A ride in a 'real world' Stearman By Maury Pratt A couple of months ago I had the good fortune to be invited to go flying in Rod Hoctor's Stearman (manufactured in 1942 at Boeing in Wichita, KS). I really didn't know what to expect when I drove out to a local Wichita airport to meet him. As you can see in the images below, it's a beautifully restored and maintained plane. He'd installed a recently rebuilt engine in this one, which I found reassuring. We easily rolled it out to the apron and did the pre-flight check. Knowing it has an open cockpit I'd thought to wear a sweater, but I was surprised to be outfitted with a leather helmet, goggles and an intercom jack as well. Well, let's just say it's pretty noisy, what with the engine and wind "in your face." The instruments are simple, to say the least. Rod told me I could pretty much ignore them ("As this plane is so slow that nothing changes much anyway" ;-) By the way, the "fuel gauge" is simplicity itself – it's a glass tube on a strut, so you just look at the fuel level. Literally. His takeoff was fun, rolling into a steep turn just after lifting off. Once gaining sufficient altitude (about 2000 ft) I tried my hand with the stick and pedals. Expecting to lose altitude in a few 'hot dog' turns, I applied some back pressure. Big mistake – it just started climbing. I can see why this was a great basic trainer; it does whatever you ask of it without complaint. Returning the controls for landing, he casually mentioned that we were skipping the field's runway, opting for the grass strip along side. "Saves wear and tear on the tires." And this bird settles back to earth gracefully, what with all that wing area. Compared to GA aircraft, I have to say I enjoyed that engine's throaty racket. Maybe I'll have the nerve for some mild acrobatics next time! I asked Rod why he had made the investment. He said "That's nothing, you should see what I spend on my Pitts Special!" I later saw that beauty in his private hangar and shop next to his house just across the runway. A Flight Test Pilot at Learjet, he flies either plane evenings "to unwind." He's been a professional air show pilot, and keeps his hand in giving aerobatic lessons.

Whatever else you say about Bill Lyons' "Cannibal Queen" release you gotta love the name. Somewhere way in the back of my mind I seem to recall a little ditty with a catchy refrain at the end – something along the lines of "Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum" except it was "...da da da with the Cannibal Queen" or some such. Anybody out there remember that line?

What's that you say? Where did I come up with "Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum" from? You say you've never heard of it ... ahhh...uhmmmm ... uh oh. Am I dating myself? Is this totally off topic?

Well OK then – enough about music – let's talk about fun because that's what this package is all about. When was the last time you had fun with FS2000? The kind of fun that put a big grin on your face – a grin like the one you got splashing through mud puddles as a kid? Be honest now.

I know, I know – programming the FMC, figuring fuel burn, "Cleared as filed," "Contact departure on 121.9," "Climb and maintain FL330." All that stuff is fun – it really is – but sometimes you just want to climb out of the big iron, tear off the 4 stripe epaulets, and get into something a little less formal. You want to go out and do some pure sight seeing. Truth be told what you really want to do is – don't worry, I won't tell anybody – some flat hatting!!! You know what I'm talking about – the "Heck with ATC! – what are they gonna do? – pull my license?" kind of stuff.

Well you're in luck. The "Cannibal Queen" is custom made for such adventure. Low and slow, down and dirty – not a piece of radio nav gear in sight – VFR all the way. Pair it up with some of the new terrain mesh scenery and you're in for a real treat. Flying the way it was in the early days before there were so many rules.

Some Background

The classic Boeing/Stearman design biplane of the 1930's and 40's was widely used during World War II as a primary trainer. In that role it went through many different model numbers and variations with the U.S. Army Air Force (USAAF), the U.S. Navy (USN), and the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) among others. The "PT" series "Kaydet" U.S. Army versions and the "N" series "Yellow Peril" U.S.Navy models being a couple of the more famous variations.

In the biplane category the Stearman enjoys much of the same kind of legendary status that the DC-3 does in the transport world. Thousands of Stearmans were built to support the massive World War II pilot training effort and tens of thousands of WWII pilots, my own father among them, received their initial and some advanced training on these durable planes. Many of the airplanes survive today and are frequent sights at air shows painted in the distinctive blue and yellow of the USAAF (see the screenshot below) or the all yellow paint scheme of the USN variety. In addition to their use in air shows for aerobatic demos and open cockpit rides many are still flying as crop dusters and private recreational airplanes.

If you'd like to know a bit more about the Stearman in general head over to the Smithsonian Garber Museum site for some additional background.

The real "Cannibal Queen" is a 1942 model owned by best selling novelist Stephen Coonts ("Flight of the Intruder") and flown by him on an epic VFR journey around the entire continental U.S. in 1991. He tells about his adventures in the book "The Cannibal Queen: A Flight into the Heart of America". I haven't read it but it sure sounds like a good read. Checking with a couple of major bookstores here in the D.C. area I didn't find it on the shelves but they said they could order it. Looking online I found Amazon.com has got it in paperback for immediate delivery which you can order here if that's of interest to you.

Bill Lyons' FS2000 version package includes a couple maps from the Coonts book showing the entire route of his flight (see the screenshot below of the eastern half portion) so if you want to retrace Stephen's route you can. Plan on spending plenty of time, however; the Queen's top speed is 127 mph (about 110 knots! But just think – pair this up with some of the latest U.S. terrain mesh scenery with true elevations – like Eddie Denney's recent series for example – and you could get the whole experience from your desk chair pretty much as it happened. Ah the wonders of the modern PC.

The FS2000 Version

I want to focus on 3 areas in talking about this package: (1) the visual model (2) the virtual cockpit and (3) the flying characteristics.

The cover of the Stephen Coonts book "The Cannibal Queen" which details the real life adventures of Stephen and the airplane on his 1991 VFR cross country odyessy around the USA

Here's a map from the book showing the Eastern part of the Cannibal Queen's route (the dotted line). Both East & West maps are included in the download allowing you to duplicate this adventure and get a "Stephen's eye" view with the latest FS2000 U.S. terrain mesh scenery

A real Stearman in the eye catching blue and yellow USAAF "Kaydet" paint scheme so familiar to many WWII student pilots. This was the airplane flown by AVSIM Managing Editor Maury Pratt whose recent experience in this classic biplane is recounted in the sidebar story

FS2000 modified 1942 Stearman - this civil modified version has several visual differences from the "Kaydet" military training model pictured at the left including an enclosed engine cowling and the raised faired area behind the rear cockpit

Overall the visual model is very nicely done. I found it to be a real pleasure to pan around an outside view of this aircraft. As you would expect for an FS2000 release it has full moving control surfaces and there are some nice exterior detail touches such as an exhaust flame which appears in the engine exhaust at high RPMs. That said my opinion is that the overall appearance is just a shade under the current frontline visual examples of FS2000 aircraft – I'm thinking here of such things as the Rambow/Chaffin/Visser R4D, the just released Beaver 3 Pack, and the new PSS B777. It's not that the "Cannibal Queen" is not a great looking aircraft – it is – it's just that the bar has been raised so high lately. In particular the wing edges are a bit rough both from an external and internal view – particularly the internal view. This last is especially important from a "suspension of disbelief" point of view—if you want to convince yourself that you're sitting in a Stearman cockpit looking out over the wing, it needs to look real but it just doesn't look that way to me. The view has a slightly cartoonish look to my eye. Check the dual cockpit and top of the loop over the wing screenshots below to see what you think. Look at the wing rendition – not bad but not spectacular in my view.

Shades of Howard Hughes circa 1936! AVSIM's intrepid Maury Pratt in vintage flying headgear (not counting the high tech boom mike!) prepares for takeoff in the front cockpit of a real Stearman

Visual detail of the dual cockpit area of the FS2000 version. Compare this to the real cockpit area shot of Maury at the left to get an idea of the level of detail in this release.

A standout feature of this release is the virtual cockpit with working instruments. This view just after takeoff shows the airplane passing 800 feet MSL on the altimeter with engine RPM at 2200 and airspeed of around 78 mph.

The nattily attired pilot seen in this virtual cockpit view sports a ruby ring on his right hand and moves his hands on the control column and throttle in response to control inputs - and how about those shiny black leather loafers on the rudder pedals?

Coming over the top of a loop. Loops and rolls in the Queen were pretty realistic but try as I might I could not spin the airplane and stalls tended to be very "mushy" without a clean break. That indicates to me that the .air file needs some tweaking.

IFR ("I follow roads") in the Queen. With the sweeping visibility from the virtual cockpit "IFR" is a very viable flight mode with this airplane – but stay away from clouds!

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). - Review Poll - Have you used Bill Lyons' Stearman? Excellent Good Average I can live with it Taking it off my system Results

The real jewel of this effort is the "virtual cockpit." I think this feature sets this release apart from any other FS aircraft. Bill has done a tremendous job here.

First off - all the panel instruments work in virtual view. When I first saw this panel I was struck by how much it resembled the panel of the Pitts Special in the original release of Flight Unlimited. That was a ground breaking sim in its day and none of the virtual cockpits in later versions of FS have ever approached it in terms of functionality but now Bill has done it. Simply fantastic!

Let me point out that no "regular" instrument panel comes with this release – just a blank space at the bottom of the screen. Hitting "s" after you first bring up the aircraft takes you to the virtual panel which you will need to adjust as far as the viewing zoom factor goes to suit your taste. Which reminds me – Bill notes in the readme file that in some cases when you first bring up the panel there are no needles on the instruments. This happened to me. The fix is to go up and select the Aircraft Realism menu then hit o.k. "Voila!" – the needles appear.

Once set up you can pan around in all directions using the keyboard arrow keys or the hat switch on your joystick. The result is an unparalleled sense of being in a real open cockpit aircraft and the sensation of flying is about as real as I have ever seen in a sim airplane. Which is where the fun comes in because going down low and flying past the scenery is something we don't get to do in the heavy iron stuff and there's a very real sense of exhilaration when you do. The view and "feel" on approach to the runway is also exactly like that from a real airplane. A fact which led me to a hour or so of touch and goes in the pattern when I first downloaded this aircraft – when was the last time you did an hour of 'touch and goes' without getting bored?

The instrument panel is just the basic instruments – wet compass, altimeter, airspeed (which reads in mph not knots), VSI, fuel gauge, engine RPMs and magnetos. Which means stay out of clouds because there's no attitude indicator. The first test flight I took in the Queen I set in a scattered cloud layer at 3000 feet. After takeoff I was "head down" in the cockpit during climb looking at the instruments and the pilot's nifty black leather loafers when I suddenly looked up to see solid gray in all directions. Instinctively I looked for the attitude indicator – nothing! Next I looked for a turn and slip indicator – not there! Oh dear – don't make any control inputs and hope the altimeter keeps going up – not down. Fortunately sitting in my desk chair I was not subject to any vertigo inducing inner ear and "seat of the pants" sensations and presently climbed above the clouds none the worse for wear but keenly aware that this is a VFR only bird. I was surprised by the lack of a turn and slip indicator – which is about as basic an aircraft instrument as you can get – and would be even more surprised if the real airplane did not have one – but maybe it doesn't.

The virtual view panning includes "look down" into the cockpit and here is where Bill has some fun with us. You can see the pilot's lower body and will notice the nifty ruby ring on his right hand, the wedding band on his left hand and some shiny black loafers resting on the rudder pedals. I suspect not too many real Stearman pilots go flying in shiny black loafers but then what with the cost of fully restored Stearman these days I guess maybe the owners belong to the "loafer set." A nice touch in this view are the animated hand movements on the stick and throttle in response to your control inputs.

Which brings us finally to the flying characteristics. Here I confess to being disappointed. As I said above the sensation and feel of actual flying when taking off, making turns, flying straight and level or landing is outstanding. One of the best of all FS aircraft. Where things get a little off base is in the stalls and spins area. As a trainer the Stearman is an aerobatic airplane and I expected very good basic aerobatic performance. Unfortunately this is not what I found.

I found loops and rolls were acceptable but stalls were very mushy to the point of being downright unnoticeable except for the word "stall" on the screen and a gradual altitude loss – and – try as I might I could not under any circumstances get the airplane to spin – upright or inverted. This is basic stuff. Now I haven't flown a Stearman but I have to think there's a cleaner break in the stall than what's built into this model and I just know that they'll spin. With full back pressure on the stick, the airplane stalled, and full rudder nothing happens but a gentle up and down oscillation and gradual altitude loss. Sorry but this ain't real. Back to the drawing boards on the .air file would be my thought here.

But don't let this last comment be your overall impression because on balance this is an excellent package and one which I highly recommend be on your hard drive. The "fun factor" would rate 6 stars if that was in the AVSIM system! There is truly "hours of fun" built in – especially if you want to recreate Stephen Coonts' flight around the U.S.

You can get the "Cannibal Queen" right here at the AVSIM Library by going here.

Oh – and if you remember the words to that song – please let me know!