Just took my first test flight and found that in comparsion to the previous PC-12 by Flight1, there really is no comaparison. given this is not the NG version it is well done, maybe the best flight modelling I have bought from Carenado. The one problem I have witnessed so far is I am losing the top Garmin 530 (i think). It starts up fine in pre-flight but shortly after it just goes dark. It may take a few more hours to detect any more problems, and I look forward to any other contributors.

Here the upper GPS turns off when i turn the panel lighting on....

Let me know what you think of the autopilot / altitude pre-selector (KAS297C)..

 

Does not operate the way I would expect..  :( 

This is the glaring errors that I caught after just 20 min in the a/c.

 

1) Top GPS doesn't work at all for me..... Lights On/Off doesnt matter.. But the pop-up does work..... This needs to be addressed very quicly as this aircraft is not flyable like this.

 

2) Bert - You are right.... I dont understand the AP Alt selector. When you click ALT it zero's out the preset? Is that right? And you cant really enable it until the AP master is on.. Weird system and I  do not know if its correct.

 

3) The Cockpit Flood lights switch controls the rear cabin Flood Lights. So when the panel flood lights are on the rear cabin flood lights are on too. There is a separate Cabin Flood Light switch that should control the rear flood lights but that of course does nothing...

 

4) I took a short hop flight. On final, full flap, rate of decent -400 to -500 and the attitude of the aircraft was extremely nose down... I dont know if I was doing anything wrong but  it seems excessive to me...

 

Right off the bat these items need to be addressed just to make this bird flyable to me...

 

Other then these so far - This may be the best yet for Carenado - Although I have not checked the flight envelope yet - I should not talk too soon....

This is the glaring errors that I caught after just 20 min in the a/c.

 

1) Top GPS doesn't work at all for me..... Lights On/Off doesnt matter.. But the pop-up does work..... This needs to be addressed very quicly as this aircraft is not flyable like this.

 

2) Bert - You are right.... I dont understand the AP Alt selector. When you click ALT it zero's out the preset? Is that right? And you cant really enable it until the AP master is on.. Weird system and I  do not know if its correct.

 

3) The Cockpit Flood lights switch controls the rear cabin Flood Lights. So when the panel flood lights are on the rear cabin flood lights are on too. There is a separate Cabin Flood Light switch that should control the rear flood lights but that of course does nothing...

 

4) I took a short hop flight. On final, full flap, rate of decent -400 to -500 and the attitude of the aircraft was extremely nose down... I dont know if I was doing anything wrong but  it seems excessive to me...

 

Right off the bat these items need to be addressed just to make this bird flyable to me...

 

Other then these so far - This may be the best yet for Carenado - Although I have not checked the flight envelope yet - I should not talk too soon....

 

Granted, I don't have the aircraft yet (holding off for reviews like these), I do have some stick time on the real aircraft but work with it and fly on it routinely. 

 

Regarding #2, that certainly doesn't sound right at all.  I should be able to use the KAS297C, preselect an altitude, dial in a VS, and hand fly following the flight directors for a VS and altitude capture.  I also should still have normal alerter tones for approaching or deviating the selected altitude regardless of AP.

 

#3, what you described is correct. 

 

#4, what is "extremely" nose down?  Depending on flaps/weight, nose down is common in the plane, but not sure I'd call it "extremely."

Regarding the A/P:  On the Flight1 version, you dial in the preferred VS and altitude targets, then hit the "arm" and "eng" buttons on the left of the AP display--when the A/P master is already engaged.  It will then fly the VS to the selected ALT and within a few hundred feet, the A/P panel's "ALT" indicator will light.

 

Nose down:  The Flight1 PC-12 will nose down with most flaps, also with a warning to not engage flap 40 unless you are on final and stable, as it will severely slow the aircraft and you can stall easily.

 

Oddly enough--the Flight1 version "1.0" of the PC-12 had panel GPS unit problems and had the same cabin light issue.

I am holding off until I see them addressing bugs instead of moving on to a new project. The Seneca doesn't display the propeller animations in the virtual cockpit even after a service pack.

2) Bert - You are right.... I dont understand the AP Alt selector. When you click ALT it zero's out the preset? Is that right? And you cant really enable it until the AP master is on.. Weird system and I  do not know if its correct.

 

This is default FSX autopilot behaviour.    You can get around this by setting the Flight Director prior to AP engagement.    In other words, if you set the FD on, then set NAV or HDG, and ALT, and then preset your ALT, when you engage AP, it will keep the preset alt that you set.

 

If you don't use FD and just turn on AP with NAV/HDG and ALT, it will reset the preset alt.

 

= Default FSX autopilot logic. :(

 

Regarding the A/P:  On the Flight1 version, you dial in the preferred VS and altitude targets, then hit the "arm" and "eng" buttons on the left of the AP display--when the A/P master is already engaged.  It will then fly the VS to the selected ALT and within a few hundred feet, the A/P panel's "ALT" indicator will light.

 

that is true - but the Flight1 PC-12 used a custom autopilot code for the ALT selection and arming (to make it model it the real unit).  Carenado always use 100% default FSX AP coding.

 

 

4) I took a short hop flight. On final, full flap, rate of decent -400 to -500 and the attitude of the aircraft was extremely nose down... I dont know if I was doing anything wrong but  it seems excessive to me...

 

What was your speed?    PC-12 is a very slow lander (for it's weight).  At most weights, you won't be far over 73kts for touchdown.   If you're over 90, you'll certainly have the strong nose down attitude.

This is the glaring errors that I caught after just 20 min in the a/c.

 

1) Top GPS doesn't work at all for me..... Lights On/Off doesnt matter.. But the pop-up does work..... This needs to be addressed very quicly as this aircraft is not flyable like this.

 

2) Bert - You are right.... I dont understand the AP Alt selector. When you click ALT it zero's out the preset? Is that right? And you cant really enable it until the AP master is on.. Weird system and I  do not know if its correct.

 

3) The Cockpit Flood lights switch controls the rear cabin Flood Lights. So when the panel flood lights are on the rear cabin flood lights are on too. There is a separate Cabin Flood Light switch that should control the rear flood lights but that of course does nothing...

 

4) I took a short hop flight. On final, full flap, rate of decent -400 to -500 and the attitude of the aircraft was extremely nose down... I dont know if I was doing anything wrong but  it seems excessive to me...

 

Right off the bat these items need to be addressed just to make this bird flyable to me...

 

Other then these so far - This may be the best yet for Carenado - Although I have not checked the flight envelope yet - I should not talk too soon....

 

 

1: Not seeing this issue, I'm running it in P3D V2.3

2: Yeah, it does seem a bit weird but it seems to work OK with FD and/or AP on.

3: Noticed this, but doesn't really affect the use of the plane, so no big deal to me.

4: The nose-down attitude seems to be inherent to this type. And as mentioned before, the faster you approach, the worse it is. You can happily ram it down at 100kts, flight idle and 15-20 degrees nose-down .

I am holding off until I see them addressing bugs instead of moving on to a new project. The Seneca doesn't display the propeller animations in the virtual cockpit even after a service pack.

Hi Robert,

 

Just a note to say that I have the Seneca and I see the animation no problems from the vc.

 

Hirdy

= Default FSX autopilot logic. :(

 

Crap.  Then the IAS mode, almost certainly, won't work.  It's probably going to be yet another pass.  I keep having to pass on these airplanes!  Of their last twenty four airplanes, I fly two.  Guh.

 

Gregg

 

EDIT:  Hmmm...I looked it up and FSX does have IAS mode available for default autopilot for both knots (offset 07DC) and mach (07E4).  So...there's a glimmer of hope.

I have the same issue with the AP and the preselected altitude. On The F1 it was as it was already described above that you preselevt the altitude and the V/S and the aircraft climb or descent with given rate until reaching the preselect altitude and leveled off.

In this Carenado PC 12 you need to click on the button when you hear the altitude signal to avoid a overshooting

 

Cheers,

Mark

I don't have the plane yet but there are loads of videos on this bird to compare against which is nice.

 

Last minute and a half of this video - Pilatus PC-12 Approach and Landing to a (relative…: http://youtu.be/Sbs54gjqdm4

 

Um really?? most dangerous airport in the world landing Brown…:

 

Look starting at 6 minutes here...Seaport Airlines Pilatus PC-12 [Engine Start, Tak…:

 

Is it worse than that?

 

C.

Crap.  Then the IAS mode, almost certainly, won't work.  It's probably going to be yet another pass.  I keep having to pass on these airplanes!  Of their last twenty four airplanes, I fly two.  Guh.

 

Gregg

 

EDIT:  Hmmm...I looked it up and FSX does have IAS mode available for default autopilot for both knots (offset 07DC) and mach (07E4).  So...there's a glimmer of hope.

 

 

No, I'm afraid not Gregg - those offsets relate to what FSX code calls "SPD HOLD" or "MACH HLD" but are actually just referring to autothrottle hold modes.  It does not use pitch to maintain speed, as we'd want to see on this PC-12, and some of Carenado's other recent releases.

 

FSX default AP coding has no native 'speed held by pitch'  (FLC, FLCH, IAS or SPEED) functionality.   :(

 

 

No, I'm afraid not Gregg - that offset relates to what FSX code calls "SPD HOLD" or "MACH HLD" but it's actually just referring to autothrottle hold. It does not use pitch to maintain speed, as we'd want to see on this PC-12, and some of Carenado's other recent releases.

FSX default AP coding has no native 'speed held by pitch' (FLC, FLCH, IAS or SPEED) functionality. :(

 

Heavy sigh.  Yet...another...pass.  They had the same thing in their King Air and I just couldn't see 'owning' a new King Air that had a normal, commonly used autopilot feature that was eternally broken.  Should be possible to hack one if the button worked. 

 

It'll be pretty to watch in other people's screen shots.