PilotEdge Forums

. . . between 2 planes for my first payware X-Plane purchase.

Here are my thoughts:

Carenado PC12 - I like the plane as it can carry quite a few passengers and I like the fact it has the Garmin 530's.

or

Carenado B200 - Same as above with the exception of it doesn't have the 530. Rather is has the Garmin 430.

Now for the kicker. If I could change out the 430's in the B200 for the 530's it would be an easy decision. I have messed around with Plane-Maker and it looks like it might be something that I can do. Has anyone done it and if so, is it pretty easy?

Thanks,
John

I'm not sure it will be an easy change - the Carenado cockpits are 3d models, not just the 2d point and click stuff that is easy to manipulate in Plane Maker.

I've heard the PC-12 can be a frame monster. Josh Gibbs might be able to talk to that. That said, I have a huge soft spot for the PC-12 being that I have the Flight1 version and it's soooo easy to fly and fast to boot.

Steve

Can't help with the Plane maker questions. Other than to say that my one attempt to use plane maker to modify the FSE alias was a total failure. I gave up and used the alternate method to modify the FSE alias. So if you ask me, Plane Maker is rocket science.

I have Carenado PC12 V3 and I haven't found it to be a frame monster. I don't really notice much difference in frame rates between the PC12 and the BE58.

What I have found is that on my system the 3d cockpit click spots won't work unless the X-plane "Quick flight Setup" screen is maximized before hitting the "FLY with these options" button.

Personally I really like the PC12. It's fast and has great legs. When I bought PC12 N128CM it was located clear on the East coast. Got a chance to go "coast to coast" making FSE v$'s all along the way.

The criticism I have on Carenado PC12:

• Engine over torque failures don't really appear to be modeled. Nothing happens if you operate above the recommended torque settings for the particular flight mode. I think that "bad things" should happen if the equipment is abused.
• On my system it's difficult for me to read the HSI. The numbers aren't clear unless you zoom way in. This isn't a problem if flying slant G.
• I get several warnings during taxi and take off that I haven't been able to figure out. "ESNTL BUSS"(Red), "GEN 2 OFF"(yellow), and "N ESTNL BUSS"(yellow). They always go off after take off. Of course the problem maybe the stupid pilot and not the plane's.

In spite of the above, I have been flying and enjoying the PC12. Spitting time between the PC12 and the BE58.

Let me preface this by saying that I enjoy flying the Carenado PC12 and that I use it in FSE quite a lot. I also own their BE20, but I've only had it for a few weeks and haven't learned its ways yet. All of the comments below are based on the 1.3 release of the PC12 for X-Plane. If there's a newer version, someone please let me know!

Carenado's PC12 and BE20 are both frame hungry with my setup. With vsync off I get about 38 fps with the Carenado aircraft. The stock BE58 at the same location gives me 63 fps.

The PC12 was apparently a public beta for Carenado's new "Super Manipulator" tech, and it has some issues. The knobs are extremely difficult to adjust with a mouse. The one that makes me want to smash things most often is the altitude hold/vertical speed autopilot panel. Clicking to the left/right of the knob in classic X-Plane fashion changes altitude by 20 ft. Using the mouse wheel, it hops in 80 ft increments. Dragging vertically it jumps several thousand feet with no warning. Dragging horizontally basically does nothing, except for random changes when you least expect (or desire) it. Other Carenado aircraft (including the BE20) have much better versions of this tech. I'm hoping one day they'll update the PC12.

There are other issues. The digital HSI is very difficult to read, and actually gets dimmer with night lighting to the point that it's almost unusable (The BE20 has the same HSI but it does not appear to suffer from this problem). The HSI, despite being purely digital, does not automatically set the course needle based on GPS DTK when GPS is the selected source. Also, the right-side HSI is slaved to the left-side for both input source and course/heading.

The Vlo is listed on the instrument panel as 177 kts, which matches the published value from Pilatus, but if you drop the gear at 170 with failures enabled it'll break. It's set wrong in Plane Maker. I can't remember what it was set to, because I edited mine up to the published value.

Even with the issues I listed and a few I didn't, I still fly Carenado planes nearly daily. They may not put as much TLC into their models as someone like FlyingJackal or SoulMade Sims, but they cover a significant chunk of the popular GA aircraft with attractive models and mostly-reasonable systems.

wmburns wrote: I get several warnings during taxi and take off that I haven't been able to figure out. "ESNTL BUSS"(Red), "GEN 2 OFF"(yellow), and "N ESTNL BUSS"(yellow). They always go off after take off. Of course the problem maybe the stupid pilot and not the plane's.

These warnings are due to the condition lever being below ground idle (about 60% forward). The turbine can't run both generators at that low of a power setting. It takes some time for the lights to extinguish after moving the condition lever forward, as well. You will see BUS2 split the electrical load on the overhead panel once the second gen spins up. I believe this is an accurate simulation of the real aircraft, but can't confirm as I've never set foot in a PC-12.

I completely realize that Carenado isn't PMDG when it comes to payware aircraft. I have several fixes for the FSX/P3D version via an edited cfg file. Not sure if that can be done with the acf files that X-Plane uses or how to change it to match.

The Garmin 530 is the biggest deal breaker for me. I have one in the Bonanza that I fly and want to be able to take my sim world into real world flying. That won't happen in P3D as the RealityXP people are non-existent.

John

BonanzaDude wrote:The Garmin 530 is the biggest deal breaker for me. I have one in the Bonanza that I fly and want to be able to take my sim world into real world flying. That won't happen in P3D as the RealityXP people are non-existent.

John

Pardon the interruption... My RW Archer has the 430W and I have the Carenado Archer II / FSX all set up exactly like the real thing with the rxpGNS430 (edited the panel.cfg like John indicated, but you have to find a gauge to replace that is about the same size). I was thinking of going to P3D but not if the rxp won't port over. Does the rxp work in P3D?

bbuckley wrote: I was thinking of going to P3D but not if the rxp won't port over. Does the rxp work in P3D?

It's my understanding that it won't work with P3D unless you want to pay for the professional version which I think is $199. That's out of my price range.

John

Ahh... got it John, thanks.