OK, so this guy at the North Palm Beach airport made me an offer I couldn't refuse on a Cessna Skylane 182Q. (Actually, Carenado, a maker of add-on planes for FSX had a 30% off sale). I didn't have much time for flying tonight, but I did take the new plane out for a quick circle around the airport to see how it handled.
The 182 is very similar to the 172 I've been flying but slightly larger with a larger engine and better aerodynamics. It flies higher, faster and carries a heavier load (four adults with full fuel is doable in the 182 whereas the 172 is better suited to two adults and a couple of kids)The first thing I noticed is that the graphics are better than the default Microsoft 172. There's more detail on the outside of the plane and the instrument cluster looks more photographic and less computer animated. Performance wise, as soon as I throttled up for takeoff I could tell I had a lot more power under the hood. The torque pulled on the plane noticeably to the point that it was tough to compensate with no rudder pedals.
Once airborne, I could tell the rate of climb was much faster as well, almost 1,000 feet per minute easy. In fact, I had a hard time stopping it at 1,000 feet. I almost had to cut power back to idle to keep it from climbing further, but I got it under control and flew the pattern back around to land on the same runway where I started.
Landing was about the same, although again it almost has too much power to handle, at least based on my being used to flying its smaller sibling. After touchdown I used replay to grab some images and noticed that unlike the 172 which has only a pilot shown in the cockpit, the 182 has two animated figures, a pilot and co-pilot/passenger. By animated, I mean they look around and move a bit while you're watching from the exterior view. Pretty neat, but I'm hoping you can turn the passenger off. He looks fine on the test flight (presumably he's the seller I'm buying this bird from), but the rest of this trip is supposed to be solo.
As I continue my journey in the new airplane I'll find time to write a full review for the benefit of anyone else interested in Carenado products (www.carenado.com).
I think you need to arrange a situation where you're trading a +5 sword of whatever in WORLD OF WARCRAFT for an Add-On plane in FLIGHT SIMULATOR.
ReplyDelete"Meet in the Angry Unicorn pub on the island of Urgleburgle on the Midgard shard, and I'll give you the sword. Then I'll give you my email address where to send the plane to."
So, if you fly over, for example, upper Canada in February, is everything snowy, or is everything still the uniform green and brown terrain?
I'd still be interested in knowing, if you fly at night with clear skies, if the star patterns are accurate to any degree.
There was briefly a persistent online world of auto racing and hot rodding. You paid a monthly fee and got a car and could race, make money, buy upgrades, etc. I never bought it, but it was a neat concept. Something like that for Flight Simulator would be interesting because it would force you to take care of the plane.
ReplyDeleteI try to fly like it's real, not horsing around, etc., but there wouldn't be any consequences either way.
FSX has different scenery for each of the four seasons, so I'll be interested to see how that changes. That's one issue with the photo-real scenery. It looks great, but it's all summer all the time. That's fine for southern Florida, but for other areas it wouldn't work well.
I have just picked up on Bert's blog and am quite captivated and impressed with your serious attitude to simulated flight. Having been a simmer since Bruce Artwick's first Fsim program (25yrs), I know that the best way to do this is to blur fiction and reality. You seem to have learnt this one as well! I even started real flying lessons to narrow the gap. One flight I have been on started almost 10 years sgo, round the world in a DC3. See my blog (http://budgie.co.nr) for the latest in this (Oct09, called 'Don't chat at airports')
ReplyDeleteAnother great flight you should try is from Kathmandu to Lukla. See (Nov09 entry called 'Blithering idiots..)
as per the question above about stellar accuracy. I have a dowloaded start field that is accurate enough to navigate by. I am going to follow your adventures. Was great to discover you! my email is budgiesmith@gmail.com.