Last Wednesday I managed to get my AirFoilLabs King Air 350 all squared away with some key bindings and such an decided to brave the wide blue sky with this shiny new module. I feel somewhat intimidated by it, not just because we have real world pilots that fly it here, but it is more airplane than I am used to in X-Plane.
Unfortunately, my switch to X-Plane 11.40 (where-by I decided on a parallel install in case the new flight model was badly supported by older modules) cause Ultra Weather XP to crash X-Plane about half way through the flight. Turned out to be a license issue with Ultra Weather XP and was not handled well by either their code or by X-Plane. Oh well.
Thursday, I jumped in the pilots seat again, taking advantage of those real pilots we have to help me understand how some of the systems are used (link). It was a beautiful learning experience!
But lets focus on the flight first 
This segment takes me from Regina (CYQR) to a smaller airfield just west of Calgary: Calgary Springbank (CYBW). I wanted to put myself beyond a potentially busy airfield and closer to the mountains for my next leg.
Weather was a bit of a mixed bag. Out of Regina, the weather was to be relatively good with few scattered clouds af FL077. Heading in to Springbank I expected to hit the worst weather of the trip with light snow and 5 miles visibility.I had access to an ILS for runway 35, my expected landing runway given the prevailing winds.
Given the module and it’s anti-icing capabilities, this should be do-able even for a nugget like me.
I still have no idea if ActiveSkyXP reports icing. In it’s forecast I see nothing but on the map I see the odd SIGMET in the US - but nothing in Canada, which I think is a characteristic of the reporting and data gathering of ActiveSkyXP and a lack of access to Canadian data. Oh well. We will just have to use our head noodle to predict icing in appropriate conditions (see the discussion earlier in this thread).
My flight plan is sticking to the pattern I am using for this event: VOR navigation backed up by GPS.
Time for the flight!
One of the things I really like about the AirFloiLabs modules is the interactivity. This may sound/read like a school book report but being able to go through the check lists and poke around at the features of the exterior module is simply amazing.
Whether it is interacting with the weights/balance UI…
Or stepping outside to remove the various covers, inspect the lights and engines, check the oil and the fuel. Note the green ghostly hightlighted areas - which let me know where clickable, interactive spots are.
You even get to climb those short ladders to access various positions and use a crouch feature to get under the wings to pull and sample the fuel (granted, I still have not found all of the fuel drain positions - it’s like an adventure game with hidden areas ).
Back in the cockpit and working my way through the rest of the checklists and I realize that an hour has passed and I am just starting the engines. I am going to have to take that into account when doing my weather briefings in the future! Side note: open the little windows to the right and left of the pilot/co-pilot side windows as the sound of those engines spooling up is simply awesome!
I don’t want to spoil all the fun and features of this module as discovering them was something a little special. It reminded me of toys that I received many years ago on Christmas morning - opening them up and seeing the little details and discovering everything.
I would also like to point out the checklist system, which has a couple of unique and amazing features. First, it is fully vocalized, with the ability to turn on an assistant to read out all of the steps as you go through them. It has an option to just run through it with you watching (automatic), or it will proceed from step to step as you completed the pieces (semi-automatic). It can automatically focus the camera on the position relevant for your current step or it can let you fumble about hunting and pecking for the correct switch.
There were a few places in the checklist where it paused and either I didn’t read the hint fast enough (it fades away after some time) or I just couldn’t see which switch needed to be in a different position. If you are stuck, you can click on the checklist line to ‘accept’ it and move on. In some cases I did this where I thought that the item was not ‘critical’ or I would go back and enable the ‘Camera Focus’ option to have it focus on at least the general area I should be looking in.
Flying the King Air 350 was a fun experience as well. Taxi and takeoff, with the clarity provided in the King Air 350 thread linked above, was challenging. After wheels up, the steps come fast and furious. If you are attempting the IFR flight following, dealing with ATC and the takeoff steps is a little task-saturating if you are new to the King Air - as I am. I was struggling to get the dials and switches in the right places while maintaining my course and climb-out while dealing with the radios. In the (near) future, I will take advantage of the autopilot and get things cued up before I start my takeoff roll.
Once in the air and on course, things settle down nicely.
The checklist system remains useful, and is a good reminder to start preparing for your arrival before ATC starts interfering with your concentration.
The above screenshot illustrates another great feature, allowing you to enter the details about your arrival airport and have the dial indicators adjusted automatically (well, once you push that ‘Set Markers’ button). This is a nice tool that helps you remember your approach/landing speeds without having to quote them or write them down.
Approach is fairly straight forward but I found that, on final, I was again getting task saturated and having trouble maintaining my line up while reaching for the mouse to adjust things, check items off the checklist or acknowledge communication messages.
If you are coming from other general aviation planes, the systems are not that complex; there are two engines that require more work to manage (for me), but it is the speed at which everything happens that is the bigger challenge. Approaching a destination airfield in a slow moving Cessna 172 (or the Velocity V-Twin) is a casual affair with lots of time to manage the bits and bobs while dealing with the somewhat unfair ATC (I’m looking at you CYQT Approach). The King Air 350, with its power and speed compresses the landing timeline, and you need to make sure your ducks are in order earlier than I was used to.
But! Safe and sound on the ground in Springbank, I was able to make it though the shutdown checklist and secure the aircraft.
A couple of issues that I did run into that I would like to pass on to other potential AirFoil Labs King Air 350 customers:
- You will need to map the TrackIR Enable/Disable key in X-Plane (not Track IR’s enable/disable, but the one in X-Plane) as the view system for the walk around/checklist focus interferes with the camera position. Having this on a button, instead of having to go to the config dialog and chuck/uncheck Track IR, makes things easier;
- Do not click on the first landing gear extension struct section as that attaches the electric tow dolly. Now the dolly itself is not the problem, but if you click on the dolly to move the airplane, ‘bad things happen’ to your external walk around self. I was transported to the middle of the plane and I could not get back out easily. When I did get out, the movement control was messed up. I tried this a few times and I could not make the dolly work. If you can, please let me know the magic spell to tame that beast;
- You have to crouch to get out or in the back door;
- There are a few spots where you can not couch enough to get to the checklist items you may need. I consider these advanced secret areas that only expert 100% games (though who manage to complete everything in a game) have access to;
I’d give this module a 9.5 out of 10 for the issues noted above. Really, I’d give it a 10.5 out if 10 as I really feel that this module is an 11 out of 10 kind of module. I really hope that AirFoilLabs keeps making X-Plane 11 aircraft or moves to MSFS 2020 - I may be a customer for life given the level of interaction that they pack into their modules.
I would absolutely love to recommend this module to @NineLine as an example of what can be done to make DCS more immersive but I feel that they may already have plans along these lines. If not, this is a great example of a stretch goal for DCS