The Catalina is an American flying boat from
the 1930’s and 40’s. It was one of the most widely used
multi-role aircraft of WWII serving with every branch of the US
military. They were used as anti-submarine warfare, patrol
bombing and convoy escorts as well as many other roles. It was
the most successful aircraft of its kind and the last active
military Catalina's were not retired until 1980. Even today some
still fly as air tankers in aerial fire fighting operations all
over the world. The PBY stands for Patrol Bomber (PB) and the Y
stands for Consolidated, as designated in the US Navy Aircraft
designation system of 1922.
When Aerosoft released this aircraft my initial reaction was
that it might not sell in huge numbers, how wrong I was. It was
an immediate hit with the FS community and much praise has been
heaped upon the developers. Is that praise justified? Let’s take
a look...
The Catalina is available as a download (€27.95) or as a boxed
product (€29.99) from the Aerosoft website. The download, by
today’s standards, is relatively small at 300mb but the install
size is a whopping 1.1gb. I was fortunate enough to be given a
download copy for the purposes of this review, and whilst it was
downloading I took time to have a look at the feature list:
For your hard earned money you will get 11 different models
based on the PBY-5, 5A and 6A all of which have different flight
behaviour that has been checked against all available data and
by current Catalina pilots, one operator is even using the
add-on for training during the winter. You are given 2 different
cockpits; one for the 1940’s and 50’s and one as the aircraft
are flown today with modern radio and GPS equipment. Not
forgetting to mention the excellent sound set and the Aerosoft
Sound Module which adds sounds to switches, controls and other
events. The sound module may not appear to be anything
impressive, but after working from the cockpit in the Catalina
and switching back to an aircraft without this sound module, it
is apparent how much more realistic the experience is by using
it.
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Aerosoft boast that by using some additional coding they have
been able to design the Catalina to be more realistic when
operating from water, and after many water take-offs and
landings, I can verify that she does behave much more
realistically (based upon how I would expect something to handle
on water) than the default aircraft. Last but not least is the
colossal 400 page manual! I have complex airliner add-ons with
smaller operating manuals. Thankfully though most of the
information you will need to get up and flying can be found
within the first 28 pages. The rest next 72 pages are devoted to
explaining the modern GPS system and the remaining 300 pages are
taken from an actual PBY Catalina operating manual. Aerosoft
believe that their version is as close to perfect as can be
compared to the real thing, so have included this extra manual
for some light reading (!). The GPS manual, as far as I could
tell, is more or less the same as the GPS manual from the
Twotter, so I did not read this part as I felt I already knew
enough to be able to operate it.
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When you first load up in FSX I can assure you that the quality
of the virtual cockpit will leave you open mouthed. I don’t
think I have seen a better VC in FSX yet. The detailing is
exquisite with all the 3d instruments easily readable with no
jagged edges visible, a true masterpiece. Using Track IR with
this aircraft is a must (if you do not have Track IR you are
missing out on a great experience flying from the VC). It is
very easy to sit in the cockpit and pan around selecting the
relevant switches from the different sub-panels to get you
going. If you do not have Track IR you can still pan around the
cockpit using the hat key, or by using the pop-up panels to make
it easier. The vintage model comes with a realistic simulation
of the Sperry autopilot, with the modern versions. Unless you
are planning a long flight I don’t think there is any need to
use the autopilot, the flight handling is superb and she is a
joy to fly by hand.
It may come as a surprise to some, but this aircraft can be
harder to get fired up that some of her modern counterparts.
Thankfully you can take the ‘easy’ option with the engines or
opt for realistic engine management. This can all be done from
the interactive checklist within the cockpit. I really enjoyed
this part of the add-on as it felt I had someone there with me
during the procedures. After selecting which engine management
set-up you want for your flight you can then work your way
through the checklist, when you perform the action and click the
check box your virtual co-pilot will confirm this with ‘check’.
Work your way down the checklist and soon enough you are ready
to fly. If you still struggle to get the engines started there
is a video tutorial on YouTube (linked from the Catalina product
page) which shows you how it should be done). A word of warning
though, if you opt for the realistic engine management be
prepared to keep an eye on all those gauges. If you mis-treat
the engines they will fail on you. The correct operating
procedures are all outlined in the manual, so read up on them
before you take to the skies.
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The external model is something quite different to my normal
aircraft. She is so ugly it is untrue, but that ugliness over
time becomes beauty as you come to appreciate this stunning
external model. The lines are very smooth as we have come to
expect from high quality developers and the liveries are great
too. The major plus point is I noticed no impact on my frame
rates despite using an aircraft as detailed as this.
The flight handling of the Catalina is fantastic, she flies bang
on the published numbers. Setting the climb/cruise/descent
settings as stated in the interactive checklist will yield
results in line with what the manual states. I was a little
surprised at first how slow she flew, cruise speeds are a little
over 100kts, but this just gives you more time to enjoy the
flight. I have flown lots of flights in her, mainly island
hopping around the Bahamas and each flight has been fantastic.
It was a welcome change from using aircraft with a pop-up GPS
panel to show me where I was to fly in the Catalina and use
proper piloting to navigate around the islands. The flights may
only have been short, but there was more action packed into them
than I would get from flying a 737 from London to Rome.
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As you will have probably guessed I highly recommend this
add-on. I think that there would be something for everyone in it
and it can be as involved as you want it to be. Perhaps one day
you just want to get airborne and not bother with the realistic
engine management, all you need to do is select these options
from the checklist. Flying the aircraft by hand is a lot of fun,
and is the way it should be done in my opinion. She flies bang
on the numbers so you can be sure you won’t be getting any nasty
surprises along the way and the stunning looks and exquisite
virtual cockpit all make this package the best add-on aircraft I
own in my FSX hangar!
/ROB SCOTT
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System Requirements
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