@JohnnyDioxin, OK I gave it a (very) quick spin. Here’s a few observations.
- It’s not really built for VR. I can’t zoom into the panels, and frequently I’m getting double vision effects trying to click a switch or button. Unfortunately, I have no clue how easy (or not) this is to fix.
- I should probably use checklists. I just gave it my best guess on how to get things ready to go, and while I managed to get the engines started, about half way to the runway I lost my avionics completely. And my vacuum pump, at least it seemed so.
- Back to the whole checklist thing, this thing took me almost 10,000’ of runway just to barely get fast enough to get off the ground into ground effect. And good thing I was in flat country, had there been a hill taller than Space Mountain within a mile or three of the runway, no way I would have cleared it. I could barely get to 500 fpm up, BUT that was flying by hand with no AI or HSI to help.
I knew I was going old-school with this thing, but I didn’t think we were talking 1940s without an electrical system old-school lol.
Next time I’ll do it properly per the checklists, and forego the VR at least long enough to actually get a flight going properly.
Personally, I would have tried to move stuff around and get a proper mount for the GPS, but nobody asked my opinion about that. I’ve also never heard of using the DME to couple the GPS to the AP, but that may just be because it’s a sim, not a real life one. It could also be because I’ve been out of the flying game since this whole GPS/glass cockpit revolution happened. My last RL plane had a GPS, but it was VFR use only, no moving map, and a very old school black & white display. And no way to couple it to the autopilot, best I could do was use heading mode.
I wish I could remember the model of it, would be interesting to look up now.
But that was longer ago than I’m prepared to admit. The idea of a “glass cockpit” on a piston single was still a fantasy, unless you were spending $300k for a brand new 172. If I had that kind of money to spend on an airplane, it would not be a 172, fancy panel or not. I’d go for a 210, P210, maybe even a 310, Seminole, or older Baron. You can buy an old, old-school 172 for 10-15% of the price of a new one.
And somehow they’re still selling them! Go figure… I wonder what one of the older “new” models is going for now? Like say from the first year they started building them again.
The feds literally all but killed the small GA market when they removed the deductibility of interest payments on plane loans. And it still hasn’t recovered, probably never will. I bet they made more 172s in 1976 then they have total since production restarted. And a 1976 172 in reasonable condition can still be purchased for $40-50k, at least the last time I checked.
Who in their right mind is going to spend $30k to upgrade a $40k airplane? But, adding a 530 or even 530/430 combo just might be palatable to many owners.
Not to mention all the ADS-B stuff, I think all you need is an updated transponder (like what Carenado put into their PA44), and it does make things safer, but the feds are just making GA more and more and more expensive just to keep up, or even be legal in some cases.