Reader Survey This survey is intended for those that have used this product or add-on. If you have used it, please let your fellow simulation enthusiasts know how you rate it by taking this survey. Please, if you have not used this product, do not take this poll (you can view the poll from the "Results" link below). - Review Poll - Have you used Marco Esposito's A320 with Andreas Jaros' updated panel? Excellent Good Average I can live with it Taking it off my system Results

Photo Credit:

John Kelly: The Canadian Airlines Airbus A320 photograph used in the banner above.

The Aircraft:

The A320 is part of the Airbus family – a rather large pain in the side of the Boeing Corporation, and was Airbus Industrie's first narrowbody jetliner. It is a 150 seat aircraft with a 2700nm range; major users include United Airlines, Air France and Air Canada.

At 560KB it is a fairly average file size for an FS2000 plane with night lighting. After downloading and unzipping, you are presented with a self-extracting file. Tell the file where FS2000 is, and hit unzip. Fire up FS2000 and select from the aircraft menu.

It is a simple file, in that it is just the aircraft that you are downloading, there is no attempt at a panel (incidentally we paired it up with the excellent FPDA A320 panel ) or a set of sounds. This is fine though, as it is a model that has been realized superbly.

There are very few A320 models on the Net at the moment, and this is probably the best of the breed. There are several things that make it so.

It is a very accurately rendered model. It looks how an A320 should look. One feature that I really liked was the image that was used for the spinning engine blades. It is slightly different from what appears to be a standard map for this moving part. The image used in this A320 has a somewhat 'gritty' look to it and it works very well here. In the flight dynamics department the aircraft behaves quite well. It is a heavy jet, and that is exactly how this fine example feels. Once up in the air after take off, with a rotating speed of 135 knots with flaps 15, climbing steadily at 1900 feet per minute, you won't be doing any fighter pilot maneuvers.

Tragically though it does have its flaws. The aircraft never seems to want to bleed off airspeed. To induce a stall, which was at 153 kts with no flaps and 133 kts with full flaps incidentally, you have to fly at a high nose up angle. The aircraft range is somewhere in the neighborhood of 3000 nautical miles, but this may be different in your case because of weather conditions. One thing I really liked was the aircraft stability. Landings are a dream. As you approach the runway, she holds together very well, and it gives you a tad more time to think and organize yourself. Once on the ground, she feels heavy, and lumbers around very nicely. It is suitably large and feels that way. You will be taking a wide turning circle when you taxi the aircraft.

The night lighting—this to me is one of the best features of Flight Sim 2000. When you come across a plane with quality night lighting, it warms your heart no end. It just adds to that realism factor that little bit.

The author of this A320 has created some very nice textures indeed, and you will probably find yourself doing more night time flying than you usually do. Too often authors create great looking planes with innovative features and a bewildering array of moving parts, only to lose out in the area of flight dynamics. I'm more than pleased to say that this isn't the case here. While I'm not an expert and have never flown a jet such as this (or any jet for that matter), I believe that this aircraft reflects realistically what that experience would be like. I had one of the best landings ever flying this as she is a very stable craft indeed.

All in all I have to say that this is a great attempt at a great plane, and one that easily deserves to be added to your collection when added with the excellent FPDA A320 panel.

Leaving Los Angeles International behind

See the Saratoga?

Looking at the belly

The Panel:

Last year, Andi Jaros released a freeware panel for the A320 that was simply outstanding. The features found on the panel back in those days were out of this world. That same panel was later released by another young flight simmer, who later, released nearly the same panel as shareware. That flight simmer will remain anonymous since we're here to talk about Andi's latest update to the original A320 panel.

At first glance, the panel looks pretty much the same. The main panel looks the same, although cleaner and easier to look at. The background color of the panel looks more in line with the real fligt deck. The gauges have changed slightly in terms of their look. The PFD looks the same, although it's much cleaner and sharper. The engine gauges have changed slightly in that a thicker bar is used to represent the visual settings of the engine. The gauge also sports a new addition. Click on the screen and you can display the same information that the lower ECAM screen displays, namely fuel used and oil information, vibration settings, outside air temperature, and gross weight. Click on it again and you're back to the engine information. This is neat when you have to display something else on the lower ECAM screen, and is more in line with the real flight deck since you can display any information on any of the two screens in the real aircraft.

Below the upper screen is where some of the other new features are incorporated. First and foremost, you see the second ECAM/MFD screen. Over top of this screen, you can place your throttle quadrant/radios and the control panel for the lower ECAM screen, as the throttle quadrant has been reduced in size over the previous version. The control panel for the ECAM screen allows for viewing different parameters of the aircraft. The touch-pad is just like the real thing. Although at this point in time, most of the information is inactive on the various screens, let's remember that this is just an update and the next full release will hopefully include more information. As in the previous version, this screen is still automated to an extent. Depending on the configuration of the aircraft, the screen will display either engine information, landing gear information, or the same information that can be displayed on the upper screen automatically. Advance the throttle on the ground, and you'll see engine information. When the gear goes up, you'll see the animated doors opening, gear going up, and doors closing. And once in cruise or near cruise, you'll see the combination of engine, oil, fuel, air conditioning, and temperature information.

 

As we level of at FL330, the realism factor strikes you. Take a minute and enjoy.

Take your pick. You can fly your A320 like this...

... or like this. Either way, the night lighting effects are some of the best around.

It's very important that you read the included HTML manual in its entirety if you haven't used this panel before, because if you think you can get off the ground by hitting J++ and CTRL-SHIFT-F4, you're in for a surprise. It's impossible to start the engines from the keyboard. You have to follow a sequence of steps first before you can even reach for the ignition and start switches. I won't go into how it's done (that's what the manual is for), but it's worth repeating: make sure you read the manual before firing off an email to Andi.

One quirk that you may run into, and one that I did has to do with the start sequence. After starting the engines, I couldn't bring the generators online for both engines. I pushed and clicked, and pushed and clicked on the buttons but nothing. The only fix I could find was to switch over to another aircraft, start the engines, and then switch back to Andi's panel. After doing this, I could turn the generators on and off at my leisure. Andi is aware of the problem and will suggest you do the same thing thing I just mentioned above.

With the release of FS2000, we're now starting to see some of our favorites make a re-appearance on the scene. This was definitely one panel that I was looking for. I can finally switch over to a true Airbus panel for my A320 instead of using Tony D'Ambrosio's Boeing 777 panel. Like me, most of you have probably been anticipating the release of this panel, and now that it's finally here, head over to FPDA's website to download the panel. Click here to download Marco Esposito's A320 from our library.