Updated for 1.2 04/14/2024
Erasam makes steady progress improving an already excellent product.
Much improvement on the cabin interior textures
Added a Lycoming visual model and the cowlings can be opened as part of the statics (EFB options)
Restored Flap position lights
Corrected Nav Tail Light bleed into the cockpit
Added Hobbs Meter
and much more. But I’m very pleased at how the developer has progressed and kept up to date, being very responsive to customer input.
This isn’t so much a review as it is a first-impressions post. This thread can capture more detailed replies as time goes on and other buyers emerge.
It’s a pretty fair representation of the Tecnam P2010 four place Naturally Aspirated GA High Wing plane. The industry pundits put the P2010 squarely between the C172 and the C182. In real life, this plane has the potential to fill a huge market gap as Cessna’s new build pipeline is currently held up. For those looking to buy new, Tecnam is definitely on their list of brands to evaluate.
Much like real life, the Tecnam’s appearance in the sim certainly gives an alternative product to large number of Cessna, Piper and other brands published to date.
The external is quite low-key, but that’s really by design - no rivets, not a lot of seams - it is a Carbon Fibre composites aircraft with metal wings. It’s sleek looking, almost svelte compared to a 172. Useful load is decent, it’s 300 lbs more than the Skyhawk, and can go about 10-20 knots faster in cruise.
Convenient for the rear passengers is a third door to access the back row. The interior is a bit bereft once you look below the panel into the rudder footwells. Erasam did however put a nice touch of when you use the “Instrument Views” to get a closer look, the yokes automatically disappear and if you left them visible, they’llr reappear once you revert back to Pilot First Person View.
The P2010 is G1000 equipped, with a backup electronic attitude indicator and altimeter / airspeed indicator sandwiched between the PFD and MFD. Warning - for those wondering why the OLD Asobo G1000 displays appearing when you first enter the plane, you need to install the Bridge Version of the G1000 NXi available for free on the Marketplace. Backreading the posts on the author’s Discord, he acknowledged this is an issue and will recode to properly reference the sim core NXi and make the Bridge unnecessary.
Ground handling is fairly good, you’ll need to goose the engine a little to get it going, but once you do, keep a steady hand or foot on the brakes, she’ll roll fast.
I make a point to read as many Real Life Pilot Reports to see how the flight model compares. To me this is the test of how well the author did to manage and fine-tune the performance and handling.
Take-off is pretty accurate, the P2010 needs to get up to around 65, and let her fly off. You’ll eat up about 1,000’ on the T/O roll. More on that in short- field notes later.
Establish an 85 knot climb before taking the flaps out. Do not expect a big climber - at the most you’ll be seeing 700-800 fpm, slow but steady - which also matches the Pilot Reports. Your pax will thank you though - deck angle’s only about half of what other GA planes would do to get 1000+ climb rates.
Cruise was right on the numbers. Using an ISA day with negligible wind (< 5 knots), we’re looking at 24" MP 2500 RPM giving the book value of 140 knots @ 3500’. Right on the cusp of the yellow tape. She’s not slow by any means.
Landing - ah here’s where things get tricky, and I quickly provided feedback to the author on his Discord channel - even at 9" manifold in a gentle 300 fpm descent, I’m still too fast by about 7-8 knots to even safely put down Flaps 1. It may be a Skyhawk class plane, but the approach speed is closer to an SR or TBM - if you’re lucky and try a long final, you may be down to 85 crossing the piano keys, and that’s with full flaps and idle throttle. She climbs flat, and she lands flat. And she floats.
If you can work it down to the 60 knot range, you can land really short with P2010. Just be careful not to put yourself into the classic situation of having arrived at a field length that you can’t take off from. At around 60, she wants to go flying, but you almost have to push down a bit to get her to 65 then let matters commence. That’s time and distance that the short field may not give you.
Visuals - I have a couple of shots to show the usual eye candy of static elements - doors open, pitot covers, start cart, tiedowns, the whole nine yards. I still can’t figure out how to open the baggage door though. There’s an EFB in the pilot map pocket to enable all this plus a static co-pilot, pax and even a smoke system. I’ll spare you the pax photo because they’re wicked creepy and honestly look like they’re in frozen death rictus. Until he decides to pick more natural looking folks, I’m leaving that option off.
The thing about the P2010 is to remember- it may be a Skyhawk competitor, but it is NOT a Skyhawk. It’s slicker and faster, can carry more further, learning how it climbs and descends slower and flatter will reward you.
Some shots from a couple of test flights:
that worked