Search the Community

Aircraft Review : Shark UL XP12 by Aerobask It is a versatile nimble aircraft, fast as well! this is the "The Shark" or Aero Shark, which is a conventionally laid out, single engine, low wing ultralight aircraft, light-sport aircraft which seats two in tandem. It was first flown on 19 August 2009 and it is built in both Slovakia and the Czech Republic by Shark.Aero. It has optionally fixed or retractable landing gear. You gotta have to love that tail... The fuselage of the Shark is formed with integral fin seat backs, floors and instrument panel. The fin, set forward so the rudder's trailing edge is above the elevator hinge line, is shaped like sharks dorsal fin, high and strongly swept with a curved leading edge. There is also a small ventral fin. From the fin forward the upper fuselage line rises rapidly to merge into the side hinged, single piece canopy. There is baggage space behind the cockpit. Both of the tandem seats have flight controls. Structurally, it is a mixture of carbon-fibre and a small amount of glass fibre composites, with PVC foam filled aramid honeycomb structures sandwiched between the panels. The wing main spar is a dismountable two-piece carbon fibre beam which joins under the front seat; an auxiliary spar carries the aileron and flap mountings. In plan, the leading edge is elliptical, and there is slight taper on the outer trailing edge where the ailerons are mounted. Single slotted, electrically-operated flaps occupy the rest of the trailing edge. Like the wings, the slightly swept tailplanes are also easily detached for storage or transport. You can see where the wings detach, plus the exposed gear in the bays. "UL" represents the retractable undercarriage and the variable-pitch propeller variant as delivered here. Power is by a Rotax 912ULS flat-four, air and liquid cooled engine of 73.5 kW (98.6 hp), connected to a 3-bladed Duc Hélices variable pitch composite propeller. Go into the roll and the Shark responds nicely, climb, then twist and dive, and the aircraft feels SO well balanced and super-smooth to your inputs, in the States the Shark is known as a light-sport aircraft (LSA) (as yet not yet registered) but has certainly all the correct dynamics and the feel for that "Sport" moniker. As noted the Shark is Fast... Maximum speed is 300 km/h (190 mph, 160 kn) with a cruise speed of 250 km/h (160 mph, 130 kn) economical... it will climb at a 7.4 m/s (1,460 ft/min) max, to a ceiling of 4,100 m (13,500 ft). G-limits are also high at +4/-2 Sounds are quite extensive, even excellent here with a full FMOD environment by sound pro Daniela Rodriguez Careri. It comes with accurate doppler effects, distance attenuation and flyby effects. The headset is simulated as well. The Shark also comes with the "Dynon Skyview" Avionics package. A G1000 sized display that has a lot of Garmin G1000 features but comes here with more functionality in depth. Here are a few images of the display working in the air, we will go through the Skyview details and functions later. From the rear you have basic instruments. Artificial Horizon and Speed/Altitude Tapes. The undercarriage indicator (selector) is also present, fuel selector, throttle and joystick, but no rudder pedals? I know you want to check out the goodies in the Shark, so I head back to Half Moon (KHAF)... correct altitude and speed, I approach RWY 12, but the flaps won't extend... "what the?". I have been warned about this odd foible on the Shark, so I pull up the nose to rub off the speed... Even well low in the white flap line at 72 knts, I still get no reaction from the flaps... it is noted that the flaps won't activate above 65 knts for the first extension, 60 for the second and 55 for the full flap position, so you have to run off a LOT of speed before the flaps become active? So it is a bit of a skill or game to get the speed and flaps in position and ready for landing, it takes time, you go slower, then even slower to rub the speed off.... the gear also has a "Pressure Switch", so it won't retract or extend until you reach or are below a certain speed (62 KIAS (115 km/h)... right finally both are done! You can twist this very agile aircraft on a dime to tightly turn the Shark back to the runway, the handling is so docile, so controlled, you can put the aircraft pretty well anywhere you want to, very easy to trim. Approach is interesting... the Shark is not a throttle feel aircraft, so adjusting the throttle will certainly have an effect on your altitude or descent speed, it is not everything, as you will also need some nose (pitch) angle to help you out as well. This was more apparent in descending from an altitude, say 5,000 ft to 2,000 ft, as you required a lot of down forward pitch, which was required to lose the height no matter the throttle position. Approach speed with full flap is a super-slow 45 knts, your just hanging up there, taking your time to line up the runway perfectly, again the handling here is superb.... love it! Your approach is so low, so slow... you can even do some lawnmowing at the same time, easy peasy. Super-handling... X-Plane's v12.08 new landing wheel inertia, it works wonderfully here, as you are finally in total control of the aircraft and in the landing, you want as you touch around 42 kts (ish), slight nose flare! ... and your down stall speed is a super-low 35 kts. Love it, yes I totally love it. This is the first all new aircraft from Aerobask for quite awhile, and is only for X-Plane 12 (X-Plane v12.08 is required). After spending most of the year upgrading the Aerobask fleet for X-Plane 12.... So it is nice to have something totally new and different to look at and fly. Notably the Aerobask and their quality have already a very high prestige, that upper echelon of that X-Plane users will buy on the name alone, no matter the aircraft they deliver. Aerobask also specialise in composite modern aircraft, and the Shark is a current production aircraft since 2019. So the Shark UL fits the brief perfectly. On the ground the Aerobask quality is certainly very evident. Detail is composite super-smooth, but all done to perfection. Love the Shark gills cooling. Landing gear is perfect in design and genuine detail, trailing link, but with enough give (movement) to make it totally realistic. That fin tail and fine wing are both again super-smooth and really well done, so overall there is absolutely nothing in the exterior or the modeling scale that demands attention of any criticism, the standard today in these aircraft are extremely high, so you sort of expect it at this level.... but it is still nice to admire the skilled work. Bubble canopy is also perfection, lovely glass and reflections, you can almost want to open it with your own hand, it opens sideways to the right, almost glider like. Twin-seat cockpit is tight, almost like a two-man bobsleigh, certainly tight in the rear... Frame with slim cushion seats are excellent, highlighted by the bright red seatbelts... you sorta slip into the aircraft and not get into it, as is so tight... comfy? notable is the rear (few) instruments mounted on the canopy, not the fuselage. There are controls both front and rear, if very basic in the back of throttle, joystick (but no rudder pedals) That very high quality Aerobask interior design and materials are in abundance here. Carbon-fibre weave is highly realistic and in different combinations to match the interior design, seat frames are also Carbon-fibre, molded perfectly to realism. There is a soft vinyl lower/floor material, everything is glorious to the eye and completely authentic. For an Ultra light sport aircraft, the instrumentation is quite considerable. The Dynon SkyView HDX System is the headliner here, and starts with the display being available in both 10” or 7" sizes, in the Aerobask Shark we have the larger 10" version, and it dominates the forward view. The "Skyview Touch" is the main feature of the Aerobask aircraft, the first fully mostly authentic reproduction of this popular Avionic suite for the X-Plane Simulator. Even the "Pop-Up" is set in the Dynon Avionics bezel. The pop-up can be scaled from extremely small, to excessive large, and can moved to any part of your screen. The Skyview Touch is quite complex in functionality, you will need to study the system (on the ground, and don't try to wing it!) as you can easily get lost in the myriad of menus, it took even me a fair while to work it all out, in areas they are the same as the G1000 layout, but a lot of the Dynon system is quite different in selections. The PFD is the usual wide Artificial Horizon, with the standard Speed and Altitude/VS Tapes, Roll, Bank and Pitch markers, lower is a Horizontal Situation Indicator (HSI) with NAV 1/GPS BRG (Backgrounds), Speeds, Baro, Altitude, Wind, HDG (Heading) and CRS (Course) are all shown. First option is that you can switch from a HSI to a G-Meter, which you can reset. There is the CONFIG selection. PITCH allows you to set the climb angle you want, in 10º, 20º, 30º and 45º. SYNVIS will revert the Artificial Horizon to a colour background. SIX-PACK puts just the "Standard Six" instruments on the display, plus you can also have a neutral grey background. It is all exceptionally well done by Aerobask, and very authentic to the real Dynon. Layout options are quite a few. First you have the EMS or Engine Monitoring System, this can be shown in three positions in; left, right and centre. All engine outputs, temperatures and pressures are all shown, HOBBS and electrical outputs are also available. There is the standard Skyview PFD background as well as the wide MAP, or both together, and you can even switch them around. In the CONFIG, the "POPUP" selection is here as well. Other MAP options include; GREEN, SLATE, TOPO and TERRAIN... you can also orientate the map HDG or NORTH UP. Flightplan input to the Skyview is via the Garmin GNS 430, this includes saved flightplans, building flightplans and procedures, it basically mirrors the GNS. Another big feature is the use of Navigraph charts in the Skyview. Obviously you need a Navigraph account, and to register the account before use (each time you fly actually?). In MAP, you then select the airport you want to access, this will give you the basic (X-Plane) airport data... ... then in pressing CHARTS, you will then access the Navigraph database for airport charts, then selecting the chart you need. When you have selected a chart, the system goes looking, then loads in the chart you want. CHARTS are available in day or night options (night darker is far easier to read)... ... and charts can be FILL, FIT, ZOOM (in or out) or just scroll (or moved) around the screen for the size you want. Hardware Dynon control panels are also provided. This is the "Rotary Controls" for HDG/TRK, ALT & BARO (top-left), and the secondary "Knob Control Panel" (top-right). These two panels are set above the Skyview Touch. The AP (Autopilot) can also accessed directly in the Skyview Touch, also available are FD (Flight Director), ROLL, PITCH and LEVEL selections. The Dynon Skyview Touch is all so very, very good, and a totally though system to use. There is a video made by Aerobask listing the features of the Skyview Touch avionics system... well worth looking through, and getting the general idea of all the functions. Other digital instruments include; Flybox PR1-P Propeller Regulator, Blaze EMS-2 3 1/8” universal engine monitor color display and a Flybox Oblò backup instrument. A ATR833-II 80mm radio (COM) produced by f.u.n.k.e. (manual provided) and an Aerospace Logic Chrono CO200 OAI (manual provided) are set lower, and note the row of Circuit Breakers (fuses). In the Shark the circuit breakers act also as the switches for the EFIS, Fuel Pump, Pitot Heat, and the three external lighting of Position (Nav), Strobe and nose Landing lights. Side panels are basic, Fuel Tank switch and Throttle left, and Joystick and a PS Engineering PMA4000 Audio Panel right. Notable in the cockpit is the detail, like the excellent canopy window, beautifully methodically createdl, it opens (slides) as well! Menu The Shark Menu is accessed via the banner "Plugins" menu "Shark UL Options Show/Hide". Secondary selections are via a "Hotspot" above the Shark Logo top right of the instrument panel, the Menus is also accessible via the "AviTab" tablet on the right side of the canopy. The Menu is the standard Aerobask menu layout, with four tabs; Ground, Options, Sounds and About. Ground: the first tab "Ground" gives you your FOB (Fuel on Board), and you can select kgs/Lbs and Gal in either of the two tanks, there is the option to "Balance" the fuel in both tanks, lower is your Livery selection. Right panel covers a few basic static elements (pitot cover and a single cone) and the operation of the rear pilot in; Always Visible, Installed Outside only or Not Installed. There are two very nicely modeled (meaning realistic) Female pilots, but there are no other options to swap positions or a choice of a Male pilot. Options: Covers the MAIN, in Instrument Pop-ups, Reflections, Navigraph Charts (subscription and switching to either Day or Night charts) and Breaker Reliability. All main instruments options are covered, for the SKYVIEW, CO200K, MD302, PR1P, EMS2 and ATR883 Almost all options cover the instruments PopUp options, and temperature/pressure options. Sounds: This tab covers all your sound options in eight sliders, Internal, External, Pilots, Radios Environ and User Interface. There is the global options to Enable Sounds and Enable Speech. About: Last tab is the "Credits" for the Aerobask Developer team, the aircraft version No.# is shown in the banner. The AviTab Tablet as we have shown is also available (plugin required), it is the standard AviTab layout and tools, plus the built in Menu. Just press the right side button to hide. Lighting Lighting is pretty basic. Just the instrument lights (no adjustment) in the cockpit, and external Position (Nav), strobe and a single landing light in the nose. At night the instrument reflections are very strong, stronger when darker, very authentic though. Liveries There are twelve liveries, all very colourful and several are shark themed including "Jaws". There is a base white for the painters. ____________________ Summary This is an all new aircraft release from Aerobask... "The Shark" or Aero Shark, which is a conventionally laid out, single engine, low wing ultralight aircraft, light-sport aircraft which seats two in tandem, and is built in both Slovakia and the Czech Republic by Shark.Aero. A typical Aerobask modern composite design, the Shark is a beautifully handling aircraft with the authentic first representation of the Dynon "Skyview Touch" avionics package, a sort of mega Garmin G1000 styled display. Other represented instruments are the Flybox PR1-P Propeller Regulator, Blaze EMS-2 3 1/8”, ATR833-II 80mm radio, Aerospace Logic Chrono CO200 OAI and a very nice Flybox Oblò backup instrument . Focus here is on that "Skyview Touch", this is a comprehensive version with full authentic details that replicates the real Dynon package, there is also built in Navigraph charts, full hard point Dynon switchgear (two), and the side canopy AviTab with built in menus, the four tab menu is also available via clickpoints. Exterior modeling is to perfection, and the Interior is perfectly designed with full carbon-composites and materials. It looks like a Shark and flies swimmingly with purpose (pun intended), it's a seriously nice aircraft, easy to fly and you will soon find your love to the great handling and the ease of use, tricky to note is the authentic use of the landing gear and flaps. The Shark is also X-Plane 12 only and requires the latest v12.08 X-Plane version to fly. Overall a seriously nice package that Aerobask do so well, and yes a great quality and value investment for hours of enjoyable flying with all the mod-cons.... brilliant! __________________ Yes! the Shark UL XP12 by Aerobask is NOW available from the X-Plane.Org Store here : Shark UL XP12 by Aerobask Price is US$29.95 Requirements X-Plane 12 (XP12.08 minimum - will not work with 12.07 or earlier. Not for XP11) Windows, Mac (even native M1, M2 Macs) or Linux 8 GB+ VRAM recommended Current version: 12.01r1 (December 12th 2023) ________________ Installation and documents: download for the Shark UL is 529Mb and the aircraft is deposited in the "General Aviation" X-Plane folder. Full Installation is 1.36Gb Authorisation is required, and a restart. Updates are via Skunkcraft Updater. AviTab Plugin is required for this aircraft Documents supplied are: Quick-Doc ATR833.pdf Quick-Doc CO200.pdf README - XP12 aircraft installation.pdf Shark UL - Checklist Normal.pdf Shark UL Flight Manual.pdf There are a huge amount of Documentation provided here, not only for the Shark UL including: performance charts, reference guides, avionics and a printable checklist. All updates are via the new Skunkcrafts 3.0 Updater Designed by Aerobask Support forum for the Shark UL _____________________ Aircraft Review by Stephen Dutton 15th December 2023 Copyright©2023: X-Plane Reviews Review System Specifications:  Windows - 12th Gen IS1700 Core i7 12700K 12 Core 3.60 GHz CPU - 64bit -32 Gb single 1067 Mhz DDR4 2133 - PNY GeForce RTX 3080 10GB XLR8 - Samsung 970 EVO+ 2TB SSD Software: - Windows 11 Pro - X-Plane 12.08rc3 (This is a Release Candidate review). Plugins: Traffic Global - JustFlight-Traffic (X-Plane.OrgStore) US$52.99 : Global SFD plugin US$30.00 Scenery or Aircraft - KHAF - Half Moon Bay by Rising Dawn Studios (X-Plane.OrgStore) - US$19.00 (Disclaimer. All images and text in this review are the work and property of X-PlaneReviews, no sharing or copy of the content is allowed without consent from the author as per copyright conditions) All Rights Reserved

NEWS! - Aircraft Updated : Epic E1000 G1000 Edition by Aerobask to X-Plane 12 Aerobask have updated their excellent Epic E1000 G1000 Edition to X-Plane 12. It is easy to get confused here. The E1000 had a very significant update with the addition of Laminar Research's G1000 avionics back in February 2019, and a lot of the features and dynamics were also updated to match the considerable changes in v11.30. but that was still as an X-Plane 11 aircraft. (This aircraft is still available for X-Plane 11 as part of this package). X-PlaneReviews full XP11 review is here: Aircraft Review : Epic E1000 - G1000 Edition by Aerobask This new release is only for the X-Plane 12 compatibility and is only an update, with the addition here of X-Plane 12 features and effects. Obviously it will make a huge difference to the aircraft, a substantial one in fact in lifting the aircraft into a higher quality category. Including... Completely reworked and re-scaled exterior and interior model New 4K PBR textures 8 stunning liveries out of the box Color-matching interior based on livery White (for painters) and Lo-res liveries available through Aerobask website Smooth and VR-friendly manipulators The price is on sale as well... US34.95 is reduced to US$22.72, or a saving of $12.23(35%), so a winner all round with not only a better higher quality aircraft, but at a seriously lower (sale) price... so be quick. The Epic E1000 is an American single-engine, six-seat, turboprop light aircraft developed by Epic Aircraft of Bend, Oregon. The project's aim is that the E1000 will be the fastest single-engine civil aircraft at its time of introduction. A development of the kit-built Epic LT, the E1000 aircraft features a cantilever low-wing, a 6.5 psi pressurized cabin with an airstair door just ahead of the rear seats, retractable tricycle landing gear and a single 1,825 hp (1,361 kW) Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6-67A turboprop aircraft engine, that is de-rated to 1,200 hp (895 kW) engine in a tractor configuration. The aircraft is predominantly made from carbon fiber and its 43 ft (13.1 m) span wing mounted flaps and winglets. To update go to your X-Plane.OrgStore account, and download the "Aerobask_Epic_E1000G_XP12" version, once updated, the E1000 can then be updated by the Skuckcraft's Updater Designed by Aerobask Support forum for the Epic E1000 G1000 __________________ Yes! the Epic E1000 G1000 Edition by Aerobask is NOW available from the X-Plane.Org Store here : Epic E1000 G1000 Edition Price is US$34.95 Currently reduced to US$22.72, or a saving of $12.23(35%) Requirements X-Plane 12 (12.08 minimum) or X-Plane 11 Windows, MAC or Linux 8 GB+ VRAM Video Card Recommended Current version: 12.01r (November 24th 2023) ________________ News by Stephen Dutton 27th November 2023 Copyright©2023: X-Plane Reviews Disclaimer. All images and text in this review are the work and property of X-PlaneReviews, no sharing or copy of the content is allowed without consent from the author as per copyright conditions) All Right Reserved.

NEWS! - Aerobask updates Epic Victory G1000 to X-Plane 12 The details released here are light, but noted is that the Epic Victory light jet has been now updated to X-Plane 12. Noted by Aerobask is " This is first release of the Epic Victory G1000 Edition for X-Plane 12, a free update for owners of the XP11 version". No specs, but there is a pretty video... Features Aerobask quality 3D model Fully functional virtual 3D cockpit, with smooth and VR-friendly manipulators High quality 3D model with high resolution PBR textures (4K) Flight model according prototype specifications Fully Integrated Laminar Garmin G1000 with custom EIS and annunciations Synthetic Vision technology by OscarPilote GFC700 autopilot Touch screen features for easy handling GCU476 3D/2D keypad Customized FADEC/ECU with test procedure MD302: accurate custom coded Standby Attitude Module Simulated oxygen system Simulated ice protection system Functional breakers (configurable reliability) Windshield effects: reflections, rain and frost Progressive wing icing Many parameters saved between flights Complete array of custom documentation Avitab tablet, with integrated options panel Detachable and VR-friendly 2D options panel Full FMOD environment by Daniela Rodriguez Careri Accurate doppler, distance attenuation and flyby effects Simulated headset In-game volume control without pausing the sim Remember you get two aircraft for both X-Plane 11 and X-Plane 12 for the price of one! Designed by and Images from Aerobask Support forum for the Epic Victory G1000 Edition _______________________________ Yes! the Epic Victory G1000 XP12 by Aerobask is NOW available from the X-Plane.Org Store here : Epic Victory G1000 Price is US$34.95 Requirements X-Plane 12 or X-plane 11 Windows, MAC or Linux 4 GB VRAM Minimum - 8 GB+ VRAM Video Card Recommended Download Size: 400 MB Current version: 12.0r1 (January 18th 2023) ________________ News by Stephen Dutton 19th January 2023 Copyright©2023: X-Plane Reviews Disclaimer. All images and text in this review are the work and property of X-PlaneReviews, no sharing or copy of the content is allowed without consent from the author as per copyright conditions) All Right Reserved.

Aircraft Review : Diamond DA-42 NG by Aerobask Here is the latest release from Aerobask, and yes it is another Diamond Aircraft. But this Diamond is a significant one for Aerobask, as it is not the first series release of the Diamond DA-42 for the developer. That release, which is the original, was also the very first aircraft released by Aerobask, or then the Diamond DA-42 Twinstar by Harranssor. That was almost exactly a decade ago (29th August 2013), and to celebrate, Aerobask not only have released their latest newly minted, highly detailed DA-42 NG aircraft, but created also an anniversary livery as part of this package... I totally recommend to read the original Diamond DA-42 Twinstar by Harranssor review, in that it shows not only the changes in the X-Plane Simulator itself, but the massive changes in detail and quality over the decade. It was for it's time astoundingly good, even incredible for a first time developer (Harranssor did release a Eclipse 550 earlier as freeware), but the DA-42 was in payware and it came with very high expectations.... and delivered. That decade old DA-42 release was in X-Plane v10.22, here we are releasing the new DA-42 NG (New Generation) in the newly released X-Plane 12 (Sorry no X-Plane 11 aircraft will be made available). So this is the very first fully developed aircraft for the new X-Plane version from Aerobask, and the package (price) includes both updates and revisions for the length of the simulator (X-Plane 12) run. The photographic quality of X-Plane 12 brings out the realism of the Diamond Aircraft. Certainly sleek to begin with, the composite smooth design shines (no pun intended) and curves to the natural lighting. Noted as the "Twin Star", this aircraft originally used Thielert Aircraft Engines TAE 125-01 Centurion 1.7... in the real aircraft Diamond has now switched to their 3rd Generation Austro Turbo Diesel Engine or the Lycoming IO-360 engine which is also available as an option, and installed here in the XP12 version is the Austro Turbo Diesel. Bit of trivia... the DA42 Twin Star was the first diesel-powered fixed-wing aircraft to make a non-stop crossing of the North Atlantic in 12.5 hours, with an average fuel consumption of 5.74 gallons per hour (2.87 gallons per hour per engine), give it a try if you want to... I would be explaining nothing to Aerobask converts. They will already know of the quality, forensic detail, superb modeling and the general exclusive experience of Aerobask aircraft... Top Notch, well whatever, it is again all brilliantly done here in the DA-42. Composite aircraft don't have a lot of panels, so most parts of the aircraft are added on, not part of the structure.. say the nose, tail section, so on... Looking hard you can see all this and more in all the sections that make up the aircraft's assembly, but most of the excellent detail is around the engines, cowling, shrouds, and the details and all fastening screws are all visible and checked... if you want detail, then here it is. Also the flying surfaces, tail assembly, high T-Tail elevators, lovely crisp wings with winglets. Notable are the excellent flap and aileron actuators, beautifully designed, ditto the elevator and adjoining trim tab (trailing edge). Glass is supreme, nice curves, great reflection and the right tint. Note the beautifully designed instrument hud (cowling?), here the detail is excellent with window demisting vents. Unlike the DA-62, which has two opening front doors, the DA-42 has a single forward opening canopy, and the rear single left door for rear passengers as is the same as the DA-62, but they all give you ease of access. You can open them via the latches or the menu. Other external items include, opening twin forward storage lockers, chocks and a GPU (Ground Power Unit) Menus You can access the Aerobask Menu, via the Plugins Menu, or the internal tablet.... Since v2 of the Diamond DA-62 the Aerobask menus have been changed to this more cleaner, new style layout, there are four tabs; Ground, Options, Sounds and About. Ground : Covers the standard Fuel loading of the aircraft (with a "Balance" fuel setting), 3d passengers (Pilot and Three passengers), Static Elements of Chocks, Bollards, Pitot covers, GPU (Ground Power Unit) and you can change the liveries via a "Previous" and "Next" selection. Door selections of Canopy, Pax door, right and left boots (storage), Also Remove Chocks, GPU options, Refill Oxygen bottle, Refill anti-ice fluid are all also options on this tab. Options : The "Main" covers Instrument Popups, Reflections, G1000 Shared options and Breakers (Fuses) with a reliability scale. There are three other avionics sets of OPTIONS for the, G1000 PFD, G1000 MFD and the MD302 backup instrument. "Synthetic Vision" is included in the G1000 tab. Sounds : There are seven sound sliders; Master, Aircraft Exterior, Aircraft Interior, Copilot, Radios, Environmental and User Interface. You can Enable (or disable) sounds, and Enable (the) speech. About : Here is listed the Aerobask development team and beta testers, and the aircraft's version number is indicated in the popup menu title, or the changelog.txt in the main folder. As noted there is a pilot and three passengers you can individually view or hide (the pilot hides when you select the Static Elements). The quality of the 3d people are all very good, and seen before in Aerobask aircraft. Internal The internal cabin of the decade old DA-42 was sensational (for it's time). So was the start of Aerobask's reputation for creating seminal interiors of aircraft... and you won't be disappointed here either. It is important to note, that this cabin is of a few generations older than say the DA-50RG or the DA-62, so the materials used here then reflect that heritage, other than that it is all as usual for Aerobask, extremely well done. The four seats are outer leather with a mottle grey pattern insert and red piping, note the lovely folds on the leather surfaces. Diamond logos are also nicely shown on the headrests.... it's all beautiful stuff to admire. With the selection of different liveries, then two more different interiors in red and cream are available. There are several different carpet threads (Grey), and a leather mustard side paneling, so is the centre console covering. Main cabin colour is a slate to light grey... exquisite! Instrument Panel The decade old DA-42 had the same native Laminar Research G1000 twin panel avionics system (both PFD and MFD pop-out), but the X-Plane 12 version is customised far more here with custom EIS and annunciations. It is a very good panel layout, but not as really detailed as a real G1000 system actually is, but it does cover about 85% of the systems. Start up process is excellent with Aerobask logos, and more CREDITS and AIRAC data. Note the great reflections on the G1000 screens. Both PFD and MFD G1000 displays pop-out, as does the MD302 SAM The system has a "reversionary" mode. This is all the primary instruments and engine parameters presented all on the single display, in this case the PFD. (If the PFD failed then the "reversionary" mode switches to the other MFD (Multi Functional Display). Also in the same mode, both displays will show the PFD (Primary Flight Display). PFD (Primary Flight Display) is very good with the large Artificial Horizon dominating the screen with the Speed and Altitude (with built in Vertical Speed) tapes either side, Rate of turn and FD (Flight Director) are all present. Lower is the Heading rose with built in Heading, Wind (3 options), CRS (Course) DME, NAV 1, NAV 2 and OBS. All Radio, Autopilot (AP) settings and data are across the top banner of the panel. Note the inbuilt warnings panel centre right, and INSET MAP This is an option to put a small insert map on the PFD, but I never do (it makes the display too crowded). There is a custom tool in a GCU476 2D keypad to input values directly by touching the screen (i.e. clicking the values or using the mouse scroll wheel to adjust them). For example, for changing a radio frequency or here the heading, you can use the mouse scroll wheel, which is much easier than turning the knobs in the 3D cockpit. it has a small slider or ++ / -- tool to say which items can be manipulated. Synthetic Vision There is the "Synthetic Vision" tool that we mentioned earlier by Oscar Pilote. There are three modes that can be selected from the "More Options" menu. The first is the standard default Laminar one with the blue top and dirty brown lower horizons. Then the "Topology Only", with a light blue (realistic) sky and green lower horizon, the final one is "Topology + Terrain" with the same light sky and brown lower horizon. MAP/Navigation Display (MFD) The secondary MFD in a MAP/Navigation panel covers also all the (EIS) engine outputs which are in two versions with one visual and one in data. This is another custom panel by Aerobask. The colourful engine readouts cover are on page one; Manifold Pressure (Load) and RPM, Fuel Flow GPH (Gallons Per Hour), Oil Pressure and Temp, Coolant Temp, Fuel Temp and Fuel QTY (Quantity). System switch (data) covers the same LOAD and RPM top, VOLTS and AMPS, Gearbox/Coolant Temp, Oil Pressure/Temp and De-Ice Fluid level. Notably missing are the usual two items? FLAPS position (UP-20º-38º) and ELEV (UP-TO-DN) adjustment, rudder adjustment trim bottom, and the Fuel Calculations, GAL (Used), REM (Remain) system which are both on the DA-50RG and DA-62. MD302 SAM® Mid-Panel is the MD302 SAM® or the "Standby Altitude Module" Basically is a standby instrument which is very authentic to the real instrument, this avionic tool is interesting as it replaced the standard three (Airspeed, Artificial Horizon and Altitude) setup in the earlier DA-42, modern times for modern avionics. Other upper panel details include Lighting Switchgear (left), Whiskey Compass, ELT and authentic aerox Oxygen pressure gauge. .. but if you hold the same knob down for two or three seconds then a menu appears that covers In-fight configurable items that are... Altitude units in feet or meters, Barometer units either inHg or mbars, Attitude symbol in traditional or delta, Attitude mask on or off and Altitude trend bar in either on or off. There is a Quick-Doc manual provided that covers the instruments features and their use. Note: The SAM has to be set separately (i.e. Baro) than the main PFD as one adjustment does not cover all the instruments. Last note is the G1000 "Autopilot" buttons are placed normally in this DA-42, between the two displays (PFD/MFD), the original DA-42 used a separate GFC-700 Autopilot! Left panel Electrical setting switches/Avionic Circuit Breakers. Right Panel the full Circuit Breaker (Fuses) panel that is active and De-Ice System. Lower panel has (LtoR), Pitot Heat, Left Engine/Right Engine (Master/Start, Elec. Master, Avionic Master, Landing Gear, Fuel Pumps (L/R) , Flaps and Engine buses. The central pedestal is really well designed as well... Lovely Throttle and Fuel selector levers are very well crafted, the Fuel cutoff is full back with the red tabs clicking into place. Defrost is required as your cabin can go misty in the cold... a great special effect from Aerobask. Two Trims are "Rudder" upper centre panel, and "Pitch" in the large trim wheel centre console, rear are light switches and rear (Working Audio Panel) There is a built in AviTab Tablet (Plugin Required)... it is stored in the left side pocket holder, press to mount on the right side of the instrument panel. You can also press the knob attachment (AviTab) holder on the instrument panel bracket to bring the AviTab up as well (plugin required). As noted the Aerobask Menu is also built in for ease of use. ________________ Flying the X-Plane 12 Aerobask DA-42 There have been a few Diamond DA-42's in X-Plane. The Original Aerobask 2013 version as mentioned in the review, a Diamond DA40NG XP12 by SimSolutions, we reviewed last November 2022, and coming another DA-42 from a new developer group, CreatorOfWorldS (COWS). So you are not short of choice, but how could you go past the authenticity of Aerobask... well you can't. Let us put the numbers up front and center... Maximum speed: 356 km/h (221 mph; 192 kn) - Range: 1,693 km (1,052 mi; 914 nmi)- Service ceiling: 5,486 m (17,999 ft) - Rate of climb: 6.5 m/s (1,280 ft/min)... all pretty impressive. Starting is easy. You have FADEC (Full Authority Digital Engine (or electronics) Control ), so you just switch on the fuel flow (switches centre console), then and then turn the key towards the engine you want to start. The engine is an Austro Engine E4 (marketed as the AE 300), based on the Mercedes-Benz OM640 road Diesel engine. It supplies 168 hp (125 kW) (maximum takeoff and continuous power) at up to 2,300 propeller RPM for each engine. Sounds are modern FMOD and with Enhanced 3D system sounds by Daniela Rodriguez Careri, including Doppler and Flanger effects. They do sound a little different from the normal, but the engines are very different as well in being diesels, but at the cruise speed they have this lovely thrumm that passes the flying time nicely. Start up is almost instantaneous with a slight cranking, so they are almost electric in that aspect. The DA-42, however sounds almost exactly like the DA-62, but then it does use the same engine installation with the same twin-diesel engines. If we go back (again) to the original DA-42, there was one area I really didn't like. This was the stick like undercarriage, it was hard, stiff and very unforgiving (landings were horribly hard nose affairs). The forward angled single nosewheel and trailing link main gear is the same arrangement here, but add on ten years and it is all a very different feel, a slight bounce, say even a cushioning to the gear, which is far, far better and more authentic to real suspension. You can't taxi too fast with that slim nosegear, but get the (low) taxi speed right and the aircraft is fine... Heading on to PAJN's Runway 26, and the runway shows up in "Synthetic Vision" on the PFD, it is very well done.. Tons of low down torque from the Twin AE 300's, gives you push to Takeoff Speed around 100 knts, Rate of climb is noted at 6.5 m/s (1,280 ft/min) but I found that 800fpm gave me the best climb to altitude (5,000ft) without putting pressure on the power output and keeping out of the red zones... This is a modern 4 seater aircraft, efficient, not a 18th Century Gallon Piper. So it handles and flies efficiently as well. Basically it's a cruiser of the air, a sort of GT or Grand Tourer... the just under 1000 nautical mile range gives you the distance to cover a respectable area, and at a just sub 200 knt speed. So it's perfect for a point to point flight. So the DA-42 is not a particularly demanding aircraft for the pilot, as all the mod-cons are in here, with the G1000 (Synthetic Vision) and the MD302 SAM. In flight modeling it is done by X-Aerodynamics who does all the Aerobask dynamics, he's good, so is the feel of the DA-42. Lighting Considering the other DA, Diamond offerings the internal lighting in here is quite basic. Two knobs adjusts the display and instrument brightness. Not very overly effective in the day, but fine at night. Cabin lighting consists of one forward light and and one rear spot, both again very effective at night. Externally, you have the usual Landing and Taxi twin lights under the mid-fuselage, but they interfere with the modeling in creating nasty ant marks around the nose. There is no beacon, but wing navigation, strobe lighting is excellent. At this point in X-Plane 12's evolution (v12.01r1) then expect still more refinement in all the lighting. Haines, Klukwan, Alaska is a double tight airport to get into from the east, PAHN although situated on the Chilkat River, is nestled between a mountain and forests on the Runway 26 approach. A testing airport of nerves and flight skills. You can't even see the airport, never mind the runway on the approach? But it is there, hidden beyond the trees. Even though a Twin, the DA-42 NG is very good for getting into tight slots like this, good visibility really helps, so does Full Flap (LDG) selection and the approach speed in 83 knts. It's tight... and do you see the runway yet, just. Thankfully the Da-42 is wonderful to control and fly in these sort of circumstances, a great platform for tricky approaches. There is not much room between you and the trees as you clear the boundary, then you dive for the runway, then quickly do a heavy nose up flare to arrest the speed and height, you touch around 73 knts If you have a lot of confidence in the aircraft, then you can pull off these sort of manoeuvres, so the DA-42 delivers very well here. Obviously I will be talking to the converted. Aerobask have a lot of admirers (Including myself), so it's not hard to understand what you will receive with these aircraft, that they are so modern in design, and it all gives you more of a conviction to fly one. Liveries There is one blank (white) and six liveries with the DA-42 NG. All high quality and including the 10 Year anniversary livery as we saw earlier. _______________ Summary Aerobask are no strangers to Diamond aircraft, their catalogue is full of them, including currently the DA-50 RG, the DA-62. But Aerobask have also done a version of this DA-42 before, a decade ago, as their very first payware aircraft, it was good if not even brilliant for it's time and era, but we are now in X-Plane 12, another era and another realm, a realm that demands a lot far more quality and detail... the DA-42 NG 2023, delivers on that aspect, a lot. Excellent modeling is a given with Aerobask, as are the curated interiors, both are well highlighted here. Avionics include a custom EIS and annunciations G1000 System, Synthetic Vision technology by OscarPilote, Optional GCU476 2D keypad, MD302 "Standby Attitude Module", Simulated oxygen system, Simulated ice protection system and Fully functional breakers (configurable reliability). The excellent menu is available on the screen, but also on a AviTab tablet internally... there is also a Detachable and VR-friendly 2D options panel. Sounds are excellent and by renowned Daniela Rodriguez Careri, 3d Pilot and passengers, static elements, and the DA-42 also comes with an Auto-Updater (Skunkcraft), all to keep the aircraft up-to-date on-line. In a package, Aerobask delivers everything you want in a high quality aircraft with unique clever custom systems, and that is certainly the case here as well... again, better still everything comes in a competitively priced package below US$40. Remember this aircraft is valid for updates and free changes for the life of X-Plane 12 (Note this is only an X-Plane 12 Aircraft, not compatible with X-Plane 11). As a reviewer Aerobask aircraft are a dream to review, certainly there are a lot of custom options to cover, but in every other aspect they are some of the very best general aviation simulations available today... and for tomorrow in that fact. As a required simulation any Aerobask Diamond is a sensation to own and fly... Highly Recommended. _____________________ The Diamond DA-42 NG by Aerobask is available from the X-Plane.OrgStore!... Here: Diamond DA-42 NG Price is US$39.95 Requirements X-Plane 12 (not compatible with XP11) Windows, Mac (using Rosetta) or Linux 4 GB VRAM Minimum. 8 GB+ VRAM recommended Current version: 12.0r1 (January 12th 2023) Aerobask Systems Suite Fully Integrated Laminar Garmin G1000 with custom EIS and annunciations Synthetic Vision technology by OscarPilote Touch screen features for easy handling Optional GCU476 2D keypad Customized FADEC/ECU with test procedure MD302: accurate custom coded Standby Attitude Module Simulated oxygen system Simulated ice protection system Fully functional breakers (configurable reliability) Advanced Flight Model and Flight Experience Accurate flight model by X-Aerodynamics Smooth wingflex Windshield effects: reflections, rain and frost Many parameters saved between flights Superb 3D Model Aerobask quality 3D model Fully functional virtual 3D cockpit, with smooth and VR-friendly manipulators High quality cockpit model with high resolution PBR textures (4K) Custom Sounds Full FMOD environment by Daniela Rodriguez Careri Accurate doppler, distance attenuation and flyby effects Simulated headset In-game volume control without pausing the sim Other features and docs Complete array of custom documentation Avitab tablet, with integrated options panel Detachable and VR-friendly 2D options panel Included 6 liveries 2K textures pack for low computer Auto-Updater Keep your aircraft up-to-date with a convenient auto-updater (Skunkcraft) Installation and documents: download for the Aerobask DA-42 NG is deposited in the "General Aviation" X-Plane folder. The AviTab plugin is also required to use this aircraft, and it is deposited in your X-Plane Plugins folder. Full Installation is 1.33Gb Documents supplied are: Avitab.pdf checklist_da42.pdf Customized G1000.pdf DA42_AFM XP12.pdf DA42_CHKL XP12.pdf DA42_PERF XP12.pdf DA42_PROC XP12.pdf Quick-Doc MD302.pdf Read Me - XP12 Aircraft Installation.pdf A full set of documents are provided, including detailed manuals for the MD302 and Laminar G1000. A quick setup and deeper system manual is also provided with Performance and (Checklist) Procedures. ________________ Aircraft Review by Stephen Dutton 15th January 2023 Copyright©2023: X-Plane Reviews Review System Specifications:  Computer System: Windows - IS1700 Core i7 12700K 12 Core 3.60 GHz CPU / 64bit -32 Gb single 1067 Mhz DDR4 2133 - ASUS GeForce GTX 1080 8Gb - Samsung M.2 EVO+ 2TB SSD Sound : Yamaha Speakers YST-M200SP Software: - Windows 10 - X-Plane 12.01r1 Plugins: Global SFD plugin US$30.00 : RK Apps XPRealistic v2 - US$34.99 Scenery or Aircraft - PAJN - Juneau International, Alaska by NorthernSky (X-Plane.OrgStore) - US$18.00 -PAHN - Haines Airport - Default Global Airports Disclaimer. All images and text in this review are the work and property of X-PlaneReviews, no sharing or copy of the content is allowed without consent from the author as per copyright conditions) All Right Reserved.

NEWS! - Aerobask updates EMB-505 Phenom 300 to X-Plane 12 One developer has been active with updates to X-Plane 12, and that developer is Aerobask. First it was the DA-50RG followed by ViperJet eX and then the DA-62. Now here comes the successful EMB-505 Phenom 300, a truly very nice aircraft to own and fly. Full release review is here; Aircraft Review : Embraer EMB-505 Phenom 300 by Aerobask If you have read the review, then yes I seriously loved this aircraft as it was one of the best from Aerobask. But the Embraer private jet is now also available in X-Plane 12... that has to be only a good thing. The New X-Plane 12 Version (XP11 version still also available) has significant changes and the X-Plane 12 new features in it's transition to the new version of X-Plane including: New XP12 flight model by X-Aerodynamics New XP12 Menus New G1000 Features Windshield Rain and Icing New XP12 Lightning The Phenom 300 is a twin-engined cantilever monoplane with low-positioned, swept wings. It has a horizontal stabiliser in a T-tail configuration and a retractable tricycle landing gear. It has two rear-pylon-mounted Pratt & Whitney Canada PW535E turbofan engines. The enclosed cabin has room for nine passengers and a two-pilot crew; during single-pilot operation an additional passenger can be carried. Access to the cockpit and cabin is via an airstair on the left-hand side. Its structural life is 28,000 flight cycles or 35,000 hours. It is built of 18% composite materials; it has winglets, but not thrust reversers. The Phenom 300 also has single-point refueling and an externally serviced private rear lavatory. The aircraft first flew in 2008, with an Introduction into service 2009. Remember you get two aircraft for both X-Plane 11 and X-Plane 12 for the price of one! Designed by and Images from Aerobask Support forum for the Phenom 300 _______________________________ Yes! the Embraer Phenom 300 XP12 by Aerobask is NOW available from the X-Plane.Org Store here : EMB-505 Phenom 300 Price is US$44.95 Requirements X-Plane 12 or X-Plane 11 Windows, MAC (using Rosetta) or Linux 4 GB VRAM Minimum - 8 GB+ VRAM Video Card Recommended Download Size: 600 MB Current version: 12r1 (November 11th 2022) ________________ News by Stephen Dutton 12th November 2022 Copyright©2022: X-Plane Reviews Disclaimer. All images and text in this review are the work and property of X-PlaneReviews, no sharing or copy of the content is allowed without consent from the author as per copyright conditions) All Right Reserved.

Aircraft Update X-Plane 12 : Diamond DA-62 by Aerobask Released in March 2019, the Diamond DA-62 followed on from a long line of Diamond composite aircraft from Aerobask. The DA-42 Twin Star and the Diamond DA-50RG. The differences were that the DA-42 was a Twin-Engined aircraft and the DA-50RG is a Single-Engined aircraft. Sadly the Twin-Star has been retired, so the replacement Twin-Engined machine has been this more later and larger DA-62. The larger DA-42 was built as the DA-50, but only one prototype was built and the DA-50 was also only a single-engine aircraft as well. The DA-50 soon morphed into the DA-62 which kept the larger fuselage of the DA-50, but added the Twin-Engined design of the DA-42, and comes also with the more powerful Austro Engine E4 (marketed as the AE 300) which is a liquid-cooled, inline, four-cylinder, four-stroke, diesel piston aircraft engine of which the DA-62 has the 180hp AE330 version. There was a large update (v2.0r) to the original DA-62 just under a year ago in late November 2021, so it is very up to date in systems and detail. So here is the transition aircraft of the same to X-Plane 12. It doesn't have any changes from the 2.0r version, but does have all the X-Plane 12 features added, in the Flight Model by X-Aerodynamics, lighting, texture adjustments (Internal/External) and weather effects. The DA-62 looked very good originally in X-Plane 11, but now the refined X-Plane 12 effect gives the Diamond a more serious "WOW" feel. The aircraft just "OOOOZES" quality, our of every pore and it's skin. The detail is simply of the chart, so get closest inspection that you can. I have always loved the organic shape of the engine cowlings, incredibly well done, masterful modeling. Internally it is just as extravagant, nobody does interiors better than Aerobask, it is a feast for your eyes all in the perfect detail and materials. Since v2 of the Diamond DA-62 the menus have been changed. Now they are more concise and easier to use they cover the standard Weight & Balance of the aircraft, 3d passengers, Fuel and Static Elements of Chocks, Ties, Bollards, Pitot covers, GPU (Ground Power Unit) and non-working pushback trolley. On the Menu "Options", it covers the (Main) or aircraft options and then the three avionics sets of options for the, G1000 PFD, G1000 MFD and the MD302 backup instrument. EDDB (Berlin) to EDDP (Liepzig - Halle) The flight here is quite short, just a few hundered kilometers from Berlin to Liepzig. Starting the DA-62 is simple simon, just switch on the fuel flow (levers centre console), then the main fuel pump, and press the correct dinky button for the engine you want to start, as easy as starting a diesel engine in a car or truck. As this is a very modern GA, and so the engines don't need to be coaxed into life, they will start easily and run up to temperatures very quickly with that odd (in an aircraft) slightly rattly diesel sound. Although the DA-62 is not newly released. I love the fact that all Aerobask aircraft are so fully resolved when being used, virtually no bugs and issues to contend with, it is all a nice clean operation and flying. Notable as usual that we are still in the X-Plane 12 Beta phase, so (I can't find anything wrong with the DA-62) the external beta issues are still there including the odd wind and weather behavior... but thankfully also none of the wild wing behaviour I saw on the DA-50RG. Note the Aerobask "Synthetic Vision" on PFD, that was added in here on the last update. I'm not going to say the DA-62 is easy to track straight because it isn't. Daddy long legs in gear feels like three points on a surface, so you work hard with the rudder in keeping it in line and on track. 100 knts (no flap) and only a small rotate is required, and your flying. Rate of climb is noted at 6.1 m/s (1,200 ft/min) but I found that 700fpm gave me the best climb to altitude (5,000ft) without putting pressure on the power output... Ceiling is a massive 6,096 m (20,000 ft) because you have oxygen. I really liked the custom power outputs on the MAP/NAV screen, but they are native different on the pop-up version. Like most general aviation releases lately the DA-62 comes with the native Laminar Research G1000 twin panel avionics system (both PFD and MFD pop-out), but custom here. It is a very good layout, but not as really detailed as a real G1000 system actually is, but it does cover about 85% of the systems. Mid-Panel is the MD302 SAM® or the "Standby Altitude Module" Basically is a standby instrument which is very authentic to the real instrument. View out is sensational, big front curved screen and large side windows give you the sense of space. Lighting Internally like everything on this aircraft the lighting is above and beyond the best... the Instrument panel is fully adjustable with down strip lighting under the glareshield. You can also adjust both the G1000 screens. But I will note with the X-Plane 12 Beta the lighting is still being worked on. I'm not completely happy with it either, so it feels not yet totally refined as it could be... but the promises are here. Attention to detail shows with the MD302 SAM being on a different power source and shuts down in its own time and speed, you can also shut it down quicker if you wish. There is twist adjustable lighting for the pilots and switchable lighting for the seats. The lighting switches are on the bottom, but two are hidden at the back of the roof assembly, but can still be switched from the front view. The detail of the switchware and lights is phenomenal. The external lighting isn't very comprehensive and there are no (red) beacons on the aircraft. There are twin Taxi and Landing light sets central under the cabin. But it is refined for X-Plane 12 (well for now anyway). And one for each wing Ice lights and that lighting switch is on the de-icing panel and not with the main lighting switches. Position or Navigation lights are on each wing, but none on the tail and wing double flash strobes covers all the external lighting. Sounds are modern FMOD and with Enhanced 3D system sounds, including Doppler and Flanger effects. They do sound a little different from the normal, but the engines are very different as well in being diesels, but at the cruise speed they have this lovely thrumm that passes the flying time nicely. Start up is almost instantaneous with a slight cranking, so they are almost electric in that aspect. The Oxygen system is very active. It is activated by the knob under the panel far left of the pilot. When the juice is flowing all the occupants on board get oxygen masks, but you have to use it sparingly and only for short periods of flight as it soon used up. You can replenish the oxygen from the menu but only on the ground. All Circuit Breakers (Fuses) work, here I have pulled the MFD fuse... The 3d world of X-Plane 12... loving it all. Here I settled into a 150knt cruise, with 325 km/h (202 mph; 175 kn) (TAS) the official cruise speed and a Max speed of 367 km/h (228 mph; 198 kn) and the Range is outstanding at 2,380 km (1,479 mi; 1,285 nmi). Now approaching EDDP EDDP (Liepzig - Halle), it's time to get ready for landing. 1,500 ft is my goal on approach (from 5,000 ft) and 100 knts... I am still amazed at the quality of X-Plane 12, is this really the same X-Plane Simulator? It shows how much decent lighting can make a difference. There is the EDDP field and Rwy 26L. 78 knts on final at Full flap is very nice. On experience the DA-62 can be a bit niggly on approach in winds, but thankfully today is calm. Being niggly on approach means a bit of skill in getting the touch down about right, the gear doesn't have a lot of give, but this X-Plane 12 version feels better (more supple) than the earlier versions... nice. Oddly the speed doesn't change much as you transfer into the flare, it says around the same 78 knts, but you still have full control. The biggest trick here is trying in not dig in your nosewheel, you can't flare to much either, so it is a bit of a balance to get it all right. Note the runway in the "Synthetic Vision". Transition to taxi can be tricky, but you can get a feel between using the rudder pedals for fine steering, and the yoke yaw for the more tighter turns, like with everything in Simulation Flying you soon adapt. X-Plane 12 icing and rain effects are also available as well, the original DA-62 did have icing and rain, but here it is far better and built in as default. Liveries There are Eight liveries (down from 10 in the earlier version) and one white paint livery. There are a four older designs (but updated for X-Plane 12), and four new ones added. All liveries are 4K extreme high Def quality and picked for their extreme reproduction in X-Plane 12 (in other words very nice). The White is the default. Summary Released in March 2019, the Diamond DA-62 followed on from a long line of Diamond composite aircraft from Aerobask. Here is the X-Plane 12 version, not a full X-Plane 12 release, but a compatible aircraft as we are still in the Beta (11) phase of X-Plane 12. There are no actual new features or changes since the last DA-62 v2.0r (November 25th 2021) release. But you do get the full package of X-Plane 12 Flight Model, lighting, texture adjustments (Internal/External) and weather effects. Liveries have dropped to eight (from ten), but overall better quality. Notable as usual that we are still in the X-Plane 12 Beta phase, so (I can't find anything wrong with the DA-62) the external beta issues are still there including the odd wind and weather behavior... but thankfully also none of the wild wing behaviour I saw on the DA-50RG. All the huge feature list are still there, including; "Synthetic Vision", active Circuit Breaker Panel, Icing and rain systems, Oxygen System, MD302 SAM Backup instrument, power rudder adjustment and top level FMOD sound. G1000 system is still native X-Plane, but customised and well intergrated and excellent to use. Aerobask would be on anyone's "Must Buy list", on just their name alone, that is the solid reputation the developers already have, and I have absolutely no reason to discount that aspect. Aerobask make brilliant modern composite aircraft, excellent modeling and extraordinary interior design... they fly pretty good as well, and are very good value with excellent back up service... now all available in X-Plane 12, basically how much more do you want? Highly Recommended of course. ______________________ Yes! the Diamond DA-62 X-Plane 12 by Aerobask is NOW! available from the X-Plane.Org Store here : Diamond DA62 Price is US$39.95 Features Now supports X-Plane 12 Both X-Plane 12 and X-Plane 11 versions included Advanced Flight model Flight model by X-Aerodynamics, very closely matching real performance (based on public data). Aerobask Systems Suite Fully Integrated Laminar Garmin G1000 with custom EIS and annunciations (In 3D only) Customized FADEC/ECU with test procedures allows engines and propellers to deliver their documented performance with unprecedented accuracy, including in fuel usage Auto-feathering is also accurately managed, for a total immersion Simulated oxygen system Simulated ice protection system MD302: custom coded Standby Attitude Module Fully functional breakers (configurable reliability) High Resolution Model High quality 3D model with high resolution PBR textures (4K textures) Fully functional virtual 3D cockpit, with smooth and VR-friendly manipulators Windshield effects: reflections, rain and frost Many parameters saved between flights Configurable pilots, passengers and luggage Optimized to save FPS Custom Sounds FMOD High Quality Enhanced 3D system sounds, including Doppler and Flanger effects Auto-Updater Keep your aircraft up-to-date with a convenient auto-updater Requirements: X-Plane 12 or X-Plane 11 Windows, Mac (using Rosetta) or Linux 4 GB VRAM Minimum. 8 GB+ VRAM recommended Current version: 12r2 (October 27th 2022) Installation Download of the Diamond DA-62 is 376mb and it is installed in your General Aviation Folder as a 933mb folder. Documents Documentation is excellent. Great manual with feature details, checklists/Performance tables and MD302 manual. Quicklook views.pdf DA62 Flight Manual.pdf DA62 Checklist Normal Operations.pdf Airspeed Normal Operation.pdf DA62 Checklist Emergency Procedures.pdf DA62 Performance Tables.pdf Install_Settings.pdf Quick-Doc MD302.pdf ______________________ Review by Stephen Dutton 4th Nov 2022 Copyright©2022: X-PlaneReviews (Disclaimer. All images and text in this review are the work and property of X-PlaneReviews, no sharing or copy of the content is allowed without consent from the author as per copyright conditions) Review System Specifications:  Computer System: Windows - S1700 Core i7 12700K 12 Core 3.60 GHz CPU / 64bit -32 Gb single 1067 Mhz DDR4 2133 - ASUS GeForce GTX 1080 8Gb - Samsung Evo M2 2TB SSD - Sound : Yamaha Speakers YST-M200SP Software: - Windows 11 Pro - X-Plane 12.00B11 (This is a beta review). Plugins: JustFlight-Traffic (X-Plane.OrgStore) US$52.99 : Global SFD plugin US$30.00 : RK Apps XPRealistic v2 - US$34.99 Scenery or Aircraft - EDDB - Berlin-Brandenburg V2 XP by Aerosoft (X-Plane.OrgStore) - US$29.99 - EDDP - Leipzig/Halle International Airport by JustSim/Digital Design (X-Plane.OrgStore) - US$20.00 (Disclaimer. All images and text in this review are the work and property of X-PlaneReviews, no sharing or copy of the content is allowed without consent from the author as per copyright conditions) All Rights Reserved

NEWS! - Aerobask updates Diamond DA-62 to X-Plane 12 They have been busy over at Aerobask. Already they have developed for current X-Plane 12 compliance has been the Diamond DA-50RG and just lately the Viperjet. Now here is the Twin-Diesel engined Diamond DA-62, a cracker of an aircraft that now has the X-Plane 12 features as well . The original X-Plane 11 review is here; Aircraft Review : Diamond DA-62 by Aerobask The Diamond DA62 is a five- to seven-seat, twin-engine light aircraft produced by Diamond Aircraft Industries and was first announced in March 2012. After the success of the Diamond DA-50, it was soon morphed into the DA-62 which kept the larger fuselage of the DA-50, but added the Twin-Engined design of the DA-42, and comes also with the more powerful Austro Engine E4 (marketed as the AE 300) which is a liquid-cooled, inline, four-cylinder, four-stroke, diesel piston aircraft engine of which the DA-62 has the 180hp AE330 version. This is still Beta patch version, not a full X-Plane 12 aircraft file. So changes can still happen as can you find bugs in the new simulator beta run. DA-62 Features include Now supports X-Plane 12 Both X-Plane 12 and X-Plane 11 versions included Advanced Flight model Flight model by X-Aerodynamics, very closely matching real performance (based on public data) New Synthetic Vision New GCU476 - Alphanumeric Keyboard Aerobask Systems Suite Fully Integrated Laminar Garmin G1000 with custom EIS and annunciations (In 3D only) Customized FADEC/ECU with test procedures allows engines and propellers to deliver their documented performance with unprecedented accuracy, including in fuel usage Auto-feathering is also accurately managed, for a total immersion Simulated oxygen system Simulated ice protection system MD302: custom coded Standby Attitude Module Fully functional breakers (configurable reliability) New Laminar oxygen system New Laminar GFC700 Autopilot Saso Kiselkov's librain.plugin support Support for Avitab Plugin More features than products priced at $50 or $60 High Resolution Model High quality 3D model with high resolution PBR textures (4K textures) Fully functional virtual 3D cockpit, with smooth and VR-friendly manipulators Windshield effects: reflections, rain and frost Many parameters saved between flights Configurable pilots, passengers and luggage Optimized to save FPS Custom Sounds FMOD High Quality Enhanced 3D system sounds, including Doppler and Flanger effects Auto-Updater Keep your aircraft up-to-date with a convenient auto-updater All Images here are updated X-Plane 12 images and are all courtesy of Aerobask! Remember you get two aircraft for both X-Plane 11 and X-Plane 12 for the price of one! Designed and images are courtesy of Aerobask Support forum for the DA62 _____________________ The Diamond DA-62 X-Plane 12 by Aerobask is available from the X-Plane.OrgStore!... Here: Diamond DA-62 Price is US$39.95 Requirements X-Plane 12 or X-Plane 11 Windows, Mac (using Rosetta) or Linux 4 GB VRAM Minimum. 8 GB+ VRAM recommended Current version: 12r1 (October 27th 2022) ________________ News by Stephen Dutton 31st 🧙‍♀️ October 2022 Copyright©2022: X-Plane Reviews Disclaimer. All images and text in this review are the work and property of X-PlaneReviews, no sharing or copy of the content is allowed without consent from the author as per copyright conditions) All Right Reserved.

Aircraft Review - Viperjet by Aerobask When it appears you think "why didn't anyone else do that"? And there is a point to that question. A two seater personal Jet aircraft is not your average General Aviation aircraft is it, as most aircraft in this category are for military (training) and in fact all personal tandem seaters except for a few odd aircraft from Burt Rutan like the VariEze which was a forerunner of the Viperjet because this Viper aircraft was also originally created with a pusher propeller 350 hp (261 kW) Continental TSIOL-550 powerplant then known as the Viperfan. Basically the ViperJet is a kit aircraft, homebuilt. The kit costs US$182,000 and you are going to spend another US$300,000 to $500,000 get it airborne, that is if you can find a General Electric J85 jet engine lying around. This J85 version is the MkII as the MkI didn't really fly very well with the underpowered Turbomeca Marboré installed. The original Viperjet prototype flew late in October 1999 at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh in 2000.The MKII prototype flew on 12 June 2005 and you can upgrade your Mk1 to the MkII. The LXR version here uses the P&W JT15D-1A (2200 lbs thrust). This is a thoroughly composite material aircraft for lightweight and strength. And you have to admit the Viperjet is a very striking aircraft for the sort money it costs as you would usually pay about 10 million apiece for something of this nature in built for the military (notwithstanding the military hardware and the outrageous development costs). The Viperjet has all the Aerobask traits, composite aircraft (tick), modern glass instruments (tick), lightweight (tick) and not usually mainstream aviation (tick). But aerobask do these aircraft very well, and they are a lot of fun to fly as well. In saying that the Viperjet is quite different in that "fun" category in the flying aspect. so it makes the aircraft not really fit in anywhere and maybe it is that definition in why Viper Aircraft have sold only a handful of aircraft. Performance: Rate of climb (aerobatic weight) 7500fpm / Rate of climb (gross weight) 5000fpm - Mmo (FL250) 0.72 / VNE (Sea Level) 375 KIAS - Maximum speed cruise (FL280) 400 KTAS - Economy cruise speed (FL280) 350 KTAS - Approach speed 120-130 KIAS / Landing Speed 95-105 KIAS - Landing speed Range economy cruise (with Tip Tanks) 1450 nm. The Viperjet is a striking aircraft, like a slightly smaller smoother version of the Hawk Trainer without the canted rear tailplanes. being composite you don't have the minute detailing of panels and screws, but were they are required they are well done for instrument or wing access and the wing tanks are very well detailed and realistic. The left and right wing sections can clearly be seen as separate construction items and the curves and shape design is excellent. Internally it is very well crafted, no bulky ejector seats in here but leather couches and carpet... not very military in look or feel. Underneath that huge opening canopy, is the two seat formation layout. The front pilot's position has full instrumentation and the rear is for basic instrumentation flying and aircraft control and a handy handgrip to hang on. But at least you can fly the aircraft from the rear position. In the front the panel/glareshelid is quite high and restricts the viewpoint forward, in the rear it is far better and the view is simply excellent. Aerobask has taken a little liberty in the instrumentation and flat displays, but every Viperjet built is different and so there is really no standard in this area, so that is to our advantage than non-compliance. Below on the center panel are four round backup instruments in Artificial horizon, Altitude, Speed and HSI (Heading indicator) and the main fuel switch is set below. Joysticks front and rear are beautiful and realistic, and the rudder pedals are basic lightweight metal. This aircraft you would think being powered by a jetengine would be complex... but it is not, and in fact quite the opposite in being actually very basic. Left panel holds mostly all your main aircraft switches and controls. GPU (Ground Power Unit), Main battery and Avionic power switches, Igniter (to start the engine), Combined Starter & Generator switch (very clever), Boost pump, L&R Fuel Tanks transfer pump, Main fuel Throttle/cutoff and Airbrake levers. An important dial (unless you want to die) is the Pressurization Dial that shows you your cabin pressure. Your outside static elements can be switched on and off here as well that includes wheel chocks and pitot covers. Right Panel is mostly covered in circuit breakers (breakers for gear, avionics and engine are operational). But there are three important pressurization switches and cockpit heating switches. Canopy seal is three actions in pressure, safety lock and the actual canopy release lever. Power on and avionics switched on and the panel starts to come to life. It takes a few moments to start up the avionics but when completed you have nice set of instrumentation. Left to right is first your Falcon AOA (Angle of Attack) Kit with a simple three position flap switch below. Then your main Electronics International MVP-50T EIS engine display that covers most of your engines operational parameters. Below is a Garmin SL 30 VOR (VOR1 & VOR2) Radio and the standard Garmin 240 Radio set below that. Central is the huge Garmin GDU 370 PFD, with built in Artificial horizon, Speed and Altitude tapes, Rate of turn and pitch indicators, and an excellent HSI (Heading indicator) with built in NDB and VOR indicators. You have the excellent X-Plane default GNS 530 built in with popout screen, but the list of buttons on the right of the GDU 370 PFD mostly just duplicate the GNS 530 buttons in operation. The MEGGiTT autopilot is powerful but simple as well and a great addition if you are flying over a distance combined with the GNS 530. Final set is the Garmin GTX 330 Transponder, which is a very nice unit. Undercarriage gear switch is to the side with three green lights showing extended. There are a row of annunciators across the top of the panel (and airbrake extended annunciators) and the main light switches below the GDU 370 PFD for Land, Taxi, Nav, Strobe and beacon. The menus are quite simple in one button for one action and to adjust anything on the MFD you turn the knob top right and the buttons cover HDG (heading), CRS (Course), CDI selection (Nav1/Nav2/GPS) BARO and ALT. On the MVP-50T EIS on the menu you have a Fuel Management Data page that covers Fuel Level Data, Fuel Flow Data, Fuel Tank including dumping the Tip Tanks. GPS data is also shown. You can fill the fuel tanks but only when the aircraft is cold and dark. On the GDU 370 PFD the menu will give you the option of having the WRX weather screen on or off. The rear left switch and lever panel is a duplication of the front pilots panel. The instruments set in an upper console panel are a nice three screen set for Artificial horizon/Pitch/Rate of Turn, central Speed and Altitude tapes and right a basic HSI (Heading indicator). The GTX 330 Transponder and SL 30 VOR units are set out below. Flaps and undercarriage switches are set out left and right like on the front panel. Below on the bulkhead is the MVP-50T EIS and default GNS 530 units. All basic units but you could easily fly as well in the rear as in the front seat as you have everything except the Garmin 240 Radio. Flying the Viperjet You have an external GPU to provide power and a starter for the aircraft and that is activated by a switch on the left console. Central Fuel switch to on, boost pump switch to on, and igniter switch to on... You must take throttle out of the fuel cutoff gate and then just hit the "Start" button and the engine whine will start up behind you, engine startup is fully automatic. "Start" switch to "Gen" is a failsafe clever way to make sure the generator is switched on. Once the engine parameters have steadied down you can switch off the boost pump and igniter switches and close down the external GPU. It is noted that you never exceed maximum EGT (exhaust gas temperature, 710 °C) for more than 5 minutes, to avoid engine failure and that is simulated in this aircraft. Closing the huge canopy is a push of the red lever, once down then pressurize the cockpit with the "canopy seal switch" then switch the engine bleed switch to on to redirect the bleed air to the pressurization system, If correct it will show the pressure on the Pressurization Dial. In the front is is slightly claustrophobic and the view a little tight with the high panel. The undercarriage from a distance is basic and a little spindly but close up wheel detailing is excellent, with all the nuts, bolts and brake components well done. Small details like the push-pull rod that controls the rear tailplanes is well done, and so are the minute flaps and huge main wing ailerons. There are a set of default views set out to the numeric keypad, but I have my own set of default views, so I over-rode them. Lining up the center line and throttle up and the aircraft leaps off the brakes. It is skittish as the speed builds so you have to work to keep the aircraft straight. The Viperjet feels all the bumps and lumps on the taxiways and runway, so you have to be wary of any big ones throwing you off course. Around 85knots and rotate and then your flying nicely and the shuddering stops. The Viperjet will climb well, but this is no MD Eagle F15D, In fact it runs out of puff early and at this weight I found only 10º pitch up was the maximum I could achieve without losing power. You have to keep rechecking the artificial horizon when leveled out as you tend to look slightly down the nose and through the gap in the front and that makes you fly slightly nose up, it is perspective thing. But once level the aircraft will very quickly go to its cruise speed and here about 260knts. As an aircraft to fly manually it is totally easy and brilliant, but I couldn't find the trim knobs or tabs? Instinctively you just want to throw the aircraft around. You can do aerobatics in this aircraft and it would be interesting to see a pro fly this aircraft around, but it is great on the stick and you know you want too... but "hey, lets barrelroll" and yes it is as much fun as it looks, but also harder than it looks in getting the aircraft to come out of the roll cleanly. You keep an eye on that cabin pressure gauge as it keeps you comfortable. Inside the rear the view (10.36 for the review, is now a crap view without the extended scenery in 10.40) but it still gives you the feeling of space and glorious openness inside the aircraft, the window reflections were always a aerobask trademark, and they are very good here as well. The overwhelming feeling while cruising along at 20,000ft is that the real Viperjet must be simply an amazing aircraft to fly and be in, and to own one must be incredible... why, why, is there not hundreds of Viperjets flying around? The MEGGiTT autopilot is a great tool for flying high and fast point to point over a distance, 1,400nm range is not to be sneezed at for such a small aircraft. The panel displays are very good, clear and precise you can target a runway by VOR and NDB points and set to line up the runway by your CRS (course) direction and follow your markers. On approach (I tried both APP and manual) and the aircraft is easy to place and control, the flaps are small but effective and you can sit at 120knts and down to 95knts on landing. The Viperjet is easy to place and it is also easy to mark your point of landing... and make it perfect. Airbrakes are like tabs under the inner wing area and are effective to a point. Your landing speed is critical, but if you have a choice between a long runway and a short one then pick the longer one. As I found out on my first adjustment circuit in that I did stop, but... just. Speed does not run off quickly and the jet is light, and on top of that the bumps and notches in the runway that can have you working the rudder hard to keep it in line, like what happened on the takeoff run. Liveries There are six liveries, White/Red (noted as Red), Silver/Black (noted as black), Checkerboard, Gold/Black (noted as yellow), Silver/Blue and Orange. All are excellent and most are real Viperjet liveries. Lighting The Viperjet's lighting is fine but quite basic. The cockpit is a nice place to be at night. But you only have two adjustments in Instruments and overhead, strangely the backup instruments are lit by the overhead lights and not the instrument adjustment? In the rear it is just as good and it looks professional in quality. External lighting is okay, but the taxi lights shine through the wingpods from the side, tail-light is a bit blobby and is too big. lighting spread is okay but not very wide for taxiing. Summary Overall this is an amazing aircraft, a jet and a small powerful one at that. So who would not want one in their hangar, certainly I would and flying it would be an amazing experience. We can only get a glimpse of that dream here and actually get a chance to fly an aircraft that can be as close as you want to be with out joining an airforce, certainly this aircraft has some potential in being a cheap jet trainer? Aerobask has again pulled out and delivered a different aircraft experience, and one you can fly and even do some basic aerobatics in jet style. Design and great instrumentation means the Viperjet can be a fun all over sky afternoon or a distance flight point to point. The overall theme is the aircraft is very easy and basic to use and fly, yes you still have great gizmos and wonderful instrumentation, but the important bits and radio units means it can be professional flyer aircraft as well, so it is really a good all round trainer and great for VOR to VOR and NDB trials. If you want to learn to fly a faster GA, then this is your aircraft. Set up and flying is easy, nice to fly and you can cruise at 30,000ft and feel on top of the world. Great aircraft and another great design from Aerobask. _____________________ Fully featured and including: The Viperjet by Aerobask is available from the New X-Plane.Org Store here : Viperjet LXR And is priced at only US$21.95 _____________________ Fully featured and including: High quality 3D model with high resolution textures (4K), ambient occlusion, specular and normal mapping Flight model defined according to the specifications of the LXR version. Fun to fly. Fully functional virtual 3D cockpit. Functional rear cockpit (instructor). Panoramic windshield with reflections Integrated systems: Start sequence, pressurization, engine failure, radar weather, setup page Many custom sounds: rolling, gear, flaps, canopy, vocal alert, callout, ... Enhanced sound engine using SASL scripts ____________________ Installation : Download file size is 369.30mb to your X-Plane - GA Aircraft Folder. Installed file size is 435.90mb Notes: None Documents : You get a lot of documents including a good Manual including a basic checklist, Your liveries, Recommended settings and a very good set of real Viperjet documents and MVP50 instruction sheet. Requirements : Windows, MAC or Linux - X-Plane 10.36 or higher - 32 and 64 bit compatible. (X-Plane 9 not supported) - 1.5 GB VRAM Video Card Recommended Current version: 1.0 (Last updated August 20th 2015) Developer Support Site : (Aerobask- Harransor Support .Org) ____________________ Review by Stephen Dutton 21st August 2015 Copyright©2015: X-Plane Reviews Review System Specifications: Computer System: - 2.66 Ghz Intel Core i5 iMac 27”- 9 Gb 1067 Mhz DDR3 - ATI Radeon HD 6970M 2048 mb- Seagate 512gb SSD Software: - Mac OS Yosemite 10.10.1 - X-Plane 10 Global ver 10.35 (final) Addons - Saitek x52 Pro system Joystick and Throttle : Sound - Bose Soundlink Mini Scenery or Aircraft - KLAL - Lakeland Linder Regional Airport 2.01 by Drankum (X-Plane.Org) - Free

Aircraft Review : Diamond DA-50RG by Aerobask It is hard to believe that it is nearly nine years since Harranssor burst onto the X-Plane Simulator scene with a freeware Eclipse 550 personal jet. The quality of that jet for a freeware was off the charts for the period, so it was also always a forward plan to release payware aircraft... that came with the Diamond DA-42 Twinstar in Mid-2013, and it set a archetype in the type of aircraft Aerobask, now a team set out to develop in X-Plane ever since. Notable is that Aerobask's future feature development is of the Falcon 8X, breaking the pattern of nearly a decade. That format set back then for Aerobask is of very modern carbon-fibre aircraft or light jet, (VLJ) with a particular association with the Diamond Aircraft of Austria. The DA-42 is now long gone, but Aerobask released a Diamond DA-62 in 2018. So here is a followup Diamond to the DA-62 in the Diamond DA-50 RG (the RG relates to the Retractable Gear version). There is currently only two DA-50's, First one was shown in 2006, and it made it's maiden flight on 4 April 2007. The project has been proposed to be powered by several different engine configurations, but was certified on 9 September 2020 with the Continental Aerospace Technologies CD-300 which is a geared, liquid-cooled, turbo-charged and jet-A1-fueled engine controlled by two redundant full FADEC systems. The original DA-50 had the FG or Fixed Gear configuration, the second this "RG" configuration. The DA-62 uses the very same fuselage as the DA-50 (Originally called the DA-52), but the DA-62 has two Austro AE300 Diesel engines burning Jet A fuel, so in some aspects it can be slightly confusing in their different configuations. The evolution from the American upright designs, say Cessna, Piper and Beechcraft is shown here in this smooth curvy and very aerodynamic aircraft. It is what a modern General Aviation aircraft should be. There is no doubting the quality from Aerobask, they were renowned for it from the start, so the detail oozes out of every external or internal area. You expect with the same fuselage that Aerobask would just copy the same to the single-engined aircraft from the twin, but that is not the absolute case here. There are of course a lot of similarities with the same instrument panel shape and decor, but everything including the front seats are completely different. Being a reviewer you are faced with other developers hard work. It is really good work as well, and you have to account for the time and effort put into creating these little replicas of real world aircraft... but how do you rate that level of quality? The problem is created by developers like Aerobask, because their work is so sublime, and the situation is as pro's they are "Bloody well" good at it, and it all shows in the intimate detail of their aircraft. Look at the mesh oil-cooler air intake, and the supreme shape of the main engine intake, it is just levels above of everyone else in this category, so you look at other developers work and say it is average, even if it very good... so Aerobask have created that ultra level of detail and quality that everyone should aspire too. Wing shape and feel is excellent as is the supreme shaping of the winglet, it looks like the real part it is, not a modeled part of the aircraft, and there is a difference. Leading edge ice buffers are also beautifully shaped, and the tail trim and the under elevator detail is excellent. A highlight is the 3-blade composite, electrically de- iced variable pitch propeller from MT Propeller. Glass is brilliant too. Glass is very hard to shape with these very bulbous curvy aircraft, and it has to look right, I mean look right to be this perfect or it would look out of place... and Aerobask get it spot on. If I am going to criticise, the window surround lines are a bit Lo-Res and jaggy at close inspection. But items like the door handle that look flat from a distance are excellent and 3d when observed at close quarters, with fine natural detail and logos. The gear is the same as the DA-62, the rears are trailing link and very well done, if a little factory fresh. The link components are individual in fine detail with the correctly crafted bolts holding the assemblies together, I like the fancy red wheels hubs which are deftly done.... .... the nosegear assembly is just as good with the upper brackets showing real detailing, notable is that the nosewheel is freewheeling and not steered on the real aircraft (steering is via the rudder pedal braking). Menu Before looking at the internal cabin... we will go through the menu. It is located in the banner X-Plane Plugin menu "Aerobask DA50RG Options show/hide" The pop-up card menu is very good and expanded out from past Aerobask card menus with tabs, of which there are four; Ground Options, More Options, Sounds and About. Ground Options Top left is the fuel settings. There are two tanks in MAIN (left), and AUX (Right) both of 73.1kg/24.0GAL capacity. And the Total fuel on board shown top. You can also reset the fuel balance via the "Balance Fuel" button. There are two selections with the lower left "Load Manager' or Weight&Balance. One choice is were you select manually, or you can use the slider to set the overall payload of the aircraft via the "Custom Load Manager" tickbox. Lower left are your weights in Kgs and Lbs, that cover; Empty Mass (or a non-fuel or loaded aircraft), Total Fuel, Payload, Total Mass and Max Mass (don't exceed weight). You load the aircraft via the right column of Bags (with a slider), Co-Pilot, Left (rear) Pax (Passenger), Right (rear) Pax. And you can select either a Male or Female pilot (good in this era of diversity). You have to find a balance between fuel load (meaning range) and payload, load in too much fuel, baggage or people and you get a "Red" and a "Total Mass overweight" warning. The weights (except for the payload, baggage or fuel) are fixed. Right top are the "Static Elements". These include; Chocks, Cones, pitot covers and a static towbar, there is also a GPU (Ground Power Unit). (also selectable internally). The GPU is a small hand unit, but very well done. Notable is that if the Static Elements are used, the pilot then disappears from inside the aircraft. There are two panels lower right. One covers the Breakers or Fuses. You can set the breaker failure or reliability to either; perfect, realistic, entertaining, challenging or can "Reset all breakers" to fixed. The secondary lower panel covers the aircraft's fluids, in the; Oxygen Level (0%-100%) and the De-ice Fluid (0%-100%) More Options Second tab covers the more detailed options available on the DA-50RG, it is quite a complex list of features and ideas. There are seven option choices on the left... Disable Instrument popups (for VR) Keep Instrument Popups inside screen Popup/popout brightness always full Free-caster nosewheel (realistic) (switched off it reverts to tiller control) Bezel-less MD302 (for cockpit builders) Enable (or disable) instrument reflections Enable (or disable) windshield reflections On the right side the list of options are for the G1000 avionics system of which there are eight selections... G1000: Show Ground speed on PFD next to TAS G1000: Show radar height below 2,500ft G1000: FLC mode does not synchronize AP speed G1000: Enable touchscreen features G1000: Disable bezels of popup/popout (again for cockpit builders) G1000: Keep aspect ratio of popup/popout G1000: Synthetic vision (experimental) When selecting the "Synthetic Vision" you get more options. These G1000 options we will cover later to see the options directly on the G1000 system. Sounds There are seven sound sliders; Master, Aircraft Exterior, Aircraft Interior, Copilot, Radios, Environmental and User Interface. You can Enable (or disable) sounds, and Enable (the) speech. About Here is listed the Aerobask development team, but version number is indicated in the popup menu title, and changelog.txt in the main folder. The menu can be moved around your screen, but not scaled... it is also accessible (or popup) via pressing the aircraft registration number on the instrument panel. Interior Aerobask's interior fitouts are always of the absolute highest quality in the X-Plane Simulator, always incredibly well done and detailed, with perfect realism, and again you are not disappointed here with the DA-50RG. Open those huge upward swinging doors and here is another amazing cabin, and it is different to the DA-62, certainly in the front seats. The decor theme here is dark grey with orange piping, and very, very light grey inserts, with a breathable dot material... ... and the "Diamond Aircraft" branding is everywhere, it is all so classy. In the rear it is a bench three seater thanks to that bulbous cabin mid-section, but in reality it is a two-seater back here or a child in the middle. Behind is the net covered baggage area. Seat shape and detailing is simply superb, with excellent casual placed seatbelts and the headphones that are thrown onto the seat. The DA-62 had interesting seats in that the side cushion supports were separate, here they are intergrated back into the seat base, but the separate thigh supports are still there, supported by the same lovely chrome brackets. It is a much more brighter cabin than the DA-62, with lighter tones than the earlier darker browns. Note the lovely finer blue seat stitching, it is used all around the seats and the instrument panel. The room mounted console is the same that is in the DA-62. It holds the internal lighting and ventilation controls. The right hand switch on the forward panel will connect and activate the external GPU as mentioned, and we will look at the lighting later. Forward are two folded neatly window blinds, that drop down when required. They however can't be adjusted in place to an angle, they just store themselves again if you touch them, but they are well done, above in the pocket is an aircraft log book. Instrument Panel The layout of the facia is almost the same as the DA-62, in almost I mean there are a few switches that are positioned differently, but otherwise you would slip in here and know exactly where everything is, if you have earlier flown the DA-62. Front and centre is the native Laminar Research G1000 twin panel avionics system, but it does have a lot of Aerobask custom features. Power up and you get the left PFD (Primary Flight Display) first "Initializing" the system, then the "Aerobask" logo. The system then goes into "reversionary" mode. This is all the primary instruments and engine parameters presented all on the single display, in this case the PFD. (If the PFD failed then the "reversionary" mode switches to the other MFD (Multi Functional Display). Switch on the "Avionics" (AV MASTER), then the right MFD, starts and goes through the same Initializing and logo procedures... ... then settles on the system info page that shows you your navdata database and credits. Press ENT or rightmost softkey to access the right side MFD display. It is all very good and detailed in these startup procedures, and you feel it is very professional in operation. Both displays popup (or out) and can be scaled and moved around the screen. You can of course hide the bezels for home cockpit builders via the menu. Both screens can be popped out via a hotspot on the centre banner logo (arrowed)... PFD (Primary Flight Display) is very good with the large Artificial Horizon dominating the screen with the Speed and Altitude (with built in Vertical Speed) tapes either side, Rate of turn and FD (Flight Director) are all present. Lower is the Heading rose with built in Heading, Wind (3 options), CRS (Course) DME, NAV 1, NAV 2 and OBS. There is the option to put a small map on the PFD but I never do (it makes the display too crowded). All Radio, Autopilot (AP) settings and data are across the top banner of the panel. Note the inbuilt warnings panel centre right. There is a custom tool to input values directly by touching the screen (i.e. clicking the values or using the mouse scroll wheel to adjust them). For example, for changing a radio frequency or here the heading, you can use the mouse scroll wheel, which is much easier than turning the knobs in the 3D cockpit. it has a small slider or ++ / -- tool to say which items can be manipulated. Synthetic Vision There is the "Synthetic Vision" tool that we mentioned earlier. There are three modes that can be selected from the "More Options" menu. The first is the standard default Laminar one with the blue top and dirty brown lower horizons. Then the "Topology Only", with a light blue (realistic) sky and green lower horizon, the final one is "Topology + Terrain" with the same light sky and brown lower horizon. An extra option selection is "Real Pitch Scale", With a Flight Director (FD) Cross-pointer and Sky Pointer instead of a roll pointer, both Topology and Topology + Terrain with pitch scales can be switched off or on are shown below. The Synthetic Vision by Oscar Pilote does not work very well in a hard stand position, so I will leave it set in the Topology + Terrain mode while flying. Other PFD settings lower menu include the HSI Rose and Tape transparency. There are three modes to choose from; Opaque, Medium and Full, to see the full Synthetic Vision display. The secondary MFD in a MAP/Navigation panel covers also all the (EIS) engine outputs which are in two versions with one visual and one in data. This is another custom panel by Aerobask. The colourful engine readouts cover are on page one; Manifold Pressure (Load) and RPM, Oil Pressure and Temp, Coolant Temp, Gearbox Temp, Volts and Fuel quantity for both tanks. and right the FLAPS position (UP-20º-38º) and ELEV (UP-TO-DN) adjustment, the rudder adjustment trim is on the bottom. System switch (data) covers the same LOAD and RPM top, Oil Temp and Pressure and Engine Hours, Fuel Calculations in FFLOW GPH (Gallons Per Hour), GAL (Used), REM (Remain) and can they be reset via the keys. Lower is the same Fuel quantity gauges and Electrical Bus Volts and Battery amps. Flaps and both Trims are also still shown. MD302 SAM® Mid-Panel is the MD302 SAM® or the "Standby Altitude Module" Basically is a standby instrument that "pops"out and the centre knob adjusts the Baro... .. but if you hold the same knob down for two or three seconds then a menu appears that covers In-fight configurable items that are... Altitude units in feet or meters, Barometer units either inHg or mbars, Attitude symbol in traditional or delta, Attitude mask on or off and Altitude trend bar in either on or off. There is a Quick-Doc manual provided that covers the instruments features and their use. Note: The SAM has to be set separately (i.e. Baro) than the main PFD as one adjustment does not cover all the instruments. Top mid-panel are the Instrument and Flood lighting knobs. Top glareshield are four external lighting switches for; LANDING, TAXI, POSITION (Navigation) and STROBE. One of the big features on the DA-50RG are the active circuit breakers. Demonstrated here is "popping" the GPS/NAV2 Breaker that crosses out the NAV2 display... Another great feature is the power adjustable rudder pedals for both the pilot and co-pilot that are moved by the switches on either side of the instrument panel (arrowed lower). Far Left upper on the facia is the changeable aircraft registration, with the nice De-Ice panel below. FADEC (Full Authority Digital Engine Control) switches with test option are set below, then below again are the 1&2 Alternator switches... lower knee panel are the main electrical and start, pitot heat switches/button. Landing gear central, Flap switch and indicators, ELT and more Circuit Breakers. Unlike the DA-62, the Air Pressure gauge is hung below on the right side, with on the left side the manual gear extension. Top centre console has the Environmental Control panel. Mid-console has the main single throttle level. The Diamond has a unique throttle/mixture (FADAC) system that controls both the fuel and power outputs, there is also a GO-AROUND (power) switch built in as well... Top left is the Park Brake, and lower is the Cowl-Flap switch... .... this opens and closes a cowling around the exhausts to cool the engine or smooth out in flight. Centre is a very nice large manual trim-wheel, and under the armrest is the three point NORMAL-EMERGENCY-OFF Fuel tank selector. A handy pen and a soft drink can (sorry no coffee cup in here). One of the primary features in the DA-50RG is the GCU447 (FMS Keypad) that is built into the centre armrest. It is a fully custom control pad for the MFD. It can also be popped out in a separate panel for home builders, or for ease of use. Pressing the “K” button on top the GCU will enable physical keyboard entry, like the “PFD Touch”. To resume normal keyboard, press again. Aerobask has also provided a GCU447 shortcut by pressing the "GCU476 POPUP" sticker on the panel. The GCU447 is very good, very easy to use, but you do lose all manipulator control of the aircraft when in the keyboard mode, so it is best used on the ground before flight if typing in data.... which is the general idea anyway. The twin flight sticks can't be hidden but that is no concern here as they don't at all cover the instrument panel. Beautifully done, with a built in trim switch and ATC mike, and admire the excellent twin plate rudder pedal design. There is a built in AviTab iPad (Plugin Required)... it is stored in the left side console holder, press to mount on the left side of the instrument panel. You can also press the knob attachment (AviTab) holder on the windscreen pillar to bring the AviTab up as well (plugin required). ________ Lighting Internal With the vast array of lighting options available in X-Plane. It is rare to get really bad cockpit lighting in simulation. But there is also the other extreme in getting it perfectly correct as well, in other words to reflect the real aircraft's environment. Aerobask are obviously very good in this aspect, and so it it is in here. Overall with the same cabin architecture as the DA-62 it is very similar, but the lighting in here certainly feels a bit more modern and adjustable than in the DA-62, which feels less dynamic. The two lighting knobs centre panel give you a lot of adjustment, so you can control the glare and brightness to your own particular preferences. Areas like the lower panel, circuit breakers and switch panels are all separately illuminated.... it is all very nice as well. The overhead console has a lot of lighting options built in... The two built in (large knobs) adjust (dim) the front two highly adjustable spot lights and a large centre-positioned cabin light... Two switches rear of the console switch on another two passenger adjustable spot lights, and with all the lighting switched on the cabin is very bright and well lit. The lighting all looks very effective externally. There is a left wing Ice spot-light built into the door, but to note the Ice panel system has to be active to use it. Under the fuselage there are two lights for the Landing and Taxi lighting. They do come through the fuselage at some angles like on the DA-62, but this is par normal as it is a X-Plane lighting bug, that was never rectified. Navigation lights are basic wingtip only with nice ground reflections, but there is no rotating beacon. Strobe lights are also nicely tuned. Flying the DA-50RG Setting up the Diamond is very easy. Programming the G1000 Flightplan is quick with the GCU447. Not completely true as I only used the GCU447 to adjust the flightplan from EGHI (Southampton,UK) to EINN (Shannon, IRL) on the GCU447, the rest was downloaded from SimBrief. But I always look at how you can adjust and edit, rather than the actual inputting in the first place. This is still the standard Laminar G1000 avionics, but the additional option of the GCU447 really does help in the Departure and Arrival edits. My payload is quite heavy at 4346 Lbs, and the flight distance to Shannon is 371 NM, so the tanks are brimming as well with 48.5 GAL (147.6 Kgs), SimBrief note I need 357 LBs of fuel, but that does not compute because the range of the DA-50RG is 1,389 km (863 mi, 750 nmi) incl. 30 min. reserve. So I am taking notes on this. As noted the Fuel selector is hidden under the arm rest... it is very easy to forget it with it positioned under here, and worse is that in flight you have to monitor and then switch tanks to keep the fuel balance correct, I put a small note on my monitor "Switch TANKS!" so I didn't forget. Like everything on the DA-50RG, the trim wheel is lovely to use. There is a Trim marker to set for T/O Takeoff, easy-peasy. Once the power is on, the avionics sorted and the fuel flowing... all you have to do is hit the big round button to start the CD-300. No setting of the mixtures or jiggling the throttle (or even moving the throttle lever), no priming the engine. All you do is just hit the button and the fully electronic FADAC management does all the work, and the Continental Aerospace Technologies jet fueled engine just bursts into life! You have to wait a short time though for the numbers to sort themselves out and settle down , there is a lot of red at first that slowly goes one on one all yellow, then you are ready to go... So starting the DA-50 is far easier than starting my own car... no easier. Setting the Baro is very easy as well with the pop-out tool, just use the keyboard to type it in and then press the actual Baro number in the number rectangle box to insert, ditto in don't forget to set the separate backup Baro on the MD302 SAM. The sounds are INCREDIBLE... from the moment the CD-300 catches you are in there... realism 101. There is so much feel low down, push the throttle up slightly and the tone changes to magnificent. But it is the wide range of sound variations that brings out the sheer realism of this engine... go external and the sounds are actually quite different from this perspective, as they are slightly muffled internally. The only problem is that the external sounds is they are also quite loud, no make that really loud, so the external slider goes way down to a third. You will never ever tire of this aircraft and the way it sounds. All these custom sounds were created by Laminar sound master Daniela Rodriguez Careri. Flaps to T/O and off goes the park brake, there is no aircraft movement until you add in a little power, perfect. Again what I like is throttle reaction on the ground. Throttle up slightly and you move, throttle to idle and you slow down or even stop... perfect, I mean how hard can it be to do things right like this, as you have to usually contend with runaway aircraft all the time on the brakes with too much power? Do I have a pet peeve with this aircraft, well there is one? As noted the nosegear is castered, but you can use the tiller to turn the aircraft (or choose not to via the menu). Both are not ideal for perfect taxiing... ... not even touching the tiller and the aircraft will weave around, even at slow speeds. Up the taxi speed a little and you can lose control. So you just try to find a speed to go straight and not lose any nasty movements, and any counteracting adjustment will just send you into a worse weaving and throwing and to be honest it is not at all very realistic. Any turns have to be very carefully done, just a touch on the tiller in the direction you want to go is enough to do even a tightish turn. The "Synthetic Vision" kicks in when we hit the runway, sadly it doesn't work with custom scenery, but that changes as soon you hit the default textures. At the turnaround on the end of EGHI's Rwy 06, I turn the DA-50RG, quite more easily this time as I adjusted to the system, not perfect but better. A last check of the checklist and everything is sound, so power up. To be honest I was not looking forward to taking off and losing a wayward aircraft, It was not easy and it took a lot of skill but I kept the DA-50 pretty much going in the right direction... once the rudder kicked it it of course got a lot easier... but tricky it is at the start of run. At 78 knts I could pull back on the stick. I'm heavy and I really felt the weight (that is very good), so I had to feel my way up and find the best climb rate (I used 10º). The second the wheels left the hard runway surface, they automatically retracted, nice... but don't get the takeoff wrong, or you will doing an embarrassing belly landing on the runway? The aircraft was a bit bloated in it's handling, but that is fine here and expected with the weight. I didn't even have to adjust the trim for the climb rate, recommended is 5.3 m/s (1,040 ft/min), but at this weight a little sluggish, so I came down to around 750 fpm, and that was really good. Flaps to UP. Now the "Synthetic Vision" starts to show some Topology, but not so much terrain as there is not much around Southampton. Now turning a whole 360º to go north, the Diamond is really lovely to fly, with great feel and movement to my commands, That weight is there, you feel it and use it... this is a very nice aircraft to pilot, a lot of fun as well and you easily find your groove. I trim back a little more for speed, but still want 600 fpm to climb up to my 8,000ft cruise altitude. You feel it is not as highly powered as the DA-62, but that is fine, as there is more than enough. Now the "Synthetic Vision" really comes alive as the English countryside is caught in it's gaze. I pick up my EGHI-EINN flightplan north of EGHI and everything is "Hunky Dory". And yes I am watching those fuel tanks! There is actually a pump system to level out the tanks called "FUEL TRANS", if you want to be lazy, but I can do this fuel monitoring stuff anyway. Your maximum speed in the DA-50RG is 335 km/h (208 mph, 181 kn) (ISA, 16,000 ft, 1,700 kg, MCP), with the already noted range of 1,389 km (863 mi, 750 nmi) incl. 30 min. reserve, and the FF or Fuel consumption at max range is 34.1 L/h (9 US gal/h official). You don't feel you are stuffed into a tight doghouse in the Diamond cabin.... It is bright and open in here with tons of space, the windows are extra large and go high up into the doors, so you even feel a little exposed, but it is a very nice way to fly! Approaching Wales and the terrain now shows on the "Synthetic Vision", you can of course clear most of the tapes and rose off the screen for almost a full synthetic screen... The Syn vision comes into it's own as I reach the Irish Sea. Outside there is a lot of light cloud cover, but the Syn Screen shows me the Welsh coast and my current position... It is very good. Less light brings out the quality of the aircraft in the nice curves and the shapes on the fuselage, that Aerobask extreme quality is built in here. You have to admit the Diamond is a brilliant modern general aviation aircraft. It has everything you need in power, space and speed. The Diamond does have windshield/instrument reflection effects and some nice wingflex, but notable is that rain and frost and other features will only be only be available with the coming X-Plane 12 aircraft version. The DA-50RG will also be X-Plane 12 compatible or updated on release of the new X-Plane version. I'm over the Irish coast at Wexford (STRUMBLE (STU) 113.10), and now heading towards Shannon. The STAR is TIPUR 2E approach, which you pick up at TIPUR. From there I step down by 2,000 ft steps from my cruise altitude as I enter the STAR, to do a final turn of 1,500ft. Soon I get my first glimpse of EINN Shannon on my right. The final turn is at ELPON the joint T point to finals of Rwy 06. Shannon is now directly ahead. The white flap band on the speed tape can be a little deceiving... as you can go to the first 20º flap selection below 133 Knts, not that I recommend it, as it is too fast... and the DA-50 will struggle to find it's balance in a pitching movement, I recommend go slower then put the flap down. The ILS 06 LOC (109.50 ISE) point is barely a few NM past the turn, but I am only using the beams for guidance, not for actual use, and marker point to begin my descent into the airport. Again nicely you can control the height by the throttle power, no stick pitch is required, steeper approaches however would need a little slight forward pitch.... The gear goes down at this ILS Threshold point as well. The gear noises internally are also very authentic, even brilliant as the three gear carriage locks into place. Descending I have to be careful as the Atlantic Ocean is pushing a steady breeze east, it pulls me (slightly) off centre, but it is very easily corrected, as the feel through the controls are very good in their feedback, certainly a pilot's aircraft. You can set directly the Baro MIN height aural warning directly, and it is very effective on finals... In the descent slope I slip down from a 100 odd knts (Flap 20º) to around 90 knts (Flap 30º) towards the absolute final "over the wall". You bleed the speed off until you get around 83 knts, then you touch down nicely... The gear here has more give than the earlier Aerobask stick style undercarriages, even supple, and to a point you have to watch that, if not you will bounce. Stall speed is 106 km/h (66 mph, 57 kn) or a round 60 knts in the landing configuration, I will admit is was a bit fast. The landing however was good, then trying to slow and not weave badly was not... the Diamond was a real handful? Finally I got some control and was surprised I was still on the runway hard stuff... ... like all of flying, I think it needs practice to get your landings really right in the DA-50RG, so practice is going to the order of the day. Now the long, long trek down Taxiway C and D to the terminal area, So I had to taxi at a slow pace to get there in one piece and not do any field excursions with the loose nosewheel.. The stop switch is the ENGINE MASTER switch left lower panel, so you shutdown (or select power) to the CD-300 via this switch. So some numbers... I covered a distance of 360.80 NM, and used 35.7 GAL (48.1 GAL T/O) of A1, with 12.3 GAL left in the tanks, with a FF of around 16 GAL per hour, so get your slide rulers out and compute that for your distance flying, it feels a bit high in fuel consumption for the range, because as noted it should be around FF 9 GALPH in cruise, the lowest I saw was 12 GALPH, but there you go. But this Aerobask is a considerable aircraft, incredible really for what you get for your money. But overall it feels so modern and so easily flyable... the Diamond DA-50RG is just a brilliant simulation. Notable is the change of the updater for Aerobask. The DA-62 had originally when released the STMA updater, then half-way through to date it changed to the Skunkcrafts updater, the DA-50RG however uses the Skunkcrafts Updater plugin, which is far better and more efficient, a good steady change there. Liveries The exceptional eight liveries are listed via their colours, OD-VFR Orange (grey) is default, then Gold, Grey, Purple, Yellow, Green, Blue and the only name livery in "The Black Knight. All are excellent with very good built in light diffusion effects and the metals/chrome are exceptional. A blank white is provided for painters. ____________________ Summary For over nine years now in the X-Plane Simulator, Aerobask have been developing high quality composite modern propeller and small (VLJ) light jets with a focus on the Diamond Aircraft from Austria. A few years ago Aerobask released the DA-62, a uniquely powered twin-engined aircraft. Here in this release is the single propellered CD-300 which is a geared, liquid-cooled, turbo-charged and jet-A1-fueled engine powered aircraft that could be noted as the sister aircraft to the DA-62RG, because they share the same fuselage and size. The RG moniker relates to the "Retractable Gear" version, the only other DA-50 in existence is the FG or "Fixed Gear" aircraft (the earlier prototype). Those who have already purchased or have flown an Aerobask aircraft will have no problems in knowing what they will get from this top-tier developer. Aerobask's quality and detail is second to none and again the DA-50RG is a supreme example of their highly coveted work. The aircraft in detail externally and internally is excellent, an almost photographic reproduction of the real aircraft. Details and quality is outstanding. The DA-50RG comes with a fully customised G1000 avionics system, MD302 SAM® or the "Standby Altitude Module", and a brilliantly intergated GCU447 (FMS Keypad). Full menus with static options, pilots and passengers and a very good Weight&Balance setup page (but no CG Graph). There are a lot of finer options for VR and Home based cockpits. Also included and a major feature is the Synthetic Vision by Oscar Pilote. This visual system on the Primary Flight Display can give you visual feedback in poor environmental conditions, it is noted currently as "experimental" but it works fine, except in custom scenery situations. FADAC engine controls are also included and very good they are, but the CD-300 sounds are simply glorious inside and out by Daniela Rodriguez Careri. The internal lighting is again glorious as is the basic external lighting. It is really hard to find anything in a negative slant with this superb aircraft. Troublesome though is the real world caster wheel on the nose. Even with the option to tiller the wheel it weaves badly in taxiing, taking off and landing... hard to master, you will have to find your own way of learning to fly and move around it's limitations. To note this is a Laminar Research tuning issue, as tillers can be extremely sensitive on even far bigger aircraft, but very notable here. Also notable is that Aerobask aircraft are highly developed when released, there is no later run of updates to correct faults here, the aircraft are usually perfect out of the box. In a package Aerobask delivers everything you want in a high quality aircraft with unique clever custom systems, and that is certainly the case here as well... better still everything comes in a competitively priced package below US$40. As a reviewer Aerobask aircraft are a dream to review, certainly there is a lot of custom options to cover, but in every other aspect they are some of the very best general aviation simulations available today... and for tomorrow in that fact. _____________________ The Diamond DA-50RG by Aerobask is available from the X-Plane.OrgStore!... Here: (release is noted as today 15th March 2022) Diamond DA50 RG Price is US$39.95 Requirements X-Plane 11 - Support for XP12 when available Windows, Mac or Linux 4 GB VRAM Minimum. 8 GB+ VRAM recommended Current version: 1.0 (March 15th 2022) Aerobask quality 3D model Fully functional virtual 3D cockpit, with smooth and VR-friendly manipulators. High quality 3D model with high resolution PBR textures (4K). Accurate flight model Flight model by X-Aerodynamics Enhanced Laminar G1000 --> Synthetic Vision technology by OscarPilote superb! Fully Integrated Laminar Garmin G1000 with custom EIS and annunciations Touch screen features for easy handling Systems Customized FADEC/ECU with test procedure. Simulated oxygen system. Simulated ice protection system. MD302: custom coded Standby Attitude Module. Fully functional breakers (configurable reliability). Other Smooth wingflex Windshield effects: reflections. Rain and frost only available with X-Plane 12 aircraft version. Visual icing effect on the wings. Many parameters saved between flights. Configurable pilots (male or female), passengers and luggage. High quality sounds Full FMOD environment by Daniela Rodriguez Careri Accurate doppler, distance attenuation and flyby effects. In-game volume control without pausing the sim Liveries 8 beautiful 4K liveries out of the box White (for painters) and additional liveries available through Aerobask website Installation and documents: download for the Aerobask DA-50RG is 830MB and is deposited in the "General Aviation" X-Plane folder. The AviTab plugin is also required to use this aircraft, and it is deposited in your X-Plane Plugins folder. Full Installation is 830Mb Documents supplied are: Install_Settings.pdf Avitab.pdf Quick-Doc MD302.pdf DA50 Performances.pdf DA50 Procedures.pdf Customized G1000.pdf DA50 AFM.pdf A full set of documents are provided, including detailed manuals for the MD302 and Laminar G1000. A quick setup and deeper system manual is also provided with Performance and (Checklist) Procedures. ________________ Aircraft Review by Stephen Dutton 15th March 2022 Copyright©2022: X-Plane Reviews Review System Specifications:  Computer System: Windows - Intel Core i7 6700K CPU 4.00GHz / 64bit -32 Gb single 1067 Mhz DDR4 2133 - ASUS GeForce GTX 1080 8Gb - Samsung Evo M2 2TB SSD - Sound : Yamaha Speakers YST-M200SP Software: - Windows 10 - X-Plane 11.55 Plugins: Global SFD plugin US$30.00 : Environment Engine by xEnviro US$69.90 : RK Apps XPRealistic v2 - US$34.99 Scenery or Aircraft - EGHI - Southampton Airport by Pilot+Plus (X-Plane.OrgStore) - US$19.95 - EINN - Shannon Airport by Boundless (X-Plane.OrgStore) - US$23.99 Disclaimer. All images and text in this review are the work and property of X-PlaneReviews, no sharing or copy of the content is allowed without consent from the author as per copyright conditions) All Right Reserved.

NEWS! - New Images : Aerobask shows off more images of the Falcon 8X Teasers are the name of the game lately, keep you wanting... but still waiting. It is Aerobask's turn this time with new images of their ongoing development of the Dassault Falcon 8X, the long range version of the successful Falcon 7X. The aircraft is being developed with Dassault Aviation as a partner (or authorised in partnership with Dassualt) to create the most authentic Private Jet yet. Details continue to filter out, but again there is no release date or even any idea of a release of this most anticipated aircraft for the X-Plane simulator, but notable was the book and vase of flowers in the aircraft... personally I would rather have a coffee machine, but then again that is just me. Note the excellent EASy III Flight Management Window display... Price, around US$50 would be about right... The Aerobask X-Plane.Org development page is here - Dassault Aviation Falcon 8X Images are courtesy of Aerobask ___________________________ News by Stephen Dutton 6th July 2021 Copyright©2021: X-Plane Reviews (Disclaimer. All images and text in this review are the work and property of X-PlaneReviews, no sharing or copy of the content is allowed without consent from the author as per copyright conditions) All Rights Reserved

Aircraft Review : Epic Victory G1000 Edition by Aerobask Throughout the last year, Aerobask has revised most of their aircraft over from a custom G1000 system to the default X-Plane Laminar G1000 GPS avionics system. Both the Diamond DA-62 and the (freeware) Robin DR401 CDI 155 have had conversions, more closer and noticeable is the Epic E1000 - G1000 Edition from early 2019, now it is the time or the re-tune of the Epic Victory. The Very Light Jets (VLJ) were created for a market in air taxi services that never really came to pass. But that should not take the quality away from this very clever and even brilliant design of a very small private jet from Epic Aircraft Company of Oregon in the United States of America. The aircraft seats five including the pilot, and the Victory is very small modern aircraft and it is very easy to operate and fly. In this version from Aerobask the engine has been upgraded to the more powerful PW617F engine, from the earlier Pratt & Whitney Canada PW600, the PW617F produces 1,615 pounds-force (7.18 kN), to the earlier 900 pounds-force (4.0 kN) in the PW600, a significant power increase. The new default "Green Bird" livery is bright... green, the aircraft however looks brilliant. Complex surfaces and the modeling is also simply brilliant... ... if you think this composite style is easy to do, then it isn't, as to get it wrong it looks plain and fake, the opposite of the expert skills at work here. Undercarriage is excellent as well. All the extensive linkages and assemblies are perfect, and note the way the trailing front gear assembly rotates around the upper solid section, and the trailing arm main gear is also very well constructed and well detailed. Glass is very good, with depth and reflections (reflections can be turned off if required)... ... single entry door is split upper and lower, You open (or close) via the catch (or menu) and it unfurls nicely. Aerobask is all about materials, excellent material detailing and from the moment you open the door you are not disappointed on the inner door textures, they are lovely. Cabin Internally the cabin is exceptional... as per any Aerobask aircraft, but those materials are to die for.... ... twin-style roof lining is really nice and textured as is the lovely side material, all the detailing comes with a nice wooden teak touch. It is an especially roomy cabin for a small aircraft with plenty of leg space, but your luggage comes with you. Notable details include a folding out table with an iPad and drink glass, below the lower seats opens a pillow draw and water cooler storage. All three passenger seats can adjusted via the switches and the side panels, movement of the back-rest (forward/backward) and head-rest (forward/backward) are all available on every rear seat. And If you don't think, things don't change then look at the original Victory Interior, and understand how far we (in X-Plane) and Aerobask has come. Cockpit The detail and quality of this modern cockpit is again exceptional, again to note it is far harder to make modern detail more authentic than the older clockwork dial cockpits, and again it is very, very good in here. It is again the material detail that blows you away, quality, quality and more quality. The Victory comes with the Laminar Research G1000 Avionics system, but obviously it also comes with some custom tweaks. It is a PFD - MFD - PFD (Primary Flight Display/Multi-Functional Display/Primary Flight Display) configuration... ... with the COMMS panel set between the Pilot's PFD and the MFD. The GFC700 autopilot with custom CSC mode (FADEC-based autothrottle) is set mid-top panel. Laminar G1000 Primary Flight Display/Multi-Functional Display Aerobask originally created for the Victory a Garmin G900 Primary Flight display (PFD) for each pilot, and the center display (MFD) as a modified X-Plane GNS530 unit. And to note that those G900's were only an accurate representation of a real G900 even then. It worked, but as the MFD G1000 avionics suite it was a bit of stretch in more ways than one. But at the time it was actually very good. Since that time Laminar Research have created as default in X-Plane a full G1000 avionics suite, and so the "G1000" moniker on this aircraft package reflects the install of that default system on the Victory, and that is the system now installed here. There is a PFD - Primary Flight Display and a centre MFD - Multi-Functional Display (or MAP). Both displays can be popped up or out.. ... either with the Aircraft symbol, centre PFD, The pop-out selector is also quite hard to find on the MFD as it is not like the PFD centre aircraft symbol, but a touch spot that comes on to the screen for you to select (arrowed). Screens are highly adjustable and you can hide the bezels (for home cockpit use or custom setups). PFD - Primary Flight Display The main PFD has the split horizon which is here even more darker than the dreary brown and blue of the default look... of which I don't really care for, the older version was the far nicer gradient version, and this bland default background display can be actually be adjusted as Carenado did on their Cessna 172SP G1000. The G1000's PFD main flight instruments that are all correct with the artificial horizon, speed and altitude tapes, bank roll scale and roll pointer and HSI (horizontal situation indicator), course and heading pointer which are all in one. The FD (Flight Director) elements are also shown. Other features include "Inset" map, alerts, REF/TIMER, NRST, XPDR, both VOR 1 and 2 pointers, DME and Wind (3 options) ... top banner includes Radio NAV (left) and COM (right) Autopilot info (centre). A few custom features allow you to adjust the radio frequencies directly with a mouse scroll wheel while holding the cursor over the frequency you want to adjust. Another custom pop-out adjuster panel can also be used with the "Altitude" (press arrowed), Heading and Baro pressure... you just press the green band to insert the number, very quick and easy. The optional Engine Information System (EIS) is available on this version in the PFD in the Emergency mode, selected by the Red button (arrowed), it also shows the EIS and an insert Map left lower screen. A Backup Horizon and Speed Tape that is situated far left is the MD 302 Standby Attitude Module (SAM®) made by Mid-Continent Instruments and Avionics. MFD - Multi-Functional Display The Multi-Functional Display covers the Engine Information System (EIS), MAP and Flightplan. There is a custom setting top left (arrowed) on the EIS that changes the N1, EGT and N2 readouts to N1 (with number readout) and ITT- Inter Turbine Temperature (with number readout). Centre EIS shows DIFF PSI, ALT FT, Fuel Flow GPH (Gal per hour). Oil Pressure and Temperature, Electrical Bus AMPS and Volts, Fuel quantity (GAL) is for both tanks (100.0 Gal per tank) in a scale... and AIL (Aileron) and RUD (Rudder) position, More engine readouts can be accessed via the "System" button. Fuel readouts are top with Fuel Flow GPH, Fuel Flow PPH (lbs per Hour), Fuel Pressure (PSI) and quantity left and right tanks (lbs) - Fuel Totalizer shows lbs Remaining and lbs Used. Totalizer amount can be increased, decreased or reset. Lower is the Electrical Gen A (amps)and ALT A (amps) and Bus 1 Volts and Bus 2 Volts. On both EIS displays are also the Aileron position marker, Rudder position marker, Elevator position marker and Flap position UP-10º-35º. Top banner has the same layout as the PFD... Radio NAV (left) and COM (right) Autopilot info (centre). MAP, is standard Laminar, but still extremely good in range from 2000ft to 800nm, Options include TROPO and AIRWAYS. Garmin Flight Management System (FMS) GCU477 The biggest change from the earlier Aerobask Victory is the removal lower panel of the MVP50 EIS (Engine Information System), and it is replaced by a Garmin Flight Management System (FMS) GCU477 (alphanumeric keypad) supporting new LR commands, similar to the panel used in the SR-22... ... I am a big fan of these bigger keyboard panels as they make data and route (flightplan) entry into the FMC and much more a far easier option. GCU477 Panel pops out via a clickpoint on any corner of the dash's panel, panel is size adjustable as well. Inputting direct letters or numbers is a huge time saver than the knobby, clicky affair of using the G1000 knobs, editing, like this a complex short route between KRSW (Florida Southwest) to KTPA (Tampa) is far easier, and flightplan altitudes were also a breeze to input. You can click the upper left ‘K’ to enable/ disable your physical keyboard to use the GCU unit manually via keys. GFC 700 Autopilot The Victory comes with a full custom GFC 700 AHRS-based Autopilot with a CSC mode : CURRENT SPEED CONTROL (CSC). This makes the CSC a basic autothrottle. Adjustable pop-out is again via any corner clickpoint. GFC 700 has an extensive set of contols; CRS 1&2, FD 1&2, NAV, APR (Approach), BANK, HDG, AP, YD, CSC, CPL, ALT, VNV, VS (Vertical Speed) and FLC (Flight Level Change). Lower Panel There are a twin switchgear panels set out behind each of the lovely yokes (both yokes can be hidden, but not separately) On the left side shoulder panel is the main switchgear. The Victory like the E1000 aircraft has a unique way of switching on the various systems... the three rows of buttons are set out to be used at the various points of getting the aircraft ready for flight and in switch order. Top row is the "Pre-Start" Second row is the "Pre-Taxi" and the lower row is the "Systems". The layout although arranged by the same rows of buttons as the earlier Victory, but the sequence of activation of the items are actually arranged differently, so you will need to relearn the buttons sequence. Pre-Start includes - Batteries (Batt 1 & Batt 2), Avionics Master, Fuel Pump and (Engine) Cut off Pre-Taxi Includes - Igniter, Start, Starter Gen, Fuel Auto, Autopilot, Trim Master Systems Includes - Press Air, Emerg Press, Dump Valve and Emerg Oxygen On the right is the "LIGHTS" panel the lighting panel. Items included are; Land and Taxi lights, Strobe and Navigation lights and a Beacon. Another lower button panel is your "ICE" buttons for; Ice Detect, Surf Heat, Inlet Heat, Windshield Heat and the Pitot Heat (Pitot Stall HT). Below are a set of 16 active fuses (Circuit Breakers), and the landing gear knob is to the right. All the breakers are functional and animated and click any breaker to enable/disable the dedicated system, You can choose in the Options menu the breaker reliability and a full reset. Right lower side shoulder panel are the cabin's Air Cond and Cabin Oxygen controls and another 16 active Fuses (circuit breakers). There is also the Flap Panel (T/O and Land) Cabin overhead spot lighting panel and PSI Oxygen gauge, the Oxygen system works, so you can fly high! (Ceiling is 28,000ft). There is a very nice in your face active warning annunciator panel (testable), and the mini-pedestal is lovely in detail and finish. Throttle is a single unit that covers all three actions, Throttle, Propeller and Mixture, above is a panel lighting adjustment, and below the park brake... the lower section has a lovely crafted Fuel Switch for CLOSE- LEFT- RIGHT (Tanks). Note the finely crafted Rudder Pedals. VR iPad AviTab One of the great features is the iPad and it is located in the side storage bin. Obviously created for VR interaction, it is highly useful for the 2d generation as well as It works with the Avitab (Aviators Tablet) plugin. It works quite well in a basic form with mostly for access to stored pdf files and note taking, but internet access would be a nice feature. My use here was with the Navigraph Chart (Subscription) access that is now available (make sure you have AviTab v0.3.18). You login and create access to your Navigraph account, it is all seemless and it works extremely well... You can bring up all your charts and airport information to have it all by your fingertips. My only wish (again) is for the tablet to be in both landscape and Portrait modes because most charts are set in the portrait orientation. Menus There are three ways to access the Victory's menu. One is from the pull down plugin menu, Two is from the 'Epic Logo" symbol tab top panel, Three is via the iPad in the side storage bin. The menu is laid out in the new Laminar XP11 pop-up style and there are four tab selections with : Ground, Options, Sounds and About. Ground : Is both a menu and a basic Weights and Fuel setup in one. Fuel sliders top will set the amount of fuel required in both kgs and Gal and show the fuel weight... A side note here on refueling the Victory. You have to be really careful to balance out the fuel on the Victory, both on the ground and in flight. The aircraft will lean, let alone fly. There is a "Custom Load Manager" option, that changes from your basic weights to the full set of options available. You can select passengers (pilot is free but he still counts in the aircraft weight). With a Co-Pilot, Front Passenger and rear R&L Passengers. Baggage is None, 60kg and 120 kgs... and all weights of loaded Fuel and passengers are shown in detail with full all up weight and Maximum weight allowed. There is no CoG scale or graph. All passengers are shown but the bags that were shown on a luggage trolley has been removed, Passengers are not visible internally and only externally except for the Co-Pilot, which is a shame as the modeling of the people is very good and racial diversity applies. Static elements include: Chocks, Engine inlet/outlet covers, pitot covers, towbar, exhaust cover and loads of flags... but they are all or nothing. So it makes closing up the aircraft a bit awkward with say the towbar attached or if you just want the chocks after a flight? The Ground Power Unit (GPU) is now a more heavy duty design than on the earlier Victory, it is very nice... but also extremely noisy if the door is open. Button will open the single door or via the internal/external handle. Options : Are mostly for selections of the G1000 and custom features, like the change of the custom to default G1000 engine display, disable G1000 pop-ups (VR), enable custom popups and touchscreen features, enable disable Bezels, keep aspect ratios (PFD/MFD), Show TAS (True AirSpeed) in Knts under the speed tape. You can choose to keep the pop-ups inside the screen (VR) and switch on/off the instrument and window reflections. Top of the menu is the reliability of the electrical system via the circuit breakers, or you can reset them all in one push of the button. Top of the Options page is the Breaker reliability slider and reset. Sounds : The sound panel is just a carbon copy of the X-Plane11 sounds panel and if you adjust it here, then you adjust it there and vice-versa, there are just two added buttons with the "Enable Sounds" and "Enable Speech" selections. About : The final selection is a credit page on who created the Aerobask aircraft. There maybe a bit of a confusion in that as you are reading through the details of the Victory, and wondering "well it is all very familiar"? well it is because the instrument layouts and the menus are very, very much the same as the earlier Epic E1000 from Aerobask. There are differences, but most refer to the propulsion in a prop for the Epic E1000, and a jet engine for the Victory, in most other aspects the aircraft are very similar. So if you know and fly the Aerobask E1000, then the change over to the Victory is going to be very easy. Internal Lighting The lighting is quite exceptional. There are so many different lighting aspects for you choose from, and various settings you could twiddle around with for hours. There are basically two sets of lighting panels, one on the mini-pedestal, and a cabin set of three overhead lights, right panel. For one there is a lovely "Halo" effect that fills the cabin (Ceiling knob)... and the three overhead lights that can be adjusted via the right panel or directly with manipulators... ... but the centre light stays on all the time. With the right settings you can always find the right feel in the cabin. There is the excellent dropdown "Shield" lighting and the panel lighting, again you can perfectly adjust the instrument panel to find the right ambience. If you want the full 2001 lighting effect, then you can have that as well. Lighting detail is also outstanding... entry lights on the door and all the warning signs are lit up.... ... when the aircraft is pressurised it is noted via four LEDs on the upper door! And the external Power Cart has a built in light to unconnect the cable... amazing detail. Flying the Victory G1000 Daniela Rodríguez Careri has done a FMOD sound package for the Aerobask Victory G1000, and very, very good it is. Sit in the pilot's seat and have the door open, then activate the External Ground Power unit, and the start up (and shutdown) sounds are very authentic, while running it can be easily heard as well. Piloting a Epic Victory is not really like owning an aircraft, more like a car ownership that flies. Everything is made absolutely basically simple to use. Turn on the two power switches, avionics, fuel pump (top row) and then press the igniter and "Start' buttons (second row)... and that is it, it is just like turning a key in a car and going. Again leave open the door to hear that excellent whine up of the Pratt & Whitney Canada 617F engine, then close the door to a hush quiet, and don't forget to shutdown the external GPU. Engine n1 settles down around 26.7%, and the cabin is just a nice hum... brakes off and a small nudge of the throttle and your moving.... so very easy and simple. Taxiing is excellent, touch a bit of throttle and you move forward, pull back the throttle and the speed decreases, lovely to set the right speed and movement... view out is also very, very good with the wide and long embracing front windows... ... 2000ft Map range means you can navigate around any airport with ease, Flaps set to T/O position, lights on and we are good to go. You can check your flap position on the EIS, and adjust your trim to TO... then it is power up, and bang... away you go with a shove in the back. I am half fuel and a full passenger load at 5500lbs, but the Epic just goes... rotation is around 125kts, and the Victory bites the air. Gear goes up in a "whoosh", and your climbing.... Climb rate is 3000 feet per minute, but you need to hold the Epic at 10º pitch, or it will keep on pitching upwards, in a moment I am already flying past my set 6000ft altitude... "where did that go? so I readjust for 9000ft. If you want to channel your inner "Chuck Yeager" then the Victory feels like a boated X-1, with passengers in the back. Note that I had to centre the rudder trim to refine a bank in level flying, then when under the autopilot, I had to again readjust the same rudder trim to take out another slight bank... but the aircraft did respond well both times to the trimming. Nice is the engine particle effects, a little dark smoke gives it that pure jet exhaust look. Sounds have full Full-mode FMOD aircraft and accurate doppler, distance attenuation and flyby effects. You hear those excellent sounds them and feel them as well Epic looks amazing in the air. There is an auto selection to switch the fuel tanks over, but if you do it manually and forget, you will get a warning until you switch the tanks over. It is so very fast this Victory... Max Cruise speed is 320 knts, 592.22 km per hour or 368 mph, range is 1,380 mi (2,222 km, 1,200 nmi) and I covered the distance over Florida like a bullet, so the aircraft, climbs and covers the ground like nothing else. In the back it is first rate luxury as a passenger. In heading to Tampa, I nearly flew right over it? Reducing speed is about finding balance, put the flaps down to LAND (a noted 150 kias) and then you need to find that perfect position speed of around 110 knts, the speed margin is extremely small, drop slightly under 100 knts and your nose up, go too fast and your nose down, the line and the balance inbetween is extremely tight. Ditto when you drop the gear... suddenly the drag will pull down your speed, so you have re-find and reset that neutral throttle balance again... .... so your throttle actions have to sublimely smooth and only come with small adjustments, get it right and the aircraft responds nicely... so flying the Victory it certainly brings out a bit of a character in the aircraft, it looks extremely easy on the surface, but there is a deeper hidden layer to really fly the aircraft perfectly and need the use all of your flying skills to do so... I love it. In the ILS glideslope or on final approach you drop to 90 knts to keep that perfect balance (gear and flaps full down)... .... again those slight throttle adjustments are absolutely required... 80 knts is required for a slight nose up landing, but I am happy with that. Nice touchdown is at around 70 knts, but now comes the tricky part? You have no airbrakes or thrust reversers, so you have to do a long rollout... ... and it takes forever to rub off the speed, you just can't touch those brakes, until you are well down to around the 30 knts mark, even then only very lightly, so there is a bit of skill needed here. Fast taking off, fast climbing... but also fast when on landing, it is a rapid little aircraft. KPTA - Tampa is a complicated airport to navigate, so the AviTab and Navigraph charts are essential, I like the size and position, not too big or in your face, but handy for use. It is a long, long taxi to the GA area, but the passengers are happy. External lighting The Victory's external lighting is pretty basic, but good. There is a red beacon lower, navigation and strobe lights. The landing lights are in the left wing and there is a single taxi light on the front wheel strut. It is now far, far better than the original lighting. Liveries In reality there is only one livery in "Prototype". But Aerobask have created eleven unique liveries with clever names. Green Bird is default... ... there is also; Blue Sky, Cubism, Deep Purple, Desert Storm (old default), Gold Curve... two Prototypes are in 4K and 2K sizes, Matte Grey, Red Line and Red Vic... all are excellent, but Cubism is amazing. __________________ Summary Aerobask released back in early 2016 an interesting light jet in the Epic Victory. This aircraft had been designed as a world beating air-taxi aircraft to carry a pilot and four passengers and their luggage, Sadly the concept did not get off the ground (no pun intended). But that is not to say what was created by Epic Aircraft which was a ground breaking design. There was an update to the Aerobask victory later that year 2016 in v2.0. So here is a completely new version of the Epic Victory from Aerobask, a fully ground up design and it brings the aircraft up to date to current design and X-Plane parameters and features. It's biggest change is to the Laminar Research (default) G1000 avionics package, but it still comes with a few custom features above the default layout. Aerobask have always been an outstanding developer, and this aircraft is another of their outstanding machines. Modeling externally is excellent, but it is in the internal aspect and the use of materials that this aircraft is just another if layers above what it was in quality before, superlative is a word to associated with this internal design. Not only is the cabin excellent, but so are the lighting effects, high quality sounds, adjustable seats, drink cabinet, seat draw and folding table and a authentic sounding GPU. The G1000 comes with a host of features as well, including the Flight Management System GCU477, GFC 700 AHRS-based Autopilot, MD 302 (SAM®) and AviTab intergration, againn the cockpit qualiy and lighting is first rate. Liveries are excellent in ideas Menus have also gone Laminar based, basically the same, they however do look more bland compared to the original menu layouts, static elements are fixed (one and all), and the passengers are not seen internally (god knows why), but there is a basic weights and fuel page. Personally I would love a separate static elements page, the current idea is just too restricting, and the AviTab to rotate portrait wise There are a lot of similarities between the earlier Aerobask Epic E1000 - G1000 Edition released earlier last year 2019, if you have that aircraft then it is an instant step into this aircraft, or a Propeller version with the E1000, and jet engined version with the Victory, they are quite the same. The only area they differ is in performance. Like I noted in the original review, the Epic Victory looks quite simplistic in it's design and operation, but under that simple exterior is quite and interesting aircraft that requires skill to fly and in finding a deeper and fulfilling simulation, so the Aerobask Epic Victory- G1000 is quite an outstanding package... Highly Recommended. _______________________________ The Epic Victory- G1000 Edition by Aerobask is NOW available! from the X-Plane.Org Store here : Epic Victory G1000 Edition Priced at US$34.95 Features : Aerobask UHD Model High quality interior and exterior 3D model High quality PBR 4K textures Various 4K PBR liveries Additional 2K PBR livery for low-spec hardware Enhanced night-time lighting ambience with more of 200 spill lights for a great rendering Livery-dependent assorted interiors VR-ready and VR-friendly New Flight model New flight model fitting the powerful PW617F engine Fun to fly both fast and slow Custom engine failure High quality sounds High quality FMOD sounds from Daniela Rodríguez Careri Full-mode FMOD aircraft - Accurate doppler, distance attenuation and flyby effects. Deep system emulation G1000 PFD and MFD from Laminar Research - Custom popups G1000 custom EMS (optional) G1000 TouchScreen features (optional) GFC700 autopilot with custom CSC mode (FADEC-based autothrottle) - GFC700 2D popup GCU477 (alphanumeric keypad) supporting new LR commands for XP11.50 - GCU477 2D popup GCU477 physical keyboard on-demand capture MD302 Standby Attitude Module AH500SD Programmable annunciator - Aero Safety Systems Simulated breakers with custom reliability Simulated pressurization and oxygen system Avitab support in 3D tablet Requirements X-Plane 11 Windows, MAC or Linux 4 GB VRAM Minimum - 8 GB+ VRAM Video Card Recommended Download Size: 708 MB Current and Review version: G 3.18 (November 11th 2020) Installation and documents: Download for the Epic Victory - G1000 Edition is 725.50 Mb and the unzipped file is deposited in the aircraft "General Aviation" X-Plane folder at 823.70 mb. Avitab (Aviators Tablet) requires the download of the plugin and for the Navigraph charts you need a Navigraph account. Documentation: Huge amount of documentation, with an excellent full manual, recommended settings and performance guidelines Install_recommended_settings.pdf Aerobask Victory Checklist Normal Operation.pdf Performance_Guidelines.pdf Aerobask Victory G1000 Edition Flight Manual.pdf ______________________________________________________________________ Aircraft review by Stephen Dutton 13th November 2020 Copyright©2020 : X-Plane Reviews (Disclaimer. All images and text in this preview are the work and property of X-PlaneReviews, no sharing or copy of the content is allowed without consent from the author as per copyright conditions) Review System Specifications: Computer System: Windows - Intel Core i7 6700K CPU 4.00GHz / 64bit - 16 Gb single 1067 Mhz DDR4 2133 - ASUS GeForce GTX 1080 8Gb - Samsung Evo 1Tb SSD Software: - Windows 10 - X-Plane 11.51 Addons: Saitek x56 Rhino Pro system Joystick and Throttle : Sound - Bose Soundlink Mini Plugins : Avitab (Aviators Tablet) - Free : Skunkcrafts Updater (required) : Traffic Global US$52.99 Scenery or Aircraft - KRSW - Southwest Florida International Airport by Aerosoft (X-Plane.OrgStore) US$24.95 - KTPA - Tampa International Airport by VerticalSim (X-Plane.OrgStore) - US$26.99

Aircraft Review : Embraer EMB-505 Phenom 300 by Aerobask Traditionally Aerobask are associated with very light, even quirky composite propeller or very light jet aircraft. So it came as a surprise when they announced that their next project was for them an extremely different and a far larger aircraft in the Dassault Falcon 8X, the new flagship of the Falcon range, and an aircraft that can can connect Paris to Hong Kong and Los Angeles to Beijing with no stopovers. Certainly an aircraft that is very far removed for what of anything they had created before. Their Falcon 8X has also been in development now for quite awhile with also a lot of previews and details leaking out about the project... so you would expected a release, well.... soon. Instead Aerobask announced the release of another aircraft in the Embraer EMB-505 Phenom 300, and to a point it is still in the same Private Jet or as we say the "Privileged" Jet category. The aircraft is a size and category smaller than the extreme intercontinental Falcon 8X, but still a huge step up in the other major differences from their other Aerobask aircraft... you could say it is a big and significant stepping stone up to the Dassault, or an intermediate filler, the points to be seen here in this review of the Phenom 300, is what will be also coming in the Falcon 8X, and could also be a noted major sweetener on where Aerobask is now going as a developer. This -300 is not the first Phenom in X-Plane, that release goes to Carenado and the Phenom 100, and like Aerobask they were also taking a next step up from their usual General Aviation single and twin aircraft categories. Oddly I didn't much take to the Carenado Phenom 100, it was slow (really slow for a jet) and it had some really odd and annoying quirks... so overall I passed on the aircraft. So here is the Aerobask Phenom 300... .... the first thing you notice is the quality of this aircraft, as it just leaps out at you, it is not just good, but in a high class of excellence. Everything is so smooooth and contoured. Mapping and NMLs (normals) are excellent, as are all the pronounced areas of the fuselage, and note the rivet work around the excellent metal window frame, the details like the APU vent and lower rudder trim are also really perfectly done. The up-swept wingtip fences are sharklet in shape and are beautifully mastered, intimate detail, like wing screws are also really well done in their details. All aerials and beacons are also well rendered, as are... ... the rear mounted pods that hold the twin Pratt & Whitney PW535E1 turbofans, that produce 15.471 kN (3,478 lbf) thrust each, they are both beautifully proportioned and realistic. Note there is no reverse thrust system on the Phenom. The fuselage concave around the engine mounts is excellent modeling in detail, can't be seen, but to know it is perfectly created for that perfect realism. If you like to gawp at all the lovely work and a lot of detail, then there is a lot of gawping you can do here, the underbody with the built in landing and taxi lights are all excellent, as are all the NACA ducts. The undercarriage is very well detailed as well. You can almost feel the aluminium alloy castings and the way the gear assemblies are held together in their detail. Debatable is that that the castings are certainly well done, but they come with not a lot of wear or tear and grunge, oil or grease on their working parts? but the fineer material detail of all the assemblies is certainly there and are extremely authentic in detail. The main landing gear is a trailing-link arrangement, and all the supports, piping, linkages are all expertly completed, even with the required circlips and pins to hold it all together. The Goodyear tyres are expertly created, with nice shaping with the raised logo/lettering. Hubs and aluminium alloy wheel rims are also first rate. Good glass and surfaces have become the normal now in X-Plane. Even a few years ago we used to do loads of "oohs" and "aahs" at these reflections and the expert depth of glass and nice glossy paint finishes since the introduction of Physically based rendering (PBR), in that models the flow of light in the real world and with the aim to achieve the real effects of photorealism... So externally the Phenom 300 is overall excellent.. but there are a few slight wobbles like around the cabin windows which are not absolutely perfectly rounded, but are modeled more with straighter lines than curves. Before we move inside there are a few details to note in the options on the menu. Menu The popup menu (X-Plane window) is accessed by the X-Plane plugins, and the menu selection is at the bottom, or by pressing the "Aerobask" logo by the IESI. There are Five tabs that cover; Ground Options, VSpeeds, More Options, Sounds and About Ground Options : The ground options page has on the left a Fuel Loading set of sliders, and another for weights of the Pilot, Passengers and their Luggage. Lower are all the aircraft weights of the selections chosen. Right on the page are Ten Selections; Open Passenger Door, Open Baggage FWD LH, Open Baggage FWD RH, Open Baggage AFT, Open Fuel Panel, Camera to Fuel Panel, Open GPU Panel, lower are three options covering Ground Power Unit (GPU), Static Elements and finally you can hide the cabin. As noted you can open/close both front nose baggage compartments, the main access door, and the rear baggage door... Static Elements consist of; Wheel Chocks, Cones, Pitot and Vane covers and engine inlet/exhaust covers... and all of the baggage compartments have a number of cases inside depending on the passenger load. At the rear left there is also an Ground Power Unit (GPU), that you have to switch off the engines and open the GPU Panel to use. Right front wing there is also a Fuel Panel. This is an active panel that can be used to refuel the aircraft, and to get there quickly then select the "Camera to Fuel Panel" selection. There is a Power Switch and the selection of which tank to fill, and to INC (Increase) or DEC (Decrease) the amount of fuel you want in the tank. Finally you remove the fuel cap, and select the "Refuel" switch to start the refueling which is noted above the refuel switch, and the full fuel capacity is 2428kg (5353 lbs), Lamp Test and Shut-Off Test also both work. But there is no external Fuel Truck. The quality of these options is sensational in detail. Pressing the Static Elements "off" will remove the covers and show you the engine fan blades, which are again expertly created. VSpeeds : Second Menu Tab is for the adjustable setting of the vSpeeds, in;V1/Vr, V2, Vac, Vfs and Vref, you can also enable (or disable) the ATR or Automatic Thrust Reserve system. More Options : Third Menu Tab covers the general options of the VR (Virtual Reality), Screen popups, G1000, G1000 Synthetic Vision (options), Instrument Tape transparency (three options in Opaque, Medium and Full), Instrument and Windshield reflections and if you want the Co-Pilot visible in the cockpit, there also two options for the IESI (Intergrated Electronic Standby Instrument) for popout options. Sounds : Fourth Menu Tab covers the sound sliders About : The Fifth Menu Tab covers the people that worked or were involved in the Aerobask Phenom 300 project. Cabin Aerobask always did sensational cabin interiors, so you know it will be something special... as usual they didn't disappoint. Up the stairs and into the cabin, and there is three person sofa on the right side of the aircraft, on the left is a small buffet/galley encased in a nice light wood finish. The cabin has nine seats, the sofa for three as mentioned, a club arrangement for four and two rear single seats. Both tables are animated and when opened, the left has an iPad on a stand and on the right there is a full cup of hot coffee... .... there is an orange juice as well if the coffee is too strong. Each seat has an opening panel that contains two switches to raise or lower the blinds, and switches for the overhead spot light, the blinds can also be raised or lowered by the lever on the lower line of each window. Rear of the cabin there are two in panel doors that can be opened... ... inside to the right is a handwash sink, of which the water does pour out of the tap, the right hand drawer can also be opened to reveal the image of that elusive other Aerobask project the Falcon X8, a sign of a "Coming soon'? On the right is a toilet under a flip up seat... ... when you have done your (um business), then just press the button on the wall to flush! Certainly a first in X-Plane, flushing toilets, god MS2020 users will now get really seriously jealous. And at least you can now use the toilet in flight before landing. Cabin materials and decor is absolutely first rate in quality, this is cabin you would want to spend a lot of time in, and for once in the back. A super nice feature (it does not work unless you have set the Flightplan?). Are two screens on the roof to show the aircraft's position in it's flight profile, the departure and destination airports are shown as is the current UTC time. There are five different cabin fitouts to match the exterior livery (you could also mix and match the interiors if you are so apt). My favorite is the dark wood and light material textures, but all are interesting, and even the lovely abstract patterned carpets change in colour as well. As an option you can hide the whole cabin, if your framerate or computer specs are suffering (that badly?). But to me that is like tearing the heart out of the aircraft and is just leaving it in a big black hole. Cockpit It is usually surprising how small it is in aircraft like these, if you have had the chance to sit in, say a Lear jet then fitting into a small round tube is the feeling. Here in the Phenom the cockpit it is also small, tight and crowded. Cockpit detail is again excellent. You would have been quite disappointed if Aerobask had been a bit shortshifted in here, but it is an extremely nice place to fly and be in this aircraft. In an odd note though, is the curtains don't close, or the armrests are not animated either, which is a given on most of these aircraft. But the cockpit design and as the quality of the materials in here is simply first rate. There is no doubt about that Aerobask feel and look in the design, but here it is all display in a bigger scale and palette than we have ever seen before. The detail and the quality all around you is astounding. Power (external) on and the instrument panel comes alive. Here you have the X-Plane three screen G1000 system, but highly modified by Aerobask. The twin ram-horn yokes can be hidden, but not individually, only together... detail and design of the rams though is excellent. When powering up there is a full system align sequence. The IESI (Intergrated Electronic Standby Instrument) is not just a backup Artificial Horizon, but a full separate system to the main avionics of the aircraft (in other words if everything fails, then the IESI will still (should) work). The IESI displays; Attitude (pitch and roll), Standard or barometric-corrected altitude, Indicated airspeed and VMO Limitation, Indicated Mach number and MMO Limitation, Lateral acceleration/slip indication, Vertical speed, ILS (alignment), Altitude in meters and the Heading. G1000 Avionics The Phenom comes with the Laminar Research G1000 Avionics system, but obviously it also comes with some custom tweaks. It is a PFD - MFD - PFD (Primary Flight Display/Multi-Functional Display/Primary Flight Display) configuration... ... either both the PFD or MFD display can be popped-out either with the Aircraft symbol in the centre PFD, however the pop-out selector can be also quite hard to find on the MFD as it is not positioned like with the central PFD centre aircraft symbol, but it is a touch spot that comes on to the screen in the top centre info boxes for you to select (arrowed). Screens are highly adjustable and you can also hide the bezels (for home cockpit use or for custom setups). I have found over the last few years the PFD and the MFDs have been getting duller, with maybe the reflection effects, but they are and can sometimes be quite hard to see in brighter light. The G1000's PFD main flight instruments are all the standard layouts, with the artificial horizon, speed and altitude tapes, bank roll scale and roll pointer and HSI (horizontal situation indicator), course and heading pointer which are all in one. The FD (Flight Director) elements are also shown. Other features include "Inset" map, alerts, REF/TIMER, NRST, XPDR, both VOR 1 and 2 pointers, DME and Wind (3 options) ... top banner includes Radio NAV (left) and COM (right) Autopilot info (centre). Note the Crew Alerting System (CAS). it comes as standard with the G1000 system, the CAS system of the Aerobask Phenom 300 will display WARNING (Red), CAUTION (Yellow) and ADVISORY (White) alerts, in that order of priority. A few custom features allow you to adjust the radio frequencies directly with a mouse scroll wheel while holding the cursor over the frequency you want to adjust. Another custom pop-out adjuster panel can also be used with the "Altitude" (press arrowed), Heading and Baro pressure and all can be inserted directly from the keyboard for speed... then you just press the green band to insert the number, very quick and easy. A note is that when you use this function, the view movement is frozen (keyboard focus), until you hide it again. The optional Engine Information System (EIS) is available on this version in the PFD in the Emergency mode, selected by the Red button (arrowed bottom left), it also shows the full EIS. MFD - Multi-Functional Display The Multi-Functional Display consists of; Engine Information System (EIS), MAP Functions and Flightplan (planning and execution). Top left shows in systems the ATR Symbol. In the event an engine loses power after V1, an Automatic Thrust Reserve (ATR) feature kicks in. ATR looks for a difference in fan speed of 20 percent or more between the two engines. Should this happen, the thrust of the operating engine is boosted by 5 percent (about 170 pounds), helping the climb rate during the rest of the takeoff profile. Engine Information System has the system pages in having two selections, but the second system option in only changing the Oil Temperature to a "Fuel Calc" (Fuel Calculation) readout, and showing the amounts that can be; Decreased, Increased or Reset. EIS systems shows; N1 (with number readout) and ITT- Inter Turbine Temperature (with number readout), N2 (number only) and N2 Oil Pressure and Temperature readouts, Fuel Flow (FF-Kilo per hour), Temperature, Oil Temperature, Landing Gear Position, Cabin data, Flap Position and finally Roll, Pitch and Yaw Trim positions. MAP, is standard Laminar, but still extremely good in range from 2000ft to 800nm, Options include TROPO and AIRWAYS. Flightplan creation and operation is all Laminar G1000 standard, with PROC (Procedures) for departure and arrival. To date the G1000 is really the standard version with a few nice Aerobask tweeks, but there are also two custom options in this system. The first custom option the set on the MFD lower left of the panel (arrowed), and that is a set of custom coded synoptics pages that are displayed to the Multi-Function Display (MFD). The MFD synoptic indication is designed to provide additional information to the flight crew about the system state and operation. There is an Electrical Page, Fuel Page, Anti-Ice Page and an (aircraft) Status Page,. Synthetic Vision The second custom option is one of the main features of the aircraft, in the Synthetic Vision tool made by Oscar Pilote and Aerobask. You can switch to the original default (below) darker brown and duller blue by turning the Synthetic Vision option off. We will look at the Synthetic Vision and it's features more so in flight. GCU 477 Line Replaceable Unit (LRU) is a “Keypad” based system that provides alphanumeric, softkey, and flight planning function keys used to interface with a Garmin Integrated Flight Deck. On the glareshield is the GFC 700 AHRS-based automatic flight control system (AFCS) The GFC 700 has an odd quirk to be aware of... pressing the ALT (Atitude) button is the way in here to change your speed from IAS to Mach, and not with the usual Speed section which just "Syncs" to the current speed. The HGD (Heading) knobs then syncs to the current heading position. There is also a nice Whiskey Compass positioned on the centre windshield partition. Lower panel has three panels that cover; left - Fuel, Pusher, HYD Pumps (hydraulics), ELT, Pusher and Signs/Belts (seat). Centre - Heating, Ice Protection, TAWS (Terrain Awareness and Warning System) and Landing Gear. Right - Pressurization and Air Conditioning. Lower centre panel covers; Fire, Trim, ENG (Engine) Start/Stop and Engine Ignition Left Pilot side are seven panels; Top is a very nice a functional "Test" panel that covers - Fire, SMK DET (Smoke Detection), Annunciators, Stall Prot (Protection) and Ice Prot (Protection). Next is the Pneumatic panel (bleeds), Electrical (Main and External), Oxygen Mask, Oxygen, Voice/Data Recorder... Audio panel. Right CoPilot side is mostly blank, but has another Oxygen Mask and Audio panel. Centre pedestal/console is quite simple, with the small twin throttle levers, with settings of; MAX, TOGA, CON/CLB, MAX CRZ (Maximum Cruise), note the TO/GO button on the side of the throttle handle. Left top is the Flap position; 0 (up) - 1-2-3-FULL. There is a Speed Brake (Open/Close) here as well. The red pull up handle is the Parking Brake. VR iPad AviTab One feature is the AviTab iPad and it is located in the side storage bin. Obviously created for VR interaction, it is highly useful for the 2d generation as well as It works with the Avitab (Aviators Tablet) plugin. It works quite well in a basic form with mostly for access to stored pdf files and note taking, but internet access would be a nice feature. My use here was with the Navigraph Chart (Subscription) access that is now also available (make sure you have AviTab v0.3.18). The sited just left of the pilot's eyesight, the tablet is very good as is the size in, not to big or too small for ready use. Internal/External Lighting As you would expect the lighting is pretty impressive. The main lighting panel is above the windshield, with the External switches to the left, and the Internal switches to the right. The actual lighting panel is nicely lit for use at night and above the switches is a main cockpit light (dome) that is lit by a button... Between are two spot lights, that you press to turn on, and turn to adjust the brightness... Main instrument and text lighting is all connected altogether, but adjustable... ... Main cabin lighting is also very good. The "Upwash" adjustment is really the overall cockpit and cabin lighting set together... ... but the lighting is highly adjustable to get the right feel. There is also four (above the club seating) lights, that can be activated directly on the roof or by the switch in the seat side console... ... another feature is the "Effect" switch that has three positions; Off/Dim/Bright. This turns on the highlights under the table and on the edges of the console in the club section, and highly effective it is. There is however no lighting in the rear toilet area or the sofa/galley area, so if you want to go to the toilet or wash your hands, pour a drink.. whatever, you will have to ask the pilot(s) to up the main overall lighting. The closed door however does light part of the front of the cabin. Personally I think a few more lights connected to the "Effect", for the front galley and rear amenities area would fill out the cabin a bit more fuller and nicer. External on the ground does have two clever lights on the Fuel Panel and around the rear luggage/GPU area... .... the door entrance lighting is pretty impressive as well. External lighting has the front Taxi/Landing lights that are very effective, but all four underside lights come on for both settings... ... wingtip lighting is sensational. There are the navigation lights (red/green), and a rear white light that lights up the sharket, and all for a nice view out of the cabin. Top and bottom fuselage strobe lighting is also excellent with a nice bright LED effect, but there is no tail lighting or top of tail beacon. Overall the lighting is highly impressive. Flying the Phenom 300 The flightplan today is Dublin (EIDW) to Bristol (EGGD). Passengers are in and the fuel is loaded at 1298.9 kg. Not really a major stretch for an aircraft like this, that has a range of 3,723 km (2,313 mi, 2,010 nmi) with IFR reserves, and we are loaded with five occupants. Starting the Phenom 300 is a breeze, okay... certainly very, very easy. You don't need the GPU actually running to to start the engines, but it does help... Switch up the ignition switch for the selected engine and then turn the "Engine START/STOP" knob to "START" and that is it, just hold the START position until you get a slight "thunk" and the engines start their start sequence. The engines have a Full Authority Digital Engine Control, known as FADEC. So most of the starting, the running procedures and the limits are all controlled electronically, So from a pilot's point of view the Phenom is very easy to set up and start... most actions here are automatic in systems, but there are a few procedures to cover to get the aircraft ready for flight, and they can be found in the Crew Alerting System (CAS), but you will still need to cover the very good and provided checklists to cover them all. Once all the engines are running and settled, then just turn off the ignition switches, then to go, release the park brake and push up slightly the throttles, and it is all as easy peasy as driving a car. Taxiing around airports is also easy as easy, the aircraft is very nice to point and turn, with nice control of the required thrust... ... this is aspect very helpful on busy traffic days, like today at Dublin. Setting yourself up to fly is also easy, as there is nothing else like setting flaps or something, but to simply push up the throttles to just below the MAX... and GO! If you get the yellow bands in the top N1 readout then your throttle setting is too high, so just knick them both back a touch under the N1 100% limit... You can rotate around V2 140knts+10 or 150knts, and the Phenom will simply leap into the air... ... be careful in not over-rotating, as about 12º-15º is perfect, Your climb rate can be as high as a massive 4,000 fpm... ... and the Phenom just climbs up like a banshee, but the aircraft is also very sweet to roll left as you power away from the airport. TO/GA and MAX are the same thing and the only setting that the FADAC system will over-ride the throttle. But beware that MAX Thrust is only intended for Emergency Usage (OEI). As in case of an OEI event detected by the FADEC, the APR (Automatic Power Reserve), if armed, will engage and force the operating engine into MAX Thrust Rating without the need of pushing the Thrust Lever to the MAX Position. Reducing the Thrust to CON will, however, disengage APR and switch back the to CON Thrust Rating. But overall like most Private Jets there is no ATR or Auto-Thrust, so all the power or throttle settings are done manually, the setting CON/CLB is best used for the climbing... There is a full dynamic FMOD soundpack by Daniela Rodriguez Carari, and very good sound it is with accurate doppler effects, distance attenuation and full aircraft flyby effects. The volume externally is quite loud , and I had to reduce the volume to about 25%, internally the Phenom is a pretty quiet quiet machine, because the powerplants are set so far to the rear... in the cabin you get a slightly muffed roar... but acoustically the sounds are very good. The Phenom though is simply Phenomenal looking in the air (pun intended). Maximum Performance is 834 km/h (518 mph, 450 kn), with a Service ceiling of 13,716 m (45,000 ft), which is very high, and the fuel burn is 346 kg/h at 364 kt and 456 kg/h at 431 kt (at FL410). My cruise is set at FL320, or 32,000ft... with the climb over I select the "MAX CRZ " position on the throttle and the Phenom settles down at around 284 knts... ... the Phenom does however have a slight pitch nose down in the cruise, Aerobask say this is normal, but may try to refine the pitch later, but it does not effect the speed, the long droopy nose sort of exacerbates the angle of the look. Synthetic Vision The big feature as noted in the Aerobask Phenom 300 is the Synthetic Vision plugin tool made by Oscar Pilote and Aerobask themselves. This visual system was actually created for the Falcon 8X, but is actually debuted here on the Embraer. Access to the Synthetic Vision as noted is via the Menu/More Options tab. Once activated then the outside heavy cloud cover disappears and you can see all the terrain below, you can select to have just the Topology showing or both the Topology and the Terrain together. It is very similar to the very old X-Plane forward view from years back, but totally refined here into something far more realistic... ... it is also available on the pop-out screen, and both PFD displays. The Instrument Tape transparency over the Synthetic Vision has three options in; Opaque, Medium and Full, and in the end of testing all three, I selected the middle medium transparency as the best compromise, unless you wanted a full external view... A note though. The plugin relies on the X-Plane default textures to show the terrain and runways, if you land or use a custom airport, then once you come off the runway the visual aspect goes to a blank colour, so you have no outside visuals in those conditions, however even in this context the visual look is far lighter and far better that the dark browns and blues of the default Artificial Horizon. The Synthetic Vision is also highly usable at night for following terrain and Topology in the dark. I'll let the very capable Co-Pilot follow the flightplan and have a little rest in the rear sumptuous cabin. Have a cup of coffee and watch the clouds fly by, it is not all heavy work when doing reviews. Anyone that flies Private Jets in X-Plane will tell you the tricky part of flying them is the descent and landing phases. The aircraft itself is nice to fly, but you have to very skilled in the thrust requirements. There is of course no ATH or AutoThrottle, so you have to set or find your own Vref speeds (many are well noted in the manual). In time you will note the correct speeds and throttle settings, the feel of the aircraft's pitch is important as well... but if new to Private Jetting it may take a few or more flights to get expert on the machine in these vital phases of flight... Over South Wales it is time to descend from FL320... if descending around 2,000 fpm, then you will always use the airbrakes as these small sized jets are slippery buggers. The spoilers are also semi-automatic, electrically commanded and hydraulically powered, and they also act as a Ground Spoilers System (on the ground or when landing), Automatic Roll Spoiler (in Flight) and as a manual Speed Brake (in Flight). The "Bank" allowance is shown on the FD (Flight Director), in Full bank it is to the full out side of the marker, a 1/2 bank sits just inside of the yellow inner markers, this is your only indication the "bank" function is actually activated. Down into the low dense cloud below 5,000ft, the Synthetic Vision tool starts to play major dividends, I can see the landscape easily, but the windows are now just a total white (grey?) out... The low cloud breaks out around 2,500ft, but still it is highly misty and you have very low visibility, again the Synthetic Vision is a godsend. More so on this eastern approach into Bristol RWY 27, as there are deadly hills just before the airport parameter, it would be very, very easy to fly too low in the mist and directly into them around Winford. Finding the speed sweet spot on the final approach is tricky? early approach is around 180 knts, then the settings are Flaps 3 and Gear Down, 45% N1 to hold around 130-150 knts. In most cases it is easy to get a nose up (pitch) at the setting you think you need, only to go lower in the speed to get the aircraft correctly posied to land... that speed I found (finally) was around 120 knts, Full Flap... With now several landings under my belt, I have got that approach speed right, but I still have a habit of reducing the throttles too quickly once over the threshold of the runway, just a little slower in reducing the power will give me more lift and a smoother (if longer) landing... ... but, and there is a big but here? As you are very conscious you have no reverse thrusters or any help in slowing the aircraft down once on the ground. So you tend to do the slowest approach and landing you can... Overall though the worry is unfounded. The Phenom does have those auto-spoliers working for you, and the brakes are also highly effective in rubbing off the speed, so the Embraer does actually slow down quite quickly and effectively. Not much flare is required or needed at the last minute either, but your pitch angle has to be right to do so. Note that once I leave the Laminar default textures and move to the custom airport textures, I lose the ground (in this case taxiiway) imagery in the Synthetic Vision (arrowed). You do think about you approach in the Phenom every time after you have landed, and start to work out how to do it better the next time around. Overall it is the only phase of the flight that does require skill, in every other phase the Phenom 300 is very easy to fly. As a note, there is an incredible video to share on a full transfer flight from FTW (Fort Worth) to SAT (San Antonio), I have listed the video below, there is a lot of information in here to learn and practise, to get the full experience of flying the Phenom 300. ______________ Liveries There are ten liveries and everyone is highly detailed and sensational, two are shiny metallics including the N33ZF "Lighting Blue" Default. One livery HZIBN is in both 4K and 2K resolutions. _________________ Summary A full size Private Jet from Aerobask is a step up in scale and design for Aerobask, it isn't the promised Dassualt Falcon 8X, but a category smaller jet in the Embraer Phenom 300, but this aircraft is a huge indication of where Aerobask are going as developers and what to expect from the Falcon 8X when it is released. Aerobask are renowned for their quality externally, but overwhelmingly more for their lavish interiors, and in this respect the Phenom 300 is outstanding in modelling, quality and design. Excellent in all aspects is certainly in it's internal design, the cabin comes with five different interiors or to blank out the cabin altogether to save frameweight. Lighting is also very good, with plenty of internal options, but the galley and rear amenities areas are not lit, but only adjustable with the overall cabin lighting. Notable is the running tap water on the sink and a toilet that actually flushes. Blinds can be dropped, ceiling route display, console controls and coffee and orange juice is also on offer via the folding animated tables. Aircraft systems are excellent. From a fully customised Laminar Research G1000 three display set up, with a IESI (Intergrated Electronic Standby Instrument), GCU 477 Line Replaceable Unit (LRU) “Keypad”, GFC 700 AHRS-based automatic flight control system (AFCS), Automatic Thrust Reserve (ATR) and a Full Authority Digital Engine Control (FADEC) system. The pop-up AviTab tablet is also installed. Main feature is the Synthetic Vision plugin tool made by Oscar Pilote and Aerobask, that allows you to see through cloud or have a visual on the terrain in the dark. The Phenom 300 is very easy to set up, start up and fly, but a little tricky on approach like all Private Jets with no ATR (AutoThrust), but that is also the attraction. The slight nose down pitch is unusual at cruise, but you get used to it. A release from Aerobask is always an occasion, notably for not only the quality of the product, for the list of extensive and spectacular features, but also for the refinement on release. Testing and refining is done before and not after release, so you are purchasing quality and fulfilment in the aircraft from the start and not long, long after your purchase via updates, yes they will be few bugs, but mostly the aircraft is total and complete on release... the built in Skunkcrafts updater will cover those bugs quickly anyway. High quality releases like the Phenom 300 from Aerobask, only come along once once every quarter of the year, so savour this exceptional aircraft and enjoy the freedom of owning your own personal private jet... Highly Recommended! _______________________________ Yes! the Embraer Phenom 300 by Aerobask is NOW available from the X-Plane.Org Store here : Phenom 300 Price is US$44.95 Features: - High quality interior and exterior 3D model - High quality PBR 4K textures - Flight model and performances based on the real datas. - Custom FADEC, ATR and Thrust Levers behaviour. - Realistic engine behaviour (as far as XPlane allows us to customize it). - X1000 PFD and MFD from Laminar Research - Custom system pages, EIS, VSpeed and CAS - Synthetic Vision made by Oscar Pilote and Aerobask - Aerobask X1000 TouchScreen feature - GFC700 autopilot with custom CSC mode (FADEC-based cruise adaptive thrust system) + 2D popup - GCU477 (alphanumeric keypad) supporting new LR commands for XP11.50 + 2D popup + physical keyboard on-demand capture - Accurate custom coded IESI with 2D popup - High quality FMOD sounds (recorded from a real aircraft) from Daniela Rodríguez Careri - Full-mode FMOD aircraft - Accurate doppler, distance attenuation and flyby effects. - Enhanced night-time lighting ambience with spill lights for a great rendering - Simulated Stall Protection and Stick Pusher system - Custom Electrical, Bleed Air, Fuel, Pressurization (ECS), Engine Fire and Ice Protection systems. - Avitab support in 3D tablet (requires the Avitab free plugin). - Animated Cabin with Passenger Control Tablet (Shades, Tables, Doors and “airshow” system). - Various 4K PBR liveries and additional 2K PBR livery for low-spec hardware - VR-ready and VR-friendly - Custom documentation based on AFM, POH, PTM and QRH. - Tested and approved by real EMB-505 Phenom 300 pilots Requirements X-Plane 11 Windows, MAC or Linux 4 GB VRAM Minimum - 8 GB+ VRAM Video Card Recommended Download Size: 600 MB Current and Review Version: 1.0r (23rd March 2021) ___________________________________ Installation and documents: download for the Phenom is 600.00Mb and the aircraft is deposited in the "Aircraft" X-Plane folder. Full Installation is 1.24Gb "AviTab" VR-compatible tablet is required, download is free, and installation is in your X-Plane/Plugins Folder. Documents supplied are: Install_Recommended_settings.pdf Aerobask Phenom 300 Checklists.pdf Aerobask Phenom 300 - Normal Checklist.pdf Aerobask Phenom 300 - Reduced Normal Checklist_2xA5 (1).pdf Aerobask Phenom 300 - Procedures.pdf Aerobask Phenom 300 - TOLD Card kg.pdf Aerobask Phenom 300 - TOLDG Cardboard x4 KG.pdf Aerobask Phenom 300 - TOLDG Cardboard kg.pdf Aerobask Phenom 300 - TOLD Card lbs.pdf Aerobask Phenom 300 - TOLDG Cardboard x4 lbs.pdf Aerobask Phenom 300 - TOLDG Cardboard lbs.pdf Aerobask Phenom 300 - Flight Manual.pdf Aerobask Phenom 300 - Performances.pdf Manual(s) are excellent with full aircraft data, system references, and full checklists and flying tips Support forum for the Phenom 300 FTW to SAT full flight video... ___________________________________  Aircraft Review by Stephen Dutton  23rd March 2021 Copyright©2021 : X-Plane Reviews   (Disclaimer. All images and text in this preview are the work and property of X-PlaneReviews, no sharing or copy of the content is allowed without consent from the author as per copyright conditions) All rights reserved Review System Specifications:  Computer System: Windows - Intel Core i7 6700K CPU 4.00GHz / 64bit -32 Gb single 1067 Mhz DDR4 2133 - ASUS GeForce GTX 1080 8Gb - Samsung Evo 1TB SSD Software: - Windows 10 - X-Plane 11.53 Plugins: Traffic Global - JustFlight-Traffic (X-Plane.OrgStore) US$52.99 : Global SFD plugin US$30.00 : Environment Engine by xEnviro US$69.90 Scenery or Aircraft - EIDW - Airport Dublin V2 by Aerosoft (X-Plane.OrgStore) US$24.95 - EGGD - Bristol International Airport by Pilot-Plus + (X-Plane.OrgStore) US$22.95