Flying the Hercules

The first thing that strikes you, when you ease the power levers forward, and begin to taxi the C-130, is the impression of mass. The developer has, without doubt, succeeded in capturing the feel of manoeuvring a fully laden C-130.  A little too much speed on the taxiway and you can fully expect the wings to dip in the turn, apply the brakes, and it takes a while for the hydraulically operated multi-disc units to convert the kinetic energy into heat and bring the aircraft to a halt.  Set the flaps to 50% for a maximum effort climb out, or try a super steep tactical approach, either way, the illusion of flying the real aircraft is maintained.

In regard to hand flying, the C-130 is quite frankly outstanding; in fact it’s one of the best add-ons in this respect that I’ve come across. It is, quite simply, a pleasure to switch off the autopilot and hand fly any phase of the flight. The rudder in particular is very well modelled, unlike many flight simulator add-ons that are deficient in this regard.

The approach phase doesn’t disappoint either, with the C-130’s inertia very well modelled, unlike some flight simulator aircraft that seem to fly as if they are on rails.  The Hercules truly does instil a profound sense of realism, as if the virtual pilot really were flying a large military transport with a typical landing weight of 130.000lbs.

The autopilot on board the C-130 is an archaic affair, with simple altitude hold, heading hold and indicated airspeed hold functions. However, despite this, it is perfectly adequate for the task at hand and provides all of the functionality required. In addition, the ILS localiser can be tracked and so can the glideslope.

I did encounter one or two minor issues. The GPWS (Ground Proximity Warning System) frequently bellowed ‘Don’t Sink’ despite a perfectly stabilised approach, the optional EICAS (Engine Indications and Crew Alert System) was non-functional and the Smiths Autopilot IAS Hold (Indicated Airspeed Hold) function was somewhat erratic in its operation, inducing rapid oscillations as if the system was rapidly hunting for the IAS.
    
With the limited experience I’ve had with this add-on, it would be wrong to definitively state that the issues above are software bugs. The minor problems I encountered may of course have been related to my inexperience with the product.

Sound

 Included with the product is the Creative Labs ‘Open AL’ cross-platform, audio API, designed for efficient rendering of multichannel three dimensional positional audio. I can confirm that the addition of Open AL seems to make a significant contribution to the sound package. Hit the ‘S’ key and switch to the left wing view and the drone from those four Allison T56-A-7/15/16 constant speed turboprop engines is phenomenal.

Performance

I reviewed the Just Flight C-130 on a system equipped with a Core 2 Duo E6700 overclocked to 3.3 GHz, 2GB of DDR2 and an nVidia 7900gtx graphics card. With traffic set low and Autogen on sparse, to compensate for the inordinate demands FSX places on ones system, I achieved 40 frames per second, in clear weather, at a less than complex airport. Performance was not an issue at all on my system.

Summary

Captain Sim has to be commended, for their interpretation of the C-130 Hercules in particular a superb rendition of the aircrafts exterior, and Just Flight should be applauded for managing to provide this fine product on DVD at such exceptional value for money. Yes, I would have liked a full glass cockpit available in the ‘J’ and ‘H’ variants but hopefully Captain Sim will see fit to release such an addition some time in the future. It has to be considered, that I am not generally very enthusiastic in regard to antiquated aircraft and systems, much preferring the modern glass cockpit of an Airbus, or the latest avionics in a corporate jet. So the fact that I rapidly became addicted to the Just Flight C-130 is a testament to the quality of the product. And if the add-on was suddenly deleted from my system and the DVD made a mysterious disappearance, I’d order another copy in an instant.

System Requirements

Flight Simulator FSX (Acceleration/SP2 compatible and SP2 DX10 preview compatible)
3.0 GHz PC
1.0Gb RAM
128MB 3D graphics card
Windows XP/Vista
Hard drive space: 5.0Gb
DVD ROM drive

/Martin Wilby

Links
Just Flight Home page :: C-130 Product page :: User forum

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