You can buy the most beautiful replica FCU on the market, a full pedestal of panels and a physical MCDU — but hardware alone doesn’t make a cockpit. Something has to breathe life into it: simulate the aircraft’s systems, drive the displays, light the right annunciators at the right moment and understand every switch you flip. For Airbus A320 cockpit builders, that something is very often ProSimA320. Here’s what it is, why it has become the standard for serious A320 builds and what it costs.
What Exactly Is ProSimA320?
ProSimA320 is a complete A320 simulation suite developed in the Netherlands. The company behind it serves two worlds: professional training devices for airlines and flight schools under ProSim Training Solutions, and the home cockpit community under the HomeSim brand — same simulation core, packaged and licensed for home builders. ProSimA320 is also officially licensed by Airbus, a rarity in this hobby and a mark of how seriously the product is taken.
It is not an add-on aircraft in the usual sense — it’s a full aircraft systems simulation designed from the ground up to run a physical cockpit. The suite is modular: a systems core that simulates the aircraft’s logic, display software that renders the PFD, ND, ECAM, and standby instruments on your monitors, an MCDU module, an audio module for cockpit sounds and callouts, a flight model, an instructor station (IOS), and — crucially — a hardware connector that ties physical panels, switches, and annunciators into the simulation. You run the modules across one or several networked PCs, exactly as suits your build.
Why A320 Builders Choose ProSimA320
1. It’s made for hardware, not adapted to it
Most add-on aircraft are built for mouse-and-keyboard flying, with hardware support bolted on afterwards. ProSim works the other way around: physical cockpits are the design goal. Hardware from manufacturers like CPflight is recognized natively — the FCU, EFIS, radio panels, and annunciators connect and simply work, without a layer of scripts and workarounds. If you’ve ever tried to wire a physical panel into software that never expected one, you’ll know what that’s worth.
2. Systems depth where it counts
ProSimA320 is known for the depth of its systems simulation — its ECAM implementation in particular. Hydraulics, electrics, bleed air, pressurization, flight control laws: the systems behave the way the aircraft’s logic dictates, which is why the same simulation core is trusted in professional training environments. For a home builder, that means procedures can be flown by the book, and the cockpit responds like the aircraft — not like a game approximating one.
3. It scales with your build
ProSimA320 runs a desktop setup with a single monitor just as happily as a full enclosed shell with wrap-around visuals and every panel populated. Because the modules are networked, you can start small — displays and an MCDU on one PC — and grow toward a multi-computer cockpit without changing platforms. Your software investment survives every stage of the build.
4. An instructor station included
The built-in IOS lets you (or a friend playing instructor) reposition the aircraft, set weather, trigger scenarios, and manage the session from a separate screen or tablet. It’s a professional training feature that home builders quickly learn to love — especially for practicing approaches without flying the whole sector every time.
5. Flexible visuals
ProSimA320 handles the aircraft; the outside world is rendered by a visual platform of your choice — Prepar3D, Microsoft Flight Simulator, or X-Plane, depending on your configuration and preference. Notably, ProSim and Fenix have also cooperated to open up hardware support for Fenix A320 users on MSFS, a sign of how central ProSim has become in the Airbus hardware world.
CEO or NEO — Which A320?
ProSimA320 is offered in two aircraft configurations, and the difference is worth understanding before you buy. The A320ceo (“current engine option”) is the classic A320 — the CFM56/V2500-powered workhorse that has defined short-haul flying for over three decades, and the version most replica cockpit hardware is modeled on. The A320neo (“new engine option”) is the modern generation with new-technology engines, revised performance, and the corresponding differences in systems behavior and displays that real airlines train their crews on.
The CEO-only licence covers the classic aircraft, while the NEO+CEO licence gives you both generations in one suite — fly the classic today, the neo tomorrow, from the same cockpit. If you plan to keep your simulator current with the aircraft your favorite airlines actually fly, the combined licence is the future-proof choice; if your build is a faithful classic-A320 project, CEO-only does the job.
Anything to Consider?
Honesty section, as always: ProSimA320 is professional-grade software at a professional price — this is not a €70 add-on aircraft, and for pure desktop flying without hardware it would be overkill. Its value appears the moment physical panels enter the picture.
Licensing and Prices
ProSimA320 for home use is sold through the HomeSim webshop at checkout.homesim.aero. As of this writing:
ProSimA320 Suite, A320ceo — €1,500. The complete suite for the classic A320, for non-commercial home use.
ProSimA320 Suite, A320neo + A320ceo — €1,800. Both aircraft generations in one licence — the full package.
Commercial and professional use is licensed separately through ProSim Training Solutions — if your simulator earns money or trains crews, that’s the door to knock on.
Prices and licence terms can change — check homesim.aero for current details.
The Bottom Line
If you’re building an A320 cockpit with real hardware, ProSimA320 is less a product choice and more the path of least resistance: the systems depth of a training device, native support for the panels you’re buying, an official Airbus licence behind it, and room to grow from a desktop rig to a full flight deck. It’s the software your hardware deserves.
Planning a ProSimA320-based build and wondering which hardware to start with — or how to connect what you already own? That’s our home turf. Get in touch and we’ll help you plan it right.