First Impressions Test Flight

[RyInTheSky 22]

So being a big Dassault guy both in the sim world and professionally I could not pass on the 50EX.

 

This morning I finally installed it and decided to take it on a test flight from K/HOU to K/TEB to take advantage of the stage length to see how the airplane flies as well as the good weather variety (rain and low visibility in Houston, Texas, strong west to east winds touching almost 170 knots in the flight levels and the snow and visibility in Teterboro right now. 

I will skip systems talk all together because as far as systems go, it is all lights and candy with Carenado but I expect it and still consume their products on the biz jet level. 

Ground handling is really good during taxi. She steers well and power required to break ground and start rolling is consummate with what I would expect in a 50EX that is full fuel with 4 pax plus crew.

Lining up on the active, I push the power up and she responds very well. Smooth and seemingly accurate acceleration down the runway and with a firm pull, pitching to 17 degrees she climbs and accelerates. After cleaning up I accelerate to 250 knots while turning on course and as we accelerate I  notice the yaw damper will not engage. Either by the button on the FCP or by hitting key strokes. Approaching 250 the airplane is beginning to handle like a slippery dolphin and not so much like the docile Dassault Falcon it should be. 

 

Autopilot on and FLCH/LNAV coming through 10,000 feet and we are starting to get into a little of the wind. The airplane climbs pretty well in Flight Level Change but the lateral axis of the airplane feel like the aircraft is sitting on top of a sewing needle. The entire enroute portion the airplane was bobbling and rolling. Really disappointing. 

 

Coming into TEB, there was nothing unremarkable to speak of other than the airplane rolling side to side and dutch rolling with the slightest wind until landing roll out. Thrust reverse will not stow either with F1, throttle control movement or pushing power all of the way up. I had to shut number 2 down on the runway to get the reverser to stow. Another docile taxi into Jet Aviation at TEB and the flight is done. I will probably stick to the Flysimware 50 Classic until some more of the bugs specifically with respect to aircraft handling are addressed. 

 

I still give it a buy rating because it really is a gorgeous model but it needs some work still.

 

Cheers out!

 

Ryan 

[ryanbatc 12,857]

Thanks for the write-up.  I'd love to see some user screenshots in the screenshot forum!

[IAhawkeyeDDS 158]

Does this business jet have auto-throttle?

[Cool 27]

On 1/3/2019 at 7:36 PM, RyInTheSky said:

Thrust reverse will not stow either with F1, throttle control movement or pushing power all of the way up. I had to shut number 2 down on the runway to get the reverser to stow.

If you FSUIPC payware, you can try something which works for me:

Affect one button to "Throttle2 dec" in repeat mode. you will get the reverser on Engine 2.

Affect on the same button but on release mode "Throttle2 cut". This will cut the reverser on Engine 2. It takes about 6seconds before the reverser to stow.

Pascal

[JIMJAM 12]

The autopilot is very wonky, unreliable and irl I would not ever step foot in it again. One climb out I engaged the ap and then a few minutes later the plane decided it wanted to go into a 90 degree bank and go into a dive. Just tonight I was cleared to descend to 1200 ft so I set it and the ap went right through it even though it called it out. I was able to pull it out but probably took out some tree tops. This is just basic a to b nav. I can only imagine that if ask anything more complicated that it will fail. V 4.4

[el_kab0ng 29]

The sweet spot for this bird (after many check rides) seems to be a VS of 2000fpm with 90.3-90.7 power settings for take off and climb (FLC takes it all over the freakin place, so I don't use it). Climbing above 10,000 feet at 260kts works fine in this configuration with a relatively light load (31-33,000 pounds). I rarely seem to need more than 94% power on climb. Cruise at .75 to .80 mach is acceptable according to the references.

 

Also, 1/2 bank and YD buttons never seem to change to 'on' when selected. This seems to be a bug Carenado needs to fix.

Edited January 16, 2019 by el_kab0ng

[slavamirin 5]

My second flight of this perfect bird was great) As for me, this plane more better then Phenom 300 from Carenado (navigation is the first reason!)

 

[el_kab0ng 29]

I'm gonna make a separate thread about the autopilot, but wanted to mention it here, too, to see how you've adjusted. I finally finished a complete flight (I've done several ascents, but not a single landing until last night).

The AP drives me bonkers!!! No YD, no 1/2 bank and no APP. You pretty much have to hand fly this thing in on every landing, reducing flights to non-ILS conditions only. The Falcon is (IMO) the most beautiful bird they've ever produced, but also one of the worst in relation to systems I've ever seen. In typical Italian fashion, it feels like they worked really hard at it right before the holidays and then decided to bonk off for a coffee and some lasagna.