AVSIM Commercial Aircraft Review

Rating Guide
Here's a direct comparison of the PSS Bulldog, top image, and real Bulldog, bottom image, in flight! Looks pretty close to me!
	Publisher: PSS (Phoenix Simulation Software)
	Description: Single engine trainer (Civilian/Military)
	Download Size: 4.41MB	Format: Downloadable, zipped self-installer file	Simulation Type: FS2002
	Reviewed by: Steve "Bear" Cartwright, AVSIM Senior Reviewer
	Possible Commercial Rating Score: 1 to 5 stars with 5 stars being exceptional

Introduction

There have been approximately 300 BAe Scottish Aviation Bulldogs produced since its introduction in 1971 and the first organization to purchase them was the Swedish military, to be used as their basic flight trainer aircraft. The British RAF soon followed suit and they ordered about 80 of the Bulldogs (about the number still used today), plus there are also many private organizations (like United Kingdom's Skysport for example) that use the Bulldog as their primary trainer, or offer them for hire/rental, and there are even a number of individuals that race them in various air race venues across England (Skysport's own Roger Hayes has been quite successful racing their Bulldog). As an American, I'm not very familiar with the BAe Scottish Bulldog, but I'm sure there are many of you (European I presume) that have had some experience with the real thing, often referred to by those that have flown her as the pilot's aircraft!

Accordingly, the PSS Bulldog is an easy flyer, with little or no surprises, and this little aircraft is approved for most aerobatic maneuvers as well. PSS or Phoenix Simulation Software (the same FS aircraft developer group that brought us the extraordinary PSS 777 and PSS 747 for FS2000) is the first to introduce the BAe Scottish Bulldog for use in FS2002—and in general I found it to be from very good to being quite excellent on nearly all accounts.

This is PSS's first release of an aircraft dedicated to FS2002 and it takes advantage of all of the new features of Microsoft's latest.

With its FS2002 lights and texture reflections, this is an excellent appearing aircraft! Again using those new features.

From all angles, the PSS Bulldog is a beauty! It includes features like fully animated parts with rolling wheels and animated suspension.

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Exterior finish/texturing

Living in Reno, NV as I do, I'm not really very familiar with the BAe Bulldog, but after a bit of research on the internet, I did find an abundance of websites dedicated to this aircraft and from that I was able to build a pretty good sense about what other pilots felt about it. I was also able to have a good comparison of actual photographs (including many interior/panel shots as well) to the PSS FS version.

I can say with complete confidence that PSS has really captured the essence of the real aircraft in its appearance and in addition they have very effectively applied that reflective texture quality available within FS2002 as well. The canopy (which slides open with the "shift + E" keys) also exhibits that animated sky/ground reflection, plus I noticed that when you opened or closed the canopy, the FS co-pilot actually reaches up and pushes or pulls the canopy locking lever – nice touch guys!

This applies to the virtual cockpit as well. If you're in the virtual cockpit mode, you will see your co-pilot's arm reach up and grab the locking lever for the canopy when you close or open it. Very complete detailing on the part of the developers at PSS.

From all angles and lighting, this FS aircraft is very accurate and very realistic in its appearance—and PSS gets two thumbs up from me on their design work!

FDE

Having had no experience with flying the real thing, I had to rely on comparing the flight numbers of the PSS model to the listed specifications of the BAe Bulldog and with my own gut feeling as to its feel. Even if I haven't flown a real Bulldog, that's of no matter because there are some things you can assume, like there would be – or one would not expect there to be – any surprises or unusual flight characteristics with an aircraft designed for flight training.

And I found nothing unusual or disconcerting about the PSS Bulldog. It flew very well; you trim it for level flight and come back a couple of minutes later and she would be right on track, nice. I also found the cruise, climb, and maximum speeds to be right on the money with what is listed by the factory for the aircraft (120 knots at 75% power with a top speed of about 150 knots at full power).

Though this aircraft is approved for aerobatics, it does lack the roll-rate speeds you would need for any aerobatic competition, but that doesn't mean you can't have some fun with it. The PSS Bulldog can perform (aerobatics) in a fashion that is more than adequate or what you would expect for a trainer aircraft. I did have fun with this aircraft and I have begun to really like flying it in FS2002.

Panel(s)

After having viewed numerous photographs of the panel in the real Bulldog, I feel that the PSS 2D panel is right in the bullseye for accuracy, in all respects. But I did find a couple of items that I must make note of. First of all I did find that the font chosen for the PSS panel to be unreadable with my graphics card (GeForce2 GTS) and considering that the GeForce2 is probably one of, if not the most popular video card used by most flight simmers, this could be a problem. Ironically, when I viewed any of the panel photographs from the real Bulldog (at various websites), I couldn't read the fonts there either?

I believe that the biggest problem lies with the fact that the BAe aircraft company printed all identifiers on their panel in a white lettering against a light grey colored panel, which is quite lacking in contrast. I did try adjusting my monitor a bit, but I don't feel I should do this to read the panel lettering for just one of my FS aircraft. Hopefully, PSS might consider forsaking accuracy a bit and try a more contrasting color for the panel lettering.

The 2D panel is very accurate and the coloring is also equally as correct, though I did find the 2D panel bitmap of the PSS Bulldog to have a somewhat painted in look.

The 3D virtual panel is very sharp and clear and the gauges are very easy to see and read. I also liked the fact that you could just see the top of the cowling from the pilot's seat.

Here are 4 different views from within the virtual cockpit. The gauges and panel (not to mention the co-pilot) is very crisp and clear, very nicely done!

On another point, the panel (2D) is quite obviously a hand painted bitmap background, where maybe they (PSS) might want to consider a photorealistic bitmap instead. The hand painted panel bitmap used in the PSS Bulldog is accurate and most certainly looks exactly like the panel in a real Bulldog, but it also retains an unrealistic computer painted look to it as well (reminds me of some of the high quality FS98 panels I've used). Now that's not to say or mean that the 2D panel in the PSS Bulldog is bad, it's just a minor point that I noticed.

The 3D virtual panel on the other hand I found to be very good. Among the many recent releases of FS aircraft specifically designed for FS2002, there seems to be a general difference of opinion as to how to present the pilot's perspective of the panel face itself. Some releases have the panel tilted toward the pilot's view position at the top, while others retain a straight up and down appearance. PSS has opted to stay with the vertical presentation rather than tilting the panel, which I don't find be necessarily a problem!

Frankly, I haven't made up my mind which type of virtual panel presentation I prefer, as I'm more interested in the outside view perspective (from the pilot's position) rather than if the panel is tilted or not. In this case, the outward view in the virtual panel mode is quite good and very realistic (read immersive)!

Zoomed back in the virtual cockpit mode affords you a wide angle view and it's interesting to watch the animation of our co-pilot opening and closing the canopy.

Using the virtual cockpit for landing is the only way to go and with the zoom factor at or about .55 gives a highly realistic forward view, ever deepening that immersive power.

I found that it was quite enjoyable to fly close to the ground with the canopy slid open. You can see that no detail was overlooked by the developers at PSS.

Test System Compaq 1.3GHz Athlon Windows ME 286 Mb RAM GeForce2 GTS DVD, CDR-W JBL speaker/sound Saitek 3D Cyborg Gold Compaq 19" Flat screen FS2002 Professional Flying Time: 9.4 hours I found that the PSS Bulldog was quite nimble and basic aerobatics was more than possible, just be aware of your trim settings. I also liked their (PSS) smoke files, as they have the smoke trails set for a small trail and they're far more realistic than even the default smoke trails. Landing is a piece of cake and I think the Bulldog has the potential to be a good substitute (for the Cessna 172) trainer for the beginning flight simmer. Overall I give the boys over at PSS a hardy thumbs-up for their latest creation, very nicely done guys!

Sounds

Mike Hambly (Mike is generally referred to as the FS aircraft sound guru or master) was responsible for the sounds for the PSS Bulldog and though I haven't heard a real Bulldog myself, these sounds are really terrific. The sounds included with this Bulldog are highly dynamic and even with minor power adjustments, they retain a high fidelity and quality that seem to be a Mike Hambly trademark!

I must give my highest marks, once again, to Mike and his sound files!

Documentation

With a fairly simple aircraft like a BAe Bulldog, there isn't too much one would expect as far as documentation is concerned. The documentation available from the support section of PSS's website for their Bulldog is simple, straight-forward, and it basically only gives you the general specifications of the BAe Bulldog and the checklist.

The rest of the documentation is related to explaining the various features of the PSS Bulldog, installation instructions, and providing a list of credits. All total maybe about 3 or 4 pages worth of documentation.

Though not extensive by any means, the documents provided by PSS (free download at the PSS's website support page) at least give you the basics. Here we see a checklist and the specifications.

Did quite a bit of flying with the PSS Bulldog in and around central England (had to set the proper mood). If you follow the checklist and set your trim properly, this little aircraft will almost takeoff by itself.

Summary:

The PSS BAe Scottish Aircraft Bulldog, as with all of the FS aircraft from PSS, is a payware download. The cost of this download is $15 US, which seems to be the magic number from most of the former freeware developers that are now offering their work as shareware/payware. In most cases I feel that $15 to be about right, considering the hours of work that must be dedicated to achieve the level of quality of an FS aircraft to be impressive to me today!

Do I personally feel the PSS Bulldog to be worth the $15? Yes, I do, but I also would add that this is not an aircraft for everyone! So, who do I think would be interested in this aircraft (?), well I feel that anyone that uses FS2002, that also has a history with the real Bulldog, would most certainly want to download this FS aircraft or maybe those interested in a small military trainer (very accurate to its real-world counterpart) that has a performance envelope generally on par with a Cessna 182S Skylane, yet has some aerobatic capability.

If you're someone that is fairly new at flight simming, but wants to have more than the default aircraft to practice your flight training, then I would highly recommend the PSS Bulldog as well! Then there are those other individuals (like myself) that simply enjoy having the latest high quality FS aircraft! I'm one of those flight simmers that really enjoys flying and having on my hard drive the final result of the hard work of the artists we have in our hobby! Many of the FS aircraft that are becoming available today are as much a work of art to me as a Van Gogh painting may be with an art connoisseur at the Louvre in Paris. To see more on the Bulldog, just head to the Phoenix Simulation Software web site.