FeelThere/Wilco Airbus Series Vol 1 A318

The A318 is the smallest member of the A320 family. The A318 has a passenger capacity of 109 in a two-class configuration and is a further shortened version of the A319, which in itself is a shortened A320. The A318 is almost completely identical to the A319 and A320 with the same two-crew digital glass cockpit. The A318 program was launched in April 1999. The first flight occurred on January 15, 2002 and commercial service started in July 2003 with Frontier Airlines. In June 2007, the A318 was cleared to operate from London City Airport (LCY / EGLC) and with that the first non-regional or business jet to land and takeoff on the small 1,199m (3,650ft) runway in London.

Feelthere developed a package that contains the whole Airbus A320 family: The A318, A319, A319CJ, A320 and A321. All models are complete with 2d panel and virtual cockpit. Separate models and engine sounds for CFM and IAE powered versions are available.

Their A318 is a beautiful aircraft and represents it's real world counterpart very well. All usual animations (except flexing wings) are present and there are many small details on the exterior model. A configuration tool can be used to set the realism level, IRS align time, cold & dark default startup, etc. Other configuration functions are a fuel planner, load manager and key configuration tool. The fuel planner is a bit basic, you have to insert the amount of fuel that it calculates manually in the fuel tanks inside FS. The 99 pages .pdf manual is well written and contains many images to help you understand various systems of these aircraft.

Almost all systems are modeled, accessible from the 2d panel and also from the virtual cockpit (all buttons and handles are clickable). Both the 2d panel and virtual cockpit looks very realistic and the displays are clear and bright. The FMGC (Flight Management and Guidance Computer) is completely modeled, something I haven't seen often in payware packages. Also systems like TCAS and GPWS are modeled, as well as all the systems located on the overhead panel. Even the autoland function works like the real thing, which I haven't seen in many payware packages either. Typical Airbus fly-by-wire systems are also realistically modeled. A weather radar however, is not present.

The flight dynamics are very well balanced, although this type of aircraft aren't meant to fly manually. Since you'll fly most of the time by using the autoflight system, it's nice to know that the whole passenger cabin is modeled in the virtual cockpit, so you can sit down, relax and look out one of the windows. If you are using FS2004 and don't have a program like Active Camera, you can use one of the two predefined wingviews which you can access via small icons on the 2d panel (screenshot #7).

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