[Nik Efimov]

Hello, Gents

There's a couple of things on my agenda today.

In terms of work on the product, all I have to say is that it's well on its way, and we continue to focus on developing the ECAM, FMGS, and FADEC. In parallel, we are improving previously-developed systems, such as air conditioning, fuel, and flight controls. We are also improving the sound environment of the cockpit.

Other than the development update, we'd like to share some information with our future customers, to keep you informed as to what is going to be happening upon release.

First, we'd like to announce a new product line. Throughout the life of our project we've received numerous requests for various product features, such as the HUD or Steep Approach capability. In the real aircraft, these functions are optional; an operator can select whatever is needed, and customize the airplane. We've decided to adopt the same approach. In addition to Core and Live, we will be offering a new line of products, called AirSimmer Tech. AirSimmer Tech will include reasonably-priced options for our Core aircraft, such as the HUD, ACARS, BUSS, and Steep Approach. We expect the list to grow constantly.

It might help you to think about our three product lines in the following way:

Core Products: Aircraft Type Simulation
Live Products: Experience-enhancing, non-technical features
Tech Products: Aircraft-enhancing, technical add-ons

Second, we are ready to announce the retail price of the AirSimmer A320 Family add-on: $89.95

Third, we would like to make public the sequence in which we will be rolling AirSimmer products. As the A320 Family project feature list is quite ambitious, and we want to dedicate the appropriate amount of time to each feature and aircraft, we will be splitting all we have planned for the A320 Family project into three phases. Please refer to the table below. I trust this information will answer most of the "What will I be getting?" questions you might have.



Important Note
The initial release (Phase 1) will include the A320 for FS9 only. We want to take more time to address the differences between the other three aircraft types (the A318, A319 and A321), which include FDE's, FMGS profiles, Flight Control system tuning, new Fuel System architecture for the A321, along with other minor differences. However, we do not want to delay the release of the popular A320 while we work on the remaining three models.

Also, be advised that the aircraft's features are NOT being split between phases. Phase 1 A320 will include the complete A320 simulation, with all the models, systems, and sounds.

[SF22]

Hi!
Sound great! Good luck! You deserve your money. 67? isn't much.
Kind regards Magnus

[#1-Stuna]

Sounds great! yaaay, i'm second to post.

[Nick]

Good news, seems that we're really close now. I think the price is quite fair too - well done team

[koris]

Here comes the bus ! Thanks Nik !

[FloTeamOnyx]

Hi Nik,

thank you for updating.

After reading your status report I have a question:

-ACARS was formerly mentioned as a free Live! Update. Now, it is a Tech update for which you have to pay?

Thanks once again,

Bye

[Flying Dutchman]

Great news! Any chance for some new screenshots?

[Anuj]

Excellent progress Nick !! Seems the release is only a few weeks away !!!!!:D:D

3 questions :

1) Have you decided to include the WX and/or TERR radar ?
2) Can you give us an approx release timing i.e. in a few weeks or months ??
3) Will you have a preorder facility ? Before the product is released, will you give the option to preorder the aircraft ?

Feel free not to answer the second one.

[thepilot]

Well, thanks for the update, but it's kind of disappointing not to have the A318/A319/A321 upon release. Is there any rough estimate how long it will take to complete work on these ones?
I reckon the full price (89,95$ is reasonable, yet a lot of money) will be charged, but only with the A320 available.

[Nik Efimov]

FloTeamOnyx, on Mar 28 2009, 12:08 PM, said:

After reading your status report I have a question:

-ACARS was formerly mentioned as a free Live! Update. Now, it is a Tech update for which you have to pay?

ACARS is out of the scope of the A320 Family, it will essentially be an A330-phase development, so no final plans have been set yet. However, the general idea is that we want to make something special with the ACARS system, and from the preliminary research, it shows that some serious resources will be needed to make this feature, so we placed in under Tech for now.

Anuj, on Mar 28 2009, 12:08 PM, said:

2 questions :

1) Have you decided to include the WX and TERR radar ?
2) Can you give us an approx release timing i.e. in a few weeks or months ??
3) Will you have a preorder facility ? Before the product is released, will you give the option to preorder the aircraft ?


Feel free not to answer the second one.

1. We are continuing research of these systems, with some progress. Most likely, TERR won't make it into Phase 1, but we are commited to providing this feature eventually (just as soon as our method of reading terrain costs less in performance). When we're ready with the TERR, it will be a Core update. As for the WX radar, we are reluctant to making a "fake" feature, so no word on it yet.

2. I shall execute my freedom then

3. No, we will not be offering a pre-order on our products.

[THY Pilot]

I think Airsimmer will release the A32S Family before May or June.

[Nik Efimov]

thepilot, on Mar 28 2009, 12:09 PM, said:

Well, thanks for the update, but it's kind of disappointing not to have the A318/A319/A321 upon release. Is there any rough estimate how long it will take to complete work on these ones?
I reckon the full price (89,95$ is reasonable, yet a lot of money) will be charged, but only with the A320 available.

We understand that it is a little disappointing, but we believe it would be more disappointing to find out your A321 has the same fuel system as the A320, and the A319 forecasts the same fuel burn as the A321.

We estimate that the A318,A319 and A321 will take an extra one to two months to address the changes and test them.

[thepilot]

Nik Efimov, on Mar 28 2009, 05:21 PM, said:

thepilot, on Mar 28 2009, 12:09 PM, said:

Well, thanks for the update, but it's kind of disappointing not to have the A318/A319/A321 upon release. Is there any rough estimate how long it will take to complete work on these ones?
I reckon the full price (89,95$ is reasonable, yet a lot of money) will be charged, but only with the A320 available.

We understand that it is a little disappointing, but we believe it would be more disappointing to find out your A321 has the same fuel system as the A320, and the A319 forecasts the same fuel burn as the A321.

We estimate that the A318,A319 and A321 will take an extra one to two months to address the changes and test them.

Alright, that doesn't appear to be too long. Thanks for the answer.

[FloTeamOnyx]

Thanks, Nik.

To "thepilot":

You spend 90 Dollars for the whole family, but you will get the other members a bit later, that's all

Bye

[lpf2011]

For that $89.95 you are getting an A318, A319, A320, A321 for FS9 and FSX plus some extras so i think its a very fair price.

[thepilot]

FloTeamOnyx, on Mar 28 2009, 05:30 PM, said:

Thanks, Nik.

To "thepilot":

You spend 90 Dollars for the whole family, but you will get the other members a bit later, that's all

Bye

I know. I just wanted to have an approximate estimation how long to wait.

[Philip Schmidt]

This sounds awesome!

89$ is a fair price for 4 aircraft types in superb quality.

But I have to wait longer for the FSX version *Starts crying like a sissy*

[Antti]

Thanks for the update Nik!

I think you may be disappointed with the sales of the initial FS9 version though. PMDG said recently that their FSX version of MD-11 has sold way more copies than the FS9 version, and there was a lot pirated torrents available of the FS9 version, but not much for the FSX one. I believe in the future they will develop for FSX only.

Good luck with your your work!

[Tino]

Thanks for the update Nik! It seems to be creeping closer

[Coolmanak]

I know the price for the 'tech' things are undecided, but can you give us a general idea?

Like $20 each? $5000?

And is there any hope for ever getting an ACJ?

Thanks for the update.