CLS A340-500

The Airbus A340 is a four-engined, long haul wide-body commercial passenger jet aircraft. Airbus launched the A340 in June 1987 in parallel with the A330, as a single aircraft program. Both aircraft share the same wing and similar fuselage structure, and borrow heavily from the advanced avionics and composite structure technology developed for the A320. The A340-300 first flew in 1991 and entered service with Lufthansa and Air France in March 1993. The A340 is a competitor of the McDonnell Douglas MD-11 and the Boeing 777. It seats between 261 and 380 passengers, and has a range between 6,700 and 9,000 NM. The CFM International CFM56-5C4 engines are the only engine choice for the -200 and -300 variants.

The -500 and -600 variants are powered by the Rolls-Royce Trent 500 engines. The A340-500 is the longest-range variant and can fly 313 passengers in a three-class cabin layout over 8,650 nm (16,020 km). The A340-600 is with a length of 75,30 meter almost 5 meter longer than the Boeing 747-400 and with that the longest passenger aircraft in the world. It was designed as an early generation 747 replacement. The A340-600 flies 380 passengers in a three-class cabin layout (419 in 2 class) over 7,500 nautical miles (13,900 km).

Started in 2005, Commercial Level Simulations (CLS) has grown to a high quality commercial add-on developer for MS Flight Simulator. Their products are not that expensive and yet high quality.

Their airbus A340-500 is a beautifully designed aircraft and it represents the real A340-500 very well. Many cockpit systems are simulated and can be operated from both 2d panel and virtual cockpit. There is even a flight management computer (FMC) that automatically reads the flightplan you've created in FS. The flight dynamics are well balanced and the animations are very accurate. There are a lot extra features like a 3D pushback truck, dynamic wingflex (the wings are moving up and down in turbulent weather) and much more.

The A340-500 is available as an expansion of the A340-600, or in combination with the A340-600. The package contains a number of high quality liveries: CLS house livery, Singapore Airlines, Airbus Industries, Thai Airways, Etihad Airways, Air Canada OC, Air Canada NC, Air Canada OC/NC hybrid, Emirates Airlines, Emirates Airlines - FIFA 2006 and belly logo, Emirates Airlines - FIFA 2006, Emirates Airlines - Belly Logo and Emirates Airlines - Dubai shopping fest 2006.

The aircraft is quite easy to fly for beginners, but if you want to do full IFR flight or ILS approach, it's best to read the manual first. The A340-500/600 is one of the most advanced aircraft types in service, so it might take some time to learn how the cockpit systems work. Allthough the manual says that you can perform an autolanding, it seems only possible to do a full ILS approach. There are only a few FS aircraft available - most of them payware - that can perform a full autolanding. In this case the autopilot can automatically intercept the localizer (approach mode) and then follow the ILS glidescope (final mode). Between aprox. the 300 and 200 feet callout, you need to disconnect the autotrottle and then the autopilot. After that, you have to manually land the aircraft, which is the normal procedure for an ILS approach. If you do not disconnect the autotrottle/autopilot, the aircraft will hit the runway quite hard. A full autoland function will control the autotrottle and automatically flare the aircraft in order to make a smooth landing. This a340-500 will just follow the glidescope until it hits the runway - no flare!

In the interest of framerate, there are three different models included: Virtual cockpit model, virtual cabin + wingview model and a wingview only model. For the best framerate, the latter is the best option.

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