steven winslow

The VOR To/From flags are indeed reversed. While sitting on the ramp at KSBA, I tested the VOR by tuning in the RZS VOR. See attached screenshot with the RZS (114.9) frequency tuned in NAV1.

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.

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.

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.

I'm right there with you, Arti. I don't look at X-Plane as a game and it drives me nuts when people talk about "playing X-Plane." I use X-Plane as a serious training tool so I want my aircraft to be as "similar" to the real world plane in every aspect, but most importantly I want the flight model to be right. Then I want the cockpit to be realistic. I like them to look good on the outside, too, but that's not the highest priority. You are teaching me to be more discerning with the sounds. Thank you for your work with the sounds. As I mentioned before, I would love to beg, borrow, steal.....and even BUY your sound packs for Jason Chandler's Beechcraft.

Just curious, Lukasz, but would you care to elaborate on the disappointments you have experienced? I have had a few of my own, but I have been pleased with my Carenado purchases. I have all of their X-Plane models. I also have all of Jason Chandler's planes and I have both the Sundowner and the Duchess and I am pleased with all of those investments. I also have most of the X-Aviation planes, except the Javelin, the T-28 Trojan, the SeaMax and the CRJ-200. Again, I'm not trying to start anything by my comments, but I am not happy with a couple of my X-A investments in comparison to some of my other purchases. I guess it boils down to this: if you don't buy it, you won't know if it's worth the investment. I don't think you can judge without buying and flying it. As for their statement: "the plane is similar to the real one"....just remember there is a language difference. I'm sure there has been something lost in the translation. My first impressions are good, but I need to get some hours in her before I can truly pass judgement. As I said before, from first impressions, she seems like a winner.

I mean issues, Arti, that are flight crucial. You are VERY discerning when it comes to the sound quality. I doubt most X-Plane end users have issues with the sounds. I'm not trying to start an argument with you. I agree the sounds could be better, but the sounds in the Archer are not flight crucial and as such, I assume, are not a priority fix. I know Carenado has an ambitious schedule for X-Plane models and their priority is getting them produced. I'm sure they will get around to "fixing" the sound files in the Archer.

In all fairness, I obviously have most of those hours in the updated Mooney. I believe the update was released very shortly after the initial release. At least Carenado is pretty quick to correct issues with their new releases.

Thanks for the reference, Lukasz, but I have never experienced any of those problems. I have over 90 hours in the Mooney, having circumnavigated Alaska and flown out to the furthest west of the Aleutians and back, and I can say I am pleased with the Mooney's performance. If there were problems with the A/P or at altitude stalls, I certainly would have experienced them, but I have not. As for the sounds, Arti, you are much more discerning than I. I can't wait for you to make your sound packs available. I would love to have your Beechcraft sounds in my Chandler A36!

I don't think Goran even has the default sounds! The Sundowner doesn't have the generic sounds and neither does the Duchess so I think we can rest assured the sounds for the Saab will be of equal, if not better, quality.

The prop animation from inside the cockpit is different than any other I have experienced. I like it actually. Hard to explain, but it is different in a good way. It is visible from outside the aircraft, too.

I still love my A36 and S35 Bonanza's by Jason Chandler, but this F33A will fit nicely in my hangar. Worth the investment. I still have a lot of exploring to do with her, but on first glance, she's a beauty!

Just did a quick pattern flying with my mouse. I'll fly her more later today with all my Saitek gear, but so far, she seems up to par. I've never had an issue with any of the flight modeling of the Carenado planes. Not sure what you guys are referring to, but they seem to be fairly accurate. The 152 is still one of my favorite planes to fly. By the way, the sounds with this plane are great!

Bought it half an hour ago. Already starting to paint my personal liveries. Haven't even fired up X-Plane to check it out.

Great idea, Cameron. Thanks for an additional outlet/source of X-Plane information. Maybe the blog can work on bringing/keeping the X-Plane community together with a focus on X-Plane rather than "other" private issues.

Took an early morning flight this morning out of Fort Yukon to Fairbanks. Beautiful morning for an Alaskan flight! Took off just as the sun was coming up with a little bit of a warm glow. This is a new livery I did for Jason Chandler's C182. He's given me permission to create some liveries and texturing for his planes. I'll be working on the Cessna line and then the Pipers. These liveries will only be available through C74.net and will be included with future purchases and updates: edit: posted the second and third shots out of order........third shot - enroute. second shot on approach into PAFA

You're amazing......and airliners don't normally turn my crank, but this work is phenomenal!

Recently announced as the next project for X-Plane from Carenado...... http://www.carenado.com/CarSite/Portal/index.php

James, I can't get PM's. Please e-mail me at winslowphoto@yahoo.com Thanks

I've done a few custom liveries for the Duchess. Here's one I posted on the org: http://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?app=downloads&showfile=13443 If you have a photo of a particular Duchess that you would like to have painted, I would be happy to do it for you. Just drop me an e-mail with the photo at winslowphoto@yahoo.com and tell me the tail number you would like use.

See? I knew someone would know! Thanks for teaching us, guys. Learned something new tonight.....

E-mail Cameron and see if he can get your permissions fixed. I know it's not an XA issue, but I run my X-Plane on an external. I have not experienced a crash to desktop, but my MU-2 license wouldn't work because of a path problem and Cameron got me up and going. I'm thinking you may have a similar problem in that X-Plane thinks you should be flying on a different machine than you are. I'm just shooting from the hip and I hope there's someone out there who can help you resolve the issue. I wouldn't go back to Snow Leopard at this point. I'm sure someone can figure out what's going on with your installation.

Is your X-Plane folder on an external drive?

Yep....what you said, Kaphias!

Thanks, Kaphias, for expanding on what I said. So, Simon, what you're saying is that it worked fine with Snow Leopard, but now that you've installed Lion, you get crashes to the desktop? Hmmm.....Lion may be stable, but it is apparent it doesn't like something with your X-Plane installation. I won't say Lion is unstable, but I will say that the machine you bought was not built for Lion and you would probably have been better off staying with Snow Leopard. This is coming from a guy who has experienced compatibility issues with every new OS I have ever installed on an "older" machine, and I've owned Macs since the very first one back in 1984. I don't dare install a new system on my work computer or Photoshop will have fits. It's not so much the new system being unstable, it's exactly what Kaphias said: Lion is not compatible with something you have installed.