Announced a couple of years ago, Just Flight have been quietly working away on their next airliner project while the Fokker 70 and 100 was taking up most of the oxygen as that project moved to release. Now that the Fokker series is out of the way, the A300B4 is getting the spotlight and we’ve got the latest developer report.
Variants and project status confirmed
It looks like progress is coming along nicely for the Just Flight A300B4 project. The latest beta build of the aircraft will be on hand during the FSimUK expo coming up. Just Flight confirm both passenger and freighter variants and two engine models each with their own liveries based on real world operators including the popular General Electric powered variant and the less popular Pratt & Whitney variant. Freighter versions, all conversions from passenger models, are planned to come with some unique cockpit and cabin controls to manage the freight cabin. Bespoke cabin textures are also planned for different operators of the type.
Encouragingly, Just Flight report that the systems are feature complete and testing is well underway. The report also shares some amusing anecdotes of the flight systems simulation which include these quirks of the real airplane:
For example, a relatively low APU N1 indication after APU start is intentional, as the APU N1 varies based on system load, so when the APU Generator is OFF and the APU Bleed is CLOSED, the APU is running under minimal load. During pushback, intermittent anti-skid warnings may be generated at approximately 3 knots as the anti-skid system becomes confused with the negative wheel rotation.
Just Flight confirm that the aircraft will include the following six variants starting with the GE CF6-50C2 powered variants:
- A300B4-103
- A300B4-103F
- A300B4-203
- A300B4-203F
We’re also getting two PW JT9D-59A powered variants:
- A300B4-120
- A300B4-220
Just Flight report that the Pratt & Whitney powered version will have the external engine models and sound set, however, the update implies that it won’t have the full fidelity simulation that the GE variants offer due to a lack of resources – one assumes then that they will inherit the GE variant simulation but with separate sounds and visuals. A compromise based on available data reportedly.
Leave a comment