The highly anticipated A380X from FlyByWire studios has broken cover again to demonstrate the detailed wing flex simmers can anticipate on release.
FlyByWire Simulations took to their discord and YouTube to showcase and explain the details of the wing flex modeling of the A380X still in development. The A380, the absolutely enormous aircraft it is, has presented problems that Microsoft Flight Simulator has as a platform not yet had to solve.
The wings on the A380 have a wingspan of 80m, the maximum allowable by current airport restrictions. Within the wings lay a total of 8 fuel tanks, which, when completely topped up with fuel, weigh a whopping 150 tons, per wing. For comparison, a single A320 weighs approximately 70 tons, meaning a fully loaded A380 wing can weigh more than two A320s.
The A380 is the largest commercial airliner ever produced, and with that comes various technical challenges involved in modeling the aircraft to be as realistic as possible. The developers at FlyByWire Simulations are working on a solution for the weight issues; Microsoft Flight Simulator’s default wing flex models alone cannot properly simulate the sheer mass and weight that the A380’s wings might carry.
FlyByWire Simulations has made clear that the wing flex modeling will be thorough; each fuel tank will be independently modeled, and weight changes within them will drastically change how the wing behaves. The video uploaded to YouTube does not state how far into development this element is; however, the effects already look incredibly convincing.
As of yet, there is still no information regarding any potential release dates; however, with the level of detail and care being poured into this project, it should be worth the wait! Check out our report on the texturing reveal from February.
Feel free to join our Discord server to share your feedback on the article, screenshots from your flights or just chat with the rest of the team and the community. Click here to join the server.
