Flight simulator for A320

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The flight simulator for A320 , called Airbus A320 at the time of its creation in 1991 , is a flight simulation that contains not only flying but also elements of a role-playing game . The player has a fictional career with an airline. As the rank of rank rises , there is less and less help from the autopilot available, and the difficulties of the flight itself increase: you have to fly to the alternate area or abort the landing. In addition, the weather and visibility conditions deteriorate over the course of a career.

Maps from the "official" outfitter Jeppesen are available for planning and executing the flight .

The only type of aircraft is an Airbus A320 with 150 seats and a maximum take-off weight of 73.5 tons.

history

The beginnings of the game can be found in 1991. It ran on the Amiga and Atari platforms . In 1992 a version for PC was added. The author of the program was and is still today Rainer Bopf; the intro was written by M. Bittner. M. Steinwachs was responsible for the music of the intro.

In the last versions, the intro and music were omitted.

  • In 1992 the flight area was extended to the USA . Before that, only flights within Europe were possible. Connecting flights between the individual areas were not possible and still are today. Sales partner was Thalion Software . The versions called "Volumes" went up to 2.
  • In 2000 the Airbus A320 was renamed the flight simulator for A320 . Media Verlagsgesellschaft mbH, which today (2010) has a different business area, became the sales partner.
  • In 2001 version 2 appeared, now the program called "flight simulator ...". The operational area was expanded to include Sweden and North Africa.
  • Version 3 is currently on the market. The exact name is A320 version 3c . The platform is Microsoft Windows XP . Version 4 is planned, the release date of which has not yet been determined.

Game flow

There are three program sections:

Flight plan creation

A distinction is made between a "training mode" in which every player (you do not fly under your account during training) has all the help available. You can also refuel in the air or move the Airbus to any point in three-dimensional space and fly on from there. Departure and destination airports are freely selectable.

In "duty mode" you can choose a defined account to which a certain "grade" is assigned. The departure airport and the weather are specified.

The player selects the destination airport via submenus, the runway of which is then specified by the system on approach. It is important to have sufficient fuel in order to reach this and an alternate airport safely. Version 3c has 202 airfields in Europe, 105 on the west coast of the USA and 172 in the northeast of the American continent. All areas are more than 3000  NM apart and thus exceed the range of the prototype. The destination airport must therefore be in the same large area as the departure airport.

Approach to Paderborn EDLP with the A320 simulator

Flight operation

This works like in other PC flight simulators, although the landscape graphics are a weak point. Particular emphasis was placed on the correct simulation of the flight behavior of the A320 and its "fly-by-wire" controls. The control can be done with keyboard and mouse. However, in order to experience the functions of the “fly-by-wire” system and the associated flight behavior, a joystick, if possible with force feedback , is required.

An autopilot with the functions of the real A320 is available as an aid:

  • AUTO-SPEED regulates the speed via the engine power.
  • AUTO-HEADING turns to the set course and holds it.
  • AUTO-ALTITUDE increases / decreases to the set height and maintains it.
  • AUTO-NAV steers the aircraft to the selected VOR
  • AUTO-APPROACH / AUTO-LANDING controls the aircraft in the selected AUTO approach procedure up to landing using ILS .

FULL PATTERN, TEARDROP and INTERCEPT FINAL are available as AUTO approach procedures. Course, altitude and speed are freely selectable and are not taken into account in the flight evaluation.

The simulator has a training mode and a service mode . In training mode all functions are available. In duty mode , a logbook is kept in which the completed flights and their ratings are entered. Successful business flights (planning and implementation) can advance your career from “student pilot” to “chief pilot”. Regular duty flights ("status checks") check the required skills and, if necessary, lead to degradation. On these flights, the destination is specified, the availability of autopilot functions is restricted as the level of service rises, and more difficult weather is specified.

Orientation to radio beacons and DME takes a large part in the detailed manual and in actual flight operations . Also Omnidirectional beacon and landing, of course, instrument landing systems are explained and also used as a rule. The simulation should and cannot replace any training aimed in this direction.

Flight evaluation

This evaluates the condition of the aircraft at the moment of ground contact. If there is no "OVERRIDING ERROR" (error that cannot be compensated for by anything), bank, deviation from landing course, TOUCHDOWN POINT, sink rate and remaining fuel are used for evaluation, with an ideal landing being 100%. Compliance with the glide path before landing is also included in the assessment.

For a normal “duty” flight no rating may be below 66%, for a “stand check” or a qualification flight none below 75%.

The "OVERRIDING ERRORS" include crashes, wrong airport, wrong runway, landing gear not extended or negative pitch . Failure to follow instructions to abort landing is also part of this.

Career

As in real life , you start in the lowest level and can qualify for the next higher rank by completing a minimum number of duty flights for the test flight. In the event of an accident or falling below the required percentage, you are gradually demoted . The higher the rank, the less help can be activated. The game has the following ranks and restrictions:

Student pilot
all help is available
pilot
ILS automatic is not applicable
Senior pilot
Altitude and course are no longer controlled by the autopilot
Commander
only "direct mode" in the controls, all impulses are transmitted directly to the elevator and rudder
Chief pilot
Speed ​​is no longer controlled by the autopilot

System requirements

For today's conditions (2015) the program is very undemanding. It was developed to run on laptops without graphics acceleration. The developer specifies:

The program occupies 1 GB on the hard drive with all manuals, maps and aerial photographs.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://www.amazon.de/s/ref=nb_ss?__mk_de_DE=%C5M%C5Z%D5%D1&url=search-alias%3Dvideogames&field-keywords=Flugsimulator+f%FCr+A320&x=13&y=16
  2. ↑ http://www.flightmedia.de/Plane/plane.html
  3. ↑ Manual, Chapter 1.2.2 "Scenery"
  4. ↑ http://www.flightmedia.de/FS_A320_II/fs_a320_ii.html
  5. ↑ Manual, Chapter 1.2.4 "System Requirements"