10 hours ago, UrgentSiesta said:

On an 80-ish kt stabilized approach with flaps 20, I’m seeing between 750 and 800 lbs

Flaps 10 drops the torque quite a bit towards 600 lbs.

if I switch over to the Thranda/REP in X-Plane, torque drops to 500-ish lbs at flaps 20.

If 300lbs is the apprx IRL value, then SWS has too much drag on the flaps. I’d be interested to know what weights and flaps Ryan was operating at for 300lbs of torque on final. Right now, it seems like you’d need a flaps zero landing in a very low weight to get torque that low in sim.

fwiw, the PoH calls for speed, not torque, and 80-85kts is easy to maintain.

I don’t recall his flap settings and it will probably be time consuming to go back and try and find the video.

I guess what I’d like to know, is that the 2020 plane required torque to be set at around 800-850 on final to maintain a reasonable glide slope which meant you really had to pitch up to lower speed. But that made it extremely difficult to hit the right touch down point on a short dirt runway - I was often short or long and that isn’t good on a short dirt strip. If you lowered torque to help get speed under control, you didn’t need to pitch as much so it was easier to hit the right touch down point at the right speed (70ish KTS) but it couldn’t maintain a decent glide slope at low torque… it would lose altitude much too quickly. It was like flying on a knife edge to try and hit the end of a dirt strip at the right speed without being short, long, or at the wrong attitude… which was not realistic at all compared to how Ryan could get that plane down so easily. 
 

Has this improved?

Pleas try landing in Hawaii on HI31 which is a tricky short sloped dirt strip and let me know if you can nail it. I could not in the Kodiak but could nail it easily in the vanilla Caravan. 

Edited March 29Mar 29 by Virtual-Chris

I like the Kodiak and the Caravan.  Both are great addons imo.  Good sounds, great paints (lol), nice flight models and systems.  If I want analog I take the c208, if I want to fly around gee-wizz I take the Kodi.  I will say the visibility from the cockpit is better in the Kodi.  I'm really looking forward to the Kodiak 900 though...it's quite a bit faster than the 100 and still suitable for small strips (though not really a true bush aircraft with those fancy wheel pants).

I miss native EDB and load manager. When I do lead via MSFS EFB it doesn't show up as cargo boxes like in BS Caravan. Kodiak seems bleed speed faster and slower speed and around 60 kts at full gross can easily loss elevator authority. I don't how realistic it is but it's kind of fun to fly

I bought this from the MS marketplace. I don't see the new one listed, so assuming I will eventually get an upgrade offer at some point? 

1 hour ago, RobJC said:

I bought this from the MS marketplace. I don't see the new one listed, so assuming I will eventually get an upgrade offer at some point? 

The native 2024 version isn't on Marketplace yet but when it is, you'll get the standard MP upgrade offer in your notifications.

I got my very first "device hung up error" related to grahics using this one during walk around ?

Havent had this error in years

 

Michael Moe

What does it take to get passengers fysically in the Cabin? - i have tried the payload section of the EFB and it gets green but when i load its grey ?

Thanks

Michael Moe

On 3/29/2026 at 9:56 AM, Virtual-Chris said:

I don’t recall his flap settings and it will probably be time consuming to go back and try and find the video.

I guess what I’d like to know, is that the 2020 plane required torque to be set at around 800-850 on final to maintain a reasonable glide slope which meant you really had to pitch up to lower speed. But that made it extremely difficult to hit the right touch down point on a short dirt runway - I was often short or long and that isn’t good on a short dirt strip. If you lowered torque to help get speed under control, you didn’t need to pitch as much so it was easier to hit the right touch down point at the right speed (70ish KTS) but it couldn’t maintain a decent glide slope at low torque… it would lose altitude much too quickly. It was like flying on a knife edge to try and hit the end of a dirt strip at the right speed without being short, long, or at the wrong attitude… which was not realistic at all compared to how Ryan could get that plane down so easily. 
 

Has this improved?

Pleas try landing in Hawaii on HI31 which is a tricky short sloped dirt strip and let me know if you can nail it. I could not in the Kodiak but could nail it easily in the vanilla Caravan. 

Okay, so...!

HI31 is a LOT of fun 😎

The bad news: I'm fairly confident this airfield (emphasis on "field" 😆) would ALWAYS be a full flaps affair. At zero wind, full flaps, and 50% weight, it needs about 1000lbs/ft to maintain level flight at 75-ish kts, and about 900lbs on glide slope.

The GOOD news, however, is that I had absolutely zero issues sticking the landing at the end of the strip, and it's so steep upslope I didn't even need reverse thrust!

For reference, I flew the same approach in the Thranda Kodiak with REP in X-Plane and the torque was way down around 500. I mention it because the REP gives the addon accurate speeds vs engine power and flaps config, and that seems to match the 300-ish lbs you mention for the IRL situation.

So, it seems the SWS flaps drag is really high, but the aircraft handles so nicely that even that difficult strip is utter cake. If anything, it's TOO easy, tbh.

4 minutes ago, UrgentSiesta said:

Okay, so...!

HI31 is a LOT of fun 😎

The bad news: I'm fairly confident this airfield (emphasis on "field" 😆) would ALWAYS be a full flaps affair. At zero wind, full flaps, and 50% weight, it needs about 1000lbs/ft to maintain level flight at 75-ish kts, and about 900lbs on glide slope.

The GOOD news, however, is that I had absolutely zero issues sticking the landing at the end of the strip, and it's so steep upslope I didn't even need reverse thrust!

For reference, I flew the same approach in the Thranda Kodiak with REP in X-Plane and the torque was way down around 500. I mention it because the REP gives the addon accurate speeds vs engine power and flaps config, and that seems to match the 300-ish lbs you mention for the IRL situation.

So, it seems the SWS flaps drag is really high, but the aircraft handles so nicely that even that difficult strip is utter cake. If anything, it's TOO easy, tbh.

Wow. Ok. I’m glad you tried it with some weight because that plane really changes its character based on load. I may need to give this new version a try. 

Edited March 31Mar 31 by Virtual-Chris

46 minutes ago, Virtual-Chris said:

Wow. Ok. I’m glad you tried it with some weight because that plane really changes its character based on load. I may need to give this new version a try. 

And, FWIW, I wanted to test the "too easy" part, so I re-flew the flight with the A2A Comanche. No problem getting out or coming back in - and still LOTS of fun 🙂

From Discord - 

**__MARKETPLACE RELEASE__**
The aircraft is ready for release on the Marketplace. However, in order to ensure a smooth release we are going to release the plane with Update 1 completed. The work on it will be completed tomorrow, but we cannot guarantee a Marketplace release this Thursday due to the short notice.

**__UPDATE 1__**
This stems from feedback received over the weekend and will enter testing tomorrow. The release target is Friday and it will address the following:
  * PITOT FAIL L/R annunciations
  * Amphibian gear panel lighting
  * Fix for the inoperative emergency power lever
  * Animation fixes: ailerons and water rudder handle.
  * Hide the heat blur in VR mode (cockpit camera)
  * Fixed spinning propeller in hangar/aircraft selection view
The update will allow you to place the covers back on the aircraft if you want to and, lastly, the plane will start in preflight with the parking brake set.

This last part is unrealistic, as brakes in real life can be damaged like this. However, users told us that Career Mode requires this to successfully complete the preflight process, so we have to add it.

**__KODIAK UPDATE 2__**
 This is planned for release about a month from now and will bring improvements across the board. We are currently working on:
 * Flight model improvements, especially with flap drag
 * Softer main gear to better handle very rough terrain
 * Trim response
 * Custom front wheel castering animation for the Amphibian
 * Yaw damper improvements
 * Systems and preflight improvements
 * Navigraph charts integration

**__HOME COCKPITS__**
Home cockpit builders also brought up an issue about switches that use the new FS2024 L:1 variables. We  will be testing a solution whereby we will assign B:events to these switches so you can access them through that venue, until Asobo and third party utilities can make them accessible directly. If it proves stable in testing, we will include this in Update 1.

10 hours ago, St Mawgan said:

**__KODIAK UPDATE 2__** 

* Flight model improvements, especially with flap drag

@Virtual-Chris YAY!! 😁

(even tho we have to wait probably another couple weeks or so)

Both Update 1 and Update 2 look to fix most of the issues I've seen folks report - GREAT work by SWS to address these things (even tho, IMHO, they're all relatively minor).

Again, this makes me so glad I spent the $20 on the upgrade fee 🙂

 

42 minutes ago, UrgentSiesta said:

@Virtual-Chris YAY!! 😁

(even tho we have to wait probably another couple weeks or so)

Both Update 1 and Update 2 look to fix most of the issues I've seen folks report - GREAT work by SWS to address these things (even tho, IMHO, they're all relatively minor).

Again, this makes me so glad I spent the $20 on the upgrade fee 🙂

 

Thanks... that's positive news. I'll probably wait until I hear from you on how the next updates feels. Cheers!

I'm enjoying the Kodiak and would say it's an improvement in many ways. However, take offs are wild and nearly uncontrollable. Rudder sensitivity (and consequently nose-wheel steering) is really sensitive. In addition, cross-winds are resulting in the airplane nearly starting to tip and bank in the takeoff roll (even with full opposite aileron into the wind). I'm not sure if this is the ground friction model or what but they are roller coaster takeoffs. I have my trims for rudder and elevator set correctly, weight and balance is normal and within limits cg. Anyone else have this?

Another note is that rudder and elevator trim are ridiculously fast, so it is very easy for the trim to become an oscillating "chase". Doesn't seem to be a way to slow the trim rate. I don't want to reduce effectiveness, but rate. Any ideas in the flight model.cfg for this?

After flying Kodiak several times I believe there is an issue with lateral stability (pitch). Because of that at low speed Kodiak looses elevator authority roll over and crash.
According  to RL pilots Kodiak has better stall performance than Caravan and can be recovered from the stall using ailerons instead of rudders .

I have also noticed excessive drag due to flaps 

The bottom line I believe Kodiak FM requires a lot of adjustments.