OVERVIEW

This offering it seems, has been the result of some 6,000 hours of development, so great things should be in store.

We get a staggering array of various air forces depicted in some amazing detail, including the E, H and K versions in 52 liveries, yes 52! We are told that the flight model is incredibly accurate, and it is comforting to know that this program has been 'flown' by various C-130 crews, in an attempt to achieve the best possible flight dynamics.

Other notable features include RAF Lyneham, in-flight refuelling and some nice military vehicle animations that it seems we can action from the cockpit; more about that later.

I also note that you get an extensive manual which will provide you with an incredible amount of detail. Also, you get an exclusive Just Flight tutorial, just to help you along in the process of getting to grips with flying tons of transport aircraft. If you are like me, the CD is on the computer before you could say 'Hay Ho' without reading any notes, after all, we do not need them do we? Well actually, yes you do... Why? Because of the detail you will find within the program. You must read the manual to get the best out of your new purchase. If you want to get acquainted with the aircraft and its systems within the pilot's notes there is an RAF Lyneham Hercules Tutorial. I have undertaken this, and I have to say I really enjoyed it. More to the point I learned a great deal about the aircraft, its systems and performance.

   

The ACE (Aircraft Configuration Editor) is a delight to use, and very easy to use. This can be accessed from the start button; look for Captain Sim, then ACE. I have to say, a shortcut on the Desktop would have been preferable.

Aircraft detail and animations are a plenty, indeed all you would expect from such a pedigree.

I remember 'eons' ago when I was a lowly NCO Air Cadet Warrant Officer (similar to the Boy Scouts but affiliated to the RAF) I secured a ride on a C-130 out of RAF Thorney Island in Sussex, England. Once aboard the Captain was well, mad, a fabulous chap, he cranked his head round from the left hand seat and said "If you think you are getting a free ride...forget it" and promptly passed me the check list, well a manual actually!

All strapped in, I started on my task with due diligence and keeness. All went well to the point I asked for the "pilot heat on"... Yup, it should have been pitot heat. Oh the embarrassment of it! None of the crew burst into laughter but oh boy I felt a real amateur (I guess I was). Not to say I resembled a red beacon, my face certainly felt hot! Brings a smile to face every time I read that on a check list... Ahem, moving swiftly onwards and upwards.

Three hours later nearing terra-firma, the co-pilot was asked, "when was the last tactical landing undertaken?" Suffice to say we ended over the threshold at an alarming height, all flaps lowered and then our descent angle appeared to be some 90 degrees. At this point I lost my power of speech...but professionals do what they do, we landed and stopped in a ridiculously short space and reversed, yes reversed, no tow truck around here. Guess in an antisocial and 'hot' environment the ability to reverse and take off on the same track is to say the least useful. No taxiing and turning, providing a wonderful silhouette for enemy fire. (I am looking forward to see if Just Flight's C-130 performs this rather unique feature! We will see.)

   

I also remember being on a low level sortie at the sharp end of the C-130 many years later with a friend of mine in the left seat, (I was in the jump seat) but that's another story.

I have had the pleasure, and privilege of flying many types of aircraft, but not the C-130. This is one that I would have loved to fly in real life. But I am tripping over myself to get this offering from Just Flight on to the computer...

PACKAGING

   

INSTALLATION

Place the DVD in the reader and if you auto install you just sit back and hit the mouse keys at the appropriate time. Follow the clear instructions and there you are all done. If you cannot take advantage of the auto install function the instructions are simple to follow and in a 'nano-second' you are also ready to enjoy the beautiful aircraft. A little biased 'me' thinks.

You are given the option to install RAF Lyneham; be certain to tick the box. The beautiful scenery is not installed by default.

   

EXTERIOR

As mentioned, this bonus piece of scenery can be found within the add-on section, with again aircraft position/locations to select from. I do have to say this scenery does the program proud, the attention to detail is commendable both in daylight and low light and night conditions.

There are some static C-130's at their dispersal parks. Now wouldn't it have been nice to see these become AI Herc's taxiing, taking off and landing. (UK2000 achieves this extremely well in their latest release, lots of military aircraft as AI).

So, choose the aircraft type and air force of choice, wait a couple of seconds, and there she is. Your jaw will drop with the quality, both at the aircraft and the scenery included.

It matters not which version of the Hercules you opt for, the awesome quality is consistent across the range offered. I always think the best way of testing the quality is to zoom in. If the image holds up to the closest scrutiny, that sets the standard. Believe me, every model I subjected to this 'bench-mark' testing passed with flying colors, in fact it surpassed it.

   

If I catalogued all the elements worthy of note, I would be here all night, such is the quality. Suffice to say the areas of exceptional note are the moving rear fuselage access doors, all moving surfaces, and some interesting vehicles (USA Hummer...what happened to the Land Rover!) animation, undercarriage, and the graphics covering all the insignia, and the most incredible weathering effects, and 'in-use' staining, such as one would see from an aircraft in active service.

I have to mention the propeller assembly. This is a work of art, especially the feathering effect which is very real indeed. In flight, the exhaust trails from the engines are incredibly realistic. Please take time to seek out the exhaust end of the engines when you start up and see prop rotation, smoke from the engine, then flames as the engine gathers pace...now that is wonderful.

The exterior lighting is evident I guess in line with the restrictions of FS2004. The nav lights are present and the strobe lights should be brighter for my liking. In fairness, this may not be achievable for the reasons above.

   

Landing lights I feel are never 'real' as they always seem to 'flood' the area in the beam, making ground taxiing difficult, but it has to said the under wing lighting and views into the fuselage including the cockpit during low light conditions are excellent.

When taxiing, if you turn hard, the aircraft shows signs of a 'lean' or wallow which really is done well and very realistic.

At the time of this review a problem was encountered relating to the TECAS system which did not function. With a simple download, the TECAS works perfectly well. (Some of our fellow pilots across the pond will relate to this 'bug' problem, "Oh not again," I hear you say? However, it has to be said, over many hours of 'flying' this beauty, this is the ONLY issue and as mentioned was fixed quickly.)

Users of the RAF Lyneham scenery who also have either the British Airports or UK2000 scenery installed may have noticed a conflict that causes the tarmac not to appear in certain locations around the airport. There is now a tool available from the Support Forum that will correct this problem.

INTERIOR

   

This facility allows some 36 functions, including a rather smart TECAS instrument positioned at the top of the cockpit panel. You can select the panel to firstly run a diagnostic test, alter the brightness of the screen, and select forward looking radar option and alter the scan tilt.

During my many 'flights' I selected the TECAS function. For some reason irrespective of aircraft type, on each test, the system has told me "TECAS SYSTEM FAIL" (though eventually corrected as mentioned above). This has been tried on my fellow reviewer Dan's computer and functions perfectly...Odd. A great shame as the effect is incredible, very realistic and easy to disseminate. I probably have not flicked the right switch!

Within the ACE function you have several options to choose from: fuel capacity, a lovely graphic which shows you the aircraft's fuel tanks lowering as you select less fuel. Cargo troop and medevac options are also made available for our use, making the aircraft, obviously, lighter or heavier.

Again, in the ACE option you can select or de-select a number of features. However, I opted for all views, reflections, indeed the 'full Monty'. It did not disappoint.

   

If you want to change the interior cockpit lighting (in low light conditions), a little feng shui in the air, you can choose green, white or red, whatever takes your fancy!

FLIGHT

   

Up to 10,000 feet call for fuel. It's a bit of a struggle to find the tanker (even on easy mode as selected in the ACE) but eventually there it is. 'Bingo' permission to line up astern and take on fuel, after what seemed ages, bobbing about the air, I decided that I had enough fuel without a top up. Wow that is difficult, but I guess represents a challenge for another time.

This option is I am sure the same as offered in the Tornado from Just Flight, similar outcome in use. I would have loved to see a 'cheat button' that may be put you within sight of the tanker... just to help you along a bit.

Just Flight have included a tool that gives you a choice of easy/medium/hard settings, But my brethren, I had the setting on easy! Be warned! Don't run out of fuel and expect an easy time linking up the VC-10.

Like most of us, I cannot speak from actual experience, but the flight dynamics seemed to be predictable and proportionate for the size of aircraft. I have to say it is one the best I have experienced.

OBSERVATIONS & CONCLUSION

While I will join the masses on the tower singing its praises, I have a little issue with the sound (interior sound dealt with in Dan's review) in the main the sounds are superb, especially during the start-up sequence. But, the reverse thrust simply does not sound realistic. It does not have the 'very distinctive whine' when reverse thrust is selected on the C-130. A real pity as this feature would have 'rounded-off' the entire program. I am sure this effect is possible.

Exterior... My word, the detail not only looks stunning from a reasonable distance, but here is the mark of quality, it stood up the most intrusive zoom-in. Fantastic, lovely.

   

At close (exterior) quarters, the lighting, or to be more precise the strobes looked passable with intermittent flashes. But, zoom out to a 'reasonable' distance this effect is a lot less impressive, and I would have liked to see this effect more, well, intensive. I am sure the technology is in place, as previously mentioned.

The cargo door can be lowered as well as the crew door on the side of the fuselage. You even have the option to animate a military vehicle from the huge fuselage and this is a Hummer; I found this a little odd on an RAF Herc. Oh well, a little pedantic.

The props look incredibly accurate, with variable pitch, with the engine nacelles treated to the same attention to detail. Yet another accolade is the exhaust omitted from the engines at power. In the real world, they are noted for the black trails emanating from the engines, you will find it here folks! Again, lovely detail.

The cargo door can be lowered in flight in preparation for cargo to be pushed out on drogue chutes or parachutists leaping from the aircraft. To that end, you actually have a dedicated Stand By/Jump panel on the flight deck, should you feel the urge.

The entire product is offered to the most exacting standard, a bench mark for others to follow.

Now, the view of fellow sim pilot Dan Entwisle:

There is nothing more annoying that shelling out for something that looks great on the game shop shelf - only to find out that what you've got isn't quite what was billed on the box. Well if you find yourself down your local game emporium and you fancy a laugh, get your plastic out and buy this C-130.

Now why am I making such a bold statement so early in the review? To sum this thing up, it's fun, exciting and rewarding.

So, there we are, I like this. But there are bad points and I think it only fair to get them out of the way before I give you my impressions of this C-130.

First, the sound. Not having flown in this type in the real world, I cannot say for certain, but discussing this with Nigel, we agreed that the engine noises inside the cabin seem a bit loud. Take the APU - a brilliant functioning device on this machine which roars in your lugholes as you sit in the pilot's seat. It is in my mind an exterior sound which should be muted in the interior. Also, the reverse prop note sounds to me is too loud and out of place inside the cabin. Also as Nigel mentioned, based on experience of the aircraft, it did not sound accurate. The same can be said of flap noise and deployment. They are very loud indeed.

The only other problem I found with my installation was a tendency for the artificial horizon instrument to freeze up requiring a restart of the game.

So there you are, the bad stuff out of the way.

First, mention has to be made of the excellent configurator that comes with the plane. A superbly designed program that allows you to sort out fuel, passengers, cargo, liveries, instrument styles, lighting and textures. All with a few clicks of a mouse.

   

Load her up for a humanitarian mission and the pallets appear in the graphic of the Herc. Drop in a couple of Hummers or fill her full of Paras - the choice is yours. Mind you, it would be nice to have had a couple of Land Rovers for the RAF Hercs but hey, I'm just being over picky now! I guess so was Nigel... The graphics on the configurator are superb.

So, out of the configurator and into the cockpit. You have the 2D and VC cockpits to choose from. Inside you will find one of the most detailed icon panels in the business. Right hand seat, left hand seat - it's your choice. Want to be a pax? No problem - choose port or starboard view of the wing and engines.

   

Then you come to all the overhead panels. This is where I really get into the plane. Make sure everything is clicked to the correct position or you will be in for some surprises. Fuel and electrical systems have to be set up right for this to work. Don't let this put you off. This is a logical plane from the 1950's. A bit of common sense and tracing your tracks soon has generators on line and fuel pumps running. Get it wrong and the mighty Herc will bite you. Nigel and I had to perform a rejected take off at Carlisle Airport. On the westerly runway, just about V1, we lost a lot - but not all - power from the motors. Bang the nose wheel down, brakes on full and spoilers out. The Herc comes to a halt - items in the cockpit rattling and suspension on the nose gear working hard. Taxi back, check her over, chocks on - another option from the icon panel - and whack the motors up to full power again. Yep - they die away after about a minute. Time to check the wonderfully detailed handbook and fiddle with some switches. Set the pumps up right and line her up for a lovely take off.

The graphics in the flight deck are great. But outside you are in for a real treat too. Get as close as you like to this one and you will be amazed at the detail. The Desert Storm Herc has got sandblasted paint and a scruffy tail ramp. There's muck from hydraulics and with the cargo and stern ramps open, you have a glimpse into the highly detailed interior. Use that icon panel again and the Hummer drives in and out. Start the engines - I did several times just for the experience - and you get a flash of flame from the exhaust. Control surfaces work a treat. A real animation masterpiece. So yes, that dilemma, fly the beast from inside or just get it airborne, hop outside and marvel at the quality of the animation.

Once aloft - handling is predictable and precise. Not being a pilot I can't really say if this is accurate or not, but it feels right. It handles like an agile airliner and it is very 'chuckable' - as I guess real world Hercs are supposed to be.

       

So - to another flight and we take off from RAF Valley - turn towards the mainland and climb to about 5000 feet. Over Carmarthen, turn her on her side and set up for a fast tactical landing. Use the stopping power of the reverse thrust and deploy chaff and flares in a spectacular display out of the back. Land on - OK a little bit heavy - and bring it to a halt. Door open and dump the Hummers before you set the correct flaps, wind up the engines and take off. Slightly north you find a valley with lakes in the bottom. Get low and take her through the hills. This isn't a fighter but it's very responsive and surprisingly quick. Up to medium level and return for a standard landing at Valley. Superb fun.

This is no commercial airliner - so I have to say I have yet to get round to testing things like the autopilot. It's a Smiths Instruments bit of kit and looks very accurate. That is to say - you might need to dive into the incredibly well produced handbook for reference. Same for things like the landing lights. This book goes into extreme detail - even warning you that the main lights have no cooling so should only be used for short periods while at standstill. Brilliant stuff!

   

There is also the option to hook-up with a tanker for a bit of air-to-air refueling. This we did high over Northumberland. Really accurate voices recreated here for both Herc and VC10 crew. Check this bit out if you like a challenge. Finding the tanker is hard to do. Getting in formation with it even harder and hooking up - well - after about half an hour, wringing with sweat but grinning like a cat - I had to admit my aspirations were writing cheques my sim flying skills couldn't cash!

Run the Herc out of its UK base at Lyneham in Wiltshire and you will love the add-on scenery. Take her up at night and you will be amazed at the clear, no fuss but realistic lighting.

   

So, if you want something a bit of fun for your flightsim - this is it. A big plane that you can be a bit of a 'yob' with. It even has TCAS and a nice little radar set. Big plus points too for leaving the default GPS as a navigation option. So much more fun when all you want is a quick burn round the hills.

See the C-130 Hercules in action in the FlightSim.Com Cineplex

Don't get me wrong, if you want to take this thing from the UK to Iraq you can. It has all the nav kit and autopilot systems to do the long haul. My bet though is that the average user, someone into military and perhaps a bit of civvy stuff, will fly this - sans autopilot - on some fun low-level missions.

After a bad day at the office, come home, turn on the PC and load this up. You will feel the stress fall away as you take the "Fat Albert" into even tighter landing spots. Chuck it round your virtual sky for a bit then get mixed up with some commercial traffic as you land it on at a regional airport. Hunt for that tanker - if you can get it fuelled-up then you have my respect!

If you do go for this - I sincerely hope you enjoy it as much as I am.

This model comes from good stable, to get the best out of it you need to do a little bit of reading up. The in-cabin sounds really need sorting out though.

It's a realistic model without being over complicated. Hey, if I can work it, you can!

Footnote:

In January 2005 in Iraq ten people died when an RAF C-130 was lost to what is believed to be enemy fire. A reminder to us all I think that though we love our hobby, it is just that. Some people do it for real - and pay the ultimate price.

Nigel and I would like to dedicate this review to the crew and passengers of that aircraft. RIP guys and big respect.

Nigel C Martin
nigel.martin10@btinternet.com
Dan Entwisle
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