Graphics
The cockpits and exterior models are superior to any stock or freeware aircraft I’ve ever flown. ‘Rivet-counters’ will be thrilled to see rivets all over the place, even some correctly displayed.
The exteriors of the aircraft are gorgeous and there are several liveries an registrations to choose from. You can generally select between UK, US, and French liveries for all five aircraft, which is a bonus for realism if you choose to fly out of nations that consider chilling beer a capital offense.
The interiors of the aircraft are equally stunning, but the standouts have to be the Seneca and the 300CBi. The Seneca easily recreates that “looking through the end of a Coke bottle” feeling you get when you’re in a twin-engine aircraft and you have no prop in front of you. The dash, excellently rendered in exquisite detail, begs the question, “How much time do these folks have on their hands?” The front end of the 300CBi gives that wonderful feeling generally known only to those who drive a VW Microbus and are the first on the scene of an accident. You feel like you’re about to fall through the front of the aircraft.
I was impressed generally with the whole package, visually, but I had some problems. The first is the “disappearing prop” that tends to get hidden by clouds and buildings on the ground. This isn’t a problem in the virtual cockpit, but it’s show-stopper if you’re trying to take a screenshot of your lovely aircraft in flight only to realize your prop is being hidden by a stratus cloud.
Another was the very drab cockpit of the Cessna 152. The rest of the aircraft was wonderfully done, but the blockiness of the virtual cockpit stood out in contrast to the excellently done virtual cockpits of the other four aircraft.
Sounds
This is one section of the package that sort of fell flat for me. I’m not sure what some of these aircraft sound like in real life, having never flown one. I’m sure that the audio (given the penchant for Just Flight’s QA procedures) is very likely actual recorded audio of the aircraft, but the Piper Seneca sounded especially like a gas-powered string trimmer with an extra line or two spinning wildly about.
The Tomahawk sounded much more realistic, the thrum of a stout engine firmly shaking the pictures of my kids on my desk, but the 300CBi sounded alternately like audio from a movie or an unbalanced washing machine.
Gameplay / Realism
The realism of all five aircraft felt very impressive. The first time I raised the flaps too soon after takeoff in the Seneca and didn’t have enough lift, I realized a lot of work went into the flight models. The 300CBi felt much less like being on the end of a rubber band, which is the sensation I generally get flying the stock Bell JetRanger.
One annoyance was the Piper Altimatic II autopilot system in the Seneca. Yes, I know we’re going for realism, and I’m sure the location is realistically placed. But it perfectly reproduced the irritation I feel behind the wheel of my tiny 1990 Eagle Talon because the steering wheel is obscuring my cruise control stick on the steering column. I have to turn the yoke in order to be able to see the controls. This makes having that second monitor important when you want the VC up on the main screen and the 2D cockpit on your other monitor to be able to click the controls. I know I could program my controllers, but I like the clickable cockpit.
The flight models are all very believable, with the Piper Seneca being the most challenging and the Tomahawk a joy to fly. I really enjoyed pulling traffic report duty over large cities in the 300CBi and easily recommend it over the stock helicopters in FSX.
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