Carenado Beech F33A Bonanza for X-Plane released!

[Lukasz]

Steven,

You know, that it prefer talking about the good ones, than bad ones I've made only one exception so far and I'm not very happy with it, but that was a slightly different case. All I can say, is that for the purchases I've made so far, I was mostly very happy or just happy and bad decisions were, fortunately, rare, thanks to a bit of time spent researching the products, before finally getting them. I could put a list of my favourites, if you want

Out of the planes you've mentioned, I highly recommend buying the Trojan. It has a great flight model, both in "feel" and numbers, immersive and very "clickable" cockpit and looks really good on screenshots. Oldschool and somehow less pilot-friendly avionics, compared to modern ones, only add to the challenge and plane's warbird-like "personality". When I fly it, it feels like a Trojan, Hellcat and Skyraider in one, depending on the livery Last, but not least, the possibility to burn the engine and break the stuff is something, that I've been looking for since forever! This plane demands respect, like a real thing.

If anyone wants to sell a high quality product and puts a lot of work into it, it is reasonable to make a bit of extra effort and provide a professional translation. However, what is more alarming for me, is that there are about two dozens of lines of text about eyecandy and avionics and only two about flight model and flying characteristics. I just would like to know more details about this similarity, as the rest of the description is informative enough.

Maybe I purchase it, just to see the current stare of affairs, after first feedback reports

Pete,

I have the same feeling about the gauges, as you do. The gauges and their moving elements are 3D, but the underlying textures with numbers appear to be flat. AI and HSI look like they are 3D animated.

[steven winslow]

I won't name names of the bad ones here, but one of the reasons I haven't bought the Trojan is the disappointment of purchasing another similar aircraft. I know the Trojan is leaps and bounds better. I admit the Trojan intrigues me a bit, but not enough to buy it. It is definitely well done and looks cool, but it just doesn't speak to me. However, I am very impressed by the innovation Arno and Khamsin have brought to the table.

As for real engine characteristics, I fly with a plug-in called Real Engine. It requires you to fly the plane realistically and will cause you trouble if you don't watch your numbers. I'm not a guy who firewalls and flies balls to the wall all the time. I like to fly by the numbers and follow the POH and checklist.

I spent last night working on a livery for the Bonanza so I didn't have a chance to really fly her. I'll be finishing up the livery later today. I'll take a closer look at the gauges for you. I have to say the panel is much more readable than the previous Carenado planes. I'm flying on a new Mac Mini so I can't really crank up the rendering settings, but on High I can still read most of the panel labels at a 55 degree viewpoint.

I hope to get some real flight time in her today. As soon as I do, I'll report my experience and post some screenies.

[arno54]

@Steven

I read this and I feel very frustrated, because either I don't respond (and one thinks there are flaws and nothing really new in the Trojan) or I speak ( and one thinks I fight to sell more).

So, having thought of it, here is my deal, Steven Winslow :

- Get the Trojan. Then you'll experience what really is a plane with custom sound engine (not custom sounds, but a whole custom sound engine).

IF you have ONE good reason, only ONE (And I would not argue it in anyway) to claim this is not 100x best than defaut engine + custom tracks

OR if you find any flaw in the flight model relative to official doc,

OR if you find less than 10 never-seen before functions,

then I'll give back money from my own paypal account in the following hour, including XA comission and Khamsin's part - I'll personnaly give 100% money back. And I even won't try to check you've deleted the fle - that'll be my gift.

I take for granted that you're honest and will say "ok, that's really as good as it gets - no refund required".

I'm quite confident this will not happen. How many devs would dare to offer so? None. Obviously, i'm gonna be hanged on by my colleagues for this.

[steven winslow]

Arno, I didn't say anything was wrong with your plane at all. I think it is amazing and a great step forward in X-Plane development. I love your work! In fact, silly as it may be, your Ercoupe is one of my all-time favorite planes!

As for the Trojan, I put it in the same category as the CRJ. They are aircraft that are truly amazing, but they don't intrigue me enough to buy them or want to fly them enough to be worth the cost. I know they are far advanced and have amazing realism and features, but I just don't think I would fly them enough to justify the investment. Your offer is quite generous. I appreciate developers' work and I would never ask for a refund even if I were disappointed. I'm not saying I will never buy the Trojan, I'm just saying not right now. Please don't feel frustrated. It's not you or your amazing work....it's just my decision for now.

[FirstOfficerTom]

Just thought I'd input here, I don't fly bonanza's in RL but I do fly archers and carenados was visually perfect but the flight model was not. The engine seemed too powerful and the turning was sloppy and slow even at high speeds. Wasn't impressed.

[steven winslow]

FO Tom, I just flew Carenado's Archer to complete the I-6 rating on Pilot Edge. It's not a long flight, but it was fun. Regardless, I actually feel the engine is a bit underpowered. I expected a little more power than the C152, but it performs similarly. Most of my hours in Carenado planes are in the Mooney and the C152. I don't have the real world experience to compare to, but it seemed to fly as I would expect. My real world flight experience has been in a C152 and a DA-40.

[MdMax]

A really beautiful aircraft. For now I only noticed a small "marching ants" issue near the wing tips. Screenshots are here:

[woweezowee]

I somehow like the F33, although it is "different". Eg. I am irritated by its tendency to roll to the right that much.

[woweezowee]

Some questions. I used one of chips screenshots above.

A) (marked in the screenshot) What is this little thingy doing? I can move those knobs, but I have no idea about their function.

B.) (marked in the screenshot) What's going on with this one? It's always showing "zero". What does/should it show?

C) Lowering the undercarriage, this plane starts to drop like a stone and loses airspeed very fast. I never experienced anything alike in another xplane plane. Is this something that's modelled perfectly right or is it exaggerated?

D) See my post above. And the faster, the more the plane wants to roll to the right. You have to use some massive amount of trim. The aileron trim wheel almost needs to be in something like a 45° angle. Again: Is this something that's modelled perfectly right or is it exaggerated?

E) The timer not beeing resettable is a bug, isn't it?

F) How do I adjust the viewpoint in plane maker to sit just a tiny bit deeper in my seat?

G) I LOVE this altimeter

H) There was one more issue that nagged me a lot when flying this plane yesterday, but I forgot!

Overall, nice plane, but I'd like more insight into these points. thx

Edited October 8, 2011 by woweezowee

[JB_XUSA]

A. not sure,

B. that is the measurable electric amps that are supplying the prop ice heat. Turn on your prop de ice and it will move.

C. I think they were trying to enact drag coefficients by lowering the gear. You definetly feel this in real life although I think its a little much but not by much.

D. Exaggerated. I've never set foot into a plane that rolls this much. I also believe this is a try at adding realism in the P-factor (P-roll) and torque factor categories. I find that you have to adjust this a lot depending on the power setting you are using at the time.

E. Got to be

f. Renderings - Field of view Im at 60 to 65 and its a nice distance. You can't go back to far or you will lose your ability to see the DME displays and controls very clearly without having to zoom in.

G. ME TOO !! Love the hint of Blue

Overall I believe they have done a decent job. The plane flies well and handles well in the landing phase which a lot of the caranado's do not.

I did not buy the 172 so i don't know if they started any of this new modeling of drag and other flight characteristics or the bonanza was the first try in the gear drag and torque factor but they are very close. It's a little exaggerated but I don't believe its ridiculous. Maybe cut it back 5% and you'll have a winner. At the end of the day its still a sim. My flight school has a 140,000 c172 sim and its still got stuff that isn't quite right. Little quirks here and there are expected. Thats why they call it a simulator.

JB

[woweezowee]

Thanks! I see, that thingy in (A) remains a mystery.

But RE: my point nr. F, I really mean adjusting in plane maker - not field of view. I know I already read it somewhere, might just have to google again. Beeing lazy.

[flyinhawaiian]

FYI, having flown Bonanza's quite a bit, I can tell you the gear adds a LOT of drag. I'd say its under-exaggerated in other ACFs, but I remember the A36 dropping like a stone once you throw the gear down

[steven winslow]

A quick, temporary fix for the pilot viewpoint: in 3D view, use the up and down arrows to drop yourself down a bit.

[steven winslow]

As for the timer reset, you can map a key to start, stop and reset your timer. I haven't tried the buttons on the virtual yoke, but I have a switch on my Saitek yoke to start/stop and reset the timer.

[Xflyboy]

To adjust your seat height in planemaker, go to:

Standard Viewpoint

adjust the "Vertical arm pilot's viewpoint"

This is in feet, so just add/subtract 1 for a start.

eg. 1.50 1.60 1.40

[woweezowee]

As for the timer reset, you can map a key to start, stop and reset your timer. I haven't tried the buttons on the virtual yoke, but I have a switch on my Saitek yoke to start/stop and reset the timer.

yes, you see, I have those buttons configured to be up/down . I just wanted to know the "permanent" way to make it in plane maker

[woweezowee]

To adjust your seat height in planemaker, go to:

Standard Viewpoint

adjust the "Vertical arm pilot's viewpoint"

This is in feet, so just add/subtract 1 for a start.

eg. 1.50 1.60 1.40

thanks a lot!

[Xflyboy]

Your welcome, it's the first thing I do when I get a new plane

Have to get comfy

[JB_XUSA]

Yeah especially with caranado's planes, It seems you always have to do that with the GA's. Everyone is different.

[Lukasz]

Some questions. I used one of chips screenshots above.

A) (marked in the screenshot) What is this little thingy doing? I can move those knobs, but I have no idea about their function.

I've got a new plane in my hangar today and the mystery was solved It's a calibration for directional gyrocompass element for HSI. As you know, gyrocompass drifts away as the time passes, due to aircraft's movement around the Earth, which is not flat (at least according to the newest scientific achievements ) and you have to update it about every 15-20 minutes. "Slave" ties the gyro to magnetic field sensor and continuously updates it automatically. "Free" disables the sensor and the gyro will drift away, so you have to tune it manually, with the help of the CW/CCW (clockwise/counterclockwise) knob located to the right and backup magnetic compass indications. All this is modelled and works in Bonanza and the HSI will lie to you, if not updated for any reason!

[steven winslow]

Thanks for figuring that out, Lukasz!

[woweezowee]

yeah, thanks! Dan Klaue also personally replied on the XP10-Blog.

[Emalice]

Hi all.

I treated myself yesterday with this wonderful plane, and I believe it is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

There is just one soft spot in this package, IMO, and it is the documentation that comes with the plane. I will just mention the reference card that does not show the landing speed... (I know you can find it in the checklists, but come on, it's not exactly some superfluous info). I would have loved a more extensive description of the dashboard for example and some legible performance charts. But well, this is just really because I had to find at least ONE defect, and it is not even about the plane itself ;-)

Apart from that it is superb, and I really like the way it handles, you can tell it has some personality.

I am curious about a few things, maybe someone can enlighten me :

1) the engine monitor thing in the middle (the one that looks like an equalizer display, or an audiogram, well, you now, the graphics thing), I can tell Y is the temperature, but what is X ? i.e. what temperature is this indicating ? Why six separate readings ? (okay, I must confess my laziness, I did not turn the "instrument description" option on)

2) It is the first plane I fly where you can only select one tank at a time. So I am curious as to the practical reason that makes a plane manufacturer decide not to include a "both" fuel selector. Also, what is good practice with this ? Do you switch tank a) when you notice a tendency to roll, b ) when above a given difference in fuel quantity c) every so many minutes ?

3) What about the landing light : it looks very dim, my bedside table is brighter than that. I doubt anyone can spot the plane on approach on a rainy day with this kind of light. Is that an issue with the original ACF or some setting gone wrong in plane-maker ?

4) What max-altitude can you hope to fly at in a non-pressurized aircraft such as this one (supposing you are not equipped with any kind of oxygen supply) ? 15,000 ft (wild guess) ?

5) Below the fuel pump switch it says that take-off and landings do not require the pump on, but only if fuel pressure drops below green (and at start-up, of course). But when would that happen ? When the tank is almost depleted ? In case of carburetor icing ? If the fuel line gets clogged ? Also, where is this pressure measured exactly ?

6) Can someone tell Carenado that my wife hates them ? (I was supposed to do some painting this week-end, but I guess I will be too busy flying).

Cheers,

Emalice

Edited October 11, 2011 by Emalice

[Lukasz]

Re: documentation. Second defect is that best power should be 50^OF ROP (rich of peak) and best cruise is 100^OF ROP. Manual has it the other way.

1) 1-6 are engine cylinders, so you can monitor each of them separately, this is needed for lean of peak operations (and works beautifully!), to be sure that all are lean and there is no temperature runaway in any of them, for example. Left scale is EGT, right CHT. Every column has two superimposed vertical bars: the usually higher and more "lively" is EGT (stay below asterisk * mark), the smaller and slower to respond is CHT (stay below 400^OF).

2) to isolate tanks in case one is punctured. All answers are correct, a) will give you the best range, just play with uneven fuel balance instead of using aileron trim, which causes drag. Usually I use , just to make things easier.

3) It's how it was modelled, I suppose.

4) If I remember correctly, regulations require using oxygen above 12000-12500, but hypoxia can hit you as low as 8000-9000ft, depending on your health, age etc. Autopilot in this plane has limit at 15000ft, but with a bit of trick, you can cruise higher

5) Don't know, how (if at all) was that modelled. Just watch the fuel press gauge and turn the pump on, if you see that it creeps out of the green range.

6) Tell your wife, that you will paint... the plane livery

[steven winslow]

Yep... if you are flying in an unpressurized aircraft for 30 minutes or more at or above 12,500 MSL, oxygen is required for all crew members. If at or above 14,000 MSL, oxygen must be provided for all passengers.

You can boost the landing light power in Plane-Maker, as well as adjust the pitch and width of the beam. I don't remember the steps, but it is really quite simple.

My understanding of the fuel pump is that it is used at startup and, as you noted, when the fuel pressure drops below the green arc. There is a noticeable jump in fuel pressure when the switch is activated so I assume it is modeled.

I have several planes that draw from one tank at a time. As Lukasz says, you need to manage the balance shifts with trim and fuel management. I have to admit I generally run on one tank until it is almost dry, then switch. Not a very efficient method of flying.

As for the painting, it's going to rain this weekend anyway.........