Airbus Collection

Airbus have been around since 1970. Last year they turned over 22.3 billion Euros. They have a workforce of 55,000 and the mission is “to meet the needs of airlines and operators by producing the most modern and comprehensive aircraft family on the market, complemented by the highest standard of product support" 

So popular are the range of Airbus aircraft now, with in flight simulator, that in the second of the F-Lite series Just Flight and CLS have brought another collection together worthy of any serious PC pilot desktop.

The A340 kicked off this series and now we can all witness the A300, A310 and the world famous Beluga, all from the comfort of our living rooms.

The whole inspiration behind the F-Lite series was to get new PC pilots up and flying in minutes, rather than having to read through page, after page, of how to set up FMC's, radios, even switching the engines on via 56 different switches which became tiresome after a while. After all, simmers of all ages, just want the experience of flight and what better way to give someone their boy/girlhood dream then by designing a product that delivers not the ultimate challenge maybe, but still as exhilarating and enjoyable.  

I guess the two things to remember are that important things are always simple, and the simple things are always hard, but that is how we make progress and to be honest no one should find any problems with the aircraft in this package.

The selection on offer is from the mid range class of Airbus aircraft, A300 and A310 both can be used on short regional routes and gives everyone a fantastic introduction into the world of jetliners. Until now flight simulation has been completely dominated with the Boeing class of aircraft, 737. So a new family on the virtual block will, I hope, address the situation. Boeing and Airbus are fierce rivals, but Airbus claim at this time that the A310 has the lowest operating costs of any other airliner in the class.

The collection has a staggering 30 different aircraft to fly, the A300 has a pushback truck and wingflex (watch the aircraft land to see windflex) The 310 has the two modes of engine PW and GE, along with cargo versions and a special model used by the Canadian airforce. It also boasts refueling pods, which are animated and a choice of flight dynamics dependent on which model you fly.

Liveries are varied on both models and it was good to see some less seen companies paint schemes used, Air Paradise, Iran Air and the brand new colour scheme for Monarch on the A300.

Lets go fly!

Startup is relatively straight forward, to begin, pushback the keys of SHIFT and P are depressed, this way you get to see the pushback truck. This is of course unless you have altered your keyboard settings.

The panels are great, this program was built for speed and in this way you can complete flights in two modes 2D or the 3D virtual option. Either way its crystal clear and causes minimal system deficiency. Apart from the standard view points, in the cockpit you can also use the overhead pedestal and the main throttle panel, again, clean and crisp in design.

The manual itself is full of information with regards to getting these aircraft airborne safely, with little to worry about in the set up. It's also well produced, with all you need to know with regards to taxi, take-off, climb, cruise, descent and landing. As we all know what goes up must come down and in one piece if possible.

Flight simulation is all about questions & answers, anyone who undertakes this hobby will have questions, to the eternal question, "why", the simple answer is, "because". Well a useful array of both, are here, so whether novice or veteran all possible outcomes should be easily resolved. But hey, if at first you do not succeed then redefine success!

The A310 has many extras including a fuel boom on EADS tanker demo model, great for beating the queues at the local petrol station, but high octane thrills come at high prices. I cannot even imagine putting 75,740 litres of gas in my MPV.

The accent is on ease of use and panel functions in the 2D mode are also available in the 3D virtual, life don't get any better than this, for, if all you want to do is a steady short domestic flight, then this is definitely the disk of necessity. Far too many people spend their lives reading the menu instead of enjoying the banquet. Airbus collection will not allow such waste if you are in a rush to reach your very own cloud 9. 

The other aircraft I have not talked about yet is the Beluga, no it's not a giant whale flying at FL250 with water gushing from the top of its head, neither is it the expensive dish served in restaurants, oh and forget the one about “how do you get to Wales in a car”? It's not down the M6 then M54 no no no, this is something quite different an aeroplane that looks remarkably like a whale, or maybe its the other way round, whichever. But if you ever saw a Beluga you can quite easily see the resemblance.

This aircraft is huge, really huge, cavernous to the extreme, well it has to be to carry its payloads, with only five of these beasts world wide, you have the opportunity to take one for a flight in your very own virtual world and believe me this is fun, I set out with confidence, you know that feeling you get before you understand the situation! But this is super, not only in size but again, in the ease to enable everyone to fly this giant. The features mentioned with the A300 and A310 also apply here, pushback truck, wingflex and the giant cargo door, animated beautifully to uncover the fuselage inside. The Beluga is a definite one off and very rarely seen in flight simulation, but now we have it, it's another must have aircraft which would grace anyone's collection.  

With many additional features and special effects, which include a layered paint kit, which enables the artists among you to design your own liveries, as along as you have a suitable paint program IE: photoshop etc. Special effects are all the rage too, with tyre/wet runway water, smoke from engine start up, fire and sparks from the underbelly when you over rotate, burning rubber, inspection lights, dynamic wingflex. The list of extras goes on and on.

Packaged well, with a manual that does not ask for a degree in space science before you turn the first page. All in all, this is without doubt a must buy product. You yearned for airline flight and now you got it thanks to the team at CLS and Just Flight. I would hope to see many more titles of this genre over the coming years and bring back flight simulation to the guy in the street, who does not have time or even the inclination to bother with over the top simulation packages, no matter how good they are. 

The message to software companies is, do not aim so high with your simulations, sometimes all the majority of folk want, is to be able to take off, fly around for an hour or two and get back down in one piece.

Remember, good judgement comes from a bad experience, and a lot of that is down to bad judgement.

I am sure Microsoft intended the masses to enjoy this product and they will with more of this type of add-on. 

Airbus Collection is one add-on that you will certainly be flying for many months, its simplicity is genius, its models are exact to the point of perfection, it's ease of use will give all, the “as real as it gets” experience.

Flight simulator was made for this program and this program was made for Flight Simulator, a dream team brought together and the marriage should be long running.