Flight1 ATR For FS2004

By Andrew Herd (11 November 2004)

he ATR program was established in 1980 as a joint venture between Aerospatiale and Aeritalia with the object of developing a family of regional turboprops. The consortium, whose full name is Avions de Transport Regional, is now part of the EADS group, but they struck gold almost immediately with the ATR 42, which first flew in the late summer of '84 and entered service a year later - over 360 have been delivered. Production initially standardised on the ATR 42-300, which was also made available in a quick switch freight/cargo version and with more powerful PW121s as the hot and high -320. The ATR 42-500 followed in 1995, with a new interior and a 50 knot increase in cruising speed, thanks to a pair of PW127Es and six blade props.

The ATR 42 seats up to 50, but buyers pressed for more capacity, so the stretched ATR 72 was launched in 1986. The 72 seats up to 74 passengers, or 7500 kg of containers, depending on variant. Apart from the fuselage stretch, the wings are completely new outside the nacelles and greater use is made of composites than in the 42. The baseline model was the 72-200, which has a typical cruising speed of 248 knots and a range at gross of 645 nm. The -210 has more powerful PW127s and the -500 has PW127Fs turning six blade Hamilton Standard props.

Until this month, the best ATR simulation could be found in Aerosoft's Eurowings Professional. This package was reviewed by Kris Heslop over a year ago and has since been released in an FS2002/FS2004 compatible boxed set that includes two ATR 42 variants, four ATR 72 variants, a BAe 146 AND the Airbus A319 and A320. Kris liked what he saw of the ATR and though some compromises had to be made when the addon was ported over to FS2004, it represents excellent value for money - the panels are remarkably good and readers who like variety should consider it.

But if you want the last word in realism, and access to the first virtual lavatory in the history of flight simulation, you are going to have to read this review. By now, I am sure you know what you want, and if you run a two monitor setup, have a yoke and pedals, a top flight sound system and a need for an airborne comfort station you are going to love this, because Flight1 are back in the commercial aircraft game. Their last release was a DC-9, but that was a while ago now and I think the wait has been worthwhile. This new sim is quite an achievement and probably offers as near to the experience of flying a passenger turboprop as you can get outside doing it for real.

The package is a 149 megabyte download. Yes, read my lips, one hundred and forty nine megabytes. USA Roads is nearly double the size, but I can't recall another addon plane that has bust the 100 meg barrier and even the Captain Sim 707 is a relatively humble 80 Mb. Clearly, we have an item here. In the long run I would expect the ATR to appear in a box, but meantime it looks like it is going to take a long while to get if you don't have broadband. Installation of the download requires use of Flight1's standard copy protection key for on-line registration and there is plenty of time to make coffee while it completes. When the setup was finished, I found a new folder under the Flight1 program group in the start menu, with links to a 481 page (no that's not a mistake) orientation manual, a configuration manager, Text-o-Matic, uninstall and a couple of help files.

Minimum system requirements are Windows XP, a 1.6 Ghz system with a 128 Mb video card, 512 Mb of RAM, a sound card - not an onboard sound chip - and an airline transport pilot's license. Alright, I lied about the license - but you will feel you have earned one by the time you have read the manual (-: Although the addon has clearly been optimised to run as fast as possible and the visual model isn't particularly complicated, so many systems are simulated that the specs look pretty realistic to me.

The manual is fearsomely large, but it is only really necessary to read the first 186 pages before you fly the plane. If you are a quick reader, you should be able to get it done on a single weekend assuming you start first thing on Saturday and don't waste time on meals. Alternatively, you can just load the plane with the engines running, firewall the throttles, cancel the master caution and go flying, but this is against the spirit of the package.

Pages 187 through 401 are a facsimile of the real ATR flight manual, which is great if you want to know what the code limitation is on landing in Cat 1 on a wet runway, but are likely to be bypassed by all except the most dedicated simmers. Page 402 onwards, however, are not to be missed, because they contain two tutorials, which take you right through the flights from a cold dark cockpit to switching the batteries offline after parking the ATR up. Given that the vast majority of systems are simulated, this is a very complicated process and you will probably want to print this part of the manual out, together with the section on the FMS.

Despite its length, the manual is very readable and maintains Flight1's high standards for documentation - I might jest about the length of it, but if every developer took as much care over documentation, support would be much easier. The tutorials could be much better organised; for example, they send the user to the multifunction control display unit (MCDU) section in the manual, several hundred pages back, right at the point where the MCDU has to be programmed. Given that this is the trickiest task that has to be performed, it is unfortunate that the MCDU section happens to be the unruliest part of the documentation, with the result that it can be hard working out what should go where because there isn't a clear sequence showing entry of a flight plan that includes procedures and transitions. Experienced simmers who have programmed FMCs in previous sims should be able to muddle through, but beginners will find it tough. Elsewhere the tutorials would be improved by having clearly boxed sections to cover situations like running the right engine in 'hotel mode' without interrupting the flow, as I suspect most readers will want to be taken through a flight from start to finish in 'join the dots' mode and left to try the fancy stuff later.

So we have read about the plane, shall we try it? Okay, but one gotcha is that you must not load a complex addon aircraft before loading the ATR, or the sim may fail to initialise properly. In addition, any subsequent saved ATR flights must be done with the plane in 2D cockpit view only. Boring, I know, but there is so much code in this thing that I can understand the developers being nervous about having it run in the wake of another addon.

Three liveries are included with the package, although you can use Text-o-Matic to load new ones as and when they appear - I am sure this plane will attract it share of freeware repaints. A handful have already appeared on the Flight1 website and there are some on FlightSim.Com, too. I went through the motions of starting Text-o-Matic up and was pleasantly surprised to discover that the ATR introduces a new version, which not only has a ritzy new interface, but sorts out most of the problems we knew and loved in this useful little applet. So you are spared my ritual whinge about how non-standard/long in the tooth/unintuitive Text-o-Matic is and how it desperately needs a face lift and all. The other thing I discovered was a Finnair scheme waiting to be built in the templates folder, complete with 32 bit textures, which look a million dollars.

I tested the addon on my 3.0 Ghz Pentium, which has 1 Gb of RAM and an ATI Radeon 9800 Pro. Loading the plane for the first time at KSEA brought another surprise, which is that the frame rates were much better than expected; so I went looking for an explanation. The reason - apart from well optimised code - is that the visual model is rather less detailed than you would expect for an addon of this type; the most noticeable shortcuts being the lack of transparent passenger windows and fairly drastic simplification of the flap mechanism, two areas where developers normally let their talents rip. This will cause heartache among aficionados of such things, but personally, I think it was the right decision, because users would have complained much more if they could only run the addon at the sort of regional airports that Microsoft forgot. You know the ones I mean - the places that don't have any buildings and where it is so flat that if a gopher stands up it is a talking point for weeks after.

While the externals might not be in the first rank, the plane isn't anything to complain about and anyone who wants to know what happens when you do combine a complex visual model with a complex panel need look no further than the Vmax 747 Classic for FS2002, which reduced my system to a carpet chewing 7 frames per second; not exactly ideal for a crosswind approach into Kai Tak. By contrast, with moderate cloud my lowest rate for the ATR was 14 fps on the threshold at KSEA, which is perfectly okay, given that Seattle-Tacoma is one of t he most detailed airports in FS2004. Your mileage may vary depending on your setup, but I doubt many people will do worse on similar systems, as I had PhotoShop and Dreamweaver running at the same time, neither of which is exactly renowned for sparing processor cycles.

The other reason why I got good frame rates is that the default ATR installation gives you a virtual cockpit without a virtual cabin. Virtual cabins eat frames without contributing anything particular to the flying experience, but some people can't do without them, so Flight1 have included another app which lets you configure the ATR to your heart's content - enter configuration manager. This program lets you configure virtually anything you can think of, starting with which panel (and color of panel) loads, through instrument refresh rates, VC gauge resolution and whether or not 2D cockpit surround views are available; to a passenger load manager; and whether or not the virtual cockpit, cabin and wing are loaded. Configuration manager will save many simmers the heartache of being unable to run the addon, because with all the 'virtuals' switched out, it should be possible to run the ATR on anything but the slowest systems. There is even an option to change the contents of the flight information placard located near the passenger entry door, though this is only likely to appeal to younger simmers; and you can opt to start cold and dark, ready for boarding, or ready for taxi. Ready for taxi mode just lets you open up and fly without the tedium of having to having to press any buttons. I looked in vain for any options for managing the lavatory, but I guess it must have been an oversight.

The 2D panel has click spots, but not as we know them. In the past Flight1 have been something of a pioneer where click spots are controlled and the ATR continues the tradition, with both right and left mouse buttons being used. A certain amount of experimentation will be necessary until you get used to how things work, because the FS2004 tooltips aren't smart enough to tell you which button is needed to do what. This arrangement sounds needlessly difficult, but I got used to it very quickly and quite like it. Flight1 have a very clever little freeware app on their website called F1view, which supports panning using the mouse wheel in any addon plane and it worked so well in the ATR it has become a permanent feature of my setup.

The panel graphics are based on 1024 x 768 bitmaps, and are good, if slightly grainy at 1600 x 1200 (this is just me being hypercritical, but with more and more big flat LCDs in use, developers face the need to move up to higher resolution base graphics before long). Two different 2D panel arrangements are available using configuration manager. The 'condensed view' arrangement limits you to three left seat views (ordinary, landing and taxi), while the 'expanded view' gives you these plus a center main panel, and right main and landing views as shown in the composite above. If that isn't enough for you, there are ten more cockpit views which include the pedestal, MCDU, overhead, gear panel, quadrant, engine gauge zoom, autopilot zoom, annunciator zoom, and captain's and first officer's EFIS. These are controlled by a panel window controller (PWC) icon group, which worked well, some of the larger views having corner 'close' spots as they cover the PWC. Click areas are also available around the main forward panel views, which allow you to move quickly from one view to another; you can operate the window shades, and if brown isn't your thing, there is an option to go blue. In terms of visual impact, the 2D cockpit can only be described as breathtaking.

The ATR has a state of the art cockpit, which means that under normal circumstances all lights are out and the centralised crew alerting system (CCAS) is dark. The CCAS is a standard four level alert system, ranging from level 3, which is associated with a lit master warning, down to advisories at level 0. You will develop a deep and meaningful relationship with this gauge, and the TO button which inhibits just enough of the warnings to let you concentrate on getting the plane off the ground. The CCAS is associated with two multifunction computers which are the brains of the operation. As befits a 'smart' plane, the ATR also has an advanced power management system, which automatically adjusts torque setting when the throttle detents are set for take off. The power management rotary is turned to CLB when the first officer calls for climb sequence and to CRZ at the appropriate time. If engaged, the automatic takeoff power control system can even deal with engine failure on takeoff by automatically feathering the failed engine and providing full untrimmed power on the other - so just about the only time you will need to dirty your hand on the throttles is during the descent and approach.

Looking around what else is available, besides a very smart Electronic Attitude Direction Indicator (EADI) and Electronic Horizontal Situation Indicator (EHSI), the ATR has a somewhat unusual combined vertical speed indicator/traffic collision avoidance system (VSI/TCAS). To my recollection, this is the first time such an instrument has appeared in a sim. The EADI and EHSI feature all the modes of the real instruments and are controlled via the electronic flight information system (EFIS) control panel, known to its friends as the ECP. The ECP lets you do just about everything with these two gauges, from adjusting the range on the EHSI to controlling the brightness. All the expected backup instruments are there, together with a full suite of Collins radios - standard fit in regional commuter aircraft and very capable units, often seen on FS addons, but seldom simulated as well as they are here. In addition, there is a ground proximity warning system; MCDU; flight director; and a three axis autopilot, the latter controlling airspeed by pitch, leaving you to get the throttle settings right. The major gauges are outstanding pieces of graphic design, very fluid and entirely believable.

Needless to say, there is a fully clickable virtual cockpit (VC) complete with virtual cabin, should you choose to activate it using configuration manager. Using ActiveCamera, you could certainly fly the ATR in this mode, although the limitations of Flight Simulator inevitably mean that it doesn't have quite the graphical impact that the 2D panel has and the latter is definitely my preferred method of flying the sim. But as you can see, the ATR VC is one of the most impressive we have seen in an FS addon.

Fans of multifunction control units (MCDUs) aka flight management computers (FMCs) can cancel their engagements for the next few weeks, because the ATR brings a new toy to play with and as FS MCDUs go, it is a peach. The best thing about it is that for the first time I can recall, a developer has released an MCDU that has a big enough graphic to prevent the user going cross-eyed. Previous units of my acquaintance have been the size of postage stamps, so it is refreshing to see one that can I can use without having to press my nose on the screen. The MCDU is a sim of a Honeywell HT1000 and as is traditional in this world of increasing standardisation of cockpit hardware and flight crew procedures, it has nothing to do with any MCDU you have ever seen before. The designers of real world MCDUs seem to be on a mission to ensure that their products are as different to each other as they can possibly be and the HT1000 does not disappoint in this respect - the first thing you will notice is that it has a line of function keys above the display, which is kind of unusual. Fortunately, the basic principles of its workings are similar to those of the units found in big Boeings, which isn't surprising because Honeywell makes those too, continuing a line it inherited many years ago from Sperry.

The MCDU is big and easy to use, assuming you can get your head around the manual. Virtually all the pages useful in Flight Simulator have been implemented, leaving only the ATC button inactive. This is perhaps the fourth or fifth 'fully functional' MCDU/FMC I have reviewed over the years and I unreservedly admire any developer that is prepared to take one on, because doing so involves heroic amounts of programming, with all the associated risk of bugs, and the inevitable savaging from the Space Cadet school of user. The price of real units reflects this - they cost hundreds of thousands of dollars and have whole lifetimes of man hours invested in their code; yet flight sim developers are expected to spend perhaps six months developing one and have it working fine on release... no surprise then that this one had its share of bugs to begin with, although Flight1 fixed most of them with an early patch. Given the depth of function that has been simulated on this unit, it would be unfair to expect it to be totally perfect even after the first patch is released. Compared to units we have seen in the past, the MCDU more than holds its own.

The unit has a large SID/STAR/transition database which covers most of the larger airports. In practice, such databases are as much of a curse as a blessing if you don't have access to the procedure charts and the transitions that go with them, because joining the two by guess and good luck can lead to some interesting diversions around the countryside. For the uninitiated, SIDs (standard instrument departures) and STARs (standard instrument arrivals) are standard routes which allow airliners to get from runway to airway and back again, using 'transitions' which join the airway to the SID or STAR. Flights in and out of places like Heathrow and LA use SID/STARs all the time, as it reduced controller load, but in most of the quieter regional airports, air traffic are as likely to give vectors to the ILS as not.

The developers have taken mercy on the user to the extent that FS flight plans can be loaded and the perf init page can be partially filled by clicking on the left hand line select keys, thereby saving the tedium of working out what the gross and zero fuel weights might be. Given that full seats and full fuel put you over gross, a fuel calculator wouldn't have gone amiss.

While the MCDU can handle all the lateral navigation, this isn't big iron, so you are in charge of taking the plane down when you reach the TOD, captain, and the MCDU must be managed together with the autopilot, because there aren't any autothrottles. I experimented with a twin monitor setup, running the panel in one window and the undocked MCDU, autopilot and throttles in the other, and it is clearly the way to go, especially because the power management regime requires a fair amount of mouse use.

The autopilot works pretty well in conventional mode and I also did several flights without using the MCDU, because I am sure a lot of users will opt for a quiet life. There is no reason why the sim can't be used this way and the generous size of the autopilot popup, combined with the excellent EHSI makes it a pleasure to use. In this mode the EHSI really comes into its own, because it can display more data than a management consultant at a national sales meeting and I defy you to get lost if you learn how to use it properly. You will spend a great deal of time staring at this gauge and the EADI that goes above it and believe me, they are worth every cent you paid for the package. Localiser intercepts work as well as can be expected in FS2004, which means that you need to keep down to realistic angles, speeds and heights - play ball and the ATR will lock on and fly down the beam after maybe one snake. High speed, perpendicular intercepts from above fail, but then they do in real airliners too, and just as well, because the resultant wingover would upset at least some of the passengers (-: I had a couple of episodes where the sim lost the glideslope briefly during the approach, but since I have yet to see an FS addon which doesn't do this from time to time, one can hardly subtract points for it.

The flight model is good, though mine persistently flew right wing low. I am sure that the only reason for the latter feature was to demonstrate that the aileron trim works, but I could have done without it. In general terms, the FM is entirely representative of this class of plane, in that it is sedate and tends to stay where you put it.

The sound set is seriously impressive and I have no trouble understanding why the spec says that an onboard sound chip will not do. Even the startup gave my Audigy a run for its money and the complex layered aural environment the ATR brings with it makes most addons sound dull - it isn't often I get enthusiastic about noise, but this suite gets absolutely top marks.

In summary, the Flight1 ATR is best described as breathtaking, awesome not being quite a good enough word for it. Despite Microsoft's broken FS turboprop engine model, planes of this class are very popular with simmers, perhaps because they aren't so complicated that they demand you use nothing else for fear of forgetting how to use all the avionics; but also, I suspect, because FS2004 doesn't seem as comfortable hosting big jets. Previously, my favorite FS payware turboprop had been the PSS Dash 8, but I hereby transfer my allegiance to the ATR as the new king of the heap. It knocks 767 Pilot in Command off my all time top spot for commercial aircraft - and that is truly saying something. This being one of the most complex simulations I have had the privilege to review, I am sure there are still some bugs in there that my flight testing didn't reveal, but I didn't find anything that would prevent me recommending this addon as great value for money and the developer has a good track record of issuing bug fixes when needed. A truly great simulation which earns yet another Armchair Aviator Award for Flight1.