I bought my copy today over at Flightsim.com Pilot Shop. Here are my observations. The model is IMHO far nicer than the original screen shots show. While some may feel that the VC texture & 3D quality are somewhat sub-par, I understand their sentiment as newer standards have pushed the boundaries of visual realism to the point where at best, it's very difficult to fall back into accepting earlier visual standards. However, I submit that in the case of this Lear 35 (and a good number of other models out there both pay & freeware), there is a performance trade-off, meaning there are models such as this one which have a very good standard of visual detail but the texture detail and lighting are not done at the expense of performance and VAS consumption. There are some other very high end (and costly) models out there in this class (private/business jets) which while looking incredible, many users report moderate to poor FPS and VAS consumption. IMO, this model has all the eye candy I generally need and the trade-off is excellent systems flows.ops and flight dynamics, and the sounds for this model are simply spectacular. I give the visual & audio senses feedback a very high rating in general terms. Now as far as flying this model, you'll need to get deep into the manual and then just push it around the patch a few times to get a feel of how it manually handles and as well as full systems operation. This bird will climb like a bat out of hell! After takeoff, getting the aircraft cleaned up and the climb established at 250 kias, I begin setting up the autopilot. In general, the Vertical Speed mode will hold the current V/S(there is no actual vertical speed selector for specific fpm) and the V/S function works in conjunction with the Altitude Select mode but I found it better to set the Climb on Speed hold for a speed of 250 kias below 10,000ft and then open up to higher forward speed above 10,000. When the aircraft reaches the Selected Altitude, it will automatically level off and then go into Altitude Hold Mode. For descents, I recommend selecting your altitude, then disengaging the Alt Hold, then manually lowering the nose (very carefully) via yoke & pitch trim. Once you have a good stable descent established, then engage the V/S mode once again and it will again automatically level off at the selected altitude. For ILS approaches, you can plan a ILS Localizer approach via the Nav function BUT bear in mind, there is no Glideslope capture feature (no full Approach Hold mode). Once you're established on the Localizer, you can begin getting configured to land (gear, flaps, landing lights, arming the thrust reverser cans, etc). After that, when the Glideslope bars come in, then you must switch off the A/P and manually fly the final segment of the ILS. Also on final, your thrust Fan Speed RPM should be between 40 to 44% depending on your weight and you can adjust up or down depending on weight, conditions, and winds. Yes, the workload is considerably higher than other aircraft models but personally, I see that this will be very useful to sharpen my hand flying skills.
