Introduction

Up until recently, if you wanted to fly a good quality Beechcraft B1900D in FSX the only real option you had was the PMDG version. Since the release of FSX, I have clocked up countless hours in the PMDG B1900D for FS9 ported over into FSX. It works well and is still fun to fly, but it is now 10 years old and times change.

When I heard Carenado were developing their own version of the B1900D for FSX, I knew two things, it would be very good, and that I had to get it. So, on release day I bought and downloaded it to see if it could tempt me to finally retire my PMDG B1900D.

History

The Beechcraft B1900 is a twin engine, turboprop aircraft with a pressurised cabin which seats 19 passengers. It was primarily designed as a regional airliner to be used from airports with fairly short runways. It first flew in September 1982 and entered service in February 1984. A total of 695 B1900s were built, which makes it the most successful 19 passenger aircraft in history.

It has a range of over 1,000 nautical miles, but in reality it is most often used on the shorter routes between 100 - 600 nautical miles (up to two hours). The B1900D is often preferable to jet aircraft on routes up to 300 nautical miles due to the fuel efficiency of its engines.

The B1900D was designed to allow passengers to stand upright in the cabin, a result of which meant that winglets and more powerful engines & propellers were needed (compared to the B1900 & B1900C) to overcome the extra drag produced by the modified fuselage.

Availability and Installation

Carenado's Beechcraft B1900D is available as a 'download only' product from Carenado and Carenado resellers. Some resellers offer a master CD / DVD back-up service for a minor additional cost. I purchased my copy direct from Carenado on release day for US$39.95 (about £25) – watch out for foreign currency commission charges from your credit card provider. The downloaded file is 218MB and took hardly any time at all to download from Carenado’s servers. After completing your purchase you can download six more free liveries from Carenado. I can only assume they were not included as standard in order to save disk space on peoples hard drives.

Installation is quick and simple, and I would not expect anything less from a payware developer now. Run the installer and follow the on screen instructions, a few minutes and 760MB of disk space later, you are ready to go.

Documentation

In my opinion Carenado have always been a bit hit and miss with their documentation. In this case it is a hit. In total, there are 10 documents, although some are not very long, so they could probably have been merged into one:
Avidyne Multifunction Display:
     ● B1900D EFIS;
     ● B1900D Emergency Procedures;
     ● B1900D FMS (see separate section);
     ● B1900D Normal Procedures;
     ● B1900D Performance Tables;
     ● Carenado GNS530 Users Guide;
     ● Electronic VSI;
     ● Recommended Settings; and
     ● Copyrights.

The ‘Normal Procedures’ document is probably the first one you will look at, and it consists of very detailed procedures for all phases of flight. Some of them are not applicable to the desktop simulator but I cannot complain about that because, on the other side of the coin, if this detail was not included some people would complain it was missing. The only other document I would like to have seen included is a full tutorial.

Model Features

The model features listed by Carenado for the B1900D are typical of other models in the Carenado range and HD Series and include:
     ● Carenado GNS530 with Reality XP integration option;
     ● EFIS (EADI and EHSI);
     ● Avidyne multi function display;
     ● HD quality textures (2048 x 2048);
     ● realistic night lighting effects on panel and cockpit, including separated lighting for instrument panel and cockpit flood;
     ● cockpit vibration effects;
     ● landing and taxi halo effect lights;
     ● original HQ 3D digital stereo sounds;
     ● dynamic environment gauge reflections;
     ● windows lighting scratches effect;
     ● volumetric side view prop effect; and
     ● dynamic propeller shine effect.

Visuals

General External View	External Rear Quarter View
Nose View	Wing View
Cabin 1	Cabin 2

The trend of Carenado producing stunning looking aircraft continues once again. The internal and external models are superb and feature HD 2048 x 2048 textures. The external model does not suffer from any jagged edges and the virtual cockpit (there is no 2D cockpit) is a very nice place to have as your office. The only criticism I have of the cockpit is some of the readouts on the gauges were a bit tricky to read without ‘popping’ them into a 2D window.

Lovely Cockpit	Central Panel
Overhead Panel	Engine Controls
Switches	2D Pop-Ups

Flight Management System

I was quite intrigued at the inclusion of an FMS and how it would work on a ‘simple’ turboprop. Its operation is much the same as Boeing and Airbus FMS' by using the LSK to confirm / advance between screens, so it should not take a great deal of studying in order to use it.


There is no need to program the route into the FMS as it takes if from the default FS flight plan, but it is quite easy to program a route in should you wish to do so. I found it a little frustrating when the FMS displayed the options for the waypoint it only listed its co-ordinates (whereas some other FMSs list how far away the waypoint is). Some educated guesswork was needed to make sure I selected the correct waypoint.

I like that you are able to modify the default FS flight plan from within the FMS if you need to. One thing I did not see noted in the FMS documentation was if you input the crossing altitude for the waypoint, this altitude is automatically transferred to the altitude select window and cannot be changed during flight (unless you change it in the FMS). If you have calculated these crossing points accurately, and are not at the mercy of the FSX ATC, it should not be a problem. The part of the FMS that is of most use to me is the fuel section. It gives you up to date readings for aircraft weight, endurance, and range, based on the current aircraft configuration. I found it to be fairly accurate and has helped me in being able to plan my fuel loads correctly prior to a flight.

In Flight

All of the above is rendered useless unless the B1900D performs in the air, which it does. The B1900D flies with the agility of smaller corporate, twin engine, turboprops, and care must be exercised initially if you are not familiar with this type of aircraft. I have never flown any aircraft so cannot comment with any real accuracy, but I felt the handling is fantastic and feels about right. Carenado state the B1900D behaves as per the real aircraft and has been tested by real pilots and the modelling of the flight dynamics appeared to accurately reflect the performance specifications and flight characteristics of the real world aircraft. Establishing yourself on a stable approach can take some practice, particularly into smaller airports and on visual approaches. However, once you are practiced at it, you will find the B1900D reasonably forgiving. To be fair, I would not expect anything less from Carenado now. Unless the weather was very bad I did not engage the autopilot until I was almost at cruise altitude and most of my approaches were hand flown.

Cannot Fault the Externals from any Angle

Underbelly

I found the fuel flows published in the documentation were reasonably accurate. With the suggested power / prop settings, the fuel flow was slightly lower than stated in the documentation, about 40 to 50 lbs per hour less. I suppose this is better than it being the other way, especially if you are planning a long flight.

The engines have an original high quality digital stereo sound set which is superb. There is a realistic delay from when you make changes to the throttle to when the engines respond, so you will always need to stay about 5 to 10 seconds ahead of where you want to be in order to not let the aircraft run away from you.

I had no issues at all with frame rate performance, even when flying into busy airspace with detailed scenery and heavy weather. My frame rates are locked at 30 fps and they rarely dipped below that mark.

Technical Requirements

This version of the Carenado Beechcraft B1900D is for FSX / P3D only. Other specified technical requirements are as follows:
     ● Windows XP (with SP3), Vista or Windows 7 (32 or 64bit);
     ● Microsoft Flight Simulator FSX with SP1 and SP2 (or Acceleration Pack) or Lockheed Martin Prepar3d Flight Simulator installed; and
     ● Pentium V, 3GHz or similar, 2GB RAM, 512MB graphics card, and 760MB available HDD space.

Conclusion

My initial question was, 'Could Carenado make me to finally retire my PMDG B1900D?'. The answer is a resounding, 'YES'. The two just do not compare and Carenado have shown just how far our hobby has advanced in the last 10 years. I have racked up a lot of hours in the B1900D and will rack up many more.

So what about the score? As fantastic as this aircraft is, I felt the B1900D is lacking something which I cannot quite put my finger on, so consequently, I cannot award it full marks. Almost everything about it is first rate, but there is a missing 'X' factor. However, do not let this put you off buying it, as the Carenado B1900D will be a fantastic addition to your hangar.


Verdict

The Beechcraft B1900D is another excellent product from Carenado which displays the typical high quality and attention to detail we have come to expect, and it represents very good overall value for money.

Pros:
Quality and attention to detail.
Realistic modelling and performance.
Excellent sounds.
Excellent documentation.

Cons:
Some panel gauges difficult to read.
Minor performance variances. 

Verdict:
● External Model:	9.5/10
● Internal Model:	8.5/10
● Sounds:	9.5/10
● Flight Characteristics (does it fly by the numbers):	9.0/10
● Flight Dynamics (does it feel like what it looks like) :	9.5/10
● Documentation:	9.5/10
● Value for money:	9.0/10

The Carenado Beechcraft B1900D is awarded an overall Mutley’s Hangar score of 9.2/10, with a "Highly Recommended" and a Mutley's Hangar Silver Award.