Asobo and Microsoft have once again hosted their latest developer Q&A addressing questions from the audience and announcing new products. There’s a new city update, an incredible looking flying boat, some major news about the 747-8 and 787-10, and more! Let’s recap the latest MSFS developer live stream.

The stream

In-case you missed it and want to check it out, be sure to listen in on the full live stream. I don’t extract every piece of information from this but I do pick out some of the exciting highlights.

Updates for several aircraft including ATR

Some great news for ATR fans. Updates are coming for the recently released airliner with creator Hans Hartman busy building out several changes to the aircraft.

Among those updates? Sim Brief support! You can already kind of make it work but now apparently it will have more official support which is fantastic news for airliner fans.

Jorg did talk about a manual and while they have explored it, they don’t currently have a way forward. They are, however, adding on to the video discovery series that they have released. Various content creators have also set about making their own tutorials so this project does seem it will be well supported into the future.

We also learned some interesting details from Jorg about the product. The first interesting tidbit is that the ATR 42/600 and 72/600 package was the fastest selling product in the MSFS Marketplace. The second is that ATR is pleased with the product and they are going to be showing off it and Microsoft Flight Simulator at their booth at the upcoming Paris Airshow.

Avionics update sure to please airliner fans

Working Title have made some dramatic changes for the Microsoft Flight Simulator platform on the whole. Their work on the various Garmin series avionics panels has taken MSFS from having a basic implementation of these systems to one of the most accurate available. They then worked the same magic for the Cessna CJ4 and Citation Latitude seriously upgrading the depth of those aircraft. Now they are doing it again.

Announced during the latest Q&A, AAU2 – the avionics update package for MSFS, is now focused on some deep updates to the 747-8 Intercontinental and the 787-10 Dreamliner.

This includes overhauls of the systems, flight model, systems simulation and the visuals of these systems. Full autopilot simulation and fly by wire flight rules are in too. It’s a remarkable upgrade that everyone is going to see.

Here are some notes that I scribbled from the live stream:

• 787-10
  • LNAV, RNAV, VFR approaches with IAN
  • New fly by wire system and laws
  • Full set of normal autopilot modes
  • RR Trent 1000 simulation
  • Overhauled screen visuals, fonts, pane system, split CDUs/MFDs
  • Deep HUD with multiple modes
  • Systems simulations and synoptic pages
  • Updated flight model
• 747-8
  • High quality LNAV, RNAV, VFR approaches with IAN
  • Performance based VNAV
  • Complete A/T
  • V speed computations
  • Full set of normal autopilot modes
  • Overhauled screen visuals, fonts, pane system, split CDUs/MFDs
  • Updated systems and synoptic pages

City Update 02: France

Asobo are doing a second in their City Update series with a focus on France. Several cities will be updated with photogrammetry information improving the accuracy and overall look of the cities.

• Amiens
• Angers
• Nantes
• Nimes
• Reims

The update also comes with an interesting addition of LFPB Paris Le Bourget airport which is where the Paris airshow takes place. The model is being done by iniBuilds.

This is a great way to celebrate the upcoming show and make a connection with the various companies that will be showing off MSFS at their booths (ATR and Daher among them).

Local legend: Latécoère 631

This is a really cool sounding project. Asobo have been working with a developer in France to bring to life the next local legend. This is the Latécoère 631 flying boat.

Ten were built but none remain today so the developer reached out to the family of the designer and was able to gain access to information in an archive that was then pieced together with other information to bring this airplane back to life. I love both the dedication and the desire to straddle the line between something that is entertaining but also a kind of interactive digital archive of an airplane that no longer exists. It will very soon on our hard drives!

The aircraft will come with a deployable and apparently controllable tug boat!

An-225 update

Jorg provided us with an update on the An-225 project with a very brief update. Reportedly the aircraft has sold well over the last several weeks and they are very close to sending the first $1-million dollar cheque over to Antonov to help with the funding of a replacement aircraft.

Antonov are, unsurprisingly, thrilled with the engagement.

May and June updates

Here’s what’s coming up soon for Microsoft Flight Simulator:

• May updates
  • 05/09 ATR patch
  • 05/11 De Havilland DHC-4 Caribou patch
  • 05/11 An-225 patch
  • 05/11 An-2 patch
  • 05/30 World Update 14 moved to 07/11
• June updates
  • 06/19 City Update 2 – France
  • 06/19 Local Legends 10
  • 06/23 A&AU update 2
  • 06/23 Famous Flyer 06