Carenado Piper Seneca (PA-34 200T SENECA II)
Airplane Background
Starting life as a twin engined version of the Piper Cerokee Six, the Seneca has been produced since 1971.
The model simulates the PA-34 200T Seneca II, a variant certified on July 18, 1974 and introduced as a 1975 model, with different control surfaces than the original, as well as improved engine performance.
This variant introduced "club seating" where the passenger seats face eachother (2 face rearward).
Carenado Package
The PA-34 200T Seneca II package is an add-on for Microsoft FSX.
Included in the package are 3 aircraft paint schemes (Sunset Strips, Green Forest and Old Beige) and a blank texture.
The models include two and three blade propeller versions.
This package doesn’t have a 2D panel, but the virtual cockpit is beautiful.
Here's the view (above) from the pilot's seat, it's perfect for instrument flying.
This wider view shows the radios, GPS, and other instruments for you to use.
Flight Test
For this review we posited the aircraft on runway 9 at Keywest International airport in Florida, a very scenic airport to fly from.
We're seated in the pilots seat, using the interactive virtual cockpit to control the switches and gear.
Increasing power, the first thing that is noticable is the accuracy of the sound, it's perfect. Carenado made digital stereo sounds (44100 HZ) recorded from the original aircraft, and the sounds are incredible.
In the climb, the clear waters of Keywest are nicely simulated, you forget you're looking at a computer screen, but instead are virtually there.
The airplane sustained a comfortable 900 fpm climb, while giving us 140 mph.
It's interesting looking around at the detail, a look out of the left side window and you can see the screws holding on the engine cowls with visible details on the metal of wear and paint, the texturing everywhere is very realistic.
On the flaps and ailerons, the static wicks flutter in the airflow, it's very immersive.
The add-on has other animations too, including moving doors, sun visor, and the vibrating antenna.
One neat feature thing about flying the Seneca, is having a GPS installed, it's easy to look over and navigate to an airport using this, and clicking on it brings up a resizable version, so there's no need to look for keys to do so.
The guages are custom made, and themselves are also clickable. They have realistic lighting effects, and there's also nightlight effects on the panel.
If the yoke is distracting, or blocking your view from some of the instruments, clicking on it removes it from view.
The included description shows the airplane to cruise at 170 kts with a 982 nm range, and a service ceiling of 25,000 ft.
We took the airplane all the way to the service ceiling of 25,000 ft, providing a beautiful view of Florida as the sun was setting.
We flew the airplane at a variety of airports, and it performs as you would exactly as you expect of the real airplane.
Other Features
External dynamic shadows, internal dynamic shadows on VC, volumetric normal mapping, specular mapping and bloom lights – Polygon optimized model – Friendly FPS – IFR certification
Lights: Navigation lights, beacons, landing lights, ice light on the left wing -
Transparent windows - 3D modeled pilot and cockpit area - Many details as: pitot, antennas, chocks, cowl plugs, baggage area
Full checklist and reference text about the procedures - Realistic performance - Real behavior compared to the real airplane - Real weight and balance – Pilot, copilot and passenger views - PDF manual of VC – Original Autopilot and Flight Director installed
Summary
This is another great add-on from Carenado, who clearly produce fully featured, highly realistic add-on's.
This add-on is frame rate friendly, and there was no noticable FPS loss at all.
Available directly from Carenado (www.carenado.com).
