ATR 42/72-600 gets an update and a new freeware “All-in-One” tablet

The “Expert Series” ATR 42-600 & 72-600, developed by Hans Hartmann and his team for Microsoft Flight Simulator, continues to receive relatively frequent updates that bring the customary range of fixes and improvements to the aircraft.

The latest update, which puts the package at version 1.0.31, comes with a plethora of changes across many areas of the aircraft, such as the avionics, autopilot, navigation, and more. But that’s not all; the community has also chipped in, offering a new All-in-One tablet to make your ATR flights even more immersive!

What’s New?

The official forum post on the MSFS forums highlights all the changes introduced with this patch, but here’s a quick rundown of the most significant ones:

  • Autopilot and Navigation: Numerous fixes and improvements have been made to the autopilot system, including bank angle settings, standby button logic, and more.
  • Flight Planning: The update adds custom waypoints to the Flight Plan page, including Place/Bearing/Distance, Latitude/Longitude, and Latitude/Longitude Crossing.
  • Avionics Logic: The update brings improvements to the individual logics of the avionics.
  • EFB Adjustments: The Electronic Flight Bag has been tweaked for better functionality.
  • User Interface: The EFB options have been split into two pages for better navigation.
  • New Livery: An Air New Zealand livery with the registration ZK-MZE has been added.
  • Miscellaneous: Fixes to bleed/pack logic, max cruise speed calculation, and SimBrief ID visibility.

As usual, you can grab the latest version of the ATR 42/72-600 through the built-in Content Manager in Microsoft Flight Simulator.

A new All-In-One Tablet

In related news that may be of interest to ATR pilots, the last few days have also seen the release of a rather interesting new freeware add-on. Developer CmteAlex has released an All-in-One tablet for the ATR that allows simmers to view real-world flight plans, access charts, work through checklists, calculate performance, and even gather weather information.

The tablet is integrated with all airlines that operate the ATR 72-600, as well as the airports they serve. There’s a sort of demonstration video that explains what it does. It’s pretty self-explanatory and looks like a great tool to inject additional realism and real-world accuracy into your flights with the ATR in MSFS.

It’s great to see the ATRs continuing to get attention from both the creators and third-party developers. It may not be a perfect aircraft but it continues to improve and offers one of the best regional-airliner experiences in the simulator!