Alabeo Mooney M20R released!

[FDEdev 955]

28 minutes ago, Gregg_Seipp said:

I've never used rudder trim...elevator trim, yes, but not rudder trim.  I'd think you might use rudder trim if you had a fuel imbalance, perhaps in a climb, or if the airplane was just 'off'.

IRL you have to use rudder trim at least during climb (if you don't want to continuously maintain pressure on the rudder pedals). 

To counter a fuel imbalance you would use aileron trim.

[Gregg_Seipp 565]

1 minute ago, J35OE said:

To counter a fuel imbalance you would use aileron trim.

Learn something new every day...makes sense tho.

[Poncho 19]

Well my Hobbs meter shows 8 hours now with most of that today using V1.1. I'm glad they updated it so quickly as I had the day off today.  :-)

I certainly don't consider myself qualified for a review, but here are some early thoughts.

Pros:

- I've waited years for somebody to make a decent Mooney (still flew my Carenado M20J from time to time), and overall I'm very happy with this Alabeo V1.1 offering. 

- I love the lines of the Mooney's in general and find they look like they are going 150kts just sitting on the tarmac. Alabeo did a fantastic job both inside and outside and with the liveries.

- Very happy they passed on the glass panel and used steam gauges, but I also like the modern digital/analog gauges above the six pack too.

- Glad they choose the M20R with it's IO550 engine, love the additional power over my M20J for the longer missions. I have not tried it in the mountains yet, but I'm sure I will like it's climbing power.

- This aircraft runs very smooth, I'm not a FPS guy (and have a very good computer), all I care about is smooth operation.

- Auto pilot works great and is easy to operate.

- It's a nice change from my usual A2A Pipers and Cessna's. and I don't really compare them as those aircraft were priced accordingly.

- The battery selector switch at least functions now, along with the other fixes.

- Night time cockpit lighting is done pretty well.

- As I have read about this aircraft it's quite slippery, and I would agree, so I love the speed brakes.

Cons:

- I wish they had done a better job with the Taxi and Landing Lights (but very few seem to get that right, IMO). Looking from the cockpit they don't light up the area in front of the aircraft as good as I would expect. Then again I've never sat in a real one.

- As somebody else mentioned the brakes seem weak after touchdown, so for short runways you really have to hit the numbers. The again never been in a real one.

Anyway just my $.02   

[JYW 2,977]

I agree on the weak brakes.   I went to this section of the aircraft.cfg:-

[brakes]
parking_brake = 1              //Parking brake available
toe_brakes_scale = 0.8         //Brake scalar
auto_brakes = 0
differential_braking_scale = 1

.....and changed the toe brake scale to 1.1   My Mooney has had some new discs fitted and stops much better now!  :)

[FDEdev 955]

3 hours ago, Poncho said:

- As somebody else mentioned the brakes seem weak after touchdown, so for short runways you really have to hit the numbers. The again never been in a real one.

R U sure that you have the antiskid selected ?  Without the antiskid the wheels lock up immediately and the braking capability is greatly reduced.

Btw, it's an interesting FSX bug that even the parkbrake is more powerful with the antiskid on.

[Treetops45 1,082]

11 hours ago, J35OE said:

R U sure that you have the antiskid selected ?  Without the antiskid the wheels lock up immediately and the braking capability is greatly reduced.

Btw, it's an interesting FSX bug that even the parkbrake is more powerful with the antiskid on.

Where do you find the button/switch??

Would like to test that as currently its a long run down the strip to stop.

T45

[FDEdev 955]

There's no button/switch in the cockpit as the Mooney doesn't have antiskid. You have to assign a key for the antiskid in the FSX controls menu.

'virtual' antiskid is an essential feature IMO because without toe brakes you can't modulate brake pressure and hence can't keep the brakes from locking.

[Gregg_Seipp 565]

17 minutes ago, J35OE said:

There's no button/switch in the cockpit as the Mooney doesn't have antiskid. You have to assign a key for the antiskid in the FSX controls menu.

'virtual' antiskid is an essential feature IMO because without toe brakes you can't modulate brake pressure and hence can't keep the brakes from locking.

Ummm...is this a general thing people should be using for all aircraft?  Or is there something specific to the mooney that needs it?

[FDEdev 955]

If you want to have the maximum braking capability antiskid should always be selected on every plane.

Some add-ons automatically enable the anti-skid upon loading, e.g. the Milviz C310 IIRC.

[shivers9 1,174]

55 minutes ago, J35OE said:

If you want to have the maximum braking capability antiskid should always be selected on every plane.

Some add-ons automatically enable the anti-skid upon loading, e.g. the Milviz C310 IIRC.

Thanks for the tip. I had never heard that before.

[Poncho 19]

3 hours ago, J35OE said:

There's no button/switch in the cockpit as the Mooney doesn't have antiskid. You have to assign a key for the antiskid in the FSX controls menu.

'virtual' antiskid is an essential feature IMO because without toe brakes you can't modulate brake pressure and hence can't keep the brakes from locking.

Great tip, thank you!

My two rear landing gear tires were indeed locking up. I went into the keyboard controls and assigned CTRL + SHIFT + B = On/Off  anti-skid which turns it on and now my tires don't lock up. BTW CTRL + B and Shift + B were already assigned to other things. Anyway I will add this to my pre-flight checklist now.   

[Treetops45 1,082]

5 hours ago, J35OE said:

There's no button/switch in the cockpit as the Mooney doesn't have antiskid. You have to assign a key for the antiskid in the FSX controls menu.

'virtual' antiskid is an essential feature IMO because without toe brakes you can't modulate brake pressure and hence can't keep the brakes from locking.

Oh!

I thought the 2 parallel black skid marks most of my planes leave down the runway were a Sim feature to tell me the brakes were working!

Will have to take a look at this.

T45

[violingineer 2]

OK, I took the plunge and bought this plane 2 hours ago. Money well spent. buy it.

IMO: THIS IS THE BEST ALABEO RELEASE YET. I grade it A+

All is good in in terms of FPS, window placement visibility, instrument placement, GPS integration (must have a 530 for me to like--my pref), cruising speed, instruments chosen to be included (GEM, fuel mgmt, EGT & engine gauges easy to read, older KFC150 AP w/easy functionality), liveries/paints, cockpit/external landing/taxiing lighting--just absolutely the best plane. This may beat Baytower/Alabeo Saratoga for my number one go-to single, NM, at the moment it has, lol.

Nitpicks:

- ASI has too small lettering, I can fix this myself with texture editor, but really, make it easier to read.

- GEM gauge buttons do not work AFAIK.

- sounds could be better/more immersive, but honestly for Alabeo, its not bad at all. (B+)

- Airplane seems a bit slippery; really needs a lot of speed brakes, but nothing surprising here for a Mooney. It also has a nice slippery rudder feel in the turns which isn't really a nitpick.

 

I made ZERO changes to this aircraft. It is good right out of the box. Which only a few have ever been this good for me. As far as GPS terrain stutter, this does not have it---at least it is not noticeable as much as the C310.

And did I mention framerate? Excellent.

 

BUY IT.

 

(Edit: I did change the default Alabeo wind sound (it sucks.))

Edited August 27, 2017 by violingineer

[violingineer 2]

 

[Gregg_Seipp 565]

I honestly wish they'd put a family in their airplanes...at least airplanes like these.