Captain Sim C-130

[Guest davemke]

I

[Guest bobsk8]

I guess I just don't get it. There have been posts after posts after posts in the last few weeks warning people not to purchase anything from this company, and even warning about the fact that it appeared that that C-130 would probably be released while still in the Beta stage. Yet people are buying it anyway, with pretty predictable results..... Kinda like touching a hot plate after the waiter tells you to be careful, it's hot.....

[Guest davemke]

Yeah, I know - but curiosity is a bugger!

[ORN 1]

Hey! Have you also missed that most people who bought this plane are VERY happy with it? If you don't like complicated systems, why on earth did you spend 51 bucks on this one? If you can't start it from cold and dark, that's your problems, it's supposed to be difficult, you have to understand about a lot of denpendencies, but it works like it's supposed to, and it works very well too!And the autopilot works too, just as it is supposed to. Even got a military style ias hold so you can climb and decend by pitch related airspeed control :-cool (C-130 experts please correct me if my terminology is wrong ;)). Nav mode works too, you just have to understand how.Edit: (forgot to mention it) Upon my first landing all engines died after going from thrust reverse to idle. At that flight a lot of the systems did not work because the generators didn't provide power. If you reset the generators before turning them on, it will work, and the engines will stay alive :)I think the C-130 is awesome, I enjoy it a lot. If you want an easy simple and cheap C-130, by the Alphasim. If you wanna fly a complicated, beautiful, frameratefriendly and out of the ordinary addon (read not Cessna or Boeing), fly the CS C-130 :)!Come to think of it, don't you think more people would be disappointed if it was easy and simple? I would, cause I was looking for a challenge here?brEagle

[ChuckB 0]

Eagle,I agree with you about the systems operation. If a prospective buyer out there is reading this, please take it to heart: This model of C-130 is a crew airplane. The Flight Engineer is not there as a show piece on this bird! He is the systems operator, and expert, much like on any aircraft that has an FE. If you are not into learning about and properly configuring aircraft systems, please save your money and go buy or fly another aircraft. Paying over 51 USD is a lot for a 'pretty airplane'.Now that I have that out of the way, let me also point some other things out.Starting this aircraft at this time, in its current state is not realistic. External AC and/or DC is not available for most, if not all users. After the GTC is powered up and you set up the ATM for operation, it is powering the Essential DC bus, but not the Essential AC bus, as it is supposed to. Therefore, without some source of AC power to the aircraft, powering at the minimum, the Essential AC bus, the engines should never be capable of being started. Captain Sim has acknowledged all of these items as a bug. Hopefully, this will be addressed in a service pack soon.As for the sound of the aircraft, I would have hoped it would have been better. I can think of another aircraft that I own that I paid over 50 USD for that pretty much for me, operated and sounded as it should right from day one. I have paid a lot less for very detailed aircraft that have sound sets that are better than the Captain Sim C-130. Perhaps this too will be addressed in a service pack.As to where this autopilot on the CS C-130 came from, I have no idea. It is probably from a non-US C-130 variant that I am not familiar with, but it does work. I realize that we are not the only country flying this aircraft and I am okay with that. Captain Sim took their information from where it was readily available to them, much like most other add-on developers. The autopilot heading hold will turn to the heading selected, but I need to work with it a little more to get the Speed On Pitch to operate. I know that it will hold altitude as well. I haven't tried an ILS or LOC approach with the autopilot yet, so I cannot say how the behavior compares there. In truth, I haven't flown on a single flight yet, in real life, that the pilot did not fly the entire approach themselves, rather than letting the autopilot handle it. I have been far more interested in the behavior of the aircraft in flight and on the ground lately. I am not going to go into that area again, as I have covered it extensively in another post here in the forums. Feel free to take a look at it at your leisure.Overall, at this time I would say that this aircraft delivers in a lot of areas, but misses the mark in others. Compared to the first beta that I had, it is much better, but still needs more work. Captain Sim has at least admitted that there are bugs, and that is good. Not all aircraft come out bug-free, that is a fact. There is always room for improvement. For now, enjoy the aircraft as it is, and hopefully, we will be able to enjoy it that much more if and when Captain Sim decides to fix it.ChuckC-130E/H/H1 Flight EngineerDyess AFB, TXAMD 64 3700+ | ASUS A8V Deluxe | Antec TruePower 480 PS | 1.0 gig DDR400 Corsair TwinX 3200XLC2Pro | WD 120 gig HDD | WD 80 gig HDD | Twin WD 160 gig SATA HDDs | SB Audigy 2 | ATI Radeon 9800Pro 128 | CH Products USB Yoke | CH Products USB Pedals | CH Products USB Throttle Quad | Nostromo n52 | Windows XP Pro SP2http://www.captainsim.com/user/dl/c130/c130-testpilot.gif

[Guest sbdwag]

I purchased the C-130 also and although I like it alot, I must say that I agree the internal sounds are very poor! There is terrible staccato pulses in them with headphones makes it impossible to become immersed in the sim.But there are freeware versions of C-130 sounds out there. I found a set of four that were for FS2002 that are unbelievable. All in all its a very good product and as is the norm these days the price has gone up. Is it worth 51US. Compared to what that is the question. There is nothing out there that you can compare it to. Its obvious that CS put a huge amount of time in the Eye Candy and no one can beat them at this game right now. And it seams to be good on performance. Sounds no, FDS don't know anything about it but it doesn't take off like a rocket and drop like a rock like the CS727 did and it trims reasonably that's all I can say about the fde, Repaints and clickable vc are all there. gauge refresh rate ok, So far no outstanding bugs except the Configuration utility, Multiple configurations and many moving bells and whistles all there, For me the bottom line is "It is a top notch add-on that I will have in my Aircraft folder along time" Its one of the few forty plus dollar add-ons I have purchased for FS9So yes its worth 51.00 I give it 40.00 dollars for the quality and another 11.00 dollars for the notoriety.RegardsDennis Waggoner

[ORN 1]

Yes, to balance things up a bit, I agree about the sound, even though I have never been in a Herk I would believe that there is more low frequencies, and the loop IS annoying.The autopilot: On the panel there is a knob where you can choose between "Height" and "I.A.S". The little triangular pointer selects between them. It's a bit tricky to move the pointer, but try to grab and slide it along the right side of the knob.Climb: when you reach climb speed select "I.A.S." and give full throttle.Descend: Reduce to descend speed > select "I.A.S." > reduce power. Then of cource you can adjust pitch with power.(Same thing is possible on PSS Dash 8 and Vulcan)Electric system: Yes, I suspected what you say, actually there are situations where I shouldn't be able to start it. Hope they fix it, because as it is now it's too easy to start up (ha, ha).brEagle

[Guest JIMJAM]

Yes the sounds are HORRIBLE.Some like the flaps and gear I regonize from another not CS plane. First hing I did was replace them all.For some odd reason my Main artificial hor doesnt work or the radar.If I fool around with the electrical panel I can get the radar to power up/horizon works but only temporaraly. I guess its time to finally look at the manual.

[Guest dpc]

I am one of the happy buyers. Now, the only experience I have in one of these birds is that of passenger. Sitting in jump seats, sleeping on top of pallets, eating out of little white boxes, using the strangest aircraft toilet I've ever seen, that sort of thing. The first thing I want to ask the original poster is, have you ever even been in one of these things? You mention the sound, well, it is much closer to reality then you would lead others to believe. It does have a bit of looping that you mention but the pitch is pretty close as I recall. Especially from the flight deck.Systems? Tons of them, and I like that fact even though I may not ever become proficient with them. However you CAN just jump into this bird and fly if you care to and everything worked fine. My default flight is the default Mooney, already fired up, with the 2d panel showing. This is just a stable way to start and then select another ac. My first run with the C-130 was one circuit around Quonsett RI. Flew totally hands on and I felt that it flew like a dream. I've since flown several hours and am loving it. CS has done a good job capturing the feel of the AC. Last night, I took off from Otis ANGB, climbed to 29k and then spent a while just exploring the inside. Looking out portholes, wing views, bunks etc. When I went from the cargo bay to the entrance to the flight deck and looked up at the cockpit it took me back. Very nice.Install? No problem. Made the last click on the purchase page, opened up my email and the email was there. Downloaded quickly, copy the reg number, click on the file, paste the reg number and done.

[Guest SaVas]

Well, I for one have had no problems with this aircraft, and other than the engine start up having something to do with a switch that needs to be flipped that apparently is wrong, everything works on the C130 for me. And regarding that switch, I wont ever have the opportunity to fly a C-130 anway in real life so a switch in the wrong position isnt going to bother me at all. If they fix it fine, if not such is life. Sure the sounds could have been better, but overall I am loving the CS C-130, and can see it being hardly in my hanger. it will be cruising everywhere with me at the controls.My thoughts about some things not working or seeming odd, before complaining that such and such doesnt work...read the manuals. Chances are you dont have something turned on, or off that needs to be.But hey, everyone is entitled to their opinion as long as its constructive and AFTER one reads the manual ;)

[Guest Grizzly_Air]

I think the criticism on the internal sound and the bug in the electrical bus are justified. I love the CS C-130, but I agree with these remarks. I REALLY(!) hate the looping noise on my headset. I would love to get a GOOD soundset if anyone knows of one for D/L (on AVSIM perhaps??) I will replace it with that.As to the other complaints, those seem to be more of a "I didn't read the manual and I can't figure out why X doesn't work the way I think it should"RTFM.http://www.captainsim.com/user/dl/c130/c130-testpilot.gif

[Guest JIMJAM]

Dont know the name but do a search here and you will find 1 that was a replacement for the ALPHA SIM 130. Alot better than the CS and with a little help from fs sound studio,a few other replacment sounds from other planes and I have made a pretty good one. I replaced the ground roll with one that rattles like the plane was loaded with dishes. Seem to fit this flying truck well.

[Guest Darren Howie]

ANy of you guys having the torque gauges freeze after using max reverse.On every short field landing i have down with max reverse applied the gauges all freeze with about 950ft/lb's on them.They remain frozen at that setting irrespective of what you do to try and free them.Darren

[WAD3 0]

Hey Darren when you come out of reverse to idle do your generators kick off line too? I have this problem and wonder what I am doing wrong or if there is just a problem with the systems.Thanks

[ChuckB 0]

Darren I haven't noticed the torque freezing up, but will look for it when doing my next set of assault landings. As for the generators kicking off, I too am noticing the same thing, everytime I go max reverse and then back to ground idle. This is something that definitely should not happen considering that the engine is at 100% regardless of what the props are doing.ChuckC-130E/H/H1 Flight EngineerDyess AFB, TXAMD 64 3700+ | ASUS A8V Deluxe | Antec TruePower 480 PS | 1.0 gig DDR400 Corsair TwinX 3200XLC2Pro | WD 120 gig HDD | WD 80 gig HDD | Twin WD 160 gig SATA HDDs | SB Audigy 2 | ATI Radeon 9800Pro 128 | CH Products USB Yoke | CH Products USB Pedals | CH Products USB Throttle Quad | Nostromo n52 | Windows XP Pro SP2http://www.captainsim.com/user/dl/c130/c130-testpilot.gif