AVSIM Aircraft Review

Rating Guide
	Aircraft Author: Project Freeware Group
	Description: An awesome rendition of the Lockheed L-1011 in Air Canada colors
	D/L Size: 178 kb	Format: Zipped	Simulators: FS98 (Tested in FS2K)
	Reviewed by: Mike Adamo, AVSIM Aircraft Reviewer
	Possible Rating Scores: 1 to 5 stars with 5 stars being exceptional

Standing in the terminal looking out onto the tarmac we see a sight that makes time stand still. An L-1011 in Air Canada colors. We take a trip back to a time when these magnificent tri-stars ruled the skies. The newly arrived Air Canada L-1011 from Project Freeware has arrived in Montreal for test flights. Originally, Chris Grall sent me over an Eastern Airlines L-1011 for flight-testing but thankfully, he found a flaw (which he didn’t disclose) and sent us the Air Canada L-1011. Thanks Chris!! As you’ll see from the screen shots below, the colors are excellent, as are the textures. Is that real metal I see there? Christine did an outstanding job on the flight dynamics and incorporated "active" flaperons to assist in turning. One thing you won’t see on this aircraft unfortunately is moving parts. The reason being, detail will not be sacrificed for moving parts (for now at least ;-) ).

The panel for this aircraft was created by Darim Rahmatallah of the Freeware Flight Group and "donated" by them for this aircraft. Loading it up in FS 2000 the panel was crisp and sharp.  There were 2 little anomalies with the panel. The throttle/radio quadrant was distorted and black which made it hard to tune the radios and the other was the N1 gauges were a little hard to read.  Outside of those 2 issues, the panel was fantastic.

We'd like to welcome you aboard, and we hope you enjoy your flight with us today.

Paint & Textures

The first thing you’ll notice about this aircraft (and the others PF creates) is the outstanding attention to detail. Bleed through? Very little to none. Eye candy? Tons.

Without getting into the “technical” side of what went into the painting of this aircraft and the textures, let’s take a nice close look around so we can point out some of the eye catching elements. First: The engines. Notice the work on the nacels? Even better is when we take a closer look into the engine. Yep, them thar’s fan blades. When the engines are running you can even see them in motion.

Second: I’ve never really examined a real life L-1011 up close but I poured over the L-1011 section in the “Encyclopedia of Civil Aircraft” by David Donald (Published by Prospero Books) and can say that the PFG did a fantastic job. Even the minute details were not forgotten.

The list would be too long to mention everything so here are some “up close” snap shots. If I can make a suggestion, take a few minutes on your own to examine the aircraft. You won’t be disappointed. The source files for the L-1011 were worked on by Christine Derksen and Paul Springthorpe from a Brian Quayle original. The master textures were worked on by none other than Chris Grall and Steve Kempf. The magic of motion for this aircraft comes from the FDE created by Christine Derksen (with a little help from some FDE elves ;-) ).

Taxi:

"Montreal, AC973 at gate 5A ready to copy clearance." 

"Roger AC973 you’re cleared as filed to Toronto, Pearson International. Departure route is via DORVAL Three SID runway 24L. Squawk code is 2225. Push back and engine start approved and at your discretion. Call prior to taxi."

Ah, the sweet sounds of real live voice ATC (using SquawkBox). Once we had everything entered in and checked, we requested push back from the gate began the start-up sequence for each of our RR engines and set our flaps for take off (15). I must add that the flaps extend nice and slow. Just like the real thing. As the engines began their start-up, one must exclaim, “what a wonderful smell and sight!”. The L-1011 is the only aircraft that I’ve seen give off such a large amount of smoke on engine start up. With everything in the green, we called ground and requested taxi.

"AC973. Cleared to taxi. Taxi via taxiway Alpha. hold short runway 24L."

Taxiing around the airport with this aircraft was remarkable. The “feel” is heavy and turns should be planned in advance. The nose wheel is far, far back which gives the illusion that you're on the grass so it takes a little getting used to to taxi. Once we were on taxiway Alpha, the suggested taxi speed is between 26 to 30kts. Anything faster and you’re asking for trouble if you have to make a sharp turn somewhere or stop quickly. Once we reached the end of the taxiway we were cleared for immediate take off. Turn onto the runway was smooth as silk with a ground speed of around 12kts.

PFG L-1011 aircraft

L-1011 Panel

Departing CYYZ

Detailed view

Take-off Climb out

We did as we were instructed. Immediate takeoff. Without stompping on the brakes, we pushed the throttles up to 80%N1, everything still in the green, we pushed it up to 94% N1 for our takeoff roll. One very important thing to remember when you’re at the gate getting prepared for the flight. Set your trim! If you don’t set the trim properly, you’ll either run out of runway or you’ll be taking along a few more lights than you’re supposed to have. We rotated at around 155kts with a trim setting of +8.

The climb out was, like everything else, fantastic. Once we had a positive rate of climb it was wheels up and speed set to 220kts. With the sky conditions the way it was, we set a climb rate of 2,800 feet per minute to get on top of the “soup” as quick and comfortably as possible. Another suggestion for all of you is, try hand flying the aircraft till after your first waypoint (turn). This should give you a really good feel of the “heaviness” of the aircraft and demonstrate the turn characteristics.  ATC had us level off at 11,000 to sort of “step climb” up to our cruising altitude of 29,000 feet (FL290). Passing through 18,000 feet (FL180) we set our speed to 250kts and decreased our climb rate to 2,000 feet per minute.

Cruise & Flight Tests (Some)

At FL290 our cruise speed was set to MACH 0.73. Normally, on long haul flights the L-1011 should cruise around MACH 0.83. Reason why we went a little slower? We felt like it! During cruise, there was no tendency for the nose to pitch up/down as we’re most accustomed to with the autopilot engaged. (Having said that, with the advances in FDE editing, the pitching that we once new on EVERY aircraft has slimed down to very few.) Cruising at MACH 0.73 the engine settings were (approx.) 90%N1.

The usual battery of tests we subject each aircraft we review to was um, slimmed down for this aircraft. The reason being was, we were having so much fun just enjoying the flight that we skipped the page that had the tests on it. We did manage a few. The overall stability of the aircraft is remarkable. Turns are slow and steady. We performed a left-hand turn and to maintain altitude you have to use rudder inputs. (Very realistic.) Another fun test is to pull up on the control yoke and see how long it takes for the aircraft to center itself. Another notch in the FDE Gods belt! The aircraft is very stable in all aspects of flight from steep climbs to rapid decent. Big, heavy and old is how she feels.

Descent & Landing

With all the fun behind us it was time to get back to the business of flying this “classic”. We were handed over to Toronto Center who gave us instructions to begin our decent. We began a nice easy decent from FL290 to FL180. Maintaining a speed of around 290 to 310 is fine with a rate of descent of around 1,800 to 2,300 feet per minute. Anticipating a required turn I turned the heading hold off and decided to fly it by hand for a while. Sure enough, the controller asked for a nice right hand turn and this aircraft responded nicely. Wanting to see how the autopilot would respond to the twists and turns of an approach we re-enable the heading hold and let “George” (nickname for Autopilot.) fly it in. Again, when the call came to make a turn the result wasn’t a sharp 45-degree turn. It was a nice smooth, slow, heavy turn.

Once we were lined up and established on the localizer, Toronto Center handed us off to Toronto Tower who gave us our landing clearance. Maintaining a nose high attitude of around 10 to 12 degrees is normal and will give you a great rate of decent of around 500 feet per minute. Plan your flap settings in advance (way in advance.). I just about blew the approach because I wasn’t used to the time for the flaps to deploy. This is not a bug or problem but what the real thing is like. Adjusting the throttles will ensure you maintain the proper attitude and speed of around 170kts for a nice soft touchdown. In this case we crossed the threshold at 165kts. With the gear planted, the spoilers deployed, it was time to check out the reverse thrust. Let’s see a show of hands here. Who used to be able to stop a fully fueled B747 in 2000 feet at Meigs? Not in this case. Christine did a great job in making sure the reverse thrust isn’t overly powerful and provide just enough thrust to slow us down.

Exiting the active, Toronto Tower told us to call ground who gave us taxi instructions to get us to the proper gate. At the gate we shut down the engines, closed the flight plan took a short break and started the whole process over again for our flight to Vancouver.

Conclusion

What did I like about this aircraft? Just about everything. What didn’t I like about it? Moving parts would be nice but not essential. There’s a tradeoff to be made. Lots of detail and esthetics or moving parts? Overall, this is probably one of PFG’s best ever projects  and will leave a mark on all those “classic airliner” lovers. Take her up for a spin and let the old lady show you just how much spunk she has. This aircraft can be downloaded here or, directly from the Project Freeware website. The panel to match this aircraft can also be downloaded here or from the Project Freeware website.

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