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  1. NEWS! - Aircraft Release : Piper PA-28-235 Charger / Cherokee 235 by Aerosphere Aerosphere Simulations have released their next Piper Cherokee aircraft in the Piper PA-28-235 Charger / Cherokee 235. The Piper Cherokee 235 was introduced in 1963 competing with the Cessna 182 for the four-seater aircraft market share that the original Cherokee could not fulfill. Piper added a stretched wing and 6-cylinder O-540 engine to the existing Piper Cherokee 180 and thus the Cherokee 235 was born. The Cherokee 235 also had an option to have a constant speed propeller added, and with the increase of HP and two extra cylinders, Piper included tip tanks in the stretched wing to bring the fuel total from 50 gallons to 84. Then in 1972, Piper stretched the fuselage again by 5 inches and thus the “Piper Charger” was born. With the iconic “Hershey Bar” wing, and the 235 HP engine, the gross weight of the Charger increased to 3,000 lbs. The Charger sported new throttle quadrant levers that Piper introduced in 1968, rather than the “push-pull” style throttle and mixture that debuted on the original Piper Cherokee. The Piper Charger had an empty weight of 1,550 lbs. and with a max gross of 3,000 lbs. gave an impressive useful load of almost equally the same weight as the aircraft. This impressive gentry of the Charger gave birth to the following “Pathfinder” and “Dakota” models which included rounded windows and tapered wings respectively. The increase in total fuel means that the range also increased to nearly 1,100 miles under proper conditions. The climb performance at 3,000 lbs. was about 800 FPM which is typical from a reciprocated Piper of that era. That being said, the Charger, although few in production numbers, still boasts impressive performance numbers even to this day. Features: 4 HD (4096 x 4096) liveries with a plain white texture that can be used for custom paint schemes. Steam gauge classic general aviation panel with required instruments for IFR. Garmin 530 & 430 All gauges are 3D Detailed flight model and interactive 3D virtual cockpit with animated knobs, buttons etc. cabin door, storm window and front/rear baggage compartment door. Toggle button to remove/display yoke Compatible with HDR and normal lighting effects Many textures taken from the actual aircraft Virtual Reality friendly and includes the click regions and hotspots required for VR gameplay. FMOD sounds Since the quiet withdrawal of Carenado... so then where do you get your basic General Aviation Fixes? vFlyteAir are still producing gems, but so are AeroSphere, like with their Cherokee Sixes B and C here now with the Piper PA-28-235 Charger / Cherokee 235... Images are courtesy of AeroSphere Simulations _____________________________________ Yes! - Piper PA-28-235 Charger / Cherokee 235 by AeroSphere Simulations is NOW available from the X-Plane.Org Store here : Piper PA-28-235 Charger / Cherokee 235 Price is Currently US$29.00 Requirements X-Plane 11 Support for XP12 when available Windows, Mac or Linux 4 GB VRAM Minimum - 8 GB+ VRAM Recommended Download Size: 198 MB Current Version : 1.0 (June 20th 2022) ___________________________ NEWS! by Stephen Dutton 21st June 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 Rights Reserved
  2. Aircraft Review : Piper PA-28-180 Cherokee C by Aerosphere Simulations Over the last few years the biggest aircraft category in the X-Plane Simulator has had a bit of a decline. The cause was two dimensional, one was the drawback of Carenado/Alabeo from the X-Plane simulator after Thranda Design decided to pursue a different developer direction, but two was also the fact the category had been saturated with almost every conceivable General Aviation (GA) variant possible over the last decade. In GA now there are only a few developers actively developing the so called classic Piper, Beechcraft and Cessna models. One is VFlyteAir whom have also been quiet lately, and the nice collection of Just Flight Pipers. Another developer are of what you could call an X-Plane "Classic" developer is Aerosphere Simulations however are still pumping out with regularity with nice if quite modest General Aviation aircraft. A few months ago it was the PA-32-260 Cherokee Six B, and here is the little brother in the PA-28-180 Cherokee C. The "C" model is signified by it's square-cut windows and the iconic “Hershey Bar” wing. The “C” variant also has a four cylinder carbureted version of the Lycoming O-360 that produces 180HP and is equipped with a two bladed fixed pitch propeller. Notable is the aircraft variant has the "Push-Pull" throttle and Mixture controls instead of the earlier lever quadrant and in creating more space cabin forward. This 180 horsepower variant had an empty weight with an autopilot of 1270lbs, and a gross weight of 2400lbs and resulting in a useful carry load of 1130lbs. And the basic Cherokee is not to be confused with the Archer, which had a longer fuselage. The Cherokee 180 was first certified on 3 August 1962. Aerosphere could be classed as a "Classic Style" developer. Up front there is none of that nonsense of popup features or even a menu. So don't go looking for items like static elements, removable panels, detailed engine, fuel cart, weights and fuel etc; as there isn't even any chocks to stop the aircraft rolling away. The Aerosphere 180 is however VR (Virtual Reality) friendly, and has FMOD sounds. Only external animations are the main right cabin door (latch only works from the inside), and the large baggage store area (behind the rear bench seat) door, that has a set of non-usable chocks and some spare engine oil set inside. Modeling could be noted as "Classic" as well... The polygon mesh is quite large, hence the visible lines on curves, overall the modeling is not bad and the Cherokee shape is well done, but don't go looking for the ultra mesh detailing that is common today... hence the dated feel. The detail however is saved by a lot NML normal mapping, or Dot3 bump mapping which is really quite good... all the panels are visible as are the sunk and raised rivets... best detail is the tail and wide rear single elevator that are nicely detailed to bring out the metal strengthening aspects of the panels. minute detailing is a bit average, notable in the wingtip lighting assemblies and leading edge vents. Wing chord shapes are not bad either. The wheels are all covered by large fairings which can't be removed. The internal side of the wheels in detail is not very complex either, so there is no authentic high detailing here. The cockpit glass feels thin, and not heavy as you would find on a sixty year old aircraft, there are no scratches, wear or dirt to give it a more aged old feel... it is all simply clear, but nicely shaped for the front windscreen. The highlight is the nice twin-blade propeller and chrome spinner, which is a McCauley prop. The starter ring can be seen as well which is a nice intimate detail. Cabin The cabin could be described as "Late 50's Country", with it's light tan and woollen tartan inserts. Don't expect any comfort, they are as flat as they look with ribs, and again feel dated. But the dated feel is correct for the period. Under seat frame is nicely done, and the wheel puller affixed to the rear bench seat is a nice touch. Rear seat baggage area is huge, and feels like wasted space, the cabin roof detail is however very nice. There is a full animated pilot that moves in all directions, pitch, roll and rudder yaw, not exactly the most human like model (more like a mannequin), but it is a fair go I suppose. Instrument panel There is no doubt were all the attention and detail work on this Piper 180 C has been focused on... the instrument panel. The molding and quality instruments are very authentic, but like in a new Cherokee 180 C, not a 55 year old Cherokee 180 aged sort of way. So there is no cracked facia, foam spewing detail or weather worn faded areas, there is however a nice bit of gaffa tape keeping the panel together over the avionics. Notable are the very nice reflections on the instruments, it gives the panel a very realistic feel. The authentic yokes are very nice with well done finger grips on the rear. Again though they both feel new, more than aged or worn down in time, but I do like the authentic PIPER Cherokee centre yoke logos. Both yokes (together) can be hidden via pressing the chrome yoke stem behind. Panel layout is pretty standard, however the Standard Six (Eight here?) flying instruments are more grouped very wide in front of the left side pilot, with nothing, and not even any backup instruments for the right side pilot. Left to right top row has Clock, Airspeed Indicator, Artificial Horizon, Altimeter and directional Garmin CDI (Course Deviation Indicator) VOR2. Bottom row; Turn Coordinator, Heading Dial and Vertical Speed Indicator and Bendix/King ADF pointer... all are perfectly laid out, with the VOR OBS (Nav2) and the ILS alignment Dial clear and nice to use. I like the layout a lot. Lower left is the S-Tec Autopilot adjustment panel, then lower knee panel are all the lighting switches and adjustment knobs, starter switch, with the pitot, fuel pump switches. Avionics and Autopilot power switches are mid-lower panel. Centre-right is the Avionics stack. Top is both a Garmin GNS530 and below a Garmin GNS430 (both units pop-out), Standard Garmin GMA 340 Radio, S-Tec Fifty Five X Autopilot, Bendix/King KR87 ADF receiver (incorrectly labled?) and Garmin GTX 327 Transponder. Engine dials and gauges are all far right. Top a very large RPM and built in hour counter, right Gyro Suction gauge, and EGT (Exhaust Gas Temperature) gauge. There is a block of six gauges that cover; Fuel Left Tank, Gen (Generator) Amps, Right Fuel Tank top row, and Oil Pressure, Fuel Pressure and Oil Temperature bottom row. So over all it is a very basic instrument setup and one that anyone should know in everything laid out here, in other words a "Simple Layout', but one that looks good and is easy to use. Under panel is nicely done. Note the Throttle and Mixture knobs and a HOBBs meter hangs below. Under left is the park brake, far left the Fuel Selector... Rudders however have no toe-brake effect. Flap lever set is between the seats, and the trim winder is on the roof. _________________ Flying the Cherokee 180 Being a basic aircraft. Starting and setting up the 180 is very easy. A few pumps of the engine primer, mixture to half-way, touch of throttle, Switch on and then hit the "Starter Button", a few twirls of the prop and your running... If you don't get the mixture to running set correctly, then lower to mid lean is about right. If not the 180 C will lurch quickly off the ramp when releasing the park brake, get the tuning right right and you will have some control. Like a lot of GA aircraft there is too much thrust, even at idle... more control is needed as the brakes can be sharp as well... ... be very light on the toe brakes, even be more so in being as even as you can. If not the the aircraft will brake sharply to the direction of the brake effort... I even resorted back to my (50% Regular) pinky lever to keep the braking effort as even as possible, but with a bit of experience you can feed in the toe brakes slightly to control the speed, which is quite powerful at a taxi speed. You can trundle the 180 C along, but keep the speed down with a lot of braking effort. At the runway KHAF RWY33) hold point, I set the trim to pitch down slightly forward (you will see why in a moment). The small "Storm" window, a bit of trivia in that a "Storm Window" or 'ice window' is a carryover from when aircraft did have opening windows that were meant as a Direct Vision DV window in case of ice formation on the windshield, or the wings. Mostly today it is used as ventilation. Here you can open it to the rising external noise, the opening door will give you the same effect. But the outer edge of the window frame disappears as you do? Sounds are actually very good at idle speeds, and okay as the power rises. My biggest issue is that in areas the sounds are too quiet, then too loud on the spectrum, there is not a consistency I would like (in other words I kept turning the sounds up, then turning them down again with complaints from the family that it was too loud). First I will state I have never flown a real Cherokee 180, but I do have a lot of GA Simulator experience... if the following is correct to the behavior of a Piper 180 C, then so be it. Off brakes, full rich mixture and feeding the throttle in, and the 180 C initially goes right, which is slightly corrected... ... Then the asymmetrical prop thrust kicks in with a bang, and you go seriously... even lurching to the left, which means a lot of right rudder to compensate, to keep the 180 C straight I am almost at full right rudder, with only a 5 knt wind in my face? I have done this takeoff run nine or ten times now... and I am now always ready for the coming left lurch, but never really catch it, or it always catches me out every time? Correcting the drift, I am then always caught out again straight away in that the Piper 180 C is now also airbourne? The lift point is around 65 knts... is that right? at no set flap or clean? I thought it would be around the mid to late 70's in knots or even in the early 80 knts.. ... strong control is needed as you climb out, both the rudder and yoke needs a lot of power to the right to keep the Piper straight and level... I have another gripe here as well. The Artificial Horizon marker is very, very small? You can't set say even find a 5º or 10º pitch, as it barely moves position even though you are climbing out at 500 fpm. So the 180 C is already very physical aircraft to fly. That may be to your tastes or challenge, depending on your flying skill set. Rate Of Climb is 750 fpm, but you will do usually your 500 fpm, maybe 600 fpm. Ceiling is noted around 15,700 ft. I feel I am flying the Cherokee a bit lopsided... as I have to use some persistent right rudder and right yoke to keep the aircraft flying straight and level, so it is tiring to fly distances manually, as you are pulling right against the left forces consistently. You can of course use the X-Plane rudder trim (COMMAND) to adjust the rudder angle to compensate for the drift, but that is not the 180 C presented here. So if you want feel from an aircraft in feedback then you certainly get that here. Another anomaly was my Artificial Horizon played up weird as well... I was straight and level, but my Artificial Horizon told a completely different orientation? as it was also periodically spinning on it's axis... Fly into any dense cloud conditions and this scenario could be deadly. Top Speed is around 132 kt, with a cruise speed of 124 kts, the 180hp version is not very fast, but is noted to be quite dependable. Range is around 510 nm at a total Fuel Capacity of 50 gal. S-Tec autopilot is pretty basic, but helpful here. You can set the altitude (10 set increments) via the S-Tec panel left lower panel, but that is about it, the rest is standard servos of HDG, NAV, APR, ALT and VS in Vertical Speed. Lighting There are two lower panel lighting adjustment knobs for the instruments and avionics... the avionics can be a bit too bright, so you dial them down about halfway to match the instrument lighting. Overall it looks quite nice and everything is highly readable... highlight is the six pack Fuel and Engine gauges, that look great lit up in the dark, even authentic. There are two roof mounted lighting options. The first is an adjustable overhead red glow light for the instrument panel, that is highly effective... .... the second is a cabin light with a very tiny (miss it) button switch and not the big round knob (for the red glow light), this lights up the rear cabin nicely. External lighting is quite average? All the navigation lights are not refined and blend into each other, and the single-nose landing light is a big orb... The tail top mounted beacon is another orb (when it shouldn't be), and the strobes are just plain awful. You do actually get more comfortable with the handling of the Piper 180 C the more you spend time in the aircraft, that is if you get used to your right foot doing all the work. It is a good place to be once you acclimatise to the feel and motion of the aircraft... and into the landing circuit for KHAF Rwy 33... Flaps are three steps via the Flap lever on the floor. First step is only 10º, which can easily be overlooked, to a speed on or around 95 knts... .... Second and Third steps are 25º, and 40º degrees with speed drops of 90 knts (25º) and to a full 40º and should settle around 75 knots for the final approach... ... there is no ballooning or that feeling of being lifted out of your seat if you get those speeds perfectly right, in this case the 180 C is a very stable aircraft to set up. You are down to about 70 knts for the final approach phase, and the 108 C will sink nicely and is very nicely controlled. Pushing hard with my right foot, brings the nose around to meet the runway... you feel you are landing in a strong crosswind, but your not. Slight pitch up flare rubs off the speed and flows you down to the runway... again very stable in this final phase. Touchdown is around 60 knts, give or take a few knots... 180 C's Stall speed with flaps full down (dirty) is 50 kts, only 10 knts below. On landing again the Piper lurched to the left and needed some quick and expertly handled corrections... ... so at points the 180 C is and can be a tricky even challenging aircraft to fly, or is that it's appeal! Liveries There are six liveries with the Piper 180 C. One is white if you want to do some of your own designs (and another white with rego). The rest are all American registered and a bit "ho Hum" in not being very creative in design, or in their names. ________________ Summary This is the Piper Cherokee "C" model that comes with the square-cut windows and the iconic “Hershey Bar” wing, the “C” variant has a four cylinder carbureted Lycoming O-360 that produces 180HP and is equipped with a two bladed, fixed pitch propeller. Six years ago or more X-Plane was awash with these sort of "Classic" style aircraft from old school developers. Most had diversified out of the original X-Plane PlaneMaker into what you would call a Pro or Professional take on the system, but didn't expand on further into the plugin realm. So the aircraft didn't have the huge feature lists and effects of which the more modern aircraft do... and that is what we have here a "Classic" design with no menus, pop-up screens or features, unless (like with the GNS in that are X-Plane default items). The designs are not Ultra-Quality either in the modeling or detail. But they are creative and to a point a "Pure" X-Plane aircraft... and that is what we have here from Aerosphere Simulations in their Piper PA-28-180 Cherokee C. By those "Classic" standards the aircraft is very good, nicely designed and the focus on the Instrument Panel is genuinely well done, but the details are basic as is the polygon mesh, and say in the minute details of wingtip light assemblies and wheels. Sounds are good if a little variable, but instrument wise the 180 C is well done with a nice layout and avionics. Lighting internally is very good, but poor externally in not being at all refined. Interesting is the flight model of where being a pure PlaneMaker then these aircraft can shine. idiosyncratic is the word here. But are you adjusting to the aircraft's idiosyncrasies (or flying around them), or is the aircraft itself idiosyncratic? The more you fly the aircraft, then the more you adapt to it's say odd idiosyncrasies? It is an interesting dilemma that only real 180 C pilots can answer. I have flown the vFlyteAir 140 a lot, yes a lot less powerful Piper, but the aircraft was a gem to fly... that aspect is missing here in that it is a challenging aircraft to fly but is that it's attraction. A few things like the hard left pull and the odd Artificial Horizon in being hard to use and bizarre behavior, makes you wonder about the rest. Overall these "Classic" style aircraft are extremely popular as they represent the "Purity" of X-Plane and it's system itself. Users snap them up and collect them, then fly them consistently with their extremely low framerate penalties, there is not the burden of wading through pages of manual or details to get down and dirty to the flying aspect. And that is their beauty, to a point the "Classics" are a pure X-Plane aircraft. _____________________________________ Yes! - Piper PA-28-180 Cherokee C by AeroSphere Simulations is NOW available from the X-Plane.Org Store here : Piper PA-28-180 Cherokee C Price is Currently US$29.95 (Currently on SALE at 17% off US$24.95) Features: 4 HD (4096 x 4096) liveries with a plain white texture that can be used for custom paint schemes. Steam gauge classic general aviation panel with required instruments for IFR. Garmin 530 & 430 All gauges are 3D Detailed flight model and interactive 3D virtual cockpit with animated knobs, buttons etc. cabin door, storm window and front/rear baggage compartment door. Toggle button to remove/display yoke Compatible with HDR and normal lighting effects Many textures taken from the actual aircraft Virtual Reality friendly and includes the click regions and hotspots required for VR gameplay. FMOD sounds Requirements X-Plane 11 Windows, Mac or Linux 4 GB VRAM Minimum - 8 GB+ VRAM Recommended Download Size: 195 MB Current Version : 1.0 (January 20th 2022) ___________________________________ Installation and documents: download for the Cherokee 180 C is 190.50MB and the aircraft is deposited in the "General Aviation" X-Plane folder. Full Installation is 209Mb Documents supplied are: ReadMe.pdf Basic "ReadMe" (2 pages) of the history of the aircraft and features. _____________________ Aircraft Review by Stephen Dutton 25thg January 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 - 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
  3. NEWS! - Aircraft Released : Piper PA-28-180 Cherokee C by AeroSphere Simulations Continuing their model line with another release of a Piper Cherokee after the earlier release of the PA-32-260 Cherokee Six B mid-year 2021. This is the "C" model with the square-cut windows and the iconic “Hershey Bar” wing, the “C” variant also has a four cylinder carbureted Lycoming O-360 that produces 180HP and is equipped with a two bladed, fixed pitch propeller. This 180 horsepower variant had an empty weight with an autopilot of 1270lbs, and a gross weight of 2400lbs... resulting in a useful load of 1130lbs. The Cherokee 180 C also featured the “push-pull” style throttle and mixture controls instead of the throttle quadrant levers that Piper introduced in 1968. The panel and interior were designed after the same era with updated avionics such as the autopilot and Garmin GPS system that is commonplace among Pipers. The Piper Cherokee is what started the main line of Piper aircraft today and many of the Piper aircraft trace their roots back to the Cherokee. The original Cherokee was produced with three different horsepower models (150, 160, and 180) thus the “180” denoting which model it is. Features: 4 HD (4096 x 4096) liveries with a plain white texture that can be used for custom paint schemes. Steam gauge classic general aviation panel with required instruments for IFR. Garmin 530 & 430 All gauges are 3D Detailed flight model and interactive 3D virtual cockpit with animated knobs, buttons etc. cabin door, storm window and front/rear baggage compartment door. Toggle button to remove/display yoke Compatible with HDR and normal lighting effects Many textures taken from the actual aircraft Virtual Reality friendly and includes the click regions and hotspots required for VR gameplay. FMOD sounds Since the quiet withdrawal of Carenado... then where do you get your basic General Aviation Fixes? vFlyteAir are still producing gems, but so are AeroSphere, like with their Cherokee Sixes B and C here... Images are courtesy of AeroSphere Simulations _____________________________________ Yes! - Piper PA-28-180 Cherokee C by AeroSphere Simulations is NOW available from the X-Plane.Org Store here : Piper PA-28-180 Cherokee C Price is Currently US$29.95 (Currently on SALE at 17% off US$24.95) Requirements X-Plane 11 Windows, Mac or Linux 4 GB VRAM Minimum - 8 GB+ VRAM Recommended Download Size: 195 MB Current Version : 1.0 (January 20th 2022) ___________________________ NEWS! by Stephen Dutton 21st January 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 Rights Reserved
  4. NEWS! - Aircraft Update : PA-28-181 Piper Archer III v4.0 by AeroSphere Originally released in August, 2017. Aeroshpere have completely redeveloped their PA-28-181 Piper Archer III with new reflective maps for the whole aircraft inside and out, and a completely new interior with adjustments to flight model. It is a very comprehensive upgrade. The Archer III was taken from the Cherokee line and sports a carbureted Lycoming O-360-A4M with 180HP at 2700 RPM with a fixed pitch prop. AeroSphere’s Archer was created using the Pilot Information Manual to fully encapsulate an accurate flight model for X-Plane 11 and 10. Update includes; • New nose and spinner • New landing gear/tires and strut assemblies • New interior with new textures • New chairs and seat supports with new textures • New normal maps and liveries • New reflective maps for the whole aircraft, including inside and out • Updated the flight model • Added cockpit support for a better VR experience such as yoke click regions and hotspots Two Archer models included! G1000 Variant Steam Gauge variant Features Designed for X-Plane 11 4 HD (4096 x 4096) liveries with a plain white texture that can be used for custom paint schemes. Steam gauge trainer cockpit model to help pilots in the training environment with required instruments for IFR. Garmin 1000 for G1000 variant G530 and 430 for steam gauge variant All gauges are 3D Detailed flight model and interactive 3D virtual cockpit with animated knobs, buttons etc. cabin door, storm window and rear baggage compartment door. Toggle button to remove/display yoke Compatible with HDR and normal lighting effects Many textures taken from the actual aircraft Custom sounds compatible with X-Plane 11 VR hotspots FMOD sounds Removable wheel pants (click on wheel strut to remove) All Images are courtesy of Aerosphere Simulations ________________________________________ The PA-28-181 Piper Archer III by AeroSphere is now available from the X-Plane.OrgStore!... Here: PA-28-181 Piper Archer III Price is US$24.95 Requirements X-Plane 11 Windows, Mac or Linux 4 Gb VRAM Minimum. 8 GB+ VRAM Recommended Current version: 4.0 (November 3rd 2021) ________________ News by Stephen Dutton 6th November 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 Right Reserved.
  5. Aircraft Review - Piper PA28-161 Warrior II by AeroSphere Simulations The Piper Cherokee family is a large one with variants including the Archer, Arrow, Dakota and Pathfinder. The first variant however next in line after the initial Cherokee release in 1973 was the PA-28-151 Warrior. The difference between the original Cherokee and the Warrior is small, in just a new tapered wing and the stretched Archer fuselage, and the Warrior II that came along three years later had then only a uprated Lycoming O-320-D3G or O-320-D2A engine of 160 hp (119 kW) from the earlier 150 hp (112 kW) but the overall gross weight stayed the same at 2,325 lb (1,055 kg). It is this Warrior II variant that is the focus of AeroSphere Simulation's new aircraft for release in the X-Plane11 simulator. Make no mistake, these early Cherokee family aircraft were very basic machines, they seated four passengers and are quite slow with only a top Speed of 126 kts, and a Cruise Speed of 118 kts with a Range of 525nm. But they are neat solid and reliable aircraft. In the General Aviation segment in X-Plane you are up against some really tough competition. First off there is the Carenado/Alabeo combo, then vFlyteAir, AirfoilLabs and some Aerobask aircraft. The quality and feature count is high, but let us not forget the main reason most X-Planers purchase these sort of aircraft. These machines are usually for first time learners or for training on a particular type of aircraft and that is why there is a wide variety of small light aircraft to fill out the large wide range of scale with the many GA aircraft in service. So in reality the aircraft have to yes be nice to look at and have a certain quality, but overall a big feature list and a lot of "nice to haves" is not as important as the basic handling and feel of that GA aircraft to replicate the machine for its intended audience. It is in this context you have to assess the latest aircraft from AeroSphere who are capturing a market for small but reliable no frills General Aviation aircraft. Their latest release is the Piper Warrior II, which is a mainstay aircraft of training clubs and a great introduction aircraft for learners to understand the basics of general flight. The Warrior II build quality is very good, certainly not in the high class of minute design, but it does capture the skin and detailing of the aircraft very well. The wings are highly detailed and have a lovely glossy painted glow in X-Plane11 which adds to the realism and the glass has the same realistic effect. The fixed Tri-gear is also well done as are the good animation movements when in ground use. As the aircraft is basic, it doesn't have a lot of aerials (two actually in one above and one below) or many external fittings, but what is required is well recreated like the static wicks (but not animated) and the flap guides. Let us get to my main beef. There a lot of good work on this fine little aircraft but the propeller in flight however is not one of them. In flight it looks like a throwback to the X-Plane6 prop flat card design, and you have to fly the aircraft through the hole in the darker centre area, it is distracting and looks horrible on the external (and internal) view, the point is also the painted prop area is only on the front of the propeller and not on the rear? but you still have a ring of colour in every point of view, an all black prop would take away the poor look it gives this otherwise nice aircraft... in other words it dates the aircraft to an earlier design in X-Plane, it is worse at night. Internal The aircraft is nicely designed inside, not gritty or worn out though... just fitted out to specification. Minor detail is good, with the flap lever and fire extinguisher between the seats and the complex roof mounted air-vent system well done above your head. The built in blue and overhead light is however weak in the daytime. The seatbelts also look a little stiff and do not fall naturally, and yes X-Plane now lives in the world of extreme real world design and detail, that seemless look and feel is the high quality of the game now. Instrument panel The business end in the instrument panel is excellent and of high quality. You can almost feel the mid-70's molding beneath you fingertips and it looks excellent in X-Plane11's lovely light. Instruments and avionics provided are very good for an aircraft of this size, the Warrior here is not a basic, basic style of trainer design. All the instruments are focused on the left flying pilot's side with the avionics on the right. Standard Six instruments are centred in line of sight of the flying pilot with the Airspeed Indicator, Artificial Horizon and the Attitude Indicator on the top row and the Turn Coordinator, Heading Dial and Vertical Speed Indicators set out directly below. Left of the six pack is a clock and on the right is a Garmin OBS VOR indicator with a Bendix/King ADF indicator is set out below. The very nice yokes can be hidden to reveal behind four gauges that cover (L to R) Fuel tank Left, Oil Temp, Fuel Pressure psi, Oil Pressure psi and Fuel Tank Right. Kneeboard has two dials for EGT and RPM (100's) with aircraft hour rate. Far left is the S-Tec altitude setting panel and engine starter switch. Instrument Panel side right has the avionics with both an X-Plane default Garmin GNS530 top and a GNS430 (both pop-out) below. Standard Garmin GMA 340 radio is right top, with an S-Tec Fifty Five X (now Genesys Aerosystems) autopilot below. Your ADF radio is a Bendix/King KR 85 but the panel is a little poor resolution wise? A Garmin CTX330 is the transponder unit. A Gyro Suction gauge and Honeywell hobbs (hour) meter is right. Centre panel is a set of rocker switches for (L to R) Power (two) for Alt and Bat, Fuel pump, Landing Light, Anti-Collision Lights, Navigation Lights and Pitot Heat. Either end of the switch panel are two scroll wheels for Avionic brightness and instrument brightness. Below the switch panel is a Carb Heat slider and a ALT Amp gauge. A flat fuse panel is to the right. Tiny centre panel set of throttle and mixture levers is cute, but the mixture lever is tricky to use from some angles... ... fuel tank selector switch is buried in the left footwell and quite hard to reach if flying manually, note the nice steel heal plate. Flying the Warrior II If you going for a flight in a Warrior then pack a suitcase. Even a short flight is going to take you some time to get there and you might want to stay overnight before coming back the next day. 120knts is well slow... a good car is faster from point A to point B. In training and learning modes then the Warrior is fine for local flying. Sounds are quite good with a nice startup and deep bass thrum on takeoff, but it does become a little droney as you hit the higher revolutions of power and it sounds as if you have someone in the rear hitting a big base drum softly to the beat. Taking off needs a little skill in using the throttle slowly to build the speed up. If not you will get the wobbles and the aircraft can start to wander off the centre line. If you are used to the same with Carenado takeoffs then the same skills are required to be transferred to the Warrior. You can be airborne around 70kts-80kts and the little plane will easily climb at around 400fpm without trading your speed. It handles nicely, but is quite fine on stick adjustments so you need just limited adjustments to move around or you will find direction changes are a little brisk, so smooth movements are a way to go. With a nervous trainee pupil behind the controls they will have to learn to not over react to fly the aircraft smoothly in turns or direction changes. But you do find your rhythm in here at the controls very quickly and settle into the aircraft. The S-Tec Fifty Five X autopilot is basic but good. You switch it on via the switch centre panel (arrow left image) and just select your required axis in heading, altitude or vertical speed, which can be a little notchy to use as trying to adjust the far away vertical speed knob can also activate the altitude hold constantly at the same time. Sadly the S-Tec panel does not pop-out which would have helped the case instead of it being on the far side of the instrument panel. In fact no instrument panels pop-out except the default Garmin GNS530/430 units. Landing speed is slow at around 50kts and so you will you need to get the speed down to almost that to drop the flaps without the barn door effect of a slam of speed and a lift of the aircraft. Once set you can then almost hover as you approach over the runway. The Warrior is a little jiggly under the stick at this speed zone of between 50kt to 60kts, so smooth inputs are a must, even slight crosswind will test your nerves, stall is around 40kts and so you can only go so slow. Once you touch down the Warrior will squirm under you, so you need a firm but light hand to keep it totally straight and on the centre line while rubbing off the speed, in most cases you should be used to these movements if you do a lot of light aircraft flying, but the Warrior is more of squirmer than most that I can remember. There are no menus or external features with the aircraft... ... the passenger door opens, but not the baggage door. But behind the rear seats is some oil if you need it and a set of engine covers and tow handle. Lighting All the lighting is mostly standard, the usual strobe, navigation and anti-collision lights on the outside. But the lighting has not been adjusted here and so the taxi and landing lights are quite large for the aircraft. Internally... The front facing roof mounted blue light does all the work in creating overhead lighting over the instrument panel and can be adjusted (but awkwardly) to give a dark or lit panel, it looks good but it is not in blue? in which the light colour is? If the right colour had been used then the panel would have had a more realistic tone, so a missed opportunity. Instrument lighting is not bright, but fine. There is a switchable light over the door for entry and exit and with door light and the Blue (sic) overhead light the cabin can be quite bright. Liveries There are two blank liveries with one with a registration number (all aircraft have the same N8675U rego?). There are four coloured liveries but none are really outstanding except the Green/Brown stripe version used in the review. Summary Overall the Piper Warrior II from AeroSphere is what it is in a basic trainer and a learn to fly in aircraft. But it does have a nice fit-out in avionics if you want to take a few trips away. As noted it may take you actually a far while to get there, but then that is all part of the fun. For a trainee aircraft though it does need a little skill and a light but firm hand at the controls. Takeoffs and landings can be a bit squirmy if you don't hold it solid, but overall it is a good training aircraft with its low landing speeds. Build quality overall is very good, not perfect or in the Carenado zone of quality, but then nothing else is either, but it is well done with a very nice instrument panel to look at. In the area of looking at things then the propeller in flight is not too my taste, in fact I didn't like it at all, and it is ten times worse in the dark as it blocks your view... a quick fix is required here because it is a distraction on this an otherwise well turned out aircraft. The none blue, blue light is a missed chance but then again none of the lighting has been adjusted to the aircraft. It should be noted that this Warrior is released only for X-Plane11, which is good as it looks really good in the X-Plane11 feature lighting The Warrior II is a basic aircraft in design, features and usability, but it is a very good one in the face of such big General Aviation competition. This is worthwhile GA that can get under your skin and is an interesting machine to fly and use, certainly very good and the best in X-Plane if you are requiring a Warrior for a reason like you own one or are wanting to train on the aircraft, so overall a nice tight little aircraft. _____________________________________________________________________________________ Positives: Overall good design and nice quality look and feel, tricky but rewarding to fly. Nice avionics for the type of basic trainer aircraft. Negatives: That propeller, its worse at night. Internal blue lighting that is not blue, external lighting not adjusted or needs more. Not many external features, pop-up panels or menus. _____________________________________________________________________________________ The Piper Warrior II by AeroSphere Simulations is NOW available! from the X-Plane.Org Store here : Piper PA28-161 Warrior II Your Price: $24.95 Features: 4 HD (4096 x 4096) liveries with a plain white texture that can be used for custom paint schemes. Steam gauge trainer cockpit model to help pilots in the training environment with required instruments for IFR. Garmin 530 & 430 All gauges are 3D Detailed flight model and interactive 3D virtual cockpit with animated knobs, buttons etc. cabin door, storm window and rear baggage compartment door. Toggle button to remove/display yoke Compatible with HDR and normal lighting effects Many textures taken from the actual aircraft Requirements X-Plane 11+ Window, Mac or Linux - 64bit Operating Systems 2Gb VRAM Minimum Current Version: 1.0 (May 11th 2017) Installation and documents: Download for the Piper Warrior II is 141.40.mb and the unzipped file is deposited in the "General Aviation" X-Plane folder at 155.70mb. Documents: Include a basic three page "Read Me" _____________________________________________________________________________________ Review by Stephen Dutton 29th May 2017 Copyright©2017: X-PlaneReviews Review System Specifications: Computer System: Windows - Intel Core i7 6700K CPU 4.00GHz / 64bit - 16 Gb single 1067 Mhz DDR4 2133 - GeForce GTX 980/SSE2 - Samsung Evo 512gb SSD Software: - Windows 10 - X-Plane 11.02 Addons: Saitek x56 Rhino Pro system Joystick and Throttle : Sound - Bose Soundlink Mini Plugins: Environment Engine by xEnviro US$69.90 Scenery or Aircraft - KFMY - Page Field, Fort Myers, Florida 1.0 by timbenedict3 (X-Plane.Org) - Free
  6. News! - Released : PA-28R-201 Piper Arrow III by AeroSphere If you like your Pipers then here is a great one from Aerosphere in the Piper Arrow lll. The Arrow is a variant of the Cherokee series adds in retractable undercarriage The more modern Arrow III represented here is equipped with a Lycoming IO-360-C1C6 fuel injected engine rated at 200 Horsepower with a constant speed 2-blade propeller. Features: 4 HD (4096 x 4096) liveries with a plain white texture that can be used for custom paint schemes. Test flown by a Piper Arrow pilot for accurate flight characteristics. Steam gauge trainer cockpit model to help pilots in the training environment with required instruments for IFR. Garmin 530 & 430 All gauges are 3D Detailed flight model and interactive 3D virtual cockpit with animated knobs, buttons etc. cabin door, storm window and rear baggage compartment door. Toggle button to remove/display yoke Compatible with HDR and normal lighting effects Many textures taken from the actual aircraft This excellent Arrow lll is now available at the great price of under US$20, first reports are that it is a very nice flying aircraft and well developed by AeroSphere. _____________________________________________________________________________________ Yes! the Piper Arrow lll by AeroSphere is NOW available from the X-Plane.Org Store here : PA-28R-201 Piper Arrow III Price is US$19.95 Requirements: X-Plane 10.30+ (any edition) Windows, Mac, Linux -32 bit and 64bit compatible 512Mb VRAM - 1Gb VRAM Recommended Current version: 1.0(last updated May 20th 2016) _____________________________________________________________________________________ Stephen Dutton Updated 23rd May 2016 Copyright©2016: X-Plane Reviews
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