Flight1 Software - Cessna C510 (Mustang)

LEARNING CURVE

Easy to Moderate, depending on what you want to get out of this add-on.

This product is developed and distributed by Flight1. Sales information and acquisition of the product may be attained here.

TEST FLIGHT CONDITIONS

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Unlike my other reviews, I am not going to include my flight plan here because I basically took off, started a flight to KLAS from KAPA, then diverted back toward KAPA, re-diverting to KDEN and choosing various arrivals and approaches in KDEN. I did this to maximize editing and usage of the GPS flight planner and the MFD to confirm that this version did in fact cure the CTD that was happening for many users. While some users may still be having issues, I did not and I did a LOT of deletions and altering of the flight plan. ===========================================================

ActiveSky X was used for real world live weather during this review.

INSTALLATION

Installation is done via the Flight1 wrapper (or CD-ROM if you have the boxed product). It's pretty straightforward and simple. The only annoyance is in the case of the download product, where you must have an internet connection to reinstall the product. Considering the increasing piracy issues lately, however, this is an expected and accepted practice, and pretty much everyone has internet these days anyway. That said, I rate this as one of the more stable and simple purchase/download/install processes available. Flight1 is a trustworthy company, and their security seems to be top notch, so I have no issues running my credit card information through their e-commerce installer.

One of the things I like about Flight1's newest improvement to their E-Commerce wrapper is the integration of user accounts with products. The old way used to have a physical key file which was on your computer physically. I found it was easy for me to misplace keys or have them nuked somehow in my computer cleanups. Now, if you need to reinstall the product, you simply enter a username and password and you are on your way to enjoying your product once again. Good work, Flight1.

Okay, now before you email me telling me this looks just like the installation text for my other Flight1 product reviews -- it is. The installation procedure is precisely the same so the information is still the same. Thanks for understanding :-)

INTERIOR

The interior to this aircraft is superior to any business jet add-on I have encountered to date. It is absolutely fabulous. Everything is beautifully animated that needs to be and the textures -- well -- WOW! I'll let the screenshots do the speaking for me.

EXTERIOR

I have been around plenty of Citation series aircraft to know that Flight1 has done an excellent job on the exterior of this bird. it is wonderful and very appealing to look at.

FLIGHT DYNAMICS, HANDLING AND SYSTEMS

By now you may be noticing that this review is little text and lots of screenshots. This is a good thing. My reviews only get long if there is more to complain about and thus far I have very little in that department. The handling of this aircraft is superior to any other business jet add-on I have, and I have a lot of them already for FSX. Everything handles by the numbers, making flight planning a breeze and this is how it should be for GA pilots, even on the corporate level.

One complaint I DO have though seems to be the sound. I am unsure if I missed something in the manuals, but even with my master volume low enough to barely hear the FSX sounds, engines and environment, the aural warning sounds and avionics sounds/beeps/warnings/etc. seem insanely loud. I found myself apologizing to my wife who came from the other end of the house to ask why I was flying with my speakers so loud while she was trying to sleep. Oops. I could not find a way in the configuration gauge of this aircraft to adjust these sound volumes.

UTILITIES

A gauge style utility is included to let you control various animations, as well as set up your co-pilot preferences. I like this feature, but I really do wish there was a way to configure this aircraft for cold/dark situations and possibly some dynamic failure simulation based on aircraft use and abuse. Such additions would, in my opinion, make this aircraft perfect for sure.

DOCUMENTATION AND CUSTOMER SUPPORT

One thing I have always had to say about Flight1 is that their support system is spectacular. They are always professional, on task, and non-discriminating in their efforts to help their customers. Where a lot of developers fall short is on the forums, where tempers tend to fly on both sides and issues escalate into flaming wars instead of product support, or worse -- developers that simply disappear for long periods on end with no support at all.

That is not the case at Flight1. Their forums are well staffed, professional and with answers every day of the week. If you don't like forums, they have a trouble ticket system that is secure and gets you the one-on-one attention you might like in certain cases. There are also plenty of documentation sources, FAQs and other resources accessible from their site to help get you going.

As far as documentation goes, there are only two more things I would possibly ask for in addition to what they already include:

A tutorial flight in document form. If one is included, I missed it somewhere.
Non-normal procedures.

CONCLUSION

Business jets are among my favorite aircraft to fly in a flight simulation environment. I have always been a bit disappointed in one way or another with these jets. Flight1 has surprised me by excelling in almost every area which has been a pain to me in prior jet add-ons. I would very highly recommend this product to any virtual pilot who desires familiarity with business jets, jet transition and especially G1000 avionics procedures in an FS environment. This product, despite the few shortcomings I have found, is still worth every last penny spent.

Also, you may wish to know that when you purchase this add-on, if you are a Navigraph user, updated Navdata is available for purchase at the Navigraph web site.

LIKES

Excellent detail all around
Great handling
Stable product
Excellent customer support
Excellent sound
Avionics are superior to any G1000 series I have encountered in the FS world

DISLIKES

No tutorial flight
No non-normal procedures
No configuration editor for load-out, start situation, etc.
Loud aural warnings/callouts/etc. without an obvious way to adjust these sounds.

SCORE - 92%

Out of an expected 96 items possible in FSX for this type of add-on, the Mustang passed 88. Also please note that this review was based on the Navdata that comes with the aircraft and I did not use Navigraph updates at all.

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