iniBuilds Development Update: Partnership with Microsoft Flight Simulator

[iniBuilds]

Hello,

If this is your first time engaging with iniBuilds, welcome! By way of introduction, my name is Ubaid; CEO at iniBuilds.

iniBuilds is made up of a collective of thinkers and doers with a shared commitment to create the best products for flight simulation. We stand at the forefront of this industry, and our work is fuelled by the passion of this community. Our main focus is to provide some of the best products to as many people as possible.

To those of you who know what we do, welcome back, we are super excited to finally share some news on our aircraft development for flight simulation.

As a result, we are excited to announce our long-term partnership with Microsoft Flight Simulator in developing this complex, immersive aircraft for the Microsoft Flight Simulator platform. iniBuilds has been a leading aircraft creator within the industry for many years, and we are very pleased to partner with the Microsoft Flight Simulator team.

iniBuilds A310 for Microsoft Flight Simulator

This post will be focused on the status of the iniBuilds A310. This was first announced in October 2021, and we are extremely pleased with the development progress of this aircraft.

For those who are visiting us for the first time, and don't know what the A310 is, allow me to explain! The A310 is a wide-body aircraft designed by Airbus Industrie (a group of European aerospace manufacturers in the 1970's-1980's). The aircraft introduced a two-crew glass cockpit and is truly a versatile aircraft perfect for short-long haul operations (up to 10 hrs!). It existed in many variations and iterations; our aircraft on initial release will be the A310-304 powered by General Electric CF6-80 engines, passenger variant only.

Since the initial announcement we have re-modelled significant areas of the aircraft and completely re-textured the aircraft making full use of the powers of Microsoft Flight Simulator to provide a fantastic visual experience alongside a focus on the details of the Airbus A310.

We have ensured all rivets, panel lines, dirt placements and decals were technically analysed and placed throughout the aircraft to provide you with a truly immersive experience when flying this highly advanced aircraft from the 1980's.

With all iniBuilds aircraft you can expect the complete package; visuals, systems and sounds. This aircraft will be no different. We are super lucky to have access to a real-life flying aircraft throughout the development process and have been able to acquire authentic sound recordings from each area of the real aircraft.

You can expect an excellent audible experience, dynamically balanced within a 3D environment, coupled with location dependent audio, as well as the inclusion of audio based on a variety of environmental conditions.

Moving onto systems: we have completely re-written our code base for the Microsoft Flight Simulator version, enhancing and improving our A310 systems in all areas from the previous iteration of this product. Significant parts of aircraft have greater levels of dynamic behaviour and reliance for example in our electrical system; each item within the aircraft has an impact on the power drawn from the generators, even individual fuel pumps, which will cause realistic electrical system demand changes.

The FMS (flight management system) which is an essential component for the navigation of the aircraft, has been completely re-written from the ground up allowing for more realistic operations on day-day flying, along with new features not previously seen on iniBuilds products. The FMS will allow for full lateral and vertical guidance modes including RNAV approaches and overlay NDB VOR approaches. We will provide a comprehensive training guide on these, and how they can be used. Please note this is not a modern Airbus so there are some quirks and they have been fully reflected in the aircraft to provide a great deal of immersion, and these will all be explained in our training series!

In addition to these fantastic systems, we will also provide a newly designed, feature-rich EFB (electronic flight bag). This will allow you to manage weight and balance, interact with the awesome ground services in Microsoft Flight Simulator and much more!

We hope you are as excited as we are for this complex airliner to come to Microsoft Flight Simulator. In the next few months, we will be showcasing more pictures, videos, and training guides, so even if you’ve never flown an airliner before, or you’re a seasoned pilot on another aircraft, you can all enjoy this aircraft upon release.

Now for the information that everyone wants to know; pricing and release dates!

Pricing... I am extremely honoured to announce that this plane is going to be free. If you own a copy of Microsoft Flight Simulator or have an Xbox Game Pass subscription, this airliner will be a part of the Microsoft Flight Simulator 40^th Anniversary Standard Edition coming in November of 2022 (you can read more about it in Microsoft Flight Simulator’s Wire post from earlier today)! One of the biggest reasons for our partnership with Microsoft Flight Simulator: the ability to provide high quality aircraft simulations to as many people as possible! This is a fantastic step in our industry, and we can’t wait for you all to get your hands on this aircraft!

We are looking forward to future developments with the Microsoft Flight Simulator team and we hope you are as excited as we are for the next few months!

Thank you for reading this development update. We know it was long overdue, but we’re excited to finally be able to share what we’ve been working on!

Happy flying!
Ubaid

**Disclaimer: All liveries present on the images of the aircraft are purely for the purpose of this post, showcasing the product and may not be present in the final product due to licensing approval.

Microsoft Flight Simulator is available for Xbox Series X|S and PC with Xbox Game Pass, PC Game Pass, Windows, and Steam, and on Xbox One and supported mobile phones, tablets, and lower-spec PCs via Xbox Cloud Gaming.