TIME FOR T
If you’re a fan of Microsoft Flight Simulator and single engine turboprops then the past couple of months has been a real treat. MSFS has seen three different high-quality turboprops released by highly respected studios since October. Starting with the Black Square TBM 850 available for $41.99 from www.justflight. com on Oct 5th, to the FSReborn FSR500 (based on Piper M500) available for $32.99 from the in-game Marketplace on Nov 3rd, and finally the SimWorks Studios Pilatus PC-12 available for around $27 on the Contrail web store or directly from SWS at https://simworksstudios.com.
At first glance, you might think these 3 aircraft are too similar, but a closer inspection reveals that each offers a bit of a unique experience. Let’s first look at the TBM 850 from Black Square, which was the first of the 3 to release, and the most expensive at $41.99. Black Square is a developer that has earned a solid reputation with the MSFS community by taking base-game aircraft such as the King Air, Baron, Bonanza & Caravan and offering high-fidelity versions that utilize analog gauges instead of the glass cockpits they come with by default. All of these releases are highly regarded by the community. With the TBM 850, Black Square was now creating their own model from scratch, and they did not disappoint. The model is indeed high-quality work, and the aircraft comes with GNS 530 stack or PNS GTN 750 and TDM GTN 750 avionics options. It does not have an EFB, but instead uses menus embedded in the avionics to control things such as failures. The TBM 850 can be configured for failures to occur randomly or to occur on a schedule
40 40
if you want to train on something specific. The aircraft also uses “selective” state saving, which will save things such as radio configurations, fuel tank levels, and the condition of your engines. The TBM 750 even simulates FOD (foreign object debris) when you don’t properly utilize the inertial separator.
The FSReborn FSR500 was the next to release, and comes in between the other two in price, at $32.99. If you have an Xbox, you’ll want to take a look at this one, as of the time of this article, it is the only one of the three that is available for console. While the other 2 offerings have analog gauges, the FSR500 comes with glass G1000 NXI avionics, and is easily one of the better implementations of the G1000 NXI unit available in MSFS. Raul Morales of FSReborn is a passionate developer who is known to push the bar in his projects. FSReborn’s had previously released the Sting S4, which is believed by many to be the best Ultralight available in the simulator, so the FSR500 was also highly anticipated. Raul has indeed delivered an experience that pushes the boundaries with his latest offering. Most impressive is the fact that the FSR500 can even experience a bird strike. This isn’t a random occurrence either, as it is actually looking at NOTAMs about birds in the NOTAM. Be careful and read your real-world NOTAMs when you fly this aircraft. The FSR500 also comes with a nice EFB tablet that integrates SimBrief & Navigraph charts, handles maintenance & realism options, and even allows you to take care of your passengers by keeping the temperatures in comfortable ranges and offering coffee and snacks. Fuel trucks will drive out to your
