FS Airpark

A month ago, I needed some motivation to get through a big board for a qualification at work. So, I promised myself that when I passed, I'd splurge and get the Dreamfleet Baron. I failed the board the first time I tried, two weeks ago, but today I did better. She's a beauty!

I took her out for a spin today just to see what she could do. Climbout to normal cruise altitude (7 to 9,000 ft.) was effortless, even at just 200 lbs. below max gross. But there were clouds way up high, and I felt like cloud surfing. Got all the way up to 15k (above about 11,000 ft. takes a little more without turbos) before I was on top of them.


The low manifold pressure is at full throttle... yeah, we're that high!


On top!


Back down to earth

One thing I do really like is the RUDDER AUTHORITY. Very much more like a real aircraft than most addons. With the throttles all the way back, rudder kicked all the way over and about 30 degrees bank in the opposite direction, the aircraft maintained heading and held a comfortable 120-130 KIAS with the VSI pegged down (more than 3,000 fpm descent!). Most aircraft in FS don't slip all that well. You don't get the feeling of aerodynamic braking like you do in real aircraft. But this one did it magnificently.

Mark, I think you're getting me hooked on payware. But for less than $20, this one is great!

You guys are going to influence me into getting a payware model . Them are some great pics of a good looking bird. Congrats Dave.

I've got both the Baron and the A36 from Dreamfleet and I miss both not being in FSX. The A36 was my favourite of the two but your right, she is a beauty.

The A36 is a fine airplane. I knew a guy who had one once, and he took me for a short ride in it. I looked at that one, too, but in the end it came down to the extra speed and equipment on the Baron. The cabins seemed basically identical, but the US is a big place and I wanted something that could cross most of it in a single day. Also, being someone who in the RW flies helicopters over water for a living, the idea of a second engine is comforting to me. To top it all off, the Baron has de-ice boots. I'm pretty sure you can get them for the Bonanza (either that or TKS or something), but that's pretty much essential for reliable year-round operations in the western and northeastern US.

I opted for the "lite" version of the Baron, which seems to be less popular. I didn't feel the need for a super-realistic exercise in GPS buttonology. Mostly I wanted a high-quality model of a six-place light twin. The Baron is the fastest and prettiest of the light twins, and the Dreamfleet Baron is much more immersive than the default FS version. The FSX version in the demo is pretty good, though. Much improved, anyway.

When I finally gave in and bought the MAAM DC-3 a few years ago, it didn't take me long to realize my only regret was not buying it sooner. I don't see myself ever owning a ton of payware, but sometimes it's nice to just have something really good to play around with.