I have one good sim friend, met him two years ago at one simracing gathering here in Belgrade. He admited that he is a huge flight simulation freak, spending a lot of money on FSX payware. So, I occasionally visit him, and we end every time talking about FSX stuff and reviewing the planes that he bought. So, I visited him today, and he showed me Aerosoft Diamond DA20-100 Katana 4X with most of  bits & pieces. Flew a circle around airport with it, and I must say it is an amazing plane. I'm not generally a fan of light-weight GA airplanes, my low limit is Cessna 172. but after trying Diamond DA20-100, I'm kinda in love. First of all, sounds of switches, levers and especially the engine is very very realistic. Engine soundset is a work of art. Engine is not loud by itself in Katana, but the sound is very characteristic (almost like in a family car), with vibration sounds and stuff. But I'm mostly amazed how detailed this airplane is. With detailed pre-flight inspection, maintenance and service. We didn't checked all the stuff from there, but I've got the picture.

 

So, does this fantastic plane has detailed engine/systems modeling? Will engine fail in certain situations when you doesn't treat it well? Does the plane has failure simulation for various parts?

Also I saw that it has an option to clean the airplane! Yep, a sponge and a bucket of water! Is that option there just for fun or this plane can get dirty?

 

There is probably something that I missed to ask, but anyway tell me moooore about this amazing addon. I truly want to buy it, but I'm hesitating a bit, I want to purchase a very detailed addon, and I must be sure it truly is that.

 

I'm loving every bit of my A2A C172, best GA purchase ever, but I would love to fly Diamond for a change.

 

Thanks guys in advance!

 

 

Does the plane has failure simulation for various parts?

Yep, my favorite example is if you pull too hard on the elevator, the entire assembly will break loose and stop working effectively.

 

 

 

Is that option there just for fun or this plane can get dirty?

Windshields get dirty, cowlings get oil on them, its the real deal!

 

I wish I had time to go into more detail, but just
Buy it.

its amazing. Buy IT!

Awesome plane. Only the drag at full flaps seems a bit much. But having never flown a da20 in real life I cannot judge if that is realistic or not.

Great addon, with the exception that the engine sound doesnt seem quite 'right' to me. It seems to loop quite obviously on my system so maybe just me.

 

Just about everything can break and needs fixing/maintenance. Preflights are a necessity too. What little systems there are have very comprehensive simulation. Flies very nicely too (handy for a VFR tool!).

 

The 'ownership' can get a little tiresome however, as it does seem to fail more frequently than I would expect IRL (and I am talking about considerate use here, not caning it all the time!)...

Thanks guys, bought it today, had 30 minutes to test it, seems very nice so far. The overall feel is quite different than A2A C172, and I think that is a good thing. It's strange I didn't found mixture and fuel cutoff controls, probably this plane doesn't have that at all.

 

 

It's strange I didn't found mixture and fuel cutoff controls, probably this plane doesn't have that at all.

 

It doesn't.  The Continental-equipped C-1 variant (Eclipse and its cousins) has a mixture control but a fixed-pitch prop, IIRC.  Marcel Felde talked about modeling one but I think he's mainly concentrating on his Pilatus Porter now.

 

The 4X Katana is a great airplane.  I'm a huge A2A fan but in all the justified excitement over the Accusim 172, many people missed the fact that the Katana introduced many similar features to GA simming years ago.  I gather that A2A's systems modeling is even more detailed (e.g. modeling fuel flow through the lines and water accumulation at certain physical points in the fuel system) but the Katana is feature-rich, has a lot of personality, and it's a nice change from the Skyhawk.  I've been neglecting it recently but now you've got me all eager to get it up and running in P3D2.  Thanks for posting about it!

Also I noticed that you can cruise with 40-50% of the throttle, this plane is extremely light. When you are keeping the throttle above 60-70%, it drains the fuel very fast, so if you want to travel longer than 500NM you must cruise at 40-50% of the throttle.

 

On a side note, I still think that A2A C172 feels more natural, alive... how can I put this... feels like a machine. Katana feels something like a glider with a motor from a scooter.

I have 100 or so hours on the DA20 and it's pretty damn close, Aerosoft did a good job on it.

Diamond aircraft in the beginning made gliders. And the engine is a small 1.2 liter rotax engine that need high rpm via a gearbox to deliver that 100hp.

So that explains why it feels like a glider with a scooter engine.

This is the original A2A-like design.

 

Definitly the most in-depth GA I can think of.  Unfortunately I never fly it because two reasons:

 

1) Way too slow (obviously the plane flies per real numbers which is great)... but I just don't fly it for that reason

2) Highly susceptible to carb icing because of the engine...  and I fly in winter regions mostly.