Finally we have a payware aircraft for AFS2! Looking at the specifications it should be awesome and miles ahead of any of the other (default and freeware) planes! 

Duchess 76 from Just Flight

Should be interesting. Plenty of developers watching how this one goes I guess.

gb.

Good news for AFS2 fans. Someone has already tried it?.

Cheers, Ed

18 minutes ago, edpatino said:

Good news for AFS2 fans. Someone has already tried it?.

Cheers, Ed

Not yet afaik. I'll post any review I'll find over here (or my own findings whenever I get the chance to buy and try this one myself).

First post (on the official AFS2 forum) from Jetjockey10 who flew the plane:

Quote

The text review will be available in about a week, but, I can tell you now that it will be highly recommended.

Both VR and conventional users should be delighted with several new features never before seen in AFS2.

Comprehensive flight and performance manuals and a flight tutorial. You might need to make some personal scenery for the sample flight unless Orbx gets their UK scenery out.

Regards,

Ray

A bit odd (as I also posted on the AFS2 forum) that Just Flight didn't create a sample flight over default AFS2 scenery (I suppose it simply is the FSX/P3D tutorial) but well... 

Edited April 17, 20197 yr by Guest

Okay, I changed my schedule to buy and try this plane. I didn't get very far yet.

1. I can't find the option to start the plane cold and dark. There is no config tool for it and no ingame option... This was one of the reasons I bought this plane: I want to simulate a flight from start to finish. Positioning the plane on a white parking spot should to the trick (although it doesn't always seem to work for me).

2. I can't find the tutorial Ray posted about.

3. TrackIR stopped working (in AFS2 alone) after installing this plane... Very odd. I can only move left and right and forward and back: can't look left and right or up and down. Turns out this was a coincidence: turning off the beta in Steam solved the problem.

4. As I read elsewhere already the GPS simply is the moving map from AFS2: none of the GPS related buttons work...

Spend half an hour trying to solve the above issues so can't comment on anything else right now... I haven't moved an inch yet. The cockpit looks great though and the sound, though still mono (...) sounds okay too.

Edited April 17, 20197 yr by Guest

EDIT

Edited April 17, 20197 yr by Guest

A preview of the AVSIM review has been posted on the AFS2 forum:

https://www.aerofly.com/community/forum/index.php?thread/14392-preview-of-my-jf-duchess-76-for-afs2-review-part-1/

14 hours ago, J van E said:

2. I can't find the tutorial Ray posted about.

 

The tutorial has been removed because it wasn't updated yet for AFS2: it was the old FSX/P3D/XP tutorial, doing a flight over scenery that's not available in AFS2. Good news: Just Flight is working on a new AFS2 specific tutorial.

Finally had the time to fly. Few things I noticed:

- nice sounds apart from a bug (see below)

- a lot of things work, even the circuit breakers! Lots of things to push and turn!

- mixture works!

- cold and darks works but when starting in cold and dark the COM2, ADF and transponder are on. I think they should be off...?

- the manual says you can enable GPS mode for the AP by clicking on CDI but nothing happens: the plane won't follow the flightplan no matter what. Does GPS mode work in this plane or not?

- in HDG the HSI still shows NAV in red...? Is that normal?

- during cruise setting throttle from 23 MP to 15 MP has an effect on speed but not on altitude... Shouldn't the plane lose altitude too?

- ALT on the AP seems to do nothing: the plane keeps on going up or down, no matter what

- bug: the engine sound has a terrible tick every 10 seconds: the start/end of the loop is clearly audible. Quite annoying.

All in all it's a nice plane and it seems a step forward from what we've got but I think I'll wait with flying it more until we have the tutorial because a few things are unclear to me right now (see above).

Not terribly excited for a Duchess in AFS2. The sim already has a Baron which is a much more suitable touring aircraft and not just a pure trainer. Seems like an odd choice for the first AFS2 payware aircraft.

On the other hand I'm looking forward to their Arrow. Looks like it will be the turbocharged version too, which is a good fit as much of the scenery currently available in AFS2 is mountainous. There's a distinct lack of higher-performance, single-engine GA aircraft in the sim.

I understand your remark about the Duchess and the Baron but I didn't buy this plane because of the model but because of the features. Compared to the Duchess the Baron is a very basic and boring (and typical default) plane. The Duchess has various features which are new to AFS2 and THAT is why it is a special plane! (For me the real life look (the cockpit is an exact copy of the real world one) is worth the money already. ;)) 

When it comes to models I am also and more eagerly awaiting the Arrow!!! 🙂 But every planes that is an improvement over the default ones is very welcome in my hangar. 

On 4/18/2019 at 8:05 PM, J van E said:

- in HDG the HSI still shows NAV in red...? Is that normal?

- during cruise setting throttle from 23 MP to 15 MP has an effect on speed but not on altitude... Shouldn't the plane lose altitude too?

- ALT on the AP seems to do nothing: the plane keeps on going up or down, no matter what

All these points are okay BTW. User errors. 😉 NAV is gone when a working NAV freq is entered, the AP defaults to ATT mode, and ALT simply does work. 

On 4/18/2019 at 3:14 AM, J van E said:

The tutorial has been removed because it wasn't updated yet for AFS2: it was the old FSX/P3D/XP tutorial, doing a flight over scenery that's not available in AFS2. Good news: Just Flight is working on a new AFS2 specific tutorial.

Just Flight is dotting the eyes and crossing the tees on the new Tutorial Flight for the Duchess 76 for Aerofly FS2.  Mid California for this one.  KMRY, Monterey, CA, where we have an Orbx airport down the Pacific coast along the Big Sur to KSBA, Santa Barbara.  About 180 km flight.

Should be available in a few days. 

 

Regards,\

Ray

On 4/24/2019 at 10:50 PM, J van E said:

I understand your remark about the Duchess and the Baron but I didn't buy this plane because of the model but because of the features. Compared to the Duchess the Baron is a very basic and boring (and typical default) plane. The Duchess has various features which are new to AFS2 and THAT is why it is a special plane! (For me the real life look (the cockpit is an exact copy of the real world one) is worth the money already. ;)) 

When it comes to models I am also and more eagerly awaiting the Arrow!!! 🙂 But every planes that is an improvement over the default ones is very welcome in my hangar. 

True but since they also announced the Arrow, I'm holding onto my wallet for now 🙂 It will be equally special, and it will also be a model I'd actually want to fly.

Here's a good video of the Duchess https://youtu.be/6zF6krb4woA

It shows some interesting new (to AFS2) features, but also some rather worrisome limitations of the core sim with regards to sound, navigation/GPS and lighting, among other things. I hope IPACS take some of the criticism to heart and begin to improve the core sim. If the sim is to attract more of the established third party developers, it needs to be capable enough so that they can deliver the quality and features they are known for on other platforms, without too many compromises that might tarnish the developer's brand name.

Edited May 6, 20197 yr by AdvancedFollower