Announced just over a month ago, the FlightSim Studio Boeing 727F for Microsoft Flight Simulator is very close to release. The developer took to its Discord to announce that the aircraft will be releasing to the public on August 6, with a creators release on August 1st.
The FlightSim Studio Boeing 727-200F
The FlightSim Studio B727-200 Freighter aims to feature an extensive simulation of the real 727’s systems. The team has used Pan Am aircraft reference documentation to custom-code the electrical, APU, hydraulic, oil, fuel, heating, air conditioning, and pneumatic systems for optimal accuracy. Since this aircraft requires three people to operate in real life, the developers have also included various assistance options, should the aircraft prove to be too much of a handful for some.
The 3D model is highly detailed, and features high resolution decals, a custom icing model, PBR textures, a cabin with cargo models, a winglet version, and more. The flight dynamics were created with the help of comprehensive flight dynamics and engine performance data to achieve an authentic flight model in the sim. The same can be said about the sounds, which the team spent hundreds of hours recreating from the available reference materials.
In terms of navigation equipment, old school flyers will be happy to know that the FlightSim Studio 727 will include an authentic CIVA INS, as well as support for classic radio navigation. Newer GPS options, such as the Garmin GNS and GTN units, will also be available. The GNS-XLS, an older generation FMS, was planned to be included in the inital release. However, the team decided it would be better to release it in a future update about one to two months after the aircraft’s initial release, as they preferred to focus their resources on enhancing the INS system.
For auto flight equipment, the FlightSim Studio 727 will feature the Sperry SP-150 autopilot and an optional autothrottle, which was equipped on some real aircraft. The SP-150 is a basic autopilot, meaning that, apart from the usual heading hold and NAV lateral navigation modes, it only has vertical speed, IAS/MACH hold, altitude hold, and glideslope vertical modes – no VNAV.
Aircraft, loading, flight planning with SimBrief support, performance calculations, and options will all be handled from the aircraft’s custom EFB, which is styled to look like a clipboard instead of the typical tablet for a more age-appropriate EFB experience.
Additional Release Information
While the FlightSim Studio 727 was originally planned to be released in July of 2024, the team decided to slightly delay the release to August 6 to allow themselves more time to fix some issues and add a few extra features before release. The price was also revealed to be a modest €40.00 EUR or $42.00 USD.
If you would like to view the original release announcement, you can do so in the FlightSim Studio Discord here. If you’re interested in more FSS 727 content, check out our previous article where we covered the APU startup sound preview.
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