Since the Synaptic A220 went on sale at the end of July, many conversations have been around performance. We covered v1.0.3 as the first serious attempt at addressing that, as Synaptic kept up a steady run of patches since the release. Version 1.0.5, which iniBuilds confirmed is now available, keeps one foot in that effort while putting the other into new systems territory.
The main addition this time is the checklist system. The A220 now shows non-normal checklists automatically, triggered by the aircraft’s crew alerting system (CAS). In practice, that means when a caution or warning fires, the relevant abnormal or emergency procedure appears on its own instead of the pilot going looking for it. The CAS logic was one of the areas Synaptic spent considerable time on during development, so seeing it wired into the checklists is a logical next step.
The update also brings native checklists to both MSFS 2020 and MSFS 2024, plus support for timed, limitation, deferred, and follow-on checklist items.
For anyone still chasing frames, the more interesting entry might be the new No Cabin variant for MSFS 2024. Back in v1.0.3, Synaptic reduced cabin and cockpit node counts as part of a performance pass, so a version of the aircraft that removes the cabin altogether follows the same thinking. It gives MSFS 2024 users a way to fly the A220 without the overhead of the modelled interior. The changelog also notes that two map symbol categories, controlled airspace and special use airspace, have been temporarily pulled while further performance work continues, and that the ALONG TRK WPT option has been removed until it can be implemented correctly. Both read as signs that the optimisation is still in progress.
On the flight planning side, the FMS picks up a few new ways to build a route. You can now insert a fix as a waypoint from the FIX dialog, and drop runways at flight plan airports or ILS navaids into the plan as fixes. Elsewhere in the systems list, Synaptic corrected a case where the vertical path (VPATH) would disarm if the aircraft drifted off the lateral route, fixed direct-to courses that drew in the wrong direction once the aircraft was past the fix, and refreshed an out-of-date magnetic variation database. Cabin pressure now responds to an open cabin door in flight, and a couple of display bugs on the status synoptic and the FIX INFO dialog have been cleaned up.
The EFB sees its own round of fixes. The pause at top of descent was not engaging reliably, and the unpause prompt that should accompany it was missing, so both have been addressed. Time compression settings have moved to the main menu, and the landing calculator now takes the full landing weight as input rather than a figure multiplied by 1,000, which should make that entry less error prone.
There are a few art touches as well, including an openable gear-pin stowage box in the cockpit alongside the No Cabin option, plus fixes to a main gear door that stayed open in flight and some misaligned panel markings, both on the MSFS 2020 side.
None of this reshapes the A220 as a product, but it is a useful picture of where Synaptic’s attention sits right now: still shaving performance where it can, while filling in the systems depth the aircraft was sold on. v1.0.5 is available to download now on both MSFS 2020 and MSFS 2024.
