The latest and longest member of ToLiss’ fleet has arrived for all today, following the initial tease of the aircraft in August 2020. 

ToLiss’ A340 ships with the normal suite of features ToLiss has established itself to be known for, such as the Interactive Simulation Control System (ISCS), and an in-depth system modelling true to the Airbus A340. Also new with today’s release is a “taxi camera” which simulates the tail cam installed on A340 aircraft.

Previews of the aircraft have been shared intermittently since that point, with larger sets of preview images and details being shared over the past month, building hype before release. Last week, a group of streamers within the community were also sent the aircraft to showcase to their audience. Streamers were given no restrictions on what they could share, giving the community the first real, unfiltered chance to see the aircraft in its flesh.

ToLiss has taken a new approach to visuals with the A340, as it now owns the ownership of the models used in the aircraft. This is contradictory to the approach used with their A319/321, where they simply purchased rights to use the model and did not have complete ownership of it. This doesn’t mean all modelling was completed in-house though, as modelling was still contracted to separate individuals and companies, such as Ekran Design, SamWise and SpeedM. This new ownership of models does mean that it will be much simpler for ToLiss to complete changes with the model if any inaccuracies were to be flagged after release.

Upon loading into the aircraft and diving into the MCDU, users will notice that there is a basic skeleton for the ATC Comm page. ToLiss has stated that ATSU with full CPDLC/PDC will be coming to the aircraft later down the line, as well as hopefully being brought down to their A32X. Also implemented in the A340 to function alongside this system, later on, is a pair of DCDU on the main panel.

Here’s the full feature list of the ToLiss A340:

Detailed FMGS:

• 3 independent MCDUs providing real-life FMGS programming capability
• 2 independent autopilots
• SID/STAR and airways support in a fully custom FMGS backbone supporting all A424 leg types (Arc, course or heading to intercept, Radius to Fix, Holdings, etc.)
• Support for all approach types present in real life A340-600s, including GLS, ILS, LOC back course, etc.
• Full VNAV guidance with TOC, TOD, Deceleration point, speed limits, fuel prediction, etc.
• Altitude and speed constraints as the real aircraft deals with them
• Support for Go-Arounds and diversions
• Nav Aid autotuning
• Pilot item database, such as pilot fixes, pilot navaids etc.
• Flight plan saving via the Pilot routes page
• Equitime point computation and nearest airports page

Accurate Systems:

• A fly-by-wire system with reversion between normal law and alternate law 1, alternate law 2 and direct law as per real-life logic.
• Hydraulic model for flight control actuators computing hydraulic flow through the actuators, the control surface hinge moment, maximum feasible deflection etc. This gives realistic surface floating angles if a control surface is lost due to combinations of hydraulic and computer faults.
• A quantitative hydraulic model considering the maximum hydraulic flows of the different pumps as a function of engine speed. This is most noticeable when flying on RAT or with windmilling engines
• A quantitative bleed model considering the bleed mass flow for engine start, wing anti-ice air conditioning packs etc.
• High fidelity fuel system including inflight CG control by pumping fuel to and from the tail tank, fuel jettison, manual and automatic transfers between the different tanks
• Detailed model of each ADIRU including alignment, small pressure sensor differences between the units, switching of sources for PFDs
• Fault injection system allowing to trigger over 140 system faults either at a specific point in flight or randomly during a flight phase
• Cockpit display system simulating the dependency of the displays on the Display management computers resulting in real-life display limitations
• ECAM system with over 30 warnings and over 200 caution messages including associated ECAM actions.

3D Modelling

• Detailed 3d cockpit with animated switches
• Mouse gesture system for interaction with push-pull knobs emulating the motion on the knob with the mouse
• Detailed cockpit lighting with reading lights, console light, tray table lights etc.
• 4 class passenger cabin with underfloor lavatories and crew rest
• Custom particle effects for engine heat trail, Fuel jettison etc.
• Custom landing gear model for bogey touch down.

Usability Features

• Situation loading and saving. It is possible to save the flight at any point in time and resume it another day. This can also be used, e.g., to save the position just before approach and practice just the approach many times
• Autosaving allows recovering where you left off, should the X-Plane session end unexpectedly
• Jumping waypoint-to-waypoint through the cruise phase: Shorten your flight to focus on the more interesting parts as you like
• 4 different startup configurations from Cold and Dark to engines running and ready to go
• In-screen popup displays or use of x-plane windows for popups
• Adjustable Wingflex via a slider in the ISCS
• Possibility to turn the screen reflections on and off
• Auto-updater by Skunkcrafts Included

In true ToLiss fashion, a master thread of liveries has already been created ahead of release, with many real-world liveries already having been created by painters in the community. Although it is to note that most liveries created thus far haven’t had access to the aircraft, as such many may not function correctly, or will not be completely accurate.

ToLiss’ latest aircraft can be purchased on the X-Plane.org Store for $89.99.

ToLiss’ other aircraft, which are still regularly updated can also be purchased below:

• ToLiss Airbus A319
• ToLiss Airbus A321
• ToLiss Airbus A321 NEO Addon