heathrow.
Taxi and Takeoff from Heathrow
I have to say, the engine start-up sounds were excellent. The rumble and bass as they spooled up sounded incredible. Once they were ready to go, they were quieter than you’d expect. Which makes sense; they’re pretty far behind the cockpit and the A380 is known to be a very quiet aircraft from inside, especially on the upper deck.
I used the OANS to navigate around Heathrow (which now loads faster and with fewer stutters than I recall on the A350), and as I approached runway 27R, the RAAS kicked in and warned me, even with a visual indicator.
Moving the aircraft on the ground felt good, but you really do have to be considerate of the size of the plane, and also be cautious that not all taxiways at airports are suited to the jet. It adds a new level of consideration that other aircraft simply don’t have.
As I took off, the plane took its time to build up speed, but once it did, it floated gracefully off the ground. Despite its size, the A380 almost feels like it glides up off the ground and doesn’t require much pullback on the stick at all to get her airborne. Those gigantic wings are providing incredible amounts of lift. Again, I felt the sound effects here really helped to sell the immersion.
Climbing out of Heathrow, the plane handled perfectly well through the altitude and speed constraints, never passing 6,000ft on the initial climb out. Turns were smooth as it followed the green line, and I never had problems with the plane managing its speed as it ascended through London airspace and beyond.
Cabin Features and the Flight Attendant Panel
With the plane now in cruise, I took the chance to play around with some features and settings within the cabin and EFB. Let’s start with the cabin. As I mentioned earlier, iniBuilds has taken things to the next level with the cabin modelling and interactivity. So much so, they have included a functional FAP (Flight Attendant Panel).
This panel, found at multiple doors, controls things like cabin lights and temperatures, and also displays indications such as water/waste levels and any smoke detectors going off. Various pages of the FAP are modelled, but I found a few teething issues with changing cabin lighting using the FAP and also some glitchy clickspots. It’s not deal-breaking stuff, but just something to comment on for those interested in the feature.
A380 Systems and MCDU
After a bit, I came back to the flight deck to test some other features. Wind uplink can be done automatically or manually; adding a secondary flight plan works great, and offsets are all functional within the plane. I tried to push the MCDU to the limit by changing the next waypoint, adding in step climbs and adding some custom waypoints. Nothing I threw at the plane caused it to behave weirdly or crash.
Again, this is the one and only flight so far, but reports suggest that crashes are very few and far between.
Now, I did mess up. I was playing around with the EFB and clicked the toggle to change the navdata from the in-sim data to Navigraph’s. It obviously updated the navigation set, but then meant my flight plan was wiped from the plane. However, the plane carried on, and I was able to reload my flight plan.
I did find that I was unable to set a gross weight for the plane again, which explains why some of my screenshots don’t show a GW. This is completely on me and not representative of the product. But as my real-world time was limited, I carried on. What I found interesting was that the plane took it all in stride and carried on.
It would’ve been helpful had I used the built-in autosave feature before playing with changes, but hindsight is a wonderful thing.
Failures and Autosave
As the day sky turned to night, I continued to mooch around the flight deck and play with the EFB. I found myself on the failures page, seeing what options there were. There were, of course, the usual failures that can be set to instantly fail or fail dynamically. And from their A350 series, there were also other types of issues that could occur, such as GPS spoofing and bird strikes.
Being the inquisitive soul I am, I clicked on ‘dynamic’ on bird strikes, then another button and suddenly, THUMP, THUMP, BANG, BOOM. Panning the camera around, engine number 4 was on fire. Whoops! I went to an external view and saw the smoke fly out of the engine; it was rolling back, and suddenly engine 4 was no more.
Now, obviously, again, I’m trying to just do a flight uninterrupted so I can fly the whole A-B experience. I really wanted to get my engine back, so I went through the EFB to find a way to reset any failures. It was a little trial and error in that there was no ‘reset all’ button that would reset everything for me.
I was able to press ‘reset’ but found that it didn’t clear the engine fire. I had to go to each individual failed module (engine, generator and bird strike) and turn them off. Again, not a huge deal, but having the reset button completely wipe all failures would be nice to see. For what it’s worth, I did try out the autosave feature to roll back, and I am pleased to report it worked flawlessly.
Night Lighting and the Flight Deck
As darkness filled the sky, the cockpit’s internal night lighting took the spotlight, all looking excellent. The texturing and dynamic lighting worked well with the sim’s lighting engine to provide an atmospheric experience. Lighting is, of course, adjustable to your liking, with every element able to be controlled. The terrain and weather radar popped nicely on the ND.
Flying the Approach into Dubai
As the darkness turned to the lights of the United Arab Emirates on the ground, I began descending into Dubai. Programming the approach and STAR worked as expected, with the MCDU having no issue rewriting whenever I made any changes or adjustments.
I flew the approach, selected heading select and used the vertical speed options on the autopilot to continue testing different elements. Nothing I threw at the plane gave it an issue. I did an autoland into Dubai, hand-flying the last 1,000ft or so, and everything was steady.
Flying the plane required delicate movements on the stick, which I am used to after many hours in the A350. It is a different kind of challenge, as you feel like you’re floating a lot more on the flare due to the position of the flight deck compared to the main landing gear.
Once on the ground, the BTV function worked brilliantly, bringing you down to a slow speed in order to easily vacate the runway. Just as with leaving Heathrow, manoeuvring on the ground had a great feeling of weight behind it, whilst the four powerplants under the wing ensured that you could easily gain enough speed to make movement feel good.
iniBuilds A380 Performance in MSFS 2024
The biggest question is: how was performance?
Considering I flew between two of the world’s busiest airports, all in 4K, I have to say I was impressed with how smooth the experience was. I found that I had better performance in the A380 compared to the A350, which is likely helped by the fact iniBuilds has had time to really find optimisations since that aircraft’s release.
I haven’t run any direct comparisons between this product and others on the market, but the fact remains that my system experienced a relatively smooth experience throughout. More testing needs to be done, and your mileage will vary, but I think the fact I am running it better compared to a similarly specced aircraft in terms of system depth speaks to how it should run on your machine.
First Impressions of the iniBuilds A380
Overall, I am extremely impressed by what iniBuilds has created, based on my first outing. And the consensus across the community seems to be that this has been a somewhat smooth release. iniBuilds were clear that this release would be their most feature-complete on day one, and it does feel that this really is the case – with everything learned from past products poured into this.
Yes, there are some quirky quality-of-life improvements that could be implemented, but overall, if you are looking for a great rendition of the A380, then this could be your best bet.
A few more flights in varying conditions will give me more confidence in truly recommending it, especially when compared to others on the market, but this is certainly a solid release and a plane that I am excited to continue to fly around the virtual skies.
There is plenty more to unpack and features I haven’t even touched on during the 7-hour hop from London to Dubai.
Drop a comment below on what you would like me to test for the review. What feature excites you most? If you already own it, what is your experience so far? Let us know!
