During the FSExpo we had a short video trailer come out from iniBuilds and Synaptic showing off the A220 in action. Now we’ve got the follow-up with a full developer report on what the team has been doing and what they are doing. Let’s see where the A220 is at and what remains to be done.

Systems, sounds and more

A big part of the developer report on the A220 is focused on systems. As a modern and complex airliner, the A220 certainly has a lot of systems that need to be done for simmers to be satisfied and it sounds like Synaptic is rising to that challenge.

They report, for example, that every part of the synoptic pages has been modeled and that the displays will show off realistic indications for hydraulic, fuel, and battery. The team have simulated current draw on the batteries not only needing extra electrical power but also causing the battery to heat. The heat exchange between hydraulic fluid and fuel has also been modeled.

They say that they’ve gutted and rewritten their flight management system since last year which they say is more stable and scalable. I suspect some of this re-writing effort has been aimed at efficiency because they mention that its just 21,000 lines of code now. I also suspect that it may have something to do with the A220 sharing the Collins Aerospace Pro Line Fusion avionics with the Global 6000 which we now know iniBuilds is planning to offer as one of their next projects. Shared efforts benefiting us all in the long run sounds like a good thing. Let’s see how that pans out!

The aircraft will also have the usual array of modern airliner features with a VSD showing what the VNAV is planning to do, ILS, LOC, LDA, RNAV RNP, RNP AR, LPV, VOR and VOR/DME approaches. It will also do holds, emergency descent and autoland.

They say they’ve already tested all of this on VatSim which certainly sounds good for those looking for the kind of fidelity needed for that experience.

Other items include immersive sounds from Echo 19 which they say will definitely include the “whale sound”

Caused by pressure changes within the combustion chamber as the engines spool up through around 30% N1, the resonance is felt intensely both inside the aircraft and out. Together with Echo 19, we’ve brought this distinctive sound to the simulator with a procedurally simulated howl based on live engine parameters. This is complemented by extensive work on ensuring equally accurate engine sounds in higher N1 ranges, as well as PTU sounds, cockpit aurals, and other environmental sounds.

Coming up next

Synaptic report that they have “a few bits and pieces left to finish” with bug fixing with the testing team. They say they have resolved hundreds of bugs and during the FSExpo weekend found five more and fixed two of them live on site. That sounds encouraging!

We’ve heard anecdotally over FSExpo weekend that people talking to the team suggest that release is not that far away. As with most projects, a specific date and time is probably still very difficult to assess right now but people seem optimistic now that it will be later this summer or early fall. Fingers crossed!

Read the full report here! And, if you missed it, do check out the trailer too!