AVSIM Commercial Aircraft Review Carenado Piper Dakota (PA-236)

Carenado. A relatively new term in the new age of Microsoft Flight Simulator. Carenado began producing payware software for Microsoft Flight Simulator 2000, concentrating solely on trainer and small pleasure aircraft. With an array of Beechcraft, Piper and Cessna aircraft already under their belt, Carenado have released the Piper Dakota, a refreshing change from the heavy metal that we have seen released in previous weeks.

History

The Piper Aircraft Company came into the world in 1937, when Mr. Piper introduced the Piper Cub aircraft. This man had a dream. His dream was that everyone should fly. He believed that the Piper Aircraft Company could provide that freedom. Though reestablished under new management, the Piper name continues to keep that dream alive by being the only General Aviation manufacturer that has offered a complete line of aircraft to satisfy the dreams of just about any pilot, supplying aircraft from rugged, reliable trainers to high-performance turboprops over the years. The current Piper fleet tallies nine aircraft, ranging from the Warrior III trainer right up to the flagship of the fleet, the Meridian.

Climbing out from TBPB, respectable speed and rate of climb.

The first type certificate for the 235 (PA28-235) came in July 1963. 217 aircraft were built that year, but were designated as 1964 models. So officially, the 235/236 line started in 1964. The plane continued with only minor changes and became known as the Charger for the 1973 and 1974 model years. The name changed once again in 1975 to the Pathfinder. Production continued under the Pathfinder name though 1977. Neither a 236 or 236 mode was produced in 1978. 1979 saw the birth of the 236 and it was known as the Dakota (PA28-236). Production of the revised model came to a close in 1994.

The Aircraft

All Piper Dakota's, including all -236 Dakota's, have the semi-tapered wing. With the that comes a gas tank configuration change from four in the Hershey Bar (2 mains, 2 tips) with a total of 84 gallons. The semitapered wing also has a higher aspect ratio, giving a slight increase of 5-6k on cruise speed, and is said to improve climb rates. Due to the wing design, the 235 model has a service ceiling of 14,500ft, whereas the revised 236 has a service ceiling of 17,500ft. The wide stabilizer on the Dakota comes from Piper Cherokee models. Both aircraft are considered high performance models with the engines in both models giving 200+HP.

Test System AMD Athlon XP 2400+ Windows XP Professional Gainward GeForce 4 Ti4200 AGP8x 512MB PC2100 RAM Sound Blaster Audigy Saitek Cyborg 3D Joystick Iiyama 22" Monitor Flying Time: 20 hours over 2 weeks

Installation and Documentation

The installation program for the Dakota is delivered via a 17.4Mb downloaded executable. In terms of modern internet connections, this really is nothing, but would provide a dial-up user with a download time of well over 1h 30 mins. Once downloaded, no registration key is required, and the product automatically installs.

Documentation on this aircraft is unfortunately very sparse. The only documentation supplied comes in the form of a three page Acrobat file outlining the history of the aircraft. There is no associated documentation regarding the panel or operation of the aircraft. For any downloadable aircraft, including a freeware release, I would expect to see some documentation addressing the flying of the aircraft. For new users to Flight Simulator, or indeed, light aircraft, this is going to be a stab in the dark.

Flying the Aircraft

Having flown a large variety of aircraft within Microsoft Flight Simulator, I have to say that polished, trainer and small aircraft are by far my favorite. FS2002 has really brought about a strong collection of trainer aircraft, bringing a new VFR aspect to a largely IFR community. However, prior to these aircraft, most of my time in the virtual cockpit has been spent in the cockpit of varying large jets. I was very excited by the prospect of reviewing a small aircraft, and wondered if it would continue the trend of the excellent releases seen so far. Aircraft testing was completed around Grantley Adams Intl. Airport, Barbados. On the particular day that I first took the aircraft into the air, the weather conditions, although clear, had high winds, offering a challenge environment to test the aircraft.

Taxiing the aircraft is on the whole very easy. Both the 2D cockpit and virtual cockpit offer very good visibility for ground handling, and once the aircraft is moving, very little throttle is required to keep the aircraft moving. Turning on the ground is very precise and requires a very small area in which to complete a 360 degree turn. With the high winds of TBPB, I was looking forward to the take-off as a primary test of the flight dynamics. As any real-world pilot will tell you, fly a small aircraft into a heavy wind, and once you get some air under the wings, the aircraft will go up like a rocket. This aircraft is certainly no exception. The take-off roll, powered by the 200+HP engine, is very quick. Taking to the air at 70 knots, the aircraft accelerated slowly, whilst maintaining a 1500FPM climb rate. The attempt of this initial flight is to reach 17,500ft, which, unfortunately, has failed. I struggled to get the aircraft past 14,500ft without stalling, and struggled to maintain this altitude.

Landing the aircraft can be both a pleasure and a toil. As long as you maintain speed, and input only minor changes, all will be well. However, if jet jocks step into this aircraft, we can expect a rise in the insurance costs. This classic aircraft requires minimal inputs at the slowest speeds, making it a real test for patience and accuracy.

The exterior of the aircraft, as expected with today's Flight Simulation products, is brilliant. Carenado have included a number of features that make this aircraft a pleasure to look at, such as full dynamic shine, full moving parts, transparent windows, 3D modelled, animated cockpit interior, pitot pressure chamber, antennas and photorealistic textures. However, as well as there being only one livery available with the aircraft, the exterior model also lacks features so prominent in new aircraft releases such as opening doors. A choice of liveries would be welcome here.

The Panel

The Dakota certainly isn't a technologically advanced aircraft. Flying the aircraft relies on rules of thumb and the "steam driven" instruments. Both the 2D panel and the virtual cockpit are of an excellent quality visually. The 2D panel allows the user the hover all the gauges for their name—a nice feature considering the lack of documentation. If possible, the virtual pilot should aim to fly this aircraft from the excellent virtual cockpit. Offering a fully viewable cabin interior, animated gauges and a host of other detailed features, it has been very well executed. With the virtual cockpit gauge quality set to high, the gauges are readable and are smoothly animated.

The 2D panel has a "links" bar of hotspots that appear in the top left of the Flight Sim windows. These hotspots, as well as linking to the GPS and radio stack, link to the lighting panel. This small but well thought out detail offers extra clarity and a non-cluttered 2D panel. This should be welcomed by many flight simmers with smaller monitors and lower resolutions.

The simple yet functional panel is a great asset to this aircraft. The simplicity certainly reminds the virtual pilot of this aircraft's 1960s roots, and poses more a challenge to fly, especially in IFR conditions.

Sounds and Utilities

The deep, bass sounds supplied with this aircraft certainly relate to the high-performance engine fitted within the nose. Although there are very few sound files to associate with a Piper Dakota, they have been done nicely, with a suitably high pitch range between flight idle and full throttle.

Unfortunately, there are no load/weight editing utilities with this aircraft. With DreamFleet being the King of load-editing on small aircraft, some method of changing the number of passenger/weight of the aircraft would have been welcome.

Conclusion

Overall, this package is good. It is certainly more suited to hardcore Flight Simulation enthusiasts who enjoy sitting in the cockpit, and flying the aircraft, not for those who enjoy large amounts of eye candy. Frame rates, both externally, and in the 2D and 3D cockpits are very good. Simmers with mid-range computers should find this aircraft to work perfectly well with respectable frame rates.

This aircraft certainly adds another feather to the Carenado cap. Respectable visual and flight models give way slightly to a lack of eye-candy, but this can be worked on for future aircraft. Their focus on small aircraft is certainly a strength that they should maintain with future releases.

All in all, a very promising aircraft from this little-known developer.