The C208 Grand Caravan is well known for it’s bush flying prowess. With a relatively fast crusing speed and the ability to take off and land at short unpaved airstrips (or water with floats too), it is a very versatile aircraft loved by both real life and sim pilots alike!
However the current state of the C208 needs improving in a number of ways (non-exhaustive list):
Various engine .cfg parameters are incorrect/unrealistic
.cfg has incorrect figures for the 4 blade McCauley Prop fitted to EXs, blade diameter, MOI, beta range etc. are incorrect [See 4 blade McCauley prop supplement]
Incorrect fuel consumption at various flight phases, especially cruise. [See POH]
Various flight model .cfg parameters are incorrect/unrealistic
Ground handling, especially Taxi Turn Radius
Reference speeds e.g. Vs/Vr/Vx/Vy (and more) [See POH]
Incorrect airframe G force limits [See POH]
Graphical bugs and typos on switches and labels inside the cockpit
ANTI ICE>PRIMARY Switch has a incorrect in-cockpit panell label, it says ‘HORN’ instead of ‘NORM’ for the middle setting
Flap lever TO/APR dentent is modelled in the wrong place for a Caravan EX
Functionality of certain switches, knobs, and systems are broken/incorrect/missing
Airframe anti-icing doesn’t work (checked using devmode)
Audio panel (COM 1&2, NAV 1&2 etc.) is broken (click spots are non-functional)
SW/CB Panel lights knob doesn’t turn when it is adjusted
Cabin light switch has incorrect functionality (Should be ON/OFF, not LEFT/RIGHT)
The C208 uses de-icing fluid for Airframe/Windscreen/Prop anti-icing, it currently has an infinite supply. It should instead have a tank containing a limited amount of fluid (that gets used until it runs out) [See POH]
Functional Inertial Seperator (with air intake ice ingestion modelling) is missing
Alerts for unopened Fuel Selectors are missing
Firewall Shutoff Knob is broken/missing
Support for the new SBS (Soft Body Simulation) system
Support for the new CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) system
It would be fantastic if the default C208 could be improved in the future, maybe as part of a future Aircraft and Avionics Update (AAU), like improvements to the TBM930, CJ4, Longitude, 787, and 747. Hopefully the C208 can be given the love and attention it deserves!
Let me know what you think, and whether there’s anything I missed or got wrong, I’ll update the list accordingly
If you’re on PC there are a couple improvement mods available. The most popular one was recently updated, but I’m not sure if further updates will be planned since it’s “archived” now, whatever that means.
Yeah, I’m aware of that mod. It greatly improves the aircraft with some of the changes I mentioned (many of the changes the mod makes could do with being added to the base game). But at the same time, we shouldn’t need to mod it to make it ‘useable’ and fun to fly when it’s a staple base game aircraft. (Not to mention that the sizeable Xbox userbase can’t mod)
All the more reason for the base game version to be updated and improved!
And again, you shouldn’t have to mod or spend €25 to get a ‘useable’ C208 (unless you really want steam guages on PC of course). Especially considering they’ve given away the ini A310 and are getting Working Title to improve the TBM930, CJ4, and Citation. It would be nice if they got the C208 improved too.
They’re hinting at improving others with the fact it’s AAU update number 1. Once they’ve updated the TBM930, CJ4, and Citation aircraft, the GNS 430/530, and G3000/5000 avionics in AAU1, only the G3X touch avionics and remaining aircraft are left for AAU2… And I’d like to see the C208 part of that!
I’m sure AAU2 is coming. The mighty Cessna 208 Grand Caravan (I love the visibility out of its cockpit) and King Air 350i are great candidates for this upgrade.
I am on PC and with the mod it’s really quite nice. I think all the default aircraft lack something so they could all be improved I just think others are more lacking than this one currently. The King AIr is a disaster. What were they thinking putting a G3X experimental system in something like a King AIr. That would really benefit from ripping that out and putting in realistic systems. Because that is heavily Avionics it’s ripe for some WT love. Making the alphanumeric keyboard buttons work via sim connect for the SR22 would also be welcome. Items that are plain just not currently working.
The one you posted sounds like a repost of this github mod (I use this github one)
There’s a topic campaigning for the G3X to be updated to high fidelity in a future AAU update too! (It’s really lacking features in-sim compared to IRL, it would be OK if the G3X was upgraded to ‘NXI’ quality).
It’s also the only native avionics system that hasn’t been updated as the GNS430/530, and G1000/3000/5000 have all received the ‘Working Title Treatment.’
No diagreement here, it’s the only base-game non-airliner aircraft I won’t fly.
But the one I want updated the most is the C208
It would be nice to have the G3X, C208, and Kingair updated in the future. (But that’s a topic for their respective threads)
MODERATOR EDIT:
Since the last update, the audio panel (com 1&2-nav 1&2 etc…) no longer works (no more way to click) not to mention the cabin lights which have not worked for more than a year, it’s a shame because it is a beautiful plane
Depuis la dernière mise à jour le panel audio (com 1&2-nav 1&2 etc…) ne fonctionnent plus (plus moyen de cliquer) sans compter les éclairages cabine qui ne fonctionnent plus depuis plus d’un an , c’est dommage car c’est un magnifique avion
Thank you for the bugs/missing systems/suggestions. If you think of any more, please post them and I will update the list
Merci pour les bugs/systèmes manquants/suggestions. Si vous en pensez d’autres, postez-les et je mettrai à jour la liste
I’m sure even those that don’t speak French can see what this means! I hope the C208 gets the attention it deserves, it really is a magnificent aircraft. (J’espère vraiment que le C208 recevra l’attention qu’il mérite, c’est vraiment un avion magnifique.)
