After over 4 hours work and despite my best efforts to line everything up, on first load in to FSX these are some of the problems on just one quarter of the aircraft! :o There's easily another two hours work to fix this thing (you haven't seen the rudder or door 2L) :( It's at times like this I wish we'd picked a simple livery with straight lines (think Swiss)!
I'm not asking for sympathy, thanks or congratulations, it is reward enough that you guys are logging flights each day and/or posting here in the forums :) However, I would ask people bear in mind the man hours involved (and tedium!) when they wonder why we haven't added a particular aircraft type.
Aerosoft's paint kit isn't terrible, but the textures could have been laid out and labelled better. I've added some details that weren't in the paint kit, such as the warning labels on the engine nacelles.
On a more positive note, some of the new destinations this bird is already scheduled to visit include: Madrid, Athens (!), Lisbon, Valenica, Palma and Helsinki. I've actually done more than half the scheduling already 8)
Looking great already! Keep after it!
Great to see you progressing, not just with the new aircraft and the extra detail you're putting in but also with the new schedule.
As you're probably aware, Aerosoft are releasing an updated version of their A320/A321 package later this month to bring it up to the standard of their recently released A318/319 package. From what I've read on the Aerosoft forums, it appears the repaints will be compatible between the versions. A user has formally asked the question but no reply as yet from the developers. Hopefully it won't create any extra work for you.
Regards,
Serge
Quote from: Sergio De Ceglie on Oct 07, 2014 03:43Aerosoft are releasing an updated version of their A320/A321 package later this month... it appears the repaints will be compatible between the versions.... Hopefully it won't create any extra work for you.
I don't think they'd change the external texturing as it would create a lot of needless work for them too, and generate a lot of user complaints.
Initially we'll support the Aerosoft A320 Extended, because it is currently the market leader. It is my intention to paint their new A319 too, but I cannot provide any timescales as the A320 paint job is taking longer than planned. The FSL (Flight Sim Labs), BBS (Black Box Simulations) and PA (Project Airbus) models will be considered at a later date, subject to demand, availability and time available. I am categorically ruling out support for Airsimmer, AFS, iFDG and Wilco as they are obsolete
(and in the case of the Airsimmer, because the texture mapping looks like this (http://snag.gy/pgVrj.jpg)).If we don't officially support your preferred Airbus, you can still fly it for Intercity using Airbus house colours; I appreciate this isn't ideal but there are many A320 models available and I can't justify painting on request when they take 4-8 hours each.
Quote from: Chris Liu on Oct 07, 2014 12:25
It is my intention to paint their new A319 too, but I cannot provide any timescales as the A320 paint job is taking longer than planned.
So is Intercity also planning to have A319's in the fleet or is this just so users can use the A319 as a substitute for the A320?
Cheers,
Serge
That's classified information haha ;) In all seriousness though, the initial Airbus fleet will be a mix of A319 and A320 and either can be used on flights which specify A32S equipment. This allows Intercity to adjust capacity for each daily duty based on demand/sales. For pilots it means
you only need the A319 or A320 to fly all our Airbus flights (I hope this will keep costs down for everyone).
- A320-216 seats 150 (138 standard and 12 premium seats. Standard is 32" seat pitch and 6 abreast, premium is 38" and 4 abreast), requiring 4 cabin crew.
- A319-115 seats 128 (120 standard and 8 premium seats. Seat spec same as the A320) requiring 3 cabin crew. Or 12 and 112 (tot 124)?
- These configurations are fixed (i.e. not convertible/flexible cabins like BA or LH)
- These are the later CFM engined variants with EIS2 cockpits
Sounds great Chris.
I don't currently have the Aerosoft Airbus's as I was waiting to see which way you went however as Aerosoft have a pretty good deal with the A318/319 & A320/321 in a bundle it looks like I'll go down that road as then I'll get you use both options.
Cheers,
Serge
I couldn't justify purchasing both the A319 and A320 as they're so similar, unless the extra cost was minimal. I'm not overawed by the Aerosoft Airbuses anyway, they're okay but I'm saving my pennies for the FS Labs A320 (http://forums.flightsimlabs.com/index.php?/topic/4257-a320-compact-information/?p=20200). The majority of Intercity's Airbuses will be A320s anyway.
Yeah, I'm looking forward to the FS Labs version too. If it was already out or close to release then I wouldn't even look at the Aerosoft Airbus. However to me it appears the release is still way off so I'll go with the Aerosoft Airbus for now. I think the Aerosoft Airbus looks pretty good for the price point, advertised features and intended market.
Regarding the bundle, for me (no vat) it's only €8.40 more to buy the complete bundle over just the A318/319 or A320/321 alone so it seems a good deal.
On a side note, I mentioned in another thread that there is a VA discount of 20% for the Aerosoft A318/319. There is also a 20% discount for their A320/321. The discount doesn't apply to the bundle though. So if anyone is interested in both packages then it works out cheaper to purchase the bundle without the VA discount than to purchases both packages separately with the VA discount. Hope that all made sense. :)
Cheers,
Serge
Thanks for that Serge, didn't realise it was that cheap to get the bundle, I think that represents fair value. But I'm still too tight to get both ;D For anyone else reading this, full pricing details are at: http://forum.aerosoft.com/index.php?/topic/85038-aerosoft-airbus-projects-prices-and-update-options/ (http://forum.aerosoft.com/index.php?/topic/85038-aerosoft-airbus-projects-prices-and-update-options/)
As always, there is no estimated release date available from FS Labs but as their A320 is now entering beta testing I can't see it being more than 6 months away. "A short beta phase is anticipated" so there's a possibility it could be on sale before this Christmas. Having said all that, I remember the PMDG 777 being in beta forever!
Quote from: Chris Liu on Oct 08, 2014 14:50
...their A320 is now entering beta testing I can't see it being more than 6 months away.
I was a beta tester for FSL for a while and while I will not comment on the project or any of its elements so as to preserve my NDA, I will say that their process is slow. 6 months might be optimistic unfortunately, but I'm not with the project any longer, so who's to say. We shall see what time brings!
Thanks for the insight Elijah, I was worried that was the case :-[
On a more positive note, all 204 scheduled A32S flights are done ;D I can now confirm we will add 30x A32S, although 10x DH8D are leaving the fleet to help pay for them, so total fleet size will stand at some 125 aircraft (up from 114 previously)!
A few comparison stats to illustrate how much we're going to grow:
Was: 104 aircraft, 96 destinations, 391 routes, 929 flights per day, 01:16 average flight duration.
Now: 124 aircraft, 105 destinations, 489 routes, 1040 flights per day, 01:36 average flight duration.
EDIT Blackpool is closing: 124 aircraft, 104 destinations, 485 routes, 1036 flights per day, 01:36 average flight duration.
The A32S will operate to the following destinations:
From Birmingham to: Dusseldorf, Brussels, Paris De Gaulle, Barcelona, Copenhagen, Madrid, Stockholm Arlanda, Marseille Provence, Venice, Berlin Brandenburg, Geneva, Nuremberg, Lyon Saint Exupéry, Zurich, Nice Cote D'Azur, Stuttgart Ecterdingn, Hamburg, Milan,
From Düsseldorf to: Birmingham, Barcelona, Marseille Provence, Copenhagen, Dublin, Manchester, Oslo Gardermoen, Glasgow, Stockholm Arlanda, Lisbon Lisboa, Madrid, Athens Eleftherios Velizelos, Helsinki Vantaa, Bilbao Sondica, Naples Capodichno, Palermo, Valencia, Shannon, Palma De Mallorca
From Edinburgh to: Amsterdam, Brussels, Paris De Gaulle, Paris Orly, Frankfurt, Barcelona, Hamburg, Berlin Brandenburg, Milan, Stuttgart Ecterdingn, Nuremberg , Bordeaux Merignac, Toulouse Blagnac, Stockholm Arlanda, Munich, Bilbao Sondica, Turin Di Torino, Cologne/Bonn Koeln, Copenhagen, Hannover, Nantes Atlantique, Göteborg, Zurich, Geneva, Lyon Saint Exupéry
This means I am now back to painting (oh the joys ::) ). Chris H has already done most of the backend changes required. So we're on target to deploy the full Autumn/Winter 2014-15 schedule and new jets for 26th October, providing there are no major hiccups.
Awesome!! ;D
I love flying out of EGPH and EGBB. I have the UK2000 versions and they are very good.
Especially at night!
B.
So is it confirmed the release of the jets on 26th october this year?
Quote from: Luis Nunes on Oct 09, 2014 13:19
So is it confirmed the release of the jets on 26th october this year?
Quote from: Chris Liu on Oct 09, 2014 01:20
So we're on target to deploy the full Autumn/Winter 2014-15 schedule and new jets for 26th October, providing there are no major hiccups.
As Chris said, so long as we dont hit any hiccups between now and then, the 26th is launch day!
Good work Chris. Looking forward to flying some of these new routes and also flying the A320.
Now if only Aerosoft would release the new updated version of the A320 before October 26. :)
Cheers,
Serge
Would an Intercity flight to Iceland in the A320 make sense?
Bill
Keflavik is within 860 miles of Edinburgh so that's doable, but our other bases are a bit far away for our shorthaul ethos. I hadn't looked in to this route until you suggested it, and it's definitely a fair suggestion although there are some issues; chiefly that Keflavik is almost exclusively a summer seasonal destination (with the exception of Icelandair) and we're now coming in to winter. Also there is a fair bit of competition on this rather thin route and it's all mainly over ocean (which I think might be a bit boring). Perhaps I'll add it in when I update the schedules again in March, but it might only be 3 times a week.
So 3 hours work later and it looks like the attached image, it's just about ready to go now but it has been a real fight to get here! Still a few things left to do like the rear fuselage doors which stubbornly refuse to line up, and some nose gear door detailing. All being well it'll get uploaded later this week.
After the headache with this one I think the A319 may have to wait a little while, as this one has taken me nearly 8 hours to get done.
EDIT: Have now completed all the above tweaks and updated the attached photo. It's now finished! ;D
Looks good Chris. Appreciate the effort involved.
It appears Aerosoft will be releasing their updated A320/321 on October 30th so I'll have to wait a few days after the new schedule rolls out before I can fly an A320 route. Still, pretty good timing by Aerosoft though.
http://forum.aerosoft.com/index.php?/topic/86711-plans/ (http://forum.aerosoft.com/index.php?/topic/86711-plans/)
Cheers,
Serge
I'm so excited with this addition to Intercity! i can't wait to start logging some hours with the A320 flying from Dusseldorf to Lisbon (My hometown :) )
(http://www.viaintercity.com/images/routemap1415.gif)
:D :D :D 6 days to go hopefully!
Looks like I spoke too soon. Aerosoft has pushed back the updated A320/321 release by a week. So I assume it will be released around November 6th now.
http://forum.aerosoft.com/index.php?/topic/87117-an-apology-the-a320a321-will-be-late/ (http://forum.aerosoft.com/index.php?/topic/87117-an-apology-the-a320a321-will-be-late/)
Chris, you mentioned earlier that the A319 can be used on A320 routes however you won't have a repaint as yet for the A319. Does this mean we can use any A319 livery for now and the flight will still register? I just want to check as I'm not sure how the ACARS works in the background to check you are using the correct equipment.
Cheers,
Serge
In going to try and finish painting the A319 before Sunday night although I'm busy until Thursday. Anyway, we'll disable ACARS equipment checking with the A32S until November, so you can use any repaint until then :)
I'm probably late to the party, but would adding Cluj-Napoca (LRCL) as a destination from Duseldorf make sense?
I know that Wizz Air and Lufthansa have daily flights to Dortmund and Munich, respectively, and they're usually packed.
Hello Mihai, this season's schedule is complete but we will investigate adding Cluj-Napoca for Spring 2015.
I'm dedicating tonight to painting the Aerosoft A319 but I can't promise it'll be done before the new schedules come out.
I was thinking about something right now and need to ask this... the jets that we will be using soon will be the ones from AXE right? In that matter, we have the A320 and A321 (in my case since i don't have the a318/a319 package) but from what i read it will only be the A320 in use for intercity airways.. but inside the a320 there are different types such as the a320-214, a320-216 and some others i can't remember right now... Which one will be in use?
Quote from: Chris Liu on Oct 23, 2014 09:18
Hello Mihai, this season's schedule is complete but we will investigate adding Cluj-Napoca for Spring 2015.
Thanks Chris, I was expecting that. Having Cluj-Napoca (my local, so to speak) as a destination would give me an excuse to purchase the Aerosoft Airbus :)
Tonight I've spent just over 6 hours painting the Aerosoft A319, unfortunately only the engines were the same as the A320, so I had to redo everything else. However, it's now nearly done (see attached photo) with just minor details like winglets to do.
As with the A320, the belly was a complete pain in the arse, all the random looking splodges in the other attached image are needed to make the curves line up and I had to do them free hand through trial and error.
I'll look at painting the Project Airbus freeware model in a few weeks time, right now I am all painted out!
EDIT: Aerosoft A320 and A319 repaints are now complete and available from the downloads page
Great work getting both of these done Chris. Looks like you had a late night getting the A319 finished. I look forward to getting these installed and taking the Intercity A319 and A320 for a flight.
Cheers,
Serge
Oh yeah, I didn't go to bed until after 0300L and was up again at 0800L, but with these things I find if I'm in the right frame of mind and making good progress it's best to just keep going until it's finished.
I did make a start on the Project Airbus A320 but after 10 minutes I decided I couldn't be arsed ::) Don't think I'll be doing much Intercity stuff over the weekend on SWMBO's orders; I keep telling her I'm the MD but this doesn't seem to matter to her...!
PS: As the Aerosoft Airbus repaints are now available to download, if anyone wants to post up some nice screenshots I can use in our advertising it would be appreciated :)
Well I purchased the Aerosoft A318/319 + A320/321 bundle today although I will need to wait a couple of weeks for the release of the A320/321 part of the package. At least I can fly the A319 for Intercity though while I wait. At the moment all I've managed to do is to get the and A318/319 installed along with the Intercity livery. I was hoping to get a test flight in however that is looking unlikely so may have to wait until tomorrow.
Regarding the Intercity livery Chris, at the moment the Zip file contains a Readme containing instructions for a manual installation only however with a couple of minor edits you can make it install automatically via the Aerosoft Livery Manager. If you wish to do so make the following changes to the readme.txt file:
Change [FLTSIM.+1] to [FLTSIM.X] and also add at least 2 blank lines following the description line at the bottom.
With this done it's just a matter of dragging and dropping the Intercity livery Zip file (A319_CFM_INTERCITY_G-ICMA.zip and A320_CFM_INTERCITY_G-ICAB.zip) onto the Livery Manager and they will install automatically.
I'll try to take some screenshots when I get a flight in. The livery looks great by the way.
Cheers,
Serge
Be sure to post any screenshots you take into the Screenshot Gallery (http://viaintercity.com/forums/index.php?action=media). The screenshots on the homepage are taken from here (randomly) and the more we have in there the greater the variety on the homepage!
Ooh thanks for that, very useful to know, I'll get the readme files changed and uploaded next week.
Glad you like the paint job, they're not up to the standard I would like but given the constraints of the texture mapping and my time and skills, I think they're okay.
Released an update to ACARS tonight, to include the Airbus in the search facility.
Great stuff, Chris. Thanks for all the hard work. I'm not an Airbus man, but those who are will enjoy for sure!
Keith
Thank you for the hard work Chris! Here is one screenshot i got! I'll try to put some more during my day off :)
She sure is a beauty!
Great work to all involved in getting the bus ready for Intercity. So can we start flying these routes today with the A319?
Seems I answered my own question. There are no routes yet in the ACARS search for the A320 hehe. Looking forward to the A320 but I still love the Q400 :D
The schedules will go live Saturday night / Sunday morning UK time, in conjunction with the clocks going back to GMT.
The new schedule is live! Well done gents. Looks like everything went to plan and you hit your target dates as promised. :)
Now on a different note, I've finally managed to get a couple of test flights in with the Aerosoft A319. The first flight was the shipped tutorial flight from LOWI to LFMN. Being used to the Boeing way (through the PMDG NGX and 777) this was an eye opener to the Airbus way. Although the flight went well I found the style of the tutorial document unusual and difficult to follow at times.
I also got a second flight in using the new Intercity schedule from LEBB to EDDL (however this was before it went live). This was going well until after takeoff when the A319 climbed like a rocket at over 7000fpm! Also, when at cruise it had a really slow TAS and GS. In the end I terminated the flight as it would have taken way too long to get to EDDL. Investigating this it appears there is a known bug with ASN SP1 so it's out of my hands for the time being (I never saw this in the first flight because I used FSX default fair weather as per the tutorial document recommendation).
One other thing is that I have a problem with FSX crashing whenever I exit using the Aerosoft A319. Looking at the Aerosoft forums, this is happening to a few users but they haven't nailed down the issue so haven't fixed it as yet. This is really annoying as it's the only aircraft I have this problem with. Hopefully they get to the bottom of it as it really detracts from what it otherwise a solid aircraft.
So ignoring those couple of issues I mentioned it's quite a nice aircraft to fly. It's not to PMDG or Majestic quality, but I knew that before purchase plus it's not as expensive either. I still have a lot to learn about Airbus systems but after a couple of flights I feel I can at least get from A to B. Looking forward to those issues being fixed so I can start to enjoy this aircraft on Intercity routes.
Cheers,
Serge
The new schedules changed exactly at midnight for sure! There was a mention of another European Hub in past comments. Is this something for the new year now? Don't want to pile up more work on the Team.
Keith
I actually changed the schedules over at around 2300 L last night but nobody noticed!
Quote from: Keith Giannoni on Oct 26, 2014 09:33
There was a mention of another European hub in past comments. Is this something for the new year now? Don't want to pile up more work on the Team.
It's always been our plan to open a few more European bases (although probably not on the same scale as our existing ones) and introduce a jet type at London City.
Regrettably, as we are now approaching the festive season (and I'm hoping to move house during the next 3 months too) I don't have enough time to bring either to fruition this year. Also, having scheduled 200+ A32S flights and painted three Airbus models, I need to log some flights before I'm marked as inactive!
For the remainder of this year, myself and Chris will be focusing on minor website upgrades and marketing that we can fit in "as and when", such as a new awards page that will list all the available awards and who's won each one and a live display of everyone's logged hours for the month. Next year we'll set out an expansion plan, which will finalise where our next operating base will be (we previously considered Barcelona, Cologne, Milan and Gatwick before choosing Düsseldorf).
You are doing an excellent job and we all appreciate it!!!! ;D
Keep up the good work!
Bill
Perfect! Makes for a very exciting 2015!
Keith
Man, the busses look really great. Excellent work! I'm currently flying my first flight in the A319 now, EGBB-LIPZ. Since I'm in America, I cover the red-eyes, and I have a question. Considering my absolute lack of any knowledge in regards to repainting, please don't take this as a criticism, but only as an inquiry. The logo lights at night time on the tail look a little washed out. Is this just an FSX/Airbus X thing, or would it be possible to darken the birds on the night texture at all?
Again, thank you very much for the tireless work on these additions to our fleet! They are much appreciated.
Cheers
Aerosoft caught me off guard with a nonstandard night texture for the tail, I've already fixed and reuploaded the A320, I'll do the A319 tomorrow.
Quote from: Elijah Hoyt on Oct 28, 2014 00:49
Man, the busses look really great. Excellent work! I'm currently flying my first flight in the A319 now, EGBB-LIPZ. Since I'm in America, I cover the red-eyes, and I have a question. Considering my absolute lack of any knowledge in regards to repainting, please don't take this as a criticism, but only as an inquiry. The logo lights at night time on the tail look a little washed out. Is this just an FSX/Airbus X thing, or would it be possible to darken the birds on the night texture at all?
Again, thank you very much for the tireless work on these additions to our fleet! They are much appreciated.
Cheers
Yeah, why to we Americans always get stuck flying the red eye flights? ;)
I remember my first few flights for Intercity. I was obsessed with flying in real time and cut my teeth going from EGBB to EHAM flying over the Channel at night!
Bill
Thanks to the whole team for their work and the time they spent to make this all happen.
Well done! 8)
Much though I love my q400, I am seriously tempted with the A320. Just hope the next aerosoft incarnation is better than the last effort. Not really one for push button aircraft but maybe for some variety?
The updated Aerosoft A320/321 has been pushed back a little bit more and is now planned to be released on November 10th.
It has also been noted that for compatibility with the previous Airbus Extended version repaints the texture.cfg file for each repaint will need to be edited as per this post:
http://forum.aerosoft.com/index.php?/topic/87692-installing-airbus-extended-liveries/ (http://forum.aerosoft.com/index.php?/topic/87692-installing-airbus-extended-liveries/)
Cheers,
Serge