10 hours ago, ATRguy said:

Low idle/high idle shouldn’t matter when you’re flying.  Above a certain Ng (no idea what it is) it automatically just goes to “high idle”. But you can fly around in low idle all day and the engine behaves exactly the same until you pull the power lever to idle, the engine WILL go to low idle instead.  

exactly. but the BS only gives full engine power when the c/d/l is in high idle. 

17 hours ago, Mace said:

I guess I can fly the Blackbird PC-6 if I just gots ta have it (a PT6 plane with a G1000)

Would be nice to have a G1000 variant but from what I gather the majority of real world 208's do not have it, so I'm ok with it as-is.

Flying this and the PC-6 always makes me feel like I'm "operating equipment" or flying a big truck.  It's neat.  I get that feeling a lot more with this plane, than I do with even the turbine Duke for some reason.   I guess it's the speed.  Or lack thereof.

The default C208 also comes with G1000s so a variant with that would be competing directly with a "free" version I imagine making it more difficult to justify the effort.

But the '24 SWS Kodiak is out today if a G1000 based utility aircraft is what you are looking for

Edited March 27Mar 27 by Matchstick

6 minutes ago, V1ROTA7E said:

exactly. but the BS only gives full engine power when the c/d/l is in high idle. 

Ah okay.  Yeah that’s not accurate then. 

13 hours ago, ATRguy said:

Low idle/high idle shouldn’t matter when you’re flying.  Above a certain Ng (no idea what it is) it automatically just goes to “high idle”. But you can fly around in low idle all day and the engine behaves exactly the same until you pull the power lever to idle, the engine WILL go to low idle instead.  
 

 

I read on the Justflight forum that this has now been fixed in the next update

On 3/25/2026 at 11:06 AM, ryanbatc said:

Works here but check for the latest update via the GPS Manager (sometimes you might need a newer GPS manager as well downloaded from the My Account section of their website)

 

so excited you're sitting correctly haha, my big pet peave is those whom sit like a baby ....

 

 

2 hours ago, JETPETER2 said:

so excited you're sitting correctly haha, my big pet peave is those whom sit like a baby ....

 

Oh I hate it when the viewpoints are wrong.  I only have real world experience with small props though... not sure if jets are different... but I always like to see over the windscreen a little bit at least.  Of course in my pics the angle is too wide...  I would normally zoom in more with Track IR but I was showing a full pic of the avionics.

Okay, first impressions right off the bat, it's my first flight with it...  It's also been a while since I've flown a 675-hp version of it, but here we go.

I'm flying the amphib from CYTZ to a Lake Muskoka, something I used to do a LOT.

First impressions, it's a big airplane on floats, and it looks it.  Took all the plugs out, covers off, etc.  No visible cables for the water rudders, that's a bit of a disappointment on a plane like this. No ropes on the floats either, we always had them secured to the float with a tension spring, I'll see if I have pictures somewhere.  No way you'd ever be flying a seaplane without ropes on it!  Same with PADDLES.  We always carried paddles on the inside of the floats.

I'm using the GNS530/430 setup with the KAP 140 AP, something I used plenty IRL.

Fuel tanks on, master on, fuel pump ON (not NORM) for start.  Prop in feather, Starter on, and I added fuel at 8% Ng to see what would happen.  ITT started to swing hard over 800 degrees, so fuel cutoff and starter to MOTOR.  That seemed to be realistic.  Let it cool for 30 seconds, then started again, this time adding fuel at 12% Ng, which is where I'd usually do it.  Starter seems a bit slow, and ITT spiked over 800 degrees, which it wouldn't at that point.  12% is plenty for a cool start.  Also, IIRC correctly, you shouldn't have to trip the generator on after a start, it should just be on.  Standby power seems to be on a but too much while the engine is at idle.  I rarely saw that, even with pitot heats on.  Just a note.  Turned the bleed air on, since it's 4C in Toronto for some cabin heat, which is nice.  Adjusted the dial to get it nice and warm.

Flaps 10, and taxied over to runway 26 for the left turn out departure at 1000 feet, obviously on the amphib the rudder pedals do nothing IRL to steer, it's differential braking but I appreciate the ease of it all in the sim.  

Applied takeoff power in Low Idle, and it wouldn't even come close to it.  IRL, this wouldn't matter, above a certain power lever angle, it swaps to high idle regardless of the condition lever position.  Reset it to high idle, and took off.  I'll excuse the twitchiness to my controls, they're definitely not setup for it yet.  Rotation felt fine, the amphib is a shopping cart.  Gear up immediately, and then a left turn out from the airport, retracting flaps, etc.  Speeds all look good, that sort of thing.  

Heading up to Muskoka at 4500 feet now, tried the side air vents to see how loud they are.  If anything, they should be even LOUDER.  They are insanely loud at speed, and I never, ever, used them.  

I loaded up the generator to over 90 amps with lighting and anti-icing, and then tripped it to see if the Standby alternator would take the load.  It did.  Problem is, at 90 amps, it's massively overloaded and would pop all sorts of circuit breakers.  It's rated for 75 amps, IIRC.  Also, on the amphib, the Windshield Heat would do nothing, since there's no icing plate on it.  Also turned off one tank to balance the fuel, which is the bane of a Caravan driver everywhere.  Very well done here.  I turned off the OTHER tank as well, to see what would happen.  The engine died, immediately.  That's wrong.  If you turn both tanks off, you get the master warning beeper and have around 30 seconds of fuel in the feeder tank before the engine dies.  Every Caravan driver I know has accidentally turned off both tanks at some point.  

Set up for landing on the water in Muskoka, going to Flap 10 needed a big trim change, which is realistic for sure.  Flaps 20/30 should probably need a bit more.  Landing on the water is fine, the water physics suck in every sim and it's no different here.  Coming off the step was pretty janky, but I'll chock that up to MSFS.  Taxied around for a bit on the water and it felt fine.

Went to shut down the engine, and there's no pitch locks!  Any seaplane would almost assuredly have pitch locks to keep the prop in fine instead of allowing it to feather.  The way you do this is to have the prop/engine in beta when you shut down and then pull the power lever into reverse when you cut the fuel.  It engages the pitch locks and keeps the prop in fine pitch.  The biggest reason for doing this on the water is so you have immediate control over the engine when you start it back up.  No waiting for it to come out of feather.  That's a bit disappointing, to be honest, it's a pretty essential part of water operations.  It's also a way to damage the power lever if you try and push it forward before starting the engine, since it's physically unable to move forward.  I didn't try and taxi with the prop in feather, it should move forward at about 3 knots or so due to engine exhaust.  

Honestly, first impressions, not bad.  I haven't tried any crosswinds, or icing, or anything.  I'll maybe do a wheeled flight in Northern Alberta on my old medevac runs (shudder) and see how that one goes.  

 

Quick little trip on wheels, the biggest thing missing!  THE POGO STICK.  The bane of every caravan driver, wondering if you forgot the POGO on the tail.

Edited March 29Mar 29 by ATRguy

49 minutes ago, ATRguy said:

Okay, first impressions right off the bat, it's my first flight with it...  It's also been a while since I've flown a 675-hp version of it, but here we go.

Wow, awesome writeup!

I see you've also posted this on the Black Square forum. I'm sure Nick will be super grateful for this feedback - he tends to be very responsive to feedback, particularly when it comes from people with extensive real-life experience like you.

1 hour ago, ATRguy said:

I'll maybe do a wheeled flight in Northern Alberta on my old medevac runs (shudder) and see how that one goes.

I’ll look forward to it!  Ironically the last flight I did with the C208 in the sim was a scheduled flight I found from Fort Mac up to Fort Chipewyan.

Much appreciate your insights!

10 minutes ago, regis9 said:

I’ll look forward to it!  Ironically the last flight I did with the C208 in the sim was a scheduled flight I found from Fort Mac up to Fort Chipewyan.

Much appreciate your insights!

Haha if that was a CanWest 801/802 or something like that, I used to work there.   
 

I flew it out of Fort Vermilion and hated almost every day up there haha. 

Indeed it was 😀

5 hours ago, ATRguy said:

Landing on the water is fine, the water physics suck in every sim and it's no different here.  Coming off the step was pretty janky, but I'll chock that up to MSFS.

Do you own the CAS Piper Cub by chance? I recall a review mentioning the float version was leagues above every other float plane available in MSFS, but not sure if the reviewer had any IRL float plane experience. If that little rendition of the J-3 is more believable, perhaps the Caravan could be tweaked a bit in the future.

Anyway, thank you for your interesting write up! I think it goes to show that even with all the fancy systems shown in the tablet, it doesn't guarantee all those systems are modeled 100% accurately. The fuel cutoff seems to be a common issue in many planes (but not all). Hopefully Black Square incorporates your feedback to make the Caravan even more realistic. 

7 hours ago, ATRguy said:

 I turned off the OTHER tank as well, to see what would happen.  The engine died, immediately.  That's wrong.  If you turn both tanks off, you get the master warning beeper and have around 30 seconds of fuel in the feeder tank before the engine dies.  Every Caravan driver I know has accidentally turned off both tanks at some point.  

I did this ALREADY.  I did wonder if in real life it would simply kill the engine immediately, or if you had a little grace period.   Then I was worried about hot starting it on an in-flight re-start, and I don't know enough to know if that's possible or not.

I downloaded the manual and it states that the bottom 15% of the power puts the prop in beta range. For turboprops I prefer to assign beta and reverse to a separate joystick axis as this gives much better control. Is this possible with the the BlackSquare C208. I am tempted but need to decide if I should upgrade the Kodiak to MSFS 2024 spec of get the C208. For the price of the C208 I would hate to lose the feature to have separate controls for the reverser axis. Has anyone out there tried this configuration.

I hope we are still on for v1.1 today. 

edit - We are. Out now. 

Edited March 30Mar 30 by St Mawgan