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27 July 2011

Captain Sim 777-200 Base Pack Review FSX

Welcome to another Flight Simulator Review Review's.

Today I am going to talk about some of the features that are going to appear on the 777-200 from Captain sim when it is released and have another in depth review on the exterior model currently available on their site for 9.99 Euros.

The Roots of the 777.

The Boeing 777 is a long-range, wide-body twin-engine jet airliner manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. It is the world's largest twinjet and is commonly referred to as the "Triple Seven". The aircraft has seating for over 300 passengers and has a range from 5,235 to 9,380 nautical miles (9,695 to 17,370 km), depending on model. Its distinguishing features include the largest-diameter turbofan engines of any aircraft, six wheels on each main landing gear, a circular fuselage cross-section, and blade-shaped tail cone. Developed in consultation with eight major airlines, the 777 was designed to replace older wide-body airliners and bridge the capacity difference between the 767 and 747. As Boeing's first fly-by-wire airliner, it has computer mediated controls; it is also the first entirely computer-designed commercial aircraft.
The 777 is produced in two fuselage lengths. The original 777-200 model first entered service in 1995, followed by the extended-range 777-200ER in 1997; the stretched 777-300, which is 33.3 ft (10.1 m) longer, began service in 1998. The longer-range 777-300ER and 777-200LR variants entered service in 2004 and 2006, respectively, while a freighter version, the 777F, debuted in 2009. Both longer-range versions and the freighter feature General Electric GE90 engines, as well as extended and raked wingtips. Other models are equipped with either the GE90, Pratt & Whitney PW4000, or Rolls-Royce Trent 800 engines. The 777-200LR ranks as the world's longest-range airliner and holds the record for longest distance flown by an unrefueled commercial aircraft, with the demonstrated capability to fly more than halfway around the world.
United Airlines first placed the 777 into commercial airline service in 1995. As of March 2011, 60 customers have placed orders for 1,209 aircraft of all variants, with 923 delivered. The most common variant used worldwide is the 777-200ER, with 415 aircraft delivered, and Emirates operates the largest 777 fleet, with 86 aircraft. The airliner has had one hull-loss accident, attributed to a Trent 800 engine fuel component, with no passenger fatalities as of 2011.
Through the 2000s, the 777 has emerged as one of its manufacturer's best-selling models. Because of rising fuel costs, airlines have acquired the type as a comparatively fuel-efficient alternative to other wide-body jets and have increasingly used the aircraft on long-haul, transoceanic routes. Direct market competitors include the Airbus A330-300 and the A340, with the upcoming A350 XWB and Boeing 787 Dreamliner programs currently in development.


Cockpit
As stated earlier in this review the cockpit isnt as you would expect for any Captain Sim product. It is just simply the default cockpit and sounds for the 747. So for this part of the review it is very basic cockpit but it works at the end of the day and you can actually fly this model if you wanted to.
Exterior Model
So what do you get for your 9.99. You get an amazingly detailed model of the 777-200 and some nice features that you could find on the Captain Sim products for example the panel that allows you to open windows, APU door's and all that are all included. This is topped off with some of the nicest liveries that I have seen.
I'll start by showing you this one of JAL with the panel showing the different options you can choose.
As you can see its a very well detailed exterior model even when you are zoomed quite far in.


Someone call a MAYDAY - this model even comes with slides.
The above photo shows the model with all the external viewing features in the ON/GREEN position. To be honest I think when Captain Sim have conquered the cockpit and tweaked the flight dynamics they will have one of the best add-on's for FSX.

Here is a photo list of all the liveries that come with the package:

American Airline's

Air France

British Airways

United Airlines

KLM

JAL - Japan Airlines

Singapore Airlines - Star Alliance Livery

As you can see from the above phots the amount of detail that has been put into these liveires is high quality.


Test Flight

 You are probably thinking - what's the point in a test flight right?

Well although the flight dynamics are perfect and theres not systems or cockpit to test out on long endurance flight's. I decided to do a flight from Osaka, Japan to Changi, Singapore - in the Singapore Airlines Livery.
    Please not that this flight test will be mostly shots of the flight and not actual written text as there is nothing to review but animations.

Left PAX View

Right PAX View

V1.... Rotate!

Gear Up - Departure out of Osaka

Reverse Thrust and Spoliers up at WSSS :)



Overall, this aircraft is flyable and despite having the default 747 cockpit and 737 sounds it is quite a nice aircraft to fly and feels - which has no bugs or glitches on the main animations which is a reason why, I think this could be the best 777 product and one of the best overall add-on's when it's finished at an undisclosed date.

I rate this aircrafr 9/10 due to simplicity at this stage, and the face that you get a 9.99 discount on the product when it is being released.

Check Back for more soon!

8 July 2011

Carenado CT210M for FSX Review

DONT FORGET TO DONATE FOR CHANCE TO WIN AN FSX ADD-ON of YOUR CHOICE!

Finally welcome to another Flight Simulator Review.

I have been working hard moving all my flight simulator files onto my new computer but finally I have finished and I am able to bring you this review.  Another big thank you goes to the team at Carenado for letting me use this aircraft for the review.

And WOW! what an amazing aircraft it is - every single last detail has been modelled even including shiny liveries!

First Impression's
So after a uneventful download and install I decide to just load her up at Coventry to have a quick look around her. As part of the HD series that Carenado have released the external model is extremly detailed and is just miles better than any other in this class of add-on. Furthermore the cockpit is presitge and everything is there and working with like for like placement in the cockpit over the real aircraft - Apologies about the lack of photos in this review I have had computer problems.

     I kept the engine on the sounds are amazing - that is all I can say you can tell that not one rock has been left unturned for this model and I hope that this carries on into future models that Carenado make for FSX.
   The basic flight characteristics are very well modeled and beleiveable against the real thing - As i havent had the chance to fly this aircraft in real life I cannot justify this.

So into the Virtual Cokpit...

As mentioned earlier having looked a few cockpits on the internet of this aircraft I can safely say it does match up to that of its real life counter part. I am actually amazed at the amount of detail that Carenado have put into this model from the Reality XP Intergration Garmin GPS's to your bog standard HSI and Attititude indicator nothing gets blurry when really zoomed in and everything is clear looking around from a zoomed out persprective. Panning around the cabin area you get a feel for what this aircraft was actually desgined to do. It has 6 seat modelled - including both Pilots seats. All the seats are leather and the modeling is extremly high for example you may fiind small bits of fluff in the creases of the leather for example. Looking out side of the aircraft from the pilots seat you get an amazing underneath wing view - now you might be thinking well whats the point in saying that, you get shine of this underwing into the cockpit that is how highly modeled this aircraft is.

As a virtaul cockpit/cabin and overall impression is that I am very impressed about the release of this aircraft and I continue to fly it every day on my Air Hauler carerr.

External Model AND Flight Test

For this review I have decided to combine these both together for ease of reading.
     To start of I am going to describe what I am going to do on my flight test today - I am going to start off in France's Le Touquet Airport (LFAT) and fly to the well known Barcelona El Prat Airport in Spain - for a roughl 3-4 hour touring aircraft this should be a delight.
     As a IFR rated aircraft this I decided it would be a good idea to fly it IFR like anyone would when they would be flying at 11000 ft and overcast cloud. So I planned a basic route which ended up just being pretty much direct.

So now we are ready to do the engine start sequence is music to any GA's enthusiast's ear's. The 3 blade prop soon gets spinning and we are ready to taxi - Luckily I had found a gate close to the active runway to the taxi was short.

    Unleashing all 6 cyclinders and watching the man. pressure increase another amazing sound repoduced by Carenado - I swap to the external model to see how she looks with her RG ( Retractable Gear), so after about 80knots she steadily floats into the air - so gear up is very odd sequence. It seems like Carenado have simulated the fact that when the pin is released gravity still acts and the gear drops a bit before finally being slowly retracted - back into the cockpit you get the whine of the motor working to pull up a very thin fragile looking undercarriage.

As for the cruise and decent is just your bog standard straight line navigation with about 140 knots indicted on the IAS.

Hope you have enjoyed this review for the Carenado T210M sorry it was a bit late - Has computer problems but thats another story.

5 July 2011

CLS 747-100/200 For FSX

I am going to start this review off by saying another big thank you to the CLS team for allowing me to use this software for the review.

So... The 747 the most iconic wide bodied aircraft in the world and the 100/200 variants where the ones that started off the trend. With the first flight in 1969 and the first delivery to Pan- Am in 1970 there has been a total of 1,418 aircraft built to date.

Background Information

The series 100 powered by Pratt & Whitney JT9D-3A engines offered enough payload and range for US domestic operations, but it was marginal for long international route sectors. This demand for longer range aircraft with increased payload quickly led to improved series 200. The 747-200 has more powerful engines, increased MTOW, and greater range than the −100. In its first three years of production, the series 200 featured Pratt & Whitney JT9D-7 engines (initially the only engine available). A few early −200s retained the three-window configuration of the −100 on the upper deck, but most were built with a 10-window configuration on each side.
Several variants of the −200 were produced. The 747-200B was the basic passenger version, with increased fuel capacity and more powerful engines; it entered service in February 1971. Range with a full passenger load started at 5000+ nmi (9000+ km) and increased to 6000 nmi with later engines. The 747-200F is the freighter version of the −200 model. It could be fitted with or without a side cargo door. It has a capacity of 105 tons (95.3 tonnes) and an MTOW of up to 833,000 lb (378,000 kg). It entered service in 1972 with Lufthansa.The 747-200C Convertible is a version that can be converted between a passenger and a freighter or used in mixed configurations. The seats are removable, and the model has a nose cargo door. The −200C could be fitted with an optional side cargo door on the main deck.

What's in the package?

After installing this package from CLS, I had a brief look what they said they had to offer like any normal consumer would,

'General features
- For both FSX and FS2004!
- Highly detailed exterior models.
- High quality interactive 3D Virtual cockpit (VC)
- 2D panel with custom gauges.
- 65 highly detailed liveries!
- Detailed manual.
- Option for showing the wings from the interior view (wing view)
- Push back truck (can be switched on/off for FSX)
- Air stairs. For passenger models
- Dynamic wing-flex.
- Detailed flight deck when seen from the exterior.
- Animations abound; Passenger doors, cargo doors, flaps, rudder, elevators, undercarriage, engine fans, thrust reverser's and spoilers.
- High quality sound sets.
- Rolls Royce, Pratt and Whitney and General Electric engines modelled.'

It then goes on to say that you will receive both a passenger version of the aircraft and a cargo variant both weighing in a light 380MB each and it comes on the same download.

First Impressions

WOW! What else can I say really, after loading this aircraft up in the flight simulator mode you can first choose between and IRS system and a FMS system of navigation this just allows the pilot to further change the way that they fly this aircraft. And well loading up in the cockpit is very realistic you are seated in a very old looking cockpit with an all analogue gauges and nothing electrical at all.

Here are the external models that come with this aircraft ( please note that each aircraft comes with 3 different engine variants!):

747 - 200F



747-300 PAX


747-200 PAX Variant




As you can see each one is either in a blank white livery or that of the CLS house colours - but not to worry it does come with its own repaint manager that will search the internet for addon's and install them for you.

The first flight that I did in this was just a short general handling test. I found that the flight characteristics are life like and that the roll rate may be a little to quick but it is nothing that will affect your flight experience. As for the cockpit the VC was very well modeled and the 2D cockpit wasn't bad either. But more on those later.

Cockpit's

As you may know by now I like to fly from the Virtual cockpit just because it's more realistic but for those who cant or don't like to I am going to include some pictures of the 2D cockpit and a brief explanation too.

The 2D cockpit is very well designed in my opinion this is because CLS have really captured the way that this aircraft is old and has barely any modern day avionics on board! Everything is analogue inside the cockpit - as shown below

As you may find the forward visibility from the 2D cockpit is not great however very well done with no blurring or visibly polygons there.  The only thing that can get annoying with using any 2D cockpit is the pop up panels. These are also Incorporated into this model by using the Shift + 'Number' key, this causes even more visibility problems especially if you are coming into approach where you may have the radio panel and the IRS/FMS panel out causing little visibility but this is not a problem if you are confident flying on instruments.

Now for the real beauty of this aircraft - the 3D cockpit. In my personal opinion I believe that this has got to be one of the most well thought out 3D cockpits and I would even say I would compare it to that of the PMDG 747 cockpit!

Here are some photos below.


General MCP and Pedestal Panel

Woah all them buttons - Luckily the engineer's panel is not modelled.
So what do you think, after now over 30 flying hours this has become my favourite VC to be in - purely because not only is it FPS friendly meaning that mostly all systems can cope, you can also just simple jump in turn on the engines and fly it's so easy to use all from the same 'panel' as it where. Now to go into more depth about the systems on board this aircraft.
   The package comes with an IRS system and a FMS system it varies between the aircraft. The IRS system is what was first ever installed onto a Boeing aircraft it allows the user to enter various Lat/Long co ordinates into the system and will follow it for you basically like the basic GPS.

However although the principles are the same with the FMS, this allows  the user to not only enter Lat/Long way point but can also enter FIX's and VOR's by the name not there position. And to top this off it will give you accurate V Speeds for your landing and takeoff. This is personally why I enjoy flying the FMS variant alot more than the IRS just based on the fact that you can do so much more!


Flight Test

Today's concluding flight test will take us from Tenerife South to Amsterdam on a KLM 747-200 Variant like what they used to use on this route.

After loading up the flight and calculating the fuel and all that jazz, I was ready to go. Because this is an F-Lite product all you have to do prior to departure is file a flight plan with ATC and then just turn on the GPS mode and click NAV. Although not necessarily what the airline pilots do it is a nice way of getting in the air quick instead of entering a laborious flight plan into your FMS.

    Starting the engines is a doddle and all can be done via the Control + E button or via the overhead panel. Because I was going for realism on this flight I worked out how to start the engines via the overhead panel - If you are stuck at any time just consult the manual for more instructions.

Now for the briefing - we will be flying at a height of 32000ft today and out flight time is approximately 4 hours and 40 minutes. And that's it no complicated departure routes either. So taxing out at GCTS took some time because I was parked on the opposite side of the field which was kinda annoying but nothing to worry about just use SLEW if you get bored!
 The flap setting will be 10 for departure today and the FMS had worked out a V speed of 127 knots for me. Lining up on the runway the landing lights came on then the 4 RR RB2-11's kicked into life with full power on! Soon enough the 127 knots came and the beast entered the skies again. The climb out procedures are like any on all aircraft types ' positive rate' 'gear up' and then flaps retraction when necessary. That was it for the next 4 hours it really is that simple to fly this thing nothing to manage it is simply great for the new comer's to the flight simulation world.

' Descend and maintain 24000ft' said ATC so what you do is scroll down the ALT button until you get 24000ft on the indicator and simply control the descent with the V/S indicator. I was being vectored for an ILS approach for runway 18 which I was going to fly visual to get a feel for the aircraft and like the would in the real world any way.
    Now at 5000ft and well inside Schipol airspace I was cleared down to 2000ft and to turn left and cleared for the ILS approach. After seeing the runway's ( and there's lots of them at schipol) I disconnected the autopilot. Slowing her down to about 129 knots for the landing I put down full flap and lowered the gear for landing the aircraft responded life like - the increased drag allowed for me to lower the speed even more to about 119 knots for the final approach just above the stall speed!
   I like the fact that CLS haven't forgot about the nice details on the aircraft for example to GPWS telling me how high I am from the runway. This is something that you are looking for when you are buying a flight simulator add-on.
 Touchdown was smooth as ever thanks to the massive hydraulic suspension system on the 747 and the RB2 -11's in reverse thrust and brakes on allowed her to slow down pretty rapido!

Conclusion

I like that fact that it's FPS friendly lots of liveries and includes things such as the GPWS which is the kind of realism that you would expect from a payware ad don.

Something I think could be changed is maybe the sounds although the exterior models where different all the sounds seemed to be the same for all the models. Not unless it is just my ear. But however this is a great ad don for the beginners in the simulation world I think you could defiantly use it online on VATSIM etc. If you are used to things like PMDG then this may not be for you just because the aircraft systems are so different.
    

4 July 2011

Carenado C185F Bush for FSX

Before I start another review please be aware that you do not need the normal C185 to get this BUSH edition it is a standalone product from Carenado! Another big thank you goes to the Carenado team for providing the software for this review!

Background Information

The aircraft is basically a Cessna 180 with a strengthened fuselage. The main difference between the two aircraft is the larger vertical fin on the 185 and the 300 hp (224 kW) Continental Motors IO-520-D engine as opposed to the 230 hp (172 kW) Continental Motors O-470-S fitted in the Cessna 180. The exception was that a Continental Motors IO-470-F engine of 260 hp (194 kW) was initially fitted until midway through the 1966 production year. The later model Skywagon II has a factory fitted avionics package.
A real life version of the C185 with Floats

1976 Cessna A185F on floats
The Skywagon can also be fitted with floats, amphibious float, or skis. The AGcarryall variant of the 185 adds a 151-gallon belly chemical tank and removable spray booms for aerial application. It is also possible to fit a cargo pod under the fuselage that can carry an extra 300 lb (136 kg).
The 180 and 185 are widely used in bush flying, the commercial transport of passengers and freight to remote austere airstrips and float plane and ski-plane accessible lakes and snowfields, primarily in Canada and Alaska.
The ICAO designator as used in flight plans for the Cessna 185 is C185.

Because this is a standalone product to the original cockpit I am going to review everything again because except for the Tundra tyre version the cockpits are very different to that of the original release.

First Impressions

Wow! After loading up the Ski version at Courchevel airport in France, I am actually amazed at the amount of changes that Carenado have put into this aircraft to make it suitable for bush flying. After looking around the outside of the aircraft you can see how much time and effort has been put in to make sure that it looks as realistic as possible, the ski's are attached to the fuselage with wires and the wheels are available for runway landings. Looking inside the aircraft I see that Carenado have put supporting beams across the window frame, to support them hard landings that you might get on the snowy terrain that you are going to be landing on!
    After this I loaded one of the float versions up at Friday Harbour, and well the basic cockpit is there like on the C185 original however they have modeled a gear lever as you can retract and extend the gear for water and land landings - At this point I am happy with the fact that Carenado haven't just altered the external model they have in fact gone into the depths of the cockpit and flight dynamics on this aircraft.

External Model

As explained earlier on in the review I am truly amazed at the amount of changes that Carenado have made to the original C185 to create this Bush add-on, because there is 3 different models included with this package I will start with the Tundra Tyre version.

   The Tundra tyre for all that don't know is larger wheel that allows an aircraft to land literally on any terrain possible you can even dip your wheels in the water to slow yourself down on approaching the sand bar! The external model on this tundra tyre version is a perfect replica of the real aircraft - the tyres seem within scale and the fact that it does actually allow you to land on any terrain its great! However the only thing that I found a bit wrong with this external model is that approaching the water upon landing instead of skimming across the top you actually sink into the water then crash which is a small annoyance if you want to land on gravel bars however I only know one publisher that actually designs in the fact that a tundra tyre can actually do this and that's A2A.

Moving onto the Ski Version, there are 2 models of the ski version that of the normal ski and the ski with door window (the floor door or foot window) basically it replaces a panel on the external model with a window allowing for more view out of the cockpit. The external model on the ski version is amazing, the animations of the ski's retraction and extension is realistic and the fact that Carenado have factored in the fact that ski's don't just float they need support, this comes in the form of wires protruding from the main engine plant and fuselage. More on the characteristics of the ski version later on.

And finally the float version, the float version is my all time favourite in this package. It has become my favourite partly on the fact that flight model is realistic and partly because I love this plane on floats the elegance sitting on the water bobbing up and down with the wake and then again the fact that you have got wheel for runway landings makes this the most versatile aircraft in the package to use. The floats are instead of the main gear and you have a really nice animation of the gear coming out from the inside of the float!


Internal Model VC

As stated earlier not only is the external model changed from the original release, the cockpit has also changed. Although there are no changes to the actual instrumentation in the cockpit it is still the basic aircraft that the C185 was at the time, however for example on the ski and float version has the gear lever located under-neath the autopilot and furthermore to this the ski version has the supporting struts on the inside of the actual airframe - talk about realism.

For this review I am not going to review the flight model as I have found that this has not changed from the original flight model - for more details on the aircraft please look at my other review.

Thanks for reading this review on the C185 BUSH - I hope that this has helped.

If there is any requests for aircraft to be reviews then please contact me on mattmarshall120@hotmail.co.uk


1 July 2011

Carenado C185F for FSX

Welcome to another Flight Simulator Reviews review for Carenado - This time we will take flight in one of the most robust aircraft that are flying in the skies today the Cessna 185. Before I start this review another big thank you goes to Carenado for supplying and letting me use the software that I am reviewing today. 


Background Information

 

The Cessna 185, also known as the Skywagon, is a six-seat, single-engined, general aviation light aircraft manufactured by Cessna. It first flew as a prototype in July 1960, with the first production model being completed in March 1961. The Cessna 185 is a high-winged aircraft with non-retractable conventional landing gear and a tailwheel. Over 4,400 were built with production ceasing in 1985. When Cessna re-introduced some of its most popular models in the 1990s, the tail wheel equipped Cessna 180 and 185 were left to the history books and not resurrected.

What's in the package?

So what do you get for your money, please note that this review doesn't incorporate the BUSH version that Carenado have released that is the next review on my list.
In this ad on you get:

4 Models - 2 or 3 Blade prop, Floor windows,  and with or without wheel fairings.
4 Paint Schemes - This also comes with 1 blank scheme.
C185 History and the Owners Manual (access able through the Shift + 4 Key in FSX)

Download and Installation

 

Because this was another linked aircraft I get the pleasure of using the Carneado checkout system, this is a great system that literally allows the user to download any aircraft up to 3 times and gives the keys and links to download in the same page. The download of this product took me about a minute to complete and then the installer automatically opened up which is a nice feature. The installer requires the keys that are sent by email after purchase and in the Downloads section in your account, this and your email is required to activate the installation. As per usual with Carenado add-ons the installer runs quickly and you have your aircraft to play around with in seconds!

My First Impressions


For my first impressions this time I am going to under-go a quick flight up to Edinburgh from Coventry. The aircraft looks very well detailed in the aircraft selection menu as I load up the flight. When the flight loads up you are faced with a very 'old' looking plane with yellowed instruments and odd patches of mould around the cabin which makes sense for a 50 year old design.


Is that mould round the windows?!?
Very Old Basic Cockpit!



 The above photos are that on my first impressions flight - The flight dynamics seem fine for a powerful engine and a light plane about 100knot climb with clean configuration at about 1500 ft/min. The exterior model is extremely well detailed as stated above you can choose between the 2 blade version and the 3 blade version. The photo show below is that of the 3 blade version with the Red/Chrome livery.

Fly-By mode. Very nice model to fly!
External Model

Well after some more flying time and looking into the ins and out of this aircraft, I can defiantly say that they haven't missed any detail from this airplane at all. Everything is modeled after looking at real pictures and videos of C185 in flight then I can safely say that the sound package is also a like for like representation of the real thing. Starting off with some small animations, because this is the non-bush plane there are not really allot of major animation for example the gear on the floats - however the animations that are included for example the ailerons, elevators and flap are all modeled into great depths with no major bugs or glitches that cause effect to the user. As usual with Carenado the prop modeling is great which sometimes you don't get in the GA simulators and the props look un realistic, however this is not the case form start up to shut down, and between the throttle range and the feathering the prop nothing seems to not work as it stands.


Interior Model

After about 10 hours now of flying I am happy to say although the aircraft is very basic inside the cockpit, it has become one of my favourite aircraft to fly around the skies. Unfortunately this aircraft only comes with a Virtual Cockpit, but as you can see there is literally on the bare essentials that are needed in flying, although I am quite happy to say that by pressing Shift + 2 you can bring up the GPS panel to plan your route to use the autopilot. Now I say autopilot, I don't mean the sophisticated FMS that you would find in a modern airliner it is literally just a LNAV, HDG, BackCourse and Approach modes and that is it very similar to the C182 by Carneado, so all the altitude and climb rates are done by hand which makes flying more interesting. So more about the interior model, panning around the cockpit you get a great view of the floor if you have the floor window option chosen, otherwise you get a very realistic feel for the aircraft as the windows are mouldy and the aircraft looks old and used, which is a very nice feature that Carenado have Incorporated. The backseats are modeled in a cream leather, and suits the aircraft very nice. The radio stack is full usable from the virtual cockpit and you can use the cursor wheel to cycle through the frequencies. On takeoff the visibility of out the cockpit is poor due to the aircraft being a taildragger however after coming through about 60knots you can push the nose forward similar to the DC3 on takeoff, however on landing you get great visibility. Because there is nothing really to report on this aircraft due to the simplisity of it here are some of the best pictures around the VC.

Pictures coming soon!


Test Flight

Because the C185 is not used allot in the UK and mostly Alaska and Canada for bush purposes (partly the reason why Carneado released a New version of the C185 the BUSH version). I have opted to fly from Unakaleet in Alaska to Bethel in Alaska, to get a great feel for the aircraft operating out of small strips.
     So loading the aircraft up at the Fuel Box in Alaska's Unakaleet ( that seem to be the only default gate). After a few seconds the aircraft is loaded up with the engine started up, so I shut it down and do some pre flight checks before I get in the aircraft and get ready to start up - this is made easy by the fact that Carenado have made a shortcut to the owners manual in game by pressing Shift + 4 so after performing some imaginary checks we are ready to go flying! Jump into the Virtual cockpit, I turn the lights on and crack the starter over until she fires into life with a mighty roar. I lower the flaps for takeoff 2 stages should do ( Note that the flaps are operated by a lever on this Cessna not a motor which is pretty much standard on the Cessna range of aircraft. Which makes this more interesting to fly!)

So taxiing out to the active runway at Unakaleet took seconds as literally you are nearly parked on the runway. The aircraft is all ready to go and take to the skies above Alaska. Opening the throttle on the runway with a mighty roar this C185 is powering down the runway with a reasonable acceleration due to the gravel runway. Up-On reaching around about 80knots a small amount of back pressure will take the aircraft into the skies and a further climb out at about 100knots will give you a nice climb vertical speed of about 1400-1500 ft/min which is amazing for a one engined aircraft. After passing through 1000ft I take it to more a climb thrust with the prop lever pulled back to about 2300 RPM and the manifold at full power, this just bring the vertical speed down to about 800ft per minute which is a more comfortable climb. After reaching my cruise altitude of about 6000ft I push the nose forward and trim for straight and level flight with about 23 in on the manifold and 23000RPM on the prop, this set me up for about 140 knots cruise which estimated the flight at around 1hour. So now time for the autopilot, setting it up is great for the new comer to the payware market as you just click the autopilot on button and choose the nav button so the autopilot can follow the  track and the aircraft banks to the right for itself (be careful here as you don't have an ALT mode therefore if the autopilot makes a turn you will lose height).
     After a cruise of about 50minutes I decide its ready to come down and start my approach into Bethel. The best thing about this aircraft is that it will still continue to follow the NAV track while you sort out your descent into your destination. I came down to 1000ft AGL (QNH) I disconnect the autopilot and join on base leg to pull the power back from 140 knots to 100 knots to put down 2 stages of flap, which resulted in the plane wanted to pitch up which happens on a rare occasion as most developers forger the fact that the flaps don't only just increase drag but also increase lift! However I come down for a visual approach into Bethel and coming over the threshold I lower the final stage of flap and have an airspeed of about 70 knots indicated to make a touchdown just after the numbers. One thing that you have to remember with this aircraft is that fact that because it has a tail wheel you landings may have to be more flat because you don't want to land tail wheel first - that would  be like putting a 2 tonne aircraft on a pram wheel! However I taxi off with no damage to the visibly eye and park up and shutdown.

Overall this aircraft has become one of my favourite aircraft to fly on the simulator as I allows the user to challenge their flying skills going into small strips and allows the beginner user to experience what it like to fly a payware aircraft.

To conclude I rate this aircraft a 4/5

What I like about this aircraft - The amazing detail that has been put into this aircraft is phenomenal!

What could be better - Nothing this aircraft is great for everyone to use  - maybe include the option to apply the gear fairing to the aircraft of your choice for example!