When I first sat in a Cessna 207 andpulled back on the control column, I realised straight away that thiswas much more than an overgrown 172, it was a full two handed heave,and despite being over 6 feet tall, I could not see the ground ortaxiway in front of me over the glare shield, gulp! What have I gotmyself involved in now I thought?

History

The Cessna 207 is a seven seat version of the 206, achieved bystretching the design further by 45 inches (114 cm) to allow space formore seats. The nose section was extended 18 inches (46 cm) by addinga useful nose baggage compartment between the passenger compartmentand the engine firewall; the aft section was extended by 27 inches.

The 207 was introduced in 1969 featuring a Continental IO-520-Fengine of 300 hp (220 kW). A turbocharged version was equipped with aTSIO-520-G of the same output.

At the beginning of production the model was called a Cessna"Skywagon", but some years later was changed to "Stationair 7". Ineffect it was the equivalent of a 206 estate plane that could take sixpeople and freight at the rear.

The 207 added a seat in 1980 and was then known as the "Stationair8", however the long range fuel tanks had to be sacrificed. A totalof 626 Cessna 207s were manufactured.

The Cessna Model 207 has been popular with air taxi companies, andsmall freight operators, especially in third world countries, and wasused by many parachuting centers before the Caravan or Pilatus Portercame along.

Installation

As with all Alabeo products, once you have gone through the onlinepayment procedure, you are sent a confirmation of payment by email, aproduct key, and a link to the download page, where you can downloadthe zipped file. The installer asks for which simulator you want toinstall it to, and it all works very well and quickly, including P3DV4. Alabeo supplies you with two types of Cessna 207, the standard C207 (with wheel spats/fairings), complete with five color schemechoices, and the bush model (no wheel spats/fairings and larger tires)also with the same five color schemes.

Exterior

Alabeo have a reputation of making great looking aircraft, and thisis another superb example of what they are capable of. They havespent considerable time getting the aircraft to look realistic, fromthe aerial positioning, rivets, door hinges, window reflections, andundercarriage detail, to the cowl flaps. The detailing of thecorrosion and scratches around the fuel tank caps is very true tolife. Even the way it sits tail low is correct. Personally I wouldhave liked to have had the ability to remove the rear freight doors sothat the aircraft could be flown in a parachuting mode, and also theability to open the forward baggage compartment, but Alabeo have notenabled this. However all the doors can be opened/closed using theShift E (1,2,3) command or the "O" menu, and the door handles all movecorrectly.

The possibility of having larger "tundra" tires for the bushversion is a nice addition and this is the most popular variant inreal life.

The models created by Alabeo have a small "fence" on the inside ofthe ailerons that I had not come across before. Having checked up onthe internet I came across photos of a few aircraft with the samemodification, but it was never fitted when the aircraft left thefactory.

Interior

The interior, much like the exterior, has been faithfullyreproduced and gives an idea of how long the aircraft is with four rowsof seats. It would have been nice to also have had an empty cabinoption for freight flights though. The ceiling material has a mouldedshape and texture that is very nicely done, as are the seat covers andthe side panels. The glare shield on the Cessna 207 is very high,forcing smaller pilots to use cushions so as to see over it, and thisis reasonably modelled, especially if you increase the amount ofpassengers to maximum using the menu in the simulator. The interiorlights work but offer very poor lighting in the rear cabin, even inP3D V4. If one sits in one of the rear seats, all you get is a viewof the person ahead of you, so you have to look out of the windows tosee anything.

Instrument Panel

The instrument panel is modelled on one of the earlier (1969)variants and displays a nicely used patina, even down to the strip offake wood along the bottom. Here you will find the Alabeo GPS 530,which can be replaced by the RealityXP GNS 530 (if it is alreadyinstalled in your computer). The instrument setup is common with manyaircraft of the same era, and is both clear and easy to read - thenumerous switches all make a realistic sound. Instrument reflectionscan be turned off/on in one of the two sub menus. The instrument panelconsists of a Garmin GMA 340 audio panel, a Garmin GNS 530 GPS unit,complete with pop-out panel, a KR 87T50 Bendix/King ADF, the olderGarmin GTX 320 transponder, and finally, the good old KFC225 BendixKing autopilot. This piece of equipment comes with HDG, ALT, ARM,NAV and APP modes.

Night lighting is pretty poor as you only have a couple of redlights in the ceiling, and a dim instrument display, but it's the samein the real aircraft. Many pilots fly with a torch in their hand (oron his/her forehead), to aid with map reading.

Menus

There are two menus available on the left side of the screen, withC for views and O for options.

Flight Dynamics

Traditionally flight dynamics (in the opinion of this reviewer) hasbeen Alabeo's and Carenado's weakness, and the C207 in some respectsis no exception. Whilst I accept that they are limited somewhat bywhat is possible in FSX/P3D, it would be very easy to make some basicchanges in propeller torque, etc. which would result in a morerealistic flight envelope.

I initially thought the stall speed to be highly unrealistic,however, after configuring the weight and balance from the stock 'twopilot configuration' to one with seven people, things became much morerealistic, with the stall warning squawking its heart out when thespeed got near the bottom end of the white band. With this in mind, Iplayed around and practised some slow flights and soon discovered thatif sufficiently abused, the 207 would drop a left wing big time, justlike the real plane. If you look at the book figures, the stall speedis just 1 knot under the legal limit of 65 knots for a single engineaircraft, and this is exactly what we get with the Alabeo version.

I was also pleased with not only the way the aircraft acceleratedwhen pitched forward and heavy, but also by how slowly the speederoded when holding it straight and level after a descent.

Cruising speeds and fuel burn for various engine/prop settings havealso been reasonably reproduced, with the bush plane correctly beingabout 10-15 knots slower than the version with faired wheels. However,a major oversight is the rudder trim requirement on takeoff. Inreality, if you do not have the rudder trim at least 3/4 of the way tofully right, plus half a boot full of right rudder, the 207 will doits level best to do a 180 degree turn as you open the throttle. Itis nearly impossible to keep it on the runway with full rudderalone. This could easily have been be recreated, and is a hugeoversight in my opinion, especially as this is one of the more notabletraits of the 207. This omission is indicative I think, of the factthat no real 207 pilots were involved in the making of this aircraft.

Another aspect Alabeo have chosen not to reproduce, is the hugerate of descent you can experience if your approach is too slow (canbe rectified by applying full throttle). However, failure to applyfull throttle, and rapidly, generally results in a smoking hole in theground! These are some of the 207 characteristics that make it muchmore than a big 172, and have sadly not been simulated.

A Few Hints On How To Fly The Cessna 207

I have been lucky enough to fly several variants of the C207: astandard model, a turbocharged version (fitted with a Robinson STOLkit), and a Soloy turbine powered aircraft, and although they all flewdifferently, the basics for each were mostly similar.

The Cessna 207, like all large piston engines, should be leanedwhen taxiing so as to avoid plug fouling. When you reach the run uparea and the engine is up to temperature, open the cowl flaps, andwhen taxiing push the control column forward. I mention this techniquebecause it compresses the nose leg, allowing you to see where you aregoing. Trim the rudder to 1/2 to 3/4 of the way to the right andproceed to the hold.

When rolling for takeoff, it is necessary to give the 207 apositive tug at around 75 - 80 mph so as to make it fly, otherwise itwill happily trundle along the runway at 140 mph! Climb out at around110 - 120 mph, and once trimmed up at one's cruising altitude, the cowlflaps can be closed. At around the same time, the engine can beleaned to 25 to 50 degrees on the lean side of peak EGT.

One of the handy things about the 207 is its ability to put thefirst 10 degrees of flap out at 160 mph. This is important becauseonce you point the nose downwards it can build up speed rapidly,especially if you are heavy! The approach should be flown at around110 - 120 mph, reducing to 80 - 90 mph over the fence.

The amount of ground effect created by the large flaps means thatthey must be retracted the instant the wheels touch the tarmac;failure to do so will result in lovely flat spots on the tires if oneapplies the brakes. Another aspect that is probably more difficult toreproduce in FSX/P3D, is the fact that the Cessna 207 needs to belanded like a tail dragger, i.e. the control column should hit thefully aft stop just as the wheels kiss the ground. If you do not dothis, you will bounce the 207 so high you could pass a bus underneathit, and then take half the runway trying to control the resultingporpoising. The high glare shield and long nose (under which you canhide a whole county) do not help matters, so slow the aircraft downuntil the nose gets high enough to block out the runway as you flare,and feel your way down the last 10 feet...

Summary

If you are looking for a great looking aircraft where the flightdynamics are not overly important, then the Alabeo Cessna 207 will bea great addition to anyone's hangar. It looks and sounds fantastic,but do not expect it to be a "study level" aircraft.

While many other developers make strides in an effort to make theirsimulated aircraft perform like its real-world counterpart, Alabeo andtheir partner Carenado, seem to adopt a different approach. Whiletheir aircraft (for the most part) are not overly expensive, it wouldbe nice to have the choice of having a well detailed aircraft combinedwith very realistic flight dynamics, even if it meant having to pay abit more.

However when all is said and done, I enjoyed renewing anacquaintance of an old friend. The Alabeo is good value for money andI would recommend it, despite its few faults.

Nigel Porter

Purchase Alabeo C207 Skywagon for FSX/P3D