AVSIM Freeware Aircraft Package Review Lake Renegade 270

Product Guide
With its 270 hp turbocharged pusher engine, amphibious capability, and excellent performance, the Lake Renegade 270 is a GA pilot's delight! The custom panel for the RSDG's Lake Renegade 270 is complete and includes your standard issue avonics package.
	Developer: RSDGroup— Peter Ridge, John L. Woodward, Brian Gladden, Pete Collins, Jack Morris and Aaron Swindle
	Description: The Lake is the only FAA Certified single-engined flying boat currently available.
	D/L Size: 10,807Kb	Format: Zipped	Simulators: FS2002
	Reviewed by: Steve 'Bear' Cartwright, AVSIM Senior Staff Reviewer
	Freeware Review Rating Policy: Freeware reviews are unrated, but may earn an Avsim special award. Please see details here.

What started as the Colonial Aircraft Company, founded in 1946 by David B. Thurston and Herbert P Lindbad, was basically an unknown civilian aircraft manufacturer dedicated to the design of single-engined flying boats. David and Herbert had both previously worked for the Grumman Company and held engineering-design positions there for the Grumman Goose and Widgen. Going to the civilian market with the Colonial Skimmer, they struggled for several years, until 1959 when due to low sales, the Colonial Aircraft Company closed their doors. Herbert P Lindbad just couldn't let the dream die, so within a few months (and with a couple of financial backers) reopened the doors under the name "Lake Aircraft Company". In their struggle to remain financially afloat (pun intended), Herbert sold his company to Consolidated Aeronautics, Inc., in 1962 and Consolidated split the Lake Aircraft Company into two divisions, the Aerofab division, which would handle manufacturing in Stanford, Maine, and the Lake Aircraft Company which would be responsible for sales and product service. Then in 1979, Consolidated sold both divisions to Armand Rivard and Mr. Rivard has been building Lake Aircraft of various size and shapes ever since (his son Bruce handles the day-to-day operations currently). Beginning with the LA-4 (180 hp), the Lake Aircraft saw moderate success, but it wasn't until the introduction of the 200 horse version (and a name change to Buccaneer) that sales began to increase and the future of the Lake Aircraft Company was sealed. Even with a 200 horsepower 4-cylinder engine and 4-place seating, there were many calling for more, so the Lake Aircraft Company began work on designing additional models.

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In 1982, the Lake Aircraft Company released the 250 horsepower version, this version being known as the Renegade, and it was this aircraft that really put the Lake Aircraft Company on the map as a successful aircraft manufacturer. Unlike earlier models, the LA-250 Renegade was now equipped with a 250hp Lycoming IO-540 6-cylinder engine, with four or six passenger seating, vastly improved useful load, a longer fuselage, and now carrying 90 gallons of fuel. In addition, the increased power also improved its water handling (there have been even some models released with a reversible propeller). In 1987, the 270 variant was released (Turbocharged) and though basically the same aircraft as the 250, the increased power by way of turbocharging improved the rate-of-climb and the Renegade's operational altitude, although little change occurred with its cruise speed of 155 knots.

Currently, the 250 and 270 Renegades have been replaced by the Seafury, which is the Renegade manufactured using new anti-corrosion materials and techniques, specifically designed for operations in saltwater. Also in production are the SeaWolfe and Ranger, which are military versions sporting a 290 hp engine. The SeaWolfe comes with 6 NATO standard hardpoints for the application of rocket pods, guns, radar, and night vision equipment whereas the Ranger is a beefed up version of the SeaWolfe, minus the hardpoints.

Today, the Lake Renegade/Seafury is the only single-engined flying boat with FAA certification and for the sportsman flyer, backwoods pilot, or anyone that desires an aircraft capable of operating equally as well on water as on land, so if this is what you're looking for, then the Lake Renegade/Seafury is the answer.

John L. Woodward's original Renegade (model 250), which was uploaded back in January into the AVSIM library and has managed nearly 6,000 downloads so far, is what the RSDG Lake Renegade 270 is based on.

Over the last few years, just about every aircraft make and model you can think of has become available for Flight Simulator, whether that be for FS98, FS2000, or FS2002. It really hasn't been until—to some degree—the release of FS2002 that we've all seen the absolute overflow of outstanding designs, whether they be freeware or payware and I for one have been almost overwhelmed by it all. As a flight sim pilot (as well as a realworld pilot) I do enjoy the versatility of FS2002 and all the great choices we have of aircraft to fly, but I personally enjoy the General Aviation aircraft and particularly aircraft intended or designed for Bush Flying (not exactly a big secret there... hehehe).

Test System Compaq 7110US with AMD 1.3GHz Athlon Windows ME 256MB RAM GeForce2 MMX video card DVD, CDR-W JBL speaker/sound system Saitek 3D Cyborg Gold Flight Controller Compaq 19" flatscreen Monitor FS2002 Professional Edition Flying Time: 6 hours over 2 days

Of the many FS aircraft we can choose to fly, amphibians do have the advantage of opening up the FS world in a way that a conventional wheeled or straight float plane can't. In the real world, the Lake Renegades are among the most successful GA aircraft on the market today and John L. Woodward had designed a good one for use in FS2002, with the release of his Renegade 250 back in January (to download John's original Lake Renegade 250 click lake.zip). Now Peter Ridge (formally with the "Duck Design Group") has formed the RSDGroup (Renegade/Seafury Design Group) and working with FS Designer Brian Gladden, Pete Collins (2D panel designer), Jack Morris (virtual cockpit design), John L. Woodward-Aaron Swindle (sounds), and using John L. Woodward's original Renegade source files, the RSDG have released their Lake Renegade 270 (Turbocharged) FS aircraft package as freeware.

I understand (based on the most recent AVSIM survey) that the vast majority (roughly 80%) of FS pilots prefer the heavy iron, but there are still a large number that like the GA aircraft as well, so lets take a look at what John L. Woodward and the RSDGroup have come up with and haved decided to share as freeware with us all.

Documentation

The included documents are complete, though not extensive, but they do cover just about everything from the basic flight manual of the Renegade 270, operation of the avonics, and a checklist-performance chart on your kneeboard.

The documentation for this FS aircraft is amazingly complete, considering it's a freeware package, but included are a complete Lake Renegade 270 operation-owner's manual (PDF format) and a complete listing of manuals for the avonics (wordpad format). The primary manual includes special instructions for installation and how to avoid certain problems or pitfalls. Quite well done actually! Also included in the documentation are the links to various websites where you can learn more about the Lake Renegades and their engines. In the overall, the documentation provided by the RSDG team is equal to or superior to anything you will find with most payware single aircraft downloads.

Panels

Basically you have 3 different panels available, the standard 2D panel, a secondary 2D panel viewed from the front-seat passenger side, and a dynamic 3D virtual panel-cockpit. Included in the documentation are the operational manual (Coyote Avonics User Guide) for the Garmin line of products, but the RSDG's Lake Renegade is equipped with a Collins look-alike avonics set, which is actually the Bendix-King avonics from the default Baron. It's explained in the docs that there were some compatibility problems that showed up during beta testing, so it will require more time to clear up.

No matter on the avonics set though, because what is included is fine and does include the S-TEC autopilot and a Garmin 500 (moving map display) type faceplate for the default GPS.

In a real Lake Renegade 270, all of the flight gauges are on the pilot's (left) side of the main panel, with your optional gear (avonics, GPS, radio-altimeter, etc.) taking up the co-pilot's panel side. RSDG has included a new panel icon where you can flip back and forth very quickly (single click of your mouse left-button) between the pilot's or co-pilot's side of the main 2D panel. Even considering that the main 2D panels are a notch or two above the average, I still prefer the 3D virtual panel-cockpit, regardless of rather I would rate this Lake Renegade's virtual cockpit state of art or not. Even if the 3D virtual cockpit is not up the level you would demand from a payware FS aircraft, it certainly is above average considering the normal 3D virtual panels you'll get from many freeware aircraft. I found that flying this aircraft from the virtual cockpit to be far more than acceptable and certainly above average for most FS aircraft. I should mention that you can, from the virtual cockpit, open up the avionics panels (pop-up windows) by clicking <shift> + <3> or <4>.

A well laid out 2D panel awaits you once you're on-board the RSDG Renegade (Top Screenshot) and by clicking on the panel icon, you are greeted by the co-pilot side panel (Bottom Screenshot) with your GPS and radio altimeter in plain view.

By way of a pop-up window (<shift> + <3>) the avionics package appears (Top Screenshot) and by striking the <shift> + <4> keys, your default GPS, housed in a Garmin 500 look-alike faceplate (Bottom Screenshot), pops up!

Despite being only slightly rough around the edges, the RSDG Renegade still has a fairly nice 3D virtual panel-cockpit, with sharp and clear gauges.

The panels' night lighting is way more than acceptable, with the individual gauges lighting up in the 2D panel mode (Top Screenshot) and by way of that soft pink glow in the 3D virtual panel mode (Bottom Screenshot).

Aircraft

This single download includes these 7 liveries or repaints, all of which are quite well done and each have reflective textures.

The original Renegade base FS model used by Peter Ridge, was designed by John L. Woodward, using FSDS2 and the improvements that Peter applied are very noticeable. The only noticeable loss was with the opening side panel-door because the command <shift> + <E> + <2> now switches on the right side main panel. Striking the <shift> + <E> keys will open the main rightside windscreen-door, as it did with John's Renegade 250.

Because FSDS2 and Gmax provide similar results, the RSDG's Renegade 270 appears exactly as what most expect from a designer of an FS aircraft for FS2002, accurately shaped fuselage, fully animated components, reflective textures—in other words, all the bells and whistles. With this single download are included 7 different liveries or texture sets; I might add that every single repaint is done very well and I found each to be quite pleasing to the eye.

The Lake Renegade is very much at home on the water and the RSDG FS version handles very well and when the trim is set properly, the RSDG 270 will almost take off by itself. Note that I did not use flaps on takeoff, though their use would shorten my takeoff run on the water. The flaps for a Lake Renegade only have two settings, up or down (20º).

From all angles, this is a nice looking FS version of the Lake Renegade. I'm not sure, but I believe that it is either Brian Gladden or maybe it's Mikko Maliniemi sitting in the pilot's seat—no, I'm sure of it, it has to be Brian!

Though not taken to Nth degree in detailing, the exterior views of these aircraft shows that it is still very well done and from all angles is very realistic appearing. Oftentimes when the FS aircraft designer pushes the detailing to the outer edges of sharpness, frame rates will have a tendency to suffer; but by compromising just a bit on detail, as Peter has done quite well, you can have a very detailed FS aircraft in appearance with little or no effect on your fps. At no time did I find there to be any drop in frame rates, either from the spot view or from any of the interior panel views with this aircraft (at least no changes as compared to the default C172S).

Airfile

No surprises here, the RSDG's Lake Renegade 270 performed right on the numbers (155 knot cruise, 20,000 foot ceiling, 900 fpm rate-of-climb, 55 knot stall, etc.) and is a very comfortable flyer, as are the real Renegades. These aircraft are designed as a utility aircraft, with some STOL characteristics, and capable of operating out of an unimproved airstrip or from your favorite river or lake. Compared to your average Cessna, Piper, or Beechcraft, the Lake Renegades are built like a tank, but that's to be expected as this is really a flying boat and not a converted GA aircraft by having floats added. The real Renegades are not what you would call nimble or twitchy and neither is the RSDG FS version, but what they are designed to do is to fly from point A to point B, with no vices, and to give you the availability of landing just about anywhere you would like. I highly recommend this FS aircraft for everyone, particularly you FS novices that have found the default Cessna Caravan Amphibian to be a bit too high performance for your liking. If you'd like something that is as easy to fly as the default Cessna 172 or 182, but with better performance, than this could be what you're looking for, plus you can land on water or mother earth with this one.

Sounds

The sounds are not taken from any of the default aircraft, but are custom designed by Aaron Swindle and John L. Woodward specifically for this FS aircraft. How did they do? Well, I liked them, as they're (the sounds) are exactly as you would find in the real Renegade and you do get the sound of rolling tires on a hard surface and the sound of water when on a liquid surface. The only thing I noticed (from a real world experience riding in a Renegade) is that when landing on water, the sounds do not produce that loud banging associated with aluminum pounding on the hard water when moving at 60 mph across the surface. You fellows or ladies that have an aluminum fishing boat know what I mean? Though it has been several years since I last rode in a Lake Renegade, I still remember how loud it was with all that water banging on the hull-fuselage on landing.

Summary

Over that last several weeks, it seems that one high quality FS aircraft after another has been released for FS2002, making your choices just that more difficult. And despite that many of these releases have been payware, it's nice to see the individual or a group release a freeware FS aircraft that is equally of high quality as compared to the payware FS aircraft available. In the real world, the Lake Renegade really has no comparable aircraft that one would consider competition in attracting sales, as the Lake is the only FAA Certified single-engined flying boat currently available. Though Cessna 152-172-182, Pipers, and Beechcrafts are selling well, if you would like a single engined aircraft that you can land on water more than once, then your only choice is the Lake Renegade or Seafury.

The RSDG Lake Renegade 270 is an excellent choice for the average flight simmer, not too fast, not too slow, has no particular vices, is capable of landing on land or water, is nice to look at, includes an excellent 2D and 3D virtual panel, sounds and handles like the real thing, and it's available from the AVSIM library as freeware. Nice going guys! To download this package, just click here!

As I stated in the text of my review, each of the 7 paints included with this package are very well done. Here is a factory like red paint scheme as I taxi out for takeoff from Diamond Point up in the State of Washington.

Taking off from Diamond Point, the little Renegade 270 is a strong performer and quickly gets to its 900 fpm rate-of-climb.

Landing from the 3D virtual cockpit is simple, realistic, and a real joy with the outstanding Lake Renegade 270 from the RSDGroup!