It has been a while since anyone has seen the “Bear Cave”, but I think it is time we resurrected it, don’t you? I’d like to say I’ve been hibernating for a couple of years or so, but the truth is I’ve been very busy with my real world career and concentrating on some of my other ventures (building a new home in Oregon and other hobbies if you will). First I should note I have a relatively new system (about 6 months old now) and of course it works great for either FS9 or FSX, though it should be understandable that my frame rates and simulation smoothness are superior in FS9, as would be expected.
Averaging twice monthly or so, I will be presenting some freeware aircraft and sceneries that I like, but I won’t be restricting my picks to just FS9 or just FSX or those files that work only in both. If I know that the files work in both, I’ll so state it. Though I will make every attempt to pick aircraft from the AVSIM library, sometimes I will draw from other sites, if I feel the aircraft is worthy of your time and effort. This first “Bear Cave” will highlight some FS aircraft that were intended for FS9 and the next Bear Cave will list a few freeware add-on aircraft intended for FSX. The only restriction I’m implying on myself and for the Bear Cave are, that whatever file I present, it will be freeware files only. As far as those files that are payware, I’ll leave those reviews with the regular AVSIM review staff and I will concentrate solely with freeware! First up: The Cirrus 20 six Uploaded into the AVSIM library several years ago (April of 2005), the FS2004 only Cirrus 20 six, by Guenter Kraemer, is a true study in payware excellence in a freeware package! Featuring Garmin 430 NAV-GPS dual radios, multiple liveries, and the famous CAPS or Cirrus Airframe Parachute System (fully functional in Guenter’s FS version here, by striking the “/” or spoiler key). The manual is complete and thorough for all aircraft and system functions. This is a really sweet freeware add-on for those of you using FS2004 and considering that there have been (to date) nearly 24,000 downloads of this file from the AVSIM library, there are a lot of you out there that apparently agree with me. Nice work Mr. Kraemer! Observed Performance: Cruise Speed @ 7,500 FE: 148kts IAS
French Cessna 150L: Though not available directly from the AVSIM library, I still feel this FS9 aircraft is worth the time and effort to go over to the website @ http://www.fs-tutorials.com/en/index.php and check these fellows out by going directly to the download page (where you will find this outstanding example of the Cessna 150L trainer). Then just simply go here: http://www.fs-tutorials.com/en/down_plane_C150_01.php This is another of those freeware FS aircraft that are as good as any payware version you should happen to run across, and though I find the littlest Cessna to be less than I would normally choose for a flight in FS9, it is a good aircraft for those of you that are just learning the basics of flying. There is a reason the 150 and the later 152 are used world-wide as a basic trainer. Observed Performance:
EADS/Socata TB21 Trinidad GT The Socata Trinidad GT is a turbo-charged high-performance retract that I personally like, never flown for real though, but I do like the Premier Aircraft Design version of this little speedster for FS9/FSX. If you’re looking for an excellent freeware version of this aircraft, something that’s a bit faster than the average single engine aircraft, then look no further. It's been a while since this aircraft was uploaded into AVSIM’s library (December of 2005), but the download count of over 12,000 tells me that a lot of you have placed this aircraft on your hard drive, so I’m preaching to the choir about how good this aircraft is. Observed Performance: Cruise
Speed @ 11,000 FE & 2550 rpm (26” manifold):
160kts GS
Additional paints can be found at http://www.premaircraft.com/ Socata TB10 Tobago GT From the same folks over at Premier Aircraft Design that have given us so much over the years (including the EADS/Socata TB21 Trinidad GT above); here is the fixed gear version of the Trinidad, sans the retractable gear and turbo-charged engine. Though a bit slower than the Turbocharged Trinidad, the TB10 Tobago is still no slowpoke, where I saw a ground speed of 144kts on the GPS (with no wind involved) at a cruising altitude of 10,000 feet over the Utah desert. Not bad, not bad at all. With the Tobago, as with the Trinidad from Premier Aircraft Design, I did find them just a tad twitchy with the ground handling during taxi and on the take-off roll, but that didn’t seem to be noticeable on landing rollout, interesting…., but still no real problem. I also have a payware version of this aircraft (from a different design group) that is very detailed and certainly worthy of its cost, but frankly, the boys over at PAD (Premier Aircraft Design) have done a very good job with this freeware package. Despite not being as finely detailed as the payware version, I find it to be quite pleasing of a FS aircraft to include with my personal fleet! Observed Performance: Cruise
Speed @ 10,000 FE & 2550 rpm (22” manifold):
144kts GS
Additional paints can be found at http://www.premaircraft.com/ HJG British Aerospace BAe146/RJ100 One of the more interesting aircraft available for FS9 has been the 4-engined British Aerospace BAe146 and all of its derivatives. It has been our friends over at HJG (Historic Jetliners Group) that have combined their repaint expertise on an original model by Jon Murchison with a modified FDE by Mike Monce. There are a number of available livery textures from the HJG website by a long list of re-painters. Also available at the HJG website is an extensively detailed panel for the BAe146 by Matthias Lieberecht and most importantly, this file includes a comprehensive manual (163 pages in the PDF format) to learn its use. For those wishing to have a panel that is authentic in its basic operation, though not necessarily one designed to duplicate the full operation of the real panel, you might wish to checkout the FS2004 Bae146/RJ100 panel by Targan Unutmaz (AVSIM library filename rjpnlv2a.zip), as this panel has all of the basic features of the HJG one, but without the comprehensive system operations of the HJG panel (by Matthias Liebercht). The choice is yours. Even though there are several livery textures available, they tend to lean toward the European airlines, with a couple of exceptions. What I am looking forward to is when some additional historic liveries become available, like PSA with the smiley chin and maybe the older United colors from the days when they used this aircraft. As for the sounds, the sound-pack available from HJG is quite good, though I personally have installed some custom payware sounds from an outside source (TSS or Turbine Sound Studios). Flying this bird is fairly easy, for it has similar flight characteristics as the default 737 (FS2004). So many of you newcomers should have little or no problem coming up to speed with this aircraft. For those of you that prefer to become more involved with the aircraft you fly in Flight Simulator, you have the choice of installing the Matthias Lieberecht panel giving the more experienced flight simmer a more authentic challenge. Below are a few screenshots (external) and the panel screenshots (shots #10 & #11) show the Matthias Lieberecht panel, with the final shot showing the Targan Unutmaz panel. Hosted by our good friends over at Simviation you will find a long list of outstanding aircraft, all of which are freeware, over at the Historic Jetliner Group website. For direct access to the HJG website, just go here: http://www.simviation.com/hjg/main.htm Observed Performance: Cruise
Speed @ 30,000 FE & 85% Torque: MACH .70
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
