Third-party developers have provided news about upcoming add-ons for Microsoft Flight Simulator and released airports and a relevant aircraft.
Starting with the latter, we get the release of Cockspur's Embraer Phenom 100 business jet.
It's available on the developer's own store and on Simmarket for approximately $30. You can see what it looks like in the trailer below.
Another update without images comes from PMDG about its upcoming Boeing 777. You can read it in full below, straight from CEO Robert Randazzo.
Our upcoming flagship of the fleet, the PMDG 777 continues to make solid progress through the beta testing period. We aren't yet to a point where we are projecting a release date, as we still have a number of features that are being baked into the airplane and many new items that are being tested, tweaked and improved in order to bring you the most feature rich 777 simulation yet created for desktop simulation. We will begin talking more openly about many of these features as the airplane nears release- and we are also planning to spend a number of weeks doing feature previews and the like- mostly to give you some insight into just how incredibly the 777 will scratch the "big airliner" itch when she rolls out in the near future!
I know many of you are interested in what goes on behind the scenes with our testing program- and it really isn't all that glamourous- I promise. We have just handed BETA 5 to our testing team and they are still testing her heavily in the battery-on to battery-off on short-haul segments in order to give all of the systems and capabilities as many cycle workouts as posisble.
The team is about as active as we have ever seen them- and the rate at which they are reporting items to us remains pretty much right on the slope that we expect to see at this phase of testing.
We have many tracking metrics- and those metrics point to a mostly-healthy test program but we know we still have quite a few features that aren't fully working or still need to be added- so even being on-slope, we still have some items to deliver to the testers.
Since commencing beta testing, the beta team has opened 359 issue reports, and the development team has resolved 263 of them as of 1800Z/06JAN. Things have been a bit slower on the developer side during the Christmas-New Year period, but the second half of this week saw an increase in pace on the dev team side.
The next two weeks will be telling in terms of how many of the open agenda items we are able to square up, while also driving down the number of issue reports. (those are two different sets of items...)
I had hoped we would be doing flight deck previews last week (or this week) but Vin asked that I hold off just a bit longer, as he is still working on some key components' fit and finish- so I'll be back with some flight deck detail for you once he gives the all-clear.
There's one more Embraer in the works, and it's the freeware E170 by Ouroboros.
You can find a demo of the EFB tablet on the developer's Discord Server or download the video directly from this link.
We then get a look at the Su-27 Flanker by DC Designs. The aircraft is in the "final push" before being sent to the official Marketplace.
The developer is working on a HUD that closely matches the real one, while weapon displays showcase the loadout dynamically. Work for next week involves tweaking the aerodynamic performance from the wings when at low-speed and high-alpha.
Moving on to airports, FS Formosa Project released some brand new screenshots of its upcoming Taitung Airport (RCFN) in Taiwan.
Next, we get a release from Fly2High, and it's Rafael Núñez International Airport (SKCG) serving Cartagena in Colombia.
It's available on Simmarket for $16.37. It comes with the following goodies.
- Accurate simulation of the nearest Cartagena Airport
- Hand-made ground textures (Runways, aprons, paths, roads).
- Accurately modeled and positioned dynamic airport lighting.
- Highly detailed models of all airport buildings, objects, and surroundings.
- Good optimization of FPS
The next airport release comes from Kiss Simulation and it's Sarajevo International Airport (LQSA) in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
It's available on Simmarket for $14.19 with the following features.
- Real world runway length and profile
- Adjusted runway field height
- Real world ILS approach angle matching 3.2°
- Added additional Airport objects for improved visual refrences like RVR equipment or ILS antenna
- Custom animated runway guard lights
- Added new build terminal which is extending the old one
- Custom designed ground vehicles, including fuel truck and stair truck
- Custom pushback truck to match the Goldhofer AST-3
- Updated taxiway to match real world layout
We then move on to Trapani Airport (LICT) in Italy by Barelli MSFS Addon.
It's available on Simmarket for $13.09 and you can catch a video below.
Lastly, Siamflight released the small Mae Sariang Airport (VTCS) in Thailand.
It's currently available on Simmarket for... free! You read it right. You can get this classic and picturesque airport for the affordable price of zero dollars.
You may have noticed a few days of hiatus due to Holidays and travel, but our daily Microsoft Flight Simulator news posts are back, ready to provide you with all the info you need to navigate this lively third-party industry.
