Big news on a big plane! Mettar Simulations have published a note on their Facebook page detailing their current development progress. This note discusses projectFLY, Simstall, and the A380. While this post is dedicated to the A380, feel free to read about the others using the link above! Here's what they said.

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"The A380 - in active development, estimated release 2019/2020 The A380 is probably one of the most iconic aircraft to roam the skies within the last 10 years. It’s huge, it’s got an obsession with technology and it’s beautiful. A bit like me really. I was super lucky to be able to gain access to one at the start of last year and after about 6 months of research & development and a lot reading, we decided it would be a great idea to develop one. Like with most add on developments, I can’t tell you how long it’ll take us. The reason for this isn’t because I like keeping you in suspense, it’s because we’ve never developed anything with this magnitude. It’s a huge undertaking. What I can tell you is that we’re completely committed and regardless of the time it takes us to complete it, the things we have planned for it excite me more than I can portray. Here’s what I can tell you: 

 - It’s an A380 ;) 

- Initially we’ll model the A380-841/842 with Trent 970-84/970B-84 & Trent 972-84/972B-84 engines respectively 

- It will be available for Prepar3D v4+ & X-Plane 11+ 

- It will utilise all of the fancy technology that is available in each platform. We will have native models for each platform and textures/sounds to match. 

- It’s being developed as a standalone product (basically completely external to the platform you decide to use), of which we are then building a “bridge” to connect it to the actual platforms. This means we have full control of every parameter and will not suffer the limitations of platforms. This also means should another platform be released, or we decide to delve into an already existing platform (for example, AeroFly FS2), it’s relatively straightforward to do so. 

- Everything will be modelled unless it’s of a security concern. We’ll give you more information about exactly what systems are being modelled and the complexity of them as and when we feel the need to 

- It will be exclusive to Simstall 

- It will integrate seamlessly with the new projectFLY network, especially from a dispatch and ground services point of view. 

- It will simulate failures/wear and tear, etc. 

- It will have a “Share Aircraft” facility. This innovative new way of bringing sim pilots together is really cool. Essentially using server based technology, we can allow a user to share their aircraft to an amount of “slots” based upon their preference. They will be able to assign roles to different users also. To cut a long story short, you could have a Captain, First Officer, a bunch of Cabin Crew/Flight Attendants & some passengers all within the same environment. Long hauls just became cool (not that they weren’t already).

If that isn’t enough to wet your appetite then it’s probably not the product for you. If it was, you’ll be in for a real treat :) 

 We believe that there currently isn’t enough information around to point new developers in the right direction to make their products the best they can be. During our development process, we’ll be documenting exactly how we did things but in a way which can be manipulated to work in any scenario. We want you to succeed just as want to succeed ourselves and if we’re going to continue to grow as an “industry” and a community, we all need to work together to make that happen."

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This is definitely a lot to chew on for the next year or so, or until we hear from them next. We wish them godspeed!