A2A Simulations Piper Cherokee 180 plus Accu-Sim By Thomas Jones - In Partnership with flightsimglobal.com

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1 A2A Simulations Piper Cherokee 180 plus Accu-Sim By Thomas Jones - In Partnership with flightsimglobal.com i7-2600k turboboost to 4.6ghz Nvidia ASUS GTX gb 16gb 1600mhz RAM 2x 1TB HDD Windows 7 64 bit Background Information: The Piper PA-28 made its first flight on January 14, Ever since its introduction, the PA-28 has made leaps and bounds in development, and is easily found at most general aviation airports. A staggering amount of over 30,000 of these aircraft have been built, and it truly show how popular it is with its pilots. Many variants of the PA-28 have been produced. The different versions of the PA-28 all have different modifications to the original design, such as: different engines, different weight capacities, different wing shapes, different seating configurations, different fuselage lengths, and the list just continues. A2A Simulations have chosen to model the PA variant, also known as the Piper Cherokee 180. The Cherokee 180 has first certified in August A2A, like Piper, have made leaps and bounds in what is achievable, but in FSX. A2A's Piper Cherokee 180 has the following features: A true propeller simulation Interactive pre-flight inspection system Gorgeously constructed aircraft, inside and out, down to the last rivet

2 Physics-driven sound environment Complete maintenance hangar internal systems and detailed engine tests including compression checks Visual Real-Time Load Manager Piston combustion engine modeling. When air comes in, it mixes with fuel and ignites, parts move, heat up, and all work in harmony to produce the wonderful sound of a Lycoming 360 engine. Now the gauges look beneath the skin of your aircraft and show you what Accu-Sim is all about Bendix King Avionics stack with authentic period LED s. Three insim avionics configurations including no GPS, GPS 295, or the GNS 400. Built-in, automatic support for 3rd party GNS 430 and 530 STEC-30 Autopilot built by the book Electric starter with accurate cranking power Dynamic ground physics including both hard pavement and soft grass modeling Primer-only starts Persistent airplane even when the computer is off Four naturally animated passengers that can sit in any seat 3D Lights 'M' (built directly into the model) Pure3D Instrumentation In cockpit pilot's map

3 Authentic fuel delivery includes priming and proper mixture behavior. Mixture can be tuned by the book using the EGT or by ear. It s your choice. A2A specialized materials with authentic metals, plastics, and rubber Oil pressure system is affected by oil viscosity (oil thickness). Oil viscosity is affected by oil temperature. Now when you start the engine, you need to be careful to give the engine time to warm Eight commercial aviation sponsors have supported the project including Phillips 66 Aviation, Champion Aerospace, and Knots2u speed modifications. And much more... Installation: Installation of the Cherokee 180 was like A2A's other aircraft. Simply pay for your plane, get a confirmation , download the.exe file, run it, hit next a few times, and done! Exterior Model: Where to begin, where to begin? Well for starters, the modeling crew at A2A need to really pat themselves on the back with this one. The externals of the Cherokee 180 are phenomenal! I feel like they took a real Cherokee and shoved it through a computer. It's THAT good! The bump mapping on the airframe is fantastic. Every rivet, dip, and seam on the aircraft is accounted for and directs light slightly different than the rest. Every component present on the real Cherokee is present on the A2A Cherokee. All latches and vents around the engine, wings, and door are featured and very detailed in their own way. The fact that you can even change the appearance of the Cherokee on the fly, (pun

4 intended), makes it even better. In, what A2A call the Maintenance Hangar, the user can add or remove certain items, such as: the wheel fairings, wing root fairings, gap seals, and tire type. The aircraft is yours to customize to suit whatever you prefer! Some areas of the aircraft also feature paint chipping and other types of wear where you would normally see it, a nice touch, and goes to show that this is an older aircraft! The only issue I have with the external is that some of the textures are fuzzy or pixelated up close, but at normal viewing distance they look nice and crisp. The Interior: The only thing more detailed than the outside of A2A's Cherokee is the inside of A2A's Cherokee. The Piper Cherokee 180 has a somewhat dirty cockpit. Not in the sense that it is covered with grime, but that Piper didn't try to make it aesthetically pleasing or concealing. It's all about functionality here, folks. In the center of the pilot's view of the cockpit, sits the prominently displayed six pack of instruments. If you don't know what that is, the six pack is the six basic instruments pilots use to fly. They include airspeed indicator, attitude indicator, altitude indicator, turn coordinator, heading indicator, and vertical speed indicator. All are modeled in 3D and have high refresh rates, making their movement smooth as silk. The turn coordinator features on it the autopilot system, but more on that later. Beneath the six pack is the digital VOR gauge, yoke, chronometer, headphone jacks, autopilot master switch, primer, battery master, starter, light switches, fuel pump, ignition and carb heat, and many circuit breakers, (all of which actually work!). To the right more, is the radio stack and beyond that is the RPM, EGT, Vacuum, oil temperature and pressure, fuel pressure, and fuel quantity gauges. The seats in the Cherokee are also extensively detailed, and really look comfortable. Add to that the upholstery work done on the entire

5 interior of the aircraft, and it turns out to be a really cozy place to cruise at 130 miles per hour. Around the cabin, various air vents can be found that actually affect the interior temperature and amount of window fogging. The fuel tank selector is also on the left side of the cabin along with a functioning map. The rudder petals look like they actually have a rubber coating to them and the toe brakes look like they are actually made of metal. Fantastic interior modeling and texturing job here! Interior lighting is equally impressive. The lighting isn't too harsh or too dim, just perfect for flying at night. The lights gave off an interesting atmospheric feel while cruising around at night. All gauges and buttons/knobs on the main panel were readable and clear. Systems Modeling and Flight Dynamics Now, down to the good stuff! A2A takes great pride in their systems, and the Piper Cherokee is no exception to this. A2A has made their Cherokee so close to the real thing, it's almost like owning one yourself, (but without the maintenance and fuel costs!). Components break, lines clog, pumps malfunction, and so much more. A2A designed the plane to wear over time, according to how it is managed. So if you beat up the Cherokee, it will tell you. Everything from flap motors to spark plugs and pistons. What makes the Cherokee even better is that A2A partnered with many real-world aviation part manufacturers. They have worked with each of these companies to determine how long each component will last under a wide variety of conditions, ultimately creating a simulation even closer to real life than before! When starting the engine, the cockpit rattles and shakes until the engine stabilizes. Care must be taken to ensure the engine receives the proper fuel mixture so maximum efficiency is achieved and the spark plugs don't foul. If they do foul, you can always try to blow them clear by setting proper engine power and switching the magnetos on and off

6 for that particular magneto. This level of system management is evident throughout the Cherokee and really brings aircraft ownership into FSX. Once in the air, A2A's Cherokee performs right on the real world numbers! A2A has purchased their own Cherokee while developing the simulated version and it is easy to tell, they put the plane to good use! Everything from climb, cruise, descent, taxi, to the more extreme ends such as stalls and spins have been modeled to perfectly match real world performance. One note is that FSX has difficulty handling spins to begin with, but A2A has been able to make the modeling very close to how it should be. Trimming the aircraft is a breeze, and it zips along at a speed of around 130 miles per hour. Fantastic plane to fly. Performance A2A has a great reputation for creating complex aircraft that perform well. The Cherokee 180 is no exception. I noticed only a minor frame rate drop when using the Cherokee over ORBX's Northern California scenery. Not much else to say here other than, it's a fluid flying experience! Overall I have always been a fan of A2A's aircraft, and the Cherokee is another one of my favorites. It not only looks great, but the level of detail in the systems is only more so. If systems aren't your thing and you just want to get in the air, turn off the Accu-sim from a popup menu and go flying. This is one general aviation aircraft you don't want to miss out on! Marvelous job A2A team!

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