C208B Grand Caravan EX Mods General

I was able to get the install sorted and just completed a few quick (70nm) flights of A-B, then back to B-A plus some pattern work. My initial impressions are that this is the best mod combination I’ve come across so far and succeeds in getting the Caravan to a point where I’m pretty happy with it in the sim. Honestly, I hadn’t been flying it much in MSFS2020 before now because of how annoyingly unrealistic it was. These mods change that. :+1:

The mods I tested, which are all linked to above, were:

  1. WorkingTitle’s G1000 - which I think everyone knows by now is a must (I know, it’s not new but this was the first time I had it installed in the C208). It is so much of an improvement compared to the default and I’m sure will only get better.

  2. Similarly, @MagrainaOne 's avionics/systems update is awesome as well. This fixes a lot of the annoyances I had with the CAS messages before. I did notice that 1) the STBY PWR ON message was showing all the time whereas it should only display during a (rare) generator underspeed situation, and 2) I think this mod also fixed the huge BAT AMPS discharge… Which is now showing a large positive integer. BATT AMPS should show 0 unless the gen has been tripped, then it’ll show a discharge - but I still call think it’s an improvement not showing the discharge. Also, the addition of the SYSTEM page is great to have. Yay!

  3. Finally, @dgtlanlg 's main 208 mod plus GMC710 mod puts the icing on the cake… :slight_smile: First, thank you for fixing the textures - things like HORN instead of NORM on the anti-ice subpanel were driving me crazy. :crazy_face: The placards are now spot-on; even down to the reference number on the decals themselves - I really appreciate that attention to detail.

  • Ground handling is much improved and taxiing is far more realistic with the increased turn radius.

  • Takeoff is much better especially considering how I needed to feed in more right rudder on the takeoff roll - That’s very much like the real airplane where you never skip ‘leg day’ from pushing on the rudder during the TO roll (rudder trim is your friend!). I do feel like there should be a bit more of a nose-down pitch movement during flap retraction but it’s hard to quantify - I’d say it’s captured well enough for now.

  • Climbout at 120 knots was good if not a bit sporty, but I’m used to flying at close to MTOW from field elevations 5000’+ MSL vs the lower altitudes where my sim test flights were. Cruise performance ended up very close to the book numbers - though fuel flow was around 25% less than predicted book value in the sim (at 10,000’ MSL, max TQE, 1900 rpm, and ISA temp). Cruise speed settled very close to book value though.

  • Approach and landing will still bug me until Asobo fixes the prop drag issue. However, approach and landing speeds work pretty well with this mod, wherein you have to keep power “in” until you’re in the flare - no gliding it onto the runway power-off in the RW Caravan.

  • I noticed a few other minor cosmetic things (like the standby TQE gauge redline that has been incorrect from the start) and other things that are probably not fixable, but overall from my RW experience flying the Caravan EX, I’d give my stamp of approval to this combination of mods and can’t wait to see them continue to be improved. Great work to all involved!

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