The A300 was Europe's answer to Boeing's ever growing influence in the
commercial aviation world. The Airbus story began with the A300- the world's
first wide bodied twin-jet airliner. The original B2 and B4 versions finally
evolved into the -600- the first wide-body to be certified with a two-man
cockpit crew and then the longer range -600R capable of operating transatlantic
flights. Its efficient performance and a quiet and spacious cabin made
this aircraft a popular choice among numerous airlines around the world-
particularly in the Asia-pacific region. And what better way to relive
the virtual A300 experience than Commercial Level's fantastic A300 addon
for FS2004. Meticulously designed yet extremely light on the frame rates
and ridiculously easy to operate. This addon is aimed at those users who
want to avoid the intricacies of operating a high-end panel yet wish to
enjoy the high level of detail of the visual model. The package includes
a highly detailed rendition of the A300( both GE & PW variants), a
simple and basic 2D panel and a sound package.
_Without further ado I would like to present to you the CLS A300-600 in detail.
The aircraft as a whole looks 100% accurate from all sides and it comes
with a full blown virtual cockpit In addition it also features full moving
parts, thrust reversers, opening doors, and would you believe it? It even
comes with a pushback truck.
The typical round A300 fuselage shape flawlessly reproduced by the CLS
team. Simply incredible.
The CLS A300 has an extremely detailed integrated Pushback truck which
appears when the pushback command is initiated by pressing the Shift+P
keys. Have a closer look and you can even see a 3D pushback truck driver
The 3d pilot figures are of ideal size and shape. If you look a bit closely,
the CLS team did not miss a single spot. from 3d antennaes right down to
the finest of details such as markings. The Antennaes are perfectly designed
and are clearly visible. This is where some designers prefer to use textures
rather design the real thing. Hats off to the CLS team.
As with all typical FS2004 aircraft, this one also comes with opening doors.
The opening and closing sequence of the door is what you would expect on
the real thing.
This addon comes with both the GE and PW variants. A closer look at the
engines reveals the high definition details such as the engine cowling,
3d blades and thrust reversers.
Seen here is the wing tip and nav lights in detail. Tremendous detail.
Seen here is the landing right beneath the wing. It has a fully animated
sequence upon pressing the CTRL+L keys.
The CLS A300-600 has an extremely detailed undercarriage with a flawless
animation sequence. Alll gears and bay doors open and close just as on
the real thing.
A closer view reveals the detailed main under carriage and nose gear bays.Below
is an even more closer view of the nose gear and the main undercarriage.
The high details are all there for you to see.
Seen below are Spoilerons, Flaperons and Flaps being put to test. The level
of details right down to the rails is simply incredible.
Now we come to the panel. The panel is basic and without any FMC. It is
primarily aimed at those who prefer simplicity. The bitmap itself is of
very high quality with good lighting effects and extremely FPS friendly.
The virtual cockpit is beautifully rendered with soothing night light effects.
The best thing of all the VC had little or no impact on the FPS. However
I think that the textures could have been slightly better. It includes
3D animated flap and speedbreak levers, knobs and flight yoke. It even
has a jump seat for the virtual flight observer.
The FDE has been programmed by the well known FDE programmer Warran Daniel.
The very name of Warran makes me feel at home when flying aircraft with
his FDEs. I decided to take the CLS A300-600 on a two hour domestic flight
from Karachi to my home town of Islamabad in Pakistan. The aircraft handled
well during all phases of flight and there were no abnormal behaviour.
Fuel flow was pretty much on the dot. Taxying the aircraft needs to be
carefully executed as it is based on real the real thing. The higher the
ground taxi speed the lesser the chance of steering the nose wheel. Taxi
speed between 5-10 knots is ideal for executing a 90 or 180 degree turn.
Pros and cons
Excellent visual design coupled with a realistic FDE, a basic 2D panel
for the "easy going" virtual pilot and an ear popping sound package
makes this a very good package- a real value for money. The sounds need
a slight improvment regarding the typical "woooo" sound heard
at Idle thrust in the real thing. Also it would be great if the CLS team
considers adding a virtual cabin to their outstanding A300. It would compliment
the virtual cockpit well.
Conclusion:
All in all an excellent addon that will remain one of my favourites for
months to come. A must have for the A300 fans. Great job CLS! Keep up the
good work.
Visit the Commercial level website to purchase the A300-600 addon by clicking here
