The latest new arrival landing in the MSFS airliner scene is the new CRJ 550/700 from Aerosoft. This is the first, native MSFS third party airliner of any complexity to be released for the new sim. I have been flying the CRJ for a few days and have really fallen for the quality of the cockpit and flight model in general. As a GA pilot I rarely ventured into “tubeliners” but this regional airliner is a joy to fly manually and offers more of a challenge as the aircraft's flight management systems are limited, for example there is no auto throttle and only advisory vertical navigation. So, the Aerosoft CRJ bridges the gap of complexity and functionality with easy to follow flows and controls. The sound set is fully 3D so even the position of a switch in the cockpit will dictate where you hear in the sound in your headset.
It’s so nice not to have banks of “inop” switches, in close collaboration with Microsoft and Asobo, Aerosoft are drilling down to hooks in the software which we have never seen before, so technically very complex. The user interface simplifies things and is accessed is via an electronic flight bag. Here you can view checklists, set aircraft performance and maintenance and the aircraft state (Cold and dark, turnaround, and ready to taxi, etc.).
Like most addon aircraft, the full interface into the power of the MSFS core has not yet been unleashed, so there are plenty of features and improvements to look forward to, and better integration with systems and third party services.
I have taken a few screenshots so I hope some of the quality can be seen. The product will be available from the Aerosoft store and MSFS DLC.
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