FEATURES - PRO EDITION
SHARED COCKPIT FEATURE - The Shared Cockpit is the way for two users to share the same cockpit over a network. The Shared Cockpit synchronises two instances of the add-on over a home network or the internet. It is also possible to invite a third person to the cockpit as observer.
COMPLETELY CUSTOMISABLE FAILURE SYSTEM - This sophisticated scripting system can be used to set the scenarios for any failures in the aircraft. The scenario can be random as well as triggered by the predefined conditions (engine failure on V1, for example). The scenarios can also be written by the user and include the scenario flow logic as well as the custom sound playback.
HEAD UP GUIDANCE SYSTEM - The HGS allows for operation of the aircraft under weather minimums up to CAT IIIa. The HGS includes a system control panel and the Head-Up Display. The HGS system also accounts for the pilot's head position and view angle in a Virtual Cockpit.
4x SMOOTHER CONTROLS - Configurable direct link to the joystick axis, allowing for 125Hz frequency of controlling the Flight Dynamics (as opposed to the 30Hz frequency of FSX) as well as bypassing the extensive filtering of flight controls by FSX.
SOUND SYSTEM ADVANCED MODE - In the PRO edition of the Dash 8 the Sound System can, in addition to the 3D mode, be configured to reproduce particular sound groups via the dedicated speaker(s), such as enabling sophisticated home simulation set-ups. In addition, the sound system supports a second sound device (including USB headsets) which can be used to separately output the headphone sounds.
AUTOPILOT TCS MODE - Touch Control Steering mode allows the pilot to use the control column movements to command the autopilot mode parameters such as altitude, vertical speed and indicated airspeed adjustments, without having to disengage the autopilot.
FMS ETP/PNR FUNCTIONALITY - The Equal Time Point (ETP) and Point of No Return (PNR) calculations are advanced functions of Performance management (PERF), used during navigation in deserted areas (oceanic navigation, deserts etc.) in order to verify that the aircraft has sufficient fuel to proceed to the selected destination in normal and/or abnormal conditions.
2D PANELS - Full set of 2D panels, which can be used to fly the aircraft in the 'traditional' way, or build a multiscreen cockpit by moving the panels onto multiple monitors.
WORKING CIRCUIT BREAKERS SIMULATION - Simulation for all circuit breakers in the cockpit with the correct mapping between the circuit breakers and the electrical equipment. The circuit breakers pop-up on short circuit is also simulated.
ALTERNATE GEAR EXTENSION - In the case of main gear retraction/extension system failure, the gear can be manually extended by using the alternate gear extension mechanism, which includes a manual hydraulic pump and a nose gear release assembly
SYSTEM CONTROL APPLICATION - This external application can be used to monitor the status of the aircraft systems and apply the selected system failures over the network. In the PRO edition all the systems can be monitored, but only Electrical and Hydraulical failures can be triggered. (In the forthcoming TRAINING edition all the system failures can be freely triggered.)
OTHER FEATURES
(Please note that the following features are also all included in the PILOT Edition)
CUSTOM FLIGHT DYNAMICS ENGINE - This Dash 8 add-on is the only aircraft available which includes a built-in Flight Dynamics Engine which is completely independent from the default FSX FDE. The consequence of this is much more realistic aerodynamic behaviour of the aircraft, in particular realistic wind simulation, enhanced propeller physics including propeller discing and autorotation, effects of the propeller airstream on wing lift and icing effects on the propeller, wings and the flight surfaces.
WEATHER RADAR - The Weather Radar is capable of interpolating weather returns, based on the actual FSX weather, using the FSX Weather Stations reports. The Weather Radar can work with both FSX Real Weather and Weather Environment add-ons capable of setting the per-station weather. Beam geometry is also simulated in order to depict the weather based on aircraft altitude, antenna tilt and the altitude of the weather itself. There is ground clutter and weather shadow effects as well as a ground mapping mode simulation capable of showing the surrounding terrain. Weather clutter in ground mode is also simulated.
TCAS - The Traffic Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) simulates most of the ICAO defined CASII functions, and provides traffic indication as well as traffic and resolution advisories. The TCAS works with both AI traffic and virtual ATC network traffic (VATSIM/IVAO etc.)
FMS NAVIGATION, FUEL MANAGEMENT AND BASIC PERFORMANCE - The dual Flight Management System included in the package is built after the Universal 1E FMS, and is developed with a high degree of detalization. The FMS system is capable of navigation in three dimensions (LNAV+VNAV), RNP based navigation, Fuel and Performance Management. The up-to-date navigation database, provided by Navigraph (subject to additional charges (see the
Navigraph website for details), can be used to obtain the latest procedures. There is also custom provision to control the availability of the ground services and the flow of the passenger announcements.
USER DOCUMENTATION - Documentation includes a systems tutorial, sample flight guide, Control Panel application tutorial, and checklists and performance tables. The PRO edition also includes items pertaining to the abnormal operations (checklists and the system tutorial).
VIRTUAL COCKPIT AND EXTERNAL MODELS - Highly detailed external and cockpit models with HD textures and special effects.
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Hundreds of animations, all of them are custom and controlled by the aircraft systems
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World's first realistic 3D propellers simulation featuring variable disc thickness
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Smooth gradual lighting both in the 2D and the 3D 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 a sensed behaviour in different situations (exterior model)
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Complete muli-stage icing visualisation
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Windows mist/demist simulation
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Little impact on frame rates, much smaller than comparable models
ADDITIONAL LIVERIES AND PAINTKIT - Detailed layered paintkit in Photoshop format with a unique stitching tool.
20 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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Aurora
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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 building custom announcements both per livery or global. The announcement script can play the user-defined sound files based on the current condition of the aircraft systems and control states, thus allowing for highly customised and realistic announcement flows specific to particular airlines.
FMS FPL WINDS - The FMS FPL winds functionality allows the FMS to account for the en route winds, thus increasing the fuel and time prediction accuracy.
SAVING AND LOADING SYSTEMS' STATE - When saving or loading the flight in the Flight Simulator, the systems will also store or retrieve their respective states
CUSTOM SOUND SYSTEM - The Dash 8 includes its own Sound System, which is independant of the Microsoft Flight Simulator sound system. The sound system is Direct X based and uses custom DSP (Digital Signal Processing) effects to simulate the propeller sounds correctly. In addition, the system is 3D enabled for both the external and internal sounds, including switches and controls sounds as well as the voice announcements.
ADD-ON CONTROL PANEL APPLICATION - The Add-on Control Panel Application (CPAN) allows the user to visually modify the most important parameters of the aircraft, as well as verify and apply custom Weight and Balance configurations.