Which Carenado/Alabeo airplanes do you fly on a consistent basis?

[Gregg_Seipp 568]

I was looking at the forums and noticing how dormant many of them are.  I'm wondering which airplanes are still being flown...which ones people consider good...which ones were overlooked.  I, for one, have been a fan of the PA-46-350P Malibu Mirage (until I moved to P3D and didn't have a good nav device for it anymore).  What airplanes are you a fan of?

[Chock 17,769]

Not many of them to be honest, they are often problematic, moreover, Carenado and Alabeo are not always inclined to patch stuff quickly, or in some cases, ever. This is a trait which has seen me stop buying their products. An exception would be the little Alabeo crop duster, which is a very nice add-on; being a simulation of a simple aircraft, it was hardly likely to have many problems, so I probably would consider purchasing something similarly simple if they created it, but I would certainly be cautious even then.

More complex aeroplane systems seem to be beyond what they are either capable of, or inclined to produce. An example would be the Alabeo Cessna C441 Conquest II, which has been out for a long time now, and has even been patched to have a P3D V4 installer a few weeks ago, but in that latest iteration it still has the errors on it which it had when it first came out, some of which are just downright sloppy work, and that's simply not good enough. Sure they are not expensive, but pricey or not, their products should be made and beta tested with more care than they evidently are.

Of course some of their products show up as default aeroplanes in sims, and in FSW I do fly them, but it's more through them being the only ones available rather than being by choice, although their PA-28 Cherokee is certainly a beautiful model with excellent texturing. So I won't deny that Carenado and Alabeo products are generally good lookers, but I want something more than an aeroplane add-on which is all show and no go, which is why the FlySimWare Cessna C441 Conquest II gets regular outings on my PC whilst the Alabeo one lives in its virtual hangar and will remain there until they patch it properly, if they ever do (which I seriously doubt). The FlySimWare one is undeniably not be as pretty as the Alabeo one, that's one thing you can give Carenado/Alabeo credit for, and indeed I do, but the FlySimWare one is a far better simulation of the real aeroplane, and when they they are both exactly the same price, that's indicative of Carenado/Alabeo only doing half a job, and arguably not the most important half either, i.e. the simulation of how the aeroplane operates (in particular the C441's Garrett TPE331 Turboprop engines) rather than simply how it looks. If and when they are inclined to do the other half, that's when they'll get me back as a customer.

I would venture to guess I'm not the only one with this opinion.

[JYW 2,980]

These are the ones I rate and still fly regularly and enjoy :-

• Carenado Navajo
• Carenao PC-12 (patched up by Bert P)
• Alabeo Seminole (possibly one of the best Carabeo releases IMHO)
• Alabeo DA42 (poor G1000 but I love the DA42 and everything else about this model is pretty immersive and fun)
• possibly......... Alabeo Mooney Ovation!  (I am really enjoying it!)

You'll notice that most of these are pistons.  IMHO all of the Carenado and Alabeo turbo props and jets are just too problematic and unrealistic. I've told myself I'll only buy their pistons now    ......... we'll see how long that lasts.

[Gregg_Seipp 568]

5 minutes ago, Chock said:

Not many of them to be honest, they are often problematic, moreover, Carenado and Alabeo are not always inclined to patch stuff quickly, or in some cases, ever. This is a trait which has seen me stop buying their products. An exception would be the little Alabeo crop duster, which is a very nice add-on; being a simulation of a simple aircraft, it was hardly likely to have many problems, so I probably would consider purchasing something similarly simple if they created it, but I would certainly be cautious even then.

More complex aeroplane systems seem to be beyond what they are either capable of, or inclined to produce. An example would be the Alabeo Cessna C441 Conquest II, which has been out for a long time now, and has even been patched to have a P3D V4 installer a few weeks ago, but in that latest iteration it still has the errors on it which it had when it first came out, some of which are just downright sloppy work, and that's simply not good enough. Sure they are not expensive, but pricey or not, their products should be made and beta tested with more care than they evidently are.

Of course some of their products show up as default aeroplanes in sims, and in FSW I do fly them, but it's more through them being the only ones available rather than being by choice. I won't deny that Carenado and Alabeo products are generally good lookers, but I want something more than an aeroplane add-on on which is all show and no go, which is why the FlySimWare Cessnha C441 Conquest II gets regular outings on my PC whilst the Alabeo one lives in its virtual hangar and will remain there until they patch it properly, if they ever do (which I seriously doubt). The FlySimWare one is undeniably not be as pretty as the Alabeo one, that's one thing you can give Carenado/Alabeo credit for, but the FlySimWare one is a far better simulation of the real aeroplane, and when they they are both exactly the same price, that's indicative of Carenado/Alabeo only doing half a job. If and when the are inclined to do the other half, that's when they'll get me back as a customer.

I would venture to guess I'm not the only one with this opinion.

Hi Chock,

Yeah, the thing that got me thinking was the Carenado PA31 Cheyenne which seemed to have decent reviews in the forum but has kind of died off.  Then I looked at that big list of planes and wondered what else has died off?  Are these rental planes that you take out a few times, breath a sigh and wait for the next one to come out?  I like to get up there and really learn an airplane...dig into its soul as much as you can...see what the devs put into it.  I think about that quite a bit with the RealAir Dukes...especially the Turbine Duke which, on my sim, I'm sure is due for an engine overhaul.  In terms of Carenado/Alabeo, the two planes that stand out for me are the C337 and the 350P.  The 337 was good right out of the box (added the GNS530), just loved the way it rotated off the runway in a very nice Cessna-ish way...much more-so than any of their other Cessnas.  The 350P needed work--tweaks, sounds, still had some small gripes--but the FDE was very sound and it was a sexy, fast, high flyer.  Apart from those, I have many that I hangared after one or two flights as they seemed to have no personality at all or were just borked and couldn't be fixed.  It's nice to find a good one when you can but it's hard.  Carenado has made a lot of airplanes we wouldn't have at all...airplanes that I'd drool over in the real world but, did Carenado put enough into them to make them worth exploring or fixing?  That's what I'm wondering.

 

[Flyfox 114]

You certainly wanted to say "most of them are pistons...." as the PC-12 is still a turboprop. Actually, my list almost looks the same as yours, Bill, but I still like to fly the following Carenado planes:

Socata TB850

Cessna C337

Beech Bonanza F33 and A36

[JYW 2,980]

19 minutes ago, Flyfox said:

You certainly wanted to say "most of them are pistons...." as the PC-12 is still a turboprop.

Oh my word, what a slip up, you're absolutely right!!   (I wonder if I can still edit the post?!)    Yes, actually despite being a Carenado turbo prop, the PC12 handles ok!

[Gregg_Seipp 568]

25 minutes ago, JYW said:

These are the ones I rate and still fly regularly and enjoy :-

• Carenado Navajo
• Carenao PC-12 (patched up by Bert P)
• Alabeo Seminole (possibly one of the best Carabeo releases IMHO)
• Alabeo DA42 (poor G1000 but I love the DA42 and everything else about this model is pretty immersive and fun)
• possibly......... Alabeo Mooney Ovation!  (I am really enjoying it!)

You'll notice these are all pistons.  IMHO all of the Carenado and Alabeo turbo props and jets are just too problematic and unrealistic. I've told myself I'll only buy their pistons now    ......... we'll see how long that lasts.

Hi Bill,

The Mooney is interesting.  The real plane has a load of personality.  I remember seeing them out on the ramp...very unusual.  Nose high but long.  I remember thinking "how do you flare that thing?" True story, I was flying in a PA28 one day, on a normal downwind and heard one make radio calls, coming behind me.  As I was turning base, he snuck inside my pattern and I watched him slip down to the runway, land and turn off...that was a moment.  Fast, nimble.  I read your post in the other thread, that it flies similar to other Alabeo...something I wouldn't expect at all from a Mooney.  It's not just another airplane.  Anyway, I want to see how their rendition plays out...do they make it better or does another dev pick up the torch.

I keep hearing good things about the Alabeo Seminole...I'll give it another look. 

[Holdit 551]

1 hour ago, Chock said:

I'm not the only one with this opinion.

You're not. And yes, they do look fantastic, but unfortunately that's only skin deep. "All fur coat and no knickers" is how I think of them... 

[Gregg_Seipp 568]

49 minutes ago, Flyfox said:

You certainly wanted to say "most of them are pistons...." as the PC-12 is still a turboprop. Actually, my list almost looks the same as yours, Bill, but I still like to fly the following Carenado planes:

Socata TB850

Cessna C337

Beech Bonanza F33 and A36

C337, yeah...nice plane.

I might have jumped on the TB850 if it wasn't glass.  I have had 3 or 4 of their glass airplanes and it's never been good.

[lownslo 592]

My favs are the oldies...

C185

C337 (original on disc... I don't think I can upgrade to 2.0)

F33

I keep thinking about the PC-12, but then I remind myself that it's a Carebeo turbo prop... same feeling I have with the Cheyenne II.

Really like the Mooney (and would love to have a good one), but the price/performance (performance defined as what works and what doesn't) ratio of their products is just too far out of whack recently.  Might look again at the Seminole (just gotta get past it's looks ).

Greg

[Flyfox 114]

13 minutes ago, Gregg_Seipp said:

C337, yeah...nice plane.

I might have jumped on the TB850 if it wasn't glass.  I have had 3 or 4 of their glass airplanes and it's never been good.

I use this one with Bert's GTN750 mod, although not totally realistic. But still much better than with the original G1000...

[Flyfox 114]

46 minutes ago, JYW said:

Oh my word, what a slip up, you're absolutely right!!   (I wonder if I can still edit the post?!)    Yes, actually despite being a Carenado turbo prop, the PC12 handles ok!

BTW Bill, I also fly the PC-12 with Bert's mod and enjoy it a lot! From my point-of-view the best Carenado turboprop so far.

[hs118 707]

C337 a lot. As others pointed out, lots of issues with the Carenados. In the C337, cowl flaps work but have no effect on engine temp :-)

Still, it flies by the numbers pretty well and is a good IFR machine with addon GPS.

[shivers9 1,174]

3 hours ago, Gregg_Seipp said:

I was looking at the forums and noticing how dormant many of them are.  I'm wondering which airplanes are still being flown...which ones people consider good...which ones were overlooked.  I, for one, have been a fan of the PA-46-350P Malibu Mirage (until I moved to P3D and didn't have a good nav device for it anymore).  What airplanes are you a fan of?

I have kind of noticed the same thing. Your comments got me to thinking. We really have very few ....For general aviation I guess actually only 2 Devs (A2A and Milviz) now that Real Air gave up the fight. I have reached the point I have zero hope for Carenado and Alaebo. They seem to just get off on seeing how many of us stupid flight simmers will once again go for "cash for trash" releases. Their products remind me of a dead cat. They are cute but not much fun to play with and the longer you have it the more you notice how much it stinks. I very much like Prepar3D V4 but there is not a lot of choice for good GA aircraft. I am afraid this hobby is going to become more of a Tubeliner gig.

[Gregg_Seipp 568]

27 minutes ago, shivers9 said:

I am afraid this hobby is going to become more of a Tubeliner gig.

I've thought the same.  Most airports are made for heavy metal (even though I do check aerial photos to see if they have a GA presence...some do.) Also, in terms of performance, the tubeliners have smoother framerates unless you go with basic airplanes.  Also, to be honest, the scenery looks better (less like an ugly girlfriend) from up high.  Even VATSIM is more geared for airliners which is a shame since mixing airplane types makes ATC more of a challenge.

Back on the GA topic, though, Just Flight has also begun making some very good quality GA (the Arrow...the dash on that airplane is...woh.) while A2A has dropped back off to vintage stuff.  Apart from the very old Milviz C310, there isn't any good quality reasonably modern touring GA twin available since RealAir closed shop.  We're drowning in great airliners that you can fly and fly and fly which is fun but, for me, I'm a complex GA flyer at heart.  That market is a dead fish.