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Post on 03-Oct-2020
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A2A Simulations
Accu-sim Bonanza for FSX and P3D v4
By Thomas Jones - In Partnership with Flightsimglobal.com
i7-7700K @ 4.6ghz | ASUS GTX1080 8gb | 16gb 2400mhz RAM | 500gb dedicated SSD | Windows 7 64bit
Intro
The Beechcraft model 35 Bonanza is a single engine, civilian, piston powered aircraft introduced
to the public in 1947. The design took advantage of many wartime developments in aircraft
design such as a horizontally opposed engine, an all-metal construction, retractable tricycle
landing gear, and a low wing. The model 35 Bonanza’s most distinctive feature is its V-tail design
that was both efficient and stylish and earned the plane the nickname of “Doctor Killer”. This
nickname was earned due to the plane’s light control forces on the roll axis and ease to put into
a spin if the pilot isn’t fully paying attention. In addition, earlier models were prone to structural
failure if flown outside a normal flight envelope. The Bonanza remains in production today and
over 17,000 have been built so far under various model types including the model 33 Debonair
and model 36 Bonanza both of which have conventional tail types. A2A Simulations has chosen
to model the V35B variant of the Bonanza, which happens to be the last V-tail Bonanza
produced. The product is available for $49.99 for the FSX/FSX:SE and P3Dv4 Academic licenses,
$79.99 for P3Dv4 Professional, $69.99 for the FSX and P3Dv4 Academic bundle, and $99.99 for
the FSX and P3Dv4 Professional bundle.
Exterior Model
The exterior of A2A’s V35 is wonderfully done as is usually the case with them. I used some
photos I’ve taken at various fly-ins over the years as comparisons and all of the important
details are accounted for. The fuselage and wings have blemishes where appropriate and the
various antenna, tie-down hooks, and other features are present and in the correct locations. By
using the included pre-flight walk around panel, you get up close and personal with many parts
of the plane. The plane also looks stunning at night both inside and out thanks to P3Dv4’s
upgraded lighting.
Interior Model
The interior of the Bonanza is just as well done as the outside. I would even argue to say the
way the gauges are recreated looks better than previous releases. An interesting item of note
for the V35 is that when in flight, if you open up a window the curtains will actually flutter in the
breeze.
Modeling and texturing of the entire cabin is very nicely done in addition to the main panel.
Wear and tear appears in appropriate places and the plane feels very “lived in” and used. Of
course, thanks to A2A’s community, other interior and exterior textures are available for
different panel looks and liveries.
A new feature added to the V35 (and shortly after added to the rest of A2A’s GA fleet and some
warbirds) is dynamic rain effects on the windows. A lot of hype has been generated over this
feature thanks to all of the different developers working on different versions and A2A’s is one
of the more authentic looking in my opinion. Given that A2A primarily does smaller aircraft
types, it is arguably more noticeable to see changes in the way the rain sweeps across the
windows as compared to an airliner that takes more time to change attitude and speed. The
rain starts responding with the slightest amount of wind and looks like… well, rain. The propeller
will push it across the windscreen and adding yaw will slightly change its direction with a
different wind stream. Though not included, I personally would have liked to have seen some
sort of snow/ice effects built into this as well but I suppose one could make the argument that
you shouldn’t fly in bad icing conditions. Either way, rain is a step in the right direction and I
hope to see more development on weather effects in the future, especially since they released
the rain effects for other developers to use for free.
Night lighting is very atmospheric and in the P3Dv4 version, you can even change the direction
the different floodlights point.
Systems and Flight Modeling
A2A has continued their trend of developing “study level” products with the V35. The aircraft
performs similar to real world numbers and will either under or over-perform based on loading
and current weather conditions. Since I have no experience flying a real Bonanza, I relied on real
world V35B owners’ descriptions of the handling qualities of the plane and they appeared to
match up to how A2A’s model handled. If hand flying isn’t your thing, the aircraft comes with a
2-axis autopilot system that works very well, perfect for longer cruise segments or if you need to
step away from the PC. I did notice that the aircraft is fairly responsive to turbulence and can
maneuver very quickly if the need arises. A great deal of pages full of performance data and
checklists can be found in the V35’s manual (available for free on the product page!).
If it can fail in the real thing, it can fail in the simulator. For testing, I made sure to abuse the
plane more than any sane Bonanza owner should in the real world just to trigger some failures
and it ended up being an interesting flight each time.
If you are familiar with A2A’s previous products, you will be familiar with their maintenance
hangar popup panel. This panel is also present in the V35 and allows the user to select a variety
of options for their own Bonanza. Some options include: tire types, wingtip fuel tanks, engine
option, sparkplug type, oil type, interior curtains, and battery type.
The maintenance hangar also includes a comprehensive maintenance component (obviously) to
see if anything is broken or beginning to fail in the engine or on the rest of the plane. What’s
nice about the V35 is that this is A2A’s first plane where not only can the systems fail, but the
gauges themselves can fail or give inaccurate readings. This new feature quickly reared its ugly
head on one of my first flights with the Bonanza where my airspeed indicator wouldn’t display
more than 40 knots. The new gauge failure simulation allows the user to “tap” on each gauge to
check if they’re stuck and if that doesn’t help it’s off to the maintenance hangar you go! The
gauges are also designed to fail over the course of their lifetime so it is possible to slip into
blindly trusting a slowly failing gauge. I’m sure there is something one could say about the irony
of A2A creating a product “designed to fail” when that only is a good thing in this context.
Sounds
A repeated theme in this review: A2A has improved from their previous releases. Sounds are
once again top notch in the V35 from the slight hum of the avionics to the way the engine is
performing. When I first started powering up the Bonanza and hit the beacon switch, I was
greeted with the sound of the beacon light motor. I have never heard a sound come from a
beacon switch (other than the switch itself) in all my years of flight simming so right away I
knew this was going to be a good release.
Conclusion
A2A Simulations continue to improve and innovate with each release and their V35B is no
exception. With the fluttering curtains, gauge failure simulation, and rain effects alone the
product already introduced more new technologies than many other products available while
keeping the price at the same $49.99 for the most basic license requirements. While some
additional weather effects would be nice to see on the smaller sized planes they produce, the
ones they have done are arguably the best of our current options. If you’re looking for a unique
looking single engine, piston plane with ample speed and advanced failures simulation than
look no further than A2A’s Accu-sim V35B Bonanza.
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