On 7/24/2026 at 1:28 PM, UrgentSiesta said:

It handles great now, whether at MTOW or lightly loaded. No issues with heavily sloped dirt strips. 👍

Now - throttle/torque settings and drag index seem to be mismatched to IRL (too much drag when configured for landing), but it doesn’t interfere with operating the aircraft at all

And while the BS Caravan is extremely well simulated in terms of systems, it still suffers from being too tame/easy to fly vs conditions. This is just how BS models things - highly focused on matching Book Numbers

So, you have to choose whether you want livelier handling and a glass cockpit or the precisely simulated engine, avionics, etc

For me, I fly the Kodiak for all bush flights, and the Caravan for regular commuter ops. It’s a great way to enjoy both

So I tried the updated Kodiak today and it’s improved but still has some bizarre behaviour. “Lively” is being polite. The biggest issue I have is that you need to butter the landing or it bounces like a basketball, whereas the Caravan is just more planted. It may be a skill issue on my part, but I can land the Caravan reliably on any sloped dirt strip whereas I’m probably 1 in 4 or it’s a coin-toss at best in the Kodiak which just doesn’t seem right to me. The Kodiak is just too much on a knife’s edge for me. Props to anyone that can land it gracefully anywhere with any load.

So I may use both as well, the Kodiak to role play a H145 HEMS rescue and the Caravan when I actually want to complete the job. 😝

Edited July 26Jul 26 by Virtual-Chris

I flew the Kodiak in 2020 but never really liked the flight dynamics, probably me. But now I fly the BlackSquare Caravan and love it! No problem at all.

11 hours ago, Bernard Ducret said:

• Bush-Ready: Engineered for safe landings on remote dirt strips. (on that very same page, please read on)

I happen to have flown in Kenya and Sénégal as a pilot a good number of hours, but may be I don’t know what a bush strip is, in that case I apologise for my misunderstanding.

Pilatus PC-12 taking off from a short, unpaved airstrip

Just because an airstrip is out IN the bush doesn’t make it a bush strip. 😉🤙

As I said before, the PC-12 still requires a well prepared surface of some sort. You can tell just by looking at the tires.

The picture above is an Austere strip, and these includes dirt, grass and gravel surfaces.

You’ve also got Rough strips, which are essentially less finished Austere strips.

Then there’s Bush strips, which can be naturally occurring areas like beaches, sand/gravel bars, or appropriately firm & “flat” open areas. Many times, the only improvement has been to clear the trees and boulders and maybe cut the grass.

As such, bush strips generally require fixed gear and large tires to lower the ground pressure and help soak up the bumps.

I mean, saying a PC-12 is a Bush Plane is like saying an RV is a camping tent. Somewhat similar, but definitely not the same.

🤙

8 hours ago, Virtual-Chris said:

So I tried the updated Kodiak today and it’s improved but still has some bizarre behaviour. “Lively” is being polite. The biggest issue I have is that you need to butter the landing or it bounces like a basketball, whereas the Caravan is just more planted. It may be a skill issue on my part, but I can land the Caravan reliably on any sloped dirt strip whereas I’m probably 1 in 4 or it’s a coin-toss at best in the Kodiak which just doesn’t seem right to me. The Kodiak is just too much on a knife’s edge for me. Props to anyone that can land it gracefully anywhere with any load.

So I may use both as well, the Kodiak to role play a H145 HEMS rescue and the Caravan when I actually want to complete the job. 😝

I guess it depends on where you’re accustomed to flying IRL…? I learned to fly in Florida, US and spent over a decade in Rocky Mountains, with quite a few stints on the Pacific coast.

The weather on the Pacific coast is generally quite mild, especially SoCal. Low winds, clear skies - it’s usually “72 and Sunny” more or less year ‘round.

Pretty much perfect flying weather.

Whenever I fly a Black Square addon, I feel like I’m flying in SoCal and it’s 73 & Sunny with light winds, regardless of what the weather actually is. I barely have to touch the controls on takeoff and landing…

The Kodiak, on the other hand, makes me feel like I’m flying on a warm summer afternoon in FL or CO: LOTS of thermals and inconstant, gusty winds. I.e., you actually have to constantly work the controls to get off and on the ground in good order, and you can barely take your hands off the controls in low level flight, either.

I don’t want an addon to make things easy for me. I want it to challenge me like the real things do.

Edited July 26Jul 26 by UrgentSiesta

42 minutes ago, UrgentSiesta said:

I guess it depends on where you’re accustomed to flying IRL…? I learned to fly in Florida, US and spent over a decade in Rocky Mountains, with quite a few stints on the Pacific coast.

The weather on the Pacific coast is generally quite mild, especially SoCal. Low winds, clear skies - it’s usually “72 and Sunny” more or less year ‘round.

Pretty much perfect flying weather.

Whenever I fly a Black Square addon, I feel like I’m flying in SoCal and it’s 73 & Sunny with light winds, regardless of what the weather actually is. I barely have to touch the controls on takeoff and landing…

The Kodiak, on the other hand, makes me feel like I’m flying on a warm summer afternoon in FL or CO: LOTS of thermals and inconstant, gusty winds. I.e., you actually have to constantly work the controls to get off and on the ground in good order, and you can barely take your hands off the controls in low level flight, either.

I don’t want an addon to make things easy for me. I want it to challenge me like the real things do.

I think this captures what most people like about the Kodiak… which is the level of engagement it demands due to being on a knife’s edge. I’m not a real world pilot so I don’t know with certainty, but watching a lot of Ryan’s Missionary Bush Pilot videos, it doesn’t look like the real world Kodiak is as demanding as the SWS version. In fact, I would suggest that if the real world plane was as unstable as the sim version, it probably wouldn’t be used very much as it’s just too dangerous. But we’re playing in a sim where a botched landing doesn’t cost you anything. For me, I don’t want to have to fly a mission two or three times to nail the landing so I’ll take the more boring and predictable option.

1 hour ago, Virtual-Chris said:

I think this captures what most people like about the Kodiak… which is the level of engagement it demands due to being on a knife’s edge. I’m not a real world pilot so I don’t know with certainty, but watching a lot of Ryan’s Missionary Bush Pilot videos, it doesn’t look like the real world Kodiak is as demanding as the SWS version. In fact, I would suggest that if the real world plane was as unstable as the sim version, it probably wouldn’t be used very much as it’s just too dangerous. But we’re playing in a sim where a botched landing doesn’t cost you anything. For me, I don’t want to have to fly a mission two or three times to nail the landing so I’ll take the more boring and predictable option.

It’s all good 🤙

If I was focused on really learning to operate a turboprop and its systems By The Book, I’d choose the Black Square every time.

But since I’ll never get my hands on one, my main motivation is the “feeling” of flight and the related challenges.

It may well be that the Kodiak has exaggerated handling. For me, that’s exactly what makes it FUN. 😎

IOW, everything’s a compromise, and we all derive satisfaction from simming differently 🤙

Edited July 26Jul 26 by UrgentSiesta

Notice that the Kodiak 100 has just received an update ver 2.2.2. But their Discord doesn't reveal what that improves. Anyone here know ?

13 hours ago, Virtual-Chris said:

The biggest issue I have is that you need to butter the landing or it bounces like a basketball, whereas the Caravan is just more planted.

Are you using the tundra tires? I've read about people finding the tundra version "bouncy" like you mentioned. I couldn't find any info about tundra tires for the real aircraft so not sure how common they are in the wild (all the pics I've found of the real aircraft seem to have the same tire size).

I haven't had issues with the regular version, but I usually fly it into paved strips. I will say that most aircraft in the sim are too forgiving when it comes to bounces or porpoising. I don't think I've ever bounced the default 172 and I've had some doozy sim landings that you'd never get away with so "peacefully" in real life!

3 hours ago, Funky D said:

Are you using the tundra tires? I've read about people finding the tundra version "bouncy" like you mentioned. I couldn't find any info about tundra tires for the real aircraft so not sure how common they are in the wild (all the pics I've found of the real aircraft seem to have the same tire size).

I haven't had issues with the regular version, but I usually fly it into paved strips. I will say that most aircraft in the sim are too forgiving when it comes to bounces or porpoising. I don't think I've ever bounced the default 172 and I've had some doozy sim landings that you'd never get away with so "peacefully" in real life!

6 hours ago, UrgentSiesta said:

It’s all good 🤙

If I was focused on really learning to operate a turboprop and its systems By The Book, I’d choose the Black Square every time.

But since I’ll never get my hands on one, my main motivation is the “feeling” of flight and the related challenges.

It may well be that the Kodiak has exaggerated handling. For me, that’s exactly what makes it FUN. 😎

IOW, everything’s a compromise, and we all derive satisfaction from simming differently 🤙

I tried tweaking the flight model to see if I could make it a bit more manageable... it seems to have worked wonders for me...
https://www.avsim.com/forums/topic/699356-taming-the-kodiak-by-changing-the-flight-model/