Putting in some more time in the captains seat of the new iniBuilds A320neo v2 with three flights that I’ve done in the last few weeks. I’ve got a Frontier flight from Denver to Oklahoma, a Spirit flight from Houston to Orlando and then an Aer Lingus flight from Frankfurt to Dublin. Let’s go!

Denver to Oklahoma

I’m making use of the available liveries in the iniManager software that you can click very quickly and then grab some real world liveries for the A320neo (version 2 of course). For my first flight I’m documenting here, I’m flying discount airliner Frontier with is green and blue scheme that includes a beautiful wolf painting on the tail. I like the looks!

Departing Denver, we set course for Oklahoma and climbed up to cruise altitude. I’ve been jumping back and forth between the Fenix A320ceo and this iniBuilds A320neo and getting a lot of experience with the modern Airbuses (after spending a lot of time with the A300 and A310).

Both are high fidelity takes on the aircraft with the Fenix diving in a lot deeper when it comes to some systems and failures but when it comes to the everyday flying of the airplane its far more similar than it is different. I do, however, notice the A320neo’s power advantage with the aircraft leaping into the air more readily than the A320ceo. Handling between the two is both similar and different and I’m still collecting my thoughts on which one I like better. I’ll admit, its a bit of a tie right now (despite the Fenix’s obvious simulation depth advantage).

Back to the flight where we started with crisp clear skies and were now getting into some high cirrus clouds (or as best as MSFS can do those) plus some storm cells off to our left and right.

Arrival into Oklahoma was complicated by MSFS ATC’s usual late clearance and I ended up going around before bringing the A320neo in for a very smooth landing. That was fun!

Houston to Orlando

Changing the scenery up a bit and certainly the paint scheme, we went from the cool and calm colours of the Frontier A320neo to the bright yellow scheme of Spirit. Spirit doesn’t normally fly from William P. Hobby Airport but I have scenery for it so I fudged the flight a bit.

Though the immediate area around the terminal was clear, heavy rain was moving in and I departed into a clear spot before plunging headlong into some heavy clouds and rain. A stormy departure is always fun (and on brand for this blog!).

We punched through the thick and heavy clouds and left the Houston area unscathed. The skies cleared as we headed along the Gulf Coast of the United States passing famous cities like New Orleans.

Then it was time for a descent into Orlando. Here I missed a step somewhere because I struggled to capture the localizer. So, doing what I tend to do, I managed it manually and brought it in for another surprisingly smooth landing all things considered.

Frankfurt to Dublin

One more flight in the A320neo V2 and two more scenery packages I wanted to spend some time with. First, departing from Frankfurt airport, I was checking out the new scenery by Aviotek. This is a freeware package and for freeware it is excellently detailed and performing well from what I can see. It’s not quite as sharp as some payware packages that I’ve purchased but its better than others so I can easily recommend it for the price of free!

Departing Frankfurt, this was a more or less routine flight across Germany, the Netherlands, across the channel, across the UK, then over the Irish sea and a descent into Dublin. Along the way there were mixed clouds and rainstorms but nothing that affected the flight.

The arrival into Dublin was particularly scenic and though the descent was a bit spicy, it ended up being a very good approach until I realized that I was fast and my flaps weren’t out. Woops! Nobody is hiring me for airliner captain, that’s for sure! Anyways, I managed to rescue it with some spoilers, gear and flap deployment, abit of side slip to bleed some speed, and then judicious use of the reversers once on the ground.

My A320neo v2 landings have all been worse than my Fenix A320ceo landings. I’m not sure why but the there are some subtle differences between the two. And admittedly I’m still refining technique, remembering to do important steps, and continuing to learn. That’s part of the fun and why I share the journey’s that I’m on with everyone. I hope you enjoyed these!