Author: Just Flight News

9 December 2022

Following the release of our last MSFS 146 Professional update in late September, which included significant upgrades to the EFB tablet among many other improvements and fixes, the development team have been busy working on even more upgrades for release in the coming weeks.

We are nearly finished with the EFB performance data functionality, which will include a dynamic CG chart, TMS thrust and take-off and landing distance calculators, and we'll share some previews of that soon. In this entry we’ll be focusing on the UNS-1 custom FMS.

The UNS-1 is an older style of FMS than that which is currently found in our 146 and is typical of what you would have found in service during the 90s and 00s. It will be recognisable to anyone who’s flown the Q400 or Learjet 45 and serves the same purpose as the existing modern FMS in our 146 – providing GPS navigation with outputs to the autopilot (LNAV) and HSI. The navigation data is courtesy of Navigraph, allowing you to use the very latest AIRAC cycles.

Additional controls have been added to the EFB configuration menu to allow you to quickly toggle between the existing modern FMS and the new classic FMS without the need to switch aircraft variants or restart the flight. You can also still disable the FMS entirely if you prefer conventional navigation.

Please note that some visual aspects of the FMS, such as the font type and colour, are likely to change as we get closer to release.



We’ll begin this quick overview on the flight plan menu. The UNS-1 will have the option to load an MSFS flight plan and save the current flight plan.



Full SID/STAR support is included, with the ability to select transitions and approaches. A quirk of the UNS-1 is shown here, with selections made using a numbered list rather than the LSKs.





The flight plan page is similar to that found on our existing FMS, showing the previous and next legs, their distances, headings and any altitude constraints. Here we can see the SID selected earlier.



The UNS-1 also provides real-time fuel monitoring. With the passenger, cargo and fuel loads inputted prior to flight, the FMS will provide information on fuel flow, current fuel onboard, endurance and range.



Real-time performance information is also available, including groundspeed, wind direction/speed, OAT and ETE.



Additional information is shown on other pages, such as the navigation page shown here.



The FMS is fully integrated with the autopilot (LNAV) and HSI, just like the existing FMS. Distance, direct track and deviation to the next waypoint are all shown on the HSI.



The FMS also has VNAV functionality, although as with the real aircraft this isn’t integrated with the VNAV mode of the autopilot so you will need to make use of the other pitch modes (IAS, VS etc) to manage your climbs and descents.

With altitude or flight level constraints for the flight plan waypoints and the desired vertical speed inputted into the FMS, the VNAV page will provide information on the top-of-descent point and target vertical speed.



That concludes this quick tour of the UNS-1 FMS. It’s currently undergoing extensive testing and we’ll bring you some video guides as we near release.

5 December 2022

In our last development update we previewed some of the recent work on the MSFS Fokker F28's exterior animations, ground equipment and aircraft systems coding. Alongside continuing work on those areas, the team have been busy configuring the numerous exterior and interior aircraft lights that bring the aircraft to life at night, and we thought we’d bring you along on a quick tour of an Air Anglia F28-4000 to see how all that work is coming along.

An accompanying video can be found here.

We’ll start with a walkaround to highlight some of the exterior features of the F28. Standing in the front of the aircraft, you can see our custom GPU is connected, the stairs are extended and the nose lights are retracted - a typical parked configuration. The iconic T-tail and engines are also visible against the ominous weather!



The F28 passenger door includes integrated airstairs, which are useful for avoiding those jetway fees and for operating from remote airports. They are also jetway compatible, with the option to fold down the handrails and a retractable step, which is fully simulated here.



An upwards-sliding service door can be found on the starboard side, along with the downward-extending forward and centre cargo doors.





Moving back towards the tail, there’s also an aft cargo door. From here we can see the distinctive flap fairings on the wings, the optional engine hushkits and large tail-mounted airbrakes, similar to those found on our 146 and RJ.





Four variants of the F28 will be included, with the longer -4000 with two over-wing exits on each side shown here:



We’re now ready to board the aircraft via the airstairs, with a great view of the wing, engine and T-tail.



As previewed in an earlier entry, a detailed passenger cabin is included, with overhead and sign lighting that can be controlled automatically or manually.





Moving into the cockpit, the emergency back-up lighting is switched on; this consists of instrument and overhead flood lights.



Taking a seat on the Captain’s side, we can switch on the independently dimmable instrument panel white flood and instrument lights.



The overhead panel has integral lighting, aided by two large dome lights and white and red reading lights for the Captain and Co-pilot.





A variety of red flood lighting is also available for the instrument and side panels.



The interior lighting controls are spread around the cockpit but all the exterior lighting controls are grouped together on the centre pedestal, with individual controls for each of the retractable wing and nose landing lights.



MSFS has stunning lighting capabilities which allow us to realistically simulate all of the different types of lighting on a classic airliner such as the F28, with over 50 dynamic lights covering the exterior, cabin and cockpit. This close-up of the overhead panel shows the incredible detail we can now achieve.



As we taxi to the runway, you can see the excellent visibility provided by the taxi, landing and flare lighting. All our lights use custom effects to ensure realism.



Even the quirky logo lights which are built into the flap fairings are simulated, as seen here from the rear of the passenger cabin.



We’ll finish up the tour with a view from the cockpit on final approach, showing a typical lighting configuration.



In the coming weeks we’ll begin testing the custom-coded fuel, air conditioning and pressurisation systems, as well as upgrading our custom ground equipment which includes a GPU, chocks and cones. We’ll bring you previews of that work in the next update.

23 November 2022

DC Designs' new AV-8B Harrier II add-on for Microsoft Flight Simulator is now on sale!

This fully native MSFS aircraft features all three modern variants of the Harrier II - AV-8B, AV-8B Plus and GR9 - with a brand-new, custom-coded VTOL system built specifically for MSFS, 12 paint schemes, authentic night lighting with user-operated 'slime lights', custom-coded animations, stores selection page and up-to-date special effects.

The cockpit of the VR-ready Harrier II features smoothly animated 3D instruments, custom-coded MFD screens and HUD, 'scratched canopy' glass effects and reflective glass, crew figure and a full interactive checklist.

These aircraft have been coded with MSFS native 'Model Behaviors' animations and are built to MSFS SDK specifications to minimise issues with future simulator upgrades.

See the DC Designs AV-8B Harrier II page for more screenshots and full details of all the aircraft features!

If you'd like to see the Harrier in action, take a look at this YouTube Playlist of media coverage to date.