In 1945 when Ralph Harmon put down his engineering tools at the Beechcraft Corporation he probably had little idea that what he and his team created would be one of the great icons in the world of general aviation. Ralph and his talented team of engineers had created the classic Beechcraft Bonanza.
In the late 1940s many piston single-engine aircraft were still covered with fabric and used 1920s design concepts. That all changed when Walter Beech directed his engineers to design an airplane that would offer owners speed, comfort and class that was second to none. The result was an all-metal aircraft with retractable tricycle landing gear and a powerful, horizontally opposed piston engine. All these design improvements meant less drag, better speed, more durability and an engine that was tried and tested. You can't argue with success--the Beechcraft Bonanza is still in production 70 years later.
Since the first Model 35 V-tail Bonanza came off the assembly line there have been many variations. Each model of Bonanza has had its own nuances and differences from previous models. Today the new Garmin G1000 equipped G36 Bonanza is at the pinnacle of light aircraft design.
It's easy to see why Carenado has already modeled the F33A and the V-tail Model 35 Bonanza for Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004. Now they present an updated F33A for FSX and their model does not disappoint. In this review I will take a look at this highly anticipated aircraft for FSX, discuss its highlights and call out a couple items that could have been done a little better.
Installation was easy and I experienced no problems. The big thing to remember when installing this aircraft is to copy your registration key so you can paste it into the appropriate field when it comes time to do so during the installation process.
The exterior model is very well done. All panel lines and rivets are where they should be and not in the least bit pixilated. Modeling rivets is something that some developers seem to struggle with but Carenado has a good grasp on this with not only this airplane, but with their entire lineup.
One thing that really strikes me is that this aircraft shows little bits of wear and stains. I like it when developers show this because in the real world airplanes do not stay perfectly clean. They acquire exhaust stains and paint chips and other things that happen when an aircraft is flown regularly. Perhaps some flight simmers want a perfectly clean airplane but for me I want the model I'm flying to look like the "real deal." Carenado has the "weathering" process down pat. Then again, this Bonanza isn't overly dirty. Carenado's Bonanza looks well cared for but at the same time it's not a hangar queen.
The windows shine very convincingly as if they were really made of Plexiglas. The paint shines very nicely. Sometimes you will get a model where the paint seems to be just flat and that is fine with warbirds and other types, but a general aviation aircraft like a Bonanza should gleam in the sunlight. Carenado gives us a shiny Bonanza to hop into anytime we choose to go flying.
All the detail parts are there: pitot tubes, static ports, brake lines and even the tire creep marks. Details like this show how much time Carenado took to get this Bonanza just right. One thing I definitely noticed is that the tires are actually round.
The exterior is stellar. I couldn't find anything I didn't like about the outside model. From the rivets, the weathering, and all the little details are all there and when I think of great exterior models I think of Carenado's products.
This is one area where Carenado has disappointed me in the past. It isn't because the interiors of their aircraft are not accurate, but because they seem to always represent a 1970s style interior. I found a mixture of modern avionics with an older interior.
From the pictures I have seen and the Bonanzas that I have been around in my job at Colgan Air Services, the instrument panel is very accurate. The gauges are easy to read even when zoomed out from the panel. The switch labels could be a little easier to read, but even on a real Bonanza the labels are smaller. I would say the gauges get a B+/A- only because they do not have that glassy look--they don't look like they have a glass covered face. I am nit-picking but the panel would have seemed more real with that effect.
It's nice to see that Carenado has put in a Garmin 430 in this Bonanza. Everything seems operative on it and I've had no problems flying ILS approaches with the autopilot coupled to the Garmin. To display the map on the Garmin you have to click an area that is below the CLR button and then it will bring up the moving map--an annoyance but nothing major. One thing I really enjoy that Carenado and some other developers do is that when you click on the GNS430 it enlarges and to make the enlarged version disappear you just click on the GPS.
The radios are King 155's and the autopilot appears to be a King KFC-200. The radios are believable as most F33's on the market have these radios but the autopilot on most high valued Bonanzas are the Stec 50 autopilots.
Night lighting is authentic. You have an overhead cabin light that you can turn on during start up and then you can shut that off and just use the gauge lights. It's nice that Carenado gave us these two options because on some aircraft that I own from other developers the cabin lights are either all on or all off.
One issue I found is that when flying in the virtual cockpit you can see the right navigation light through the right wing at certain view point angles. When you look to the left you cannot see the left navigation light through the left wing so there is some issue there and I found the same issue in a couple of other airplanes I have from other developers. Maybe this is actually a problem with FSX.
Another nice touch is the ability to modify your aircraft so that it has one yoke or two. To me this is just another example of Carenado going out and finding things that are not explored in the flight sim world and making it work.
The first time I fired up the Bonanza I could have sworn I was sitting in a real one. Carenado has simply nailed the soundset. From start up to shut down it is spot on and there is no evidence of clipping in a cruise configuration. In the real world and now in the virtual world you get that unmistakable noise of the 285-horsepower Contintental IO-520 pulling you along. The soundset is definitely one of the high points of this model from Carenado.
The real Bonanza was designed to be a plane you can load the family into and take off for a weekend away from the big city. Carenado's Bonanza exhibits no quirks. It is very docile in the traffic pattern and forgiving if you are not so hot in keeping the ball centered in turns. I was very surprised at how little rudder you need for coordinated turns and often found myself putting in too much rudder. The aileron and elevators are light but not too light where you will find yourself over-controlling. All control surfaces are very responsive and I would expect to find this in a real life version of the Bonanza.
Another authentic detail with this airplane is that if you let the manifold pressure dip below a certain setting you will get an audible and visual warning that your landing gear is not down. This will come in handy for those of you virtual pilots that forget to do your GUMP (Gas, Undercarriage, Mixture, Propeller) check before landing. As they say, there are those pilots who have landed wheels up, and those who are about to!
At typical cruise settings of 2500 RPM and 21 inches of manifold pressure you can lean to about 12.8 gallons per hour at altitude. With this setting on the way from La Crosse Municapal Airport (KLSE) to Outagamie County Regional Airport (KATW) I saw an indicated airspeed of 150 knots at 7,500 feet. This all seems to be in line with a real F33A Bonanza.
Nearing KATW and entering the pattern I was very nicely surprised to see that when putting the flaps out you don't get the common tendency to have the nose pitch way up. This Bonanza wanted to hold just about the same pitch attitude, but the speed bled off which in my real world experience is very accurate as to what happens when you put the flaps out.
Landing Carenado's F33A Bonanza is a piece of cake. The key is to make sure your airspeed and rate of descent are correct, and you are lined up on the center line. It is really that simple. I believe this is one of the easiest airplanes I have ever landed and it makes me look like a pro when my wife is watching me land.
This model is very well done and it is nice to see Carenado putting in more modern avionics. The exterior model is very accurate and one of the best exteriors I have seen on a single engine piston general aviation airplane for FSX. All the switches are there and operable.
Also it needs to be said that this aircraft is very easy on frame rates. I do not have a super computer but what I like to think is a middle of the road rig and I routinely see frame rates in the upper 30's and lower 40's with FSX set at medium to above medium settings.
There isn't a viewable checklist in the kneepad, which would have been nice. Instead you have to pull up the entire aircraft manual which is a little clumsy and takes a lot of screen space.
In some forums people have complained that Carenado may release their products too soon and that's why they have to release updates to their airplanes--and that is why they will not buy their products. However, when you buy a real-world airplane you will at some point be subjected to a service bulletin or an AD (airworthiness directive). With an AD you must comply to what the AD says. I look at these simulator updates as like a service bulletins or an AD. I think it's great that Carenado doesn't just release products and then that's how they are forever. In my opinion it shows a level of dedication to getting their products right.
I recommend this product to anyone that is a Beechcraft Bonanza fan or just a single engine piston driver trying to find a good cross-country airplane.
Things I liked:
Things that could have been better:
System used for review:
AMD 64 X2 Dual Core 5200+ 2.60
3 GB RAM
NVidia 9800GT
Windows 7 64 Bit
FSX with SP2
REX 2.0 with overdrive textures
Active Sky Evolution
Bill Beseler
naa551wb@aol.com
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