AVSIM Commercial
Hardware Review
ACP Advanced Control Panel |
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| Rating
Guide |
ACP Velcro's to your Monitor
ACP up close
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| Publisher:
AeroSoft GMBH / AETI |
Description:
Simulated Radio Stack for flight simulation |
Price:
$299 |
Format:
N/A |
Type:
Hardware add-on |
| Reviewed by: Eric Bishop, Staff Reviewer |
Possible
Commercial Rating Score: 1 to 5 stars with
5 stars being exceptional |
Flight simulation has come a long way in the past five years. With all the new products out today, you can easily find great add-on products that
make them better. From scenery files, to additional aircraft, to utilities, you
can find just about anything. To keep up with the advances in software,
hardware manufacturers have also made great strides in flight simulation
hardware. One of these new hardware peripherals is the ACP Compact Control
Unit, made in Germany by Aerosoft GMBH and being distributed by AETI here
in the U.S.
The ACP is a device that resembles and replicates the functions of a
real aviation communication stack. So while flying along in FS2000 or FS98
you can actually reach up and tune your radios, transponder etc. The
functions available in the ACP for FS200 are:
- COM-NAV frequencies
- OBS
- Transponder codes
- ADF-frequencies
- AutoPilot-functions
- Heading hold
- Nav hold
- ILS-approach
- Altitude hold
- Course pre-select
- Altimeter-settings
- Setting Gyro
- Landing-lights
- Position-lights
- Strobe Lights
- Pitot-heat
- Trim-settings
- Carburetor-heating
- Prop-settings
- Mixture-adjust
- Gear-lever
- Flaps
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Reader Survey
This survey is intended for those that have used this product or add-on. If you have used it, please let your fellow simulation enthusiasts know how you rate it by taking this survey. Please, if you have not used this product, do not take this poll (you can view the poll from the "Results" link below).
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The ACP connects to you PC, via the keyboard and then mimics the keystrokes associated to what you want to accomplish. Installation of the
ACP was a snap and it is up and running in a matter of minutes. Since the
ACP runs in series with your keyboard, there is no software to install to
get it working. You simply activate the unit by turning on the Panel
switch and you're off and running. The size of the ACP is very nice and can
easily fit on your desktop or you can attach it to the side of your
monitor with the Velcro strips supplied.
FS2000 is the simulation best suited for the ACP, since most of the
features are hard coded into the PAL chips in the unit. It does work with
other simulations as well, but the best performing simulation for the ACP
is FS2000 and FS98. I tried the ACP with FLY! and most of the features
work, but FLY! does not support tuning the radios with keyboard commands,
thus rendering the radio stack useless for this purpose. The radio buttons
do work for other features in FLY!, so all is not lost. Other simulations
the ACP works with are: Pro-Pilot, FUII and FUIII as well as AS-2.
The ACP really can make your simulation experience seem very real. For
example, I recently flew a cross-country flight from Orange County (John
Wayne Airport) to Phoenix Intl. using ProFlight 98. While sitting at the
FBO ramp I reached up and actually tuned the radios to get ATIS. Then
after getting ATIS, reached up again and tuned in Ground for taxi and then
tuned in my Transponder code, just as you would do in real life. Selected
my taxi lights and NAV lights by pushing the corresponding buttons on the
ACP. Once in the air, I again reached up and selected the gear knob to the
up position and then raised my flaps, then tuned the radio again to
contact Center. You can also access all of the autopilot features, just
like on a real airplane! I think you get the picture. The over all
experience is very realistic and also a lot of fun, especially with
additional products like ProFlight 98.
If there was anything I don’t like about the ACP, is the lack of
programming ability. It would be nice to have the ability to program the
ACP to fit any of the other simulations you choose. For the price of the
unit, this would have made the ACP more bang for the buck and the unit
does take a bite out of your simulation budget!
Bottom line: The ACP, though a bit pricy and limited, does a great job
of adding to the over all realism we are all looking for in our flight
simulators. With new products coming out, such as ProFlight 2000, which
will work with Game Commander, it’s almost as real as it gets. The ACP is
very rugged and built well and is also a nice size to fit on your desktop.
If you’re looking for something to make your virtual cockpit better, than
the ACP is definitely for you. Hopefully Terminal Reality will change FLY!
and make the radios accessible via the keyboard, thus making the ACP even
better!
ACP Advanced Control Panel can be ordered in the Americas from AETI; Europeans can visit the RC Simulations web site.
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