Stephen Posted October 12, 2013 Report Share Posted October 12, 2013 Aircraft Review and Update : Carenado Beechcraft A36 Bonanza v2 HD Series Route - KLAL (Lakeland Linder Regional Airport) to KFMY (Page Field, Fort Myers) If you like to fly Beechcraft Bonanzas then in choice you can’t go wrong as Carenado has three different versions available for X-Plane. (from left to right) First choice is the original F33 of which is the most basic model, Then the V Tailed V35 and the last version is the A36. The A36 is different from the earlier versions, and the best way to sum up the A36 compared to the others is that it is like the Boeing 737-800NG compared to the Boeing 737-200 of the late 60′s. They both look comparatively the same and even the airframe is relatively the same as well, but the A36 aircraft has been modernised and stretched. Put a A36 next to the F33A and you start to see what I mean, there is an extra 10 inches (In the old school) in there and an extra window. The A36 has also a more modern instrument layout than the other two versions (dials). The A36 has the General Aviation equivalent version of a glass cockpit in the Aspen EFD1000. It is a tight bundle and it is set out in-between the unusual layout of the Standard Six dials (Three on either side) and of which has the feature of popping out for ease of use. The A36 Bonanza is the last of the current series to be updated by Carenado to the v2 64bit specifications, however the SASL 2.1 plug-in was done earlier in the year for a fix of a memory leak issue (that drove me mad with simulator crashes). Aspen EFD1000 So what is special about the Aspen EFD1000? It is a very compact but function heavy display that is split into three sections with at the very top is your speed and height in the PFD (Primary Flight Display) and artifical horizon that also comes with both airspeed and altitude tapes (switchable on/off.) In the middle section is your TAS/GS speed, OAI (Outside Air Pressure), Wind direction and Baro. In the lower section is the Navigation Display with 360°/ARC heading, and we are not finished there either as there is a Map function as well.. Left tuning dial (knob) is for CRS (Course) and airspeed bug, Right tuning dial (knob) is for HDG Heading, Target Altitude, Baro Pressure adjustment and Minimums. Blue is set and Magenta is change by pressing the in centre of the tuning knobs. CRS Course and HDG selection is “Blue” for set and “Magenta” for adjust. But it can be a little tricky as there are two types of adjustments. One is a global “move your mouse in any direction to adjust”. The others are little arrows to adjust left or right. The problem with the “global” movements is they move everything very quickly, so if you are adjusting the heading then the pointer moves around erraticly and it is hard to focus on a degree number, The arrows are far better to use to select in increments the heading you want to use in this case, but you have to hit the button to change the function from “Blue” to “Magenta” to do the adjustments and that can be tiresome (and slow) if you are making a lot of adjustments for say on lining up for a runway. Selections for the two screens are situated down the right side of the system. (top to bottom)Power switch : (even if you turn off the aircraft batteries the EDF 1000 will still be on!.)+ RNG - (Range) : for the map display (1.) - When adjusting the range it is shown by green bars on the lower left. Menu : A full range of MENU Items are available including Vrefs and display settings. TPS (Tapes on/off) (2.)MIN : Minimum (height) settings (on/off)360/ARC : switch between the 360° or ARC display. (3.)MAP Display map : (3 settings off/Nav items/ Nav Items with names) (4.)GPSS : Toggle GPS/Autopilot Nav Source. The .fms flight-plan function is really wasted because you can only set a single waypoint to waypoint line in the Garmen GNS 430. The Aspen EFD1000 does not have the FMS function anyway. But if you really want to load a FMS flightplan you still can via the : menu - Joystick, Keys & Equipment>Buttons:Adv>FMS setting. The centre three buttons select (right to left) Double-line (VOR1, VOR2, GPS1) – CDI source (VOR1, VOR2, GPS1) – Single-line Pointer (VOR1, VOR2, GPS1). Here is the setting for VOR1 – Nav1, (VLOC1), Nav2. - which are the standard landing settings. Carenado provide (O) Options (menu) on the lower left of the screen. Which include:Opening the Rear doors Window Reflections Static Elements (Chocks, Tags, Pivet covers and Engine inlet covers) Opening Passenger Door (Co-Pilot) The A36 is powered by the upgraded 300 hp (224 kW) 2002 version of the Continental IO-550-B engine as the F33A which is powered slightly lower at 285hp with the IO-520-B. Detail and Construction Detailing is exceptionally well done. Focus on the undercarriage and you can see a perfect reproduction of the gear equipment. Bolts and brake assemblies are completely built and designed, Struts and links are making it hard to realise this is only a computer model and not the real items, All shock absorption (animation) with moving struts is excellent and all links and wheels and tyres are weathered and realistic. A taxi light is built into the front wheel strut, a landing light is in the cowl above. Engine vents and protruding (animated) exhausts are all expertly created. The detailing is also highlighted by the wing and end lighting, with the Nav and Strobe lighting (and all other lighting being completely redone for these v2 aircraft. Inside their glass canopies you have to admire the detail of the light fixtures. Wings have small vortex generators and a rubber wing protection on the entry side of the aircraft. Inside and the cabin detailing is again excellent with leather seats and door trims, A dark wood drinks table will open and close and you can see the extra space in the A36 to allow club seating in the rear. Another Menu item (C) Camera allows you to go straight to certain view. This makes it easy to move to another viewpoint quickly without using the X-Plane default view values. Cockpit Power off the panel is waiting for it’s user to turn on the power. Power on and the cream on black panel is gorgeous and like the same overall but smaller version of a back fit and switch layout as in the Cessna Caravan and as being modern. The lighting, power and start switches are located down behind the lovely chunky yoke with built in timer and clock. The low set switches are hard to see with the bulky yoke in place, but you can remove it. The Starter switch is however missing the usual swinging Carenado Key tag? Equipment Stack is very good but really not great. Besides the Aspen Avionics EFD 1000, there are two GARMEN GNS 430s, a very modern GARMEN GTX 327 transponder and the standard KR 87T50 Bendex/King ADF, A GARMEN GMA 340 Audio Panel…. The KFC225 Bendix King autopilot however is very good. This piece of equipment comes with Heading, Altitude (by Pitch or by V/S) with ARM, NAV (Nav1), APP (Approach) YD (Yaw Damper) and it is a unit that is as good as it looks and it comes with all the “bells and whistles” and works well in conjunction with the Aspen EFD1000. Throttle, RPM (engine) and Mix(ture) levers are simple and easy to use, and with a huge pitch trim wheel of which are situated on the upper pedestal and with the rudder knob and engine vents lower down, Above the levers are two fuel tanks dials that are switchable via a handle down to the left of the pilots seat. The red handle is not visible until you touch the switch and then you can select which tank you need. If the fuel gauges are in the yellow zone then it is not preferable to takeoff. The main engine dials are in a line downwards on the panel between the S6 Instruments and the radio/nav stack (top to bottom) MAN Press, RPM, Fuel Flow, Temp ºC (CHT/EGT) and finally Oil Pressure (Temp/Press) Cruise speed: 176 kn (203 mph; 326 km/h) Range: 221 nmi (254 mi; 409 km) with full passenger load - Ferry range: 930 nmi (1,070 mi; 1,720 km) Service ceiling: 18,500 ft (5,600 m) Rate of climb: 1,230 ft/min (6.2 m/s) With the RPM and Mix levers up and a twist of a key to start. The 3d sounds are first rate (open the side window to hear the engine) and the A36 sounds and feels right at Idle. The window blinds are fully useable, but I don’t need them so I stow them both away. Release the brakes and your rolling with very little throttle if you pull the RPM back to low and the mix just a touch. You have to adjust the rudders/steer for the asymmetrical thrust that pulls the aircraft to the right while taxiing, and you have to correct it all the time you move around on the ground, It is not too bad as I have had worse... But you still need to be aware of it. On takeoff the asymmetrical pull thrust is not to bad, You have three flap settings in UP then APH and DN (Down), lights will note “In Transit” or position. For takeoff APH is fine. I head directly south, however Page Field does not have a VORDME so I tune in to the closet one at PGD (Punta Gorda) setting the KFC225 Autopilot to climb (with ALTHold) and it works very well with the Aspen EDF1000. The only small annoyance is the niggling changing of the heading as noted before. In the air the A36 is noted as a very nice aircraft. The extra length gives it a more solid appeal and you feel that through the controls in turning (degree turns are very good), climbing and descending, and the work by Carenado in the detail is always overwhelming. There is very little or anything to fault, panel fit and riveting is expertly done, it is weathered and slightly dirty. The static discharges flip and whip about in the slipstream. Liveries The “White” is the default livery with (Left to right) : Anniversary60th - DeepGreen - JAL - Stripes. All are HD (High-Definition) textures that are refined to use low pixel count for low speed computers, That gives you not only great outside textures but very good cockpit text as well. One fine livery worth downloading on the .Org is (KLM Luchtvaartschool) Sky One. HDR Night-lighting is very good. The lighting can’t be dimmed and can only used on/off on the panel and roof mounted lighting (front and pushbutton spot in the rear), The panel has two settings “Panel” (left) and “flood” (right). However it is fine and the lighting works very well. Pilots are fully animated, and very realistic in their movements - and they don’t miss a visual trick. Approach and Landing You don’t have to pull back too much on the power to descend. I used -500fpm and kept the speed around 150knts, The Aspen MAP function is not really useful as the airports and fixes are too small to be read. however they can still give you pointers to a runway or position. If the airport has a VORDME then the pointer is excellent and you have the centre OBI Indicator to center you on to the runway. With VOR1 active, The Aspen will show the alignment ILS guides like they are in a larger heavy aircraft and they are also extremely effective. If you put the flap to the “DN” position, then the warning will go off asking for the undercarriage to be lowered. Annoying it is when you just want a slow speed and you are still 1200ft above the ground?... otherwise you can control the speed on the ILS descent very nicely. The undercarriage makes a nice hydraulic sound when lowered (or raised) and into the flare I found to keep the power on a little until you almost above the runway and a nice slight pitch to flare. It is best to let the aircraft roll as long as you can to lower the speed before touching the brakes to wind off the last of the speed. watch the aircraft does not twitch to badly when you switch off the “Control_wheel_steer”. the right speed here is critical and to remember that right side thrust pull will return as you start to approach the lower taxi speed. The rest of the flight with a park up, engine and power shutdown and the (O) options in setting the Static Elements is as simple as “Bob’s your Uncle”... Conclusions With Carenado’s current three options on Bonanzas. They why buy three? Because they are all very different variants of the aircraft and certainly in the case of the A36. It is bigger, has a very different internal layout and the panel layout is certainly completely different. And there is then the main feature of the Aspen EFD1000, of which gives you a semi-glass (PFD) panel display of a regional jet with the same options and menus. The Aspen also works perfectly with the modern KFC225 Bendix King autopilot and that makes the aircraft a far more different machine than the F33A original version. In every other aspect the A36 is certainly up there with Carenado’s usual quality and though detailing. You don’t buy simulated aircraft from Carenado, but a miniature version of the real one in almost every aspect of realism, The only things missing really is the engine and the fuel and oils. In the version two (v2) upgrade the lighting has been refined (the HD textures were done in v1), but as the A36 was the last aircraft released as the v2 upgrade started it already had most of the v2 changes already completed. This is a great aircraft from Carenado and the semi-glass Aspen cockpit is certainly the main attraction. It is great to fly and use. It does depend on if you really like the old style dial cockpits or something a little different. The A36 as was the real Bonanza A36 was also noted as a niche aircraft (2128 were built), but it still transfuses the old world with the new... and in a way the A36 gives you both of those worlds in one. Yes you will still have a Bonanza... but with a modern feel to it. Review By Stephen Dutton The v2.0 A36 Bonanza update is now available at the X-Plane .Org Store : Carenado A36 Bonanza HD series The A36 Bonanza is available for both X-Plane 9 and X-Plane10 (note for some effects and features you require X-Plane10) Price is US$26.95 Technical RequirementsWindows Vista or Windows 7 (32 or 64 bits) or MAC OS 10.3.9 (or higher) or LinuxX-Plane 9.70 or X-Plane 10.20 (or higher) 32 and - 64 bit compatible4GB RAM/1GB VRAM - 250MB available hard disk spaceCurrent version : 2.0 (last updated Oct 8th 2013) Documentation: Developer Site : Carenado 12th October 2013 v2.0 list of changes: (Full list including earlier updates)-32-bit and 64-bit Mac, Windows, and Linux support. -Updated SASL to official v2.0.1 release, which contains optimizations that benefit from Laminar's X-Plane 10.22 release. -Overhauled lighting system. Lighting halos for nav and strobe lights are now more visible under certain viewing angles. -Landing light features tightly-focused "glare" effect when viewed from the right angle. -Nav lights have been improved for a more realistic appearance. -Improved ground handling -No longer has inverted fuel and oil systems. More realistic. -Optimized "options" menu, to use less memory. -Optimized "Cameras" menu to use less memory -Tweaked volume knob for engine sounds ("Vol" knob on GNS430) -Tweaked turning radius on ground to compensate for new v10 no-toe-brake-with-rudder setting. -Adjusted trim time from centre to max for v10, as this setting, left un-addressed, will cause the same plane to take twice as long to trim. -tweaked gauges, such as fuel and oil pressure, vacuum, etc. to conform to v10's new way of calculating "Nominal pressure/temperature" as opposed to "Max pressure/temperature". -Programmed default camera snap points for v10 (on top of existing ones via "Cameras" pop-up menu) 2 Different .acf files: one for v9 and one for v10. -v10 .acf features optimized objects. Interior/exterior shading is applied only where needed, saving resources. -v10 .acf has further optimizations to objects that don't need the background (clouds, skies) to be drawn through them, if they're not transparent, saving further resources. -v10 .acf also protects certain textures from resolution degradation at low rendering settings. This guarantees that the panel instruments and text are always crisp and clear, no matter what rendering settings are chosen for the sim. -v10 .acf is optimized to make use of HDR rendering, especially in terms of lighting. This includes spill lights, which illuminate the surroundings, coming from Nav and Strobe lights. -When HDR mode is turned off, care has been taken to optimize the appearance of the plane without the enhancement benefits of HDR. Review System Specifications: Computer System: - 2.66 Ghz Intel Core i5 iMac 27” - 6 Gb 1067 Mhz DDR3 - ATI Radeon HD 4850 512mb Software: - Mac OS MountainLion 10.8.2 - X-Plane 10 Global ver 10.22 (final) - ExtremeSceneryMAXX Addons - Saitek x52 Pro system Joystick and Throttle Scenery - KLAL (Lakeland Linder Regional Airport, Florida) - Drankum - KFMY (Page Field, Fort Myers, Florida) - timbenedict3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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