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DreamFleet Beechcraft Baron 58
By Andrew Herd (14 October 2005)
he Beechcraft Baron is a classic light twin - some say the classic light twin - partly because the designers got nearly all their sums right and partly because it is such a total pilot's airplane. FS2004 comes complete with a Baron, but as regular readers will appreciate, it isn't quite up to the standard of what the best FS developers are capable of delivering, which means it is nowhere near as good as the new DreamFleet Baron 58. This addon is really something special.
The original Baron 55 appeared in 1961, replacing the Model 95 Travel Air; it was developed with the intention of allowing the company to compete on a level playing field with Cessna's 310 and the Piper Aztec. The 1958 Travel Air had been Beech's first light twin and to avoid having to learn too many new tricks at once, they based it on a Bonanza fuselage, landing gear and systems with a T-34 Mentor tail - the engines were a pair of Lycoming O-360s, which gave the hull a noticeably average performance - but although it stayed in production for a decade the Travel Air was never a really popular design, so Beech were forced to think again. The designers had got a lot right with the Model 95, but even its greatest fans had to admit the plane wasn't the sexiest looking thing around and the competition left it wallowing in their wakes, so Beech stuck in an extra 80 horses a side, bolted on a new tail and made a few tweaks here and there to produce the Model 55 Baron. The Model 58 first saw the skies in late '69, the main difference from the original 55 being a ten inch stretch in the fuselage intended to cure a major headache with the earlier model, which was that you had to be an acrobat to get into the rear seats. Once you were sat in them, it helped if you didn't suffer from claustrophobia, as I recall; space was tight. By contrast, the 58 sat six in reasonable comfort and it sold well in its various versions until the eighties, when recession tipped GA sales into the void, but market favorite that it was, the Baron survived.
You could pick up a new 58 back in the seventies for around $115,000 and the plane sold well, with an aft cargo door and three blade props quickly becoming standard. Apart from this, very few changes were made in the early days, apart from installing an updated version of the Continental IO-520 with sturdier crankcases because the originals were prone to cracking. Then in the mid-seventies came the turbocharged 58TC and the pressurized 58P, both of which were built to FAR 23 standards and offered useful performance gains; the TC only sold something like 150 hulls, but the P did very well until the recession caused Beech to delete the model ten years later. Around that time Beech also made the momentous decision to arrange the gear and flap levers the same way around that every other manufacturer, that is, with the gear selector on the left. The reason for having the controls the 'wrong way around' was that that was the way the military liked them and the company had done a lot of business with the services over the years - but the arrangement had made the Baron notorious in GA circles for gear mishaps, which occurred when pilots who were used to Pipers and Cessnas inadvertently retracted the gear after they had landed. Needless to say, loyal Beech customers had gotten used to having the gear selector on the right, and - you guessed it - after the change was made there was a spate of accidents featuring experienced Baron pilots flipping the left hand lever as they exited the runway and... well, yeah, I guess you can't win 'em all. Since hulls have decades of useful life if well maintained, the outcome of this little ergonomic saga is that it is possible to come across otherwise identical model 58 Barons with completely different control arrangements being used by the same operator, which means that many pilots leave everything down until the plane is parked and the radios are off before carefully working out which lever does what. Another potential gotcha with the 58 is that the tankage can be anything from 136 to 190 gallons, with most recent planes having 166 and one or two rapid diversions have had to be made following wrong assumptions being made about endurance. Just because the tanks are full it doesn't mean to say they hold the amount you think they do.
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The other thing that happened in the eighties redesign was that the old throw over yoke was exchanged for lighter, more modern twin units - though note that not all Barons are built with twin controls and you come across the occasional single pilot arrangement. The panels were redesigned, using smaller engine gauges to free up space for advanced avionics, and the plane was certified for operation in known icing. A new 58 cost over a million bcuks last time I looked - so start saving now if you want a real one.
The Baron is a pilot's favorite for many reasons, chief among them being that it handles well and is relatively simple to operate. A 58 can carry four adults near enough a thousand nautical miles in still air and still have room for an IFR reserve, which translates into a bladder-straining five and a half hours of flight at cruise setting. Control forces are light and the plane is very responsive for a twin, but this can be fatiguing in instrument conditions, so anyone who can afford one fits an autopilot if they intend flying in IMC for any period of time. The flap and gear limit speeds are generous, which makes pattern entries easier, because v-speeds aren't so critical, but against this, the approach speed is fairly high at a hundred knots. Thanks to the tough mains it inherited from the Bonanza, the standard 58 can be operated out of relatively rough grass strips and its short field performance is good for its class, with the average plane lifting off at 80 knots and climbing out around a thousand feet per minute; but the TCs and Ps have had their share of problems with nosegear collapses caused by the forward bias of their CofG.
DreamFleet shouldn't need any introduction to regular readers, because they have consistently excelled at what they do and I have reviewed some fantastic packages from them over the years. Their most recent product was a Beech Bonanza, but before that, DreamFleet released a fantastic Cessna 310 and a Cessna Cardinal (the review we have is for the FS2002 version, but the product has been updated for FS2004). The team also did a classic sim of our very own Nels Anderson's Piper Archer and we have a couple of reviews of their airliners, notably the Boeing 727 and a 737-400, which was a standard setter when it was released for FS2000, but was not updated beyond 2002. We live in hope of seeing it again. DreamFleet are up there in the first rank of flight simulation developers and you can guarantee that if their name is on a box, the product will be worth buying, because graphically and operationally, the contents will be as real as it gets. If you like the Baron - which you will - take a look at the Bonanza review, because they make a great pair and the Bonanza is one of the best GA singles ever released for FS. Once you fly it, you will not want to go back either to the default planes, or for that matter, to using most other developers' output, because DreamFleet are right up there with the best
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The package is available as two different downloads - the 'RealityXP' version and a 'Lite' package, which lacks the Garmin GNS 530, subsitutes a KI525 HSI for the Sandel 3308 and has a Bendix King transponder and KMA26 audio panel, but is otherwise identical and makes a cost-effective purchase if you already have the RealityXP gauges or just want to save a little cash. As a consequence, while the RealityXP version weighs in at around 60 Mb, the lite is 15 Mb smaller; both installing using the usual Flight1 download and copy protection system. I have no idea how many products I have downloaded using this system, certainly over a couple of dozen, and I have never experienced the slightest glitch with it. The servers normally feed data as fast as my connection can take it and the copy protection has worked 'out of the box' every single time. For users with slow Internet connections, just about every product marketed by Flight1 makes it onto the shelves in a box sooner or later, so have patience and keep checking the news on FlightSim.Com.
The installation of the RealityXP version is extended by the need to install the RealityXP gauge pack and the Garmin trainer which this requires in order to run. Do note that the RealityXP gauges are locked to the Baron and can't be used in other FS planes - if you want to do that, you will need to visit the RealityXP website and buy the full versions of the gauges. When the installation had finished, I checked the program group, which contained links to a 106 page pdf operations manual, DreamManager, which replaces the Flight1 text-o-matic app for applying new liveries, and a link to the DreamFleet website.
DreamManager can be disposed of fairly quickly - if you have downloaded a new livery for the Baron, all you have to do is unzip the bmp files into ...\Flight Simulator 9\DreamFleet\DreamManager\paint schemes and run the app. When DreamManager starts it lists the DreamFleet planes you have installed and once you have selected the one to which you want to apply the repaint, you just click 'create new aircraft variation' and follow the advice in the dialogs. The only thing you have to know in advance is the aircraft's callsign/tail number, but after that, the whole process is about as easy as it could possibly be made.
The lite version panel is shown above, with the left and right hand views merged into one - obviously they don't appear like this in Flight Simulator, but the shot give a good view of the quality of the graphics. Note that all the other screenshots in the piece are of the RealityXP version of the Baron.
Since there is a great deal to talk about as far as the avionics are concerned, we'll take a look at the visual model first. All the expected animations are there, together with flexing landing gear, an animated pilot and opening cockpit and cabin doors. In 'preflight' mode, accessed via the configuration control panel, there are options to change the sex of the pilot, remove the pilot, open the filler caps, open the nose baggage door and even to tie down the plane - my only complaint being that DreamFleet completely spoiled my fun by making none of this available in flight. I have had a great deal of fun flying other sims around the skies with the tie downs staked out firmly despite a 150 knot groundspeed, so I missed being able to do it with the Baron. As you can see, with all these options enabled, the plane looks extremely realistic on the ground, the effect being enhanced by the way the streamers attached to the intake covers are animated and wave gently in the virtual breeze. Otherwise the visual model is up to DreamFleet's usual impeccable standards, with a high level of detailing including all the whip and stub aerials, the step and even the reinforcement on the inside of the gear bay doors. Once you are in the cockpit, the sun visors and the armrests can be raised and lowered, the storm window and the glove box open, the cabin table can be lowered and the leaves unfolded, the rear seats can be stowed away and the reading lights work.
You get two liveries with the plane, although many more will doubtless appear thanks to DreamManager, which makes it a cinch for freeware designers to paint and distribute new liveries - witness the KLM livery I have used in some of the screenshots. This should be an extremely popular addon as it is even better than DreamFleet's Bonanza - which is one of the best GA singles ever made for FS - so I am expecting many new schemes to appear. Needless to say, the visual model leaves the default Baron for dead, particularly when it comes down to the texturing and DreamFleet's plane is the one of the best payware GA twins available for FS2004 (the others, for what it is worth, are the Flight1 Cessna 421, the Flight1 Cessna 441 and the DreamFleet Cessna 310). The interesting thing about this group of addons is that they all offer something slightly different, the 421 being a demanding, fuel-thirsty, mean machine; the 441 a no-nonsense heavyweight; and the 310 a dainty survivor from the Travel Air days. There are quite a few other good twins out there, but other than these, most fail to make the top rank for one reason or another, generally the quality of the instruments and the panel, but take a look around the review section, as we have covered just about all of them at one time or another.
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The panel is in the classic DreamFleet style, perhaps the best one they have ever done, with left and right hand seat views and a raft of extras. The shot above shows the RealityXP model without any fancy merges of the left and right sides - as you can see the graphics are exceedingly sharp and look good at the very highest resolutions. This developer worked out right at the start that the 2D panel is where users spend most of their time and once you have flown an addon that has a panel as good as this, your views on where the level of the quality bar should be set for payware will change irrevocably. There is virtually no banding in any of the images, all of which are pin sharp, all the text is legible, the needles are very fine and smoothly animated - in short, it looks real and there isn't a single sloppy edit to be seen anywhere. Having seen the way the four developers mentioned above have consistently delivered crisp, believable panels over the years, I sometimes wonder why users are prepared to pay similar sums of money for other products where the cockpit graphics sometimes appear to have been smeared into place. I accept that gauge programming is an art and there are relatively few people who can do it well, but getting pictures in focus and editing them without losing quality is not difficult - it just takes a little knowledge and a lot of patience. Anyway, the Baron panel is an example of how to do it well.
The RealityXP version has a 'drop stack' at top left of the screen, which drops down when the mouse hovers over it to allow selection of subpanels. This is lacking in the lite Baron, but the panels on both versions have numerous click spots and it is possible to pop-up the sub-panels and even switch cockpit view without resorting to the menus too much. You get both left and right hand seat views, as well as landing views for both pilots, which drop the panel to improve the forward view, while still leaving you a view of the standard six and enough engine instruments to get down without doing any guesswork. Popups include the avionics stack, which can be got by clicking on the autopilot; the RealityXP GNS 530, the best simulation of this unit available for FS; the throttles and trim; ignition gear and flaps; fuel selector; clock; OAT; zooms of all the major instruments, with the exception of the engine gauges; and the configuration control panel. The 'Lite' version uses the Microsoft GPS 500 and has a very good KI525 HSI in place of the Sandel 3308. My advice, unless you are really strapped for cash, is to get the RealityXP version, because those extra dollars bring you a whole lot more fun.
Before I get to the gauges, a few words about the configuration control panel. This seems to be becoming a standard on DreamFleet planes and lets you setup the way the virtual cockpit (VC), screen display options, engine sound and even the way the avionics work, making it a very quick way of setting up the Baron to suit the way you use Flight Simulator. Playing around with the VC and display settings should make it possible to nurse the Baron into life on marginal system, though I should point out that it ran very well on a 3.0 Ghz Pentium. The other option on the control panel is to allow a more realistic preflight check of the plane, as discussed above - but unlike real planes, simulated ones rarely turn out to have bugs in the pitot head or birds nesting on top of the cylinder blocks, so this option is only for the really dedicated.
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The audio selector panel varies depending on which version of the Baron you have purchased - in the Lite version you get a Bendix-King KMA26; in the RealityXP version, you get a more complex Garmin GMA340. Both versions share the familiar - and very good - DreamFleet Bendix King KX155 nav/comms and KN62 DME, which means that buyers of the RealityXP version end up with three comm and three nav radios, since the Garmin includes a pair of radios.
You might think having three pairs of radios is overkill, but a setup like this wouldn't be out of place in real life, as KX155s go on for ever and the Garmin radios are the icing on the cake of a unit which has become a standard for those who can afford the $14000 asking price for buying one and having it installed. Both Baron versions also have the DreamFleet KR87 ADF, which is an excellent unit, but they differ as far as the transponder goes, with the Lite having a Bendix-King KT76C simulation, while its upmarket stablemate has a Garmin GTX327. Common to both is a simulation of the KFC 225 autopilot, which doesn't work quite the way the real unit does, presumably to save support calls from simmers who can't quite get their heads around Bendix-King's inscrutable logic.
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Moving on, Lite users get an extremely usable KI525 HSI. Users of the RealityXP version have the option to use this gauge, but will almost certainly prefer to use the Sandel 3308, as this three inch EFIS does everything except make the coffee. The 3308 has been significantly upgraded from the version that appears in DreamFleet's Bonanza, which lacked the map mode and, wonderful though it looked, functioned as a glorified HSI. In the Baron, you get the whole enchilada, which means that the 3308 map mode can be activated and it can display a magenta track line if you have a flight plan loaded; this is a very complex simulation of an instrument which can be used with the manual for the original, downloadable as a hundred page pdf from Sandel and is worth the price of the Baron sim alone. The real 3308 combines the functions of an HSI, RMI, moving map and stormscope - which means that as well as the directional gyro, you can display Nav1 and 2 needles, localizer and glideslope, DME 1 and 2, the ADF needles, lateral navigation (LNAV, or the flight plan) info, lightning strikes and even marker beacons - the amazing thing being that you also find all these functions on the sim unit.
The 3308 deserves a review of its own, but to give an idea of how complex this little gauge is, take a look at the screenshots above. On the left, the 3308 has been zoomed out to 30 miles and is showing the Baron flying a direct-to KMCO on the Garmin, which accounts for the magenta course line. Nav1 on the Garmin is tuned to the ILS on runway 35, with 21.6 miles to run; the 3308 map display has been set to show airfields (the orange circles) and airspace (dotted green lines), with lightning strike detection active (the green 'x's). In the shot on the right, I have changed the Baron to panel landing view mode by clicking on the glareshield and I have switched the 3308 to ILS mode, leaving the plane flying to short final on autopilot. To give some idea of the power built into this gauge, it even has a memory mode that allows you to set up two complex views, load one into each of the memories, and then flip between them by hitting the A-B button. The Sandel is switchable for range, and from rose to arc view, but it is worth noting that 'map mode' allows it to show navaids, intersections, airports and airspace - you don't actually get a ground map. All in all, it is the finest instrument I have ever seen in Flight Simulator and coupled with the GNS530 and the rest of the avionics fit, gives the Baron a panel which is only a spit away from the nav suite in an airliner. The only downside of the 3308 is that once you have used it, you won't want to fly another plane without its help and the gauge is locked to the Baron - the way to cure this is to visit the RealityXP website and spend $19.95 buying the retail version which can be fitted to absolutely any plane you like.
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The RealityXP GNS530 should be well known to simmers by now, but for those of you who haven't seen this fantastic gauge, you get a copy with the Baron. Like the Sandel, the version provided can only be used in the DreamFleet plane's panel, but it makes a natural pairing with the 3308 and if you are prepared to spend some time getting your head around the way the two can be made to work together, there is some serious fun to be had. The RealityXP 530 can do more or less everything its real life counterpart can do and once you have learned how to use the click spots and understood the myriad functions of the unit, the world will be your oyster. To give an idea of how powerful the 530 is, you can set up a multi-leg flight plan with it, use it to drive the flight director and hence the autopilot and monitor your progress on the 3308. As you near your destination, there is no need to spoil your flight by going into FS map mode, just access the 530's waypoint pages, select the frequencies from there, take a moment to check out the elevation and orientation of the runways, then load the approach you need and let the Baron fly you right onto the pavement. Be warned that the GNS530 is more complicated than many so-called full-featured flight management computers for Flight Simulator and getting to know how to work it at its best takes a good deal of effort - just like the real thing.
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Reality XP Products - A Mini Review By Norman Burton
I admit that I had been admiring Reality XP's products over the years
but didn't get around to purchasing them because I felt they were a
bit on the expensive side. Reality XP's only products are avionics
and gauges for Flight Simulator with prices that range from $19.95 to
$29.95. My pricing logic was based on the fact that I could purchase
an entire aircraft for the price of just one of Reality XP's gauges
and that didn't seem like a great deal. Today, I'm ready to admit my
logic was flawed because I didn't take into consideration these
products add a strong element of realism to Flight Simulator that can
be multiplied by the number of aircraft you choose to retrofit with
Reality XP avionics.
The company's founder, Jean-Luc, enjoys an almost rock star like following from the company's customer base. This becomes apparent if you proceed over to Reality XP's support forum and discover the seemingly breathless anticipation among the Reality XP customer cult awaiting news of the latest project. What is it that creates such an enthusiastic customer base like this? First, I doubt that anyone would disagree that Jean-Luc is a current Grand Master of gauge programmers. His earlier products, like the Jet Line 2 and Jet Line 4 glass cockpit gauges were visually stunning breakthroughs in clarity and fluidity. As a testament to their elegant programming, these complex gauges can actually be used to increase sagging frame rates of aircraft using XML programmed gauges. Beginning with his Flight Line 530XP, and more recently his 430XP Garmin GPS units, Jean-Luc has introduced a new concept to Flight Simulator - 100% functionality. I have no idea whether or not I could climb into a King Air B200 cockpit and start the engines; but, thanks to Reality XP, I know I could climb into a cockpit equipped with a Garmin GNS530 and use it as if I had been flying with it for a year. Reality XP's two newest products with 100% functionality are based on the breakthrough Sandel SN3308 and ST3400 glass cockpit displays. Sandel's genius stems from their newly invented image projection technology that allows "glass cockpit" gauges to fit in the standard 3" x 3" panel hole format found in all general aviation aircraft. These compelling Sandel products allow a real world Cessna 182 owner to retrofit their cockpit with a Sandel SN3308 Electronic Horizontal Situation Indicator (EHSI) that fits into the old analog HSI's mount. Additionally, they can add a Sandel ST3400 Terrain Awareness and Warning System (TAWS)/RMI that fits into an old ADF or NAV mount. These retrofits can be accomplished without doing any sheet metal work on the panel and for a quarter of the price of any other glass cockpit avionics package currently on the market. Now, Reality XP makes it possible for us to upgrade our entire virtual piston aircraft fleet to a glass cockpit in much the same way, without having to drop them off at an FAA Certified Repair Station for two weeks. Reality XP exhibited some great marketing insight by partnering up with Flight1 and DreamFleet to offer a few of their avionics products as part of these companies' aircraft avionics. This moves allows new users to experience Reality XP avionics without having to purchase a full use license. Reality XP avionics can be found in Flight1's Piper Meridian and DreamFleet's Beechcraft Baron 58 and Bonanza A-36. I'm afraid over the course of this year, I too have become a willing member of the "Reality XP customer cult" and eagerly await their next product announcements. By the way, if you're looking for operator's manuals for these new products, you won't find them at Reality XP's site. Instead, you are referred to the Garmin and Sandel sites to download the real thing. That's as real as it gets. |
The virtual cockpit (VC - shown above left) is well up to the standard of the rest of the sim and you could easily use it to fly the plane, although to do so would be to miss the incredibly sharp gauges in the 2D panel. The Sandel and the 530 can both be used with ease and you have the advantage of being able to take a look around if you get bored. The virtual cabin, shown above right, is one of the best I have seen and I had great fun folding down one of the seats, pulling out the table, opening the laptop and reading all the ads for DreamFleet products that it played to me... you gotta hand it to these guys, they don't miss a trick! I did quite a few circuits and landings using the VC and the viewpoint was spot on.
Moving on to the flight model, I have few criticisms, because it has clearly been developed with great care and reflects the real plane's handling about as well as is possible given the limitations of Flight Simulator. We are fortunate to have moved out of the era when competent FS flight modellers could be counted on the fingers of one hand to an age when they can be counted on the fingers of two hands, but DreamFleet have got a good one on the payroll and the Baron FM manages to capture more than I would have thought possible of the feel of the feel of the real plane, bar the obvious fact that there aren't any control forces. Asymmetric engine handling was good enough to give me an opportunity to put my CH Products Throttle Quadrant through its paces and I had serious fun practicing approaches and doing all the stuff you hope will not happen to you in a real twin. The initial rate of climb will seem a bit too quick to anyone who owns an older Baron, but is typical of a book figure new hull - I can get nearly 2000 fpm at 130 knots, but this falls off to a more realistic cruise climb rate. The low speed handling is good, with the need to keep a few extra knots on during approach very well simulated, which means you will need to practice a good deal if you enjoy flying out of small strips. Dropping extra flap late on short final is not recommended, as it produces a sharp increase in drag and if you don't cancel it out with just the right amount of throttle, you will either balloon or dig a hole short of the threshold, just like the real thing.
The sound set is very fine and provided in DreamFleet's usual two versions: one with noise reducing headphones and one without - I have always dealt with FS noise by turning the volume down, but I am sure some people must find this option useful. As is traditional with FS sound sets, when the gear retracts it sounds as if someone has hit the underside of the plane with a sledgehammer and the flap motors are as noisy as all got out, but otherwise the Baron sounds just like a real one.
Verdict? One of the best sims I have ever seen and a first class example of how a really top-flight package can be put together. Superb value for money, no rough edges anywhere. Outstanding, fantastic, excellent. Buy it.
Andrew Herdandy@flightsim.com
