Gmax Academy A380-800

The Airbus A380, nicknamed 'Superjumbo', is a double-deck wide-body jet airliner. Its the world's largest passenger jet (with the Antonov An-225 being the larges civil aircraft since it carries cargo and no passengers). The Airbus A380 development program was officially launched in June 1994 and the first flight took place from Toulouse, France on April 27, 2005 and led to a flight test program involving five Airbus A380s. The first A380 entered commercial service with Singapore Airlines on 25 October 2007 with a inaugural flight between Singapore and Sydney.

The A380 seats 555 passengers on two decks in a three class arrangement or up to 853 people in all economy class configurations. A380 has 49% more floor area and produces 50% less cabin noise than its direct competition, the Boeing 747-400. Initial production of the A380 was troubled by a few delays that made many airlines reconsider their A380 orders. The A380-800F freighter orders were cancelled and Airbus negotiated a revised delivery schedule and compensation with 13 customers of the passenger version.

The Gmax Academy Airbus A380 is not a very detailed aircraft, but it comes with a nice panel. The package contains many liveries of average quality. Sounds are not included, the default FS2004 b737-400 sound is used instead. The panel looks nice, but doesn't represent the real A380 cockpit. Many systems are simplified or aren't simulated at all. Still, its a nice panel if you don't give much about realistic systems.

Unfortunately, there are a few problems with this model. First, the main landing gear is floating a bit on takeoff/landing and there is almost no suspension. Secondly, the rudder effect is insufficient which makes it impossible to land or takeoff in strong crosswinds.



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