VFR Reviews
The Aerosoft DHC-2 Beaver X
Kevin Glover

     
Firstly, I apologize for the lack of screens.  I've tried uploading three times just now, but it came up with a bunch of nonsense code.  I could link to a copy of the review at another site, but I don't think that would be appreciated.

Sorry guys  

For two simulators, now, the Aerosoft Beaver has been a favorite of a wide variety of simmers; those looking to get away from the city and escape to the small strips in the mountains, those wishing for an amphibian in FSX, or those who just wanted something small to do island hopping with.      The popularity of this aircraft in real life is mirrored in the simulator by those who love the slow life.

First Impressions-
     The aircraft came in the form of a 263 MB and installed into something like 740 MB’s of files.  A hefty size, but there is a great variety of textures and models in this package, so it’s well worth it.  However, when I booted up the sim, I was rather disappointed by the performance.  While the product page may maintain that it’s ‘light on frames,’ I rather have to disagree.  I was expecting the pleasant performance of the Twotter, but it’s much worse.  You must remember that my computer is essentially comprised of a Dell 2400 with an X1300 stuck in, and that most computers will have little problem with the performance issues.  I suspect that Aerosoft did not do a lot of work to upgrade this from FS9, and perhaps it wasn’t optimized for FSX.  Besides the performance issues, I was vaguely surprised to find that this plane has great STOL capabilities (under lighter loads), and I suppose that’s one of its major pros.

Exterior-
     No other word for it: nice!  All of the exterior textures are quite nicely done, very crisp, and (in keeping with the nature of what the Beaver is used for now) most are bright and attractive.  The paints look great from every angle, but there aren’t 3D rivets.  I had to look very, very closely for this, because the rivets are beautifully painted on, and look real.  There are some 42 different paints, including ones for fire fighting, crop dusting, ‘Kenmore Air’ (like the FSX one), air tours, different military liveries, and private paints.  All of them are high-quality, and there’s a great balance between vibrant, in-your-face paints, to subtle grey schemes to keep you interested.

     What the liveries are painted on is important, of course, and there are just about all the different types of plane that you could think of here; floats, amphibious, tundra tires, etc.  I think we all sort of missed the amphibian Cessna, and I for one was quite happy to have such a great change.  As well as the ones stated above, there are also plane old wheels, and skis.  Like the default Maule, these skis are retractable.  Where the wires attached to the undercarriage go into the fuselage does look unrealistic; they just stick out, and don’t go into any slots or anything in the fuselage.  While the wires move up and down as you change the gear lever, they just slide along the side of the body.  

Interior-
     The default interior isn’t really to my tastes.  The glare shield (what you see the most of) is rather grey and unattractive.  However, Aerosoft included a bunch of different cockpit styles that you can choose from.  However, no matter what the manual says, they were lazy and just give you instructions on how to change the VC, rather than making a tool.  There are eight styles, and you’ll undoubtably be able to find something that you like.  What’s more, you can also change how the pilot appears.  There are nine stereotyped faces from different world regions.  Pick what you think fits you, or how a traditional Beaver pilot would look like in the good ole’ days.  Right smack dab in your field of vision is a Garmin GPS.  It looks a little out of place, mounted on the glare shield with the antenna sticking out, and you’ll probably need to zoom in to make much use out of it.  It seemed to me like some buttons on it weren’t functional.  Well, the ‘Terr’ button didn’t work, and that’s what I noticed most.  There are a number of convenient predefined views in the VC, with ones for the trim tabs, engine gauges, passenger views, etc.  

While the Beaver may have been designed with ruggedness in mind, that doesn’t mean the insides have to be rough.  You’ll sit on some nice leather seats, in a fairly clean interior.  However, since the oil access is in the cabin, more often than not there will be a bit of an oily smell lingering around, if not a puddle.  All of the aspects of the interior are fairly nice; there aren’t a lot of octagons, sharp, jagged edges, or things that just don’t’ look good.  Aerosoft did a good job of trying to maintain a balance of looks and performance.      
                                                           
Flight-
     The Beaver didn’t really fly like I expected it to.  It’s meant to lift heavy loads, and get you wherever you want to go.  However, it takes off really quickly, and is more maneuverable than I thought it would be.  As we know from the default Beaver, there’s a flap indicator which tells you the standard settings for the different stages of flight.  So, I set the flaps to takeoff, rammed the throttles up, and was in the air much more quickly than I thought it would be.  Climbing was no problem, as this aircraft has plenty of tug.  I didn’t load up the airplane too much more than default and you’ll find it interesting to see how she performs differently under different loads.  

Cruise was.... boring.  Just kidding, but she’s more of a heavy lifter than a fast flyer.  Anyway, what kind of flight would it be if you didn’t brush the treetops with you landing gear, as this is the deHavilland Beaver, after all.  Generally, under the default load, I cruised around 80 knots, as a nice, comfortable power setting and speed.  Landing is straight forward, just remember that she’s a tail dragger, obviously.  Lower the flaps, lower the speed, and settler her down.  She handle’s really well, and is fun for a low-and-slow flyer like me.            

Features-
     There is one, major feature in the DHC-2.  In the cockpit, pinned to the right of the control column, there is a sticky note with the checklists on it.  Click on the name of the checklist, and guess what?  Your copilot reads off the checklist.  I found it a little bit fast the first couple of times, but after awhile you get used to the procedure.  Generally, I didn’t have any problem understanding him, but he has an interesting accent.  It’s a really neat feature, and I believe it was the first time Aerosoft incorporated something like this into one of their aircraft.  

There are some other variants that include special features.  For instance, the crop duster releases streams of ‘insecticide’ from the sprayers.  Since there are probably fifty nozzles on the sprayer assembly, each doesn’t have it’s own stream, but I’d guess that you have ten trails behind you.  Unfortunately, like the fuel dump in FSX, you can’t see the effect from every angle.  Also, there is a fire-fighter variant that dumps slurry.  This is a neat effect, and it only releases for a certain time, like a real dump.  Also, you can activate this by clicking a switch on the control stick.

Final Word-
     Overall, this is really a great low-and-slow plane.  We all know that the Beaver is a fun plane from the default (indeed, it’s one of my favorite FSX planes) version, and the Aerosoft version seems to expand on the FSX default, rather than simply overshadowing it.  There are few noticeable bugs, if any, and I encountered no problem flying this plane.  This was originally an FS9 craft, but I think it suffered little in being recreated for the new simulator.  It all comes down to the type of flying you enjoy, and for someone like me who loves low and slow, vintage birds, this airplane is worth it, and you’ll get as much enjoyment out of it as the owners of the real aircraft would get work.