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Skybird · 12-25-12, 09:01 PM

I spend this evening telling Santa post-christmas what he should have brought me in the first, and after pushing him around, he finally did, I got myself a Beechcraft Turbine Duke by RealAir. Time for doing something small in FSX, after I left the smaller planes so far behind when abvandoning FS9.

And it is wonderful. Looks have been improved over the original package (Piston Duke), there is more wear and tear in the cockpit and on the windows, its less sterile. As usual with Realair, the flightmodel is convincing and feels right, I do not claim it is realistic since I cannot compare it to reality - I refer to many people who can compare it, saying that it is as close to the real plane as can be done within the inherent limits of FSX. The gauges are super-smooth and once again setting benchmarks for smoothness in the FS world (RealAir is famous for that). The VC is superb and clear and crispy. And the soundpackage is one of the best I have ever heard for smaller planes in the FS world, it is a pleasure to listen to the engines humming powerful in cockpit. Don't know if they sound realistic, but they sound nice. This could be the best-sounding small aircraft I ever have used, maybe.

Compared to the most likely rival in this plane category of twin engined turboprops, the Piper Cheyenne by Digital Aviation, I would say that both represent the frontline in quality addons for smaller planes in FS. The Cheyenne has more light atmosphere in the nightly cockpit ( that planes begs to be flown at night), but the plane is more difficult to fly, and due to the cockpit layout some things like the Autopilot are more difficult to handle in the Cheyenne, since in the Duke same functions are locate in more accessible parts of panels. Both planes have this in common: they do not like to slow done and thus your descent and approach have to be planned carefully. The Turbine Duke produces a hilarious ammount of lift, you can operate from extremely short runways (different to the older Duke before).

I always stayed away from Carenado addons, since too often I read how eye candy they are, but their flight models being questionable, and dubious. It seems they have improved now with their latest "HD" range of planes, and I considered the KingAir C90 by them, due to the nice cockpit lighting. On the other hands, I had experiences with RealAir before (Spitfire and SIAI SF.260), they are amongst the best, if not THE best, for flight models of small planes, can spin and stall, and I knew what expectation I could hope to see fulfilled - and the delivered right the list I had, not more, and not less.

As always with RealAir, documentation is welldone, and correct, and setup is a breeze.

Round and perfect package. I consider the Cheyenne and the Turbine Duke to be the best recommendations you can give for FS addons regarding twin-engined private planes. Reading around the web found that many peoplel seem to agree with this. The twin engined small default planes in FSX do not compare, in no way. Their Flightmodels are terrible, and too sensitive to input comands)

XP reality systems can be integrated into the virtual cockpit - the sim is prepared to fully integrate them, if oyu have their systems. - Oh, and yes - the RealAir Duke has no 2D cockpit, is virtual from A to Z.

If you consider the Duke for a buy, make sure you get the Turbine Duke, not the one year older Piston Duke they did before, it is technically as good, but the VC is more sterile in the first version and it is putting stress on frames for some people (where the Turbine Duke is supersmooth), it has no wear and tear on textures in cockpit, and the modelled engines make it a less powerful plane. I cannot say which to prefer, the Cheyenne or the Duke, they are both so very good, but I can say that the Cheyenne is more difficult to fly, not due to flaws in the flight model, but because it seems the real Cheyenne indeed is more difficult to fly as well. The Duke appears to be more agile, and wellbehaved. Enroute, both planes do not make any problems, but you realise the changes in behaviour when slowing down and preparing to land. The Duke is easier to land in difficult crosswinds or stormy winds, than the Cheyenne.

Worth to mention is that the package offers a tunable random engine failure option (5 probability settings), and also an engine model that reacts to mistreating the engines and can result in smoking problems, too. Keep an eye on those engine gauges!

http://mutleyshangar.com/reviews/joe/rtd/rtd.htm

http://www.avsim.com/pages/0711/RealAir/Duke.html

12-25-12, 09:01 PM	#1
Skybird Soaring Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: the mental asylum named Germany Posts: 40,517 Downloads: 9 Uploads: 0	Beechcraft Turbine Duke I spend this evening telling Santa post-christmas what he should have brought me in the first, and after pushing him around, he finally did, I got myself a Beechcraft Turbine Duke by RealAir. Time for doing something small in FSX, after I left the smaller planes so far behind when abvandoning FS9. And it is wonderful. Looks have been improved over the original package (Piston Duke), there is more wear and tear in the cockpit and on the windows, its less sterile. As usual with Realair, the flightmodel is convincing and feels right, I do not claim it is realistic since I cannot compare it to reality - I refer to many people who can compare it, saying that it is as close to the real plane as can be done within the inherent limits of FSX. The gauges are super-smooth and once again setting benchmarks for smoothness in the FS world (RealAir is famous for that). The VC is superb and clear and crispy. And the soundpackage is one of the best I have ever heard for smaller planes in the FS world, it is a pleasure to listen to the engines humming powerful in cockpit. Don't know if they sound realistic, but they sound nice. This could be the best-sounding small aircraft I ever have used, maybe. Compared to the most likely rival in this plane category of twin engined turboprops, the Piper Cheyenne by Digital Aviation, I would say that both represent the frontline in quality addons for smaller planes in FS. The Cheyenne has more light atmosphere in the nightly cockpit ( that planes begs to be flown at night), but the plane is more difficult to fly, and due to the cockpit layout some things like the Autopilot are more difficult to handle in the Cheyenne, since in the Duke same functions are locate in more accessible parts of panels. Both planes have this in common: they do not like to slow done and thus your descent and approach have to be planned carefully. The Turbine Duke produces a hilarious ammount of lift, you can operate from extremely short runways (different to the older Duke before). I always stayed away from Carenado addons, since too often I read how eye candy they are, but their flight models being questionable, and dubious. It seems they have improved now with their latest "HD" range of planes, and I considered the KingAir C90 by them, due to the nice cockpit lighting. On the other hands, I had experiences with RealAir before (Spitfire and SIAI SF.260), they are amongst the best, if not THE best, for flight models of small planes, can spin and stall, and I knew what expectation I could hope to see fulfilled - and the delivered right the list I had, not more, and not less. As always with RealAir, documentation is welldone, and correct, and setup is a breeze. Round and perfect package. I consider the Cheyenne and the Turbine Duke to be the best recommendations you can give for FS addons regarding twin-engined private planes. Reading around the web found that many peoplel seem to agree with this. The twin engined small default planes in FSX do not compare, in no way. Their Flightmodels are terrible, and too sensitive to input comands) XP reality systems can be integrated into the virtual cockpit - the sim is prepared to fully integrate them, if oyu have their systems. - Oh, and yes - the RealAir Duke has no 2D cockpit, is virtual from A to Z. If you consider the Duke for a buy, make sure you get the Turbine Duke, not the one year older Piston Duke they did before, it is technically as good, but the VC is more sterile in the first version and it is putting stress on frames for some people (where the Turbine Duke is supersmooth), it has no wear and tear on textures in cockpit, and the modelled engines make it a less powerful plane. I cannot say which to prefer, the Cheyenne or the Duke, they are both so very good, but I can say that the Cheyenne is more difficult to fly, not due to flaws in the flight model, but because it seems the real Cheyenne indeed is more difficult to fly as well. The Duke appears to be more agile, and wellbehaved. Enroute, both planes do not make any problems, but you realise the changes in behaviour when slowing down and preparing to land. The Duke is easier to land in difficult crosswinds or stormy winds, than the Cheyenne. Worth to mention is that the package offers a tunable random engine failure option (5 probability settings), and also an engine model that reacts to mistreating the engines and can result in smoking problems, too. Keep an eye on those engine gauges! http://mutleyshangar.com/reviews/joe/rtd/rtd.htm http://www.avsim.com/pages/0711/RealAir/Duke.html __________________ If you feel nuts, consult an expert. Last edited by Skybird; 12-26-12 at 06:20 AM.