New Aircraft M20R Released

[fppilot 4,371]

53 minutes ago, Alemanne82 said:

I flew around 2 hours yesterday without any problems.  and today it looks totally different 😄 after takeoff the Garmin went off, it wasn’t possible to switch it on and the plane pulled the left rudder so hard that it was no longer fun in 3 knots of wind.  I have no idea what that was, msfs or Carenado.  Let's see if it works again later 😉

I have had strange behavior in three default airplanes, once each.  I close out. Reboot. Open MFS again.  Start the same way with the same aircraft at the same location and everything was fine next time up.  Go figure.

[clements 4]

Wow, I just took the M20R up for my first flight, tried low-level cruise, slow flight and a couple of take-off and landings. I loved it. Is it perfect? Heck, no, but it is better than the default props by a long shot. The controls are a bit twitchy as others have pointed out. The VS indicator seems to race up and down with small corrections to the controls. Elevator trim seems a little heavy handed. She does seem to sip a little less fuel than the performance charts indicate. And, I wish she had checklists built into the game. But, these are minor things that I expect will be updated.

Here is what I really enjoyed:

• Taxiing and ground control. I find the default aircraft unrealistically stick to the ground. It requires tremendous power to get them moving.  Then, once they get going, they want to taxi (and accelerate) at unrealistic speeds. This makes turning and breaking difficult. No such problems with the Mooney. I'd argue that the ground steering may be too touchy but I'd prefer that over what I get with the default C172, G36 or B58.
• Gauges and instruments. I learned to fly on "steam" gauges but I am not a purest. I am happy to let technology make flying easier. Still one of the appeals to the M20R was the panel and it did not disappoint. I really appreciated the movement and control of all of the gauges (honestly, I do not know which ones are default and which ones are Carenado's). Aside from the "weaving" when tracking NAV that others have reported, I liked the AP and enjoyed the Altitude Preselector. One note: there is a "defect" (I'll call it that) with the transponder. The plane does not automatically display the squawk code in the transponder but ATC seems to recognize the code it assigned to you. 
• Flight Characteristics. I was able to fly the plane to the expected performance tables. Slow flight was acceptably squishy, the airframe started shaking and I got a stall warning when I would expect it. I did not get into a full stall exercise. So, I cannot comment on the stall characteristics. The plane accelerates like no prop I have ever flown. Getting her up to speed is easy. Slowing her down is a challenge, which is why it has a speed brake. Once you do settle her down, approach and landing is nice (as long as you handle the twitchy flight control inputs). It was nice not to bounce on touchdown - which I find the default aircraft do regardless of VS and speed. With that said, I found that the plane may "glue" it self to the ground a little unrealistically on touchdown. Some more experimentation is required. I am a pilot but have not flown an Ovation before. So, take my feedback here with a grain of salt.
• Sounds. The rumble of the engine and sounds of the plane were terrific. I expected them to be a retread of the default sounds but that is absolutely not the case. The engine sounds great at all stages of flight. Again, I have not flown the Ovation. So, I cannot say if they are correct but they are fun!

I look forward to many hours in this bird.

Edited September 20, 2020 by clements

[airlinejets 709]

2 minutes ago, clements said:

The controls are a bit twitchy as others have pointed out

Use FSUIPC beta 7 to calibrate your joysticks and add positive slope.

[Daytona125 225]

Never thought I'd say this about a Carenado plane but I'm actually pretty happy with this. The autopilot gets a little wonky but it does work good holding a heading, my rudder trim is backwards(use right switch, trims left)and the rudder is not very effective in the air, on the ground it's fine. Flies really nice and predictable, lands nice and everything seems to work as it should, even the neat little spoilers that pop out of the top of the wing. Much better than anything Osobo has given us. A little expensive but not terrible if you consider what else is available for us, supply and demand. Carenado will probably sell a lot of these until something from A2A or Milviz (or any other big name comes out). Overall I'm pretty happy.

[OSM 683]

Just now, Daytona125 said:

The autopilot gets a little wonky ...

To avoid Autopilot NAV 'zig-zag" flying, simply re-engage NAV mode when Course Deviation Indicator (CDI) is in the MIDDLE position.

 

 

[Daytona125 225]

1 minute ago, OSM said:

To avoid Autopilot NAV 'zig-zag" flying, simply re-engage NAV mode when Course Deviation Indicator (CDI) is in the MIDDLE position.  

Thanks OSM. Love this forum, I learn so much.

 

 

[fppilot 4,371]

7 minutes ago, OSM said:

To avoid Autopilot NAV 'zig-zag" flying, simply re-engage NAV mode when Course Deviation Indicator (CDI) is in the MIDDLE position.

 

OK. Worked when the DTK was on a tunable 270° (10° increment).  Have you tried it when the DTK is perhaps 276°?

[Daytona125 225]

4 minutes ago, Daytona125 said:

 

Now. If we could only get "heading up" instead of North up in the GNS 530 I'd be REALLY happy.

[airlinejets 709]

2 minutes ago, Daytona125 said:

Now. If we could only get "heading up" instead of North up in the GNS 530 I'd be REALLY happy.

I'll be really happy when and if Reality-XP and Flight1 bring their Garmins to the platform.

[OSM 683]

5 minutes ago, fppilot said:

OK. Worked when the DTK was on a tunable 270° (10° increment).  Have you tried it when the DTK is perhaps 276°?

I will make short video.

[Bert Pieke 7,585]

3 hours ago, fppilot said:

Is the 10° increment unique to this aircraft?

 

3 hours ago, fppilot said:

Is the 10° increment unique to this aircraft?

No, the 182 has the same affliction

[Bert Pieke 7,585]

2 hours ago, raymar said:

Has anyone narrowed down the blank avionics problem? I was thinking it may be one of the user mods that is causing the blackouts. Mine is totally hit or miss and if it has power it will go off in a matter of minutes.

Mine is hit and miss as well.

[airlinejets 709]

Just now, Bert Pieke said:

Mine is hit and miss as well.

I've been flying this exclusively the past 2 days and have not seen this bug (touch wood).

[n4gix 4,947]

1 hour ago, haskell said:

Does anyone who does NOT have the 10 degree HDG issue have the plane? Can you confirm if NAV has the 10 degree issue or not? Could help troubleshooting. 

This happened in FSX frequently whenever any XML gauge generated a "race condition". This was caused by firing an "event" every gauge cycle, thus flooding the sim with a constantly repeated command, which in turn blocked any other "events" to be detected. The solution always involved identifying the specific "event" causing the issue, then tracking down which precise gauge script was at fault, and then adding a "check variable" before issuing the event command.

Both registered FSUIPC and the freeware XMLTools have a logging facility to quickly identify what specific event command was at fault.

[Adrian123 1,015]

Just now, n4gix said:

Both registered FSUIPC and the freeware XMLTools have a logging facility to quickly identify what specific event command was at fault.

I have seen these events in FSUIPC logging. Seems like it was a battery switch firing constantly.