Jump to content

Aircraft Profile : Sud Aviation SE 210 Caravelle by Heinz Dzuirowitz and Michael Wilson


Stephen

Recommended Posts

caravelle_header_700px.jpg

Aircraft Profile : Sud Aviation SE 210 Caravelle by Heinz Dzuirowitz and Michael Wilson

 

There was once briefly a human sub-species that existed for about a decade from the late 1950's to the late 1960's and then made a smaller but lower profile appearance again before becoming extinct in the late 80's and early 90's and even David Attenborough couldn't mix with them, but his brother Richard could...  They were called "Jetsetters".

 

These over cashed and over bored people would fly off to the sun on a whim, or if a movie had to be made and mostly they loved the movie studios in Cinecittà , Rome. They had a sudden appearance of appearing at the door of an aircraft in the female form of a Gucci Handbag and dark huge black sunglasses that looked only upwards with not to look at anything in the sky but for the best camera angle. Sofia Loren, Alain Delon and best of them all Mr "La Dolce Vita" himself Marcello Vincenzo Domenico Mastroianni created a "jetset" of idols that lived a life so high their feet never ever touched the ground.

 

Their feet never touched the ground because most of the time they spent it up there...  in the sky. Today it is the private jet, but in the sixties and briefly with Concorde in the late 80"s it was still commercial, if you could really call flying back then commercial?  For the European of choice and the few Americans who ventured across the pond to follow Hemingway it was the Sud Aviation SE 210 Caravelle that was the transport of choice amongst the glitterati.

 

post-2-0-43916300-1434946655_thumb.jpgpost-2-0-63634700-1434946650_thumb.jpgpost-2-0-14837800-1434946648_thumb.jpgpost-2-0-81816800-1434946645_thumb.jpg

 

In reality nothing has really changed. The rich Glitterati haven't really moved on to the latest private jet at all have they, because the sublime Caravelle was in all case and purposes a large private jet jet back then anyway. Just look at the beauty of the aircraft with its wide clean wings, rear mounted turbofans, cross T-Tail as it still looks like a prototype of any of today's latest and greatest from Dassault Falcon XXX and Bombardier Global something. But overall the Sud Aviation represented glamour and the latest and greatest.

 

Besides Rome, Nice on the Cote d Azur south French Riviera found its niche by also accommodating these stupidly wealthy sub-species to do bodies. Any picture of sun and glamour was usually at Nice Airport as the latest set of "Jetsetters" flew in to throw their money away at the Monte Carlo Casino. And this is where we catch up with the Sud Aviation SE 210 Caravelle by Heinz Dzuirowitz and Michael Wilson.

 

post-2-0-22983900-1434949437_thumb.jpgpost-2-0-11617000-1434949434_thumb.jpgpost-2-0-46710700-1434949430_thumb.jpgpost-2-0-55928700-1434949427_thumb.jpg

 

History

The Caravelle was created on 12 October 1951, when the Comité du matériel civil (civil aircraft committee) published a specification for a medium-range aircraft, that called for an aircraft carrying 55 to 65 passengers and 1,000 kg (2,200 lb) of cargo on routes up to 2,000 km (1,100 nmi; 1,200 mi) with a cruising speed of about 600 km/h (320 kn; 370 mph). The type and number of engines were not specified. Response from the French industry was strong, with every major manufacturer sending in at least one proposal, and a total of 20 different designs were received. But the list was reduced to three on 28 March 1952 with the four-engined Avon/Marbore S.0.60, the twin-Avon Hurel-Dubois project, and the three-Avon Sud-Est X-210. At this point Rolls-Royce started offering a new version of the powerful Avon that could develop 9,000 lbf (40 kN) thrust and making the auxiliary engines on the S.O.60 and the third engine on the X-210 unnecessary. The Committee requested SNCASE re-submit the X-210 as a twin-Avon design. In doing so, they decided not to bother moving the remaining engines from their rear-mounted position; most designs placed the engines under the wing where they could be mounted on the spar for lower overall weight, but SNCASE felt the savings were not worth the effort. This turned out to be a benefit to the design, as the cabin noise was greatly reduced. On 6 July 1953 the SGACC ordered two prototypes and two static airframes for fatigue testing. Sud's design licensed several fuselage features from de Havilland, a company Sud had had dealings with for several earlier designs. The nose area and cockpit layout were both taken directly from the de Havilland Comet jet airliner, while the rest of the plane was locally designed. A distinctive design feature was the cabin windows in the shape of a curved triangle which were smaller than conventional windows but gave the same field of view downwards.

 

The first prototype of the Caravelle (F-WHHH), christened by Madame de Gaulle, was rolled out on 21 April 1955 and flew on 27 May, powered by two British Rolls-Royce RA-26 Mk.522 with 4,536 kgf (44,480 N; 10,000 lbf) of unitary thrust and the the flight duration was 41 minutes. The second prototype flew a year later on 6 May 1956. The first prototype had a cargo door on the lower left side of the fuselage, but this was removed in the second prototype for an all-seating arrangement. The first order was from Air France in 1956, followed by SAS in 1957. It was not a French Airline but the SAS  Scandinavian Airlines that was the launch customer in 1959. There was to be a  Super-Caravelle; however, but this work would later be merged with similar work at Britain's Bristol Aeroplane Company to produce the Concorde. So in many respects the Caravelle was an early forerunner of the supersonic transport aircraft.

 

In total, 282 Caravelles of all types were built (2 prototypes or pre-production aircraft and 280 production aircraft), with Sud Aviation's break-even point at around the 200 mark.

 

Sud Aviation SE 210 Caravelle

Sadly Heinz Dzuirowitz passed away only a short time ago () but his legacy will fly on. I am not going to suggest that his Sud Aviation Caravelle created with Mike Wilson is a fully featured, plugin driven modern aircraft because it is not, but it is something special in the way like the real aircraft it represents a time that is moving on, and it is an interesting aircraft for anyone who wants to study aircraft in its basic X-Plane form and PlaneMaker design. In that context it was one of the best to come out of that era as it is part of the start of the early 3d component designs (pedestal) and emerging special effects in like pop-up menus.

 

The aircraft is part of the classic era in that Heinz like Mike, Jacques Brault, Riviere, STMA and Peter Hagar and many, many more found in creating aircraft with the PlaneMaker application. They made aircraft that were as wide ranging as you could guess, and yes certainly many still today create great aircraft, but as payware can only really support sales in areas of high demand, so then you are not going to get a high level full 3d object design of a Trident III or Vickers VC10 coming in the years ahead (sadly) but there are a few (average versions) in the downloads that cover these iconic aircraft. (Note: There is a Comet 4c in beta)

 

post-2-0-25581700-1434955430_thumb.jpgpost-2-0-35852700-1434955433_thumb.jpgpost-2-0-77467700-1434955435_thumb.jpgpost-2-0-10036200-1434955439_thumb.jpg

 

You have a fully featured interior with an attendant (Hostie!) that will come at a push of the button with a drink, French of course and to the correct time of the clock on the wall.  Early animations cover the opening of the rear stairs (but not the front door?) and the cockpit's windows open to pass through the paperwork than with today's carry on iPad electronic flight bags.

 

post-2-0-34505400-1434956139_thumb.jpgpost-2-0-91918600-1434956141_thumb.jpgpost-2-0-08158400-1434956147_thumb.jpgpost-2-0-10740200-1434956151_thumb.jpg

 

The Avon's RA.29 Mk.300 series axial flow (The first) jet engine turns and belches black smoke on early turbojet designs here before they put huge windmills on the front of gearboxes to make Jet engines more efficient and powerful. They sound great as well as the aircraft has a JERA Sound System and likewise to the era before noise abatement procedures stopped aircraft from making you clasp your ears and feeling the hairs on your neck crawl with excitement of an airliner whining away from the ramp.

post-2-0-91790700-1434956156_thumb.jpgpost-2-0-39039200-1434956160_thumb.jpgpost-2-0-93116600-1434956163_thumb.jpgpost-2-0-46596900-1434956167_thumb.jpg

 

If they are noisy then the Avon's are not that powerful in shifting the heavy metal. 9,000 lbf (40 kN) of thrust sounds a lot, the early Boeing 737's JT8D-7 was flat rated to develop 14,000lbf, but the current Boeing 737-800 Series CFM56-7B27 engine creates 27,300 lbf (121 kN) so the Avon's look positively puny compared to that. So you don't so much as power off the runway but gradually power slowly down it, thankfully the large wing gives you lift at a low (140knt-150knts) speed so you don't ride off the end of the runway and into the Mediterranean Sea.

 

Climb is slow as well but positive and any flap is drag, so they and the detailed undercarriage have to come up as soon as possible to get a positive rate of climb of around 5º-7º.

 

post-2-0-62417600-1434962376_thumb.jpgpost-2-0-93995900-1434962379_thumb.jpgpost-2-0-29101200-1434962384_thumb.jpgpost-2-0-85531900-1434962390_thumb.jpg

 

The Caravelle like the Comet before it created a new world of traveling in that was very far removed from the noisy bouncy Prop-Driven aircraft of the day. When you can in hindsight look back and wonder in our super-efficient low cost carrier world on how different the flying world was back then. Routes were empty, timetables were by the hours and not the minutes...  it was all laid back and luxurious, the Golden Age of the early jet age.

 

Although under-powered by today's standards, performance was still outstanding in a Maximum speed: 805 km/h (500 mph/435 knots) Range: 1,700 km (920 nmi/1,060 mi) and Service ceiling: 12,000 m (39,370 ft). Standard climb is around 1,500fpm,

and the standard noted climb to 33,000ft is over 220 miles and takes 40 mins and uses 4,400 lbs of fuel (kerosine then) cruising speed is at 7,250rpm and around 390knts with a fuel consumption of 4,400lbs per hour. I was climbing to only 22,500ft and it felt like forever at 1200fpm and down to 800fpm over 18,500ft. It is a slow climb but still gradual and I didn't need to go too high as it was only a short hop to Orly, Paris. Max speed is around m0.82 but go any faster and the real aircraft displayed an aerodynamic buffeting and so it rarely kept up that cruise speed for very long, but that speed is extremely fast if you think about it and the same as today's aircraft. In fact a Vickers VC10 still holds the fastest Atlantic crossing speed for a sub-sonic jet aircraft gate to gate from LHR - JFK and the RAF from London to the Falkland islands at a top speed of 827.55 km/h that created four FAI ratified records in 1987 (without air-refueling).

 

post-2-0-05339100-1434962724_thumb.jpgpost-2-0-38350500-1434962728_thumb.jpgpost-2-0-30785900-1434962734_thumb.jpgpost-2-0-80290900-1434962738_thumb.jpg

post-2-0-63166400-1434962744_thumb.jpgpost-2-0-55408900-1434962749_thumb.jpgpost-2-0-53215000-1434962755_thumb.jpgpost-2-0-37415900-1434962759_thumb.jpg

The cockpit is full 3d and for the period very good. The panels are clockwork or just dials, and not a modern display panel in sight. These aircraft can be a challenge to fly if you want to do them as they were back in the 60's. FlyJSim's excellent Boeing 727 Series is one of the best for doing the retro period flying. But here you have to plan in your ADF Nav-Aids because in here you don't even have VOR - Radials to tune into, so before departure navigation and planning is everything, in other words you need your notes.

 

Besides the usual Standard Six instruments the focus is on the pitch and climb of the aircraft in the instruments and except for the ADF that is the only navigation instrument you have. But honestly if you can fly a basic GA trainer you will feel at home in here. Everything is created out of basic PlaneMaker instruments but it does show you that how good the basic instruments in X-Plane really are. Speed is not only noted in IAS-Knots but also with a separate Mach dial and there is a radar Altimeter as well.

 

Central left is a Oil pressure and Temp Dials and voltage meter. Center panel is the engine panel that covers both engines N1, Thrust, RPM and EGT (Exhaust Gas Temperature). Center right is the Fuel Qty, and Fuel in lbs, F.F. (Fuel Flow), outside Air Pressure and Hyd Pressure. Lower panel is a clock and hydraulic quantity. The Co-Pilot get just the Standard Six instruments with Mach number and Radar Alt. The roof panel is pretty sparse because you have an engineering panel and a person behind you (remember him?).

 

post-2-0-13286500-1434965494_thumb.jpgpost-2-0-10234300-1434965508_thumb.jpgpost-2-0-31842500-1434965498_thumb.jpgpost-2-0-54669600-1434965504_thumb.jpg

 

You can see the emergence of better quality 3d objects here in the well crafted pedestal, with its great Airbrake, throttle, Flap and fuel cut-off levers. Trim wheels are to the side and rear. Other good detailing highlights are the period rudder pedals and yoke, which was for the time very futuristic. If you don't want to go all early 60's period then you can sorta cheat? There is a set of pop-up menu's on the top of the panel on the pilot's side that include (left to Right) a Mini Quadrant, GPS, Radio, Autopilot, MAP and FMS.

 

All are basic X-Plane default tools in using X-Plane navigation and autopilot functions in the aircraft (In other words if you can fly a standard X-Plane default aircraft you can use and fly the Caravelle). All Menu items are animated and easy to use...  and very helpful.

 

post-2-0-02451500-1434966984_thumb.jpgpost-2-0-00562200-1434966991_thumb.jpgpost-2-0-75680200-1434966994_thumb.jpgpost-2-0-11717400-1434966997_thumb.jpg

 

Panel lighting is pretty average and only an overhead light adjustment, In the cabin you can still read your magazine.

 

post-2-0-24604300-1434967201_thumb.jpgpost-2-0-10300600-1434967204_thumb.jpgpost-2-0-94006400-1434967515_thumb.jpgpost-2-0-16880600-1434967746_thumb.jpg

 

At only 22,000ft France is glorious below you. The modeling looks great in this light, but it is from an another era.

 

post-2-0-31865900-1434967749_thumb.jpgpost-2-0-64640900-1434967518_thumb.jpgpost-2-0-40974000-1434967739_thumb.jpgpost-2-0-61098400-1434967743_thumb.jpg

 

The sleek silver pods with the Avon's situated inside look great on a design from that age. The Airbrakes are vintage as well in that metal mesh look and stand above the wing and not as part of the assembly.

 

Officially you can descend in a Caravelle at 5,800fpm, which sounds a little extreme. But drop the speed and lower your altitude and the aircraft will descend quite quickly (unlike going up) at around 2,300fpm, and although the Caravelle was very efficient through the air for its time period, you notice how good today's wings really are with their high computational fluid dynamics or CFD and aerodynamic flows and how different you have to adjust to fly the different eras of aviation (again the FJS B727 is very good at simulating this type of period effect).

post-2-0-58869200-1435024358_thumb.jpgpost-2-0-41072100-1435024362_thumb.jpgpost-2-0-86274000-1435024366_thumb.jpgpost-2-0-73471300-1435026699_thumb.jpg

post-2-0-66834100-1435026882_thumb.jpgpost-2-0-24406900-1435026377_thumb.jpgpost-2-0-84618600-1435026380_thumb.jpgpost-2-0-52052100-1435026390_thumb.jpg

 

Aircraft of the period had to a point be more flexible than the commercial systems of today. Like the Boeing 727 Series the aircraft had to fly to into very short runways and be self-sufficient on the ground, hence the early on board APU and built in stairs. So landing speeds were usually very low at around 135knts (I used 155knts) and in the Caravelle's case some were fitted with a landing parachute for runways of 1,800ft in length but otherwise a landing run is around 2,160ft, Strangely you can't imagine now Easyjet or Air Berlin running an airline with parachutes flapping on every landing, but I don't doubt that Michael O'Leary of Ryanair would consider it if would lead to cheaper landing charges.  But at low speed I got a left-right yaw (shimmy) when fine-tuning the low landing speeds which was slightly annoying with no crosswind, flaps are only two position and so you don't have a lot of speed to flap adjustment either. The Caravelle with all that wing area is going to give you a lot of float or ground effect but I found I could bring the aircraft down quite easily and effectively with no dramas.

 

Thrust reverse is highly effective (and very dirty and noisy) so I didn't even have to deploy the airbrakes to rub off the speed and you found with the weight the aircraft tracked true down the centerline.

 

post-2-0-72595500-1435024373_thumb.jpgpost-2-0-18306900-1435024379_thumb.jpgpost-2-0-90795100-1435024384_thumb.jpgpost-2-0-42538800-1435024389_thumb.jpg

 

A taxi round to the south (old) terminal at LFPO and the flight was completed with a shutdown.

 

Liveries

A full set of retro liveries are available including a great Alitalia and the American operator of United...  X-Plane was flying in the 60's? Maybe it was on a Mainframe somewhere?

 

post-2-0-71658700-1435030481_thumb.jpgpost-2-0-40473200-1435030485_thumb.jpgpost-2-0-32463400-1435030489_thumb.jpgpost-2-0-93527500-1435030492_thumb.jpg

post-2-0-89268800-1435030498_thumb.jpgpost-2-0-97450600-1435030503_thumb.jpgpost-2-0-02403000-1435030508_thumb.jpgpost-2-0-60617000-1435030513_thumb.jpg

post-2-0-00383100-1435030665_thumb.jpgpost-2-0-93909100-1435030668_thumb.jpgpost-2-0-60137700-1435030672_thumb.jpgpost-2-0-36031100-1435030678_thumb.jpg

post-2-0-81770200-1435030685_thumb.jpgpost-2-0-23802700-1435030682_thumb.jpg

 

Summary

Early jet airliners are rare in any simulator and yet they are the most fascinating and interesting aircraft to fly (and you have to work hard to fly them without all the navigation gizmos). Heinz's SE 210 Caravelle is certainly dated by current standards but a lot of the feel and flight profiles can test you to fly an aircraft from another era in this case the early 60's, and there is not another more modern version of the Caravelle coming to X-Plane anytime soon either (If ever). For anyone interested in PlaneMaker or default X-Plane aircraft then this aircraft shows you a developer at the top of that field and what can be done and achieved with just the basic tools provided with the simulator.

 

If you are interested and want to find simulation on aircraft like this Sud-Aviation then it can be a great immersion, try flying to meet the commercial networks and performance of the period. As these aircraft did push the performance boundaries and aviation forward in the new early era of Jet Aviation advancement, and in the process also created a whole new human sub-species in the "Jetsetter".

 

post-2-0-78508600-1421908205.jpg

 

The Sud Aviation SE 210 Caravelle by Heinz Dzuirowitz is available from the New X-Plane.Org Store here : SE210 Caravelle and is priced at only US$17.95

and available for both X-Plane 10 and X-Plane9 (to order)

 

Installation:   File size is 65.90mb and expanded to 89.80mb to your X-Plane - "Heavy Metal" Folder.

Documents:  Manual, 9 Pages with Procedures.

 

Historic Documents:

 

post-2-0-64344100-1435033165_thumb.jpgpost-2-0-67479200-1435033169_thumb.jpg

 

Features:

Easy to use Virtual cockpit

    Functional 3D Cockpit

    Pop-up panels to simulate the 2D mode

    Detailed and accurate panel. Includes overhead panel.

    Accurate flight model

Highly detailed and animated 3D model

    Decorated cabin with passengers and attendants

    Detailed parts (landing gear, engines, etc)

    Many animations: Controls, Windows, back stairs, etc.

    JERA Sound System

    Comes with dozen of  liveries!

Classic Airliner cockpit look

    The complex cockpit of an airliner of the 60's

    A great mix of older and newer instruments

 

Requirements

X-Plane 10+ (any edition)

(X-Plane 9 version available on demand after you place the order)
Windows, Mac or Linux. 32 and 64 bit compatible
512Mb VRAM Video card
 

Profile by Stephen Dutton

 

23rd June 2015

 

Copyright©2015: X-Plane Reviews

 

Review System Specifications:

Computer System:     

- 2.66 Ghz Intel Core i5 iMac 27”

- 9 Gb 1067 Mhz DDR3

- ATI Radeon HD 6970M 2048 mb

- Seagate 512gb SSD 

Software:   

- Mac OS Yosemite 10.10.1

- X-Plane 10 Global ver 10.35 (final)

Addons

- Saitek x52 Pro system Joystick and Throttle

- Bose - Soundlink Mini

Scenery

- LFMN - Nice Cote d Azur X - Aerosoft (default X-Plane)

- LFPO - Paris Orly - Aerosoft (default X-Plane)

 

post-2-0-53713600-1435034614.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • admin featured this topic
  • Stephen unfeatured this topic
  • 5 months later...

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...