From: eggenste@cantor.informatik.uni-dortmund.de (Heinz-Bernd Eggenstein (LS2))
Newsgroups: rec.aviation.simulators,comp.sys.ibm.pc.games
Subject: Re: A320 Airbus
Date: 28 Jan 1993 16:38:56 GMT
Organization: CS Department, Dortmund University, Germany
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: cantor.informatik.uni-dortmund.de

>Is A320 Airbus cockpit realistic ?
>Have you got the three electronic displays in the simulator ?
>I ask it before buy it :-)


A320 has the primary flight display quite simi;ar to the real thing,
but it does not feature the navigation screen or the center screen 
(sorry, don`t know the exact terms, but I've seen a real A320 cockpit).

The A320 instruments are double the siyze of ATPs (due to the poor 
resolution of A320) and look a bit grotesk(sp?).

Navigation instruments are 2 CDIs with DME and one ADF for NDBs
(much like FS4).


I have both ATP (red box) and A320 (european edition), so I can compare.

My impression: A320 is nice, ATP is real fun.

Let's talk about facts. Here is is list of features 

Technically, A320 uses a 256 color mode. However, it seems that 
only about 16 colors a used simultaneously at any given time,
so it is more like a CGA graphic


                  ATP                           A320
---------------------------------------------------- 
aircraft:     747,737,767,A320,Shorts xxx      A320

scenery:      cities, airports,                airports, seas,          
              highways, mountains,             rivers (thats all!!!)
              rivers

environment sim:

winds         yes                              no
seasons       yes                              no
clouds        up to 3? layers,                 1 layer
              scattered ... overcast           overcast
sound         engine, markers,                 engine, markers (poor)
              ATC voice (newest version only)
              sound is fine

Air Traffic Control (ATC):

ATIS          yes                              no
Clearance 
requests      yes                              no

routing of 
flight:       ATC controlled,                  no, fly 
              radar vectors or                 as you like
              airways                                     

game elements:

career        yes                              yes
views         cockpit (8 directions)           cockpit (3 directions)
	      Tower, spot plane       
documentation:heavy and good                   light

--------------------------------------------------------

Airbus A320 is a "landing game". Your landing is 
evaluated in a very detailed fashion (vertical speed,
alignment to centerline, final touchdown point, ....)
but the rest of the flight is not evaluated in the
career mode. 

ATP evaluates all sorts of mid-flight performance 
parameters (max bank angle, fuel efficiency, 
deviation from assigned altitude, failure to contact 
ATC ...) but neglects most aspects of the landing 
(you can even land with the front wheel touching down
first without ATP complaining).


A320 (at least the european version) features *lots*
of navigation and landing aids (VORs, ILS), there 
are > 90 ILS approacjhes you can do. However, without 
buildings, mountains, roads etc, all approaches look
alike afer a short time.

A320 also features several auto-pilot modes quite 
similar to the real thing (as far as I know), even
an automatic landing system (sic! press the button,
lean back, and the A320 does the rest).
  
Remember, A320 was originally written (by a single author!)
for the AMIGA and Atari and then ported to the PC.

Don't fall for this "developped with LUFTHANSA and Airbus"
stuff. This is a marketing trick, and it works (A320 
sells quite well here in Germany).

If you want a nice little game, buy A320. If you want to feel 
the stress while flying a plane (oh my god, the flaps!. No, 
the gear first! What was the frequency of Atlanta center???
Ooops, I'm too fast. But anyway, where am I?????....),
buy ATP.

Just my opinion. All remarks apply only to the european version
(1.0.0) of Airbus A320. If the US-edition is different, I would
like to hear about it.