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I was hesitant at first to pick this addon up, but for 20 bucks this thing is a steal. I cut my teeth on a Piper very similar to this about 20 years ago - learning to fly out of Flying Cloud, MN (KFCM). It was right before Sept 11th - and that happened and I wasn't sure if it was a good idea to pursue a career as a pilot. I ended up flying some at FCM and then when I got to college I started flying to get my PPL in a Warrior III (which looks very similar to the Carenado Arrow III cockpit but with fixed pitch prop and fixed gear). I will do a mini review of the Arrow but I am awaiting a Carenado update for better avionics and flight model refinements. Anyway so I flew a few hours in a piper like this one (160hp). I earned my PPL ASEL in a Warrior III (160hp) while in college. After college I also flew an Archer II (180hp) exactly like this one for a few hours as well. I guess I've been a low wing flyer for most of my adult life. I have a handful of hours in basic cessnas, and then of course many recent more hours in the Beech Musketeer (fixed pitch prop/fixed gear/200hp). The Musketeer is a little less forgiving than the hershey bar trainer the Warrior/Archer is. Anyway enough rambling - but I did want to explain my history with low wings and that if you don't like to read a bunch - well just get the Archer from Carenado! Previously I thought the FSW C414 to be the finest texturing in a general aviation addon. I would say Carenado has claimed the throne once again with this Archer. The model and texturing is exquisite. The textures are crisp and clear. The day I bought it I went into VR and it felt like my first flight all over again. The sounds... oh the exterior sounds are spot on - they nailed em. The handling, the wimpy stall horn, just like I remember. The power on and off stalls.... just really a mush in the warrior and archer - Carenado seems to have replicated this. Recovery is really simple , just full power, relax the pressure on the yoke to offload the wing, carefully retract a notch of flaps or two. And of course don't use ailerons if a wing dips (you don't typically see that in the warrior, maybe a little more in the archer)... use rudder to keep the aircraft in coordinated flight. I've found the C172 to break a bit more aggressively during stall practice. Still fun though. This bird comes with the typical WT GNS430, the PMS GTN750 or TDS GTN 750Xi. I did not test the PMS or use the GNS430 too much but the LPV GP (or any rnav approach with vertical guidance) works on the TDS for certain. There is no autopilot. Which I believe is totally reasonable and irl I never had one. However in the sim I would love to see a simple 2 axis (or even though I'm not a huge fan, the default KAP140). I have seen nicer Archers and Dakotas with AP's irl. It's nice for the those longer hauls in the sim at the very least. Also just a preference I'd love to see a GTN 650/650Xi as an option - standalone. It would be more common to use a 430 or 650 in this plane imo. (Then again I've seen a C152 irl with a GTN 750!) There is instrument backlighting although it is a touch dim, and there is a red dome light as well (and a white cabin light). You can definitely fly IFR but of course there is no icing protection (aside from required pitot heat). I do not see an option to exclude the GNS430W (in other words no way to fly only with classic radios). Also, an unfortunate first, I do not see any POH/perf charts in the install directory. Maybe they forgot? I had to dig some of my old stuff out. I do find it to hit perf numbers pretty well. There does seem to still be some odd Asobo mixture/leaning bug.... I just feel in the sim you have to lean out soooo much to do a basic best power config. Maybe Asobo will work on this as we progress. Landing feels great to me and don't forget to transition your eyes down the runway as you're 5-10 ft above the ground and hold the nose off just a little. Depending on weight I found 60-70 kias to be a good final approach speed with full flaps... and then touchdown maybe around 50? When I was in college (and a lot lighter!) I once calculated my Vso to be 38 kias! I was super thin and the plane wasn't full of fuel... anyway crazy times hehe! You know, around here opinions are a dime a dozen - but for 20 USD... it's a great addon. You won't get A2A quality (we need that Comanche stat!), but you're getting stellar textures/modelling, great sounds, flight model and a nice avionics selection at a fair price. Unlike my usual Point A to B flight I've just selected some shots from a variety of flights... two of the paints aren't in the default install - I did a color swap for N8068C and there's a Tim-HH one as well in there. I may have heard a rumor that Tim is getting back into painting 😉 1 by Ryan Butterworth, on Flickr 2 by Ryan Butterworth, on Flickr 3 by Ryan Butterworth, on Flickr All the registrations are dynamic so you can add whatever - this one and the red one have callsigns on the wing top and bottom (not appropriate in USA unless pipeline or skydiving but works elsewhere afaik) 4 by Ryan Butterworth, on Flickr 5 by Ryan Butterworth, on Flickr The WT GNS430W looks right at home here - the warrior I flew had a KLN90B and then later in my training we got the Garmin 430W. The interior just looks freaking great! 6 by Ryan Butterworth, on Flickr I looked at the Mooney and this is a LOT higher texture quality. I think I spent almost double on the M20R when it was first released. 7 by Ryan Butterworth, on Flickr I wouldn't have minded some more modern schemes (help Tim!) but it's okay as the Archer is pretty old school 8 by Ryan Butterworth, on Flickr 9 by Ryan Butterworth, on Flickr 10 by Ryan Butterworth, on Flickr 11 by Ryan Butterworth, on Flickr 12 by Ryan Butterworth, on Flickr I just love this pic for some reason 13 by Ryan Butterworth, on Flickr Day/Night IFR/VFR equipped 14 by Ryan Butterworth, on Flickr 15 by Ryan Butterworth, on Flickr 16 by Ryan Butterworth, on Flickr 17 by Ryan Butterworth, on Flickr Short final in Duluth - see the yellow circles on either side of the runway? Those mark the location the barrier cable - which retracts and extends above the runway when needed. It's for the F16's based there that have a tail hook in case of emergency. They grab the cable just like on a carrier. 18 by Ryan Butterworth, on Flickr

Hi there, How do I flare the TDS 787 on landing? Something is not right. Almost as soon as my back wheels touch the ground, the nose wheel slams straight down, making it almost impossible to make a smooth landing. Any help is greatly appreciated. :)

Shalom and greetings all my pals, Presenting Norwegian Air's approach and landing to runway 10 of Martinique Aimé Césaire International Airport located in Le Lamentin the suburb of the capital city Fort-de-France of Guadeloupe. Descending to 3,000 ft with nice background view of the island of Guadeloupe Check out wing view of beauty of sunrise and the island Now at 2,000 ft getting ready for final approach and landing On final runway approach Seconds before touchdown TOUCHDOWN Getting ready to exit from runway Thank you for viewing! Stay tuned for next exciting flight. Regards, Aharon

TDS will soon release an update for addons which allow for use of both TDS GTN and WT GNS (the new early access version in the Marketplace). At the moment, addons like the Carenado PC12, Black Square Analog KingAir, and Blackbird (Milviz) C310, which use allow for a selection of GNS or GTN units, will not work completely. Both units will fight for control over the autopilot. Addons such as the FSW C414 are unaffected by these new GNS units because FSW has defined a set of avionics per model. Here's my screenshot showing the TDS GTN 750Xi next to the WT GNS 430. At the moment no variables are shown on the GNS430. It may be possible, later, to have a secondary GPS source with populated data (I asked Matt from WT about this). In this example I would use the GNS430 for additional navigational reference like selecting direct a fix to gather distance/track info. That being said the GNS430 will still function as a COMM2/NAV2 for the time being. Additionally, in this specific Carenado example, it is quite possible that Carenado will adapt a GTN 750Xi/650Xi combination instead of the 750/430. GNSlvarsPC12 by Ryan Butterworth, on Flickr

Finally I can share my thoughts... The initial release of this addon was not pretty. I had low fps after a short while, an electrical system that completely died, a semi frozen CDI needle paired with the GTN (and no lpv glidepath), and low power on initial departure (and or low ASI reading). It was a hangar queen for the last two months. I'm happy to report that Carenado has recently released a patch, version 1.1, that has fixed these issues for me. It did take a while (we know the marketplace is fairly slow so it's not completely Carenado this time). I am finally able to enjoy this aircraft. And I do recommend it! It's fast, all weather capable including Flight Into Known Icing (FIKI), pressurized, has onboard radar, and supports the TDS GTN 750Xi and the PMS GTN 750. It will run the early access WT GNS530/430 combo but I would not call the two compatible at the moment. I was experiencing partially inop AP functions such as vertical guidance during an RNAV approach to lpv mins and non functional altitude selector. This is to be expected as the PC12 patch just came out and so did the WT GNS. Flying the PC12 by hand is enjoyable, it's a smooth and stable, yet nimble airframe. Takeoff or landing with short runways is a simple task. It does appear to hit performance numbers (google a manual for the PC12/47) in cruise with a top speed of around 270 ktas. Down low you can easily do 200 KIAS with a psi around 36.0 (typical cruise setting). Stall speed in the flaps down config (dirty) is a measly 67 kias with max gross weight. (Just fast enough to hurt yourself). Sounds are pleasing to the ear - I don't think they modeled accurate beta range but you will hear the sound once bringing the throttle to reverse detent. Now is the time to take your PC12 out of the hangar and enjoy flying with it (don't forget your update via the Content Manager). Here's some various screenshots that I hope you enjoy! Freeware KEDC airport KEDC1 by Ryan Butterworth, on Flickr KEDC2 by Ryan Butterworth, on Flickr (You'll find a host of freeware repaints such as this one at flightsim.to) KEDC3 by Ryan Butterworth, on Flickr (And a few repaints by me) dlh11 by Ryan Butterworth, on Flickr cockpi1 by Ryan Butterworth, on Flickr CO1 by Ryan Butterworth, on Flickr CO3 by Ryan Butterworth, on Flickr brasil by Ryan Butterworth, on Flickr bras3 by Ryan Butterworth, on Flickr Well equipped for IMC tdspc121 by Ryan Butterworth, on Flickr suisse1 by Ryan Butterworth, on Flickr The PC12 in its happy place... suisse2 by Ryan Butterworth, on Flickr Air Ambulance ops rfdsflying by Ryan Butterworth, on Flickr rfdsflyingsunrise by Ryan Butterworth, on Flickr orangetoronto by Ryan Butterworth, on Flickr orangelanded by Ryan Butterworth, on Flickr And of course personal transport - skiing anyone? ribbons1 by Ryan Butterworth, on Flickr chronos1 by Ryan Butterworth, on Flickr chronos3 by Ryan Butterworth, on Flickr It also includes multi-level cockpit/cabin lighting cockpitnight by Ryan Butterworth, on Flickr

Thought you might want to catch the approach and landing of the Velocity XL in San Luis Obispo, CA I'm somewhere in the middle of my voyage here still up at FL250 (likely in between Red Bluff and Sacramento) Untitled-22 by Ryan Butterworth, on Flickr Untitled-23 by Ryan Butterworth, on Flickr GTN confirms we're just passing KSMF Untitled-24 by Ryan Butterworth, on Flickr Untitled-25 by Ryan Butterworth, on Flickr We got our VNAV going (blue arc on the GTN - correlates with the selected altitude on the G3X) Untitled-26 by Ryan Butterworth, on Flickr She's a looker Untitled-28 by Ryan Butterworth, on Flickr Untitled-29 by Ryan Butterworth, on Flickr Untitled-30 by Ryan Butterworth, on Flickr Untitled-31 by Ryan Butterworth, on Flickr Love the terrain contours here Untitled-32 by Ryan Butterworth, on Flickr Picking up the low alt rnav route T257 here which brings us slightly out over the Pacific Ocean just beyond MRY Untitled-33 by Ryan Butterworth, on Flickr Untitled-34 by Ryan Butterworth, on Flickr Also picked up a tailwind on descent which I wasn't planning for... increased my ground speed to over 250 knots! I've also loaded up the RNAV 11 (my idea is to circle to land) Untitled-35 by Ryan Butterworth, on Flickr Untitled-36 by Ryan Butterworth, on Flickr There are no speed brakes or flaps - so I really had to work hard to slow down without shock cooling the turbochargers... you can see the LPV glide path coming down (but we're going to circling mins) Untitled-37 by Ryan Butterworth, on Flickr Untitled-38 by Ryan Butterworth, on Flickr Dropping gear which helps us slow a little... Untitled-39 by Ryan Butterworth, on Flickr Just beyond my left wheel is a fun airport, Oceano L52 Untitled-40 by Ryan Butterworth, on Flickr A bit high but we have plenty of runway Untitled-41 by Ryan Butterworth, on Flickr Tie her down and let's grab a burger! Untitled-42 by Ryan Butterworth, on Flickr