Carenado Rockwell Commander AC11 FSX

Welcome back to another Flight Simulator Review's Review!

This time we are going to be reviewing one of the most iconic single engine aircraft to be flying in the skies today this is the AC11 - Carenado like always have made an amazing representation of the aircraft in FSX for us all to enjoy!

Exterior Model

I have decided to jump straight to the exterior model for this review - As each time I have been reviewing the download and installation which is pretty much the same every time that I download a product from Carenado for FSX.

So loading her up on the GA parking at Coventry Airport UK. The most Iconic thing that sticks out about this aircraft is that it is not a T-Tail plane neither is it a normal tailplane you will notice that it has got it half way up the rudder. I think that Carenado have done another amazing job in capturing the detail of the AC11. 

Commander on the GA Parking at Coventry

Moving further forward along the fuselage - Even in high zoom the detail is still retain which is a feat that I think Carenado are great at acheiving as some other producers you might think that the livery's are high quality but then when zooming in they become blurred and distorded.

     The animations on the outside model are amazing - the airelons are great there is not a thing wrong with the animations in this model I find that I can move the controls on my yoke with quick accurate response on the outside of this model. The flaps again are amazing the animations that Carenado have included are great like usual. Moving to the properllor - for me this is a first that I have found whilst using Carenado aircraft, there doesent seem just to be a series of pictures put together to make the prop spin affect you actually get quite a fluid display of the prop when it is moving which is a small but nice feature that seems to have been incorporated into this model.

Virtual Cockpit

As some of my last reviews have lacked the photo's that I should I have put up I am going to let this one sell it's self with the virtual cockpit looks.

As you can see from the above photos no rock has been left unturned with this model it is one of the best virtual cockpit models that you can get from Carenado's fleet to date. Looking at photos of real Commander cockpits this seems to match pretty much like for like with obviously a few minor changes that they have had to develop to make it easier for you and I to use. The above photos don't show what the passenger seats and captain seats are like - I know that it is not essential that the aircraft seats look like they have been used and that there are a few spec's of dust here and there but it add's to the whole realism of what this aircraft can provide.

Also these photos as you may of noticed are in dusk/night time scenery as this time the flight test is going to be done at night time to show off the true IFR abilites that Carenado allow you to use on their aircraft.

Flight Characteristic's

Before I get onto the flight test this time I am going to say a few things about the characteristics of flight on this aircraft. Like with most small aviation aeroplanes they are controlled by thin wires stretching across the entire airframe to move the control surfaces - this is true on the Commander but it also means that the reactions from any kind of movement on the contol stick means an almost instantanous reaction from the aircraft. I started this test at around about 2000 ft above the Channel from a short flight to Calais. I found that the aircraft responded well in pitch and roll conditions and was easy enought to trim for straight and level flight. The good thing that I found - is that in slow flight conditions the aircraft was slower to respond like what happens on the real aircraft (slower speed = slower reaction from control surfaces).

    With flap down into the approach to Calais the aircraft handled well at slow speed and I was able to conduct a normal standard landing like usual.

Flight Test

This flight test like I said earlier on in the review - is going to be a night flight to show of the true IFR that Carneado aircraft can handle. This flight is going to take us from Coventry (EGBE) to Jersey (EGJJ) this will take is south then over the channel so VFR navigation is going to be hard.

The flight plan is here.

EGBE - DTY (Daventry VOR) - DCT - EGJJ.

The reason I chose this route is because it allows me to fly the first part of the flight manually to DTY which should take about 10 minutes from takeoff to show analyse the IFR instruments in the cockpit and then the DCT (Direct) flight plan I will engage the autopilot and allow that to take us for the rest of the 1 hour journey. The best thing that I found about this aircraft is that it has a GPS in the cockpit without the need to open up another panel which is a nice little feature.