Flight 1 Pilatus PC12

[jaydor]

Flight1 Pilatus PC12 private review.

I have been a flight simmy now for 2 years and still learning to get a grip with it. But of late; I have found myself making a bit of headway through the clouds of FSX.

I had been trying all sorts of aircraft out and had spent a small fortune buying all that I could afford, then one day I made up my mind that I was going to actually learn to fly this computer of mine as near as realistically as I could by self learning. But I loved all the different aircraft and I think that's when I realized that I needed a plane that had to fit the requirements of GA and commercial. One that for the next few weeks I was determined to learn as much as I could about one aircraft. It was by chance that I came across on You Tube, the Flight 1 Pilatus PC12. I made the decision that if I bought that one then I was going to learn it, so this is the story of what I have been up to over the last few months, learning.

So it was log into Flight 1 and download their Pilatus PC12. Download complete and install. The install was very efficient and smooth and the first thing I was greeted with was a configuration manager on my desktop, you select from within this manager first; before you open FSX. Then the rush was on to open FSX and get to see what we had bought. So it was a scroll down the FSX hangar list until I came across Pilatus PC12. Here I found a number of types to choose from, but what was what? Cargo, Executive, Spectre and Standard. Spectre I thought (must be a ghost plane); anyway I decided to be posh and chose the Executive Swiss version. Now remember, like most simmies; I did not read the manual before having a go. First I thought, sitting in a cold VC where's the battery switch? I looked and looked and looked again; but there was nothing on dashboard in front of me, so I thought it must be a Ctrl+e start. So I hit Ctrl+e, engine started and before I could blink we were off at speed over the verge and right through the reception building at NAS Whidbey. (The Commanding Officer is right cheesed off with me). The engine died down and I slowed to a stand after I hit the brake button. What was that I thought; it shouldn't do that? So I sat there in the VC and thought mmmm!

So it was press shift+o, grab my mouse and have a look around this cockpit, it's then I found the battery switch along with all other buttons on the overhead above me. So using my mouse wheel I zoomed in to see what they all were; there were buttons on there with words I did not understand but I saw the main battery switch, so pressed shift+o to get my curser back and switched the battery on and off; boy was I surprised by the effect that this had on me; LED's functioned great and the blue LED on light really caught my eye. Anyway moving on, I applied the handbrake this time and started up the engine after making sure the throttle was on idle by hitting F1 and moving the condition lever to ground idle. (Didn't want the CO on my case again). I moved the flaps to 15% and made for the runway. I took off did a circuit and went for a landing.. A landing! I looked at my speed and it was 150knots pulled back the throttle eyed the PAPI's dropped the gear and made the approach. made contact with the tarmac and bounced so high I nearly fell out of my computer chair. Mmmmm! me thinks, what am I doing wrong?

So it is from here that I realised that for the first time in FSX; bluff was out of the window and a real learning period was about to start. So I closed FSX and on the desktop selected PC12 FSX Pilots Guide. This is 48 pages of information that gives you a fighting chance to fly this aircraft as good as any long toothed simmer in the FSX community. For the first time, I now had to learn by reading a manual of how to. Flight1 have done a brilliant job producing this manual. There is text in plain English with no gobbledegook and photo diagrams that makes learning a bit more pleasurable for the uninitiated. So I am lucky that I have 2 computers running FSX, as I could open up FSX on the one and read the manual on the other. I did not fancy printing off 48 pages with ink costing more than gold. So the first part of my learning was spent in a cold and dark VC following the diagrams of all the cockpit dials gauges and switches, learning and trying to remember what was for what. I had to fight myself, but leaning after a long time from my school day's is harder than I thought. But I was determined to give a go this time. I was taught a long time ago to read a subject through first before learning as our brains will learn better the second time. I am glad I stuck with that teaching as it was only the third time reading, that I saw 2 things; that really stood out that I knew I had to learn. The first one was the EFIS Controller and the second was the Altitude Preselecter. These 2 I had not come across before, it turned out the Altitude Preselecter was the hard one to get my head around but once the grey matter accepted it I was on my way. The Altitude Preselecter looks insignificant on the dashboard but turns out to be one of the main controllers of flying this aircraft successfully. The other part that helps you fly this aircraft successfully is the Airspeed selector knob which must be selected in the Desktop configuration manager before opening FSX (Please remember this) as life will be harder if you don't.

As I said the manual is a very good teacher of what is what, but does not actually teach you how to fly the aircraft, that comes with practise and I really, really mean practise. You have to learn to fly this aircraft, as Flight1 have produced a flight model that is almost precise to the real thing. There are a lot of things that may be alien to most simmers including experienced ones. But please accept this is being written by a simmer only, as I am not a qualified Pilot. Just someone with my L plates still showing front and rear. So from now on I will try to concentrate on flying the machine and not waffling.

It's because I have done nothing but fly this aircraft in FSX for 4 months and reading the forums to gain knowledge, that I now have a better understanding of things that are applicable to this aircraft that I can pass on to you. One more item that will be of immense use to you that I found along the way is a Pilatus PC12 Flight guide. This is downloadable from a very good site that I found in Australia called Kennair, copy the link: http://kennair.com.au/downloads.html and select PC12 Checklist..

So before we go for our first reasonable flight, let me remind you that Flight1 have modelled the flying attributes of this aircraft very well and have used real PC12 pilots to test it out before release. As I said there are things alien to this aircraft that has caught out many simmers… I will state some now and the rest as we learn to fly it. I know we are not in the air yet, but one of the first for you to get your head around will be the landing of this aircraft. On your approach, as you increase flaps the nose of the aircraft will droop down and not up, this is correct to the flight model and this is the one that catches most experience simmers into thinking that there is a problem with the flight dynamics, this is what happens to the real aircraft and was a design feature built into the aircraft by the very canny Swiss designers as an aid to pilots flying in and out of very tight Swiss airfields. The other to learn very quickly is that the speed of the aircraft has got to be controlled correctly and not so much by the throttle, but more using the flight director, that is why I say select the ASI selector knob in the beginning.

So let's be off then: For our first flight I am selecting the Swiss executive version of the plane. I have saved a flight so that we are on the tarmac viewing the outside as it opens up. The first thing you will notice is the red carpet treatment for you. All the ground objects disappear when the engine is started. The outside ground objects are part of the aircraft config files so you cannot switch them off in this FSX version. I will use a combination of keyboard and mouse keys for some of the operations. So it's shift+e and the passenger door opens out, you will notice the mechanics of the steps and handrail operate in a very smooth slick way. Then it's a press of our joystick button to place us in the pilot's seat. Now it's a preference of each user as to next; TrackIR or joystick hat users carry on, we are going to use the mouse as our aid to look around. If you don't know how to do this; on the keyboard press shift+o together and your curser will change from an arrow to a +. Now just using the mouse move it and the screen will start acting like TrackIR, using your mouse wheel to zoom in or out; the simple things are best and it's the cheapest Track IR around, it also works on outside views so you can zoom in and out as you like. So try this, select the mouse as stated, move up to see the overhead panel, then zoom in slightly to the switch that says Batt 1; on your keyboard press shift+o to get the arrow curser back, then switch on battery (it lights up like xmas)..

Have you got the way to use the mouse like TrackIR? as this will save me a lot of typing? So from now on I am going to assume you have and just use the word trackup or trackdown.

Make sure all switches are in the on position in the overhead panel . Now track down to the main gauge consol and check that the gauges are functioning. An alarm ping will sound as the engine is not started and we will not start yet, so silence the alarm by pressing the caution yellow and red warning button next to it on the panel. We will continue to do this until we start the engine. Using your mouse as tracker, zoom in or out to find a view that suites you while sitting in the pilot seat so that you can see most of your gauges and out of the window.

We will now select the altitude we wish to fly at, on the Altitude Preselecter (Hope you have read up on it). With you curser place it to the right hand side just above the control knob, the curser will change to a + sign, turn you mouse wheel and select 3000 (saves clicking on the control knob). Now press the middle of the control knob to select vertical climb speed again place curser to the same position as before and turn wheel to 1200. Now the 2 white buttons on the left side press each and the system is armed. On the MFD the flight director (Green) will move up to the VS position. On the Air Speed Indicator (ASI) turn knob and select 190 knots.. Now we will start the engine. Ensure the parking brake is on. Move the conditioner lever to ground idle, throttle lever to idle. (press F1 on your keyboard to ensure zero throttle) track up to overhead, switch on beacon and press start button. Be aware the engine will start and fire up to full speed for a few seconds then settle back to idle (good job brake is on). Select 15% flaps trackup and switch on Taxi light. Release hand brake increase throttle and taxi for takeoff. (Tip; place curser in middle of ASI indicator dial on dashboard and press left mouse button, hey presto you have a digital readout).

ATC to runway, trackup and press strobe and landing lights on. When ready move condition lever to full up then throttle full on for takeoff. At around 85knots pull back gently and lift off. Gear up and switch off landing lights, switch on AP (nothing else yet) the flight director will take over the climb out. At 115knots raise flaps to zero, control direction via yoke. Press ASI button on AP.

At 2000' you will get the Altitude Preselecter warning ping and again at intervals until selected altitude is reached. The ALT light will appear on the AP when altitude is reached. That's the take off (Phew!)

Now; how the hell do we get back down?

Be warned this aircraft does not like to be rushed (typical lady). Do a few circuits to get the feel for the aircraft. Also now is the time to read your flight guide for landing instructions (Did you download it)? As I say no rushing this lady, select the runway you are going to land at. For a first landing we should approach from about 10 miles. On your Altitude Preselecter place curser to the right lower of the control knob and it should change to - sign. Select 800' then press middle of control knob to get to vertical speed and select -500' (the little yellow arrow will point down). Speed is now crucial, so on the ASI turn the selector down to 130knots. at 5 miles out press the 2 white arm buttons on the Altitude Preselecter, the green ALT on the AP will extinguish and the FD will take over the decent. Keep a check on your decent and adjust as necessary, at 3 miles to go check speed and adjust down to 110knots check ASI is still on; on AP. Select 15% flaps and lower gear, remember the nose droop, switch on landing lights. At 2 miles out cancel the Altitude Preselecter by one press on each white button to left side. You are now in control of the decent. Keep an eye on your speed and at 2000 yards from runway select 80knots on the ASI. On the AP all that should now be alight is AP and ASI. Control the aircraft and remember what I said about the nose droop, do not approach to steep, a nice gentle 200' VS should do it and keep your eye on the PAPI's, you need to be at a speed of about 80knots as you pass over the piano keys. Throttle back to idle as you pass the piano keys and switch off ASI on the AP, you are now in full control, cancel the warning alarm button and gently touchdown with a slight flair a few feet off the ground (Not too much of a flair). Control your speed and taxi off the runway. Switch off your landing and strobe lights. Taxi to a stand switch off your taxi light and cancel your engine, pull the condition lever all the way back until it sits in the recess That's it, we are down.. That's your first, now practise, practise, practise. That's what they do in real life..

Flight1 have produce a remarkable aircraft for FSX with the Pilatus PC12 and made 4 versions of the aeroplane. A Cargo, Executive, standard and Spectre. You will find an extra large door to the rear part of the aircraft and this works also. To get this to work you will have to cancel panel 2 in the settings control keyboard settings in the main FSX control panel, as you have to press shift+e+2 to get the rear door to open (panel2 is shift+2 so that is why you have to cancel it off). Another feature is you can move the sun visor out of the way if you press the backslash key / on the keyboard. An added bonus with the backslash key is; when you are flying the Spectre version the visor stows and the Surveillance camera descends out of the lower body of the aircraft, press again to stow it. The inside of each version is also given excellent treatment. The cargo version has excellent rendition of a reasonable cargo. The Spectre has a camera controllers consol complete with screens and keyboard and operator. The standard version has 9 seats and the executive 6 seats with tables. The VC cockpit is a very good rendition and by pressing the A key on your keyboard you move to different sections of the VC and you also get a 2D panel before returning to the VC.

The PC12 has become my favourite aircraft in FSX (had you guessed) and I am still on a very enjoyable learning curve with it. If you have not got it; get it, or you will be missing a very enjoyable time in your simming sessions of a very enjoyable aircraft. Having to learn something rather than jump in and up and away, has got to stimulate the mind better and keep one young at heart. I took up FSX after retirement to keep my mind active, Flight1 Pilatus PC12 has definitely done that.

James

(jaydor)

[T-Bone]

Nice review, and thanks for the link and checklist. This just reminds how much I miss not flying mine in FSX lately. From time to time I see real ones used by the RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) fly over my house. I think they have a fairly distinctive sound, and that sounds just screams power (to me anyway). I love airplane noise!!!

[Dean (PC Aviator)]

Very comprehensive review. Thanks for sharing. The PC-12 is a popular add-on for FSX.

[Derek McAllan]

Great write up of one of my favourite FSX addons (and R/L planes too!!) I spend a whole lot of time in the virtual PC-12 doing RFDS runs around outback West Oz.

Cheers,

Derek

[Maurice_King]

I LOVED my FS9 PC 12 but it doesn't play well with FSX so I've not updated , BUT having flown in a PC12 as a passenger and then managing to sit in the right seat for a while I can honestly say the Audio you here is Spot on the sensations you get as you slow to approach speeds and the general behaviour in FS9 is IMHO as close as you will get (given the limitations of PC's) to how the PC12 operates in the real world.

I have or HAD a PC12 Skin for the Anniversary edition RFDS Aircraft.

I have also done the WA Police Scheme too. Lovely Aircraft and ANYONE who is into their Business commuter type craft should purchase this aircraft without doubt.

[sangsom]

A very nice review,

and a very nice HD-repaint.Thank you,James.

Two more screens of this great plane(couldn't resist)

[Appliance]

Still love your repaints Maurice.

[boetie]

James! What can I say? Nice work mate - you put it all in perspective for us serious simmers, what a good read. Cheers

[Gabe_62]

On 5/3/2012 at 7:33 PM, jaydor said:

Flight1 Pilatus PC12 private review.

 

I have been a flight simmy now for 2 years and still learning to get a grip with it. But of late; I have found myself making a bit of headway through the clouds of FSX.

 

I had been trying all sorts of aircraft out and had spent a small fortune buying all that I could afford, then one day I made up my mind that I was going to actually learn to fly this computer of mine as near as realistically as I could by self learning. But I loved all the different aircraft and I think that's when I realized that I needed a plane that had to fit the requirements of GA and commercial. One that for the next few weeks I was determined to learn as much as I could about one aircraft. It was by chance that I came across on You Tube, the Flight 1 Pilatus PC12. I made the decision that if I bought that one then I was going to learn it, so this is the story of what I have been up to over the last few months, learning.

 

So it was log into Flight 1 and download their Pilatus PC12. Download complete and install. The install was very efficient and smooth and the first thing I was greeted with was a configuration manager on my desktop, you select from within this manager first; before you open FSX. Then the rush was on to open FSX and get to see what we had bought. So it was a scroll down the FSX hangar list until I came across Pilatus PC12. Here I found a number of types to choose from, but what was what? Cargo, Executive, Spectre and Standard. Spectre I thought (must be a ghost plane); anyway I decided to be posh and chose the Executive Swiss version. Now remember, like most simmies; I did not read the manual before having a go. First I thought, sitting in a cold VC where's the battery switch? I looked and looked and looked again; but there was nothing on dashboard in front of me, so I thought it must be a Ctrl+e start. So I hit Ctrl+e, engine started and before I could blink we were off at speed over the verge and right through the reception building at NAS Whidbey. (The Commanding Officer is right cheesed off with me). The engine died down and I slowed to a stand after I hit the brake button. What was that I thought; it shouldn't do that? So I sat there in the VC and thought mmmm!

 

So it was press shift+o, grab my mouse and have a look around this cockpit, it's then I found the battery switch along with all other buttons on the overhead above me. So using my mouse wheel I zoomed in to see what they all were; there were buttons on there with words I did not understand but I saw the main battery switch, so pressed shift+o to get my curser back and switched the battery on and off; boy was I surprised by the effect that this had on me; LED's functioned great and the blue LED on light really caught my eye. Anyway moving on, I applied the handbrake this time and started up the engine after making sure the throttle was on idle by hitting F1 and moving the condition lever to ground idle. (Didn't want the CO on my case again). I moved the flaps to 15% and made for the runway. I took off did a circuit and went for a landing.. A landing! I looked at my speed and it was 150knots pulled back the throttle eyed the PAPI's dropped the gear and made the approach. made contact with the tarmac and bounced so high I nearly fell out of my computer chair. Mmmmm! me thinks, what am I doing wrong?

 

So it is from here that I realised that for the first time in FSX; bluff was out of the window and a real learning period was about to start. So I closed FSX and on the desktop selected PC12 FSX Pilots Guide. This is 48 pages of information that gives you a fighting chance to fly this aircraft as good as any long toothed simmer in the FSX community. For the first time, I now had to learn by reading a manual of how to. Flight1 have done a brilliant job producing this manual. There is text in plain English with no gobbledegook and photo diagrams that makes learning a bit more pleasurable for the uninitiated. So I am lucky that I have 2 computers running FSX, as I could open up FSX on the one and read the manual on the other. I did not fancy printing off 48 pages with ink costing more than gold. So the first part of my learning was spent in a cold and dark VC following the diagrams of all the cockpit dials gauges and switches, learning and trying to remember what was for what. I had to fight myself, but leaning after a long time from my school day's is harder than I thought. But I was determined to give a go this time. I was taught a long time ago to read a subject through first before learning as our brains will learn better the second time. I am glad I stuck with that teaching as it was only the third time reading, that I saw 2 things; that really stood out that I knew I had to learn. The first one was the EFIS Controller and the second was the Altitude Preselecter. These 2 I had not come across before, it turned out the Altitude Preselecter was the hard one to get my head around but once the grey matter accepted it I was on my way. The Altitude Preselecter looks insignificant on the dashboard but turns out to be one of the main controllers of flying this aircraft successfully. The other part that helps you fly this aircraft successfully is the Airspeed selector knob which must be selected in the Desktop configuration manager before opening FSX (Please remember this) as life will be harder if you don't.

 

As I said the manual is a very good teacher of what is what, but does not actually teach you how to fly the aircraft, that comes with practise and I really, really mean practise. You have to learn to fly this aircraft, as Flight1 have produced a flight model that is almost precise to the real thing. There are a lot of things that may be alien to most simmers including experienced ones. But please accept this is being written by a simmer only, as I am not a qualified Pilot. Just someone with my L plates still showing front and rear. So from now on I will try to concentrate on flying the machine and not waffling.

 

It's because I have done nothing but fly this aircraft in FSX for 4 months and reading the forums to gain knowledge, that I now have a better understanding of things that are applicable to this aircraft that I can pass on to you. One more item that will be of immense use to you that I found along the way is a Pilatus PC12 Flight guide. This is downloadable from a very good site that I found in Australia called Kennair, copy the link: http://kennair.com.au/downloads.html and select PC12 Checklist..

 

So before we go for our first reasonable flight, let me remind you that Flight1 have modelled the flying attributes of this aircraft very well and have used real PC12 pilots to test it out before release. As I said there are things alien to this aircraft that has caught out many simmers… I will state some now and the rest as we learn to fly it. I know we are not in the air yet, but one of the first for you to get your head around will be the landing of this aircraft. On your approach, as you increase flaps the nose of the aircraft will droop down and not up, this is correct to the flight model and this is the one that catches most experience simmers into thinking that there is a problem with the flight dynamics, this is what happens to the real aircraft and was a design feature built into the aircraft by the very canny Swiss designers as an aid to pilots flying in and out of very tight Swiss airfields. The other to learn very quickly is that the speed of the aircraft has got to be controlled correctly and not so much by the throttle, but more using the flight director, that is why I say select the ASI selector knob in the beginning.

 

So let's be off then: For our first flight I am selecting the Swiss executive version of the plane. I have saved a flight so that we are on the tarmac viewing the outside as it opens up. The first thing you will notice is the red carpet treatment for you. All the ground objects disappear when the engine is started. The outside ground objects are part of the aircraft config files so you cannot switch them off in this FSX version. I will use a combination of keyboard and mouse keys for some of the operations. So it's shift+e and the passenger door opens out, you will notice the mechanics of the steps and handrail operate in a very smooth slick way. Then it's a press of our joystick button to place us in the pilot's seat. Now it's a preference of each user as to next; TrackIR or joystick hat users carry on, we are going to use the mouse as our aid to look around. If you don't know how to do this; on the keyboard press shift+o together and your curser will change from an arrow to a +. Now just using the mouse move it and the screen will start acting like TrackIR, using your mouse wheel to zoom in or out; the simple things are best and it's the cheapest Track IR around, it also works on outside views so you can zoom in and out as you like. So try this, select the mouse as stated, move up to see the overhead panel, then zoom in slightly to the switch that says Batt 1; on your keyboard press shift+o to get the arrow curser back, then switch on battery (it lights up like xmas)..

Have you got the way to use the mouse like TrackIR? as this will save me a lot of typing? So from now on I am going to assume you have and just use the word trackup or trackdown.

 

Make sure all switches are in the on position in the overhead panel . Now track down to the main gauge consol and check that the gauges are functioning. An alarm ping will sound as the engine is not started and we will not start yet, so silence the alarm by pressing the caution yellow and red warning button next to it on the panel. We will continue to do this until we start the engine. Using your mouse as tracker, zoom in or out to find a view that suites you while sitting in the pilot seat so that you can see most of your gauges and out of the window.

 

We will now select the altitude we wish to fly at, on the Altitude Preselecter (Hope you have read up on it). With you curser place it to the right hand side just above the control knob, the curser will change to a + sign, turn you mouse wheel and select 3000 (saves clicking on the control knob). Now press the middle of the control knob to select vertical climb speed again place curser to the same position as before and turn wheel to 1200. Now the 2 white buttons on the left side press each and the system is armed. On the MFD the flight director (Green) will move up to the VS position. On the Air Speed Indicator (ASI) turn knob and select 190 knots.. Now we will start the engine. Ensure the parking brake is on. Move the conditioner lever to ground idle, throttle lever to idle. (press F1 on your keyboard to ensure zero throttle) track up to overhead, switch on beacon and press start button. Be aware the engine will start and fire up to full speed for a few seconds then settle back to idle (good job brake is on). Select 15% flaps trackup and switch on Taxi light. Release hand brake increase throttle and taxi for takeoff. (Tip; place curser in middle of ASI indicator dial on dashboard and press left mouse button, hey presto you have a digital readout).

 

ATC to runway, trackup and press strobe and landing lights on. When ready move condition lever to full up then throttle full on for takeoff. At around 85knots pull back gently and lift off. Gear up and switch off landing lights, switch on AP (nothing else yet) the flight director will take over the climb out. At 115knots raise flaps to zero, control direction via yoke. Press ASI button on AP.

 

At 2000' you will get the Altitude Preselecter warning ping and again at intervals until selected altitude is reached. The ALT light will appear on the AP when altitude is reached. That's the take off (Phew!)

 

Now; how the hell do we get back down?

 

Be warned this aircraft does not like to be rushed (typical lady). Do a few circuits to get the feel for the aircraft. Also now is the time to read your flight guide for landing instructions (Did you download it)? As I say no rushing this lady, select the runway you are going to land at. For a first landing we should approach from about 10 miles. On your Altitude Preselecter place curser to the right lower of the control knob and it should change to - sign. Select 800' then press middle of control knob to get to vertical speed and select -500' (the little yellow arrow will point down). Speed is now crucial, so on the ASI turn the selector down to 130knots. at 5 miles out press the 2 white arm buttons on the Altitude Preselecter, the green ALT on the AP will extinguish and the FD will take over the decent. Keep a check on your decent and adjust as necessary, at 3 miles to go check speed and adjust down to 110knots check ASI is still on; on AP. Select 15% flaps and lower gear, remember the nose droop, switch on landing lights. At 2 miles out cancel the Altitude Preselecter by one press on each white button to left side. You are now in control of the decent. Keep an eye on your speed and at 2000 yards from runway select 80knots on the ASI. On the AP all that should now be alight is AP and ASI. Control the aircraft and remember what I said about the nose droop, do not approach to steep, a nice gentle 200' VS should do it and keep your eye on the PAPI's, you need to be at a speed of about 80knots as you pass over the piano keys. Throttle back to idle as you pass the piano keys and switch off ASI on the AP, you are now in full control, cancel the warning alarm button and gently touchdown with a slight flair a few feet off the ground (Not too much of a flair). Control your speed and taxi off the runway. Switch off your landing and strobe lights. Taxi to a stand switch off your taxi light and cancel your engine, pull the condition lever all the way back until it sits in the recess That's it, we are down.. That's your first, now practise, practise, practise. That's what they do in real life..

 

Flight1 have produce a remarkable aircraft for FSX with the Pilatus PC12 and made 4 versions of the aeroplane. A Cargo, Executive, standard and Spectre. You will find an extra large door to the rear part of the aircraft and this works also. To get this to work you will have to cancel panel 2 in the settings control keyboard settings in the main FSX control panel, as you have to press shift+e+2 to get the rear door to open (panel2 is shift+2 so that is why you have to cancel it off). Another feature is you can move the sun visor out of the way if you press the backslash key / on the keyboard. An added bonus with the backslash key is; when you are flying the Spectre version the visor stows and the Surveillance camera descends out of the lower body of the aircraft, press again to stow it. The inside of each version is also given excellent treatment. The cargo version has excellent rendition of a reasonable cargo. The Spectre has a camera controllers consol complete with screens and keyboard and operator. The standard version has 9 seats and the executive 6 seats with tables. The VC cockpit is a very good rendition and by pressing the A key on your keyboard you move to different sections of the VC and you also get a 2D panel before returning to the VC.