Do you want an a380?

[F737MAX 6,005]

I find it funny the number of people who slate the A380 on behalf of all simmers due to their own personal grudge against it.

It's no looker, that's for sure. However, it's crammed full of innovative new tech, such as widespread use of composite materials to enable lower weight and (at launch) a lower cabin altitude for pax than other airliners, Brake-to-Vacate and Runway Overrun Protection systems as well as being the biggest commercial airliner, as well as one of the quietest.

This is an airliner whose total order number is greater than the MD-11, the L-1011, the BAC One-Eleven, the HS Trident and almost the same number as the A310, all of which have been or are planned to be developed for sims.

I'd love to see a payware version that actually flies like an Airbus. The freeware Project Airbus 380 is modelled well externally, but it doesn't fly like one.
 

[dolbinau 72]

The A380 is also special like the Concorde or 747 in that it is a flagship aircraft of many of the world's most iconic airlines and operatines from some of the most iconic airports. Plus it's still very much in active service. I doubt that the market for buyers of an A380 sim would be as 'niche' as the likes of an MD-11. 

[1123213 26]

Yes. The A380 is a really special aircraft and I think a flightsim version would do quite well. For me, the ideal developer would be FSLabs, as they seem the only candidate that would do it justice in most people's eyes. There's loads of beautiful tech as mentioned above, such as BTV. Whilst this is a great plane to develop, I don't think it's the best one.

For starters, there's the IRL situation. Airlines are slowly starting to retire their A380 fleets, and want less to do with the aircraft. If FSLabs were to develop it, it would take around 5 years imho. Not quite as long as the 320, but still some time. 

By then, you're looking at diminishing numbers, and less support from Airbus and airlines.

The other issue which people don't seem to think about is the actual size of the thing. There are not a lot of airports that could handle an A380, it would be difficult to fire up the sim and head off to Calgary in the A380 (whether Calgary can take a 380 idk, you know what I mean). The A380 is used on not a lot of routes, and it files from airports that require payware scenery mostly, you'd have to have multiple airline hubs and scenery just to have a decent number of routes.

My last point is the diversity of operations. An A380 will almost only fly between Mega airports such as Heathrow or Dubai(maybe excl Emirates operations), and that can get well, boring. One of the fun things about aircraft is the range of scenarios you can be in, tracking an outbound radial in a freezing snowstorm, flying an RNAV. IRL, the A380 doesn't have this range of operations.

I would almost prefer see an A350. I am fully aware that the data is not available. But I'd rather someone like FSLabs finished the amazing 320 series, and prepped the graphics work and 3D models so that when data becomes available, we soon after will have a beautiful, sleek modern aircraft at the peak of operational life.

Overall though, yes, an A380 would be nice, but not at the cost of another jet.

Edited April 28, 2020 by Canine Crew

[Ray Proudfoot 9,166]

Before FS Labs look at yet another Airbus I hope they will produce a 64-bit version of the aircraft that launched their company. Concorde! It seems crazy that the world’s only supersonic airliner is still a 32-bit version and can no longer be bought.

I appreciate the Airbus A3xx is the product that makes them money but I’m sure if you gave people the option of an ugly behemoth or one of the most beautiful aircraft ever built more would choose Concorde.

They have said they will develop a 64-bit version but are waiting to see which platform is the more popular. We could be waiting some time.

[HighBypass 2,339]

Hear Hear, Ray! After Concorde, the aviaiton world slowed to a crawl... 

[HighBypass 2,339]

1 hour ago, Canine Crew said:

..almost only fly between Mega airports such as Heathrow or Dubai(maybe excl Emirates operations), .

cough...cough... Manchester is the "almost" in  your statement..cough ..cough..

The have the arrival and departure times on a notice inside the door of the Airport Hotel (that well known location for spotters with a beer garden (plus hot chocolate for the cold evenings!) at the end of 23R...

[Ray Proudfoot 9,166]

21 minutes ago, HighBypass said:

Hear Hear, Ray! After Concorde, the aviaiton world slowed to a crawl... 

Bit like driving at 60mph and then dropping to 25mph. Same speed difference.

[F737MAX 6,005]

16 hours ago, Canine Crew said:

My last point is the diversity of operations. An A380 will almost only fly between Mega airports such as Heathrow or Dubai(maybe excl Emirates operations), and that can get well, boring.

An A380 might start in a mega hub, but up until the Coronavirus crisis, it flew to some 60 destinations, namely:
Abidjan, Casablanca, Christchurch, Glasgow, Honolulu, Mauritius, Moscow, Mumbai, Osaka, Perth, Prague, Sao Paulo, Vienna and plenty more that I've missed out.

Christchurch is renown for being an 'interesting' approach.
Glasgow has the shortest runway of the 60.
Johannesburg and Mexico City are hot and high.

These might not be as challenging as Innsbruck, Isafjordur, Madeira, Queenstown or Paro, but then very few airports are.
 

16 hours ago, Canine Crew said:

I would almost prefer see an A350. I am fully aware that the data is not available. But I'd rather someone like FSLabs finished the amazing 320 series, and prepped the graphics work and 3D models so that when data becomes available, we soon after will have a beautiful, sleek modern aircraft at the peak of operational life.

A large part of the problem is that there is very little to no publically available data to create realistic flight models for most Airbus aircraft.

Aerosoft had a contract with a professional client to create a RR-engined A330-300, which was later made available to us. AS were clearly able to obtain the specific data required for that particular model and engine variant due to the professional contract that they won.
I understand that there won't be a A330-200 nor any other engine variant of the -300 forthcoming, so it's difficult to see a realistic A350 come onto the scene, unless another professional contract is won by one of the developers.

I would be excited to see any good quality Airbus widebody brought to our sims, however, the chances of one appearing don't look good at the moment.
 

[1123213 26]

Fair enough, I'd even settle for an A330, just a study level longhaul airbus would be nice...

Guess I want an A380 🙂

[C2615 332]

BlackBox will make one when all of them retired IRL