A340 Professional Add-On for FS 2002/2004 (PC CD)

If you are like me and you are not a pilot in reality but have a big interest in the Airbus A340 and A330 series, I recommend you get this. Though you will find that you will have to motivate yourself in reading the manual to work out how to navigate and use the on board computers to put in your flight plan and work out where your heading has to be set.

If you are a pilot in reality and have some background knowledge or even if you actually fly this aircraft then you will easily get straight into flying it.

Before buying this I was hoping to get an aircraft where you have to do that little bit more in flight, rather than just sit back and watch the auto-pilot do just about everything else for you.

When I had finished installing it (which didn’t take long), I went straight into a flight from Los Angeles to Seattle, flying past St. Helens. Stuck at the gate I had no idea where to start. So got the manual out, looked around the views of the cockpit (left, right, Up at the top panel) began to wonder what each and every switch did. Found it easy finding all the instruments but when looking on the top panel, it gave me things like ‘Bleed’, ‘X-Feed’. These were things that I as a non-commercial pilot was not familiar with. From reading the manual it did explain about the ‘X-Feed’ having something to do with the fuel transfer system, and then ‘Bleed’ having something to do with the airflow around the plane.

The thing that I liked best about this package is that it interacts with Flight Simulator in ways you wouldn’t normally get from aircraft you can download or even those that you buy on CD. I found that the flight plan could be interacted into the on-board computer, and from there you are able to plot headings and even fly a straight ILS approach with the touch of one button on the panel you get given.

In the main cockpit you find that the views are like the default accept for the top panel where you are able to control the lights, fuel flow and consumption, and others like the airflow around the aircraft. You can also find the controls for the wipers here, which are animated and do actually get rid of the water droplets on the windows when it rains. You are able to zoom primary instruments so you can see the data more easily, which I found helpful – especially when on final at your landing destination.

Summary: If you want a challenge then buy it, it is defiantly worth the price and has more advantages than disadvantages (one being that you may want to consult the manual to get an idea of where all the controls are and how to use the computer system fully).

The animation of the flashing lights, wipers, engines and gear is outstanding. The graphics are well done and designed bringing out all 41 liveries in true colour. The cargo and passenger doors can add the excitement of loading and unloading while you go through the shut down procedure.

The only disappointment which I thought brought this down to 4 stars was that Just Flight forgot to include the References and Checklists AGAIN!– This I have found them to do occasionally and they need to do some research and get them put into the add-ons!

I downloaded some checklists here:

http://www.simviation.com/downloads.html

Has both A330 and A340!

If not then please get in contact with me: Tall_Guy_Pete@hotmail.com

If you have the time to learn to use this simulation it is very rewarding. It is very well done, and looks awesome. However it's the time that causes the problem- not many people have the time to spend hours reading (and trying to understand) a computer game manual, let alone the 7 hours+ needed to fly an accurate A340 flight. If however you do have the time and patients, this is a very rewarding and well written simulation.