iniBuilds has recently taken to its forums to showcase the latest advancements on its upcoming A340 Airliner’s systems for MSFS 2024. Apart from just systems, the post also featured updates on the aircraft’s visuals, flight dynamics, ground handling, and more.
Visuals
iniBuilds took the community’s feedback on its previous development update, which focused on the A340’s visuals, and used it to further refine the look of the aircraft. The rotation of the fan blades has been corrected to now spin counterclockwise, as they do in the real aircraft. The wing flex has also been tweaked slightly to be more sensitive to the aircraft’s movements. You can see these changes in action in the following videos:
The team has also continued working on the visuals for the interior, especially the avionics. The A340 Airliner will feature both the older CRT displays, known as the EIS1, as well as the newer LCD displays, known as EIS2. These displays have a slightly different look, with the EIS1 having a round screen and low resolution compared to the EIS2’s flat screens and higher resolution; differences that iniBuilds aims to reflect in its recreation of the A340.
Flight Model and Ground Handling
As an aircraft being built exclusively for MSFS 2024, iniBuilds has taken the opportunity to exploit the newer sim’s more advanced flight dynamics capabilities. The simulator will now take into account the aircraft’s full shape for the simulation of its behaviour; something that wasn’t possible in MSFS 2020. The new sim’s enhanced ground handling physics have also been implemented in the A340 to give the aircaft a more authentic handling feel in the sim.
iniBuilds has also been putting effort into recreating the A340’s fly-by-wire characteristics, which should give it a heavier, more sluggish feel compared to smaller Airbuses, like the A320. This will be noticeable in both the flare and takeoff as well, which will require slightly different techniques than in other Airbuses to execute correctly.
The A340’s notoriously underpowered performance will be noticeable, as a “refined thrust model” aims to ensure accurate performance from the A340-300’s four CFM56 engines. iniBuilds’ rendition also aims to feature accurate EGT, fuel flow, oil pressure, and oil consumption figures for these engines, as well as accurate FADEC behavior.
Systems
iniBuilds aims to make the systems in the A340 as realistic as possible, including “a full suite of functional systems, from a detailed custom FMS with SIDs/STARs, SEC flight plans, custom LNAV/VNAV, custom hydraulic and electrical systems and so much more.”
The A340 will include a working onboard printer, which can be used to print flight plan information, takeoff data, weather reports, and more. A Para-Visual Indicator, a glareshield-mounted device that provides lateral guidance during ILS approaches, will be included as an option in the A340 Airliner.
The DCDU will include third-party ACARS integration to allow you to communicate via text from within the aircraft with online ATC controllers. The Navigation Display in the aircraft will feature a Minimum Off-Route Altitude grid, showing the minimum safe flight level in any area.
Lastly, the EFB in the A340 will be different than in other iniBuilds aircraft. This major overhaul will include a new user interface to accomodate all of the different features included in the EFB.
Closing Notes
This latest development update has showcased a lot of the work that has gone into iniBuilds’ upcoming A340 Airliner so far. A release date for this addon has not been revealed yet, so stay tuned to FSNews to find out once it is revealed. If you’d like to take a look at the original development update, you can do so here. If you’re interested in more A340 news, check out our previous article about it here.
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.
