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Reviews (by Daniel)

LIONHEART - QUICKIE Q200 FSX P3D

LIONHEART - QUICKIE Q200 FSX P3D

I'd like to congratulate Bill on another great release – the Quickie is something different. I especially like the metallic finish on the external textures. And again, all those themes to choose from... The handling is as unique as the aircraft, and I’ve been looking for a fast GA 2-seater for some time. The Legacy is a bit over the top for me, but this little roadster filled that gap perfectly. This is a truly high-end product with Bill's personal interior “touch” and an exciting FDE that gives it a soul. IMHO from Lionheart products this one has the best sound-set so far. It’s very realistic, lively, and toned down perfectly for that sense of soundproofing in the cabin. I highly recommend this fun little plane to all sim flyers! Dan

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AIRCRAFT FACTORY - AVRO ANSON MKI

AIRCRAFT FACTORY - AVRO ANSON MKI

I'm lucky enough to have seen the renovate one in real life in New Zealand, and I've made hundreds of photos and videos. This model is a fantastic replication. My favorite feature is the sounds, but the textures and handling are brilliant too. It has a great atmosphere, put in some 60's rock music in the background, and enjoy :) Great work guys! Dan

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AIRCRAFT FACTORY - ALBATROS D.III (OEFFAG)

AIRCRAFT FACTORY - ALBATROS D.III (OEFFAG)

For me this is the best WWI era plane for FSX to date. The VC and the textures are the best I've seen for some time. I love how it handles too, it provides a realistic feel of flying such a "primitive" little machine (try landing in a 15kts crosswind - good luck). The sounds are great and if you add AccuFeel the only thing missing is the smell of oil :) Fantastic work again guys, keep up! Dan

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LIONHEART - FAIRCHILD 24 SERIES FSX P3D

LIONHEART - FAIRCHILD 24 SERIES FSX P3D

A lovely vintage bush plane that has the atmosphere I've been looking for. Fantastic HD interiors (lots of versions) with nice little treats like a hidden GPS, hidden autopilot, removable leader strips, "rollable" windows, canoe on the float version, etc, etc. BTW, the float version is the best handling float in FSX to date IMHO (taxiing, take-offs and landings). I love the big old radial, so I don't fly the Ranger version that much, but hey, it's there if I wanted to. I couldn't find anything wrong with it so far :) Great work again Bill, keep it up! Dan

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SYSTEMS UNLIMITED - FS CAPTAIN

SYSTEMS UNLIMITED - FS CAPTAIN

I've been using FSPassengers for years, but its focus on earning money and micromanaging everything wasn't the sort of thing I was looking for. It was rather a stop-gap for me. Now FSCaptain is something different. It provides continuous work load in the cockpit. It's beautifully integrated into FSX with a professional-looking gauge that's easy to use and has no performance hit. It took some fiddling to set up the load map for 3rd party aircraft, but they made it as easy as possible (well-explained in the manual). I've spent about 20 minutes, and I had an airline set up (based on a real world one - schedule included). I love the background sounds, and the way you can interact with the airline dispatch, crew and passengers. I find the score system very realistic, and challenging (you can customize that too). Another nice feature is that you can request weather, runway and gate information from dispatch, you even get weather warnings filed by other pilots. It keeps me busy and entertained for the whole flight. Flying became a much more rewarding experience. Thanks guys! Dan

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LIONHEART CREATIONS  - PIPER PACER SUPER PACK FSX P3D

LIONHEART CREATIONS - PIPER PACER SUPER PACK FSX P3D

This is a fantastic little package, with a diverse range of aircraft, something for everyone. I love the range of VCs that you can choose. Also with programming tricks, the developer went the extra mile to create seomthing that hasn't been created before (changing glass surface, gear fairings, etc with a click of the mouse from the VC). The flight characteristics are amazing. It needs quite some input on take-off/landing, but that perfectly aligns with description in the articles I found about this plane. It has an atmosphere, it lives. The night lighting in the cockpit is perfectly balanced - it's not too dark, not too bright. All planes have slightly different handling based on the model. Some developers use the same air file for all variants, but this definitely not the case here. The only reason I gave only five stars is the sound mapping. It doesn't have custom sounds (I was aware of this before buying it), it's mapped to the default Maule sound. I decided to buy the Arezone Cessna 172 sounds for it (sam O-320 engine) and it works very nicely with it. Add AccuFeel and you've got a real living and realistic add-on! Good on you guys!

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JUSTFLIGHT - 146-200/300 JETLINER

JUSTFLIGHT - 146-200/300 JETLINER

I love this plane, IMHO it's one of the best from Justflight yet. I like the old-school steam gauges, and the fact that 95% of the systems are simulated. The other 5% can't be simulated due to the limitations of FSX itself. The manual and the tutorial flight are nicely written include heaps of screenshot. The handling is nice, it is very easy to hand-fly this bird and perform co-ordinated turns. Approach is very manageable although engine management on the final needs some practicing. With the use of airbrakes and spoilers I could do extremely steep approaches and stop the plane in very short distance. This is a bushpilot's jet :) There are only 2 minor things that I "didn't like" in this packages, but they're both easily fixed: 1.) The documentation doesn't include an explanation of how these systems work, hence clicking all the buttons and configuring the systems as per the checklist doesn't have a real purpose behind it. Easy fix: Download the freeware BAE Panel Project FSX package (http://www.baepanelproject.com/files/ml146v41.zip). It has a very detailed system explanation in a pdf format. 2.) As most of us, I fly using the Virtual Cockpit only. Some of the functions (like doors, stairs, GPU) are only accessible via the 2D panel, and due to the number of the sub-panels you won't be able to bring them up using quick shortcuts. Easy fix (for this you need some experience with panel.cfg): Choose the panels you'll need on a regular basis, and find them in panel.cfg. Re-number them and remove the others. As a result you'll have those important panels available at your fingertip. My setup is : 1-Overhead 2-GPS 3-GPU 4-Pedestal Dan

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AREZONE - PIPER SUPER-CUB SOUNDSET

AREZONE - PIPER SUPER-CUB SOUNDSET

Unfortunately this was a bit of a disappointment for me. I purchased Arezone's Cessna Caravan sound pack a while ago and that was amazingly high quality, but this SuperCub is far from being amazing. The sounds are rather low quality, and when you push the throttle to full forward, the transition between idle and high rpm is rather unrealistic. I still love their other sounds but I wouldn't recommend this one. Dan

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AREZONE - CESSNA CARAVAN 208

AREZONE - CESSNA CARAVAN 208

I purchased this sound for Carenado's Caravan. The original Carenado sound is very nice and high quality too, however it's a bit too harsh and sharp to my taste, and make me feel like I sit in the engine compartment. Arezone's sound is a lot smoother, you can hear the air hissing in the cockpit, and generally it's closer to the real world experience (I flew a Caravan 5-6 times las year). Overall, I'm absolutely happy with the product, keep up the good work guys! Dan

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