iniBuilds has recently released a lengthy video showcasing various aspects of its upcoming A340 Airliner for Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024. The EIS1 screens, modeling, texturing, ground handling, flight dynamics, and more were all talked about in detail, revealing the high fidelity nature of the project.
Exterior
The video started off with an exterior walkaround of the aircraft using MSFS 2024’s native walkaround feature, for which iniBuilds has included a multitude of interactive elements, such as openable hatches and doors. Shown was the typical extreme modeling and texturing detail that those familiar with iniBuilds have come to know. MSFS 2024’s new LOD system was leveraged to ensure that the extra detail does not affect performance too much.
Also shown were a few interesting details related to the aircraft’s wear and maintenance. The level of wear and dirt accumulation on the exterior of the A340 can be manually adjusted using the aircraft’s EFB. Pilots doing the walkaround will have to look out for excessive tire and brake wear, which is simulated. Those looking to take a peek inside the gear bay can lower the gear doors using the maintenance levers on the lower fuselage.
Cabin
The cabin, like the exterior, has been modeled with excruciating detail. Interactive elements include doors and curtains, and everything from the galley to each seat has high-quality texturing and modeling. The sound ambience has also been adjusted for this area so that it matches the typical sounds you would hear while sitting in the cabin. To ensure that performance is not majorly affected by this detail, MSFS 2024’s new LOD system dynamically lowers the detail in parts of the cabin that are far away from the user.
Apart from the typical passenger variants, the iniBuilds A340 will also feature a cargo retrofit version of the aircraft. These modifications started appearing in around 2020 when the pandemic slowed down passenger traffic significantly. This variant will feature various cargo options that can be chosen in the EFB, including animals, car parts, medical supplies, and more.
Flight Deck
As with the rest of the aircraft, the flight deck features the same high level of detail for the texturing and modeling, with high-resolution textures and realistic wear patterns on switches and panels. The A340’s old EIS1 CRT displays are available as an option for this aircraft, along with the quirks and differences present between the EIS1 and the newer EIS2 LCD displays. The older system is slower at responding to page changes, and the screens are curved and have low-resolution graphics.
The iniBuilds A340 will feature many advanced systems; apart from the expected FMC, terrain radar, and other typical equipment, the aircraft will also have support for failures, ACARS, CPDLC, and an old takeoff assistance instrument called the Para-Visual Indicator (PVI). The CPDLC was demonstrated on the video by requesting a direct-to a waypoint, which was denied by the ATC controller. It’s not clear in the video what ATC service was used for the demonstration; however, based on the EFB settings, there is support for Hoppie, Sayintentions.ai, and BeyondATC CPDLC.
The night lighting in the flight deck was briefly shown off, along with some interesting differences between the EIS1 and EIS2 brightness levels. The EIS1’s CRT displays have no backlight, which makes them easier on the eyes at night, whereas the EIS2’s backlight washes out the display colors and makes the screens excessively bright; a real-world difference that has been replicated here.
Flight Dynamics and Ground Handling
The iniBuilds A340 will use MSFS 2024’s enhanced ground handling, which will make it feel a lot more realistic when taxiing around. The aircraft’s weight causes it to lean when turning or braking, and its momentum causes it to hesitate when quickly changing directions.
The A340’s notoriously sluggish performance has been accurately replicated in the iniBuilds A340. The takeoff requires more runway and a gentler rotation than you might be used to from other Airbuses. The climb performance and maximum cruise altitude, thanks to its underpowered engines, are also below average.
In flight, the A340 behaves as expected for a heavy aircraft, requiring large control inputs for roll and having only fairly responsive pitch control. iniBuilds has received feedback from real A340 pilots to tune the behavior of the aircraft to make it as realistic as possible.
EFB
One of the last major aspects covered in the video was the EFB. The EFB for the A340 features a completely different layout from the EFB used in previous iniBuilds aircraft. It features applications for weight and balance, flight performance, flight planning charts, GSX integration, and more.
The flight planner app can be used to generate a SimBrief flight plan from within the simulator. The details of this flight plan are then shown on the OFP app, and the weather, departure time, routing, and other information about the flight is shown on the “My Flight” app.
The ground equipment app lets you open doors and configure the aircraft’s visual wear and dirt accumulation. This EFB features native support for GSX, which can be controlled from its dedicated app. Payload configuration, which can be downloaded from SimBrief, is set in the weight and balance app.
Freight configuration options
There’s a maintenance app where you can keep track of the state of various aircraft components and service them. An autosave app continuously saves your flight data so that you can get back to a flight in the case of a sim crash. Lastly, the charts app features support for both Navigraph charts as well as MSFS 2024’s LIDO charts.
Release Information
The iniBuilds A340 Airliner will be exclusively for Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024, and its initial release will be limited to the MSFS2024 marketplace for the first few months. While no exact release date has been announced, iniBuilds confirmed on its Discord server that the aircraft will be released this month, adding that “it’s coming sooner than you think.” No pricing information has been revealed yet. If you’d like to take a look at the original video, you can do so here. If you plan on getting the A340 and are looking for an interesting place to fly it to, take a look at our article for iniBuilds’ Wolf’s Fang airport here.
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