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Aircraft Update : Carenado Aircraft to 10.30. C152II, C172II, Archer II, Saratoga and Mooney M20J


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Aircraft Update : Carenado Aircraft to 10.30. C152II, C172II, Archer II, Saratoga and Mooney M20J

 

Carenado have updated their earliest aircraft releases to X-Plane version 10.30. The Aircraft to updated to v3 includes the:

 

C152II

C172II Skyhawk

PA28 ArcherII

PA32 Saratoga

Mooney M20J

 

In most cases an upgrade includes just minor changes but here we have a few more significant steps that are worth noting. I was still around Las Vegas after Tom Curtis's review so I headed out to KHND - Henderson Executive Airport where Carenado had laid out the five updated aircraft to give each a quick spin round the basin.

 

So lets see what we have, aircraft by aircraft.

 

Cessna 152II

 

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The smallest and most basic aircraft in Carenado's range is the C152II. First thing you will note is the "Mouse Scroll" feature is now available on all Carenado aircraft and the switch back to the standard mouse selection is on every menu in every aircraft listed here. A feature that has divided users in that half really love it and half don't like it at all. But it is a very good feature to have. The aircraft is a great trainer because it is just that...  basic. With nothing to divert you from just flying the aircraft except for your basic instruments and hands and feet coordination. But that does not mean the C152II is not a lot of fun because it is. Careando have taken out all the X-Plane9 conversion files to make this upgrade now totally X-Plane10. And you really feel that as soon as you leave terra firma. All the aircraft flown here are all much more smoother and cleaner in their operations, and noticeably so...  which is perfect for this trainer.

 

Shop.OrgStore Price US$24.95 - C152 II

Review : None

 

Cessna 172II Skyhawk

 

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The C172 II is slightly bigger in size and a four-seater compared to the C152II. But it is still a basic simple aircraft to fly like the smaller aircraft. Carenado have updated the textures in 10.30 to match the latest aircraft in its range to the .dds format and that gives you a far higher quality texture but at a better frame-rate equation. This highlights the textures better and it is noticeable here in the C172II even in the smaller details which is again the high Carenado quality we have come to expect and quicker load times. There is a floats version included with this aircraft as well.

 

Shop.OrgStore Price US$24.95 - C172N Skyhawk II

Release Review :

 

PA28 181 ArcherII

 

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The Piper ArcherII adds in VOR and direction finding capabilities to your general aviation flying. So you have a much more competent (if slightly old-fashioned) radio stack installed in this aircraft. So that makes the aircraft a nice little tourer. In the update the aircraft has had a few touches to the handling and eliminated noise during load with engines running and reduced Doppler-related pitch intensity, Small things, but again in 10.30 the Archer feels much more nicer, smoother and more balanced in the air.

 

Shop.OrgStore Price US$24.95 - PA28 181 Archer II PA28 181 Archer II

Release Review :

 

PA32 Saratoga SP

 

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The Saratoga is a big broad 70's style aircraft that has a serious cruising range of 840 miles (1361 km). It helps that you have in the Saratoga's cockpit a basic autopilot (It works very well) and of course it now has installed the excellent GNS 430 GPS system that was introduced with X-Plane 10.30. Both features make this aircraft even easier for that long distance cruising. Other changes on the PA32 also include a reduced torque effect on the engine, so it flies slightly better as well.

 

Shop.OrgStore Price US$26.95 - Saratoga PA32R

Review : None

 

Mooney M20J

 

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The M20J is known as the “Porsche of the Skies” and it goes like crackers at 200mph.  Installed is the comprehensive equipment stack and the fact you get the full width of the panel stacked with these instruments, That then makes the Mooney great with all this instrumentation for very long VOR flights across country. It has now the 10.30 GNS430 GPS system installed for you to also do some serious good flight-planning to move things along even better. Also Internal dynamic reflections have been improved (can be turned off) and so has the aircraft's handling, but it is still and feels very heavy to fly.

 

Shop.OrgStore Price US$26.95 - Mooney M20J

Review : None

 

To recap, in the update every aircraft has had their textures converted to .dds, the new "scroll feature" and where required the replacement of the GNS340 GPS to the X-Plane 10.30 version. All aircraft are now only available X-Plane10 with these features and there is no compromise to X-Plane9 and all the aircraft feel far better in X-Plane10 for the change of that.

 

All the aircraft here are excellent, and the quality is very good. No doubt the other aircraft in the Carenado's X-Plane10 range will be updated in due course also to X-Plane 10.30 before Christmas and 2015. As they are released we will again check them out to see what modifications that has been done with the updates.

 

If you have an account and a previous purchase of any of the above aircraft with the X-Plane.OrgStore, then check your account to download the v3 (10.30) updates

 

Update Review by Stephen Dutton

 

20th October 2014

 

Copyright © 2014 : X-Plane Reviews

 

Developer Site: Carenado

 

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