Product Review Carenado Piper PA-31 'Navajo'

[mutley 4,497]

 

Just published is Andrew Godden's review or Carenado's Piper PA-31 'Navajo'

 

This very popular twin aircraft was used extensively in the corporate market. So what's this simulation like? Read on...

[Captain Coffee 2,030]

Another fine review Andrew...thanks for taking the time to poke into all the fiddly corners of these new releases.

 

I am curious though...why did you only score the "Interior Model" at only 8.5/10 when you made no negative comments about it, and the only Con mentioned in the Verdict is the ADF gauge. The interior looks gorgeous frankly in your screen shots. Whats up with that? That relatively lowish score probably kept this plane from a Mutley's Gold Medal.

Was it just because of the Battery Off / Interior Lights On issue? Or was their something disappointing overall about the interior that you didn't mention?

 

As an aside to that Battery/Light issue, it made me wonder if airplanes ever have "House" batteries like boats do, a dedicated battery or battery bank intended to run DC lights and systems/inverters while not charging, to prevent draining your Motor Starting Battery/Main? Seems like that could be a good feature on something like a Bush Plane to provide some power for camping or tools via an ACinverter while out in the wilderness without having to run the motor battery down.

 

Cheers.

Matt.

[Corsaire31 419]

Thanks for the review Andrew.  I had to make a choice, and after reading a few forums ( and also because my hangar is mostly filled with Cessnas ) I went first for the Alabeo C 404. The Titan is also delivered with an australian registration and fits in my winter adventure.

[mutley 4,497]

Hi Matt,

 

Thanks for the feedback...

 

To answer your question, from my point of view, sometimes first impressions influence our decisions throughout and unless the product delivers something to change that first impression then it often influences the reviewers final opinion. As ever, it's subjective and can only be taken in context to the reviewers expectations.

 

Personally, I had to have this aircraft as I have flown in a real one many times and it's great to re-live those flights and memories. 

 

Cheers 

[Captain Coffee 2,030]

I want this, but can't budget for it just now. I am quite enamored of twins at the moment.

I have an FSD version, which turned out to be fantastic for Airhauler in terms of speed and cargo so I know this would be a good plane for my hangar. Adding to the list...sigh.

 

I agree any review will be subjective of course. One can get quite scientific about some aspects of these models, as Andrew does checking the calibration of instrument and nav functions, but when it comes to the "artwork" aspects of a model and one's feelings of how it "simulates" it is certainly more subjective than science. Just would have liked to see why it was scored so much lower and find out what "disappointed" the reviewer in that regard. It might disappoint me too, or I might not mind that aspect that the reviewer didn't like.

 

Cheers.

[brett 2,314]

Great review Andrew,  the cockpit works look really well done. The interior isn't as nice as some that I have seen but still a shame to see those cargo guys haulin' cartons of fish in it.

[Andrew Godden 943]

Another fine review Andrew...thanks for taking the time to poke into all the fiddly corners of these new releases.

 

I am curious though...why did you only score the "Interior Model" at only 8.5/10 when you made no negative comments about it, and the only Con mentioned in the Verdict is the ADF gauge. The interior looks gorgeous frankly in your screen shots. Whats up with that? That relatively lowish score probably kept this plane from a Mutley's Gold Medal.

Was it just because of the Battery Off / Interior Lights On issue? Or was their something disappointing overall about the interior that you didn't mention?

 

As an aside to that Battery/Light issue, it made me wonder if airplanes ever have "House" batteries like boats do, a dedicated battery or battery bank intended to run DC lights and systems/inverters while not charging, to prevent draining your Motor Starting Battery/Main? Seems like that could be a good feature on something like a Bush Plane to provide some power for camping or tools via an ACinverter while out in the wilderness without having to run the motor battery down.

 

Cheers.

Matt.

 

 

I want this, but can't budget for it just now. I am quite enamored of twins at the moment.

I have an FSD version, which turned out to be fantastic for Airhauler in terms of speed and cargo so I know this would be a good plane for my hangar. Adding to the list...sigh.

 

I agree any review will be subjective of course. One can get quite scientific about some aspects of these models, as Andrew does checking the calibration of instrument and nav functions, but when it comes to the "artwork" aspects of a model and one's feelings of how it "simulates" it is certainly more subjective than science. Just would have liked to see why it was scored so much lower and find out what "disappointed" the reviewer in that regard. It might disappoint me too, or I might not mind that aspect that the reviewer didn't like.

 

Cheers.

 

Everyone,

 

Thanks for the positive comments.  There are days when it is difficult to maintain a positive outlook and your comments always help.

 

Matt, to your comments specifically.

 

Firstly, I always try to maintain a degree of objectivity in my reviews, hence the rather technical and detailed approach.  Whenever I review an aircraft, the assessment of the interior is more than just about the aesthetics.  Whilst they are important in producing a crisp cockpit with clear readable instruments, the functioning of the flight instruments, both primary and secondary, are also very important from my perspective.  You can have a great looking interior, but if I fundamentally can't fly the aircraft because of instruments I can't read or are non functional, then the product fails, big time.

 

This is the case with the Piper PA-31 'Navajo'.  The error with the ADF gauge means there are limitations using NDB NAVAIDS when flying.  This might seem relatively insignificant given VOR and GPS navigation techniques, however, there are still many countries where NDBs are still a major navigation source.  They are also still used for flying NDB approaches.

 

Secondly, this is also a recurring problem with the gauge set Carenado are using for their aircraft, as it has been evident in a number of their releases which use this gauge.  Furthermore, it is exactly the same problem with the Alabeo products.  Clearly, there are very thin 'Chinese walls' between the two when it comes to sharing gauge sets (which is not surprising).  Neither have sort to rectify this recurring problem over the various product releases and I find this extremely poor form.  I assume that the problem relates to a coding issue with the gauge, and one which I think be could corrected relatively easily.

 

The big question is, will Carenado / Alabeo ever do us the basic common courtesy of correcting it and issuing a patch.

 

This is why the interior only rates an 8.5 and why the product overall only gets a Silver Award.

 

Cheers

Andrew

[Corsaire31 419]

Andrew, I agree with your comments about Carenado/Alabeo not releasing a corrective patch ( may be not enough people protesting on the specialized forums ? ).

 

Fortunately it's not totally broken as you still can use the NDB for homing, or by calculating its bearing relatively to your own heading.  I know I will need to use them during my Aussie tour for the planes not equipped with GPS.

[Captain Coffee 2,030]

 

Another fine review Andrew...thanks for taking the time to poke into all the fiddly corners of these new releases.

 

I am curious though...why did you only score the "Interior Model" at only 8.5/10 when you made no negative comments about it, and the only Con mentioned in the Verdict is the ADF gauge. The interior looks gorgeous frankly in your screen shots. Whats up with that? That relatively lowish score probably kept this plane from a Mutley's Gold Medal.

Was it just because of the Battery Off / Interior Lights On issue? Or was their something disappointing overall about the interior that you didn't mention?

 

As an aside to that Battery/Light issue, it made me wonder if airplanes ever have "House" batteries like boats do, a dedicated battery or battery bank intended to run DC lights and systems/inverters while not charging, to prevent draining your Motor Starting Battery/Main? Seems like that could be a good feature on something like a Bush Plane to provide some power for camping or tools via an ACinverter while out in the wilderness without having to run the motor battery down.

 

Cheers.

Matt.

 

 

I want this, but can't budget for it just now. I am quite enamored of twins at the moment.

I have an FSD version, which turned out to be fantastic for Airhauler in terms of speed and cargo so I know this would be a good plane for my hangar. Adding to the list...sigh.

 

I agree any review will be subjective of course. One can get quite scientific about some aspects of these models, as Andrew does checking the calibration of instrument and nav functions, but when it comes to the "artwork" aspects of a model and one's feelings of how it "simulates" it is certainly more subjective than science. Just would have liked to see why it was scored so much lower and find out what "disappointed" the reviewer in that regard. It might disappoint me too, or I might not mind that aspect that the reviewer didn't like.

 

Cheers.

 

Everyone,

 

Thanks for the positive comments.  There are days when it is difficult to maintain a positive outlook and your comments always help.

 

Matt, to your comments specifically.

 

Firstly, I always try to maintain a degree of objectivity in my reviews, hence the rather technical and detailed approach.  Whenever I review an aircraft, the assessment of the interior is more than just about the aesthetics.  Whilst they are important in producing a crisp cockpit with clear readable instruments, the functioning of the flight instruments, both primary and secondary, are also very important from my perspective.  You can have a great looking interior, but if I fundamentally can't fly the aircraft because of instruments I can't read or are non functional, then the product fails, big time.

 

This is the case with the Piper PA-31 'Navajo'.  The error with the ADF gauge means there are limitations using NDB NAVAIDS when flying.  This might seem relatively insignificant given VOR and GPS navigation techniques, however, there are still many countries where NDBs are still a major navigation source.  They are also still used for flying NDB approaches.

 

Secondly, this is also a recurring problem with the gauge set Carenado are using for their aircraft, as it has been evident in a number of their releases which use this gauge.  Furthermore, it is exactly the same problem with the Alabeo products.  Clearly, there are very thin 'Chinese walls' between the two when it comes to sharing gauge sets (which is not surprising).  Neither have sort to rectify this recurring problem over the various product releases and I find this extremely poor form.  I assume that the problem relates to a coding issue with the gauge, and one which I think be could corrected relatively easily.

 

The big question is, will Carenado / Alabeo ever do us the basic common courtesy of correcting it and issuing a patch.

 

This is why the interior only rates an 8.5 and why the product overall only gets a Silver Award.

 

Cheers

Andrew

 

 

Ah...thanks Andrew.

That certainly clears it up. I was under the incorrect assumption that Interior Model only accounted for the Art appearance/texture qualities. Fly-ability, especially a recurring issue with an unadressed problem is certainly something one experiences from the Interior...hehe...yeah...maybe losing out on the Gold medal will put a boot in Carenado's bums and fix that issue.

Lets hope Mutley's Reviews has that kind of cache/influence anyhow.

 

Thanks for the clarification Andrew.

 

Cheers!