Third-party add-on developer JustFlight took to their community forum to announce the release of a major update to their rendition of the BAe 146 for Microsoft Flight Simulator. The V2 update includes several cool changes including a new UNS-1 FMS, improved GSX capabilities, and several fixes, improvements, and quality-of-life changes.
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About the BAe 146
The British Aerospace 146 or BAe 146 is a short-haul, regional airliner manufactured in the United Kingdom by British Aerospace (later BAE Systems). It was produced from 1983 up until 2001 whereupon it was discontinued albeit still in service. Avro International Aerospace manufactured an improved version known as the Avro RJ whose production started in 1992.
It is a high-wing cantilever monoplane with a T-tail and is powered by four geared turbofan engines mounted on pylons underneath the wing with retractable tricycle landing gear. Due to the aircraft’s capability to operate relatively quietly, it has been marketed under the name Whisperjet. It is mainly used at small, city-based airports such as the infamous London City Airport. Some examples are also in service as private jets.
What are the new changes?
New Custom Coded UNS-1 FMS
One of the most headlining and anticipated features from JustFlight is the new UNS-1 Flight Management System. The FMS contains a unique interface based on the real-world BAe 146’s UNS-1 FMS and maneuvers such as Holding Patterns, Direct Tos, and Command Heading Function are now implemented.
The new FMS contains fully functional Top of Descent calculations based on target vertical speed included via the PATH VNAV page. Other changes include support for SIDs, STARs, and approach procedures, a custom navigation database updatable via a premium Navigraph subscription, and the ability to save and import custom flight plans.
Highly detailed passenger/cargo cabins and music
Another headlining feature is the new custom-modeled highly-detailed interiors on both the passenger and cargo variants of the aircraft. Key features include crew lighting controls for the cabin and galleys, cabin door, no smoking/seat belt sign and call light annunciators, crew call panels with controls for the cabin, inter-crew, and emergency calls, and if enabled, random passenger, toilet and crew calls will occur during the course of the flight. Even the coffee maker works with water being depleted throughout the flight!
The cabin also has a new music player which includes seven music tracks (and the ability to add your music), volume control and mute, play/stop, shuffle, and repeat modes, and if enabled, the cabin crew automatically controls the music player such as turning on the music during boarding.
A new passenger and cargo boarding system which is controlled via the EFB tablet and realistically simulates passenger and cargo boarding and deboarding process has also been added. Multiple boarding speeds are selectable such as instant or realistic. With seamless integration with GSX, the selected payload will be synced so the correct number of passengers will be loaded by GSX and progress can be monitored via the EFB.
Other changes and closing notes
JustFlight has also added interactive yoke-mounted checklists and paper clipboard charts stored on top of the glare shield. Up to fifteen checklists and twenty charts can be shown, and are easily customizable PNG images stored in the BAe 146 package files.
The developer has also added a couple more airline liveries, along with new engine windmilling animations, and much, much more. The BAe 146’s V2 update’s entire changelog is available to view on their forum post. All in all, a substantial update from the folks over at JustFlight and we can’t wait to see what they bring next.
