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The product can be downloaded from the Pilot Shop and installation was very easy, other than having to enter a key code, which is supplied on purchase. A quick check of the Start Menu revealed a slew of documentation, all of which has been rather pleasingly formatted and designed to resemble the original 1960s aircraft manuals - anyone who has ever owned a, er... more mature sort of airplane will instantly feel at home with the slightly grubby feel to the pages, the only deviation from reality here being that there are no leaves missing and there aren't any radio frequencies scrawled in the margins. In all, I counted thirteen manuals, all in pdf format and which tell you more than you will ever need to know about the operation of the Do 27 in Flight Simulator - to give the developers their due, I have seldom seen a better set of documents. There is also a configuration applet, which allows you to set the instrument resolution in the virtual cockpit (VC) to suit your hardware spec; choose whether or not to display the 2D panel; and to load different quality texture sets for the liveries. The operation manual warns that the high resolution textures are not included in the download to reduce the size, but there is no hint about where they might be found and a search of all the obvious places failed to find any. The installation includes two different variants of the Do-27 painted in eight different liveries, five of them German, one Austrian, and Canadian and US planes; of these, two are Do-27 A1s, the rest being B1s. One of the A1s is in Luftwaffe camouflage, the other retains the overall scheme, but has a civilian registration, reflecting how many of these planes found second homes (often with parachute clubs) after the military passed them on. There is a pair of B1s with similar liveries and the remainder sport reasonably colorful civilian schemes in white and blue, white, gray and orange, and white and red. The liveries are exceedingly well painted and range from planes in showroom condition to well-used airframes, the latter showing a combination of oil stains and good, honest wear and tear; even with the 'normal' quality liveries, the detail stays sharp and the textures crisp when you zoom right in. The visual model is one of the best I have seen for GA planes, allowing for the fact that the Do-27 is hardly a complex design, which limits the developer's ability to show off. Every feature you would expect to see on a real Do-27 is there, including cowling fasterners, door handles, detailed gear with brake lines, steps, pitot heads, aerials, the whole nine yards. The A1 and B1 variants differ quite markedly in terms of external fittings, as you can see in the screenshots. Animations include all the usual stuff plus: opening doors and cowling (which shows a detailed engine); various ground equipment such as chocks, tools and cones; control surfaces that move in the wind if the locks aren't in place; elevators that vibrate on startup; a pilot that looks around; and a sophisticated prop animation that shows the blades beginning to speed up as you wind up the ponies. The FS2004 version of the Do-27 was criticized for having a prop 'disk' that wasn't visible against clouds, a phenomenon which remains in the FSX build, but given that the props on real planes can usually only be seen when the sun catches the blades, this is more a question of what simmers are used to seeing than anything else. Certainly, I don't have a problem with it and once you have seen this plane stripped down into maintenance mode, you will really appreciate the amount of work that has gone into it - I can't recall seeing a better modelled GA engine before.
Load the plane more than a couple of times and you will become aware that this is no ordinary sim, because the Do-27 automatically configures itself depending on the situation in which it finds itself. This means that you will ultimately encounter three different cockpit situations: cold and dark; ready to taxi; and free flight mode, where everything is set up and you can just get on with enjoying the addon. It is also possible to set the plane in these different states using the 'effects panel', which is a popup triggered from the FSX \views\intrument panel menu. The effects panel is key to the operation of the Do-27 and allows you to set up the way various gauges work, switch on realistic prop pitch operation, and to choose between 'pro' and 'simple' mode. If you use a yoke with a mixture axis, you will want simple mode, as pro mode requires prop pitch to be handled using the panel controls; and the panel can also be used to turn the co-pilot and the interior sounds on and off. The panel is vintage stuff and looks exactly the way real panels do after they haven't been taken care of for forty years, the view forward featuring cracked and moderately grubby perspex. Although there is a 2D panel, the developers emphasize the use of the VC and I would strongly recommend using it, assuming your system is fast enough. The panel graphics are very good, with neat gauges that have just the right amount of reflectivity - all in all, it is one of the most realistic VCs I have ever seen. Avionics are limited to the kind of stuff you see in real planes, which means no dual Garmins and singleton radios (you do get the use of the FSX GPS, so don't panic); all the gauges are of a certain age and one of them is missing, with wires visible behind the panel. Apart from the FS GPS, pop-ups include the radios; the switch panel; an 'auxiliary' panel, which includes all the gear mounted between the seats, such as the flap lever and trim; the kneeboard; the 'skydiver' panel; and the configuration panel. There is also a view selection panel, which can be left in a corner of the screen and provides a row of simicons which can be used to pop up all the other panels. The kneeboard is not the default FS item, but something much more sophisticated; the developers describe it as the center piece of the Do-27. From top to bottom, the kneeboard allows you to look up the V-speeds; select different internal and external views (in FS2004); deal with the doors; place equipment on the ground beside the plane when it is on the ramp; automatically execute certain sequences such as preparation for engine start and shut down; put the control locks on; and there are also some useful hints. Other items in the kneeboard display the total flight hours of your plane; how many skydivers you have dropped; and any certificates you have earned. If the aircraft is totally shut down and the parking brake is on, clicking on '...check through the plane and systems' triggers an invisible engineer who near enough takes the plane apart; once you have started the guy up, he has a habit of finding things that you have damaged because you flew the Do-27 the way you fly all the other FS addons you have and check-boxes appear to show what you need done. If the Do-27 is on the ground with the rear left hand door open, the skydiver panel can be used to load virtual mad fools and then as long as you have the rear door set up right, reach an appropriate DZ, and slow down to 70 knots or less, you can drop 'em, the only snag being that you can hear them going and feel them going, but can't see them going.
For all that the panel appears to be pretty simple, it has a mass of code behind it, which makes operating the Do-27 incredibly realistic. I am not going to list every feature, but for example, the engine must be primed before starting and it is possible to flood it and then damage the starter by winding it on too long; if you don't take care of the engine, oil consumption will rise and the engine may get damaged; without regular services, you will have starting trouble; shock cooling is a possibility; and in warm weather you can get bubbles in the fuel lines, the cure for which is to switch on the pump. All in all, you can't fault the developers for their ingenuity. 
The flight model is excellent, spiced up by the fact that the Do-27 is liable to give you trouble if you don't treat it with respect. That means observing the V-speeds, not running the engine flat out for extended periods, keeping an eye on the rpm and taking reasonable care when landing it. If you find that bits of the plane aren't working so well anymore, such as a lack of oil pressure, the solution is to put the plane into maintenance mode using the kneeboard and check boxes until everything gets fixed. There have been a few attempts to simulate this side of real aircraft operation in FS over the years, but none have captured the spirit of flying quite so well as the Do-27 team have done and this part of the sim alone merits a gold AAA. The plane isn't hard to fly, but it rewards care and you can't horse it into short strips and expect to get away with it 100% of the time, reflecting the way things are in real life. Just about the only thing you don't get with the Do-27 is a big bill if you break the engine, but maybe that is taking realism a step too far... and of course, it has a great custom sound set. Verdict? One of the best addons I have ever seen for Flight Simulator and one that should have widespread appeal, given the workhorse-like nature of Dornier's ugly duckling. No, it won't get you anywhere fast, but the sim gives you a real flavor of what it is like to own and operate a real airplane and the developers can be proud of themselves for producing an addon with such character.
Andrew Herd  Copyright © 2007 by FlightSim.Com. All Rights Reserved. |
he Dornier 27 has its origins in a 1953 Spanish Air Ministry requirement for a STOL liaison and observation aircraft. At that time, Claudius Dornier had moved his offices to Spain, following the ban on aircraft manufacturing which was imposed on Germany at the end of the Second World War. The prototype was designated the Dornier 25 and was an all-metal high-wing single engined monoplane equipped with just about every high lift device that could be squeezed onto its wing. The production aircraft was designated the Dornier 27 and differed only in having slightly enlarged tail surfaces, a 225 Hp Continental engine and improvements to the cockpit transparencies. Although CASA built the prototype in Spain, by the time the plane had gone into production, the ban had been lifted and Dornier was able to move back to Germany, where the re-formed Luftwaffe promptly ordered over 400 hulls; another 140 civil Do 27s were built in Germany and 50 more in Spain, again by CASA. A twin-engined version called the Do 28 appeared in 1959, which had a barely-modified hull equipped with two 250 hp engines fitted on stub wings, which also carried the gear - later Do 28s bore little resemblance to the Do 27 from which the plane was originally derived.
