"Minimum" Aircraft for I-05?

[davisd100]

My preference is to fly lowly piston aircraft that operate at modest speeds and even more modest altitudes -C172s, C182s, the odd Diamond or piston Piper. This sort of reflects the real world for me. I am going to attempt the I-05 really just to get on to full approaches, etc in the later ratings. My question is, what is the minimum aircraft that can operate in the I-05 environment? Reading the plates, it looks like it has to be able to climb at above 800fpm, have DME/GPS, and from the crossing requirement in CLARR2 be able to maintain 250KTAS at 13,000 feet, which would certainly make my Cessnas puff!

I have a Cessna Mustang, but I am about as competent with it as a monkey with a typewriter, and the great pleasure of this system has been that it is a fantastic reflection of real world flying for me, which the Mustang would not be. Any suggestions?

As a new boy on the system, by the way, I think it is a brilliant setup.

Per Ardua Ad Astra!!!

David

[Alex Stjepanovic]

I'll very likely get snipered for this by realists(it happened in the past ), but there is a virtual "fake" plane called Evenblade. I flew some of the ratings in it, simply cause it could go just about as fast or slow as you wanted it.

It's really simple to operate, so I doubt that it'd be a huge leap from a C172. You could fly it under the "experimental".


If you decide to use it, the only downside seems to be that it's latest version was for XP8.6. From what I'm told, the way to convert these, is to run them through XP9 planemaker to update airfoils, etc.

[Keith Smith]

The rating states:

Pilot will fly from Burbank (KBUR) to Las Vegas (KLAS) via VNY9.DAG.CLARR2 for jets, or VNY9.DAG.CRESO3 for the turboprops or pistons.

So, the CLARR restrictions don't apply if you're going to use a turboprop or a piston as you'll be flying the CRESO3. Also, the climb gradient for rwy 15 on the VNY9 is 335 ft/nm until reaching 2300ft. At 90kts, that's about 500fpm in the climb. Where did you get the 800fpm figure?

The MEA from ETHER to DAG is 12k on the VNY9 SID, so you'll want something which can get up to those altitudes. A turbo charged single might be a nice choice if you're trying not to stray too far from what you normally fly, such as a Cessna 182T, a Cirrus SR22T, or a turbo charged Piper Saratoga. A normally aspirated Mooney or Lancair would do fine, too.

Glad to hear you're enjoying it!

[davisd100]

Oops, misssed the VNY9.DAG.CRESO3 option. That is probably the way, I have a lovely little C182T that I quite like which could hack it, although it will take me so long I think I will take a book to read en route!

I have occasionally flown a (real) souped up Saratoga that I gather was flown to the UK from OZ... but I've never flown it in IMC, so that would be cheating.

Anyway, thanks for the help, I will see how I get on. Back to the charts!

[Mark Hargrove]

The Cessna Mustang is well worth the investment in time to learn its systems -- it makes an excellent platform for some of the I-xx ratings. The real aircraft was designed for single-pilot operation, and the cockpit workload is very reasonable. The most complex thing about it is the Garmin G1000 "glass cockpit" display. The FMS (flight management system) is only bit more complex (but in a good way!) than the standard autopilot in the C172.

If you have aircraft from Flight1 with the G1000 cockpit you'll find that flying the Mustang is not really much different than flying the C-182T.

-M.

[davisd100]

Alex,

Sorry I missed your comments when I last responded. Thanks for the thought, but I am deliberately trying to confine myself to C172 lookalikes for the moment, not least because i am taking a FAA instrument rating in early October, and I want to bed in the habits of the aircraft I will be flying for that. Since my Canadian rating lapsed nearly 20 years ago, I am hoping it will all come back! It was a good idea though, so thank you.

Mark,

Yes it is the Flight1 model with the G1000, and I agree it is a nice well designed setup. The G1000 is as close to the real thing as you are likely to find short of spending a vast sum, and I could easily use the autopilot to overcome my lack of familiarity with its "numbers", but for the same reason I explained to Alex above, I will leave learning it properly until after my gruelling few weeks in October. I am not clever enough to carry two sets of numbers in my head! After that I will do exactly as you say, so thank you for the helpful thoughts.

Regards

David