Just ten days ago, we spotted Bluesky Hangar’s Grumman AA-5 quietly sitting on the Just Flight website with no announcement, no price, and no release date. Today, all three of those blanks have been filled in. The complete AA-5 family is now available for MSFS 2020 and MSFS 2024, priced at $27.99 (€24.99).
The AA-5 has been represented in the sim before, with BRSimDesigns releasing their AA-5B Tiger back in September 2024, but that product covered the Tiger alone. Bluesky Hangar is taking a different route, packaging the three main variants together: the original AA-5 Traveler, the AA-5A Cheetah, and the AA-5B Tiger. The developer says each one comes with its own flight dynamics to reflect the differences in engine and airframe across the family, which is important when you consider the Traveler and Cheetah flew with 150hp while the Tiger got the bump to 180hp.
A time machine disguised as an avionics menu
Perhaps the most interesting feature here is the historic and functional scope of the different instrument panels. The package includes four separate cockpit configurations, all switchable on the fly through an in-game Pilot’s Operating Handbook. You can fly a period-correct early 1970s VFR panel with Collins radios and a Bendix-King ADF, an 80s IFR retrofit with DME and the Century-1 Autopilot, an early 2000s setup with a GNS430 and GTX327 transponder, or a modern G1000 glass cockpit, which the developer notes was only installed in a handful of real-world examples.
It’s a clever way to structure a GA product. Rather than picking one era and committing to it, the package essentially lets you experience how the AA-5 evolved over fifty years of ownership and refits. Combined with the variant selection, that’s a lot of mileage out of a single airframe family.
The Century-1 Autopilot deserves a mention of its own. Bluesky Hangar describes it as fully simulated, and it’s a deliberately old-school system: wing levelling, commanded bank up to 15 degrees, manual aileron trimming, and very basic VOR tracking. It’s more of a workload-reduction tool than a full fledged modern autopilot.
What else is in the package
Beyond the panels, the feature list covers fully simulated electrical circuit breakers, an interactive POH with checklists and performance figures, dimmable panel lighting, and a sliding canopy that can be opened mid-flight, which the developer calls one of the party tricks of the AA-5. There are 15 liveries based on real-world registrations from the UK, USA, Germany and Canada, each with matching panel and upholstery colours, plus a PSD paint kit for repainters.
MSFS 2024 users get a few platform-specific extras: walk-around inspection support for items like tyres, suspension and flight surfaces, plus visual effects for passenger and cargo loading. Ground equipment including chocks, pitot covers and engine covers is included on both platforms, and the aircraft supports MSFS ground services and visual icing effects.
The real-world AA-5 family was produced between 1971 and 1979, with more than 3,000 built across the three variants. They earned a reputation as light, sporty tourers with a cruise speed that punched above their fixed-gear, fixed-pitch configuration, and plenty are still flying today, which explains the loyal following the type maintains among real-world owners.
At $27.99, the pricing lands in familiar territory for a feature-rich GA package, and the three-variants-plus-four-panels structure gives it an unusual amount of breadth for the money. The Grumman AA-5 is available now from Just Flight. A PDF operation handbook is also available to download from the product page if you want a look at the avionics before buying.
