The purpose of this feature request is to 1) make the A350-900 more realistic and 2) reduce the workload of the devs:
In 2018 Airbus upgraded the A350-900 winglet. It is now the same as the one used on the -900ULR. I assume the devs are working on the ULR variant since it is in such high demand. If they CAD the old winglets for the -900 they will have to make another set for the -900ULR. If they put the new winglets on both variants it would be less work and more realistic.
A number of airlines only have A350s with the new winglets (Iberia, Air China, Philippines, China Eastern, Evelop, soon Air France and every other operator that receives its 1st A350 in the future) so it would be unfortunate to use the old ones with these liverys.
Additionally, as the original operators get new A350s they get the new winglets. This has already occurred for almost every pre-2018 customer. Also, I think pilots would prefer to fly the new, more efficient A350s over the old ones. These improvements led to a range increase of about 100nm for the -900.
This looks more like the old version:
Here is an image of the upgraded winglet:
^Credit: P Pigeyre
Here it is on B-18918:
^Credit: Andre G
This is the old winglet:
^Credit: Mark P
Hopefully the team is still early enough in the design process to make this change. It should be easy because the -900 and -900ULR are now externally identical. I.e only one winglet model is necessary to CAD.
TLDR: the -900ULR winglets should be used on the -900 since it is more realistic, simpler and allows the community to fly the newest and most efficient version of the A350.
Either way I’m very grateful that IF is finally getting the A350- this is just a small and easy way to make it even better, thanks for your time!
