We finally have a release timeframe for the highly-awaited ATR 42/72 currently being developed by Asobo and Hans Hartmann! If all goes according to plan, the regional airliner will be out for MSFS in March, nearly two years after its unveiling!
This update was shared with the community during last week’s Developer Q&A, which also brought us the news about the next World Update and the new Local Legend aircraft coming with it. Hans Hartmann, the lead developer behind this project, provided an extensive update about the overall state of the aircraft and many of its features. It’s set to be a very in-depth airplane!
It’s known that ATR is offering its close collaboration with the development team responsible for this project, who are making the 42-600, the 72-600, and the 72-600F Freighter for Microsoft Flight Simulator. ATR’s “full support“, in Hans’ words, has allowed the team to simulate the full stack of systems in the aircraft.
The ATRs will come with advanced avionics which are sure to keep simmers busy during their short hops around the world. These include Synthetic Vision, TAWS, Weather Radar, a Virtual Control Panel to configure multiple options in the avionics, and more.
Hans Hartmann and the rest of the team are also working on an Electronic Flight Bag (EFB) based on data provided by ATR themselves. It allows pilots to calculate any sort of speed, center of gravity, takeoff trim, or landing distance. It even takes into account the current icing conditions to calculate this data.
The EFB will also include plenty of options to control the aircraft, manage ground services, set aircraft states, and even some maintenance functions, which are always a great bonus in terms of the realism of the experience.
Going even deeper into the brains of the ATR, Hans also talked in more detail about the complex systems in the ATR, the advanced engine systems, and the FMS. Everything is based on original documents and data provided by ATR, including the checklists, which Hans says are precisely the same as those found in the real airplane.
Concerning the flight and engine performance models, the ATR for MSFS should behave within a few percent of the real-world numbers, even as the load increases and the aircraft becomes heavier.
Finally, we also get a glimpse into the highly detailed passenger cabin that Asobo is building for the ATR. It will be a high-definition rendition of the ATR’s interior and will include some cool features like a functional document door.
In the end, this project seems to be moving steadily. This will be the first release in a new “Expert Series” of aircraft from the MSFS team, much in line with what has been done recently with the Airbus A310, aimed at the more serious simmers who look for true-to-life flight simulation experiences.
So, there you go, the news many were looking for! The ATR 42/72 is coming in March, which is still a few months out… but time moves fast!
2023 will be another year full of exciting updates and new content in Microsoft Flight Simulator. We’ll be getting the New Zealand World Update and the DHC-4 Caribou in February, the ATR in March, and so much more from the MSFS team and, obviously, from the third-party development community. What a time to be a simmer!
