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 Reseñas de aeronaves de aviación general



 Revisión de aeronaves: Proyecto de entrenador de aire PAC CT/4E

por VSkyLabs
 vskylabs

por Esteban ,
5 de julio de 2021en Revisiones de Aeronaves de Aviación General

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Esteban
Al corriente5 de julio de 2021


 
Revisión de aeronaves: Proyecto de entrenador de aire PAC CT/4E por VSkyLabs
 
Las fuerzas armadas de todo el mundo cuando revitalizan sus flotas, por lo general hacen lo que llaman
compras "listas para usar", o toman un avión ya construido y luego reconfiguran el avión para que se adapte a
los requisitos de sus servicios, supuestamente para ahorrarle dinero, comprar un aviones ya producidos y no
pagan los costos de desarrollo... pero nunca parece funcionar de esa manera, por lo que generalmente
terminan con un resultado mucho más costoso.
 
A veces, también puede necesitar una configuración aún más especializada para la aeronave para cumplir con
sus requisitos especializados, entonces incluso una opción "lista para usar" tampoco se ajustará a esos
requisitos, en este caso, tendrá que construir la aeronave usted mismo, o para satisfacer las necesidades de la
función que debe cumplir la aeronave.
 
Esta era la situación en la que se encontraban la RAAF (Royal Australian Airforce) y la RNZAF (Royal New
Zealand Airforce), a principios de los años 70, ya que necesitaban un avión de entrenamiento especializado
que fuera relativamente barato, pero que siguiera siendo un buen avión acrobático para entrenar a la
RAAF/RNZAF. pilotos encendidos.
 
La solución fue tomar un avión australiano ya construido con éxito en el Victa Aircruiser (¡y sí, Victa es
reconocida en Australia por sus cortadoras de césped!) y reconfigurar el avión para que fuera una
construcción totalmente metálica, monomotor, biplaza con -con asientos uno al lado del otro (con un solo
asiento trasero), y también iba a ser un avión de entrenamiento básico con motor de pistón completamente
acrobático, y este trabajo de desarrollo y montaje fue realizado por la empresa de mantenimiento Aero Engine
Services Ltd (AESL) en Nueva Zelanda.
 
Externamente, el CT/4 se diferencia de los diseños Airtourer y Aircruiser por su motor más grande y la capota
de burbuja que se rediseñó en forma de perfil aerodinámico. Estructuralmente, hay cambios en la piel y la
mejora de los cuatro largueros en el fuselaje de láminas de metal a extrusiones.
 
Los aviones anteriores estaban propulsados por un motor de pistón Continental de 210 hp y luego se
actualizaron a un Lycoming de 300 hp y con una hélice de tres palas y el ala también se movió 5 cm hacia
atrás para compensar el centro de gravedad alterado (para equilibrar el peso extra del Lycoming) esta es esta
versión de vSkyLabs en el CT/4E.
 
La filosofía de vSkylab es que está comprando un proyecto en curso, por lo que cualquier avión que compre
no está completamente completado o está completo al 100%, ese es el acuerdo al que se suscribe para obtener
acceso al avión y todo el desarrollo es gratuito y en curso. Estos proyectos están en constante desarrollo: la
hoja de ruta de desarrollo incluye refinamientos del modelo de vuelo, profundidad mejorada de los sistemas,
libreas adicionales y otras mejoras. En segundo lugar, la aeronave está diseñada en torno al potente entorno
nativo X-Plane 11 'Modelo de vuelo experimental', lo que significa que en el Menú/General se debe
seleccionar la casilla "Usar el modelo de vuelo experimental".
 
Solo dos meses después del lanzamiento del excelente Proyecto Aeroprakt A22-LS , VskyLabs ya está de
vuelta con otro proyecto, esta vez es el avión de entrenamiento PAC (Pacific Aerospace Corporation) CT/4E.
 
  
El Victa era un avión pequeño pero muy dulce diseñado por el famoso Henry Millicer. Luego, el diseñador
jefe de AESL, PWC Monk, rediseñó el Airtourer/Aircruiser en el CT/4 para sus funciones de entrenador que
luego se construyeron en Hamilton, Nueva Zelanda, hasta un total de 155 aviones.
 
Las opiniones iniciales son que este es un avión pequeño y agradable, y sabías que iba a ser tan agradable en
el aire. Los vSkyLabs ya son bien conocidos por sus habilidades de modelado realmente excelentes, y ese
aspecto es ciertamente evidente aquí, el CT4 está magníficamente hecho en diseño y detalle.
 
De adelante hacia atrás, el detalle y el mapeo son de primera clase, todos los remaches se pueden contar y el
trabajo del panel de persianas de la superficie voladora también es increíble...
 
  
... No estoy muy seguro acerca de la iluminación de navegación a todo color, pero en general no se puede
criticar el trabajo aquí. Un área que se destaca es el conjunto de la cola de la baliza trasera
blanca. Exteriormente parece soso, pero en una inspección más cercana es realmente bastante bueno, es la
forma en que se ve y no realmente lo que es...
 
  
El tren de aterrizaje tiene un diseño extremadamente básico, pero nuevamente, al igual que el Aeroprakt A22
anterior, el puntal delantero se ve un poco subdesarrollado, o muy básico, al igual que los dos escapes del
motor que sobresalen del capó, sin el corte del capó circundante. -salidas para acomodarlos, un pequeño pero
significativo detalle amigos.
 
 
Sin embargo, el dosel es una obra maestra. El vidrio brillante y detallado, rodeado por el marco de metal, está
excepcionalmente bien hecho, sin importar desde qué ángulo mires el dosel, puedes ver la construcción y el
trabajo de remaches del marco, y el vidrio está perfectamente desgastado y marcado.
 
  
Para abrir la capota, hay una palanca en el exterior y una manija giratoria en el interior (flecha), que
desconecta el pestillo, luego empujas la capota hacia arriba...
 
  
... el mecanismo y las animaciones son excelentes y también muy realistas, y cuando se abre debajo del dosel
hay un interior muy detallado. Hay tres asientos en la aeronave en el espacio reducido, dos asientos delanteros
de piloto en prácticas y un asiento de instructor en la parte trasera, todos los asientos tienen un diseño de lata
de metal, con solo una parte trasera y una base acolchada, pero aquí todo parece totalmente auténtico. Tenga
en cuenta la gran cabina central con barra antivuelco.
 
  
Los detalles más pequeños y agradables incluyen un gran botiquín de primeros auxilios y un extintor de
incendios en el piso, ambos de color rojo brillante para resaltar en una cabina ya compleja... en general, los
detalles son magistrales aquí.
 
  
El salpicadero del panel de instrumentos también es de metal, pero magníficamente bonito y desgastado con
arañazos y otras cosas... muy, muy bonito. El detalle del instrumento también está fuera de serie, claro y muy
legible... perfecto.
 
  
Hay dos juegos de palancas de acelerador, hélice y mezcla, un juego para cada piloto, pero también hay una
segunda palanca de flaps integrada en el conjunto del lado izquierdo (flecha)...
 
 
Hay un panel central donde se colocan los principales instrumentos de vuelo... no realmente en un diseño de
tres instrumentos, ya que el indicador de velocidad está en el centro a la izquierda y no en la parte superior,
con un indicador de velocidad de giro debajo. La línea descendente del instrumento central incluye una parte
superior de bola Artificial Horizon, con una agradable línea de ajuste ajustable (línea naranja). La parte
inferior es la brújula del dial de rumbo, y la parte inferior es una brújula de dos punteros OBI (tenga en cuenta
que el error de rumbo está activado en este instrumento y no en el dial de rumbo anterior)... la fila derecha (de
arriba hacia abajo) es el instrumento de altitud , Velocidad vertical (V/S) y baje un Indicador de desviación de
rumbo (CDI).
 
  
A cada lado de los instrumentos de vuelo primarios están a la izquierda, la cantidad de combustible (75 lts por
tanque) y más abajo están los indicadores de compensación. En el lado derecho están el indicador de RPM,
las presiones del múltiple y del flujo de combustible, y en la parte inferior, un indicador combinado de
presión/temperatura del aceite y temperatura de la culata. En la parte superior del panel central hay un
indicador de temperatura principal, el interruptor de encendido/apagado, el medidor de amperios/voltios
(presione la perilla para activar la lectura de voltios) y el medidor G (aceleración) en la parte inferior. En la
parte superior del panel hay tres luces para; Baja presión de aceite, bajo voltaje y fuego del motor.
 
 
La pila de aviónica es bastante X-Plane estándar... Piloto automático S-Tec Fifty Five X arriba, luego un
Garmin GNS 530 y un GNS 430 unidades gps debajo. El transpondedor es un Garmin GTX327 y el de abajo
es un ADF Bendix/King KR87.
 
En el lado derecho del piloto hay un diseño simple de cuatro instrumentos de instrumentos de vuelo
primarios. Incluyendo un indicador de velocidad con un indicador de velocidad de giro debajo, luego el
instrumento de altitud y el instrumento de velocidad vertical (V/S) a la derecha. Hay una brújula de whisky en
la parte superior del panel central.
 
  
El panel inferior tiene el conjunto de interruptores eléctricos y, a la derecha, los fusibles (disyuntores) que no
funcionan, pero tenga en cuenta que el interruptor extraño en este panel es para alimentar el AP - Piloto
automático. Debajo hay tres perillas de iluminación de instrumentos.
 
  
Es todo un panel de instrumentos de entrenamiento muy sencillo pero bueno, no complicado ni desordenado
de usar.
 
Center console is quite basic... top is the left side pilot's Throttle, Prop and Mixture levers. Below is the cabin
heat and (right side) Flap lever in UP-HALF-DOWN selections, but in reality it is a more fluid flap selection
then that you need by selecting any degree selection you want. Rear is the Fuel Tank selector and Parking
Brake. The AviTab is attached to the far right side of the screen, and a bit small where positioned for the pilot
to read? Selection is via selecting the point on the screen (AviTab plugin is of course required).
 
  
Important to note the Trim controller is a HAT switch on the nice joystick, it moves your trim; UP-DOWN
and LEFT-RIGHT via the knob, of course you can set the same HAT on your own joystick or by the keyboard
commands, but it is a very authentic set up and shown on the right panel indicators.
 
  
There are two nicely modeled trainee pilots, the main pilot is female and a secondary pilot is also of the fairer
sex. Selection is done via the Payload Weight slider on the X-Plane IOS screen. When exceeding the 80 kg /
176.4 lbs of payload (by using the slider), the second pilot will then be visible.... the main pilot is visible all
the time. The main pilot's arms are also animated to the movements of the stick.
 
  
vSkyLabs don't do menus, popups (except for standard X-Plane elements (i.e. GNS units)) or static
elements, so there are few extras to note, anything that is not an "Interaction zone" is not added into the
aircraft. But the PAC CT4 is highly compatible for VR-Virtual Reality and it is marketed that way. As
with all vSkyLab aircraft the "Experimental Flight Model Mode' must be checked on.
____________________
 
Flying the PAC CT4
Trainers are pretty basic aircraft, nothing more and nothing less is required not to mess with the new flyers
introduction to aviation, as it is here with the PAC CT4E Airtrainer. The 300 hp Lycoming is also quite a
powerful engine for such a small airframe, so you have to be aware of that factor.
 
Starting up the Lycoming is very, very easy...    mixture lever forward, fuel pump on and turn the start switch
and the engine sprightly springs into life, then you just wait for the instrument readouts to settle down... Start
up sounds are very good as are the running engine sounds, but the external sounds are far, far higher than the
internal (yes the canopy is down, and you do have a helmet on) but you always have to turn your speakers
down or adjust the external sounds lower on the X-Plane sounds panel to a more even balance.
 
  
Highly notable is the amount of turn on the front nosewheel compared to the rudder movement...  the CT4 has
this restriction, and also the use of using the braking on the main wheels to give a wider turn (which is like in
turning a taildragger)... 
 
  
...   it means a lot of wider turns and a lot of space in manoeuvring around the taxiways.
 
 
The small nosewheel movement can also catch you out if your speed gets to fast and the aircraft will start to
weave, so you need to keep your taxi speed down a little, overall though, with half a throttle the CT4 will taxi
quite nicely.
 
You also need to set your trims to neutral...  you need control of your trims either by the HAT on the joystick
or keyboard control (any training aircraft should be set this way anyway to learn about aircraft trims)...
 
  
...  instrument backlighting with the full setting is quite average in the daytime, the instruments are actually lit,
but only bleakly so...  so it makes the instrument panel look darker than it actually is. The VOR Pointers on
the OBI are not working either, here the VOR array is just the over the other side of the field, but the pointer
is not registering it or is it an ADF pointer only? Which is pretty useless nowadays.
 
  
When trying to takeoff on my earlier test flights of the CT4, I found that front nosewheel restriction a barrier
to taking the aircraft off and landing cleanly, or mostly impossible to do so, as once you reach a certain speed
the aircraft just weaves incredibly badly and you simply lose control... I tried the fast throttle up approach
(really bad), and the slow, slow throttle input approach and both failed with a loss of control....
 
  
...   the problem is that the rudder and nosewheel are totally out of sync in angle, so when you need more
rudder to counteract the powerful asymmetrical thrust, the nosewheel is at the wrong pitch or position, hence
you weave and badly...  my solution was to kill the tighter movement via the "nosewheel steer toggle", and
that gives you back full control of the nosewheel again, but also making it again in sync with the rear rudder
movements, cheating, I don't know, but at least I can takeoff and land the aircraft normally without
consistently destroying the scenery. 
 
As noted that asymmetrical thrust from the 300 hp engine is quite strong, so you need a very firm hand to
control it and keep the aircraft straight, 90 knts and you can slightly pull back on the stick and grab the air...
 
 
... once off the ground, you need to quickly realign the balance to the centre and get the aircraft level and
straight. So the CT4 is tricky to takeoff and for the initial control of flight. Climb out or rate is 9.3 m/s
(1,830 ft/min), so quite high, but watch your speed does not trail off. So a climb of around 130 knts at 1500
fpm is about ideal. Note the Vertical Speed indicator is very wide, it looks quite high, but you are only pulling
1,000 fpm. the 2,000 fpm marker is directly and right around to the right (3 o'clock), so it can be a bit
disorienting.
 
Once at your altitude, then your first job is to set your trims. You are surprised on how much trim you actually
need, especially the rudder trim to get the aircraft balanced and flying straight and level and the controls back
to their neutral position...   but it is important you have to trim it out before doing anything else. Turns are
slightly odd in that you don't nudge the CT4 in the direction and centre the stick again, but sort of hold the
angle of the turn, it becomes natural quickly, but it is a more physical way to fly....  so in the air the PAC is a
very physical aircraft to fly.
 
 
  
The CT4E is a semi-aerobatic aircraft, so you can do some pretty extreme manoeuvres in the aircraft, within
reason. But when pushing the aircraft to it's limits you do get great feedback and control response, that extra
power really helps as well, overall the PAC is a lot of fun with it's excellent and superb flight dynamics,
authentic performance and flight handling characteristics.
 
  
Lighting
The lighting is quite basic...  In the daytime as noted the instrument panel feels quite dull, but it is not as bad
in the dark. There are three knobs to adjust the overhead and overhead (red) seat lighting, but they both have
no light sources, the panel lighting adjustment is the third knob.
 
  
There is a switch on a light between the roll-over bar, and that activates the X-Plane white flashlight to use on
the panel or wherever, not as good as say a proper animated spot light, but I suppose a clever workaround... 
only the background instrument lighting is okayish, but the dials are clear, so that is what matters, but overall
in the cockpit I wanted more brightness everywhere.
 
  
External lighting gives you Navigation, Red, Green and a White tail-light, Landing and Taxi lights are
blobby, and not tuned. Strobe lights are connected to the upper beacon (also white) and all are also very
blobby, but effective at night, so is the blobby bright lower red beacon.
 
  
Once adjusted, overall I like the sounds, not extremely dynamic, but still quite good in realism.
 
Maximum speed of the PAC CT4 is a fast 387 km/h (240 mph, 209 kn) at sea level and the cruise speed:
282 km/h (175 mph, 152 kn) at 2,590 m (8,500 ft) (75% power)... Range is 963 km (599 mi, 520 nmi) (max
fuel, 75% power) and the Service Ceiling is 5,550 m (18,200 ft), but do the last two performance figures
matter?  not really.
 
  
I miss the VOR pointer to find the airport... so I use the Course Deviation Indicator (CDI), to centreline the
runway, and use it to turn directly into the approach path... I am not on the Autopilot or using the APP
selection, but it is available if you need it, but in just using the instruments to guide me in...  Flaps are as
noted variable, so you find the best degree to suit your speed, but I never got under the white marker banner
on the speed dial, until I had almost full flap and 90 knts.
 
  
You can adjust your altitude easily with your power or throttle inputs...  more power to climb and less power
to descend, and the CT4 reacts very, very  nicely to your inputs of power, so it is very easy to get the perfect
right speed and slope into the runway... 
 
  
...  you have to focus, but overall the CT4 is great on the final approach and responds nicely to your inputs,
once close to the threshold you let the power drop slowly and you sink nicely and gradually, Stall speed is
82 km/h (51 mph or 44 knt) flaps down.
 
  
So at FULL flap the final landing speed is of 70 knts, and the CT4 feels a bit fast, not much, but I expected
around 65 knts or even slightly less, but that does not say you cannot do a nice sweet touch and a no bounce
landing at this speed...
 
  
...  also give yourself a slight nose up flare to show off your landing skills and the CT4E will respond nicely. I
have already done about eight landings in the PAC Airtrainer, and each one was absolutely checkbook
perfect, so the aircraft is very, very good in this area with great feel and control.
 
vSkyLabs uses the STMA Plugin for aircraft updates thoughout the project, the updater can be found on the
left side of your screen as a pop-out...  personally a loath these sort of annoying pop-out affairs, and in most
cases usually remove the plugin from the aircraft folder, I up date by inserting it again, doing the update and
then remove it again...  it is a seriously screen hogging popping out annoying tool.
 
 
Liveries
Three...  in a RNZAF (Royal New Zealand Airforce) "Red Checkers", RAAF (Royal Australian Airforce) and
RTAF (Royal Thai Airforce) liveries, all well done and highly detailed.
 
 ______________________
Summary
In only another few months since their last release with the excellent Aeroprakt A22-LS Project, VskyLabs
are already back with another project, this time it is the PAC (Pacific Aerospace Corporation) CT/4E
Airtrainer aircraft. A New Zealand built aircraft for both the Australian and New Zealand Airforces, The
Royal Thai Airforce also bought 24 aircraft. Designed out of the Australian built civilian Victa Aircruiser, the
CT4E here is a twin (with a third if required) seater trainer for a specialised single-engine trainer role.
 
You would never fault vSkyLabs quality modeling, and very good in detail it is here as well. Nice externals,
but the cockpit detail is exceptional, not crazy about the coloured navigation wingtip lights, or the poor front
nosewheel assembly, but the canopy and glass quality is extremely good. Blobby external lighting and
daytime instrument lighting is also a few marks down and I didn't at all relate to the restricted nosewheel
movement... but overall the aircraft is first rate.
 
There are very few extras or no menus at all... there is however AviTab intergration and exceptional VR-
Virtual Reality is also available.
 
If you have purchased or tasted before any of vSkyLabs project aircraft, then you probably know what you
will get here. Great modeling, great detailing and an extraordinary flight model. They are great projects, but to
note that you are purchasing an ongoing project with any vSkyLabs aircraft and that all the development is
ongoing, so this is not a 100% fully developed project. Updates maybe infrequent if sometimes at all.
 
The PAC CT4 requires the experimental setting, and as usual for vSkyLabs the aircraft delivers a very
credible if brilliant flying and performance related machine, always interesting and always a very interesting
aircraft to fly, then flying the PAC CT4E a lot and you will get a big rewards for your investment...   simply
another winner from vSkyLabs.
___________________
 

 
Yes! the PAC CT/4E Airtrainer Project by VSkyLabs is now available from the X-Plane.Org Store here :
 
PAC CT/4E Airtrainer Project
Price is US$32.95
 
Project Main Features:

 VSKYLABS 'Test-Pilot' Project: designed for use with X-Plane cutting edge Experimental flight
model environment, featuring superb flight dynamics with authentic performance and flight handling
characteristics.
 Built for VR: development was tailored specifically for VR, and optimized for 2D usage.
 Engineered and designed as a default X-Plane aircraft (Like all VSKYLABS projects). The
VSKYLABS projects are practically show-casing X-Plane, as they are stretching X-Plane default
features, systems and flight model to its limits without any dependencies on complementary plugins or
software...delivering a very robust simulation model, having maximum compatibility with the ever
evolving X-Plane flight simulator.
 Perfect fit for beginner and expert pilots, including aerobatics.
 Built-in Avitab Plugin Compatibility (AviTab plugin is not included).
  STMA Autoupdater plugin is included - all updates are being pushed smoothly without the need to
re-download the entire base package (base package will be updated every once in a while to
minimize the gap).
 Highly responsive VSKYLABS support forums: VSKYLABS is offering continuous professional
support from aircraft related aspects (operating and flying) to X-Plane technical support.
 The project is under constant maintenance and development.

 
Requirements:
X-Plane 11
Windows, Mac or Linux
4 GB VRAM Minimum - 8 GB+ VRAM Recommended 

Current and Review version: 1.0 (July 1st 2021)

The AviTab Plugin is required for this aircraft.

Note: In order to use and enjoy VR environment in X-Plane, user hardware and system specs
should meet the required specifications for OS, CPU, GPU, MB and RAM which are specified
both in the given VR hardware websites and at X-Plane.com.
 

Aircraft download is 217 Mb, and unpacked then installed 367 Mb

 
Documents

 VSKYLABS CT4E POH.pdf

 
Designed by VSKYLABS

Support forum for the CT/4E Airtrainer

_____________________
 

Aircraft Review by Stephen Dutton

8th July 2021
Copyright©2021: X-Plane Reviews
 
Review System Specifications: 
Computer System: Windows  - Intel Core i7 6700K CPU 4.00GHz / 64bit -32 Gb single 1067 Mhz DDR4 2133 - ASUS
GeForce GTX 1080 8Gb - Samsung Evo 1TB SSD 
Software:   - Windows 10 - X-Plane 11.55
Plugins: Global SFD plugin US$30.00 : Environment Engine by xEnviro US$69.90 : RK Apps XPRealistic v2 -
US$34.99
 
(Disclaimer. All images and text in this review are the work and property of X-PlaneReviews, no sharing or
copy of the content is allowed without consent from the author as per copyright conditions) All Rights
Reserved
 

 
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