As the finishing touches on the much-anticipated airplane, the PILOT’S Dash 7, are made, they have shared some preview pictures of the GTN 750 and GNS 530 avionics from the cockpit. Although the Dash 7 was announced to be “ready soon” back in October of 2022, PILOT’S have taken their time and will reveal its availability when it is ready. With avionics finished, we are seeing the product come to life with each announcement and the excitement in the forums show it.
PILOT’S have made quality products in the past, such as the Boeing 314 Clipper for MSFS, products for other simulators, and a handful of airports. This task of building such a complex and sophisticated airplane like the Dash 7, had PILOT’S teaming up with SimWorks Studios to make it. This is an excellent pairing of two great sim developer groups and their recent photos of their progress show it. The MSFS sim community have been waiting for this plane to arrive and all indications show that it should be received well.
FSNews previously reported on the announcement of this magnificent beauty back in May 2023. This announcement today, shows the excellent and intuitive GTN 750 avionics has been integrated and finished as they promised. The fact that you can have two GTN 750s, or one 750 and one GNS 530 shows their response to potential buyer requests. Most MSFS sim flyers know of the GNS 530 as it is in many of the stock airplanes. According to experienced pilots, that same knowledge of the 530 makes it very easy to learn the 750 with it’s touch screen and easy to find functions.
The DeHavilland Canada Dash 7 (DHC-7) is the precursor to the Dash 8 currently servicing countries around the world. Regional airlines use both of these planes for those commuter flights and shorter hops that the heavies won’t handle. The Dash 7 still outperforms the Dash 8 in STOL performance, but only 100 Dash 7s were ever made. The Dash 7 has four engines, whereas the Dash 8 is more cost-effective to run with only 2 engines and a full FMS system. The Dash 7 is essentially a larger, four-engine version of the Twin-Otter, also made by DeHavilland. This high-wing, high-tail, and forward folding landing gear make it a great short takeoff and landing (STOL) performer. It can seat 50 passengers in quiet comfort due to it’s oversized propeller blades and low operating RPMs. The GTN 750 avionics is a perfect pairing of this older plane that didn’t have an FMS system in it when it was designed.
Why Use the GTN 750 Avionics in the PILOT’S Dash 7?
The GTN 750 in the PILOT’S Dash 7 is a trendy avionics package that ties into various auto-pilot systems. It is used in several airplanes worldwide, and it is a real pilot’s favorite, given the choice. The real draw here is the big touch-screen and the easy-to-navigate system. Although we still have to use a mouse in the simulator, real pilots love how easy it is to work with the 750 even if their knowledge is limited to the GNS 530, Giving us the option to use the 750 or the 530, or both please sim pilots. They will find adapting to either system very easy.
By the looks of their preview photos of the outside and the cockpit, the Pilot’s Dash 7 looks like it is ready to fly. Now that the avionics look as they should and the beta testers results are in, we should see this plane launch to loud applause from flight simmers around the world anytime soon, right on target for the three-year anniversary of MSFS.
