BBS have released an unfinished version of their Airbus, the Prologue version. Developers seem to be doing this a lot, I guess because it means a trickle of much needed income. In my view the BBS leaves the Wilco well behind in the graphics department which given their respective ages would be expected. The rather aggressively defended Aerosoft version is very good, but it is 'lite' on systems as it was always intended to be. The BBS with a few minor hitches at this stage is awesome on systems, and I am certain the final version witll keep us busy looking up the QRH.

 

These screenshots were taken on a variant of the tutorial (which needs a bit of work).

 

The Airbus flies well and the systems are modelled or being modelled very accurately. It flies by hand or autoflight extremely well and responses seem very much as would be expected from a heavy jet with a FBW system.

 

The first shot is the Air Malta A319 over Sardinia. The Air Malta livery is a little too shiny for my taste, as is the Germanwings although it has more contrast. I am sure that in due course painters will provide plenty of 'dirty' versions for us.

 

 

The next set are Germanwings A319 abeam Sicily. Really looks not too bad.

 

 

 

Coming at you:

 

 

Is it worth it, Yes. It is good to fly a very challenging aircraft with full systems. Once the minor glitches are sorted the final version should be pretty good.

 

Oh, sorry, it comes with a P3D installer! A bonus in itself.

Thanks for the mini review of the BBS Airbus in P3D Ian, When P3D 1.4 is released i plan to move over to it and leave fsx, But yes the external paints do look a bit to glossy but that can normally be fixed by adjusting the reflectivity layer in the paint kit :)

 

Im not to keen on over glossy paint jobs on heavys as well, i prefer a more satin look to keep the reflections toned down a little :)

BBS have released an unfinished version of their Airbus, the Prologue version. Developers seem to be doing this a lot, I guess because it means a trickle of much needed income

Hi Ian,

 

I think they do it because they get nervous about the pending release of the 'Aerosoft Airbus X Extended'. That is an unbelievable product, I can tell you.

Just look at this post: http://forum.avsim.n...bus-x-extended

It will also have a P3D installer.

If there's something to be nervous about, it's FSL's version. At least it'll have an A319...

The BBS has an A319.

 

I too have been waiting for the FSL but nothing solid has been revealed about when.

 

I can understand the reasons why Devs shy away from giving even rough estimates of RTM, but after five years or so of FSX it will be good to have a properly functional Airbus of the standard that PMDG has set for Boeings.

 

And to the flamers and the type lovers, I fly them both. All aircraft are challenging and demanding to fly properly, and that's the glory of our hobby.

 

Eric and others. The Airbus Extended I thought was still to be 'lite' in systems functionality. Is this the case or will it have all of the Alpha Floor conditions, automatic flight, IRS functions and all?

 

The benchmark is PMDG, regardless of the maker, type or model, or 'example' as the aviation industry publications refer to various types and models.

If there's something to be nervous about, it's FSL's version

 

I believe they should be nervous about both the aerosoft and fslabs a320s

 

I have this BBS version and it is nice. The exterior model tho is nothing to look at imo and it is a bit expensive.

 

The way I see it the aerosoft bus looks much better than the bbs one even if systemwise it will be on the lighter side. The Fslabs's one is going to be tops. So I think when aerosoft and fslabs will release those who are more into lite stuff will buy aerosoft and those more into studysims will go fslabs.

 

All the above together with the very high price the extreme version will sell for ($100?) and the history behind BBS will prob mean their sale will go through the floor and BBS will disappear yet again and laugh all the way to the bank.

The BBS has an A319.

 

I was referring to the Aerosoft model. I wonder why they did the 320 and 321 instead of the more popular A319 and A320...

Eric and others. The Airbus Extended I thought was still to be 'lite' in systems functionality. Is this the case or will it have all of the Alpha Floor conditions, automatic flight, IRS functions and all?

Ian,

The Airbus X Extended will not be comparable to the PMDG 737NX, but more in between that and the previous version of the Airbus X.

 

But an Airbus is a complete different beast than a Boeing.

Please read this very interesting post by Finn, one of the developers, on this:

http://forum.aerosof...post__p__390640

 

And Mathijs says in the same thread:

The triple seven is indeed the platform that Boeing uses to get to grips with all these systems. But as Finn explained, the newest 737 from Boeing still has a fixed connection between the pilot and the flight surfaces. Boeing believes the pilot should be warned but should be able to fly the aircraft under all conditions and there is a lot to be said about that. Now the PMDG flight behavior is some of the best available, but fact is they do not have to bother with megabytes of code we have to work between the stick and the flight model. So there are at least a handful of good 737's (only one that stands out though) and only two or three modestly serious airbusses (and I count our own as one of the those) that are up to date. We hope to add one that is above that level, but we do NOT aspire to reach the PMDG 737 NGX level. Not with an Airbus, not at 32 Euro. Where they focus on modeling the full systems we only hope to get the systems that are used all the time right.

 

So we do not model the APU fire fighting system. Mainly because it simply has never been used in the real thing. Same for many other systems. Call it realistic. On our model you will need the APU fire fighting system just as much as on the real thing. Same for RAT etc. That has been used one time (the Hudson landing). You would need to fly you Airbus X Extended for hundreds of years non stop to need it realistically.

 

Just as Boeing has a different concept as Airbus, we have a different idea on what customers want to use and what they want to see on a feature list.

 

And yet we got system like RAAS, Flight Data Recorder, integrated web server, an add-in system that now has intelligent checklists and a complex view control system etc. In complexity the two projects [compared to PMDG, Ed.] are not that far apart honestly (keep in mind that an Airbus is in essence more complex then a Boeing) yet we want to stay at the 32 Euro (16 Euro is you got the previous release) price level. If you compare products, always compare products of the same price.

Eric and others. The Airbus Extended I thought was still to be 'lite' in systems functionality. Is this the case or will it have all of the Alpha Floor conditions, automatic flight, IRS functions and all?

Oh, Mathijs just posted a new feature list:

http://forum.aerosoft.com/index.php?/topic/56762-airbus-x-extended-preview-part-2/

Eric: thank you, it looks superb. I will be away from home over the next three weeks so this will be a wonderful new add-on to return to. It looks as if Matthis has made a complete modelling of the systems. Wonderful.

I have been flying both of the aviailable Airbus commercial add-ons in P3D.

 

The only identifiable advantage of the BBS version is better fps.  Otherwise the AXE is a more complete product.

 

However I am flying the BBS at the moment and it is spoiled by this purple cube sitting in the eyeline.  It is not a demo version, nor is it on time payment, nor have I forgotten to make the necessary obeisance to all and every deity.  Can anyone tell me how to get rid of it?

 

 

And here's a shiny Air Malta A319 over Gozo on departure from the George Cross Island,  (if you have never read the novel The Kapilan of Malta, do so.).  The Maltese endured a lot for the west in WW2.