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Carenado Pilatus PC-12 – the flying Swiss Army Knife Pilatus is a well established aircraft manufacturer from Switzerland founded back in 1939 already. They are probably best known for their STOL PC-6 Porter and Turboporter aircraft, which see widespread use all over the world, where extreme STOL performance is needed, but it also gained fame as a transport aircraft for free fall parachutists. Other famous Pilatus products are the PC-7 and PC-9 trainer aircraft, the latter of which formed the base for the Beech T-6 Texan II, the standard trainer aircraft of the US military branches. While the PC-6, PC-7 and PC-9 performed well on the military market, we will have a look at Pilatus most successful civil aircraft today – the PC-12. The PC-12 was announced in 1989 as a turboprop powered business aircraft with the capacity for up to 9 passengers.
The first flight took place in 1991 and in excess of 1,300 samples have been built to date. The PC-12 is powered by the Pratt & Whitney of Canada PT6 turboprop engine and is certified for single pilot IFR operation. With a payload of 1.5 tons and its excellent STOL capabilities, this bird truly is a flying Swiss army knife. Carenado released the PC-12 in late 2014 and it is available for download either from the Carenado online store or any major flight sim shop for the price of 39,95 US$.
The download is 242 MB in size, after installation it will take up about 750 MB of your hard drive. Included in the installation are 6 liveries, plus the white texture, common on most Carenado products and aimed at repainters. Furthermore a collection of checklists are included, nice to have, but not really as helpful as a manual could be. The installer works well with any version of sim, just browse to the sim of your choice and install. I initially started my test of the PC-12 in Prepar3D v2.5, and then continued in v3.0 – it runs well in both sims. From the outside Walking up to our plane at the apron, we see a beautifully modelled and detailed aircraft.
The PC-12 is a very clean design in reality so naturally there are not that plenty details, as there might be on a vintage or military aircraft. Comparing the Carenado model to the various photos of the real thing or to the very detailed official Pilatus Apps one sees, that Carenado did a real fine job. With the engine off and parking brakes set, we see additional details like engine covers, static covers and even a ground power unit. The texturing is very nice, especially the bump and spec maps make this plane a real photo beauty. Speaking of textures – one set back on all Carenado products is the lack of a proper paint kit. Yes they do provide a blank texture, but from a painters perspective this is nothing short of a joke.
The mapping equals a giant puzzle and it is virtually impossible to create a normal template. To make things worse, the layers for dirt and other effects have to be extracted manually. No wonder we can hardly find a repaint for the PC-12 on the various file libraries. Carenado – please wake up and start to care about repainters!
They will thank you with many many repaints – and I don’t know about you, but for me the availability of repaints has always been a selling point. From the inside Did I say the outside looks great? Well, the inside is even better! The cockpit is a pretty clear design and looks a little boring at first glance.
But crosscheck this with photos of the real flight deck and you will again see what a great job Carenado did. Carenado chose the flight deck variant featuring two Garmin GNS 530 and an Avidyne Multifunction Display. Personally I prefer this layout over the more modern PC-12NG with its glass cockpit, some users might have another opinion though.
Instead of Carenado’s Garmin 530, users have the option to include their Reality XP version of the 530, but beware, this will only work in FSX and not in P3D. The Avidyne MFD features a working terrain and weather radar, as well as a map and navdata displays. The weather radar should work fine with every weather add on, I only tested it with ASN. The autopilot works flawlessly, unlike the versions used on Carenado’s jet add ons, which caused several headaches. The PC-12 does not have a FMC, but still you can fly normal IFR routes using Navaids and GPS waypoints.
You can either create a flight plan using a tool like PFPX and export this plan into the sim’s flight planner or you can create your route manually using the GNS 530. Here is where the lack of a thorough manual strikes most. There is a short manual included for the 530, but it does not get into details like these. At a cost of about 40 US$, I think one could expect a little more – maybe even a tutorial flight. However, it took me less than a quarter hour to find out how to program the route, thanks to google and youtube. But the interior is far more than just the front panel.
The first thing to strike the eye when turning around to enter the cabin, are the pilots seats. They look so real, you just want to touch them.
Moving further back into the cabin, we pass the exit with the stowed air stair, take your time to read all the safety stickers. The cabin itself features the 6 seat executive layout and looks very classy. Don’t spoil the carpet! Where ever you look back here, everything is recreated in great detail. You can even close the sun blockers on the rear windows. Should you fly at night, you will be rewarded with a real high class internal night lighting. You just get the impression of being in the real thing.
In flight The PC-12 is an easy to fly aircraft by design. It is powerful and responsive on control inputs and the stall protection will help to keep you out of trouble. Flying manually feels realistic, like I would expect a 4.8 ton aircraft to behave. Very nice is the delay between advancing the throttle and the turbine actually revving up. This might get you closer to stall speed on the approach than you wanted on the first approaches, but one gets used to it very quickly – always be ahead of your aircraft. I flew several IFR flights using PFPX generated flight plans.
As described above, it cannot follow SIDs and STARs automatically, but the autopilot followed the route as such correctly in NAV mode. One route contained a roughly 100 degree turn, something that causes the systems on the Phenom 300 to use some rather uncomfortable – not to say unrealistic – bank angles. Not so on the PC-12. This is an autopilot you can trust in the foggy valleys of Switzerland anytime. Compatibility and performance The PC-12 comes with it’s own ground power unit and air stair, so GSX is not really needed. But it does work, should you choose to use it.
The weather radar is compatible with all weather add ons, it worked fine with my ASN. The TCAS on the MFD displayed my UT2 generated traffic correctly and also the terrain radar was very accurately showing my FS Global 2010 terrain. The performance varies between Prepar3D v2.5 and v3.0. During my first flights in v2.5 in Switzerland using sceneries like Samedan or Sion and complex ASN weather I had about 20-25 fps.
Not much maybe, but still a very smooth ride. In v3.0 I never dropped below my locked 30 fps in any situation so far. VAS usage was not an issue in both versions of the sim. Conclusion Are you looking for a plane that combines the performance of a light business jet with the STOL capabilities of a small Cessna? Well – then the PC-12 is your aircraft. It is a versatile plane for both short VFR hops or longer IFR flights, you can take her into mega airports just like into small fields – the choice is yours, the PC-12 can do it all.
The looks are great, the flightmodel feels good and the soundset is good as well – I was searching for flaws, I did not find any noteable ones. My only cons are the lack of a paint kit and the lack of a proper manual, which cost the PC-12 a top score, that the plane alone would well deserve. A final word on the price tag. 39,95 US$ is quite a call for a plane without any sophisticated systems like a FMC and without a real manual or paint kit and with just one model. A price in the low 30 US$ region would be more appropriate in my personal opinion. January 21, 2018 at 5:37 am I have the Carenado PC-12 and the weather radar does not work with my ASN.
I use FSX steam, the plane I bought direct from Carenado however my ASN is the one offered by FSX Steam. You think that is the problem? You said that yours works with your ASN. Is there some type of go around to make it work? I contacted Carenado, and they are telling me that it only works with the regular weather in FSX and not with add on weather, and you are saying different. I am confused and frustrated to say the least.