As a small jet pilot in real life, and one who is immensely happy in their current path in aviation, it is very likely at this point in my career that I won’t be making the transition to flying for the airlines or cargo operators. As such, I will have to live with one of the very few regrets I’ll probably have in my career - not getting to fly a “big” airplane. For the same reasons that DCS World ticks off my fighter/attack and helicopter pilot desires, so too do P3D and X-Plane for large aircraft operations.
I’ve been eyeing the Flight Factor A320 Ultimate for a long time. It certainly didn’t help when @Sine_Nomine dove into the deep end with his wonderful article on the FF A320 for our site:
In parallel with my fantasy of learning something as complex as the Flight Factor A320 was my ever present love for real manuals - and a couple of years ago I came across the excellent looking publications by Captain Mike Ray. I sat on my hands for once, and didn’t just hit the BUY button immediately, but the FF A320 and Captain Ray’s books have been lingering in the back of my mind for a long time.
After pocketing some extra cash for a fill-in day on the schedule recently, I reasoned that I had “earned” what I’ve so long coveted. A few days later, my order to University of Temecula Press was fulfilled and some shiny new manuals showed up in my post box: The Unofficial Airbus A320 Series Simulator and Checkride Procedures Manual and the Sim-Flying the Airbus A300 Series. Both are spiral bound, beautifully illustrated, humorously written, and satisfyingly thick.
It is my intent to try my best to learn the Airbus using the manuals in a way that is counter to my usual “press the buttons until what I want happens happens” technique that I often use in simulated flying. Since we have some resident Airbus pilots on Mudspike, I’m sure a lot of hilarity and corrections to my mistakes will be forthcoming!
Picking up my new bird in Toulouse, France (LFBO) - I will probably do some of my training here!
I have strict instructions not to touch anything…!
However, I am given instructions to hit a couple switches to enable and register my new purchase…
This will likely be a long and winding thread, probably with not a lot happening fast. Just reading the first few dozen pages of the manuals is going to be fun, but will take time. I look forward to the old school adventure of sitting down with a thick manual, and working through the process of learning something new!
Though I plan to primarily use the Flight Factor A320 Ultimate in these dispatches - there does exist the opportunity to also take a look at the very nice Aerosoft A318/19/20/21 Professional package - so watch for the product flips!
