BN-2 Islander

Leaving the hangar next month after two years of development.

News by GamesIndustry International Contributor

Published on May 17, 2010

Two engines... nine passengers... one pilot!

The BN-2 Islander is a British light utility aircraft, mainline airliner and cargo aircraft designed and originally manufactured by Britten-Norman of the United Kingdom. The Islander is one of the best-selling commercial aircraft types produced in Europe and although designed in the 1960s, over 750 are still in service with some 50 commercial operators around the world. The aircraft is also used by the Army and Police forces in the United Kingdom and is a popular light transport with over 30 military aviation operators.

The Islander’s simple and rugged manufacture makes for daily operation in and out of rough grass and unprepared strips – as short as 300m – in all-weathers. Indeed, its twin-engined reliability, 30kts cross-wind limit and IFR cockpit fitment has seen the Islander operate the only regular daily transport in the Scottish Western Isles in weather that even has the local sheep running for cover.

Developed over two years with the help of real-world Islander pilots and operators, this exciting simulated version is a full-featured FSX release, including technologies such as cockpit self-shadowing, HDR bloom effects, and bump mapping and DX10 compatible external and internal visuals.

Whether you want to operate simulated inter-island transport, feeder airliner flights or just simply have fun in this all-purpose aircraft, the Islander is certain to put a smile on your face.

Short field performance - big on features

Over the years, the BN-2 has spawned many variants with an almost endless combination of engine and cockpit fitments.

This BN-2 simulation is extensively based a real world example with assistance from Great Barrier X-Press Airlines, Auckland, New Zealand – fitted with 2x Lycoming O-540 260hp engines.

We’ve included two exterior model variants for both early and late nose profile (BN-2A and BN-2B) Islanders, with related lighting accessories – all beautifully represented with a total of 13 paint-schemes:

Air Hamburg

Barrier Aviation

British Airways Express

British Airways Express (Tartan)

FLN

Great Barrier X-Press (Kotare)

Great Barrier X-Press

LFH

Milford Sound Sightseeing

OLT

Nature Air

Shetland Islands Council

Winair

Each is rendered in stunning detail and a Paint Kit makes it easy for you to create your own extras.

- Over 400 interior and exterior custom animations on the DX10-compatible model – with interior self-shadowing. High detail specular and bump maps for every part of the exterior and Virtual Cockpit brings every rivet and surface to life.

- Beautiful night lighting textures and effects inside and out – plus the gauge and panel lighting can be independently switched.

- High Fidelity sound set from Turbine Sound Studios makes this feel like the real aircraft, even with your eyes shut!

- Flight dynamics tuned and refined with the help of real-world Islander pilots – this baby doesn’t just look right, she flies right too.

- Fully-functional Virtual Cockpit with virtually every system and gauge functioning:

o 3D RealGauge Technology for super smooth fluid fully-3D gauges.

o Preset VC views and pop-up Bendix King GPS unit make easy access to key switches and gauges.

o Click spots on the throttle quadrant toggle allow selection of “Tied” / “Separated” engine controls

o All knobs and controls feature intuitive left-click or mouse scroll-wheel backwards to decrease value, or right-click or mouse scroll-wheel forwards to increase value.

o Yokes can be toggled from view as desired to access instruments and switches.

- Panel shake effect on engine start and take off roll.

- BENDIX KING GPS INSIDE!

Included is a fully functioning Bendix King KLN 90A GPS unit created by SimAvionics featuring:

• Full Nav data pages, single-column Nav tracking or Dual Column Super-Nav mode.

• Flight Plan display mode

• Add and delete waypoints from plan

• User waypoint creation

• Flight Plans can be created and stored.

• “Direct to” mode.

• Flight plans can be imported from FSX Flight planner.

We recommend careful study of the real world manual (available free from the Bendix King website)