The A2A Cherokee 180 is out

[brett 2,315]

Couldn't find the actual press release of A2A's Piper Cherokee 180 but I am downloading it now.  (yes, I'm excited  )

 

If you haven't seen it yet, here's the video.

 

[britfrog 180]

Must admit this is tempting, will see what people make of it

[mutley 4,498]

Looks like a must-have for me 

[stu7708 244]

For me too...

[UKJim 502]

Going from the 172 - if it is anything like the 172 (which I believe it is) then this is a must for any GA single prop fans! Still my favourite addon developer A2A

[stu7708 244]

Just realized something Brett...

 

You managed to buy it before they posted the press release on their Facebook page 

[rosariomanzo 545]

Got it and Flying it right now

[UKJim 502]

I'm jealous - I have not been flying lately due to other things taking priority but with the release of this plane it makes me want it so bad hehe

[britfrog 180]

I am blown away by this plane , I would go as far as to say it is the best reproduction of a plane made thus far for FSX it is miles better than their C172 and IMHO a closer representation of an a/c than even PMDG, so far (after only an hour or so)  I cannot fault it.

 

[edit}  the only fault that I can see (and the 172 is the same) is the constant need to use the rudder in straight and level flight, which is not necessary in the real a/c

[UKJim 502]

I am blown away by this plane , I would go as far as to say it is the best reproduction of a plane made thus far for FSX it is miles better than their C172 and IMHO a closer representation of an a/c than even PMDG, so far (after only an hour or so)  I cannot fault it.

 

[edit}  the only fault that I can see (and the 172 is the same) is the constant need to use the rudder in straight and level flight, which is not necessary in the real a/c

 

 

Just curious - how does this differ from the 172? IMO the 172 was amazing and you're saying this bad boy is better - I need to know now

[stu7708 244]

Picked it up last night, but haven't had time to try it yet...

 

Hoping to get to try it later on tonight once we're done celebrating my sons 4th birthday.

[britfrog 180]

hi jim

this is not just my opimion but one shared on many sites , but i do agree with them

the 172 that they portray is a 4 cylinder model of 140-150 hp  however the internal engine sound is more like the earlier continental engined (6 cyl) , ie very smooth

also the performance and climb rates are more like the earlier a/c as well, the later 4 cyl planes climbed quite well. plus the stall speed is miles off there is no way a 172 can get off the ground at the speed that the sim one can.

 

if you ever fly an a/c that you are not 100% au fait with the guages will give you a good idea of where things should be, for example engine rpm at the top of the green should give you an airspeed at the top of the green the a2a doesnt

if you fly an aicraft with a wobbly prop top of the greens on engine and prop will give you an airspeed at the top of the green, unless there is a problem of course.

 

other than that the 172 is ok , it is just that the pa28 is better

[UKJim 502]

Oh OK cool - I am surprised they made these errors though as they did use a 172 for their testing and design work - I do not know enough about it to make comment. I will take your (and others) words for it

 

I love the styling of the piper cherokee - with retractable gear too makes the experience a little bit more realistic too. 

 

Damn I'm getting convinced now - I need this

 

Happy Birthday to your son Mikael

[britfrog 180]

Sorry Jim,

this is just the "cooking" cherry tree the legs stay down, welded in place, no doubt they have plans for a PA28R for the future

[mutley 4,498]

Good news - This is now available from Just Flight so you can use your Just Rewards points! 

[Quickmarch 488]

Got it last night and started reading the manual. I'll try to free up a bit of time this afternoon or this evening to fly the little rascal.

 

I've got hours and hours in the real thing, mostly PA28-161 (Warrior II) and PA28-180 (Archer). I graduated to the Arrow series (R-200 Arrow II and R-201 Arrow III) and flew both variants for several years before buying a Mooney.

 

The FBO where I learned to fly was the Southern Ontario Piper Dealer, so there was always lots of variation in the rental fleet.

 

It will be interesting to see how familiar the aircraft seems in the sim. My last Cherokee flight was about 1986.

[mutley 4,498]

Wow, I would be very interested to hear your opinion March.

[brett 2,315]

Just realized something Brett...

 

You managed to buy it before they posted the press release on their Facebook page 

 

I have a feeling that they give the folks that are regular visitors to their site a bit of an edge for purchase before they post an actual press release. That would be my only guess. I just happened to be looking something up when I saw the new forum thread. 

 

I haven't had a chance to fly it yet either, my daughter just gave birth to our new grandson and we are watching her daughter while she is in the hospital with the proud daddy staying with her there, plus traveling back and forth to same. It has convinced me that having kids is a young person's game, I'm wiped out.

 

I am sure this plane will be just as much fun as the C172 and just as accurate. A2A makes some of the best aircraft out there, not only on the way they are beautifully modeled on the outside and in but on they way they preform during flight. The company has a great reputation for customer service and also in trying to get their planes to work on everybody's system. They have also shown that they continually update their products, not like a few companies where it is like pulling teeth to get them to fix even obvious mistakes.  

 

@Nigel- There has been much back and forth on their forums about the rate of climb on the C172, mostly from RW pilots(some with low hours). They also have tested this on two different RW aircraft, using the same model series and have found this to be spot on during their testing. Maybe other models climb at different rates when using the same trim settings, I don't know. You can check out the forums over at A2A to see what has already been hashed out or bring up a new topic but be prepared to get into a never ending debate. If they make all their tests and results using a RW aircraft then I tend to believe them or at least give them the benefit of doubt.

 

Don't forget to get the latest update core from them, v2.0, on the C172.      

[Quickmarch 488]

[edit} the only fault that I can see (and the 172 is the same) is the constant need to use the rudder in straight and level flight, which is not necessary in the real a/c

I agree, Nigel. Maybe what we're missing is the ability to go to the rudder or aileron and put a bit more twist in the little fixed trim tab. (Don't try this at home -at least, not while the A&P is watching)

[Quickmarch 488]

Flew it last night. It's a very good representation of the Piper Cherokee. It brought back a lot of memories and flew reasonably well in the bargain.

 

At first it was a bit unfamiliar until I realised I hadn't flown the PA28-140 for an awful long time. This 160 is a model that I never flew in the seventies and is a 140 on steroids. What is unusual to me is the switchgear and the throttle/mixture controls. Obviously, by the time the PA28 had morphed into the 161 the throttle was a T-shaped handle in the middle of the lower panel with a red knob to the right of it for mixture. This set of controls carried right up into the retractables except that a center-mounted blue knob was added to the a/c with constant-speed props. The switchgear was always rocker-style except in the older 140's.

 

Still to solve:

 

(BF noted a tendency to fall off to port) This is really annoying. In the RW a/c, torque and P-factor will send it left under full throttle during the takeoff run. However, that is the last time you'll notice this tendency under "normal" flying conditions. These aircraft can be trimmed to fly "hands off" at cruise power, using only the elevator trim. I found that the available rudder trim did not have sufficient authority to solve the problem.

 

Speaking of trims - I had a devil of a time trying to trim this aircraft. Almost impossible, in fact. I think there's something I skimmed over in the POH or there is a need to use the built-in joystick calibration stuff. I use a simple Logitech joystick and assign the elevator trim (in FSX) to a couple of buttons beside the hat switch. The overhead handle turns readily when I depress either of the trim buttons on my joystick but the aircraft doesn't seem to pay attention. I'll check on the A2A forum for any references to this issue (and the turning tendency) as it is no fun to hand-fly 100% of the time.

 

I'm not going to get much opportunity to play for the next little while as we have visitors moving in for a few days. I will keep an eye on this space in case anyone at Mutley's can resolve the problem. Incidentally, I checked the aircraft.cfg file and here's what it has to say about elevator trim: "elevator_trim_effectiveness=0". Usually when a line in the config file equals zero it means the aircraft doesn't have that feature.

 

EDIT - See http://a2asimulations.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=116&t=40424#p303698

 

Interesting that this should be posted today. I'm going looking for the other trim thread that is referred to in the text.

 

Another EDIT - See http://a2asimulations.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=115&t=40237&p=303161&hilit=trim#p302467

 

I am not a proponent of using FSUIPC, LINDA or any other third party widgets. I've had more success with FSX by simply using the built-in "Settings" (this may be due to my use of a simple joystick). I'll keep at it - next is to load and try the A2A Toolkit that came with the download. There is a section there for adjusting the elevator trim. Hopefully any changes made in this software will stick to the PA28-160 without causing issues in other aircraft.

 

**Note: the solution does not lie with the Toolkit Software.

 

EDIT #3 - Managed another hour in the circuit. The elevator trim DOES actually work - it's just slower than the second coming. Rudder trim at 4.0 ® keeps the a/c pretty much on course with no wing drop. The elev trim issue is discussed in the reference forum post, above. I haven't gotten into enough detail to find out if anyone has worked out how to speed it up. IMHO this is one area where the dev should be getting onboard. It is the only thing I've found, so far, that is a major departure from the RW a/c behaviour.

 

Other than that - it's a gem - looks and sounds very much like the real thing and performs as expected (a 160 HP motor fitted to a 140 HP airplane). My memory isn't good enough to recall the exact figures for the 161, but suffice to say that it (the 160) is a major improvement on the 140.

[Quantum 3]

Absolutely love it!

 

Have put 10 hours on it already.   In my opinion it is quite a step up from the C172, especially the VC which is a lot nicer IMHO.     Flies a lot nicer too!

 

.......and those sounds.

 

Hard to envisage flying any other GA for a good while.

 

One thing that can definitely catch you out, is forgetting to switch fuel tanks (L>R) during flight, which results in a lop-sided plane that trimming will not fix!   

[mutley 4,498]

Thanks for the update Dean, I hope to get mine soon and will look out for these 'features'!

@March and BF, just the sort of feedback we need about the product, thanks.

[Quickmarch 488]

See edits to my post on page 1 of this thread.

 

I got another hour on the rascal and it's improving quickly as I get used to its idiosyncrasies.

 

Lovely sim.

 

PS: I managed to flatten the battery (forgot the fuel selector). What was that about checklists? 

[stu7708 244]

Took it out for a flight last week, and really enjoyed the plane...

 

The weather was a totally different subject... cloud base at about 800 feet for most of the flight.. and a strong cross wind from the north on top of that... good thing I was flying over very flat land  

 

Flightplan

 

ESOW - ARL - NTL - EFMA

 

But I drifted off that plan on many occasions while trying to get my bearings in the clouds.... Ended up tuning the MAR VOR at my destination long before I passed NTL to find my way  

[britfrog 180]

for those that want to see what this a/c is like froogle has made 2 videos on it