A2A Skylane

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                   For those who have the A2A Skylane.   Any opinions on it? I am holding back with mine as I'm thinking, I must be wrong.

                           Carm. 

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Well, it would seem I'm in a very small minority here, but simply put, it is the closest thing to flying the real thing you will find in any simulator. From graphics to systems to engine dynamics to flight dynamics, it's the first airplane that I have in my hangar that actually mimics the real 182 (and GA airplanes in general) to a reasonable degree. Maybe Real Air is as good, but never having flown a Duke, I can't say. This one I can. Does it fly differently than most other planes (especially Carenado/Albeo's)? Yup. And that's a good thing. However, that difference to a simmer might be undesirable. FWIW

Anyway, just my opinion.

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Hey Glenn,

          Well, for the money---maybe!   Anyway, generally I like it, I have a couple of things I have noticed.    The nose wheel seems to want to lift off the ground when taxiing not on a hard top.  I cannot get the ADF tuner button to tune the 10's freqs. She seems to have a problem tracking a VOR or ILS localizer. I ran two approaches into CYYZ 15L, one from Wiarton and one out from 33R to YMS and back, both times the AP ran me away over the localizer before it grabbed it,and then the same over run coming back. It seemed too sloppy, not sensitive enough.    The glide slope worked fine..   I had the same VOR and ILS problems this morning from Saugeen to Kitchener.   I don't know-- there is something there that's not quite right. IMO.    

     The A2A forums talk about takeoff problems --wheelbarrowing.  But I've not had this, I think the trim and balance is more touchy that other sims.  Talking about 'trim' this sim is a little more nose heavy than other similar A/C in my hanger-- but not a problem---just noticable.  Maybe the RA is like that, I've never flown a Skylane..     A guy here in town recently bought one, maybe I can scrounge a ride when the weather warms up.   

      All in all its a good sim, I really like it, It feels more like the real thing IMO.      Is it worth the moola   In Canuck Bucks ?   ?

                      Carm  

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OK, what was your intercept angle and approach speed intercepting the LOC's? I've not had a problem with the nosewheel lifting off while taxiing, but I don't taxi from the outside view so maybe it's something I've just not seen because of that.

On the wheelbarrowing thing, that's a possibility with a lot of nosegear aircraft IRL. I know you flew mainly taildraggers IRL so these take a little getting used to (the guys on the forums are most likely not RW pilots, so I'd be careful about putting too much stock in what they say). Proper technique dictates that you hold light backpressure and let it fly off when it's ready. Once off, lower the nose a bit and let the speed build up to climb speed, then hold 80 kts IAS (70 if needing to clear an obstacle, although I held 70 for the first 500 feet "just in case"). None of that is new to you except you have to be a bit more vigilant about the back pressure initially with this aircraft.

Back to the autopilot thing - remember, Cessna autopilots were never terribly great. I don't remember which one they put in this thing (doubt it was the Cessna Nav-O-Matic - hopefully not), but if it is a Cessna product, it won't be all that wonderful. I'll try a flight with it tonight and see if I can duplicate what you are seeing (I have duplicated the wheel barrowing already though, although I don't exactly say too much about it ).

As for the nose being heavy, that's the part that stands out the most. On some Carenado airplanes, you actually have to trim their Cessna's nose down to get them to enter a glide. Completely the opposite of what happens IRL, especially with the 18*/206 series aircraft. They are very nose heavy. I used to feed in some nose up trim when coming in slow and steep just as I got near the flare so I wouldn't run out of elevator in the flare. Now admittedly, that was on the seaplanes (which are a bit more nose heavy/draggy), but yeah, anticipate that. If you use the rule of 1" of MP reduction equalling 100 fpm descent, then you'll barely have to trim at all for descent (assuming you want to maintain your current airspeed). This airplane will replicate that very nicely. Most sim aircraft don't.

Hope that helps but answer the questions about the LOC intercept and I'll see if I can replicate the situation.

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Ran another ILS into CYKF from Burlington and it grabbed the beam and took us down onto 25 just like a good thing. I don't know, I might have been hitting the beam at too great an angle, at CYYZ it was 30-35+'. This last one into CYKF was 20'. Speed in both cases 115k. Probably its a case of my sloppy technique. Anyway I'm getting to like this bird better all the time.
PS. I do have time on other that tail dragging Cessnas.
Cheers, Carm.

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OK, just did a flight in the 182 from CYTZ to CYKF, using the RWY 26 ILS approach into CYKF. Now, I did see the wheelbarrowing issue on takeoff. Yeah, that's not right. They can do that, but not that easily. I think that is a bit of a problem. I had nose up trim and was holding back pressure on the stick and yeah, it still did it to some extent. It's like the tailplane is lifting off before the main wing. So agreed on that point.

On the ADF tuning, you need to push the center of the tuning button in first. That allows you to tune the 10's digits of the ADF. Pull back out (click on the button) to resume adjusting the single digits. The avionics in this machine are extremely well modeled so you probably will have to go have a gander or two at the manuals for these. I've dug into those a few times now and I work with these things IRL <LOL>.

As for the approach, I took a standard intercept angle towards the localizer. I set myself up so that I was approaching from the south, and took a heading of 300*, which is a 45 degree intercept angle. That's pretty much standard for GA aircraft that don't move that quickly. For jets, use 30 degrees. I slowed to about 110 indicated. I usually try to intercept at least 5 miles out, and preferably 10 so as to make sure I'm capturing the localizer before the GS starts to move. On this one, I intercepted about 8 nm from the airport. The aircraft flew it perfectly with little to no hunting for the LOC despite the crosswind. It then grabbed the GS and flew it down fine (same as what you saw). So I don't see any issues with the autopilot on the approach. It's way better than almost any other plane I have, although this is one of the slower machines I fly so it might have something to do with that. Blast in there with a Lear at 150 KIAS at a 45 degree angle and you'll probably be halfway to Kincardine before it gets turned around .

Anyway, see how that compares with what you were doing. Hopefully you'll see something in there that will twig on you and you'll get this sorted out quick.

Now, question for you - do you want some approach plates for various parts of Canada? Let me know if you do - I'll bring up a batch for you that aren't too terribly out of date (for FSX purposes at least ).

Hope that helps .

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Thanks Bud, that 'push the button' worked great. As to the charts. I think I'm good, as I still use my Old Jeppeson Sim Charts disc when I need it. The A2A forums are still on about the Wheelbarrowing, Oh well to every thing a little rain must fall I guess.
Cheers,

[olderndirt]

On the flying away from the centerline thing, does the AP have a BC (back course) selection which could have accidentally given you reverse sensing?

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Carm, check your PM re this wheel barrowing thing.