FEATURES
Custom flight dynamics engine
The Majestic Software Dash 8 is currently the only aircraft available which includes a built-in Flight Dynamics Engine which is completely independent from the default FSX FDE. This results in much more realistic aerodynamics behaviour of the aircraft, in particular the realistic wind simulation, enhanced propeller physics including propeller ‘discing’ and auto rotation, the effects of the propeller airstream on the wing lift and the icing effects on the propeller, wings and the flight surfaces.
Weather Radar
The Weather Radar is capable of interpolating the weather returns based on the actual FSX weather using the FSX Weather Stations reports. The Weather Radar can work with both the FSX Real Weather and the Weather Environment add-ons capable of setting the per-station weather. The beam geometry is also simulated in order to depict the weather based on the aircraft altitude, antenna tilt and the altitude of the weather itself. There is ground clutter and weather shadow effects, and also a ground mapping mode simulation, capable of showing the surrounding terrain. The weather clutter in the ground mode is also simulated.
TCAS
The Traffic Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) simulates most of the ICAO-defined CASII functions and provides the traffic indication as well as the traffic and resolution advisories. The TCAS works with both the AI traffic and virtual ATC network traffic (Vatsim/IVAO).
FMS navigation, fuel management and basic performance
The dual Flight Management System simulates the Universal 1E FMS and is developed with a high degree of realism. The FMS system is capable of navigation in three dimensions (LNAV+VNAV), RNP-based navigation and Fuel and Performance Management. The up-to-date navigation database, provided by navigation data supplier
Navigraph (subject to additional charges - see the website for details) can be used to obtain the latest procedures. In addition, there are custom provisions to control the availability of the ground services and the flow of passenger announcements.
User Documentation
Documentation includes a systems tutorial, sample flight guide, Control Panel application tutorial, checklists and performance tables.
Virtual cockpit and external models
Highly detailed external and cockpit models with HD textures and special effects are included:
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Hundreds of custom animations, all controlled by the aircraft systems
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Unique 3D propeller simulation featuring variable disc thickness
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Smooth gradual lighting in virtual cockpit
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Complete custom lighting system with proper light splashes on the exterior model and ground. All lights are functional in the cockpit
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‘Intelligent’ pilots with behaviour linked to the aircraft state (exterior model)
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Complete multi-stage icing visualisation
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Window mist/demist simulation
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Frame-rate friendly model
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NB: Virtual cockpit only; no 2D panel is included
Liveries and paintkit
Detailed layered paintkit in Photoshop format with a unique stitching tool.
19 high resolution liveries from around the world:
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Air Baltic
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Air Berlin
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Air Canada Express
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Alaska Airlines (Horizon Air)
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ANA (blue)
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ANA (green)
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Austrian
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Croatia
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FlyBe
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EuroLOT
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Lufthansa Regional (Augsburg Airlines)
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Luxair
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Qantas Link
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Porter
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SAS Commuter
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SATA
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Skywork
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United Express (Colgan Air)
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Wideroe
Passenger announcements
In addition to the default announcements included with the aircraft, the scripting-based announcement system allows for the building of custom announcements both per livery or globally. The announcement script can play the user defined sound files based on the current condition of the aircraft systems and control states, thus providing truly customised and realistic announcement flows specific to particular airlines.
Saving and loading system states
When saving or loading a flight in FSX the systems will also store or retrieve their respective states.
Custom sound system
The Majestic Software Dash 8 includes its own sound system, independent of the FSX sound system. The sound system is Direct-X based and uses custom DSP (Digital Signal Processing) effects to simulate the propeller sounds correctly. The system is also 3D-enabled for both external and internal sounds, including the switches and controls sounds as well as voice announcements.
Add-on control panel
The Add-on Control Panel Application (CPAN) allows you to visually modify the most important parameters of the aircraft, as well as verify and apply the custom Weight and Balance configurations.
FMS FPL WINDS (available from v1.1)
The FMS FPL winds functionality is currently in development, and will be provided in the version 1.1 update. It will allow the FMS to account for the en-route winds, thus increasing the fuel and time prediction accuracy.