Did a search here and elsewhere before posting this. Found but little reference, so hitting it with a fresh post.I read in the Microsoft documentation that the service ceiling for the Baron 58 is right at 20,000 ft. No matter what I do, I can't get the Baron much above 12,000. I did finally get to 15,000, but the Baron had slowed to near stall speed, and was in an emphasised nose-up attitude.Yes, I have flaps and gear retracted. Yes, I am leaning it out to max the RPM. Am also making the necessary adjustments to the props. I'm taking off from near sea level with mild temperatures, so density altitude is near actual altitude. Have even adjusted cowl flaps to optimize engine operating temperature.I have not experienced such poor performace vs specs for any other FS9 aircraft, original -or- add-on.Anyone got any tips?

The MS specs are BS. There is no way you'll get a normally aspirated Baron to 20K feet. Try downloading fsdtwins.zip and selecting the turbo option and see how you go then.regards,Jeff

You've got on the wrong side of the drag curve. The Baron likes a bit of speed under its heels. Step climb and lower the climb rate as you go higher and you can reach 20,000 feet easily, if slowly. The Service Ceiling is defined as "the altitude at which the maximum rate of climb is 100ft/min for piston engined aircraft and 500 ft/min for jets". Therefore, at the higher altitudes you will be lucky to see ROC greater than a couple of hundred feet per minute and you need to adjust your climb accordingly.Also check fuel and pax load, you might struggle to get to the Service Ceiling with 100% fuel and a hefty passenger or two.Hope this helps.Allcott

Really? I was easily able to fly it to 20,000' (with no passengers and starting with 45% fuel). The indicated airspeed was exactly 100 knots and the VSI read just about exactly 100 fpm--right where it should be. So I'd consider the Baron's flight model to be quite good. Just be sure to keep pressing Ctrl+X to lean to optimum.Keep in mind these specs are Raytheon's, not Microsoft's. (In fact the service ceiling is 20,688 feet--see http://www.raytheonaircraft.com/beechcraft...Perf_2003.pdf.) As stated below this is a number supplied by the manufacturer with a specific meaning.

Fair enough. Seemed a bit high for a normally aspirated engine to me.Jeff

Thanks, I did not try a step climb. I was able to trim out at 15,000 and get up to speed, but since I had bled off so much it took forever. Will try again. What is the turbo option mentioned by another flyer in this thread? I know that the 58 had a turbo model, but I honestly thought that was what was in FS9.Frank P

The default baron is normally aspirated, as you can only get 29.92 inches of manifold pressure. Steve Small from FSD did a replacement airfile for the baron and the kingair contained in fsdtwins.zip. This gives you the option to have a turbo baron. See http://www.fsd-international.com/projects/...enhancement.htm for details on where to get the file.Jeff

Does the FSD twin prop enhancement work in both FS2k2 and CF9, or, just FS2k2?Jim

Jeff, Thanks again. Last night I attempted again. Stair-stepped the climbs. Ground to 8,000. 8 to 12. 12 to 14, etc. Got to 14,000. Rate from 12 to 14 was 500 fpm and the Baron was slowed to just under 100knts. Leveled off and gained speed back to around 135 knts. That was as far as I could push the speed at 14,000. Climed from 14 to 16 at 400 fpm and that slowed me to around 80 knots. Leveled off and gained speed back to 119 knots. Worked with both mixture and props the whole way up. 119! That was it. Gave up and went to bed. Baron might climb to around 20,000 eventually, but why? Would have no forward speed left. Even GPS showed slow fwd speed.Frank

The FSD-Twin Prop Enhancement Package is not for FS 2004 at this time as far as I know. Someone asked Steve if he was upgrading it, but he wasn't sure if anyone wanted it-this was a few months ago. I'd ask him to do it, but he already gets bothered by me enough. You may have some luck emailing him. He's over at the FSD Website-really nice guy, don't cross him though!http://www.fsd-international.compeace I'm outta here!

I know it was for fs2002, but I've found it works fine in fs9.regards,Jeff

After reading some of the posts, I had a go yesterday. Got rid of all the pax, dropped the weight of the pilot to 140 lb and cut the fuel to 40%. I climbed directly to 19700, although by that time was only getting 100fpm and was right on the edge of the stall. After a while at that altitude, I got about 5 more knots of airspeed and got to 20000. For the life of me, I can't understand why you'd do it, my tas was only about 120 kts, with an ias right on the stall. If I tweaked the mixture control another millimetre I lost the engines. Might be ok if you had a 100kt tail wind, lots of O2 and a good heater!!regards,Jeff

What a difference a hair dryer makes!!!FL200 without trouble.

Manufacturers like to make their specs look good, plus if going *over* weather were the only way to avoid it the capability might be useful. Otherwise, you're right--why bother.

The service ceiling is just a certification thing, just because it can get there doesn't mean it's ment to fly there. The engines are normaly aspirated, so by the time you get to 20,000 ft. you're only going get about 10" MP. The Baron flies best between 5000ft and 10,000ft.A C152 has a service ceiling of 17,500, but you'd never actually take one up that high.