This is a known issue on the wishlist. It’s based on Asobo’s ACD-57, so some digging into it is needed. Luckily you can still do everything through vpilot, but yes, would be nice to figure this one out eventually.
Just throwing this out there but it would be fun to see a smoke system on this aircraft. I think it’d be good fun bringing it down low over some farmland and hitting the smoke on.
Way ahead of you 
In other news… @Interurbes I was able to fix the transponder mode and ident before submitting today. Currently untested on vatsim, but the variables that were not updating before are now updating as they should. Already merged into the 1500R Sport, so it will be available next update as well.
I added a section about how to change the transponder modes in the documentation as well since it isn’t as straight forward:
Nice! Ill have to try it out when I can get my hands on it.
Looking forward to imminent release. Hopefully still in the next few hours?
Website and ORBX will release within the next few hours for sure. We are still just patiently waiting around to see if we are going to get a Marketplace update today… would be nice to have the trial option day one, but I suppose worse case, just no trial until next week.
Only reason we have been waiting around is usually the Marketplace release schedule is pretty reliable, but there seems to be a hiccup today as I have yet to see anything new pop up.
Understood. It’s 8pm US Eastern and I never encountered out of cycle marketplace updates especially this late, but I’ll patiently wait for release.
The Pietenpol Has Landed!
The Pietenpol Air Camper has been developed and improved upon from everything we learned while working on our previous aircraft release, the 1500R Sport! The Pietenpol, we are considering to be a huge step up in everything from features, to sounds, and physics.
Following in the spirit of the 1500R Sport, the Pietenpol has also been a very community-driven project. Our group of testers is the reason why this aircraft exists, as it was never on our radar before they had mentioned it. Because of this, they have been involved in the project pretty much since day one, offering insight into the aircraft, as well as providing critical feedback on the flight model, offering direct modeling feedback from a mechanics perspective, and even going as far as contributing sounds to the project.
A Community-Drive Project
This is where I need to give a very special shoutout to Av8trFord, who sourced an aircraft and recorded our A65 engine sounds, with no prior recording experience. Luck had a bit to do with it on all sides, but the Wwise sound pack we were able to pull off because of that hopefully speaks for itself!
However, it’s not just Ford who contributed sounds. Some foley sounds, such as for the hand-held radio and primer were also mixed from various samples recorded by LBR, another of our excellent testers.
On top of this, I also need to extent a huge thanks to Mykrode, who is one of 3 core developers behind this project. Not only doing all of the modeling and texturing, but also working with me on the sound side of things recording, mixing, and offering suggestions along the way.
This project is not just a Rotornut44 project. It’s not just an Emerald Scenery Design project. It’s a community driven project lead by three friends who just have a passion to create something worth flying!
Air Camper Features
Thanks to the efforts of our long-time friend and the latest member of the team, Got Gravel, the Pietenpol Air Camper is our most feature-rich aircraft to date! Got Gravel is the driving force behind not only how the Pietenpol flies, but also all of the more advanced code and physics based features in the project.
The Pietenpol is a simple aircraft, but that doesn’t mean it should be lifeless!
- A highly detailed 3D model built from real-world 3D scan data, featuring both classic and bush wheel variants.
- 14 hand-crafted liveries based on real Pietenpol paint schemes.
- Native MSFS 2024 CFD flight model, refined using feedback from multiple real-world pilots.
- Hand-crafted Wwise sound package featuring real Continental A65 engine recordings, including custom foley.
- Physics-based sounds including impulse coupler, slip drag rumble, and backfires.
- Custom hand-prop start physics, including interactive cockpit controls while in Avatar mode.
- Automatic preflight cover removal during auto-start, for quality of life.
- Physics-based fuel slosh and gravity-reactive doors, plus camera motion, vibration, and buffeting effects with adjustable intensity.
- Optional engine realism featuring priming, overpriming, throttle-assisted depriming, and carburetor heat thermodynamics.
- Realistic propeller drag, windmilling resistance, and a breakable, repairable propeller.
- Generator-driven panel lighting with realistic low-voltage dimming.
- Optional features include: Engine realism, headphone simulation, multiplayer airshow smoke, hubcaps (classic variant), prop-spinner (skullcap), tinted glass, and mounted EFB tablet support. Some options are persistent.
- Career support for First Flight, Ferry Flight, Flightseeing, and Light Cargo missions (Marketplace copy only).
- Native passenger and custom visual cargo (Airmail) loadout support.
- Quality of life autopilot support for keybinds & external tools like PMS50 (premium version).
- Hand-held Communications Radio TX/RX with transponder for use on virtual networks like Vatsim, Pilot Edge, and IVAO.
- Hydroplaning/water-skiing capability for bush tires.
- 2D/3D Paint kit available from the Emerald Scenery Design website.
Free Trial & Rental
A free trial will be available on the Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 Marketplace, as well as three day rental option for those who don’t want to jump in right away!
Note: This was intended to be available at release, however for whatever reason there seems to have not been a Marketplace update today, so it is most likely that the trial and marketplace release will be available on Monday!
Available Now!
The Pietenpol Air Camper is now available on our website, and should be releasing on ORBX very soon. It will also be coming to Marketplace for PC and Xbox in the near future (see note above).
Sorry for those of you who have been waiting most of the day for this release! Typically we plan for a simultaneous release for at least our website and Marketplace. However, no matter how hard you plan for something, sometimes it just doesn’t work out.
With ORBX expected to release very soon, we have made the decision to go ahead and push the website version live, as nothing is holding us back from doing so. No need to withhold for the entire weekend just because of the lack of a trial option.
We are pretty confident that Marketplace and the trial should go live on Monday or Tuesday at the latest.
I went to go purchase it on your website, but when I got to the cart to finish the purchase it shows the cart for about a millisecond and then goes to a black screen. I tried to refresh the page, but it did the same thing as well as when I tried it in Firefox. The first time I tried it in edge.
Edit for more information:
Looks like something might not be loading on the website correctly, what it is doing is making the header page REALLY tall and thus pushing the cart down through a very long page scroll.
I think I found my new low and slow flyer. It will kick you in the rear on takeoff once the tail has some lift. I have yet to keep the thing straight down the runway lol. Landing by the numbers and 3 pointing it has been very successful so far for me. I will try some wheel landings once I can get the thing under control on its roll out.
Keeping the stick aft during rollout will help with directional control.
I would be curious if anyone else is experiencing this?
I have checked it on my end but I am unable to reproduce the issue. Tested in Edge and Brave with my admin account as well as a general user test account (and also while not logged in).
This happens checking out on iPhone but on PC checkout process is lovely and smooth 
The CG on the Piet is further back, so 3-point is your friend. As OneToBeamUp mentioned, keep the tail wheel planted on landing and you are less likely to ground loop as well.
Thank you! This should be resolved now, but might require those with the issue to clear their browser cache. It looks like the cache just had some stale data that was refusing to flush, but only on mobile.
It was the “Accept Cookies” notification that was broken and getting shoved to the header of the page, though you should have still been able to scroll down and see the cart.
Caches: a blessing and a curse.
Looks great! Fantastic aircraft too
This is implied in the manual based on how the hand-propping works, but for the radio to work correctly, mostly in ensuring that you can change transponder modes, you MUST use the Lock interaction setting, rather than Legacy. I wish both were supported as I hate the blue highlights in Lock but I understand that’s the desired new thing.
Awesome! I will give that a try this evening when I hop in my Sim Rig. I am having an absolute blast flying it great job, and it looks GREAT in VR!
