The DA20-100 Katana is proof of the old aviation saying that what looks good will fly good. It`s a sleek little aircraft made from composites. Intended to be a trainer aircraft it is now used by private pilots who enjoy the great performance and low cost per hour.
This aircraft for FSX has one of the most impressive lists of features of any product we ever handled. It really makes you feel like owning the aircraft as you got to do the maintenance, cleaning and even decide what oil type to use. If any product made Microsoft slogan “As real as it gets” come true it got to be the Katana!
FEATURES:
Modes:
Realistic - Wear and damage can encounter and will be stored. Fluids will be used and the aircraft can get dirty. Maintenance and services are available. Flight hours and landings will be counted and special features unlocked.
Simple - No wear and damage will be simulated. Aircraft stays clean. Flight hours and landings are not locked. No special features.
Instructor - Aircraft is as new every reload. Wear and damage can encounter or be triggered but will not be stored. Fluids will be used and the aircraft can get dirty. Flight hours and landings will not be counted and no special features are available. Instructor Panels are available.
Airframe:
Airframe limitations are simulated
Trim tabs can be bend on ground
Controls can get damaged
Controls can freeze
Flaps can get damaged - Flaps motor can get damaged - Wheel fairings can be attached/detached
Wheel fairings can get damaged
Aircraft can get dirty
Canopy can be opened and closed
Canopy can be opened and closed by airflow
Canopy opens if flying down under or due accelerations if not locked.
Canopy locking mechanism
Canopy can break off
Canopy can get covered by ice
Elevator can get damaged by canopy
Cowling can be opened
Oil access door can be opened
Fuel tank cover can be opened
Wheel fairings reducing drag
Engine (Rotax 912S):
Engine damage and wear
Engine cooling by air and fluid
Carburetor simulation
Carburetor can get plugged
Carb Heat - Starter simulation
Starter can get damaged
Starter low voltage simulation
Engine start due wind milling
Engine Start due turning the propeller by hand
Choke simulation
Engine wind milling
Damage when engaging starter also engine is running
This is a real surprise and cool plane simulation.
If you’re familiar with the excellent A2A Accusim products you’ll feel right at home here. The user interface is a bit different but pretty intuitive. Like Accusim your aircraft is fully simulated down to the slightest detail and then some. There are some differences such as in this you can wash and clean your plane inside and out. It simulated every aspect of the process right down to filling a water bucket and dipping the sponge, to vacuuming the interior. So much is detailed for all maintenance of the aircraft, it would take too long to list them all out. What you’re getting is a small plane with a huge amount of real world related necessities associated with it.
My only complaint is that the various maintenance options take a long to complete. There should be a speed up option but I’ll be damned if it isn’t realistic.
So far as the plane itself it performs just like it says on paper. You can easily damage something and ruin the flight if you don’t pay attention and just full throttle your way through flight.
So be prepared to treat this like it’s a real plane or have a hard time with it.
To folks like me that’s great. A fully simulated plane that includes ever little detail is a remarkable and fun deal.
Not too mention the aircraft is extremely well designed and very immersive. Only Accusim offers something similar. I wish Aerosoft made a lot more like this.
Don’t worry too much if you don’t want to deal with all the little things, you can turn those off and just fly for fun.
Tolles Produkt von Aerosoft
Da bekommt man mehr als man erwartet. Super Flugeigenschaften, toller Sound und schöne Texturen und ein tolles VC. Die Einstellungen und das Kennenlernen neuer Funktionen sowie die Wartungsmöglichkeiten einfach ein Top Produkt.
Klare Kaufempfehlung, vielen Dank Aerosoft für die Katana
Hallo,
sehr geniales Flugzeug. Ich fliege lieber die Großen IFR, aber dieses Flugzeug hat mich sofort begeistert!
Vom Öl- und Kerosincheck davor, über die Reperaturen... Alles simuliert!
Viel Spaß damit.
Torsten
This is a really beautiful little plane, and was clearly a work of passion for Marcel. There's a full maintenance & service module and you can do everything from check for water in the fuel, add oil, change a flap motor, even wash the plane. My only negative comment would be that, considering that this addons does a LOT of processing in the background as you fly, it appears to be very memory hungry. I run 3GB on Win XP SP3 and I do occasionally have some memory timeouts where FSX close, when flying this plane. Especially of running other PC services like a music player. People on 64 bit systems with 6GB of RAM etc should be fine. Its also heavier on FPS than most small planes of its type in FSX. But if you have a pretty good PC, there's no better small plane than this.. well possibly the new Aerosoft H36 Dimona is it's equal.
This is an excellent light plane, quite different from other light aircraft on the market in that maintenance and operational limits are taken into consideration.Anyone familiar with Aerosoft's/Digital Aviation Dornier Do-27X (I believe same author of the Katana)or Air to Air Simulation's Accusim models will be right at home here.
Great graphics and sounds, slightly heavy on framerates but still acceptable given the complexity of the simulation. I have a pretty strong machine I930 o'clocked at 4.4ghz 480gtx etc. but still elected to bump a few settings back a notch in order to get the most out of the Katana when using it with all the heavy add-ons REX, ASA, UT2, Mesh, Orbx AU/NA etc.
Don't let the light plane/trainer concept fool you. This is a serious add on that will quickly humble anyone who does not read the manual and elects to just firewall the throttle. It's certainly not hard to fly but, you need to follow procedure and respect boundaries or you'll end up learning the hard way.
It's not without some minor faults none of which are deal breakers though and there is great support via Aerosoft forums not only from staff but other users. Some will probably think that the maintenance portion and pre-flight routines are a bit tedious, but IMO it adds a ton to an already great Sim.
My only wish is that they (the Author and Aerosoft) would take the same concept and apply it to an even more complex/faster IFR touring machine...Oh, and that they add support for the Reality XP Garmin 430 in a future patch or update.
Awesome plane, well worth the cost of admission!