I have just downloaded a Socata MS 893a Rallye to my X-Plane 12 flight simulator. This is a new type to me so I am looking forward to a short Flight from Nottingham to Humberside.
This is a 1970's aircraft developed from a 1950's design for a small utility plane. It has basic instruments and a simple autopilot and navigation aids.
The instruments are basically the same as those found in a Cessna 172 of the same age. Oops! The altimeter setting is off the scale - the sim is remembering the settings from my last flight in South Africa. Checks show everything else is running normally so off we go.
Climbing off of the runway in a north-easterly direction, the sky is clear and the sun is low in the sky over my shoulder. I need to climb to 1500 feet and adjust my course to the required heading for my destination.
This is the view over Nottingham as I head north. Once the autopilot is set, the main job is to watch out for other aircraft and make sure the aircraft is running efficiently. This little plane is an easy one to fly.
After a simple cruise, the destination airport comes into view. I need to contact the controller and make sure it is OK to fly the approach Circuit and turn in to land. This is when the autopilot is turned off and manual instrument flying resumes. The aircraft need to decelerate to around 100kts for approach and the crosswind turn before turning into the final approach.
On final approach with runway alignment. I am a bit low in the approach, but in a small aircraft it is just a case of flying over the runway and reducing speed until the wheels touch the tarmac. Airspeed is the critical thing to watch and on a long runway there is little need for full flaps down in such a small aircraft.
Taxi to the allocated parking spot and shut down all systems. This is a nice aircraft model which flies very well in X-Plane 12.
https://xpfr.org/index.php?body=aero_accueil&av=82
This model was adapted to X-Plane 10 in 2013 and for X-Plane 12 by Antonio Fernandez Navarro in 2024.
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