PBT Catalina
For FSX Published by Aerosoft
Reviewed by Rob Scott
August 2009

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.

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.


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

      
      System Requirements
  • Microsoft Flight Simulator X (SP2 or Acceleration)
  • 2Gb RAM and above
  • 512 Mb DirectX 9 graphics card
  • Intel Core 2 Duo CPU (2x 2666Mhz) or equivalent (Core 2 Quad CPU recommended)
  • Windows XP / Vista / Windows7 with the latest Service Packs (Vista not recommended)
  • Download size 300Mb
  • 1.1 Gb hard drive space
  • Wheel mouse