Synaptic Simulations’ A220 Airliner is now available in the Microsoft Flight Simulator Marketplace for $64.99. The release is the first professional product from an eight-person team that began as a freeware community project before partnering with iniBuilds.
Microsoft shared the team’s story and development details in an Xbox Wire interview. Synaptic’s developers originally connected through a community-led A220 project around 2020 or 2021. Contributors came together through Discord and Reddit, with a smaller group eventually forming the core team behind the Marketplace aircraft.
The group includes developers working on systems and avionics programming, 3D art, and creative production. Harsh Duba serves as CEO and art manager, while Shaye Garg leads systems programming and Michael Romashov leads avionics programming.
From freeware project to Marketplace aircraft
The A220 was chosen because the team saw room for a high-fidelity simulation of the relatively recent airliner. Popular Boeing and Airbus aircraft already had strong representation in flight simulation, but the A220 offered a different set of systems, cockpit details, and operating procedures.
That ambition also created a steep learning curve. As the developers gained experience, they rebuilt much of the aircraft rather than simply adding small revisions. The 3D model was recreated from the ground up, and the systems and avionics went through several rewrites as the team’s understanding of the real aircraft and its software architecture improved.
iniBuilds became involved through a colleague who had worked with the company as a freelancer. The partnership gave Synaptic access to a production environment and resources needed to turn the community project into a commercial product.
iniBuilds handled most of the texturing, the passenger cabin, liveries, animations, and several flight-deck refinements. It also produced the custom sound package and built a bespoke Electronic Flight Bag, or EFB.
What the A220 brings to Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024
The aircraft includes a 3D terrain map powered by a custom compression algorithm. Its flight-planning system lets pilots adjust routes through the navigation display, including adding holds, setting crossing constraints, and creating reroutes.
Interactive circuit breakers are modeled both in the cockpit and on the aircraft displays. They connect to the A220’s electrical-system simulation, so using them affects the aircraft’s systems rather than acting as simple cosmetic switches.
The sound design also focuses on the A220’s recognizable engine “whale howl.” Alongside the aircraft’s autoflight behavior, avionics, and other systems, those details give pilots plenty to learn before they settle into regular flights.
Synaptic’s developers said the aircraft feels different to operate from more familiar Boeing and Airbus models. Its systems and cockpit flows ask pilots to learn another set of procedures, which was one of the main reasons the team wanted to build the A220 in the first place.
A project that grew with its developers
Many members of Synaptic Simulations were 16 or 17 and fresh out of high school when work began. The project later connected with their studies in engineering and computer science, as well as careers in software development.
After years of work, the team is now supporting the A220 as a commercial add-on and plans to continue expanding it with community feedback and future simulator development in mind. The aircraft is available through the in-sim Marketplace in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024.
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 is available on Xbox Series X|S, PC, PlayStation 5, and supported devices through Xbox Cloud Gaming. Tell us what you think of the A220 in the comments, and follow us on X, Bluesky, YouTube, and Instagram.
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024
Developed by Asobo Studio
Pursue your dream of an aviation career with Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024. This brand-new simulator is designed to take advantage of the latest technologies in simulation, cloud, machine learning, graphics and gaming to create the most sophisticated, immersive and awe-inspiring flight simulator of all time. To achieve this unprecedented level of accuracy, Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 is powered by the significantly evolved Asobo Studio engine.
- Genre: Simulator
- Platforms: Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation VR2, PC (Microsoft Windows), PlayStation 5
- Perspective: First person, Third person, Virtual Reality
- Modes: Single player, Multiplayer
- Release: 2024-11-19
- Publisher: Xbox Game Studios
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Age Rating:
- IGDB Rating: 70.8/100
