Aerosoft has released their Twin Otter simulation for MSFS, as scheduled, following a promotional video being published the day before. The project was unveiled nearly two years ago, and through it all, the aircraft went through an extended testing period which culminates into today’s release. Following the new year, the team has wrapped up most of the development and announced the release date, being the 19th.
The aircraft is described as the ultimate utility aircraft that can get you anywhere, designed with reliability and safety in mind, where no other aircraft can compare. Its versatile design enables the aircraft to operate on virtually any type of ground and terrain, be in, mudflats, water, sand, or snow – its role is prominent as a main workhorse on scheduled polar flights and flight ops at extreme airport locations, but also as a reliable carrier on tropical islands. Its continued use to this day is a testament to the sturdy rugged design; with a distinctively rigid landing gears that is peformant and light, to the tall wings that recuces the chances of damange from foreign debris. It is powered by two PT6A-20 engines from Pratt & Whitney.
Akin to their previous releases, the Twotter is no different in the extent that the team has put into covering every aspect of the plane. making use to the full extent of the simulator’s capabilities, the plane is also a cornerstone release of Aerosoft’s growing collection of MSFS aircraft, the Twin otter being the fourth release on MSFS. In line with the detailing method done on default aircraft, the team elected to make use of custom decaling to replicate prints and labels on the surface of the aircraft skin, the result is claimed to be a significant saver in both memory and system resources. Custom Wwise sounds with over 300 sounds positioned across the plane aim to bring an authentic auditory experience. System wise, icing, fuel system, different avionic suites are offered across the wide ranging selection of the Twin Otter collection.
Lastly, the features are developed with new development processes, which resulted in a highly optimised visual model that is usable across different platforms, so it is an aircraft that is flyable on console editions of the simulator.
Here is the full breakdown of the aircraft’s features:
- Full new development using all options of the platform
- Highly optimized modelling, prepared for use on PC and Xbox
- Wwise sound set with close to 300 spatially placed sounds
- Full use of decals to save on texture memory, very light on system resources
- Complex icing modelled on almost all surfaces and functional de-icing systems including electrical de-icing for probes and de-icing boots for leading edge
- Fully featured fuel systems (updated when MSFS adds more features)
- High-definition flight models for each model
- No additional navigation database needed
- MSFS checklists implemented
- Complete avionics stack (all compatible with available tweaks):
- Garmin 530 all-in-one GPS/Nav/Comm solution
- Garmin 430 all-in-one GPS/Nav/Comm solution
- Bendix/King KR-87 ADF Receiver
- Bendix/King KT-76C Transponder
- Bendix/King KAP140 Autopilot
- Intercontinental Altitude Alerter
- Collins 913K Autopilot Controller (used as repeater for the KAP140)
- Bendix/King KMA Audio Selector
- Collins FD-112V Flight Director
The entire package comes with a whopping 12 different variants that spans from -100 and -300 variants, to amphibious and ski cargo:
- DHC6-100 Floats Passenger (Westcoast Air C-FGQH)
- DHC6-100 Wheels Cargo (Norway Airforce MXJ_67-062)
- DHC6-100_Wheels Passenger (Fuerza Aerea de chile 940)
- DHC6-300 Amphibian Passenger (Viking Air N153QS)
- DHC6-300 Floats Passenger (Trans Maldivian 8Q-TJM)
- DHC6-300 Floats Passenger Short Nose (Trans Maldivian 8Q-MAV)
- DHC6-300 Ski Cargo (British Antarctica Survey VP-FBB)
- DHC6-300 Tundra Wheels Cargo (Air Inuit C-GKCJ)
- DHC6-300 Tundra Wheels Passenger (Norlandair TF-NLC)
- DHC6-300 Wheels Cargo 3 Blade Prop (Aklak Air C-CDHC)
- DHC6-300 Wheels Cargo 4 Blade Prop (Aklak Air C-CDHC)
- DHC6-300 Wheels Skydiver (Perris Valley Skydiving N-708PV)
- DHC6-300 Wheels Passenger (Solomons Airline H4-FNT)
For those who has a copy of the Twin Otter for P3D, Aerosoft is not providing a discounted price of this add-on, as this development has little to no correlation to the product available for P3D. With an asking price of €29.95 which is inclusive of all the variants aforementioned, Aerosoft has made yet another mark on bringing accesible flight simming to the masses. Check out the product page to purchase and read up for more information.