News on the Starship
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A little tight, but it will fit...
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Hello, I'd love to hear some news as that will help me in deciding whether or not to buy the FlightFX avanti, being italian myself and loving high performance TurboProps I love it (and will probably end up buying it at some point), but unfortunately because they decided to to the Avanti II it's going to have the Proline avionics, which are beyond boring, so I already know that once the Starship is out I'll use it a lot more. So depending on the Starship's current state I'll decide whether to wait for a sale on the Avanti or whether to buy it around release time.
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I hope I'm not the only one checking this thread and the store page daily! Already starting to plan my home cockpit build for Starship!
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@Outermarker Ah, I missed that, thank you so much
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I'm so delighted to have so many of you here and excited for the Starship. It's always been a very important aircraft to me, and preserving its legacy has been a goal of mine since I started making aircraft for MSFS. I have been meaning to publish an update on Starship development since the beginning of the year, but changes for MSFS 2024 have been taking precedent. Luckily, I'm planning to resume Starship work very soon.
There will be my usual collection of videos and tutorials before the release, so you should have plenty of opportunity to assess the level of detail I've put into the avionics. While Pro Line avionics might be a very capable and modern solution, if it's character and nostalgic CRT charm you're looking for, then I don't think the Starship's AMS-850 can possibly disappoint!
I also plan on publishing the 185 page manual for the Starship soon, so you can get to know the aircraft and it's dozens of special features for serious simulator pilots. For right now, the most interesting features of the simulation are listed at the top of the Detailed Description section of the product page.
I will stop there, and leave the rest for an official update soon. Thank you all so much for your interest, and I hope you will find as much joy in learning the Starship's unique systems as I have!
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@Black-Square Thanks for the little tidbit Nick, I know we're all waiting with bated breath for more on the Starship. I hope the delays don't take up too much more time and we can get a big update on the status soon.
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@Black-Square
So glad to see the update! Looking forward to finding out more soon, and to getting the POH. I've already got a spot on the shelf where it can take center stage next to printed handbooks for the Velocity, King Air, TBM, and Bonanza! -
@Black-Square Excellent glad to hear, thank you so much, not only for the update, but for making these kinds of aircraft in general when the vast majority of devs only seem interested in ultra modern stuff, can't wait to fly it :D
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@FD1003 Ahhh com'n - buy both upon release! $25 US is like couch change. The Avanti is unlikely to go on sale until 10 months from now, and even though, doubtful. That's a sweet price point. And you know of course the Starship is going to be special among so many specials from Blacksquare. But they are clearly at least 6-8 weeks from a release, if not more. It seems like this anyway based on his comments below - those videos usually start at least 4 weeks before a launch. So it's going to be a bit yet.
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I am super excited about the Starship. I feel it will be one of my favourite MSFS aircraft.
Please Nick, can you advise if wing flex will be implemented? I watched many videos on the aircraft lately and it would appear its wings flex spectacularly. I am hoping it will be reflected in the simulation.
Release day purchase here.
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Absolutely! I've paid particular attention to how the wings flex while the aircraft is taxiing, and have written my own code to emulate different surface dynamics for the best look and feel. You can see how dynamic the airframe feels in the very first shot from my first promo video. If you look very closely, you can see that the slightest bumps in the air cause the displacement to propagate down the wing. So glad you're looking forward to it!
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Awesome to see the recent update about a planned release before FSExpo! My partner and I flew across the country recently just to see N74TD at the Evergreen Museum in Oregon, which has had me even more excited for the upcoming release; looking forward to the next progress update!
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Any news on the starship, about the manual, would appreciate it! @Black-Square
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@Black-Square I remain very excited to learn how to fly this aircraft. One question, as it was designed for VOR flights and ILS landings, at least I think that's right?, and with GPS replacing most older forms of air navigation, what type of navigation and landings can this aircraft do?
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I thought I covered this in one of my update articles, but it appears not! Here is a relevant section from the manual, and also a section from one of those update articles.
"Users may choose whether to fly with modern GPS capabilities that have been added to the original AMS-850, with autopilot coupling to a GNS430 for modern approach, departure, and arrival capabilities, or with only the navigational functionality of the original Starship, including VLF and Omega radionavigation."
"The Starship's avionics suite pioneered many of today's commonplace features, with some in more recognizable form than others. While it seems difficult to believe in hindsight, the Starship left the factory with no GPS receiver, as the prototype flew in the same year GPS was first made publicly available to civilian users. Instead, the Starship's avionics automatically tuned to nearby navigation aids to generate a positional estimate, the accuracy of which could be enhanced by user input. The Starship also carried receivers for Very Low Frequency (VLF) radio stations, such as Omega, which consisted of nine transmitters located around the globe. As a personal passion project, this pre-GPS navigation system will be available in the Black Square Starship for MSFS. Since its first sale in 1986, the Starship has also received many software and hardware updates to provide modern navigation capabilities, which will also be represented in MSFS."
In summary, the Starship can navigate with VOR, basic enroute GPS, VLF/OMEGA (you can turn them on or off as you choose), and can land with the LOC/GS, and the LNAV only GPS in the real aircraft. I have also added the option to couple the avionics to a GNS 430 for WAAS enabled approaches, though there is currently no Starship configured this way in the real world. The expert on Starship equipment/avionics has told me that this is possible, and he has thought about doing it, but has yet to devote the resources to it.
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@Black-Square Will VOR/DME based RNAV also be present along with VLF/Omega? It would be nice to see that for those who want no GPS at all, and it enables some RNAV approaches(if necessary navaids are present) without needing GPS.
