Fenix have now announced that they have come to the end of their A320 beta phase, with their first release candidate being circulated internally. The official release should shortly follow. The Fenix A320 aircraft will be available at a price of £49.99, which should be incredible value if it lives up to its expectations.

The Fenix aircraft was developed from ProSimA320 base code. It would be interesting to compare the systems and aircraft performance when Fenix eventually releases. At this time of this writing, even the latest ProSimA320 beta (1.56b1) continues to suffer from flight and external modelling issues in their MSFS release (non-functional speedbrakes and aircraft lights to name a few). Most likely the Fenix A320 has been polished extensively without these concerns.

In a short amount of time Fenix created their own flight dynamic model, virtual cockpit, an EFB and even enhanced system functionality. It will be available with 181 (!) liveries at launch. Aamir has also detailed OPS center simulation integrated with the EFB and ACARS system. Sound has been reworked extensively and is dynamic depending on the state of the aircraft. ProSimA320 does not include flight deck ambience audio so these features would be exclusive to Fenix A320.

As the Fenix aircraft will have no allowable flightdeck hardware integration, ProSimA320 will continue to be a viable option for cockpit builders, along with Jeehell FMGS, Flight Sim Labs A320-X (now also planning a release for MSFS) and Flight Factor A320 Ultimate.

It would be a real shame if the Fenix A320 enhancements did not eventually make its way into ProSimA320. Both avionics software share the same base programming code and theoretically should able to be implemented without much difficulty. It is also important to note after release the Fenix aircraft will have additional updates (including an IAE configuration) for their customers at no further cost.