
The A1R Ryan ST-A Special is a two-seat, low wing monoplane. The fuselage is of monocoque-type construction employing longerons to reinforce the stressed skin at points of concentrated load - at stick control mountings, seats, floors, cockpit cutouts and at the tail section. Eight elliptical transverse bulkheads, suitably spaced, are covered with heavy gauge aluminium alloy skin.
The wings are constructed in four fabric covered sections - two stub wings and two outer panels. The outer panels are wire braced NACA airfoil, constructed of spruce spars, welded steel tube compression struts and aluminium alloy ribs. The stub wings are of welded steel tube construction, incorporating a walkway.
The landing gear is treadle type welded steel tube construction with shock absorber strut of oleo-spring type. The tail wheel is a steerable and full swiveling unit of welded steel tube construction, equipped with oleo shock strut.
ST-A Special airplane is equipped with Menasco-C4S 150 hp engine.
1. The engine sound is mediocre at best; It seems to "stop" at 50% power setting. There is no full-power sound at all.
2. The flight dynamics are very questionable. The stall behavior is so unrealistic. The aircraft stalls nicely but if it falls into a spin it behaves crazily and can hardly be recovered at all. I am a real world pilot but do not even manage to perform a simple hammerhead, as the aircraft always falls into an uncontrollable spin immediately.
3. The yaw sensitivity is totally overdone. Keeping the Ryan on the centerline during takeoff is almost impossible (of course, I use rudder pedals).
3. The manual mentions the spark setting before engine start. But there is no hint about what this is for and how it is used. Obviously, it also has no effect here at all. A manual which corresponds to the actual model would be highly appreciated.
I love the appearance of this aircraft. A1R Design Bureau did an extremely good job, especially with the cockpit. If they are willing to invest a bit more into the above mentioned drawbacks, this Ryan ST-A could become a real winner.
empty_weight_CG_position = 0.9, 0, 0
(Again, never flown one, so not claiming this is more accurate for a real one, but seems that it would be balanced to be fairly nose heavy empty, if it is going to work with a single pilot in the rear seat).
Once I did this, it was a joy to fly, and it looks great! I flew for a small charter company back in the '80s, so it is nice to find some aircraft with an analog panel.
Great to fly as the instruments and controls are so simple..
It also looks absolutely stunning!!!
A few nice skins at flighsim.to as well.
It is also great value for money, five stars. I love it.
Thanks again, Alex and the team at A1R Design, for creating the coolest plane yet to emerge for MSFS2020. And, in a field with same amazing aircraft, that's saying something.
Can you tell me what the Spark is for please, I'm French and I can't find the explanation.
We've noticed the Front Cockpit Cover panel and will hopefully receive a Future Up Date which will enable an additional Passenger or even the Family Dog to come along as well.
There are some really great Videos to be found featuring this iconic Aircraft and we especially appreciated the Duxford Films.
We're already looking forward to ADB's next offering for our Beloved Sim and if they continue to produce such superlative Renditions we will surely be well served by this Talented Company.
Kind Regards to you all at Air Deign Bureau from Thom and Beloved Co Pilot.
Quality textures and good flight model. Nice work A1R.
One note, please fix fuel selector, it’s working but need care.
Recommended.
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 Standard/Deluxe/Premium edition
Processor: Intel Core i5 ~3GHz (i7 recommended) or similar
RAM: 8GB (16GB recommended)
Graphics card: 4Gb dedicated memory
1.2Gb available hard disk space
Please make sure you set the Flight Model option to Modern in the Microsoft Flight Simulator Options