Find aircraft background, systems descriptions and manuals for the aircraft you are researching. Each note keeps its source and version context close by.
Simulator manuals describe the developer’s implementation. Aircraft background is research-based; pilot accounts describe an individual’s experience. Coverage here is limited to the selected notes and linked resources, not the full contents of every manual.
Starship · Black Square · MSFS 2020 · MSFS 2024
What persists between flights
State saving is selective. The guide identifies radio settings, stored routes and user waypoints, engine health and oxygen pressure among the items retained. Some primary operating switches are instead initialized from the flight's starting position. Fuel restoration also has a condition: it applies when the next flight loads with the default fuel levels. The guide records a payload-restoration limitation and notes that the simulator must shut down normally for its native saving mechanism to retain changes.
The tablet adds system visualizers and failure management. Failures can be scheduled or generated using configurable mean-time-between-failure settings, and existing failures persist between flights.
Black Square Starship User Guide (2025) · PDF pp.87,128,151 · State saving, tablet and failures
307 Stratoliner · Microsoft Flight Simulator · MSFS 2020
Bring the period ground scene into view
Separate upper-panel switches show the fuel truck and services scene, including boarding steps, attendant and baggage.
MSFS 2020 guide · PDF pages 3 and 7
307 Stratoliner · Microsoft Flight Simulator · MSFS 2020
Fuel selection spans two crew stations
The guide places tank valves at the engineer’s station and tank selectors on the pedestal.
MSFS 2020 guide · PDF pages 5 and 7
747-8i (-8F) · Microsoft Flight Simulator · MSFS 2024
Passenger and freighter equipment are documented together
The MSFS 2024 guide explains an important fuel-system difference: the passenger 747-8i has a stabiliser tank, while the 8F does not. Its fuel feeds into the centre tank. The manual then follows the changing pump and crossfeed configuration as centre and main-tank fuel is consumed, making fuel management part of the documented long-haul workflow.
Working Title · first edition, November 2024 · PDF pp.45–51
747-8 Intercontinental · Microsoft Flight Simulator · MSFS 2020
The AAU2 avionics and systems update
Microsoft’s MSFS 2020 release notes document a substantial 747-8i update: independent navigation and CDU displays, expanded flight-plan support including holds and missed approaches, and performance-based VNAV with wind forecasts and idle descent. The published changes also include autopilot landing modes, revised fuel and electrical logic, and functional GPS and inertial navigation. These changes belong to the June 2023 MSFS 2020 update.
Microsoft Flight Simulator · AAU2 version 1.33.8.0, 22 June 2023 · 747-8i / 787-10 section
Boeing 757 · FlightFactor · FlightFactor · X-Plane 11 · X-Plane 12
Systems, loading and cockpit-building facilities
FlightFactor describes custom hydraulic and electrical systems, a three-channel autopilot with failure dependencies, and loading and fuel changes that affect centre of gravity. Its cockpit interaction options include mouse-wheel modes, manual tooltips and displayed datarefs for cockpit builders.
757 v2 · gathered developer product description, 10 September 2026
Boeing 757 · FlightFactor · FlightFactor · X-Plane 11 · X-Plane 12
Failures and maintenance can persist
The published description says wear and misuse carry over to the next flight. A tablet-style menu provides maintenance and failure monitoring alongside fuel, passenger and cargo loading, so a saved aircraft need not begin every flight in fresh condition.
757 v2 · Custom Systems and Failure model; On Screen menus
‘Bloody Hundredth’ B-17 Pilot Shares WWII Experiences
Karen Abeyasekere interviews John A. Clark · 6 May 2022
C-17 Globemaster III · Microsoft Flight Simulator · MSFS 2024
The fuel page displays quantities rather than editing them
The manual labels the EFB fuel page as a visual display. The payload page separately shows aircraft weights and a centre-of-gravity diagram alongside load selection.
C-17 manual · PDF p.73
Boeing CH-47D Chinook · X-Trident · X-Plane 11 · X-Plane 12
External work includes a supporting ground scene
The X-Trident listing includes external loads, cargo dropping, animated ground crew and a custom fuel truck. Load configurations can be saved and recalled, giving the package activities beyond transporting passengers.
X-Plane.org developer listing · captured September 2026
Boeing CH-47D Chinook · X-Trident · X-Plane 11 · X-Plane 12
The X-Plane 12 update adds weather effects
The listed version 2.0 introduced the X-Plane 12 build and windscreen rain, ice and de-icing effects. The earlier 1.1 history describes VR interaction changes and stored fuel settings.
Version history · v2.0, 2 April 2023; v1.1, 9 June 2021
Challenger 650 · Hot Start · X-Plane 11 · X-Plane 12
A business-jet simulation that begins before the cockpit
Hot Start's Challenger includes an FBO environment with fuel orders, de-icing and passenger coordination, alongside a quicker simulator mode. Its Pro Line 21 Advanced avionics are modelled as separate computers exchanging information over simulated data buses. The developer also provides system-study windows, allowing a simmer to inspect the electrical and physical models behind the cockpit indications.
Hot Start Challenger 650 · Product description; Experience, Architecture and Avionics; checked 2026-09-12
