FS2Crew introduces first animated Co-Pilot for Microsoft Flight Simulator

Here’s something cool for all of you airliner pilots out there! FS2Crew has just released a pretty exciting new kind of add-on that promises to breathe new life into your cockpit: an animated co-pilot for the FlyByWire A32NX!

FS2Crew is no stranger to the task of augmenting the flight deck realism in MSFS, as they’ve released their popular First Officer simulation for the most popular airliners such as the FlyByWire and Fenix A320, the PMDG 737, or the Maddog X for a while. This time, they’re taking this endeavour one step further with Animated First Officer, bringing a new level of interactivity and visually engaging experience for simmers.

Once launched via the FS2Crew menu, the animated co-pilot appears next to the user in the virtual cockpit. As you initiate pre-flight events, the animated First Officer can be seen looking around the cockpit, pressing buttons, flipping switches, and turning dials as part of the aircraft setup procedure. Just watch the video below to see this in action.

Very cool, isn’t it? The interactive co-pilot also reads out and responds to checklists, matching the pre-existing FS2Crew functionality. However, this time, the virtual co-pilot will physically pull out the card and read through it as you go through the procedures together. It even features lip-syncing to match the audio with the first officer’s mouth movements!

Note that FS2Crew’s Animated First Officer is a payware addition to the existing FS2Crew suite, not a standalone product. Therefore, users must already own and have installed FS2Crew for the FlyByWire A320 to make use of this new feature.

fs2crew animated first officer msfs 2
Even his lips move as he talks!

Currently, this add-on is only compatible with the FlyByWire A320 and is not yet available for other aircraft such as the PMDG 737 and Fenix A320. But there’s potentially good news there, as FS2Crew told us that they are definitely looking into that. However, it’s not set in stone yet. The main obstacle lies in acquiring approvals from PMDG and Fenix, as the implementation of FS2 Crew’s program requires modifications to their core files. Such edits often necessitate full support from the original developers due to concerns about the integrity of the original design.

So, we’ll see what time will tell about expanding Animated First Officer to other popular airliners, but at least it’s something you can already enjoy in the FBW A320NX, which is no small feat indeed!

FS2Crew: Animated First Officer – FBW A32NX Project Edition is out now, priced at €14.99.

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