Microsoft Flight Simulator – Aerosoft Shows CRJ Cockpit & Twin Otter Rivets in Super-Detailed Images

Today add-on developer Aerosoft released more images and details on its upcoming CRJ and Twin Otter add-on packages for Microsoft Flight Simulator.

First of all, we get to take an in-depth look at the cockpit of the Bombardier CRJ, which seems to be reproduced in extremely high detail.

Incidentally, project manager Mathijs Kok confirmed that the flight management system supports holding patterns and missed approaches. He also provided more insight on why wingflex isn’t modeled.

• The CRJ has very stiff and rather short wings, it is not an A330 with huge floppy wings. That’s why the CRJ is not a very comfortable aircraft in turbulence. It is like sportscar with stiff suspension. 
• We know exactly how stiff the wings are and we know exactly what force makes them flex. As we can calculate the forces rather easy we know how much the wing tip should move if it was to be realistic.
• When we use those parameters, inside MFS looking at wingtips from the cockpit at 50% zoom, on a 4K display, 90% of the movements would be less then 15 pixels up and down.  You would need to look carefully to see it. Only at strong forces, rough landing, very serious turbulence. would it be more. And in these cases we hope the pilot is looking at the flightdeck instruments and to where he is going  instead at how cool the wingtips are going up and down. 
• Did you know the CRJ has a extremely stiff body? It is designed to withstand a wheels up landing! That means that the vertical tail is also very stiff. It hardly moves. Look at the an A330 and see how much the tip of the tail moves side to side. It’s impressive, yet have you ever seen a an FS addon model that? Probably not because passengers do not see that so easy. Yet it is a fact.
• Have you ever seen how loosely the engine of a 747 are mounted? Certainly at take-off they can have very different AoA.  Up to 15%. Now this is something a passenger can see but no simmer seems to ask for that even though it is a very alarming sight to see the engine pointing up and the other down. Ask me why I know.
• Wing flex is not very mature in MFS, just as it was not in P3D. It is impossible to get the animation fast enough or precise enough. Fact is that most wing flex in P3D is more aimed at what customers expect then it is realistic. It is based on YT video’s that show wildly moving wings, but if you look at most of these videos you see the camera is moving more than the wingtips.  Video’s with a static mounted camera are very rare. We have some for the CRJ and we these confirm our ideas. Most wing flex in FS add-ons if overdone. Overdone because customers feel it should be visible.
• Making wings on a small aircraft like the CRJ flex is complex. Do you calculate them from the wheels on the ground (on the ground most wings flex the most) or the centerline as they would in the air? Do you calculate flaps, spoilers? If these are extended wing flex is totally different from a ‘clean’ wing. Do you calculate them with wing tanks full or empty (on a CRJ that does not matter a lot but on an Airbus that influence is massive, full tanks stiffen up the wings a lot).

“All in all we simply felt like we could not do wing flex on the CRJ in a way that would be cheap enough on our development while still being reasonably realistic. Not for the 15 pixels of animation. Not for a 40 Euro add-on. Now if this would be a 100 Euro add-on I would most certainly want to see the data we have implemented. It is not so important that customers would not see 90% of the actual animation as it is tiny ripples or a few centimeters of movement. If you have that data and you do what many people like to call a study level add-on, by all means, include it. Just as you should include tail flex. 

For this project we decided not to bother as, realistically, it does not matter a lot for 99.999% of the time you fly.  If you feel that is unacceptable I am sure there will be another add-on that does have wing flex as you prefer it to be. If the company that makes that can show you that their animation is accurate, so much the better! I know some do care about this.”

You can check out the images below.

Speaking of the de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter, Kok shared an image of the modeled exterior, with the positioning of the rivets. He mentioned that the aircraft may be the first to feature an almost correct number of rivets.

At the moment, the release date of the CRJ Package (which will initially include CRJ 550 and 700 and then expand with the 900 and 1000 versions) is still unknown, with “hopes” (but no promises) that it’ll come before the end of the year. At the moment, Aerosoft is waiting for Asobo to fix a few remaining issues before they can commit to a launch date.

Those who prefer simpler aircraft with the Twin Otter will have to wait a bit longer, as it’ll be coming later in 2021. We already received confirmation that it will also launch for the Xbox Series X/S version of the sim.

Incidentally, if you’re interested in Microsoft Flight Simulator’s add-ons, you can enjoy our recent reviews of Newcastle International Airport, Sankt Johann Airfield, Dublin International Airport, and Seoul City Wow.

Speaking of Microsoft Flight Simulator in general, during a livestreamed event a few weeks ago, the developers shared a lot of details about the future of the sim, including the next world update focusing on the United Kingdom.

If you want to learn more about the game, you can read our review that will tell you everything you need to know about Asobo Studio’s game.

Microsoft Flight Simulator is already available for Windows 10 and Steam and will release in summer 2021 for Xbox Series X ad Series S.

You can also check out our guide wiki that includes more information to help you get started in the game.