Stephen Posted March 5, 2020 Report Share Posted March 5, 2020 First Quick Impression : C90 GTX King Air HD Series XP11 by Carenado The Beechcraft C90 is the stalwart aircraft of the King Air series, certainly there is a few of them for X-Plane and even Laminar Research's default C90 King Air is a basic but always a nice flying machine, so why buy another one? Well Carenado have not one but now two Beechcraft C90's for X-Plane11, the standard version C90B, but now here is the GTX version. The GTX is a accumulating part of a three version lineup above the standard C90. The C90GT came with the PT6A-135A engines, 750 shp flat rated to 550 shp, for better climb and cruise performance, the C90GTi came with the "glass cockpit" Collins Proline 21 avionics suite and the GTX is the combination of both of those versions plus the winglets now added as factory-standard, and with the maximum Take-off Weight was increased to 10 485 lb (4756 kg) for better full-fuel payload flexibility. Carenado C90 GTX The C90 GTX is the executive version of the C90 range, more faster, more powerful, but carries less passengers in only six seats, plus two crew. Carenado modeling and quality abound, you expect the best and again you get that high quality detail here. Notice the lovely panel ripples and detailed riveting, best in the business and very authentic, the days of flat sided fuselages are now well gone. Engine cowlings with chrome inlet engine inlets and chrome spinners are are also excellent as is the double huge heated trumpet exhausts. Nice NACA Ducts and pressed metal louvre air-vents are also very good and are the C90's signature look. The GTX winglets are also well crafted, but the static wicks tend to droop and are static, remember how not long ago Carenado static wicks used to flicker in the airstream, well that sort of detail doesn't happen anymore. But the modeling is very good, note the rear lighting assembly, tail and elevator detailing and so overall this is a very nice C90 King Air. Cabin Executive also means corporate grey interiors and Carenado don't disappoint here, you get a lot of blacks and dark greys in the cabin. The teak wood highlights are very nice and contrast well with the beige upper cabin trim. Nice seating details include built in ashtrays, seatbelts and great leather textures. Cabin comes with twin animated pop-out tables to work out on your next business deal. Over all the cabin fit-out is very good, but a little dark inside. Cockpit The same theme follows through into the cockpit, dark colours with beige highlights. It is all very well done, with the usual gauges replaced here with the three display (Two PFD - Primary Flight Displays and one left central MFD - Multi-Function Display or NAV/MAP) of the Pro-Line 21 avionics system. The C90 XP11 version had a beige panel, so that tends to lighten up the instrument panel, but the all dark panel here does feel more authentic to a professional flying office environment, and it feels more modern as well, overall I like it. Highlights are the lit yokes, they look and feel the part, but you lose the auto-trim function on the left handle over the C90B version. The standard King Air twin fuel panel is the same, but both wall panel circuit breakers (fuses) are now colour coded, and they look very nice, but they are also static and don't work. Pro Line 21 Avionics Main attraction to the GTX is the Pro Line 21 avionics suite. This is the third aircraft from Carenado with the Pro Line 21 after the Falcon GX50 and the 390 Premier Jet, however the layout here is the same three panel display like in the 390 Premier. The PFD and MFD both pop-out on scalable windows (press the top of each panel to open). Operations are via the centre DCP (Display Control Panel). The PFD has the standard glass cockpit layout of Speed and Altitude strips, Artificial Horizon, Vertical Speed and Rate of Turn built into the upper section, lower section has a built in Navigation and Map and COM1/ATC/UTC/TAT/COM2 strip at the bottom. MFD has Engine readouts top. Middle section covers flightplan waypoints: Distance, Section times and Route times and set lower in the MFD it covers: GS (Ground Speed), TAS (True Air Speed), SAT (Actual Air Temperature) and ISA (International Standard Atmosphere). Basically it is a select and change menu system. Press the selection you want to change on the DCP and frame keys and then move the Menu setting knobs, then press the centre of the knob to activate your selection... Only difference between the PFD and MFD is the MFD has the PLAN mode (arrowed) that works with the FMS to show you your flightplan, but the aircraft position (Aircraft Symbol) is fixed on the waypoint that you have selected, rather than showing you were you actually are on the flightplan? DCP gives you three other selections with REF (Speed References) with three pages with the third page used for settings... Second selection is the "NAV/BRG" button that will bring up the NAV SOURCE (FMS1/VOR1/VOR2) and Background (BGD) pointers for FMS/VOR1/ADF1 top and FMS1/VOR2 lower, again just select the required selection button and the select blue box band.... adjustment is again via the Menu knob. Pressing the RADAR button will bring up the TERR/RDR setting the same as in the menu option. Top of the MFD is the engine readouts, with ITT (Interstage Turbine Temperature) per engine and fuel temp, PROP, TQR (Torque), FF (Fuel Flow), (Fuel) Pressure, Oil Temp cº. The readout shows you your torque position and a nice rotation animation. The Pro Line 21 avionic panels all work in with the "Flight Guidance Panel (FGP) or autopilot... that is also a pop-out adjustable menu panel. FGP is quite comprehensive for a big twin aircraft with: FD (Flight Directors), CRS (Course) 1 & 2, VS (Vertical Speed), VNAV, FLC (Flight Change), NAV, 1/2 Bank, HDG (Heading), APPR (Approach), ALT (Altitude) YD (Yaw Damper), CPL and AP (Autopilot)... with full YD/AP DISC (Disconnect). A note on the 1/2 Bank, it works as it should, but you don't get any visual clues it is on or off in the PFD, ditto the YD indicator. Collins radio selector is very nice. Two pages with Com1/NAV1/ATC/ADF1 on the first page and COM2/NAV2/ADF2 second page. ___________________________ C90 GTX in the air Any King Air is a nice aircraft to fly, the C90 is the most basic of the series and you can't go past that Carenado feel and quality. The C90 office is a nice place to be, with a great set of testable large panel of annunciator lights. Laminar Research's basic FMS used is okay, but not very authentic or very versatile as an FMC, I found that there is a requirement to start this C90 up from only the desktop, otherwise the bugs creep in like with no route line on the Pro Line 21? the lighting behaves badly as well and the sound goes plain weird, sounds are good but only average. Externally the C90 sounds good, but if you zoom in closer to the aircraft the change in range is not great, and sometimes you get odd sounds and even clicks and pops, and sounds are missing in parts of the cabin as well... in some angles you feel you are watching the start of the Alien movie with it's spooky space sounds... it is all very odd. .... blinds are animated, but restrictive in their movement and are not visible externally (unlike on the C90B)? The lighting is odd as well. King Airs have that very comprehensive roof lighting panel, but a lot of the knobs don't seem to work? It looks very nice though with the glowing blue drop down and the yoke notepad lighting... .... each side of the instrument panel and side panels can be faded in or out to your taste and the roof overhead panel is adjustable as well, but the main cabin downlight ((Flood) is on but doesn't shine anywhere? Cabin is now single selection spotlights over the seats and tables... remember on the older C90B from Carenado, then all the individual spotlights could be switched on/off but were also adjustable to shine them in the direction you wanted too? You seem to be getting far less for more money in terms of features in the GTX... Externally the aircraft lighting is very poor? Main front strut Taxi and Landing lights don't work, wingtip recognition lights are extremely weak as it the Ice lighting and the barely visible tail light? Navigation, Strobe and beacon lighting is fine. You do get some very nice vortice effects off the wings and off the top sides of the fuselage, and these effects are in addition to the nice heat engine outputs. You have with the GTX a maximum cruise speed 274 kts over the 266 kts of the C90B and a max altitude 30,000 ft, the range is 903 nm, so the GTX is 8 kts faster but the range is slightly down than with the C90B (940 nm). Flap selections cover three positions UP (Flap) - APPROACH - DOWN, Approach speed is around 130 knts, and fully down is 95 knts, stall is around 83 knts. Note the ILS alignment option on the backup Artificial Horizon mid-panel. I found a nice descent speed of around 90 knts, and the aircraft very stable in that phase... ... with around 86 knts on touch down. Beta reverse works well and is very powerful, but I needed the "Hold Thrust Reverse at Max" setting to make it work correctly under my joystick trigger. Sounds are again patchy, the reverser sounds over-ride the normal sounds and it feels odd, strange as Carenado are usually very good at getting these transition sounds correct. Menu There are the usual Carenado three tabs in the left side down corner. The three tabs are noted as: A ) is for the lovely authentic Collins Proline 21 FGP pop-up Autopilot panel, that is quite screen filling large but can thankfully be moved and scaled to a smaller size. C ) Is the standard Carenado ten preselected Views, Field of View and Volume panel. And O ) is the Options panel. Options include Window and Instrument reflections. The static elements provided here are still very basic with only two cones, wheel chocks and flag/pitot covers and some nice engine inlet covers, but you can only have all or nothing. The highly realistic pilot and co-pilot animated pilots in flight uniforms do disappear when you activate the static elements. Other menu items include left and right opening twin engine access doors (one per engine) and left side main entrance door... overall the menu and selections are the same set up as the Carenado C90B. The livery Selector is now on the options panel than from usually the Carenado tab. Liveries There is one blank and Five liveries with the C90 GTX, four are all U.S. Registered and a lone German registration. ______________________________ Summary This is the GTX version of the King Air C90 series. Over the standard C90 aircraft the GTX has the upgraded PT6A-135A 750 shp engines, Pro Line 21 Avionics and the factory winglets, the layout is also executive class in detailing and trim. The usual Carenado modeling and detail abounds here, and yes this is a very nice aircraft. It flies very well and looks very good as well. Fit-out includes all the GTX features including the Pro Line 21 avionics, more powerful engines and the winglets. Cabin is created in a corporate design of a lot of blacks and greys, with a beige trim, all very nice. The Pro Line 21 is very good with a lot of menu options, but it is not study grade in depth and detail, awkward knob controls also creates mis-steps in tuning the Pro Line in detail. Obviously converted from the Carenado C90B XP11 version, but what you get here is really the stripped out version? Lighting is downgraded, sounds are badly managed and there is a load of bugs from the poor external lighting, internal lighting detail, sounds, FMS routing, and considering Carenado had their excellent C90B as a base it all feels quite buggy to fly and use, but an update should fix up all the bugs. Menus are as noted on other recent Carenado reviews are now feeling limited and quite basic. If you already have the Carenado C90B you would see the differences between what is basically the same aircraft. Yes I like the GTX, it is great with the Pro Line 21 avionics and who doesn't love more power, but overall the C90 GTX is not the best Carenado they can do, worthy, but not excellent. _______________________________ The C90 GTX King Air HD Series XP11 by Carenado is now available from the X-Plane.Org Store, and is also available from Carenado directly: C90 GTX King Air HD Series XP11 Priced at US$37.95 Special Features Full interior and exterior PBR 3D interior and exterior with MANY details Rain effect support* (with Librain Plugin) Customized FMOD sounds Carenado Proline 21 RealityXP GTN750 support (sold separately) Features Full VR compatible Specially designed engine dynamics for XP11. Flight physics optimized for XP11 standards. Physically Based Rendering materials and textures throughout. PBR materials authored with industry-standard software used by the film and gaming industries. Realistic behavior compared to the real airplane. Realistic weight and balance. Tested by several pilots for maximum accuracy. Included in the package 5 HD liveries +1 HD Blank livery C90 GTX Normal Procedures PDF C90 GTX Emergency Procedures PDF. C90 GTX Performance tables PDF C90 GTX Limitations PDF Carenado Proline21 PDF Carenado RTU PDF Flight Guidance Systems PDF Recommended Settings XPLANE 11 PDF Requirements Windows XP – Vista – 7 -10 or MAC OS 10.10 (or higher) or Linux X-Plane 11 Windows, Mac or Linux 4 GB VRAM Minimum - 8GB+ VRAM Recommended Download Size: 340 MB Current version and Review version : 1.1 (February 27th 2020) Installation and documents: Download for the C90 GTX King Air HD Series XP11 is 340mb and the unzipped file is deposited in the aircraft "General Aviation" X-Plane Aircraft folder at 429.70 mb. Download for the required LIbrain rain effect plugin (add into the aircraft's plugin folder) Documentation: Huge amount of documentation, with ProLine21 introduction, Laminar FMS manual, Performance and reference tables. Carenado Copyright.pdf Flight Guidance System.pdf Carenado C90_GTX_King_Air Normal Procedures.pdf Carenado C90_GTX_King_Air Limitations.pdf Carenado Proline 21.pdf Carenado C90_GTX_King _Air Emergency Procedures.pdf Carenado C90_GTX_King_Air Performance tables .pdf X-Plane FMS Manual.pdf Carenado RTU Manual.pdf Recommended settings XP11.pdf ______________________________________________________________________ First Quick Impression Review by Stephen Dutton 6th March 2020 Copyright©2020 : X-Plane Reviews (Disclaimer. All images and text in this preview are the work and property of X-PlaneReviews, no sharing or copy of the content is allowed without consent from the author as per copyright conditions) Review System Specifications: Computer System: Windows - Intel Core i7 6700K CPU 4.00GHz / 64bit - 32 Gb single 1067 Mhz DDR4 2133 - ASUS GeForce GTX 1080 8Gb - Samsung Evo 1TB SSD Software: - Windows 10 - X-Plane 11.41 Addons: Saitek x56 Rhino Pro system Joystick and Throttle : Sound - Bose Soundlink Mini Plugins: Environment Engine by xEnviro US$69.90 v1.07 : LIbrain rain effects - Free Scenery or Aircraft - KDAB - Daytona Beach International by Aerosoft (X-Plane.OrgStore) US$28.99 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rolls Posted April 17, 2020 Report Share Posted April 17, 2020 As someone who has purchased this product, I would, at least for the time being, warn people not to purchase it. Although Carenado make wonderful looking aircraft, this one has to be one of the most frustrating addons I have ever purchased. Even with the version 1.2 update the FMS is so buggy...sounds, as mentioned in the review are still sub-standard...and almost impossible to find support. I know aircraft development is a complex undertaking, and I am not one to ever want to hate-on, or disproportionately, or unrealistically criticize a developer. However, the best part I found about this aircraft is the video advert/promo they developed for it...even freeware products have less system bugs than this one, and for $38, Carenado, I expected more. This is certainly not their best work, and unfortunately for me, its “once bitten twice shy” when it comes to Carenado. Until some serious updates are made, this product is not worth the purchase...unless eye-candy is all you are looking for. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paradoxar Posted June 3, 2021 Report Share Posted June 3, 2021 I do I agree with the previous post, I only had this product for few days, and I have found several issues with the aircraft. Just to mention one. The Engines will turn on fully with the Fuel levers in the cut-off position. This aircraft is not only buggy but the biggest thing for me, is that this product is missing a Key function and that is to show the Instrument description in the Cockpit, when you click on the regions of the instrument the labels shows “none” for every usable region in the plane. In addition, no command labels are visible when you try to program commands to the controllers under the Joystick or keyboard window. The reason I purchase the C9GTX model was due to the upgrade on the instrument’s devices. Now I am thinking that the purchase of this model is not worth the trouble. Less than 10% of the already controller mapping from the C90 are working on the GTX. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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