Kaminari

http://newbluejournals.files.wordpress.com/2014/03/image.jpg   Aircraft Review : Carenado Piper PA28 181 Archer II
 
Route : VFR Circuits at EGKK - London Gatwick
 
Carenado make the best general aviation aircraft payware, but does this Piper Archer live up to Carenado's high standards?
Well I will get to the main message of that in the conclusion but first its time to analyse everything. Despite the size of this small GA plane (general aviation) it is very complex. Carenado have really showed their talents in this plane, it is absolutely fantastic! Over the next few paragraphs I will describe everything about the plane and give an overall summary. Below is a list of features for this aircraft.
According to Carenado:
 
- SASL plug in added functionality
- 32-bit and 64-bit Mac, Windows, and Linux support.
- Stereo 3D sound, with new dynamic effects
- Custom prop, which adds realism to the spinning prop etc.
- 2D pop-up windows to control camera presets, FOV etc.
- Interior lighting optimized for X-Plane v9 and v10.
- Overhauled lighting system.
- Strobe lights blink in a custom pattern and order.
- Landing light features tightly-focused “glare” effect.
- Navigation lights have been improved.
- Improved ground handling.
 
We start we some real life pictures of the Piper PA28 181 Archer II which can compare to the model made by Carenado, these pictures show the cockpit and the exterior.
 


 
From the real life pictures you can tell this small GA is great fun to fly, and from past experience I can tell you it most definitely is! With a 180 HP Lycoming engine and an advanced Garmin G1000 Avionics Suite, the Archer is a modern and reliable aircraft for both teaching and cross-country flying. All Specs can be found by clicking the above picture. Having flown this aircraft prior to this review I can say this plane handles lightly, with a rotation speed of roughly 65kts and a cruising speed of 128 ktas, its the feather of the skies. Now onto the Carenado Archer!
 
Exterior
 





 
The first things I am going to evaluate are the textures of the aircraft. We begin outside which I can easily say looks stunning! From every nut and bolt to door seems can be seen at a good resolution which is always nice when flying in VFR (visual flight rules). However the outside visuals cannot be described as crisp. As well as high resolution on the side of the aircraft we can also find this on the wheels, the tires are crisp pixel sharp and even reflect the sunlight! When in “chase” mode a 3D pilot appears in the cockpit, this is a nice effect when viewing the externals although there should be an option to get rid of him! But he is not just sat static, his head turns according to the input of your flight controls as well as his arms to the yoke and throttle and his legs to the rudder.
 
The prop has been modeled with great care however as the textures are at an acceptable standard we can still find that two logos are blurry (see picture above) but, the prop is only static when the aircraft is stationary so this can go un-noticed. All outside lights have been modelled well especially the navigation lights on the edge of the wing. All the control surfaces have the delay of input movement just like on the real Archer, and the control surfaces are also modelled well. The main feature that stands out though is the reflections on the tires, this is a stunning feature as the sun wraps its rays around the tire. This is also important though as the hear is not retractable, so when your in 'chase' view taking in the scenery, you can constantly see it.
 
3D Cockpit
 





 
Moving through the door and into the 3D cockpit the textures are at an amazing resolution, this can be expected as all carenado models are! I believe that the images below speak for themselves, as you can tell the textures in the 3D cockpit and surroundings are photo-realistic which adds to the immersion. The seats and yoke have a weathered effect which adds more realism when flying, it is not an old and battered model nor a brand new plane, but just right for a good weathered look and feel. Moving down toward the floor we find an aluminium plate as a floor scratch/foot pad which has a photo-realistic finish along with the pedals which perfectly match the real ones! Looking back up to the ceiling of the aircraft we find two lights which are interactive. One is a general lamp whilst the other is a night vision light for night VFR flying. There are also animated sun-visors with information on them however the information is blurry. But all information needed looks fantastic if you print out the documentation.The 3D gauges in the aircraft are spectacular the textures on these are great too.
 
Despite living in the 3D cockpit when flying I never had a loss of frame rates which was good, my average FPS was 31. The radio stack and all other knobs are easy to use, this helps a lot if you are flying on vatsim. Above is a mounted compass with a photo-realistic casing, the compass is well positioned meaning it does not interrupt your visual display. Near to this is a window which is nicely animated, sound is also affected when opening or closing the window which adds to the realism when in the 3D cockpit. Even the compartments on the armrests are animated! Also I have a comment which may be debated in the comments, space awareness. To help you understand I will explain. Everything has been positioned well in the cockpit despite whatever filed of view angle you have set in the pop-up option menu everything remains to a realistic degree. This plane will be my first of choice to try with the upcoming release of the Oculus Rift VR headset! As its so close to the real thing!
 
The option menu’s are a great feature of this aircraft, you have two options to choose from, “camera” or “options. The camera menu offers a wide range of camera shots whilst flying, see the picture below. However despite this great camera option there is a slight snag, by the way this is NOT a bug of any kind. For instance I have a 3D cockpit button and a chase button assigned to my hardware flight controls, if you are in the 3D cockpit and switch a camera view via the menu when you go to chase view everything is normal. However when going back to the 3D cockpit using my assigned button I go back to the previous view set by the menu. This gets slightly annoying at times but does not affect anything to do with the plane or my view of the plane.
 
There are two menu’s that are 2D pop-ups which can be accessed on the side of the screen or on the panel in the clicking zones. The camera menu was described in the last paragraph so I will now explain the nice features and animations of the options menu. The first option is used to open the passenger door, the second opens the baggage door, the third triggers static elements, and finally the last option is for wheel fairings. All of these options work perfectly and with ease, changing the options during flight does not effect the frame rates. Night lighting is a big issue with many planes, but not this one. Outside you have the navigation lights and the landing lights, all lights effect the surface glare of the plane. Moving back inside there is a option of three lighting affects. In the cockpit there are two lights on the ceiling, one is for night lighting on the panel which is controlled by a knob and the other is for passenger lighting controlled by a switch. The only thing I don't really like about the ceiling lights is the lack of 3D. It would be nice to see a rounded dome shape on these lights, but mainly your looking out the front windshield so this doesn't bother me too much. The third effect is for integral lighting on the gauges, this scan be controlled by a scroll positioned next to the outside lighting switches. Placed together all lights create a pleasurable night flight experience.
 
Liveries
 



 
Now to the liveries, excluding the default white paint there are an additional four liveries with this aircraft (pictured above) which are pretty nice. All liveries have been based on real life replicas which is a neat feature of this plane, as a result of this if you have your PPL I am sure you will recognise these like I do! All liveries have reflections etc.. And make the aircraft a beauty to fly. All liveries have the option for wheel fairing's on/off. You can get some extra liveries on x-plane.org under the downloads section but not many which is a shame. When I was flying for real in the Archer the plane had the Gold_Blue skin, its not identical but its similar and I am sure there are many American variants!
 
 
Flight Dynamics
Having flown the real Piper Archer myself I can comment on the flight dynamics of this aircraft compared to Carenado's version. So first I will start with the in-air model. The model of this aircraft behaves quite realistic however it cannot be compared exactly to the real thing. The real Archer behaves with a delay, as you would expect, however Carenado's model does not simulate this to a detailed extent. This model from Carenado is extremely responsive, and if the controls are held in a certain place the aircraft will dive and spin around, this simply wouold not happen in the real Archer. The next test was the stall test. Throttles back, pitch up, and enter stall. Carenado's version responds very quickly, in fact too quickly. When the throttles are applied again and the nose is pitched down the aircraft recovers fast, this is unlike the real Archer as when I conducted a Stall in the real thing it took a lot longer to recover.
 
With throttles and flaps full for take off at a speed of 70 KTAS the Archer "sticks to the ground" this feels very realistic. When pulling back at take off speed the Archer wants to resist as though its very heavy, this feels real and the same as when I took this plane for a spin in the UK. Also when taxiing this plane it took 1/5" throttle to get it moving, in x-plane its a lot less. Overall the flight dynamics are "Ok" at an acceptable level. To lower the response time it may be worth changing the joystick settings. However its not necessary to have an enjoyable flight!
 
Sound
Now we move onto sound. The sound for this aircraft is phenomenal, when the throttle is 1/4 open the prop sounds normal, then when the throttle is positioned 2/4 open and you reach 2000 RPM the sound changes and you are then listening to many different .wav files playing. The sound is so close to real, but it does not pan around you like in the new Carenado Mirage. Its a shame but this is an older plane of Carenado's, although in the version 2 update many new features were added with the help of 64 bit processing. To hear this for yourself I recommend visiting you tube to take a listen. As highlighted earlier the door and window changes the sound heard in the cockpit, just like in real life!
Conclusion
Overall I would highly recommend purchasing this aircraft, whether you are a beginner or post PPL this aircraft will become one of your favourites by far. The systems and animations all simulate the functions just like a real life archer. It is a Carenado plane, Carenado has quality written in its name, this Archer wont disappoint. Another thing is Frame rate. My x-plane settings are all relatively high, despite this fps on this aircraft is an average of 31. This is great as my computer can handle detailed scenery, cloud puffs and extensive framerate killing options. I suffer absolutely no lag when flying this beauty. The only bad thing about this aircraft would be the unclear textures in some areas such as the cockpit interioir roof and prop. Apart from that this is a great plane to add to your virtual hangar!
 
Is it worth buying this aircraft?  Yes!
  
Well, its available on the x-plane.org store for the price of $24.95 :
 
Carenado PA28 181 Archer II
 
Carenado Aircraft support:  Click here 
 
Reviewed by : Joe
 
©copyright 2014 : X-Plane Reviews
Technical Requirements:
Windows Vista or Windows 7 (32 or 64 bits) or MAC OS 10.6 (or higher) or Linux
XPlane 9.6/9.7 or XPlane 10.11 (or higher - 64 bit compatible)
Pentium 2 GHz - 4GB RAM/1GB VRAM
250MB available hard disk space
Version 2.1 (last updated June 2013)
Review System Specifications:
Computer System:
- Intel Core i5 3330 @ 3.00GHz
- 4.00gb of RAM
- Geforce GTX 650
Software:
- Windows 7 64 bit
- X-Plane 10 Global version 10.25
- Saitek Pro Flight Yoke System
- Carenado PA28 181 Archer II
 

 

Aircraft Review : Alabeo PA-38 Tomahawk II
 
Route : YROM Circuits
 
We all start our flying career somewhere. 95% percent of the time it is usually in a very lightweight aircraft or if you are really serious a trainer. Usually trainers are two seats (one for you and one for the instructor) and the controls are very basic and clutter free. The main aspect of a good trainer is perfect balance, spin recovery and power. Most learners usually have got their wings on a Cessna 150, 152 or 172, but one of the very best trainers around is the Piper PA-38 Tomahawk.
 
 
 
Piper Aircraft wanted to share some of the trainer market, and so consulted many flight instructors not only in the design of the aircraft but also in the testing. The result was the Tomahawk, a T-Tail, two-seat, fixed tri-cycle undercarriage aircraft that has exceptional spin recovery that was better than the current standard bearer the Cessna 152. The first flight and introduction was in 1977, but it was noted as a 1988 model. The aircraft was highly successful with 2,4854 built when production ceased in 1982.
Besides being a widely used primary trainer, it is also an effective budget cross-country aircraft for two persons with its spacious and comfortable cabin. Though it shares similar performance and costs of operation to the Cessna 152, the PA-38 has more shoulder room. It also has good cabin ventilation, using automotive-style air ducts. The 1981 and 1982 models were designated as the Tomahawk II (this version). They incorporated improved cabin heating and windshield defroster performance, an improved elevator trim system, improved engine thrust vector, 100% airframe zinc-chromate anti-corrosion treatment, better cockpit soundproofing, larger 6" wheels and tires for greater propeller ground clearance and improved performance on grass and dirt runways.
 
Specifications : Maximum speed: 126 mph (109 knots, 202 km/h) at sea level : Cruise speed: 115 mph (100 knots, 185 km/h) at 10,500 ft (3,200 m) (65% power) : Stall speed: 56.5 mph (49 knots, 91 km/h) (IAS), flaps down : Range: 539 miles (468 nmi, 867 km)at 10,500 ft (3,200 m), (65% power) : Service ceiling: 13,000 ft (4,000 m) : Rate of climb: 718 ft/min (3.65 m/s)
 

 
Alabeo has released the PA-38 Tomahawk. This is another quality aircraft from the Alabeo team. For its age the Tomahawk looks very modern for a non-composite machine. There are a few Tomahawks in Australia, but none flew with the RAAF (Royal Australian Air-Force) but I like the livery.
 
First hands on and you quickly realise this is a very sweet aircraft to fly. It is the sort of machine that with a slight trim you can steer though the rudder pedals and just revel in the balance. Hands back on the yoke and the aircraft will do anything you want with just a slight input of movement in the direction you want to go, even downwards. The throttle response is in perfect relationship with the controls, so you find the aircraft so very easy to fly. You could sit your elderly grandmother in the pilots seat and show her the controls, and I am quite sure she could fly the Tomahawk quite easily. (what do I do now dear?)
 
I doubt though you would want your grandmother to go into a spin. Here the aircraft is exceptional, The Tomahawk's GA(W)-1 Whitcomb airfoil addresses this requirement by making specific pilot input necessary in recovering from spins, thus allowing pilots to develop proficiency in dealing with spin recovery. And because of its stall and spin characteristics, the PA-38 earned the nickname "Traumahawk" from some pilots and instructors. The PA-38 is powered by a single Avco Lycoming O-235-L2C air-cooled flat-four piston engine, 112 hp (83.5 kW) that is required for its power to train pilots on the specifics of the important stall and spin recovery aspects of flying.
 
First of all the Tomahawk climbs exceedingly well, It can easily pull seven hundred feet per minute to get you to a safe altitude.
 


 
Slip the wing and put yourself into a bad spin. With ease you can bring in the strong power to pull yourself out of the spin and simply back into a near level flight. Impressive.
 

 
You can see why the aircraft is a very nice long distance tourer as well. It will power along all day without you fighting the aircraft and so you barely don't tire at all. There are no Auto-Pilot functions but you don't need them here either. A little trim and your happy.
 
Landing is a breeze as well, The landing speed is super low at around 75knots (stall is at 50knts). Even dropping the flap (twice) barely makes a ripple if your power setting is right.
 

 
A quick look left at the airport and you can make your smooth turn. There is a slight cross-wind that I have to correct for, but otherwise the touchdown is just a small bump and touch of rubber.
 

 
The aircraft is very good at touch and go's, even with full flap you can be quickly back into the air to go around for another practise.
 

 
Our Trainee looks quite pleased with himself.
 

 
Alabeo PA-38
The gap between Alabeo and aircraft from Carenado is closing certainly, Not only in price but in quality. This aircraft is more in style of a Carenado in every form. The design and detail is better now than ever before and that is even by Carenado's high standards.
 

 
It is sublimely good in the way the rivets are completed and the panels hang on the airframe, The NACA duct is a prime example and so are the door hinges. The opening doors (Both Pilot's and Instructor doors) are wonderfully designed in the way they pull away from the roof section. The detailing behind the seats in the small baggage area with support struts Is also perfect. The main attention must be given to glass and their reflections, it is about as real glass as you could get. The shading is breathtaking but the detailing is more skin deep as we will see in the dark. The wings and high (T) tail section ribbing is also absolutely first rate.
 

 
The propeller has some volumetric side view and dynamic shine effects. Put the aircraft into a low mixture setting and the shimmer of the low speed rotation is excellent., Undercarriage. Front and main is very simple in just struts, but the detail is excellent right down to the nuts on the brakes. With open doors you can see the excellent door detailing and the interior of the cockpit. Every area is well designed and textured.
 
Cabin and Panel

 
Inside the unpowered cabin the quality is again excellent, This Alabeo doesn't have that usual signature black hole as you look down towards the worn seats, carpets and metal heel scuff plates, The little trim wheel is expertly crafted and wonderful to use. The twin blinds are fully movable around both the front and side windows.
 

 
The glareshied textures are so real and touchworthy that you can easily smell that 70's vinyl. And you easily want to put your hands around the lovely chunky yokes with thumb tabs. It does not take much imagination looking here to know what the real Tomahawk would smell and feel like. A nice touch is that when you hide the yokes the "Alabeo" icon fills the hole.
 

 
Being a trainer then the panel is going to be very simple. It is but with a quality feel. The standard six instruments are added (to the right) by a VOR (2) The Omni-Bearing Indicator (OBI) and Automatic Direction Finder (ADF) bearing indicator, Below is a engine RPM and hours insturument and clock on the far left. 70's rocker switches for main power (battery/ALT), lighting and Pitot heat and Fuel pump. The fuel pump is interesting in that turn it on and then move the (big Red) Fuel switch on (or off) and the pressure shows on a gauge.
 

 
You can select left and right fuel tanks here also.
 
The radio stack is small but efficient, Standard radio set is set with a Bendix/King KX 165 TSO for COMM and VOR(2) settings, a KR 87 TSO is your ADF. (note a Technical Standard Order (TSO) is a minimum performance standard issued by the United States Federal Aviation Administration for specified materials, parts, processes, and appliances used on civil aircraft.) A Garmin GTX 320 is your transponder. It may seem a small stack but it is quite capable of navigating you across the country.
 

 
The two position flaps are used via the long stick that like looks like a standard car parking brake, The actual park brake in under the panel. Note the beautifully crafted rudder pedals.
 
The night-lighting is best seen from the air, A quick flick of the key and the engine stutters back into life, You actually have to hold the key on for a while until it finally chuggs into life, as only quick key turn will not give it enough time for the starter to give enough turns to fire it right up.
 
Sounds are excellent in the same as Carenado 3d directional sound, There is quite a throaty power feeling at full under load power.
 

 
Only issue I found was with the front turning wheel, It doesn't turn cleanly even at slow speeds, To go straight in the taxi it has to be slightly off centre in that I presume is to counteract the asymmetrical thrust from the propeller which is quite large at slow speeds. When you disconnect the steering from the rudder, It does not do so well there either. So it is slightly odd and hard to manoeuvre around.
 
Night-Lighting
 

 
External night-lighting is basic but good, You only have one landing light, and the Nav/Position lighting. The strobes are the new Carenado design.
 

 
First thing that you notice as the low light comes into the cabin is the reflections on the glass, (side front), It speckles and it is excellent in its reflections of the markings on or in the glass, such detail is amazing, but it makes the flying very authentic.
 
The dials are well lit and slightly (just up or down) adjustable by the knobs low down on the instructors side. I couldn't find any overhead lighting except for a nicely lit air temperature gauge and a Compass.?
 
You can with the side menu (O) Options switch the panel lighting to be brighter or lower by the using the reflections options. You can also use this menu to transparent the windows and open both doors. 


 
The other © menu is the standard Camera menu, that gives you the various views and zoom function.
 
Liveries
You get the default white and six other liveries in very high quality HD
 



 
Conclusions
The PA-38 Tomahawk feels more like a basic Carenado than a Alabeo, and the higher price reflects that. Yes it is a basic aircraft, but it is still a fully functional one. Design and detailing is simply first rate (In fact I feel the quality has slightly gone up a notch). The glass here in the aircraft and in their reflections is simply astounding. It is a perfect trainer for the experienced pilot and also the beginner (Into simulation as well). The aircraft can be as easy or as challenging you want it to be, and still you can use it as a two seater tourer across the country.
Some aircraft instantly become a favorite and the Tomahawk became very quickly one of them. I loved it the minute I felt the air under its wings. For value and quality it can't be bettered.
 
Yes! the Alabeo Piper PA-38 Tomahawk II is now Available from the X-Plane.OrgShop : Piper PA-38 Tomahawk II

Price is  US$22.95
 
Installation : Download is 165.80mb, and installation size in your aircraft folder is 228.30mb. Alabeo supply Recommended Joystick Settings and Recommended Settings X-Plane10. However with my standard settings I had no issues.
 
Documentation :
 
Developer Site : Alabeo

Review By Stephen Dutton

22nd January 2014
 
©copyright 2014 : X-Plane Reviews
 
Technical Requirements:
Windows , MAC OS 10.7 (or higher) or Linux
X-Plane 10.20 (or higher - 32 and 64 bit compatible)
4GB RAM/1GB VRAM - 250MB available hard disk space
Version 1 (last updated Jan 20th,2014)
 
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 Mavericks 10.9
- X-Plane 10 Global ver 10.25 (final)
Addons
- Saitek x52 Pro system Joystick and Throttle
Scenery
- YROM - Aussiepak7 - Barry Roberts (Aussie Scenery Packages)

Aircraft Review : MiG-29 Fulcrum by Colimata
 
Sorties : Frankfurt Hahn EDFH
 

 
Created as a Cold War intercepter, the Mikoyan MiG-29 (Russian: Микоян МиГ-29; NATO reporting name: "Fulcrum") was a direct Soviet reference to combat the new American fighters such as the McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle, and the General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon.
Known as a Fourth Generation fighter, It was really a bit of a third generation as well as it had no fly-by-wire or flight protection control. It was built in conjunction with the Sukhoi Su-27 (Flanker) and although slightly out manoeuvred by the F-15, The Mig-29 was certainly above the F-15. The western Allies found this fact out after the end of the Cold War In 1997, when the United States purchased 21 Moldovan aircraft under the Nunn–Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction program. Fourteen were MiG-29Ss. And the Western counterparts were quite shocked to find out how effective the aircraft was in air combat training.
 
It had formidable armaments on fitted the MiG-29 which includes a single GSh-30-1 30 mm cannon in the port wing root. This originally had a 150-round magazine, which was then reduced to 100 rounds in later variants. Original production MiG-29B aircraft cannot fire the cannon when carrying a centerline fuel tank as it blocks the shell ejection port. This issue was corrected in the MiG-29S and later versions. Three pylons are provided under each wing (four in some variants), for a total of six (or eight). The inboard pylons can carry either a 1,150 liter (300 US gal) fuel tank, one Vympel R-27 (AA-10 "Alamo") medium-range air-to-air missile, or unguided bombs or rockets. Some Soviet aircraft could carry a single nuclear bomb on the port inboard station. The outer pylons usually carry R-73 (AA-11 "Archer") dogfight missiles, although some users still retain the older R-60 (AA-8 "Aphid"). A single 1,500-litre (400 US gal) tank can be fitted to the centerline, between the engines. The baseline MiG-29B has a Phazotron RLPK-29 (Radiolokatsyonnui Pritselnui Kompleks) radar fire control system which includes the N019 (Sapfir 29; NATO: 'Slot Back') look-down/shoot-down coherent pulse-Doppler radar and the Ts100.02-02 digital computer. Tracking range against a fighter-sized target was only about 70 km (38 nmi) in the frontal aspect and 35 km (19 nmi) in the rear aspect.
 
The MiG-29 is powered by two widely spaced Klimov RD-33 turbofan engines, each rated at 50.0 kN (11,240 lbf) dry and 81.3 kN (18,277 lbf) in afterburner. The space between the engines generates lift and thereby reducing effective wing loading to improve maneuverability. The engines are fed through wedge-type intakes fitted under the leading-edge extensions (LERXs), which have variable ramps to allow high-Mach speeds. As an adaptation to rough-field (gravel) operations, the main air inlet can be closed completely and alter using the auxiliary air inlet on the upper fuselage for takeoff, landing and low-altitude flying, preventing ingestion of ground debris. Sharing its origins in the original PFI requirements issued by TsAGI, the MiG-29 has broad aerodynamic similarities to the Sukhoi Su-27, however, there are some notable differences. The MiG-29 has a mid-mounted swept wing with blended leading-edge root extensions (LERXs) swept at around 40°; there are swept tailplanes and two vertical fins that are mounted on booms outboard of the engines. Automatic slats are mounted on the leading edges of the wings; they are four-segment on early models and five-segment on some later variants. Situated on the trailing edge there are maneuvering flaps and wingtip ailerons. The MiG-29 has a ferry range of 1,500 km without external fuel tanks, and 2,100 km with one external tank. The internal fuel capacity of the original MiG-29B is 4,365 litres distributed between six internal fuel tanks, four in the fuselage and one in each wing.
 

 
First Flight was on the 6 October 1977, with entry into service in July 1983. Most MiG-29s have now been refurnished as multirole fighters capable of performing a number of different operations, and are commonly outfitted to use a range of air-to-surface armaments and precision munitions. The aircraft was exported to 32 operators with India being the largest non-block country with 87 aircraft. The Luftwaffe inherited 24 aircraft from its reunited East-German cousin after the end of the Cold War. Two Mig-29's famously crashed while doing an air display at 1993 Royal International Air Tattoo (UK), Both pilots survived. The Mig-29 is still in production and has yet to be replaced. The Sukhoi PAK FA is still a stillborn project and another is the MiG 1.44 demonstrator which failed in the 1990s. Over 1600 Mig-29's in various variants have been produced.
 
MiG-29 Fulcrum by Colimata
Flown here is the updated 1.5 version of the MiG-29 Fulcrum by Colimata. This release was in May 2013 and includes a completely redesigned Instrument panel(s), New low speed flight model, AoA (Angle of Attack) protection, Breathing cockpit sounds, New Flaps, New normal (exterior) maps, Hideable stick, XP10 lighting and Autopilot features and forward HUD. 
 

 
The extensive design by Colimata is very good, with the basic shape and details of the Mig-29 in design is first rate. These Fourth Gen aircraft are extremely beautiful aircraft for the deadly killers they are with their pronounced high-arcing cockpit to the low wide twin-set engine and twin-tail layout. Close up inspection shows great detail but many items (all over the aircraft) are untextured or use the basic 3d colouring to cover the item. Like the Landing Gear (front and main) are very well done but here are still in their 3d light Grey. But as noted the detailing is very good with piping and struts carefully modeled. The tyres are excellent close up but boxy at a distance, the green inner wheels are however excellent and very Russian in-design. The rear engine outlets have also great 3d design inside and the cones contracting actions (when putting the power down) work with great authenticity.
 
The panels, Wings and tails are all very good with great detailing, but you will need a high texture setting to get the most out of them, and the overall finish is very glossy. Fighter interceptors don't like the sun-shining off them for the obvious reasons...  It can get you killed.
 

 
The Mig-29 comes with a Virtual 3d cockpit (VC) that is extensive in layout. The opening canopy has three actions : Open, Taxi and Jettison. Sitting inside the aircraft and your view is dominated by the huge HUD (Head Up Display). The unit is highly configurable and effective with 8 modes to chose from : Nav mode, Radar Mode, Infrared Mode, Close Combat Mode, Helm Mode, Gun Mode, Recticle Mode and forward HUD that puts you directly into the action.
 

 
The cockpit is fully functional but not very Russian. All instrument detailing is in English, It certainly helps enormously in helping you to find your way around the cockpit items, but you wish it was a little more Cyrillic in operation for authenticity. At first glace it looks quite complicated but it isn't. Most functions are grouped together in panels and if you learn where the panels are located then they are quite easy to find. This is also helped by the very prominent set Checklist right in front of you. It is tabbed and very easy to sign off each item as you swing left or right setting up the aircraft. One run through the checklist and I was ready for flight, when done just click it out of sight...  Brilliant. You can set up a flightplan with the pop-up standard Xplane fms. This again is clickable on or off in your view, a clickable GPS data screen is also available.
 
The main aircraft (standard six) instruments are organised within a white line to separate them from the complex set of dials set out on the main forward panel. Two interesting instruments are the AoA and G indicator and the TAS Mach gauge. both are invaluable at high speed and with the AoA at low speeds. The aircraft is very sensitive to CoG (Centre of Gravity) settings and you need to make sure the setting is correct to get the best supersonic cruise and at takeoff and landing balances. As the machine does not have flight protection (fly-by-wire) you need a gauge to note the limits of the aircraft to avoid (dangerous) stalls and spins. The Panel is also dominated by the RADAR DISPLAY - NAV SCREEN. This display provides Nav and weather Information, and you can select map+radar+weather - map + radar - map (Nav).
The visual was confusing at first but then I worked out that the aircraft is situated at the bottom of the screen and not at the centre-cross line(s) and after that it was easy. Standard Xplane weather and Nav points are used. The radar is great when hunting down a foe as it appears in orange if you use the Xplane Aircraft & Situations "Chase" feature, using the radar and the RWR Radar warning receiver that points out the direction to the enemy. The good news is your aircraft is far faster and more deadly than the poor foe you are chasing.
The panel here is so called dirty? and the textures were upgraded in v1.5. A look at a real cockpit of a Mig-29 and it looks almost pristine. You have the option to put in the choice of "nearly clean - no dirt - weaker spots" textures if you want them.
 
Side panels provide the most switches for the aircraft's functions. Left side is your throttle, Flap, Fuel, chute release, cabin and oxygen pressure. The oxygen switched on creates a breathing effect sound that drives you nuts after 20 min in the air. The manual says it can be turned off but it annoyingly doesn't work, You can however switch the .WAV files in the aircraft folder to finally get some sanity back. Right Side Is Electrical, Systems, APU start, Transponder, Canopy Jettison and all the aircraft lighting except for the taxi/landing lights which are on the main panel. There is an excellent Telelight or warning panel on the right upper side with a AEKRAN (Failure) display on the main panel. The navpanel (Radio) will mean you can pre-set 3 VOR (DME) 3 NDB and an extra ILS (VOR(DME). It is tricky to use and in some cases I couldn't get the system to accept my VOR (2) frequency
 

 
Above the Left panel forward is the Autopilot. (A/P) it is pretty basic, in that it is just a heading and altitude hold, and there is a rudder damper and APP (Approach) button for using the ILS. The joystick (by clicking) can be hidden and over all the cockpit and functions are very useable and realistic. The gauges are reflective and well created, some are slightly confusing to use until you settle in there for a while. Time on the machine helps in familiarity. When not flying the Mig-29 you can (By pressing a zone by the left side of the canopy) deploy a ladder, Chocks and flight tags
 
Flying the Mig-29 Fulcrum
There are two aircraft versions to choose from, Standard and Armed (both Xp9.7 and Xp10 compatible). And both are flown here as the standard is basically a clean aircraft and the armed is loaded to the teeth. There is another two versions (lite) for X-plane 9&10 that uses less frame-rate and a standard 2d cockpit layout. I never had any frame-rate issues with the 3d cockpit version and there is a render setup panel available in the manual. The Armed version carries 4 Vympel R-73 / AA-11 "Archer" Infer guided missiles and 2 Vympel R-27 / AA-10 "Alamo" radar guilded (fire and forget) missiles. External fuel tank (dropable) is 1.500 lit. The standard GSh-30 30mm 2,000 round cannon is on both aircraft.
 

 
Engines running the taxi speed is very easy but slow. You keep the speed low to counter the braking, in that to touch your brake handle and the aircraft will simply bounce badly (high) on the nose. I noticed in the thread notes to adjust you CoG to counter this effect. Otherwise the aircraft will trundle nicely all around the airport, unless on hard turning when the front wheel does not completely turn inline with the radius?...  Notice the Engine ramps are down and the flaps open above the intakes to stop dirt being inserted in the low lying intakes. On power up they automatically open up for the required bigger chunks of air.
 

 
You don't need any flap for takeoff, Someone noted on the thread that all Fulcrum's use flap, But I didn't need it on a light aircraft (No armaments), But it helped if you are very heavy. You don't use your afterburners either as that is just wasting precious fuel that is required later to go supersonic. Just under the afterburner ignition is enough to make you go skywards very quickly.
 

 
The aircraft is very natural in the air. You can position it easily with lovely sweeping turns (but watch that turn stall if you go too slow). The Mig-29 powers quickly through the air. There are 3 large rearward mirrors above you that can be distracting. Going low and fast is easy with the stick, and you soon get into the flow of the aircraft and find yourself into a nice groove. There is the option of the Forward HUD that puts outside the front of the aircraft for extreme low runs that can be exhilarating if you love that sort of thing (yes I do!). In fact all the different variations of the HUD system are excellent for flying or killing. The control surfaces are excellent and the leading edges will pop out for you to get those tight powered turns to the foe. So this is a supremely nice aircraft to fly, the protected fly-by-wire aircraft can certainly go more closer to the limits and are more agile. But this aircraft is a more natural machine and it flies that way, It could be noted today as a pilots aircraft and not a technical tour-de-force. You can certainly see how deadly the Mig-29 aircraft could be in the right capable hands.
 

 
It is best to set up your Joystick as a trigger to fire the cannon (I usually have reverse thrust set on the joystick trigger), and the space bar is used to fire the missiles in sequence. A sound barrier graphic appears as you hit the .m number and vortices appear when you hit certain speeds in turns or steep climbs. You can like this sort of feature or not. For me it depends on how well they are done and here they are middle of the road.
 

 
One clever feature is the eject. Blow the canopy and then pull the red eject handles and you are out of the aircraft, which then disappears into the distance (arrowed). You then swing slowly down to earth, only a restart will give you your aircraft back again. You can also learn the "Cobra". (pdf included) that is a stall manoeuvre that takes skill and a steady hand to complete - It virtually sits the aircraft on its tail.
 

 
Mach!
To get into the best speed zone I flew up to 37,000 feet and then hit the afterburner to go supersonic. You need your CoG to be pretty good to get the balance right to get to the Outer Limits. But you are now seriously moving across the landscape. Using the AP is the best way to hold the aircraft steady at this speed or getting to the higher .M numbers as any slight wobble suddenly becomes a serious wobble and the aircraft feels very vulnerable under you. You can fly by hand of course but you really need to hold that stick steady. Using the afterburners can use your fuel at an astounding rate so you have to conserve fuel to get home or use the speed wisely. Turning off the afterburners and your speed quickly drops under the .M. You can turn now, but only in a very wide arc. Pull the throttle to zero and you are still heading forward like a bullet. The speed is dropping but you will be half way across Europe or into Russia before you can get to a lower altitude.
 

 
The air-brake is in two settings and the first will get your nose down. In fact the air-brake is your best friend on this aircraft because at even lower speeds in neutral the aircraft holds a lot of speed. To get the wheels down and use the single flap setting for landing you need to use the air-brake in both settings in popping it up and down, It is like in trying to brake a runaway train. The air-brake is highly effective so now down on the lower speeds and you have to be careful not to stall your speed, again I have the air-brakes set up on my throttle system buttons and that works very well. Colimata has done a lot of work to get the lower speeds close to the numbers and the aircraft feels stable on approach if you get the speeds just right.
 

 
Once on the runway you have to slow the aircraft down. Colimata has recreated the parachute. It still works with the default Xplane keyboard setting of the default parachute of which I approve of for ease of use. Once you have run off all the speed then ditch the parachute and the mission is over.
 
Lighting and HDR
The cockpit lighting for panel and overhead is fully adjustable. But there is a marked difference between using the HDR feature on or off.
 

 
With HDR off you can't get the main panel to lower the backlight, with HDR "on" (third image) then that lower style spot lighting is available. Without doubt with the HDR function switched on the lighting is much more effective and the good news is it that it doesn't come at too much of a frame-rate kill. Overall the cockpit lighting is excellent.
 

 
On the aircraft with HDR "on" the spots are behind the lighting fixtures. On the standard mode you have the small blobs of light. Taking off (or landing) in HDR and the lighting is excellent with three separate spots of broad lighting. HDR 'on" and the rear afterburners and the rear exhaust gases look great and authentic with the HDR shimmer effect.
 
Conclusions
The Mikoyan MiG-29 by Colimata is an exciting machine, certainly if you like going very, very fast. For carrying out missions or shooting at other aircraft it is like its real counterpart in being highly effective. Overall the detailing is excellent, but I would like just one more version to clear up a few odds and ends. The landing gear needs textures (and the steering fixed), and so does the inside of the front engine intakes. The Mig is too glossy for me, but that is a personal choice. A few more slightly reflective details of texture work (oxygen gauge/Hydraulic - Pneu gauge is at odds with the rest of the panel in quality) in the cockpit with some Cyrillic lettering would make it perfect. And even again it still needs to even a little more dirty and used. I'm not to crazy about the yellow afterburner glow either... it looks too average for an aircraft of this scale and price.  In a features wish list it could use an GPU and fuel tanker.
 
That aside you get really great value and an amazing flying machine for your money. The cockpit is fully functional and if you feel like topping it all you can then eject yourself out of the aircraft. Four versions and in both Xp9 and Xp10 is available for "standard" and "lite" aircraft, and you have options on normal image maps and different panel textures.
Sounds are all round excellent (except for the annoying breathing) and are created by Artymowicz Aviation and the 14 liveries (listed below) cover almost every operator and an acrobatic version.
 
The checklist is a great feature in setting up the aircraft ready for flight and the Manual (In Engilsh & German) is very comprehensive and easy to follow. Like many aircraft it will take time to learn the Fulcrum in depth to get the very best out of its flying abilities. It is easy to learn as already noted, but you will need time to be really as one with the machine. The more time you have on the airframe then the more you come to like it. Setting up missions will allow you use the aircraft to its full potential and certainly in the high-speed seek and destroy mode.
Overall the Mig-29 is an amazing aircraft. And as good as any interceptor you can get in Xplane.
 
Liveries




 
Documents:
 
Yes! the Mig-29 Fulcrum is now Available from the X-Plane.OrgShop : MiG-29 Fulcrum

Price is US$24.95  At the point of press of this review the Mig-29 Fulcrum is on sale at only US$19.95 - Which is amazing value!
 
Installation : Download is 301.80mb, and installation size in your "Fighters" Folder is 446.30mb. It is certainly recommended to set your key and Joystick settings for flying a fighter in - Cannon, missile and chaff. I also recommend to have the Air-brake function set at your fingertips for ease of use and for easy control of the speed. All the settings required are very well documented in the excellent manual.There are various other variations of the panel in nearly "clean - no dirt - weaker spots" textures that are stored in the "customize" folder, here also you can change over the normal maps and change the checklist over to German
 
Support Forum : Colimata MIG-29 Fulcrum

Review By Stephen Dutton

8th January 2014
 
©copyright 2014 : X-Plane Reviews

  Technical Requirements:
Windows, MAC or Linux. 512Mb VRAM
X-Plane 9 or X-Plane 10 fully updated - 32 and 64 bit compatible
(The store will deliver the v10 version. If you need the v9 version please send an email to [email protected] once you place your order)
Current version : 1.05 (last updated May, 2013)
 
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 Mavericks 10.9
- X-Plane 10 Global ver 10.25 (final)
Addons
- Saitek x52 Pro system Joystick and Throttle
Scenery
- EDFH - Frankfurt Hahn - Aerosoft (.orgStore

Aircraft Review : FlightFactor Boeing 757RR-200
 
Route : BIKF (Keflavik) to EGCC (Manchester UK)
 
In August 2012. FlightFactor with VMAX released their first X-Plane aircraft in the Boeing 777-200ER Worldliner and later the add-on variants (Extended) of the Longer -300 and Cargo version. The response was overwhelming in the simulation world of the standard that the aircraft represented in the way of quality, but more so in the depth of the systems and the excellent FMC (Flight Management Computer). The release created another upward step in the evolution of simulation standards towards realism and replication of real world aircraft operations.
 
The announcement of the Boeing 757 series as the next release aircraft would certainly create a ready made market for the aircraft. However the B777 Worldliner was a very high standard to reach. The question is that "could the Boeing 757-Series be as good or even better than the acclaimed Boeing 777-Series"?
 
I'll let you relax early and note that it is, and in many areas better. But it is also a very different aircraft than the B777 Worldliner in the fact it is a generation older than its bigger Boeing brother. It is a more manual hands-on aircraft and its systems are in that magnificent tween period of the transition from the standard dial and gauge cockpit to the all glass (display) cockpits of the modern era. This is one of the great attractions of the Boeing 757 as it can keep both the older and more modern pilots happy and fulfilled...  The B757 also creates a bigger workload in the cockpit - so you have been warned.
 
 
 
 
 
Boeing 757
After the success of the original Boeing series of aircraft in the 707/727/737/747. It came to the point in time where Boeing was faced with replacing its most successful aircraft (at that time) - The Boeing 727 that operated on the most important short and medium routes. Boeing knew that most airlines wanted a larger twin-aisle aircraft, but there was also significant demand for a single-aisle version as well. The result was two airframes that covered both markets in the B757/B767 Series as both had the commonality of cockpit layouts and the exchange of many parts and systems on both aircraft. The Boeing 767 became the twin-aisle version and the Boeing 757 was the single-aisle aircraft.
 
It was a mid-size, narrow-body twin-engine aircraft that can carry 200 to 289 passengers for a maximum of 3,150 to 4,100 nautical miles (5,830 to 7,600 km), depending on variant. And it was Boeing's the manufacturer largest single-aisle passenger aircraft and was produced from 1981 to 2004. Production of the 757 ended on October 28, 2004, after 1,050 had been built for 54 customers. The 757-200 was by far the most popular model, with 913 built.
 
The prototype 757 was rolled out of the Renton factory on January 13, 1982. The aircraft, equipped with RB211-535C engines and completed its maiden flight one week ahead of schedule on February 19th,1982. The maiden flight however was not without complications, as the RB211 was affected by an engine stall, following indications of low oil pressure. After checking system diagnostics, Boeing company test pilot John Armstrong and co-pilot Lew Wallick were able to restart the affected engine, and the flight proceeded normally to landing.
Eastern Air Lines operated the first commercial 757 flight on January 1st,1983, on the Atlanta-to-Tampa route. and on February 9th,1983, British Airways began using the aircraft for London-to-Belfast shuttle services as the first overseas airline to use the aircraft of where it replaced the retiring Hawker Siddeley Trident 3B trijets. The first 757 with PW2037 engines rolled out about one year later, and was delivered to Delta Air Lines on November 5, 1984.
 
The 757 is a low-wing cantilever monoplane with a conventional tail unit featuring a single fin and rudder. Each wing features a supercritical cross-section and is equipped with five-panel leading edge slats, single- and double-slotted flaps, an outboard aileron, and six spoilers. The wings are largely identical across all 757 variants, swept at 25 degrees, and optimized for a cruising speed of Mach 0.8 (533 mph or 858 km/h). The reduced wing sweep eliminates the need for inboard ailerons, yet incurs little drag penalty on short and medium length routes, during which most of the flight is spent climbing or descending. The airframe further incorporates carbon-fiber reinforced plastic wing surfaces, Kevlar fairings and access panels, plus improved aluminum alloys, which together reduce overall weight by 2,100 pounds (950 kg).  Details noted here are noted for the -200 version.
 
Cruise Speed : Mach 0.80 (530 mph, 458 knots, 850 km/h at cruise altitude of 35,000 ft or 10.66 km) Range : 3,900 nmi (7,222 km) (4,100 nmi (7,600 km) with winglets) Service Ceiling : 42,000 ft (12,800 m)
 
FlightFactor
The developer house behind the Boeing 777 and the Boeing 757 is FlightFactor. FlightFactor was formed by Roman Berezin (Ramzzess Aviation Design) and Philipp Münzel Avionics and are the main developer behind both series of aircraft and it is produced by VMAX, Roman is more on the modeling and general programming side while Philipp is centered more on the systems and avionics. But it take a lot people behind the scenes today to create these complex machines. Other highly regarded developers have also been involved who include: Andrey Germayer – in aeronautical engineering, Jack Skieczius – aeronautical engineering, Hartmut Krüger – paintkit and graphics, Bruno Gregorie – cockpit texturing, Marius Hoppmann – sound engineer, Pierre Lavaux – sound engineer. It takes a lot of talent to produce these aircraft and the days of the single developer are slow vanishing into the past.
 
First Impressions
The Boeing 757 is quite odd to look at compared to most modern airliners in the fact it is tall and skinny. The tall is that the undercarriage is higher (taller) than most aircraft, because Boeing wanted to have room under the aircraft for different variants and larger engines, Skinny is because it is a single-aisle aircraft based on a twin-aisle concept. Both these features however worked in the aircraft's favor because of its lighter weight, slender fuselage, huge power-to-weight ratio and big engines - It goes and climbs like ......  and is known as "the pocket rocket".
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
FlightFactor's detailing is extraordinary good. And considering the detail it is very light on your frame-rate. Here the textures are set in "very high", but "high" is fine with only a slight buzzyness around some graphics at a very close range, most of the images here are set only in "high" and you would be pressed to notice the difference. The Icelandair livery is astoundingly good, It will be part of the add-on livery collections - but well worth the investment.
 
 
 
You have the option of having Aviation Partners Incorporated winglets on or off. I like them on and they give you a longer range as well. They are well crafted into the wings with the lighting set perfectly into the leading edge.
 
 
 
 
 
Flap construction and animation is first rate, the detailing is excellent. Not just for show but also the mechanism and detailing within the wing. The single and double-slotted flaps, outboard aileron and all six spoilers are represented. When the hydraulics are off the ailerons droop in realism.
 
 
 

 
Tyres and undercarriage assemblies are again first rate, full detailing of links and hydraulic systems are almost perfect. I like the texturing of the supports and general worn dirtyness with out overdoing the effect. Perfect realism.
 
Menu System
The Boeing 757 menu system is different from FlightFactor's B777 menu...  That one sits on the side of your computer screen like a blue blob, I don't care for menus that I can see, although as handy as they are. I find them distracting. Here the 757 menu is part of the X-Plane top menu under "Plugins".
 
 
 
 
 
It means a double-click to access the menu, but it is a far more neater solution. (just be careful not to disable it) Here we require only the first two "General" and "Ground" menu pages. These pages are for setting up the aircraft and using features of the aircraft on the ground.
 
General
The "General" Menu allows you to set certain conditions on the aircraft. First is "High Challenge", "Real Limits" and "Real Time" all are effective depending on your level of skill, to start I recommend to keep them off until you are familiar with the aircraft, then introduce them to feel the effects. "Real Time" does not have as a major effect on the aircraft as the other two.
You can select "F/O" First Officer to be in control to fly from the right side of the cockpit. You can plug-in a radio, select your winglet choice and load your last flight including fuel loads. "Charts" can be on/off and we will see them in the cockpit.
Volume adjustment and you can save all the above as defaults. The lower section is your 6 main doors and 4 overwing (escape) doors operation (open/Close), No cargo doors though which is a shame?
 
Ground
The "Ground" Menu allows you to set up items on the ground around the aircraft. You have a large selection of vehicles and ground equipment to choose from.
 
 
 
 
 
First you have two GPU's to use, One a general power supply, and the second a start supply that sits by the left engine. A passenger bus, Stairs on the right first door?  great for servicing but you miss the door on the first left side for passenger plane/deplane... It feels odd and you miss it, a choice or better still both choices would be nice.
A fuel truck that will load in your fuel load, a De-Ice Truck that is great but only De-Ices the right wing?. And chocks on the wheels. There is a "Gate" configuration button that turns off the Bus and Stairs which is fairly useless.
 
The mid-section is for setting up the aircraft configuration for flight. This includes No.Pass, Cargo Weight, APU (fuel) time, Taxi (fuel) time, contingency (fuel), alternate (fuel) and trip fuel, total fuel and weight is shown and you can save and load in the configurations.
 

 
Finally on the "Ground" menu there is a very good (Steer and power by throttle) pushback truck that is the same on the B777. very good it is as well.
 
Cockpit
First impressions of the cockpit are of the complexity and quality of the design.
 
 
 
 
 
Looking into the cockpit, It does feel quite more darker than a B757 cockpit would look like, it helps with the detail but it does need to be a little more lighter to be more authentic. Detailing is astounding. almost every knob and switch is active and perfect in design. As noted this 757 is a generation of aircraft that transcended the era between the dials and glass cockpits.
 
 
 
 
 
Sitting behind the beautifully rendered throttles (reverse thrust) levers is the main attraction. The FMS. It is almost the same design as the one on the FlightFactors Boeing 777, but it is the best FMC in X-Plane right now. Fully programmable with flight data (performance, Depart, Cruise, Arrival) routes x 2, Legs, SIDS & STARS, DEP/ARR airports, it is fully functional and both the FMS's of the pilot and the Co-Pilot's pop-outs and are completely and separately programmable, you can start setting up the data on the pilots side and finish on the Co-Pilots FMC or do both at the same time and can input on different modes (you still have to follow the basic input rules)....  Just simply brilliant. If you look closely you will find a mode missing?  Radio was not on the FMC at this stage (unlike the B777) and so you have to input your frequencies manually. One Item worth noting is that you can save a route (yah!). But to retrieve the route from file you have to input the exact letters and numbers into the FMC. You can check in the Plugin/757Avionics/Routes folder if you forget or simply write them down.
 
 
 
The systems on the 757 aircraft are highly complex with full Electrical, hydraulic, De-Ice, Fuel (pumps and tank transfer) most of which is situated on the overhead panel (OHP). There is a multistage custom failure system with in-browser instructor’s console and you have the ability to fix failure by following the proper procedures. And between flights any failures and maintenance will carry over to the next flight that gives you the realism of a not so perfect aircraft. (you can turn this all off via the menu). Starting the engines is as complex as you would expect from a cold start-up, it requires long procedures of button pushing and systems activation. On power up the engine power comes in gradually and then they get noisy outside, they are dirty as well as the black plumes of carbon fill the air behind the engine exhausts.
 
As it is very complex machine, you do have thankfully an excellent checklist and tutorial built into the menu. A full checklist for every portion of the flight is available.
 
 
 
 
 
First there is a "Normal" checklist that just lists the procedures, This includes the standard aircraft walkaround. "Procedures" takes the situations a level higher. First with a highly detailed instruction of each procedure and then as a very clever tutorial that goes through all the procedures. As you click each procedure it will show you in what order and where each item is to be activated. As you click the items off the checklist it goes onto the next item. For new and even experienced users like me, it makes the systems more easily absorbed and you learn quite fast. Many times you know what to press but can't find the right function on the panel...  or do the sequence in the wrong order. Here a few runs through and you are pretty well ready just to use the standard checklists.
 
 
 
 
 
There is the "Operational" Checklists that is also highly detailed and every one of these checklists can be used in Auto mode when the aircraft will do it for you.  The final item "RE-SET" on the menu will reset any of the Checklists in the lists. It looks daunting at first but the checklist menus are simply so good you will soon understand the aircraft.
 
 
 

 
Interior
The interior cabin is just as detailed as every other item on the aircraft, Opening the locked cabin door will find you with a "I can't do that look on your face", You can, as the (FLT DK Door) button is on the OHP and that shows the amount of detail you have.
Inside the seats are beautifully rippled, and the cabin fittings, Lavatories, working galleys and all the interior lighting lighting is excellent.
 
Flying the Boeing 757
Once the aircraft is configured with fuel (menu), FMS flight route (data) and engine start you are ready for pushback. Flaps were set at 10º. and brakes away.
 
 
 
 
 
Taxiing is easy as the throttle response is excellent, you feel the weight and it takes a push for thrust to get the 757 moving, then you settle it back to a 10knt taxi speed. You can do cabin announcements via a great announcement menu page. There is a full list of excellent standard announcements that will bring a smile to your face, There is also the option for charts on the yoke, these are pdf's that are stored in the "CHARTS" folder in the main file folder. They have to be listed (.png's) and configured for use, but it is worthwhile for their usability and as an excellent feature.
 
 
 
 
 
Push throttles forward and the engines spool up to full power in their own time, this takes a moment and then the push comes in. Totally realistic in the moment is that the power is just there on other aircraft, but it is simply not here on the 757 until it comes in with a growing gradient of power. The feeling is fabulous in its effect of reality... amazing programming must be required to get this just right. At rotate you just let it climb without pulling back to hard, Gear up is a two stage click upwards on the lever, It climbs like you expect, very quickly. And on the turn back towards the coast over BIRK I was already at 8000ft and climbing easily at 2000ftpm. Turn to the sun and the active shades feature will cover the windows, turn away and they go up again.
 
 
 

 
Both Pilot and Co-Pilot NAV/MAP displays are independent, Usually placed on the glareshield, here they are on the pedestal. it makes adjustment tricky - but they are very authentic in operation. Glareshield Autopilot is excellent, It has full separate functions for the the Pilot and Co-Pilot, VOR 2 frequency settings are at both sides, which can be set to Manual or Automatic. Pilots side instruments shows the duel mixture of dials and glass screens with digital readouts from that era.
 

 
Setting the ILS Frequency (VOR1) is a slightly more nerve racking affair if you don't know how?  or where it is?  It is situated at the rear of the pedestal, but the first the actual frequencies don't show unless you adjust the lighting - it is just dark or blank. When it does show it only displays dotted lines?  A casual look around the cockpit became a frantic search for the badly needed ILS setting. The trick is to touch the knob on the frequency selector and the frequencies finally show a selectable freq number.
 

 
Another feature is the oxygen mask, press the compartment to the pilots left hand and activate the mask, it moves as you wear it and not just where you look, but also on how you breath!
 
 
 

 
Enroute and you have a lot of tools at your disposal. The FMC gives you your route while the Co-Pilot does the flying with the standard MAP mode. Engine performance and power is shown on the displays. At arrival you can easily set the correct distance to your turn fix for the correct height. Cabin and glass reflections are first class. the windows all give great reflections and they are worse at night with the lighting from the instruments..
 
 
 

 
Flying today is in good weather, But if it turns wet or stormy then the aircraft has a good weather radar (adjustible!) and great rain effects on the windows, now in X-Plane in aircraft of this category rain is mostly de-rigueur, but FlightFactor do it very well.
 
 
 
Arrival is down to 5000ft and m62. But watch the aircraft as it will fall quite quickly if you don't control the descent, on finals as you turn but you have to watch the drag from those long drooping flaps, in fact your speed has to be quite slow at around 140knts on approach, because if you don't control the speed and you are not slow enough in the flare you will get a bang of a landing. (or a reset!) That last few feet from the ILS cutoff is going to test your skill to the limit. But get it right and you will smile for days after. The reverse thrust is very effective and blows out a lot of black dirt in front of the engines. Then don't forget to let the passengers know they have arrived...
 
 
 
 
 
Sounds
The Boeing 757 has over 200 Mb of custom sounds, in 3d of course. The cockpit has many of these and can be heard while pressing various functions. In flight the "Ding-Dong" goes off all the time as passengers call the attendants.... very realistic. There are also 3D stereo sound for the engines and they sound great with from some angle a real burring turbine sound that is excellent.
 
Liveries
There are four liveries with the aircraft package: Boeing House, British Airways (retro), Air France and Lufthansa.
 
 
 
 
 
And eight livery packs available for US$10 per pack - Includes:
 
Asia Pacific Livery Pack for 757 - Europe Livery Pack #1 for 757 - Europe Livery Pack #2 for 757 - Europe Livery Pack #3 for 757- Middle East/ Africa Pack for 757
North American Livery Pack#1 for 757 - North American Livery Pack#2 for 757 - Russian Livery Pack for 757
 
Conclusions
The Boeing-200 from FlightFactor is a huge aircraft full of brilliant features. The modeling and design are first rate if not the best in X-Plane at this current period. It is a large investment, but you are getting the very best as well. If you have acquired the Boeing 777Series then you know why the Boeing 757 is also going to be great value. It has the same quality and design as the B777. But still the B757 is very different in its own way. The main feature is again the programmable FMC as it is simply the best in X-Plane, but the shear systems depth is also another real attraction. For a large file it is amazingly light on your frame-rate and the texture quality does not suffer either. The 3d sounds are another aspect as they are very good as well. The only items that I would have liked is cargo doors and the option of the stairs on the left (front) door, but both are for my own service requirements. For a novice flyer the B757 is a complex and daunting machine, the brilliant checklist system helps, but it will take time to fully understand the aircraft not only in operation but also in the air. No review could cover all the systems on this aircraft, as they are to large and complex but with this investment you will get in return of many and even hundreds of hours of simulation at the highest level.  for value there can be no other greater reward.
 
_____________________________________________________________
 
Yes! the Boeing 757 Professional is now Available from the X-Plane.OrgShop : Designed by FlightFactor (Philipp and Ramzzess) and produced by VMAX
 
Price is US$59.95 : Boeing 757 Professional
 
Developer Site: facebook
Dev Thread : X-Plane.org
Review By Stephen Dutton
7th November 2013
 
Technical Requirements:
64bit X-Plane 10 and OS are  required to run the 757.
Windows Vista/7/8 64bit or Mac OSX 10.7/10.8/10.9 or Linux Ubuntu 12.04LTS or compatible (older versions are not supported)
X-Plane 10 fully updated. 64 bit mode. (X-Plane 9 not supported. x-plane 10 32 bit not supported)
8GB RAM/1GBVRAM (2GB VRAM Recommended)- 512b available hard disk space (download size:375Mb - Custom Folder size (expanded) is 577.50mb)
Current version : 1.01 (last updated November 7th, 2013)
 
 
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 Mavericks 10.9
- X-Plane 10 Global ver 10.22 (final)
Addons
- Saitek x52 Pro system Joystick and Throttle
Scenery
-  BIKF (Keflavik) - Aerosoft (X-Plane.OrgShop US$19.95)
- EGCC (Manchester UK) - Captain Dij  (X-Plane.Org)
 

 

When Alabeo release an aircraft it is a bit like meeting Forrest Gump and him offering you something from his box of chocolates “you just don’t know what you are going to get”. There are a few clues though. It is usually highly different. It is usually very Iconic and it is usually very well done but not totally absolutely functional.

Their latest release is the 1930’s aircraft the “Beechcraft D-17 Staggerwing”. and it fill out all the criteria. It is different, It is Ironic, It is very well done and some small things don’t work.

The “Staggerwing” (Meaning the upper and lower wings are “Staggered” to give a better view out of the front windows) was the aircraft of the 1930’s that represented you as a person of high standing. It was well loved by the Hollywood royalty of the period. The sort of same image you will get today by flouting off your new G350 Gulfstream Jet. It stood for “Rich”, “Powerful”...  and a global reaching exciting image!   - Of course pilots loved the power of the machine as well.
 

 
History
Aircraft developer Walter H. Beech and airplane designer T. A. “Ted” Wells at the height of the Great Depression, joined forces to collaborate on a project to produce a large, powerful, and fast cabin biplane built specifically for the business executive. The Beechcraft Model 17, popularly known as the “Staggerwing” was first flown on November 4, 1932. It was not popular at first because of the high cost. Originally it was called the Model 17 with its negative stagger wing configuration (the upper wing staggered behind the lower) and unique shape maximized pilot visibility while negligibly reducing air interference between the wings. The fabric-covered fuselage was created with wood formers and stringers over a welded steel tube frame. Construction was highly complex and it was for its time the most innovated aircraft available with the Staggerwing’s retractable conventional landing gear, which was uncommon at that time that was combined with careful streamlining, light weight, and a powerful radial engine which helped it to perform very well. In mid-1930s, Beech then undertook a major redesign of the aircraft, to create the Model D17 Staggerwing (this Alabeo version). The D-17 featured a lengthened fuselage that improved the aircraft’s handling characteristics by increasing control leverage and the ailerons were relocated to the upper wings, eliminating interference with the flaps. Braking was also improved with a foot-operated brake linked to the rudder pedals.

In the Second World War the D-17 became even more popular as the need for a compact executive-type transport or courier aircraft became apparent, And so in 1942 the United States Army Air Forces ordered the first of 270 Model 17s for service within the United States and overseas as the UC-43. The U.S Navy also bought the aircraft and so did the British RAF and Royal Navy. Since then it has slipped in to fame and notes for its ‘muscular strength and delicate grace,’ and is rated highly for its ‘classic lines and symmetry.’”
 

 
Design
Alabeo is a sister studio with Carenado and so they share a lot of design ideas and features. The main feature is that the quality is just as good as the Carenado’s but in a just slightly different form in that usually the form is more of a whole and not as completely constructed as the very highly detailed Carenado’s are, and that is reflected in the lower price and being slightly under US$20. The same quality but with just a slightly different design approach. But still the same of where it really counts.
And so the detailing on the “Staggerwing” is exceptionally good on this beautiful aircraft, It does look and feel slightly bulky because of that huge radial engine at the front. Look inside the cowling and you can see the wonderful air-cooled cylinders. This version uses the 9 cylinder Pratt & Whitney R-985-AN-1 with 450 hp (340 kW) at 2,300 rpm, and only the geared “supercharged” 600hp engine was bigger.

The fine wires on the wings are magnificent as are the smooth wing pylons, although the rear tailplane and elevators look very standard for the period.
 

 
The highlight is the construction of the front and tailwheel (retractable) undercarriage. More art than design, Its is beautifully proportioned and detailed. Steel springs and levers and it is what we really love about simulation in the fact that just admiring these items can give you as much pleasure as flying the aircraft. The animation is first rate as well as even the tail-wheel retracts up into the tail which was unusual in this period

Alabeo use the same O (Options) menu panel as Carenado, but there are only three items listed here.
 

 
The options are: Transparent Windshield - Instrument Reflections and you can open the - Passenger Door. The door opens but strangely stops between the wires? Very odd.
 

 
Panel & Cabin
Aircraft where fitted out inside very differently in the 1930’s. It was either wire and canvas or like this Beechcraft a cross between a luxurious boat or an expensive automobile. Heavy leather and wood trim would sound crazy in today’s world of carbon-fibre and plastic... however the D-17 was created for the “Distinguished Business Gentleman”.

Alabeo have done a discerning job in the fit out of the cabin, with only one outstanding issue...  You can’t really see any of the work - It is really black down in there, so dark you can’t even see the yoke never mind the rudder pedals.
 

 
You are restricted to using X-Plane’s Night-Vision to really find anything you want to usefully use. Lovely it all is in a sea of green. The Yoke can be positioned on the left or right by flipping it over to the new position, you can remove it completely if you want to as well.
Fumbling around you can find the lighting switches. A lovely thick clicky Ignition selector. A "press" to start the engine button that I really love to use and a great chunky trim wheel... The radio is a standard Bendix King 155A T50.
 

 
The dials are recreated vintage with the standard six. Perfect in design and feel. The right side instruments consist of engine dials in RPM, Manifold Pressure, CHT, Amp’s, Carburettor (remember those!), Suction, Temp and Oil/Fuel gauges (LBS) - and a Omni-Bearing Indicator (OBI). As noted you can switch off the glass reflections - But why would you do that?  You really feel that 1930’s vibe,

The flap selector is a half metal square ring with three settings and flap use is restricted to under 95knts (110mph).

The panel lighting is gorgeous, I flew the “Staggerwing” in early morning light just adore those creamily lit dials. There is a red light situated high on the central windshield pillar to shine down on the dials at night. This effect turns the panel bloody red and again gives out a lovely feel to the cockpit.

There is the Carenado standard menu C (Camera) for setting “points of view” including the zoom function that is handy and the wing view (left or Right) with belly/tail cam are the highlight view points.
 

 
HDR switched on the night-lighting is good with each (retractable) landing light in the wing giving its own light throw. The beacon is also totally realistic in its rotation and reflection. The Bluey/Green and red navigation lights are set out in a pod in front of the lower wing and are very authentic.

Time to Fly
On the lower part of the panel and hidden behind the yoke is a pull handle to lock the rear tail-wheel. To taxi is easy in theory but harder in practice. With the tail-wheel locked you can go straight but only take wide turns with the rudder. Un-lock the tail-wheel and you go around in circles on the same position?...  The trick is to use both. I don’t know if this is the correct real way you would control a tail-dragger like this, but you can’t have someone in a simulator to push your tail around to straighten you up on the runway either. And you have to be kind to the brakes as well. Hit the brake and with all that weight on the nose the aircraft will tip up at every touch of the handle - It looks like the aircraft has hiccups all the way to the runway.
 

 
Once on the centreline with the tail-wheel locked. The “Staggerwing” is lovely from the word go, You don’t need any flap as you have a huge amount of lift from those double-wings. You can’t lift off to quickly either as you need the speed to get your tail up and straight and the aircraft ready to fly. That huge radial sounds glorious as the sounds are all in 3D. The effects from different angles (certainly in the turns) are excellent.
 

 
All that weight helps you and balances the aircraft out to perfection, and so it is a really nice feel in your hands. There are no sudden movements but the best actions are to use slow maneuvers in what you want to do in that to either turn, gain height or simply hold a line to the horizon. One thing I did notice was that you had to get the right line of sight or angle of the aircraft to keep it at a level height. It was very easy to slowly wind downwards the altitude meter if you didn’t keep a close eye on the dial... And it is very hard to keep it there as well without gaining or losing height. The trim works well in this case (but you have to find it to use it).
 


 
Concentration is high as you don’t have any aids to carry the workload. So flying even across the state or around and 300nm to 400nm is going to tire you out. I loved those wide turns and the aircraft climbs with ease and power, It is no rocketship by today's standards but it must have felt like one back then - but that is the attraction.

Maximum speed: 212 mph (184 knots, 341 km/h), Cruise speed: 202 mph (176 knots, 325 (km/h), Landing speed: 45 mph (39 knots, 72 km/h)), Range: 582 nm (670 mi, 1,078 km), Service ceiling: 25,000 ft (7,600 m), Rate of climb: 1,500 ft/min (7.6 m/s)

Adjusting the flaps down (remember to drop off a lot of speed first) will only cause a slight bump in the airflow as the speed drops away nicely to slow to your 30-40knts landing phase. The aircraft is as sturdy as a rock in this configuration,  nice with turns to the runway and keeping the runway line of sight straight are very easy to do. The drift down while dropping the power will give you an easy landing and for a tail-dragger it will stay pretty straight while tapering off the speed. You will need a lot of tarmac though to run out that speed as touching the brakes is not the thing to do. Just let the D-17 find its own pace to slow down and sink the tail down to a slow speed. Back on the ground you now only have to master the taxi all over again to get back to your parking area.

Liveries
There are Five liveries and the standard default “White”. You can get a little confused with the “White” because there is two of them... The one on the default file and another one in the “Liveries Folder”. The livery version is really Grey not white. The Beige is very white as well and is sponsored by “Gargoyles”... The blue is an “American Embassy” livery based in the United Kingdom. And finally the bright Red and Yellow. Liveries are HD and high quality, and all are excellent and with keeping in with the period.
 


 
Conclusions
Alabeo stands for something different and with a quality set at a value price, and that is what you get here. The only mis-match on the aircraft is the door sitting in the wires, the tricky taxiing techniques and that dark cavern of a cabin. Otherwise it is very hard to fault this “Staggerwing” of an aircraft. It is sublime to fly, you feel the aircraft well through the controls and bask in those lovely wide turns. It finds you reaching out for your vintage aviator sun glasses and posing in a suit like Clark Gable or Cary Grant, or if of the fairer sex then Kathleen Hepburn. Stars...  Hollywood stars. And this is the aircraft to match theirs and your image.

The Alabeo Beechcraft D-17 “Staggerwing” is available now from the X-Plane.org Store : Staggerwing D17

Price is US$19.95

This Aircraft is available for X-Plane9 and X-Plane10

Documents:

Review By Stephen Dutton
 
10th September 2013

Alabeo : recommend certain settings for X-Plane 9 and 10...  But frame-rate is a not really an issue as the D-17 has a very high frame-rate because of its low footprint.
 
Developers Site : Alabeo.com

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

Aircraft Review : Grumman American AA-5 Traveler by vFlyteAir
 
Route : Circuits - KLAL Lakeland Linder, Florida
 

 
First thought is "Quick flight and I'll feel out the aircraft". This is the new Grumman American AA-5 Traveler from vFlyeAir and it looks very good from the first time you look over the controls. "Flaps tooo".... but it is a guess because they are electric and they don't have any steps in their ºdegree angle, so the flap setting is noted as a "little bit". Power up and you are off with just a little of asymmetrical thrust from the two-bladed propeller that is easily corrected as taught by the Chuck Yeager School of Flying by applying the right foot a little to the right rudder pedal. Heading down the runway the AA-5 also needed a little push forward of the yoke to keep it level (back pressure) but at rotation I will leave the ground quite nicely...  but you didn't really any flap to get off the ground either. As the Traveler will quite easily fly without any extra help and in fact the wing will easily lift you at around 55knts.
 

 
Climbing you have the time for a quick glance and a look around at the nice panel. The quality is very good and well above the quality that vFlyteAir has produced in the past. The cockpit is snug but well created and laid out. I have a twiddle of the autopilot switch but it just makes the aircraft just do long slow turns...  very odd. I feel the handling and it is quite stable but an adjustment of the trim is always required to find the right level. In fact the trim is your friend in this aircraft and so you use it a lot. A turn (to the right) and the aircraft will slip a bit too easily into a steep degree turn, and if you get it wrong you can also easily drop a lot of altitude. So nice and easy turns with a lot of thought put into the turn is the best option to keep the aircraft in a nice clean turn and at the same height. You soon get used to it and it becomes second nature very quickly.
 

 
Holding the flap lever all the way to get to the lowest flap position will drain off the speed but you don't get that power drop too much in the fact you don't need a lot of throttle to counter-act it (The flaps will retract completely however with only one flick of the switch up, which is a great feature). Dropping the height and control is good as well and the aircraft is easy to place above the runway. But the Traveler has a demon in that the wing gives you a lot of "float", I then quickly found myself half way down the runway in no time before a bumpy touch and finally a grip of the tarmac. But that didn't help either as the speed was very slow in winding off, The brakes are useless at this speed as well?
 
I ended up on the grass past the end of the runway.
 
Flying Schools note the AA-5 as "to hot to handle" as noted in the manual, as I recommend to read before doing what I didn't do (which is first read the manual!). As you do, the first thing is to try that landing again. I did and the trick is to have full flap (every time) and get that speed down as low as you dare. You will however still float but at least try to get the wheels down on the hard stuff as quickly as you are past the piano keys - as you will need as much runway as can get to rub off the speed and finally get some grip from the brakes.
 

 
Well that was a lot of "hair-raising fun". The Traveler looks quite benign, but it was quite interesting to fly. I unhooked the canopy back and took in the fresh air (a fan by the computer) and you felt the freedom of space and air around you. Turns were fun in the fact of the view and openness. The pilot is a bit thin on top and I doubt he would last long like this in an Australian summer. I then pulled the "mixture" back a little to slow the taxi more and you have to be careful not to shut down the engine (That is what the mixture is for as well). but as the engine spluttered a small adjustment was needed and the engine recovered effectively and the effect (and sound) was very authentic.
 
History
Grumman American AA-5 series is a family of all-metal touring and training 4-seat, light aircraft. The aircraft was originally an American Aviation design that followed on from the success with the AA-1 Yankee Clipper which was a two seater light aircraft in built in 1969. The company then decided to produce a four-seat aircraft, and they started with a new "clean-sheet" design that was designated the American Aviation AA-2 Patriot. The AA-2 design did not meet its performance goals during test-flying and only one was actually ever built.
 
American Aviation still needed a four-seat aircraft to fill its product line, the company simply enlarged the external and cabin dimensions of the AA-1 Yankee to create the four-seater. This decision capitalized on the marketplace identification of the Yankee and its derivative the AA-1A Trainer and also resulted in 2/3 parts commonality between the two aircraft designs and in that saving development time and production costs.
 
This new four-place aircraft was named the American Aviation AA-5 Traveler, and was powered by a Lycoming O-320-E2G engine of 150 hp (110 kW). It would carry four people at 121 knots (224 km/h) cruise speed and was certified under US FAR Part 23 conditions. Production of the Traveler had just started in 1971 when American Aviation was sold to Grumman and became the Grumman American division. Grumman continued production of the Traveler and 834 Travelers had been produced when production of this model ceased in 1975. The AA-5B Tiger,  AA-5A Cheetah, AG-5B Tiger where all variants of the AA-5 Traveler.
 
Specifications - Maximum speed: 143 knots (163 mph, 265 km/h) : Range: 686 nm (789 mi, 1,270 km) : Service ceiling: 13,800 ft (4,200 m) : Rate of climb: 850 ft/min (259 m/min)
 


 
Closer inspection on the ground reveals a more quality and detailed aircraft than what you expected at first glance. The Yellow (N954NL) default livery is not the best for the lines or detail. The Orange and Brown (N7164L) livery is a better choice. The detailing is excellent. Not quite to the extreme dirtyness and markings of a Careando aircraft, but it is very good and highly detailed with the panels and riveting perfectly recreated. No doubt it was Carenado style detailing that was the aim here and to a large extent vFlyteAir has certainly succeeded. Of any aircraft the Traveler is closest to is the Carenado Mooney in its application and feel, but without the ripped mats and really oily dirtyness of the Carenado machine. The wheels and undercarriage are very well done with excellent detail on the braking system (you can see the pads work). The front wheel on the real AA-5 does not turn (you use the brakes on the rear wheels) but here the Xplane feature is used. A luggage hatch can be opened with a switch on the panel with a case inside.
 

 
There are three menus : One a "Camera" Icon "View Selector" on the lower left of your screen that gives you seven interior views and eight exterior views. Two menus are also situated in the centre of the panel in vrefs and a checklist.  The GPS unit can be seen or hidden, and basically it is a Garmin GN460 display set in a Garmin GPSplus housing. Opening the roof is above you via a handle that can reveal and a nice interior and great stitched leather seats. noted are the well created seat belts and headphones.
KY 97A TO50

 
When starting the Traveler from cold the first thing you are asked to do is pull the yoke pin. (if you start the aircraft with the key it will disappear here as well)
 

 
The standard six (Artificial Horizon, Altimeter, Airspeed, Heading, Compass and Vertical speed) are added by 5 more in the - Course, Bank turn, RPM and Temperature (EGT/CHT) and OBS - Omni Bearing Selector (VOR). A KMA 20 T50 COMM radio is set in the top of the panel. Lower down far left is the (turn) key and starter and master power switches (red). left lower panel is lighting and fuel pump switches with in the center Carb heat (carburettor), Throttle, Mixture and Primer sliders. Fuel tank selection is directly below. All panel detailing is excellent and even the vents move.
 
Equipment stack is well created with chrome (metal) panels. and includes a  KY 97A T50 Comm radio, King KX170B COMM (1) - NAV 1 (VOR 1) The Nav 1 setting can be used as a VOR 2 unit and you can switch between the two types (tracker) of frequencies on the panel and for use with the OBS. Also there is a KR85 TSO ADF unit and a King T76A Transponder.
 
Noted also is an AMP, Oil Temp, Oil Pressure and Fuel Pressure gauges.  On the right side of the panel is a glovebox that can be opened.
 

 
A quick start via switching on the key (swings like a Careando key) and pressing the starter (mixture slider in and fuel pumps on) and I'm off to the runway again.
 

 
My reason for the flight was in how to get the Autopilot working?
 

 
Oddly enough the Autopilot is on the bank/turn indicator...  the left (magenta) knob is the heading (pull out) and the right is knob (green ) is the pitch. It is an odd arrangement in that you pull the knob and then turn the knob to change the heading but really it just turns the aircraft right or left. You can't set a heading, but just flow over to the point of the direction you want to go and then turn the knob back the other way to head in that direction. It is not very exact and a bit vague, but works. On the pitch it a bit more easier in that you can adjust in about 5º increments up or down and it is more effective. Turn the AP off on the center panel and you have control again.
 
Liveries
You have 1 White and 9 liveries... all are noted by their Registration Numbers and N5494L is the default.
 




 
They are all very good in quality but not spectacular or that anything really stands out in design. But you do cover mostly the UK and US registrations.
 
Aircraft Lighting
The panel lighting is very good with HDR on, there is an adjustment for backlighting the dials and a red glow over the panel.
 

 
A great feature is the adjustable light that can be used towards the panel or over your maps. The switch is two way with a rear dome/spot light as well.
 

 
Outside lighting gives you nice navigation lights and a strong landing light. However the beacon is far to overbright and so is the strobe effect. Sitting in the cockpit is like flying around a lighthouse!
 
Conclusions
No doubt is that vFlyteAir has come up with the goods, vFlyteAir are known for their micro light aircraft that were fun to fly and were also quite good in their designs and features. AA-5 is however a totally different direction and feel for vFlyteAir, and if you are accustomed to their earlier aircraft then the Traveler will come as a bit of a surprise. This is certainly a far more rounded aircraft from vFlyteAir and get in closer and the detail is really excellent. More clever liveries would have helped here as most look quite bland. the detail work on the liveries is however very good. Sounds are excellent all round from start up to shutdown, the noise rises as you open the canopy and that gives you that great open - wind in you hair feeling with the engine noise. vFlyteAir has also captured the Travelers unusual flying abilities and strange wing-lift behaviour. It is unusual to fly (certainly on landing) and you have to adapt to it... Again in many respects it is like the Mooney in that way in it behaves and looks. Frame rate is fine but it is a huge download of 459.80mb and expands to the same 459.80mb when placed in your General Aviation folder.

The Grumman American AA-5 Traveler is very good all round and an interesting change of direction aircraft from vFlyteAir. The AA-5 Traveler comes with good strong features and which is enjoyable to use and fly.
 
Yes! the Grumman American AA-5 Traveler is now Available from the X-Plane.OrgShop : Grumman American AA-5 Traveler
 
Price is US$26.95
 
Documents :
 
Developer Site : vFlyteAir

Review By Stephen Dutton

14th December 2013
 
©copyright 2013 : Stephen Dutton
 
Technical Requirements
Window Vista or Windows 7 (32 or 64 bits) or MAC OS 10.3.9 (or higher) or Linux
X-Plane 10.20 (or higher - 64 bit compatible)
Multi- Core 2 GHz - 4GB RAM/1GB VRAM- 500MB available hard disk space
Version 1.0 (last updated November 14th 2013)
 
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 Mavericks 10.9
- X-Plane 10 Global ver 10.25 (final)
Addons
- Saitek x52 Pro system Joystick and Throttle
- Rena desk Fan
Scenery
- KLAL - Lakeland Linder Regional Airport 1.3 - Drankum (personal items have been added)

Aircraft Review :  Sikorsky SH-3 Sea King (S-61) by Virtavia and Dawson Design
 
Route : RAF Valley (EGOV) to Caernarfon Airport (EGCK) to Liverpool John Lennon Airport  (EGGP) to RAF Valley
 
Introduction
In the 1960's or 70's the Sikorsky SH-3 Sea King was everywhere. You couldn't miss it. If it wasn't fighting in Vietnam it was pulling someone off the side of a mountain or out of the sea. Or more famously it plucked the returning moon astronauts out of the South Pacific or the aircraft flew the current American President around the country as "Marine One". In tactical roles it flew from ships to search out Cold War foes and was unbeatable in Anti-Submarine warfare (ASW). It was a major asset in the Falklands War, The first Gulf War and the Balkan war - and one Sea King had also the option of being outfitted to deploy the B57 nuclear bomb!
 
It's main roles were more mundane however, ship to ship supply, SAR (Search and Rescue) and Coast Guard duties. But one thing was sure, It was a significant contribution to aviation. Ask anyone to name a helicopter, any helicopter and the answer will usually be either...   "The Huey" or "The Sea King"
 

 
The Sea King was a considerable advancement over previous helicopters because of its twin-turboshaft powerplant layout, which gave the gave the SH-3 a heavier payload capacity and a high level of reliability far in excess of previous anti-submarine helicopters. The S-61 is a Cold War creation as the Soviet Navy had elected to construct a large fleet of over 200 submarines, the US Navy then chose to counter this threat by investing in newer and increasingly capable ASW technologies and platforms. Sea Kings operating in the anti-submarine capacity typically had a four man crew; a pilot and copilot in the cockpit and two aircrew in the cabin area to operate and monitor the aircraft's detection equipment and to interpret the sensor data; the two rear aircrew were retained in other mission roles such as cargo transfer and rescue operations. The cabin can accommodate up to 22 survivors or nine stretchers in addition to two medical officers in a SAR capacity; up to 28 soldiers can be accommodated when operated as a troop transport.
 
The The first prototype took flight for the first time in March 1959, and carrier suitability trials were conducted on board the USS Lake Champlain; the trials were completed successfully in mid-1961. Production deliveries of the HSS-2 (later designated SH-3A) to the US Navy began in September 1961, these initial production aircraft were each powered by a pair of General Electric T58 turboshaft engines. In late 1961 and early 1962, a modified U.S. Navy HSS-2 Sea King was used to break the FAI 3 km, 100 km, 500 km and 1000 km helicopter speed records. This series of flights culminated on 5 February 1962 with the HSS-2 setting an absolute helicopter speed record of 210.6 mph. This record was broken by a modified Sud Super Frelon helicopter on 23 July 1963 with a speed of 217.7 mph.
 
Sikorsky also developed a variant of the Sea King for the civil market, designated Sikorsky S-61L. The first operator of the S-61L was Los Angeles Airways, who then introduced them to service on 11 March 1962. Another variant with a conventional hull, the Sikorsky S-61R, was also concurrently developed for transport and search and rescue (SAR) duties, and it was this type was that was extensively operated by the U.S. Air Force and the U.S. Coast Guard. Considering the success of the S-61 program, Sikorsky stopped production of the aircraft in the 70's to focus on the Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk.
 
But the Sea King story didn't slip away into history there. The British who saw a good aircraft when there was one, then licensed the design and redesigned the S-61 into the - Westland WS-61 Sea King.
 
Westland by integrating a significant proportion of components from British suppliers, and with key changes include the use of a pair of Rolls-Royce Gnome turboshaft engines and the implementation of an automatic flight control system made it a formidable aircraft. And the Westland's Sea King despite outward appearances is a very different aircraft from the original Sikorsky design. The first Westland-built helicopter, Sea King HAS1 first flew on 7 May 1969 at Yeovil. This aircraft was produced 1969–1995 and 344 aircraft were built. WS-61 Sea King still remains in operation in Britain, as well as multiple export customers (some under license) to: Germany, Norway, Egypt and India.
 
The aircraft has been highly successful in the Westland guises, it has performed in many different roles and with all branches of the British Services, notably with the Royal Navy and SAR. The Royal Navy also created a extensively modified variant called the "Westland Commando". The Commando (Sea King HC4) had capacity for up to 28 fully equipped troops and had originally been developed to meet an Egyptian Air Force requirement. It first flew on 26 September 1979, and has an operational range of up to 600 nautical miles without refuelling. Highly successful In British service, the Sea King HC4 was deployed on operations in the Falklands, the Balkans, both Gulf Wars, Sierra Leone, Lebanon and Afghanistan and 330 Sea Kings were built. Exports to the Indian Naval Air Arm, the German Navy, the Royal Australian Navy, and the Royal Norwegian Air Force were also highly successful.
 
(Specifications are for the Westland HAS 5)  Maximum speed: 129 mph (112 knots, 208 km/h) (max cruise at sea level) : Range: 764 mi (664 nmi, 1,230 km) : Rate of climb: 2,020 ft/min (10.3 m/s) : Powerplant : 2 × Rolls-Royce Gnome H1400-2 turboshafts, 1,660 shp (1,238 kW) each.
 
Dawson Design and Virtavia and Installation
Virtavia produced the Sikorsky SH-3 Sea King (S-61) for the FSX/P3D market. But after the successful redesign of the Globemaster C-17 from Dawson Designs, the Sea King was chosen as the next conversion. There are many improvements for X-Plane over the FSX/P3D version that includes autopilot, hover control, working winch with winchman figure and rebuilt main and tail rotor heads, Higher graded textures, X-Plane 10 HDR lighting and the DreamEngine 3d Sound and many other new features.
 
Installation is to unzip to your upload file (326.80mb) to your Aircraft/Helicopter folder (full size file 620.70mb). To note there are two different Aircraft versions in the Standard SH-3 and the Commando version.
 
You can also map your joystick buttons for use in the "Hover" mode AFCC and activation (recommended). Included is a manual (24 Pages) and full checklist (3 Pages).
 

 
First Impressions
The Sea King is an iconic design, There are nine variations included in this series, the default version is the Royal Airforce HAR Mk3 in "Rescue Yellow". It is a five bladed design (Tail rotor is also five bladed) that was later upgraded to the "Carson" composite blades. First to note is the External Power (GPU) unit that is typical of what the RAF use. A switch on the OHP (Over Head Panel) or the menu selection will deploy the unit connected to the aircraft.
 
Externally the Virtavia design work is excellent. With excellent textures (updated by DD) and excellent features of the winch (and belly hook) radar domes and other major external fittings. One highlight is the bubble windows that protrude from the rear aircraft fuselage that are excellent in their design and glass reflection, notable also is all the excellent cockpit glass with the green overhead panels. Many of the variants also have different equipment attached from Flir cameras to flares and low flying-aids. The main fuselage door opens via the menu (or key shift-F2) to reveal the winchman.
 

 
Split left side is the crew hatch (door) that is also key switchable (shift-F1). Fuselage detail is enhanced by the excellent panel work (rivets) and detailing and aerials (including wire aerials). The Sea Kings wheel pontoons are expertly created with the (retractable) undercarriage, support legs and arms are perfect as are the wheels and tyres. In the variants (via the liveries) you can choose to have the huge FOD or Engine Advanced Protection System (EAPS) boxes in front of the engine intakes or not. Foreign Object Damage is icing, snow, dust, salt spray, sand, debris and hot gas ingestion (HGI) that can cause problems when flying at extreme low altitudes or in the hover mode.


 
The main rotors and the tail rotors and their linkages are the heart of any helicopter design. These have been totally reworked for the (finicky) X-Plane users. Get this part wrong and you can say to your credentials goodbye. Dawson Design's is however one of the best in the business. and the rotor head construction is first class craftmanship...  so fully detailed, and you can move your controls to see the perfect movement of all the links and pieces.
 

 
Up the built in ladder and into the cabin and the S-61has and does give you a military machine feeling. I have been in a real S-61 many times and to a point the cabin shows its 1960's heritage. They are more basic in design than you come to expect today (The UH-60 is very basic as well with exposed wiring and pop-riveted panels. No composite in sight). The panel and OHP layout is exceptional and very functional (but again quite basic). All the detailing is first rate. The seats are metal piping with canvas packs and the pedestal is built up of metal paneling.
 
Rearwards it is mixture of SAR and ASW in the fit-out. SAR in liferafts, canvas seating and a stretcher, brightly coloured oxygen and fire bottles and the ASW in a operators post (cubicle) and (boxy) equipment racks.
 

 
You notice the lower texture quality in the rear and if your render setting are set low, then ASW post and equipment racks and the rear cabin matted walls are a little more fuzzy than the rest of the aircraft. Set in "too Much" in the render settings then it is not to bad. but the art and detail is quite basic but still authentic.
 

 
There are no problems however where it really counts, which is the main aircraft panel, OHP and the pedestal. All instruments and gauges are crystal clear and highly detailed. Knobs and switch gear is perfect and only a very few are not operational. The main panel consists of the engine dials (centre), warning lights (caution panel), Nav-aids (very few), fire/DC test and the pilots instruments (Radar Altitude, Altitude, Speed, Artifical horizon, compass rose/course, RPM, climb in feet, clock and engine torque) the last dial (hover gauge) I'll come back to later.
 
The pedestal is dominated by a huge green radar screen that has been converted to the standard Xplane map function. It is very realistic and the screen controls are set out below. Radios are very basic in VOR 1, ADF and COMMS1. Having the VOR 1 is a bit of a non-event in a non-ILS equipped aircraft. At least with VOR 2 you can use it for navigation, and to a point you still can as you can set the higher frequencies into the radio set and you do at least get a distance to the VOR. But you would think an SAR aircraft would be better equipped. and the ADF will give a direction to a nav-aid.
 
The other notable panel on the pedestal is the Automatic Flight Control System (AFCS) that can hover the aircraft at a set height and give you a flight pattern into and out of the "Hover mode", We will demonstrate this feature later.
 
Centre of the main panel is the Fuel gauges that are easily set with a pop-out fuel panel. Just use the slider to quickly set the correct fuel load.... nothing can be easier.  Twin sets of gauges show the engines RPM (percent), Exh (Exhaust) temp, Oil pressure (psi), Oil Temp, Transmission (gearbox) pressure/temp and Hydaulic pressure.
 

 
So the aircraft is not complex to use and to operate, of which would be a surprise in that you would really expect the opposite in such a large machine... Take starting the engines for example.
 

 
All the main engine and lighting controls are set out on the OHP (Over Head Panel). The manual is good at noting the switch gear and dials, but there is no start up instructions. Print out the checklist a that is all you really need. most of the checklist is testing lights and functions of the aircraft. To start you first need the EXT power (red ring centre) or the APU running (Pedestal). You can use either system. Then switch on the "Master" and then the "Battery". Nothing really works until the "Battery" switch is thrown, then you can set the panel lighting via four knobs (excellent). Set the two Ignition switches to on (purple circle) and the two "Firewall fuel Valve" switches (on main centre panel) to on.
 
Start the beacon, anti-collision lights and the POS (nav) lights, pull off the Rotor brake (side/green arrow) and if you and the crew are all ready then start Eng 1 by pulling the main throttle/cutoff lever to GND idle (first position). With that last action the turbine above you stirs and the whine and start-up procedure gets into action mode. The dials come to life and then start Eng 2 by just pulling down the second lever to the GND idle position. Soon the gauges will show you your torque, temps.......   Click the switch to hide the GPU and switch on the generators (1&2) and your ready for flight.
 
At this point you will need some paracetamol, The noise is deafing inside (but far quieter outside?) and we are still sitting at idle. This is a good point to use the "Menu" system.
 



 
The "menu" is situated on the main panel by the pilots instruments. It is a similar circular concept of what is in the AS350. You can select Liveries, views (inside and outside), Stability (It is set at 50%), (Sound) volume, FOV (zoom) and extras that can open the main/cockpit doors and switch on/off the outside GPU. (The action to swivel the large ASAC Radome should be here as well, but it isn't?)
 
Flying The Sea King S-61
Pull both throttle levers right down to the bottom and 100% of power and wait while the engines scream louder and settle. Like starting the Sea King. Flying it is just as easy!  
The side thrust from the rear rotor is not very strong at all and with a pull of the collective and a slight rudder correction and you are very easily airborne. Pulling away with more collective grip the Sea King will easily move to a direct flight angle. low and fast is the best way to fly helicopters and the Sea King certainly does not disappoint.
 

 
For the purists they wouldn't like the Sea King. They like nervy, edgy machines and that is nothing like the S-61. It may be its weight factor and you can in the menu adjust the feeling to a more harder flying machine. But overall it is almost too easy to fly at the 50% setting. Don't get me wrong in that for the rest of us the Sea King is an open door to helicopter flying in all its forms. Anyone can really fly this helicopter and get so much in return in flying it around the area. I still recommend a good joystick and more importantly a throttle system set in reverse on the "Collective" setting to control the machine well.
 
My route from RAF Valley was to collect a injured person from EGCK (Caernarfon) which is only a very short ride over Anglesea. North Wales. Then fly him to Liverpool Airport (EGGP) just up the coast. 2000ft is enough to enjoy the scenery without running into it. The Sea King is very quickly up to a cruise speed of 130knts and the scenery is flashing quickly under me, reducing speed and landing is an art form, the hardest is the transition from forward flight to the hover mode or vice versa (called translational lift), the hardest of all is just stopping the aircraft from going forward...  rule No.1 - The brakes don't work 50ft up off the ground!....    It is an art to get the process right. But the Sea King is very kind to you in all these areas. It will easily run off speed with a lift of the nose, and an easy balance between the collective and the cyclic (the stick between your legs) will easily help you put the aircraft down right (in my case in the centre of the runway) of were you want to land.
 
The rules of flying helicopters still applies, so if you are totally inept then you will still crash. But the Sea King is far kinder than most I have flown. As a learning tool it is exceptionally very good. But most of all it is good just to fly without all the sweat and tears that can accommodate most flying in this genre. It is just good genuine fun of an aircraft to fly.
 
Leaving EGCK I head north to EGGP, 2000ft is again my choice, It is very noisy and after a while even tiring over a distance. There are no pilot-aids, Your only aid is to find a comfortable grip on the cyclic/joystick and try to keep the aircraft as smooth as possible, and that is far harder than it looks. For ten minutes or so you are fine and then you are then slowly drifting up or down as your arm or wrist tires. You become obsessed with the rate of "Climb/Descend" (arrowed) instrument to keep the aircraft level. it is easy to do, but you keep tiring yourself out over a period of time. There are Pitch/Roll/Yaw Stability switches on the pilots side panel that helps. Landing was a breeze of coming into the hover and a slight move to the right to land on a blocked off taxiway.
 


 
Departure back to RAF Valley was just before dawn the next morning, You have a main cabin light on the rear bulkhead to bathe the cabin with a bright light, that is perfect solution for setting the aircraft up in the early light. In the dark the instruments show the great lighting and detail of the pedestal and the switches by the pilots right armrest have the cargo switch, audio switches and stability switches.
 

 
The bulkhead light can be switched to red as well. This bathes the cockpit in a red glow for night flying, both lighting modes look excellent. There is a main cabin light. but I couldn't find any lighting for the rear cabin? Above the main panel are two spot lights that can switched on to illuminate the centre of the panel (one light really)
 

 
The external lighting is very flexible. Standard Nav (pos) lights,Beacon and Anti-collision on the tail and under the hull. On the collective are two switches for three lighting functions 1) "Master-On /Retract-Off" will give you two main landing beams. 2) "Hover LT" will give you a single large light aimed downwards, "Flood LT" gives you a barrage of downward lights (one under the aircraft, one on each pontoon (2) with a third in the rear of the right pontoon. The Pos and Beacon lights are average with just really the colour of the light. In the daylight they can't really be seen at all.
 

 
Departure was in the first light and you were soon cruising along at 140knts and again at 2000ft. first again I followed the coast south and then cut straight across Anglesea. It was a long way back - but you were guided by the line of the beacons of  EGOQ (Mona) and behind RAF Valley.
 

 
I was not going to be on the ground very long. There was another job on the board and it was to deliver a cargo pallet to Caernarfon Airport (EGCK).
 

 
Cargo Hook
You can attach a cargo pallet to the hook under the aircraft (switch is on the Pilots side panel). First go to the "Weight, Balance & Fuel" menu (aircraft) and you will see a new menu section. Here you can load a "cargo.obj" that is located in the main Sea King folder files under "Cargo Crate"... load the object and set the weight you want with the slider. "Slung load size is the length of the cable? but I am not sure about that.
 
Putting a large weight (max 8000lbs) under the helicopter will mean you skills in flying is about to get a whole lot harder, You have to lift it cleanly straight up or you will drag the load across the ground, or worse when it breaks free of the drag it will swing you violently from side to side or even pull you back down into the tarmac. Which is very expensive for the UK MOD. Even when flying nicely in straight line you have to be careful in that you don't allow the load to swing or gain momentum under you. If you do your ship will rock badly as well in the same direction. The more weight you select for the load means more care with the extra pull of gravity. But it is a whole lot of fun, coming in to place the load is getting the approach right and touching it softly on the surface. You can cut the cable via assigning a joystick button or key in "flightcontrols/jettison_payload".  (only sad thing is the pallet disappears from view because Laminar Research has a bug in that the pallet or any load won't stay on the sim surface...  annoying)
 
With the slung load gone we can see how the Automatic Flight Control System (AFCS) works. The idea is to help you hover the aircraft in an automatic mode. It also allows the winchman in the rear to take control of the aircraft to position it in various directions to use the hoist.
 

 
AFCS
The system is located on the rear of the pedestal. You can set the hover height (50ft) and the "Exit" speed (60knts). The "STAB" button activates the system. TRANS Down will take control of the aircraft and transition you down to the 50ft setting were it will hover there for you. It take a little getting use to and the aircraft shakes out of your control as it does the transition. You can help the system by positioning the aircraft where you want it and then pressing the button. If you want to go lower or higher then just change the height setting and you will go down or up very slowly (great fun). In the rear by the door (use the views in the menu to get there quickly) is a control joystick which is activated by the "Aux Hover Trim", and you can move it in four directions to position the aircraft. You can also switch the system back to the cockpit (Aux Hover Trim Off) so the pilot can regain control. Pressing TRANS Up will make the machine transition up to the "Exit" set speed 60knts) out of the hover mode. to get control back for the pilot then just press the "STAB" button again. But a bit of a warning on repressing the "STAB" button again. It comes out of the system with a thunk, and it takes a bit of practise to get a smooth line of control back with the collective and the cyclic.
 
Hover Gauge
Another tool you can use to control the hover is the "Hover" Gauge.
 

 
This is a cross-hair tool to create and keep a standing hover. and it has 3 modes (A,C and D) A mode monitors the ASE coupler and displays the milliampere input to the pitch, roll, yaw and altitude (but doesn't work here), C mode is off. D mode connects the hover indicator to the Doppler and you can use the horizontal and vertical bars to align your hover speed to zero. It is best used with the Radar Altimeter (left). But be careful as you align your hover as at that point you also lose lift. More collective for lift will then move the aircraft off your perfect cross-hair... practise makes perfect and you soon learn how to hover easily. The hover gauge is then a great tool to learn how to do this, and those skills can then be translated to other types of machines.
 
Liveries... The amount of liveries 17 and 9 different variants is mind boggling... The Default is the HAR_Mk3 with the FOD box
 




 

 
You have so many (to note) different attachments which include different radar domes and retracted refueling probes. The famous "Marine One" livery is missing from the package (In fact sadly there is no passenger civil version S-61L/N or Coast Guard either) but there is a (rough) Marine One version by PetJedi on the .org.
 
Westland Commando
 

 
The second aircraft in the package is the converted Royal Navy assault and utility Westland Sea King - Westland Commando. The pontoons are gone and have been replaced by outriggers to support the landing gear and various lighting and infrared devices. Inside it is a troop transport layout for 28 troops. As noted this version was a highly effective machine. There are three liveries. "Default" Royal Navy, Royal Navy IFOR and AREAF (Eygpt)
 

 
Conclusions
To sum up the Virtavia and Dawson Design Sea King in one word is easy, as it is "Accessible". The accessibility to easily get through the startup from cold to flight is not going to keep you in bed for hours reading manuals, a quick run through the checklist and your ready for flight. That is not to say the Sea King is not authentic because it is, and very good it is too. But the aircraft itself is not very deep. Secondly from the moment you first take off you realise that this aircraft is going to give you a lot excellent flying without all the worry of mastering a delicate helicopters (nervy) control needs. All helicopters are still basically unbalanced, but here you can at least enjoy the machines with out to much of the heartbreak that goes with them. In fact the Sea King is down right enjoyable to manoeuvre and fly (except for over very long distances with tiring wrist wearyness with no pilot aids).
 
The combination of Virtavia's FSX/P3D design and quality and the extensive reworking and added features for Xplane is a total win-win situation for us, and the aircraft is very good and that huge selection of liveries are excellent in design and quality. (on small thing to note is if you have an Xplane shutdown issue it is the Dreamworks sound engine, so update to the new version 0220 to rectify that (don't forget to install the plugin in both aircraft versions).   Sounds are excellent with blade slapping, torque noise and 3D positioning but I did find the external doppler effect good and then to drop away a little too quiet as you move around the aircraft, inside it is just plainly noisy and hair tingling good.  There is the feature of the Ge-Force plugin simulates the characteristics of human head behaviour as your brain instinctively usually stabilises your head (eye) movements. here the plugin flattens that feeling out and gives you a natural feeling of flying the aircraft.
 
Channel your inner English Royal family and join in their careers moments with the Sea King, Prince Andrew flew Sea Kings in the Falklands War and the current third in line Prince William flew Sea Kings out of RAF Valley on SAR missions (both were very good too). 
 
No real faults except with the slightly average textures in the rear, but a few wishes. Rain effects would be great feature on the Sea King as you try to find that ship or oil rig in a storm, A passenger version would be also great for island hopping, and a Coast Guard version for those who love to guard coasts.
 
In real life the Sea King was a formidable aircraft, and its final service life was very long. For us we can with this V/DD aircraft find out why and enjoy this aircraft for its shear versatility and features.  Every simmer dreams about flying certain aircraft. And to fly the Sea King was a childhood dream come to life. The most important thing is the Virtavia and Dawson Design Sea King didn't ruin a great aircraft but enhanced it beyond measure, Could that slip in a little bias in a review?. not in this case as it is so very good and a great investment in pleasure and flying...  It is also excellent place to start to learn to fly rotary aircraft because of its stability and hover tools. Overall the Sea King SH3 an excellent aircraft.
 
Yes!  the Sikorsky SH-3 Sea King (S-61) by  Virtavia and Dawson Design is now Available from the X-Plane.OrgShop : Sikorsky SH-3 Sea King
 
Price is US$35.00
 
Developers Sites : Virtavia  - Dawson Design
 
Support forum: Sea King Support
 
Review By Stephen Dutton

7th December 2013
 
©copyright 2013 : Stephen Dutton

 
Technical Requirements:
Windows XP , Vista, 7 or 8 (32 or 64 bits) or MAC OS 10.3.9 (or higher) or Linux
X-Plane 10.20+. 32 or 64 bit. (X-Plane 9 is not supported)
4GB RAM- 512Mb + VRAM Recommended. (no framerate issues)
Current version: 1.0 (last updated November 13th 2013)
Updated store#
 
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 Mavericks 10.9
- X-Plane 10 Global ver 10.22 (final)
Addons
- Saitek x52 Pro system Joystick and Throttle

Scenery
-  EGOV - Valley : rcmarple .org
-  EGCK - Caernarfon Airport v1.1 : supersport .org
-  EGGP - Liverpool (John Lennon) : xplaneuser .org (there are a few Liverpool city sceneries also well worth downloading on the .org)

Aerosoft : Lugano Airport
 
Reviewer - Wycliffe Barrett
 
Product description:
The airport Lugano is a small international Swiss airport in the canton Tecino. Its location is between the three towns of Agno, Muzzano and Bioggio. The fascinating part of this airport is surely the breathtaking approach, probably one of the most beautiful approaches in the world. Landing on 01 takes you across the picturesque Lake of Lugano where you get the most out of the reflection and shadowing techniques in X-Plane 10 Global.
 

 
 
The most frequent aircraft in Lugano is the Saab 2000 operated by Darwin Airlines offering Code-Share flights with Alitalia to destinations like Rome, Cagliari and Olbia. The most important route though is the flight to Zurich for Swiss International Airlines.
2010 saw the airport handling more than 170.000 passengers taking off from the 1.350 m long runway.
 
I love flying at 38,000ft in a chunk of heavy metal, there can be no greater satisfaction as when you land your aircraft after completing an IFR flight from one airport to another, having programmed your FMC with SIDS route and STAR.
 
Sometimes though I yearn to fly close to the ground and look at the scenery, but the world is a big place so how do I choose where I want to fly. VFR means visual flight rules which also means if you do it old style looking out of the window. I tend to gravitate towards mountains and valleys, perhaps because I live in South Wales only a few short miles from the South Wales valleys.
 
So where better to go than Switzerland, Xplane's terrain mesh is astounding just in the default vanilla installation but when you add a better mesh and some good scenery well it comes alive and it is no better represented than with the Aerosoft Lugano Airport in Switzerland. So lets Load up and take a VFR flight around the valleys and lakes of the area departing from the beautifully located airport by the lake.
 

 
Lugano Airport is a regional airport located 4 km west of the Swiss city of Lugano, in the municipalities of Agno, Bioggio and Muzzano. It lies closer to the village of Agno than to Lugano itself, and is sometimes known as Lugano-Agno. 
 
All Approaches into Lugano are from the south to rwy 019 and has one of the steepest glideslopes I have ever come across at 6.65 deg which is due to the terrain and the ILS approach chart advise you start your descent at 6000ft.
 
On final approach you will be flying over the lake for approx 3 miles so make sure you have your life jacket on just in case.
 
Installation
Aerosoft have begun to use installers for many of their Xplane products and whilst I prefer the extract to Custom scenery folder method from a zip file using Aerosoft's installer presents no hardship whatsoever and Lugano Installs itself by just locating your Xplane custom scenery folder.
 
When you purchase the software you can opt for instant download or have the CD shipped to you. There is even an option to purchase the download and have a disk back up for an extra  $4.95. whichever you choose the file is approx 245mb zipped.
 
When installed it creates two folders one for the airport 282mb on disk and the other is the Lugano Scenery 31mb on disk, which is not a huge amount of space being used. As with all Aerosoft airports you get a PDF manual in English and German and a set of high quality PDF charts as well.
 
One great aspect of the manual is a screen shot of the settings screen in Xplane with some recommended settings I can see this being of great help to some Xplane users.
 
The one thing I didn't like is that the main picture of the manual shows the main building and tower of Lugano with snow on the ground and on the hills behind and as we well know winter textures are not depicted in Xplane well not yet anyway. You can get an add on that gives you winter wonderland but I haven't tried it so I have no idea to how effective it is.
 
 
Airport and Surroundings
One of the main aspects of payware scenery for me is how well the orthophoto's blend in with the surrounding default scenery, some developers can get this wrong and the orthophoto work can look out of place and in some cases as if the image has just been dropped on top without any consideration as to how it looks.  Get it right and it can make all the difference between poor and excellent.
 

 
This orthophoto work at Lugano blends in almost seamlessly and I found it difficult to spot where the orthophoto ended and the default ground texture started, I think the addition of the Lugano treeline by the canal that runs the length of the airfield really helps in masking the join.
 

 
The market garden opposite the terminals and on the other side of the canal are really well done with some pretty spectacular buildings including greenhouses and long sheds.
 
There are a number of businesses all along this side of the airfield and I suspect they are doing good business in these very pleasant surroundings. The elevated road which is beyond the market gardens and other businesses is a little overdone
 

 
Looking towards the ends of the runways it's hard to tell whether the broken and cracked concrete is orthophoto work or drawn by the developer, what ever it looks very good as do the ground markings. I especially like the stand numbering which is all cracked and chipped as you would expect
 

 
There are over 20,000 grass polygons and I have to say this is some of the best grass I have ever seen in any scenery, as you can see from the images it does look quite something.
 

 
 
Coming back to the terminal side of the airport all the buildings have been really well built (modelled) I particularly like the World Trade Centre with the sign around the top of the central part of the building very well done indeed and when we move into darkness the lighting looks spectacular.
 

 
 
The main terminal area and control tower are brilliant, as a 3rd party dev myself I have always tried to get the airport clutter just right sadly here its just a little to bare but what it lacks in clutter it more than  makes up for in the myriad of little details.  I really  like all the blue steel work just below and up the tower. The guard rail on the outside of the ATC room at the top of the tower is fantastic work and looks just right.
 

 
The buildings in the main terminal area look as if they have been built over a number of years with additions being made to the airport at various times, I must admit to being a little confused as to why the tennis courts are inside the airport boundary, must be terrible playing tennis there when a an ATR is coming into land, we all know how noisy they can be.
 

 
The one thing that is lacking from the airport, and can make it look a little sterile is the lack of any people, I have had a good walk around and considering the number of cars that are parked all over the place, I would have thought  I would see at least one person wandering about. well I can tell you there is not a one. It reminds me of a post apocalyptic film where everybody has gone.
 

 
Even the playground at the front of the airport is empty and believe me where there are swings and slides there will be children and parents watching them. I even had a look through the restaurant windows and couldn't see anybody. That ok it means more cake for me, lol
 
 
VFR Flight
So lets do a quick flight around the area and see what it looks like from the air. The charts soon tell you there is only one way in and one way out so lining up on rwy 19, I open the throttle and start off down the runway looking forward to a nice quick flight around the lake.
 


 
Almost as soon as you take off and leave the end of the runway everything changes and your flying over default scenery, whilst the surrounding hills look great and the water of the lake looks pretty there is something missing. I fly down the lake for a few miles and then turn right to fly around a hill that juts into the lake creating a small harbour where the village of Ponte Tresa is dissected by the Italian Swiss Border, here the default scenery tries it's best but to be honest it doesn't look that convincing, turning right I head north back towards the airport flying over Caslano  heading to wards the middle of the lake in preperation for lining up on the centre line.  The approach to runway 01 is lovely and as you reach the mouth of the canal you can see a football field and the Via Lugano, a few more yards and your over the threshold all very nice.
 
Night lighting throughout the airport is excellent and of course the Global lighting system and HDR setting is used to full effect. The lighting of the interior of the terminal restaurant is good but I have seen better in some freeware that is available.
 

 
Conclusion
Lugano is a beautiful area of the world and this airport is very good. The work on the main terminal and ATC tower looks fabulous I especially like the World Trade Centre and the market gardens on the opposite side to the main terminal.  I do have some reservations and that is for your money your not getting a lot and by comparison the freeware version of Lugano has far more to offer with details like people around the airport, sail boats on the lake, and even the smaller villages I mentioned on my flight being depicted to some degree.
 
I also have to say that fps was slightly better in the more detailed freeware than the payware version of Lugano.
 
the orthophoto of Lugano in the Aerosoft version is better and the market gardens green houses and other buildings opposite the main terminal are excellent. I think I would be hard pressed to say which one you should get. 
 
Perhaps an update to the Aerosoft version could be forthcoming with some extra attention paid to those areas I mentioned, if this was the case it would be a simple recomendation,  the cost makes it a viable option at only 19:99 euros. So I might say make a decision on that basis at that price it is actually good value for money.
 

Aerosoft : Airport Lugano is Available in the X-Plane.Orgshop now : Airport Lugano
 
Price is US$21.34
 
System requirements:
X-Plane 10 Global
Windows XP/Vista/7, MAC, Linux
Processor (CPU): 2,6 GHz Core 2 Duo
RAM: min. 2048 MB RAM
Video card: 3D Video Card min. 512 MB
Optionally: DirectX: 9.0c or better 
Download-Size: 100 MB
Installations-Size: 330 MB
 
Wycliffe Barrett
15th November 2013
 
©Copyright2013 : Wycliffe Barrett
 
reviewer system spec:
intel i5 2500k cpu @3.300GHZ
Asus MOBO
Nvidia Geforce GTX650Ti 2gig Vram
8 gig RAM
Win 7
Xp10:25b3

Aircraft Review : Antonov An-2 by Red Eyes (X-Plane aircraft design Bureau)
 
The Antonov An-2  is known endearingly by the Russian nickname of "Annushka" or "Annie" that was built by the Antonov Design Bureau (now State Company) to meet a 1947 Soviet Ministry of Forestry requirement for a replacement for the then popular Polikarpov Po-2. It is a Soviet mass-produced single-engine biplane for utility/agricultural use and hence its other nickname "Kukuruznik" which means literally "cropduster". The Antonov An-2 was a large single bay biplane of all-metal construction, with an enclosed cockpit and a cabin with room for seats to accommodate up to twelve passengers and cargo.
 

 
The first prototype was designated SKh-1, and was powered by a Shvetsov ASh-21 radial engine, and it first flew on 31st August 1947. The second prototype was fitted with a more powerful Shvetsov ASh-62 engine, which then allowed the aircraft's payload to be significantly increased from 1,300 kg (2,870 lb) to 2,140 kg (4,720 lb), and it was in this form it was ordered into production. It was first built in the State Factory 473 in Kiev, in the Ukrainian SSR where the bulk of up to 5,000 units had been produced by 1960. Later Soviet production (after 1965, of model An-2M especially) was at the State Factory 464 at Dolgoprudniy, Russian SFSR. After 1960, most of the remaining An-2s were built at Poland's WSK factory in Mielec, with over 13,000 aircraft being made there before full production ended in 1991. For the long period of 45 years the An-2 held the record of the aircraft of the longest period of any aircraft in production, that record was held until just recently when it was finally exceeded by the Lockheed Hercules.
 

 
The An-2 has many design features which make it suitable for operation in very remote areas with unsurfaced airstrips. The features include a pneumatic brake system, with the option of an air-line which is fitted to the on-board compressor. With the air-line you can  change the pressures in the tires and shock absorbers which can then be adjusted without the need for any other special equipment, the batteries are large and very easy to remove, so the aircraft does not need a ground power unit to supply power, There is no need for an external fuel pump to refuel the aircraft, as there is an on-board pump that allows the tanks to be filled from simple fuel drums, the crucial wing leading edge slats that give the aircraft its slow flight ability are fully automatic, and are held closed by the airflow over the wings. Once the airspeed drops below 64 km/h (40 mph) then slats will extend because they are on elastic rubber springs!  And the An-2 has a very short Take-off run of 170m and a landing run of only 21 m (these numbers will of course vary depending on take-off/landing weight, outside air temperature, surface roughness, and headwind).
 
Antonov An-2
To recreate a modern airliner there is without doubt a multitude of resources. But what about an aircraft that is over 64 years old?  There are a few An-2's still flying and at last count it was around 72 aircraft. However you would be pushed to find the harder details to put such an aircraft together. Once over that hurdle then where would you start? To a point all modern aircraft have a sort of similarity, but the An-2 was created in a time before standardization became the normal and then on top of all that it was then created in Russia. Russian aircraft were very advanced for the period. But also Russian Aircraft tended to be more agricultural, practical and stronger than their western counterparts, because of their poor distribution and service networks over a very vast area.
 
The Antonov An-2 legend would come out of such beginnings and to make it one of the most versatile and practical aircraft ever built. However to recreate the legend it was going to take far more than being a hobby project - It would require dedication and passion for the aircraft to bring it to life.
 

 
One look of the cockpit alone and you can see the scale of the problem. The panel is a complex design of switches, dials and levers. Not a computer in sight or any real electronics either. This was the world before the micro-chip, silicon chip and even before the potato chip as they were called "Saratoga Chips" back then.
 
So the first view of the An-2 is it looks at first like a complex mess. and made worse in that it is all written in cyrillic. And is totally indecipherable to anyone this side of Poland. It is not that you couldn't work out where everything is, because there is a very ordered configuration of the items....  But what they are and what they do is another thing entirely.  Ignore this and just go for a flight will mean you will just crash...   badly.
 
At the heart of what everyone calls lovingly "Annie" is a deep procedural mechanical system, that has to followed to the letter to make "Annie" performs or at least fly a decent distance.
 

 
Close up the panel detailing is extraordinarily beautiful, gauges and dials are like crafted jewels and their glass has excellent reflections. The central pedestal is festooned with levers and switches that you can't wait to get your hands on. To be able to zoom in close with the 3d cockpit is a huge advantage in finding out the detail (or details). The Yoke is restrained by a tie to the crafted rudder pedals and has to be removed for flight.
 
The visual aspect is quickly added by the aural as well...  A ringing telephone sound that sounds like the Kremlin is calling you. It is a low fuel warning that can be silenced (thankfully) by a switch on the pilots side panel.
 

 
But where to start to understanding the An-2? The best way is through the Menus's which are activated by a zone on the glareshield and they pop up on the lower left of your screen. There are four menu's available, and here are the first two.
 
External Visual Inspection/Ground Service : In the top section you can see the views on a walkaround of the aircraft and install or remove the tie-down cables, Tags and rudder-tags. In the lower section you can: Connect the "Ground Power", "Recharge the Fire Protection System", Add the "fuel pipe", add or remove the "recoil devices" (or Chocks to you and me) and Repair (Or reset failures).
 

 
Weight and Balance : Another menu is the weight and balance (W&B)sheet. To use the the W&B sheet is to use the first An-2 feature, which is using the on-board pumps to fill the tanks.
 
The fuel system consists of 6 tanks with three connected each side. On the side panel there is a big switch to select each set of tanks or back to the flow of fuel to the aircraft. First in the "Ground Service' menu you connect the external fuel pipe. Connect to "ground power" or the battery and then select the set of tanks you want to fill, when selected then flip the switch under the red cover. Deep within the aircraft the pump will then noisily fill the tanks selected and it will show the amount on the W&B sheet. The sounds on this aircraft are extremely realistic. pumps whirr and switches clunk and handles crank... Get the process wrong and the aircraft will complain at you very loudly.  So you are very much involved in the process of the aircraft through these aural connections. You can then select in the menu the cargo weight and the number of passengers (and their weight), assign the fuel required to each wing and when completed you can press the "Load" button to activate the configuration (and the total weight).
 
Electrical Systems
 

 
Understanding the An-2 can go a long way if you can know how the way the electrical systems are installed on the aircraft. The An-2 has a main power supply unit : TCH-3000 that provides a DC voltage at 28.5V (volts) and a current supply at 100A, The standby (large batteries are 25V at 27Ah. The An-2 has an automatic system that if the Ah drop below 15-35A then the system will switch the supply to the batteries. You can see this on the Volt-Ammmeter (long yellow arrow) when the engine is past the idle position and is providing engine RPM. Pull the throttle back into idle and the voltage will suddenly drop to zero as it switches over to the battery supply (Short Yellow arrow). You can select either the battery supply or the External power supply by the second switch on the lower row of switches (for refueling).
 

 
There are other items however that require an AC voltage. To do this there is another converter, the NO-500 that converts the DC power of 27V to AC Voltage of 115V. And that is situated on the central panel. The NO-500's main purpose is to supply power for the APK-5 which is an early Navigation tool that can select the operation of the compass selector and adjust to a frequency of a Non-Directional Beacon (NDB) in the Ranges: 150 to 310khz - 310 to 640khz and 640 to 1300khz.  A warning in switching on the AC current of the radio altimeter and the APK-5 (loading devices before the NO-500 is switched on. There are two NO-500's - a main and a backup that can be switched to by putting the three way switch to the bottom and the switch is noted as "operation - Off - Backup.
 
Pneumatics

 
The An-2 has an interesting pneumatic system. The red lever behind the pilots wheel (yoke) is your braking system, that uses compressed air to turn the aircraft and control the brakes. You can see (and hear) the system in operation by pulling on the red lever, which is set up using the X-Plane key request "brakes_regular". I already have that set on my trigger on my joystick and that works very well. Pull the lever to help with your taxiing and general braking conditions and the pressure is noted on the dial (both sides) on the dial on the side panel.
 
Starting "Annie"
Slightly different variations are required to start the An-2 with hot or cold conditions. Engine and Oil cowl's must be closed in cold weather and the start depends on ground power, or if enough voltage then you can start from the batteries.
 

 
Set the switches, then make sure the fuel tanks are "open". Then pressurize the fuel line by the knob by your left, Then prime engine cylinders by cranking the arm down to your right of the pilots seat. Setting the carburettor heat (green lever is to get the right setting). Pop the red lever full up to "open the cocks". The starter switch is on the top panel and set the Magneto switch to 1+2. Ready to start then pull then pull the (lower) KC-3 (starter, spin-up and clutch) when the engine starts to fire, then adjust the throttle to catch the sequence of cylinders lighting up the fuel...  when you have a running engine then let it settle to 700-800rpm and then as the engine warms up up the throttle to 1200rpm.
 
Sounds easy. It isn't. It takes practice and a lot of patience to get it all right. This An-2 is a cantankerous old bird to get the sequences right, and you will never get it right the first time or the second. Do it four times wrong and you are looking at a grounded aircraft.
 

 
Checklists
To help you there is a set of "Checklists" in the menu to help you along. You go through the list and tick-off the done jobs. Ready to fly the An-2 is holding on the brakes. The detailing overall is very good, but there are a few unfinished objects like the flap runners, aerials and the front suspension. They could be noted as metallic gray, but they really look like untextured objects.
 

 
The double-wing flaps are unstepped, and so you really have to chose your degree of angle by just guessing and looking at the actual flap position. The An-2 is a tail-dragger and that creates a lot of unintentional fun while taxiing, It can flip on the tail if you push the rudder to far, but after a bit of practise you can steer "Annie" quite well. 
Power up and the short take-off is very short. The flaps depend on the weight, and even then you don't need much angle. "Annie" will climb with all that lift as its cropduster heritage shows through. But don't get carried away...
 
     ...nothing is more critical that pleading with "Annie" to keep herself in the air.  You have to caress her and gently adjust her controls to keep her in a very tight band of happiness. To help you there is a performance and data menu that you lie in bed at night and recite it, until it is known off by heart and then still do the mantra all over again and again.
 

 
If you don't want to pop off! a cylinder or two, then "Annie" has to be kept quite cool and at or under these critical numbers and data. It is not as easy as you think it is to do.  Each lever is crucial in adjusting the dials to keep everything in check.
 
Yellow Arrow: Throttle or boost pressure. This matches the "Vacume Manometer" boost pressure that must be kept between 6-8.
Purple Arrow: Propeller pitch that has to keep the revs at 1600 in the Tachometer
Green Arrow: This is the carburettor heat/cold lever (Green) and dial. and the setting must be kept at 0 (zero)
 
Easy, from a distance yes. But it can be challenging over a period, get it right and "Annie" will fly all day.  Another help to keep the engine cool is to adjust the cowlings for the Oil and Engine heat (The switch is behind the levers)
 

 
Once airborne "Annie" is endearing and great fun, The aircraft clatters it's way across the country side as you hold on to the vibrating yoke. The view is magnificent out of that huge glass cockpit. You have fans on each side that rotate (I had a fan at home and set it up next to the computer for realism...  It stops the sweating from the stress). The windows open, and the wipers work and the ancient radio sits on the side.
 

 
It is quite brilliant to fly. Heavy as you would expect but not ponderous, turns have to be watched for loss and gain of height, stall is quite non-existent unless you do some thing really stupid, but otherwise fun to toggle along behind the banging and poofing cylinders.
 
No autopilot?   Well yes there is actually. It called a Co-Pilot!. Red Eye has created an autopilot where you set up a Keyboard "Key" function (Via the custom cmnd) and assign a key (You can set the Scoop function the same way). Set "Annie" level and at the right height and speed and press your assigned "key". At first you think the Co-Pilot is a bit of a dork as the aircraft lowers or rises as the idiot takes the control "He say's something like "OH God" in Russian as well. But then "Annie" rights herself and flies on that heading until you change it. Then the aircraft will just keep the new course until you take command again via the say key stroke....  Brilliant.
 
Liveries
The liveries are exceptional. And there is a lot of them to choose from.
 



 
Aeroflot has the most in "Wright" (default) (top line)
Blue - Red -Yellow (second line)
Alaska - Arizona - Green - MCHS (third line)
Orenair - Polar old - VVS (bottom line)
 
"Polar old" is a masterpiece of faded paint, however all are very good.
 
Nightlighting
 

 
Back on the ground. The night lighting is very good. The cockpit is sensational at night with the glow from the instruments and lit switches. The yokes are also beautifully spot lit, Forward lighting has taxi, landing in the lower wings and Nav lights on the ends of the top wing. The aircraft has ultraviolet lights as well in patches over the wings and fuselage.
 

 
The cabin is quite basic with no cargo or any finer detailing except for some curtains and shelving. The rear door opens but only the cargo (larger) section via the F2 key slider.  No frame-rate issues were noted - as the An-2 never went below 30fr in any situation.
 
Conclusions
In the first week "Annie" will make you curse. Then in the second week you will caress her and lovingly guide her and will be hoping you are doing everything right to keep her happy.  If any aircraft has personality then the An-2 has it spades, Red Eyes has put his personality into the aircraft as well, with not only the great design and the detailing of the cockpit. But also with the sounds and mechanical movements of the activity of this past history of Aviation.  It is a very hard aircraft to understand and to get behind its Soviet - Russianness. The manual In English and Russian does not help in the matter either. It is very authentic. And detailed. But it is missing the vital information that connects you to the aircraft that bridges the gap between helping you understand the systems and design. There are however excellent video's that can help (and the music is great as well) - all are listed below. But the An-2 does bring something very unique to your simulation world. An experience of the past and the joy of flying in an aircraft that was both before its time and now well behind its time. Loving "Annie" is sitting behind all that noisy chatter of that huge radial engine that shakes you and your yoke across the sky. This means you are flying in a time of freedom and the clear skies before the world closed in and regulated the dream to just regulations and on-time performance. This versatile machine stayed in production for so because it could do so many things. Master the machine and the An-2 gives you the challenges to do so much. If any aircraft is as rewarding as this for the experience that is returned - then I have yet to fly it.
 
________________________________________________
 
Yes! this amazing Russian aircraft is now Available from the X-Plane.OrgShop : Antonov An-2
 
Price is US$35.00
 
Documents :
 
Dev Thread : AN-2 Support  - videos avaliable  Video 1 - Video 2 - Weight and balance - Startup - Shutdown
 
________________________________________________
 
Review By Stephen Dutton
24th November 2013
©copyright 2013 : Stephen Dutton
 
Technical Requirements:
Windows XP , Vista, 7 or 8 (32 or 64 bits) or MAC OS 10.3.9 (or higher) or Linux
X-Plane 10.20+. 32 or 64 bit. or X-Plane 9.70
4GB RAM- 1GB+ VRAM Recommended.
X-Plane 9 version is not included in the download package but it is available on demand. Just place the order and send us an email to get it.
 
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 Mavericks 10.9
- X-Plane 10 Global ver 10.22 (final)
Addons
- Saitek x52 Pro system Joystick and Throttle
- General Electric 9 inch Fan
Scenery
-  EDFH - Frankfurt Hahn : Aerosoft  (X-Plane.OrgShop US$17.06)
 

 

Aircraft Review : Carenado C90B King Air HD Series v1.1
 
Route : KHND - Henderson Executive to KGCN - Grand Canyon NP
 

 
One of the great tourist routes (on everyone's bucket list) is a flight over the Grand Canyon in Arizona, US$250 is the average fare. Nowhere else does the aircraft really come into its own for viewing spectacle than from the position of a couple of thousand feet above this  monstrously huge gnawed dug out mountain in the Arizona desert.
 
Most operators leave for the Grand Canyon from Las Vegas's, McCarren International. But if you want the private exclusive tour then you would then head up north to Henderson Executive (KHND) and pick up a private operator that will treat you like a VIP or a celebrity for the day. It costs a lot more of course but you also get the free French champagne thrown in as part of the deal.
 

 
The ideal aircraft to fly four to six passengers in comfort is the Beechcraft C90B, with its big windows, but also the power to get to the Grand Canyon quickly adds to the benefits. In the fleet we also have the X-Plane Default C90B, and a very nice aircraft it is. If you have already bought X-Plane 10 (It comes with X-Plane9 as well, but not the upgraded version) then it comes free with the simulator, and it is with no-doubt the best default aircraft in your General Aviation Folder. For me though today I got the newest addition to the fleet the just released Carenado C90B. Outwardly they look very much the same aircraft but then get closer to the Carenado version and things start to get a lot better.
 

 
Carenado provide a menu (O) of Options (bottom left). Here you can give the C90B tinted windows, static elements (including chocks, warning cones but no tags, and the pilots stay seated in the cockpit), You can open the main "Passenger door" on the left rear and even open up the left and right engine cowlings. Want to check the engine oil or fluids before flight then, well now you can....  this adds to a great feature on the aircraft walkaround.
 

 
The C90 is a seriously nice looking aircraft, it comes with Carenado's HD (High-Definition) series textures (2048 x 2048) and it shows in the quality of the livery. Get in very close and the detailing is superb. Panel detailing (with rivets) and vents are all very lifelike. The undercarriage is excellent with full struts, hydraulics and braking systems, and are all as real as...  the real things. The Propellers are the standard quieter Hartzell four-blade, constant-speed and full-reversing 90-in diameter versions. And not the Raisbeck Swept Blade Turbofans, which were retrofitted to later C90 models. The C90's four distinctive chrome exhausts are beautifully crafted here. The wings with the updated (v2) lighting is excellent and so is the tailplane and tall tail, looking side on at the dimensions and the full perspective of the aircraft - it looks perfect.
 
History of the C90B King Air
The Beechcraft King Airs are a little confusing as they are listed in to two separate families. The Model 90 and 100 series are known as King Airs, while the Model 200 and 300 series were originally marketed as Super King Airs, with the "Super" being dropped by Beechcraft in 1996 (although it is still often used to differentiate the 200 and 300 series King Airs from their smaller stablemates). The Model 90 King Air was conceived as the Model 120 in 1961. In May 1963, Beechcraft began test flights of the proof-of-concept Model 87 with a modified Queen Air and fitted with Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-6 engines. On 14 July, Beech announced a new type, and a month later began accepting orders for the "King Air", with deliveries to commence in the autumn of 1964. After 10 months of test flying the Model 87 was delivered to the United States Army as the NU-8F in 1964.  On 24 January 1965 the first definitive prototype, by now designated Model 65-90 and also fitted with PT6A-6 engines, flew for the first time. The first production aircraft was delivered on October 8, and by the end of the month 152 aircraft had been ordered. The Model C90 was introduced in 1971, with the wingspan increased over earlier models by 4 ft 11 in (1.50 m) to 50 ft 3 in (15.32 m), Maximum Take-Off Weight (MTOW) increased by 350 lb (160 kg) to 9,650 lb (4,378 kg) and it was fitted with the newer upgraded PT6A-20A engines. The C90B (and C) were marketing names for the updated versions of C90A which were produced between 1992 and 2005 and were 456 built.
 
Maximum speed: 311 mph TAS (270 knots TAS, 500 km/h TAS) : Cruise speed: 260 mph TAS (226 kts TAS, 416 km/h TAS) : Stall speed: 90 mph (78 knots, 145 km/h) IAS (flaps down) : Range: 1,530 miles (1,321 nm, 2,446 km) : Service ceiling: 30,000ft (9,144 m) : Rate of climb: 2,000 ft/min (10.2 m/s)
 

 
The default C90 suddenly powers up and departs for its tour. So it is time to get on board and get the aircraft ready for our own passengers.
 

 
The easiest way to get inside the aircraft is using Carenado's © Camera menu. It is the standard menu on all Carenado aircraft. And it makes it easy not only to jump quickly into the 3d mode and into the aircraft, but you also have 9 other views and a "Point of View" slider.
 
Inside there are 4 large leather seats in a club layout. And two other (smaller seats) in one facing inwards on the right and one situated on the rear bulkhead. In theory you can carry six passengers, or four and an attendant or two. The internal cabin doors can be closed via the (O) Options menu for privacy in the cockpit.
 

 
The shutdown cockpit is unfussy, very clean and business like. It is not hard to find your way around everything, but there are some specialised items that we we will come to. On the overhead panel (OH) there is only the electrical dials and the lighting knobs for all the instruments and cockpit overhead lighting. One big switch on your left of the panel will turn everything On/Off in a one click each way.
 

 
The power now on and the panel lights up nicely with reflective lighting. All the main power/lighting switches are grouped down low behind the pilots yoke (removable). There is a Ext Power (External Power) supply that you must remember to switch off when not needed. On the pilots side wall there are the (twin) fuel gauges and fuel transfer and supply switches. The text here is quite blurry, but easily remembered. The small windows open on both sides and the engine noise is quite significant when the open gap is there. This is great for starting the engines. Detailing is simply excellent, some switches are hard to read but very much in keeping of the panel design...  Carenado are masters at this sort of detail application and it shows here with this sort of depth and quality.
 

 
Each engine has its own "Ignition ON" switch, and then another switch to start the each engine that both sets are situated low and behind the yoke. It takes awhile to wind up and then start each turbine to full power. Multi-track stereo sounds are excellent as the whine and then the power as the engine comes into life. When running, don't forget to turn off the Ignition ON switches as displayed on the glareshield. Ignore the RVS, as it notes the levers are not in the up position. You can do a full test of all the alerts and very impressive it is.
I set both the Prop (feather) and Idle to as low as I could get away with...  In the full up position of both of these levers the C90 will taxi like a speeding bullet, you need to calm the engines down for an effective taxi.
 

 
One of the highlighted features now on Carenado aircraft are the rain and Ice effects.
 

 
The rain drips down the windshield, and the wiper clears it away (but the rain spots are not replaced), Ice covers the windows (but I couldn't see anything on the wings). But with both the rain and ice together is very effective.
 

 
Pulling away from the stand the taxi is good if you have controlled the RPM, only small nips of the brakes are required to keep the speed. You don't use much flap, just 20º. On to the power slowly because it will leap away, and then build up the speed. As both props rotate together in the same direction there is a slight pull  to the right, but only a little left rudder is required to keep the center line straight. Rotation is clean and you don't need a lot of angle to climb out, once you have a certain speed then let the C90B climb.
 

 
In The Air
If you have flown the X-Plane default C90, then at this point in climbing away from the runway, you will have to usually move to the Autopilot (A/P) that is situated down behind the pedestal. The problem with this is that you have to scroll away from the horizon and your forward view. To a real pilot it is only a glance down to the right and then adjust the autopilot by feel...  but for you it is usually the situation that when you come back to the forward view after setting the A/P that you will either be - inverted or going in a totally different direction?
 
In Carenado's version you have a popup (A/P) that is selected by the (A) or Autopilot on the lower left menu. This beautiful rendered panel is an excellent A/P, but it is quite large. It can thankfully be moved anywhere around you screen, It can be also resized as well by the lower right corner into any size you like. Close the A/P and come back to it later and it keeps the position and size.
 

 
"Heading" is selected with the left knob and the "Course" is selected with the right. Press the center of either knob to select current heading or course. Vertical Speed (V/S) has a few different variations. You can either just set the V/S or press the rocker switch to go either up or down. The best however is "CLIMB" or "DEC" (descend). Select your height (higher or lower) in the center panel and then press either the CLIMB or DEC buttons and the A/P will set you on a - or + 800fpm altitude change. It will set the ALT SEL (Altitude Select) automatically as well to level you out when you get to correct set altitude.
 
The Autopilot is also connected to the EFSI (Electronic Flight Instrument System) that is connected to the Electronic Attitude Director Indicator (EADI) and the Electronic Horizontal Situation Indicator (EHSI) on the main (PFD) aircraft panel.
 

 
The EFSI is very detailed and functional and the displays on the small Glass panels are excellent. The EDHI has many functions including Autopilot Mode Annunciators, Marker Beacon indicator, Glide Slope Indicator and Lateral Deviation Indicator (bars), Flight Director Guide, Ground Altitude and Decision Height Annunciator. The EDSI panel has Identifier and distance to VOR or Waypoint, Course Control Symbol, VOR TO/FROM indicator, selected pointers and lateral deviation and Course selection (degrees). The various EHSI functions include In-depth and accurate fuel logic and it works like the real thing, and also takes all the failures into account. However you must turn the system EFIS system on, and the switch is on the A/P panel?
 
Note above the EAHI is the terrain (TERR) warning system, turn it on and you get alerts from 1000ft to 500ft of your lower terrain values.
 
In the center of the main aircraft panel there is an AVIDYNE Entegra EX500. This unit is very good but limited in application. It has fixes, but they are way to small to register. And you can have the Heading or Rose modes. The weather is also displayed and this is best function of the display. A standard GARMIN GPS400 and the standard radio (COMM and VOR) tuning knobs complete the equipment package.
 

 
All powerlines lead to our first attraction - The Hoover Dam. The C90B was powering along at comfortable 200knts and easily climbed to 12,500ft. (it will climb 2000fpm with ease)
 

 
In the air as on the ground the C90B is a lovely aircraft. At every angle you like the silhouette against the desert sky. It flies wonderfully as well, light to the touch and easy on the turns (just a touch of power sometimes). There is a small warning though in using to much power in the cruise as if you push the engines too hard for long periods at full throttle they will simply burn out. The trim is easy to set up and you have to be careful because the trim switches work on the craftmanship yoke. The window shades (both sides) are clever as well, They are movable right around their tracks and adjustable up and down as well. The main cabin windows can also be dimmed as well.
 

 
Liveries
Liveries are the standard white (default) (top), BlueGold, Deepbluered, Silverblue (upper line), Beigered, Ejercitodelaire and the famous Japanmaritime (lower line)
 


 
The Grand Canyon (Hopi: Ongtupqa; Yavapai: Wi:kaʼi:la) is 277 miles (446 km) long, up to 18 miles (29 km) wide and attains a depth of over a mile (6,000 feet or 1,800 meters). It has been carved over billions of years as the plateau raised up out out of the desert to the elevation of 2,600 feet (800 m) to an average of 8,000 ft (2,438 m) above sea level. In fact the Canyon is a big plateau with a huge gap carved through it. The biggest misnomer is the that everyone thinks the canyon was big cut down into the ground, when in fact it is the opposite in that it rises up very high. To cover this you have to quickly fly high. 12,000ft will then put you only at a  slight height above the canyon. For the C90B this was an easy task.
 

 
I started my run from the west looking for Point Sublime and then followed the zig-zag off to a slight angle to give the passengers the best view. The French champagne was out with a small meal that is helped by the foldaway tables. The view outside the windows was spectacular and so was my view from the cockpit. Keeping close to South Rim and over the Grand Canyon Village you turn North at just before Zuni Point and then held that heading until past Chuar Butte and then flew out over the plateau before doing an almost 170º turn back and heading down the eastern side of the "Palisades of the desert".
 

 
The view right out of the cockpit windows was spectacular, and every time you do this Canyon run it will always run a tingle up your back.
 
The Carenado C90B has great nightlighting...  The panel is simply beautiful at night and entirely adjustable via the OHP selection of lighting knobs.
 

 
There is the new feature of the swivel lighting on the roof of the cockpit. You can move the light in any direction and bright or fade the lighting on the light itself. This shows the power of the HDR in X-Plane and how versatile the HDR system is. In the rear cabin (switchable) the lighting is spot lit on to the seating. The ambience inside is excellent, but the HDR switched on is a real framerate buster. down to only 2-3 frames on my system.
 

 
Grand Canyon National Park Airport (IATA: GCN, ICAO: KGCN) is just south of the South Rim and Village. I did another 90º turn to the West and another 90º turn to line up with RWY 03, but watch your elevation here as it is 6609ft (ASL), and the C90's height radar is the item you keep your eye on.
 

 
Reducing height with the DEC makes your life very easy, and the EADI shows you your cross hairs with the glideslope. Manually or automatic the descent is very easy as you reduce your speed. Flaps will slow you effectively, and the deployment is not going to give you too much lift if you get the correct speed at each drop, but watch that stall speed that is quickly in the red zone at 80knt's, so you aim for just above at 90knts to 95knt's. In the flare you add a little power before settling down the wheels and reversing the propeller pitch for reverse thrust. (well noted on the pedestal) The thrust is very effective and KGCN's runway 3/21 at 8,999ft (2,743m) is very long for a General Aviation aircraft so in fact you can take your time to slow down or flare late to get to the terminal that is situated at the far north end.
 

 

 
The company does the tagging system to return passengers back to Henderson, I will sit here and refuel quickly as the first group will return soon that went out on an earlier flight, my group will come back to KGCN in a few hours of seeing Canyon from the visitor centre.
 
Conclusions
As Carenado aircraft get larger, then so does the file size. The C90B will average around 460mb so if you have only 512 VRAM (like I do) available you are going to start to feel the pinch. 1gb VRAM is recommended by Carenado and I second that recommendation. If you have downloaded your C90B from Carenado (ver1.0) then I recommend to update as soon as possible because the 1.1 version (the .org version is the correct 1.1 ver) fixes a lot of - if not all the issues with framerate on the Mac and a few lighting issues. The review here has been updated to the v1.1 version. And the updated version is now very good. And yes because of the minimum VRAM available you are going to have to compromise somewhere if you are running very large sceneries or if the weather is heavy on your system. In this review I averaged 50-40fr dropping as low as in the high 20's with clear skies, and that is very good.
 
Direct comparisons to the X-Plane default C90B is always going to be put forward. Because the aircraft is very good in its basic form. I have had many hours behind its controls and it has a place in my heart if not the earliest of my own X-Plane experiences. The Carenado C90B is however a far more advanced and far better quality machine. It's detailing and functionality is way above the standard version. Outwardly they look the same. But on closer inspection they couldn't be more further apart in quality, equipment and certainly in the outstanding features.
 
Fly the C90B once and you won't want another twin. And that is big claim with so many twins in the Carenado hangar. It is a lovely large machine. The A/P is very comprehensive, convenient and resizable. The only issue is the HDR on less powerful equipment in that it brings the framerate to its knees. But in every other area of quality, functionality, cockpit lighting, excellent 3d surround sounds and system realism it is simply outstanding. Value!... In value it is a Carenado aircraft, and that is always a great investment. And the bigger the Carenado aircraft grows then the better it seems the value and the return for your money. Overall the Carenado Beechcraft C90B HD series is excellent.
 
Yes! the Carenado C90B King Air HD Series is now Available from the X-Plane.OrgShop : C90B King Air HD series
 
Price is US$34.95
 
Documents :
 
Developer Site : Carenado
Dev Thread : X-Plane.org
___________________________________________
 
Review By Stephen Dutton
20th November 2013
©copyright 2013 : Stephen Dutton
 
Note: Carenado have released an C90 King Air Service Pack, dated 20131119. that addresses the ver1.0 framerate issues, HDR lighting has been updated and other minor tucks and fixes. Go to Carenado to login and download this updated 1.1 version
 
Technical Requirements
:Windows XP, Vista 7 or 8 (32 or 64 bits) or MAC OS 10.3.9 (or higher) or Linux
X-Plane 9.70 or X-Plane 10.20 (or higher - 64 bit compatible)
4GB RAM/1GB VRAM
Version 1.1 (last updated November 19th 2013)
 
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 Mavericks 10.9
- X-Plane 10 Global ver 10.22 (final)
Addons
- Saitek x52 Pro system Joystick and Throttle
Scenery
-  Hoover Dam & the Grand Canyon version 10 - chris noe (X-Plane.org)
-  KLAS - KHND (Glitter Gulch) - Tom Curtis (X-Plane.OrgShop US$24.95)
- KGCN Grand Canyon National Park Airport  - myb  (X-Plane.Org)