Airbus A320neo and A321neo for Microsoft Flight Simulator (MSFS) will be the next aircraft brought to us by the renowned team at Fenix Simulations. Following their hugely popular Airbus A320ceo addon, the team immediately received great feedback from the community on their Discord server.
A320neo and A321neo for MSFS
Aamir, the CEO of Fenix Simulations, began the announcement post by saying that the A320neo and A321neo for MSFS will not be just upgraded A320ceo and A321ceo models. The ECAM, for example, was rebuilt from the ground up, in a “NEO” standard. This also means the aircraft is no longer tied to ProSim, a company that provides professional aviation training solutions.
This ECAM rebuild also means that Fenix Simulations had to rewire the whole aircraft. “Every single sensor, valve, generator, pump, switch, button, what have you – she had to learn how to see, breathe and feel again.“, Aamir commented on the process. To further stress that this is not just the CEO variant with a face mask, the post also detailed that the team replaced the batteries with modern NiCad batteries used in the NEO variants, which provide higher capacity and reduced maintenance.
It wouldn’t be the proper A320neo and A321neo if they still ran the old engine options. It isn’t called “New Engine Option” for no reason. Aamir assured the community that both the LEAP and GTF engines will be fully represented with accurate data.
The release is scheduled for 2025, and it was confirmed that this will be a single package that won’t require the A320ceo or A319/A321ceo products. The Fenix Simulations A320neo and A321neo for MSFS will be sold as a single standalone package for a yet-to-be-announced price. It was not disclosed whether the add-on will also come to Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024, Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020, or both.
Surprise aircraft: modernised A320ceo
Customers who opt to own both the A320ceo and A320neo/A321neo from Fenix Simulations will also receive a third airplane. It will be a modernised CEO. “[The aircraft will] be running the latest version ECAM, displays, what-have-you, on your CEO, for all you autobrake OFF enthusiasts“, Aamir detailed in the post on Fenix Simulations’ website.
This modernised A320ceo version is expected to come after the NEO release, not alongside it. Aamir explains this by stating that the team wants to focus on the NEO release in isolation before circling back to this.
Big Fenix Update
Alongside the new A320neo and A321neo, the post also detailed that in the upcoming couple of weeks, Fenix Simulations plans to release what they call the “Big Fenix Update,” abbreviated BFU. In this update, we can expect to get the awaited “Baby Shark“ or the A319 with sharklets.
Fenix also rebuilt portions of their display infrastructure again, and we should get the weather radar function in this update. This will allow flight simmers to navigate lousy weather properly, without using third-party applications.
Since many people complained about unrealistic flare and ground effect behavior, the Big Fenix Update features an entirely rebuilt landing profile. The team analysed a few hundred thousand actual A320 flights from the digital flight data recorder outputs and compared the sidestick deflection profile to the radio altimeter values to understand what it truly means to land an A320 properly. “Then we repeated it for the A319 and then, once again for the A321.“, Aamir added.
Fenix Simulations also added support for LIDO charts in the EFB, rewritten the backend of the V-speed computations, and improved sounds. For example, the soundset for the IAE V2500 engines was completely rebuilt.
A32X CEO and MSFS 2024 support
The Big Fenix Update will also include the first official MSFS 2024 support patch for Fenix Simulations’ A320ceo and A319/A321ceo expansion. To take advantage of the MSFS 2024-exclusive walkaround mode even better, the team added new external panels you’ll be able to play with. All of these will be fully functional and “hooked up to the systems.”
“If you’d like to swing the gear doors open, feel free to walk over – unlatch the panel, and yoink the lever. (…) Make sure the 320 is on level ground – a bit of uneven ground where you’re parked may make refuelling slightly problematic.“, Aamir concluded this section of the post.
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