The Carenado Hawker 850 XP, One of aviations smartest looking biz jets (Thats currently available in my eyes) Earlier this year, Carenado announced the release of the S550 II which left people thinking…. “Wheres the Hawker?” Myself included. The main reason everyone was awaiting the Hawkers release was due to the Navigraph support upon release; Something the S550 had although its another single separate purchase. As always a few people weren’t keen on that method of Carenado’s and if I remember quickly a few arguments got heated quite quickly between customers. I’ve wrote up about 3 renditions of this review now and each time I’d finished it, Carenado released another update and then another bringing some pretty major changes so it was back to the drawing board for me. I’m writing this initial part of the 3rd rendition of of the review from FL350 on a Thomson B738 I recommend you grab a hot drink (or any drink depending on your mood) as you follow me on this adventure as we take an in-depth look at the H25B.
After conducting about 110 hours airborne in the Hawker, I quickly became very fond of it (Although the FPS were slightly rough in some aspects of flight – Especially when cruising in my case as my P3D tends to be a bit strange and act up when It likes) Our initial aircraft today was N150GC a newly purchased Hawker that I’ll be shuttling from Copenhagen to Magdeburg before taking it south bound into Antalya, Turkey and then to Sydney via Dubai. To showcase some of its features, I’ve parked it up at the GA ramp and we have a nice lengthy turnaround slot before our flight out today. The APU panel is located behind the Captains seat and from my understanding, the Co pilot would lean over and operate it when on the ground and as needed. Not only is the panel very good looking, It’s also very nice from a functional point of view as all switches operate. Once you have moved the master APU switch up 2 notches it shall begin to spool up and its clearly noticed mainly by the distinct sound change. Before flight at the start of the day its obviously mandatory to run an APU fire test in addition to a lamp test so thats what we did. In the H25B you simply push the lamp and it will illuminate red as well as an aural sound. There’s a lamp especially for the lamp test so you can just hold it upwards and check the lights illuminate as necessary (Which they all should as service based failures don’t occur with the Carenado)
The circuit breakers are located on Panel Alpha behind the co pilot and they aren’t functional which is slightly disappointing as most developers are starting to include them and at such price of $49.95 I think it would be a nice touch to include nevertheless. Although there’s 3 switches which appear to be toggle ones; they aren’t functional neither so its safe to say the whole panel is inoperable (Alike most of their aircrafts circuit breakers) Maybe we will see them operable on one of their future projects although I heavily doubt it since the Phenom -300 appears to be using the same default G1000 as the -100 which isn’t as great as I’d planned since from what I’ve seen it was quite an annoyance for some of the customers, in terms of functionality and frame rates, who had purchased it back when it was released.
Above each side of the windows, the rear windows in the cockpit are equipped with a blind which you can toggle by a mouse click. It only has two positions; those being up or down and although the rear windows look like they are operable, they don’t move whatsoever which is another slight let down on their part. We should be seeing a window which actually opens in todays development procedures. Another nice little feature to see is the moving armrests in the cockpit; If that wasn’t included then In my opinion it would show lots of lacking features in many aspects. Although it may seem like I’m being a moaning bitch about pretty much everything, It’s based entirely on what I’d expect based on the features on other products available today. I may be picking up on all the smaller things it lacks although it’s certainly not all doom and gloom and I shall be showing you the beautiful side of the Hawker in the paragraph below.
Before we go into depth in the systems and how things operate within the H25B, I’d like to point out the great deal of high quality textures within the flight deck and the cabin itself. As you can see below, the shear level of detail is incredible. I can’t fault the detail of any of the textures; They’re just amazing in the quality included. It’s an awesome aircraft to sit and watch the world go past in and I congratulate them for that. One of the issues with the performance could be down to either the quality of the cabin and the textures or the systems although if you are having some issues you can use the “Lite” texture version which I’m sure has a blacked out cabin with no aesthetics if you don’t really look there or care about it when flying as I know some of you point out in the various groups I’m a part of.
As you can see in the images below, I cycled through a few of the menus which allows you to enter the V-Speeds in addition to changing a select few of the systems which will be shown on your PFD such as terrain and weather not forgetting the very important TCAS options to prevent your Vatsim or IVAO collisions (Or even the rather clumsy AI which seems to cause more issues than never in most cases) Initially it took me a while to get used to the cycling of the menus and after spending a while looking into it I got it up and running in no time. The main issue which took some time to get used to was the way you actually cycled between Hpa and the US equivalent. It took about 4 tries on my first attempt to get it to confirm the option as I was trying to use the knobs on the left panel next to the Captain. Another minor dilemma over and I was ready to continue programming the FMS with the planned route and the other important information to prevent me from screwing up the flight (Not like I’m the type of guy who does that…) On the lower left pedestal you will find the Oxygen monitor and lever. The main lever may turn although I couldn’t say I noticed any sounds or alternations within the pressure gauge.
As seen above, the yoke is detachable alike in most models; All it takes is a simple click and you should be able to see the PFD or any other instrument like that for any matter. It shouldn’t make a difference unless you don’t have Ezdok or even if you do and don’t want to move the camera view just to check some certain information. Below your second navigation screen, theres a few switches regarding the LH CDU, PFD transfer etc which isn’t modelled although next to that theres a button which you can toggle therefore enabling or disabling Radio one or two. Centred above the FMS’s you will find the Reverse thrust options which allows you to arm or disarm them depending on the requirements of the landing and the length of the runway. In most cases with my landings in the Hawker; the reverse thrusts didn’t need to be armed which led to a safe landing anyway due to the slow approach speed and quite smooth conditions in most of the legs I’ve flown which essentially resulted in a direct smooth landing and without a “floater” as you’d call it.
As you can see, the FMS is powered by Navigraph so you can simply just update the airac and you should be fine. If for some reason however, you don’t wish to pay for the updated airac you can simply fly without although its a common occurrence for particular waypoints to be missing which is a pain when it so happens. I haven’t installed the update before I took the picture therefore the image shows the old version installed which comes as default. In some aspects, the FMS of a Hawker kind of represents the type you see when you fly some of the heavies. The main FPlan page can be seen below before and after any input of the route and once you get to know it, you should understand how to fill it within no time at all. Trial and error is the way I initially learnt it although there are other way available throughout the manual and the fact that you will most likely find multiple tutorials on youtube at the time of writing.
Once the departure runway and SID is entered you can simply execute that command and it will be programmed into the main legs page. Throughout the flight you can check out the PERF page and you will see the fuel flow in lbs/hour in addition to the time/distance you have left before you will reach your reserve fuel. It can be extremely handy if you should so wish to monitor it and it gives you a clear overview to whether you have the correct amount of fuel ( I mean you should if you plan it correctly…) Within the FMS you can easily programme it to head DCT to a certain waypoint although it can be a bit of a pain due to the way it intercepts the waypoint. From within the index you can easily go to the arrival airport page and input the relevant info before descent in addition to the Frequency etc. Handling your COM1/2 and NAV Frequencies couldn’t have been easier by the guys who developed the Hawker in real life as all you need to do is simply go to the “TUN” page and then you can input all those valuable frequencies which is very simple when flying on Vatsim like I do.
Alas, I may not have real world experience in the Hawker, The standby altitude indicator takes 120 seconds initially to initialise. As I haven’t had the chance to fly a hawker I can’t exactly say whether its a realistic time although some of yourselves may have experience and wish to share the information below in the comments. Located alongside the standby gauge, you will see the override switches for Flaps, Terrain along with the G/S override etc etc. From my testing they have seemed to have worked which is a nice little feature that sure as hell makes a difference. In regards to the “Fire” panel in the lower overhead, there is only two which actually function. The only thing you can actually do is press the Cancel button which obviously cancels out all aural warnings regarding a fire.
As seen above is the complete overhead of the Hawker. It may initially look slightly complex, although once you have taken a look at the manuals or just jumped in, the ease of the overall operation of the aircraft will become clear. If just getting in and flying it is your style then great, just flick some switches till the lights disappear and then once the fuel pumps and ignitions are both on then you will be ready to open the fuel flow. If following the procedure is your style then you can follow the manuals provided although they are images of the actual real world manuals. Although that may sound great, it can actually be hard to read certain pages due to the way the images have been taken. The top of the overhead panel reveals multiple test buttons in which some are functional. We initially conducted a lamp test followed by an EGPWS which were both successful. Not only are those operational but also the engine fire test. Simply hold the button and it will illuminate followed by a warning light on the lower panel mentioned above.
Once you get airborne you may want to stretch your legs, naturally you can open the door and walk to the back of the aircraft. The doors are modelled nicely which also include nice movement animations once clicked. The doors fold open next to the main LFWD entrance (The only one) When the doors are opened it’s lifted slightly then opened and I honestly have nothing to fault them in the animations department; It’s nice to watch and I like that. In the main cabin there’s two screens on the wall showing a location map. Its non functional which is a shame although not many people will actually watch it and theres already an external payware application which can do that. Throughout the cabin, the luxurious seats have an animated table-top built in which folds away when not needed; the model is fast and slick and does what’s needed. Window blinds are very useful if you don’t want a very bright sun to glare across the row alike in the real world and although I noticed a slight issue with the way the blind moves down (It actually sticks out the side slightly when moving which is a very minor issue since its over in less than a second)
It’s time to take a quick walk around outside as we briefly discus my opinions on the external model. The actual way its modelled and textured is certainly on par with all the top well known developers. There’s nothing I can fault with how it looks as it looks fantastic! The quality is very crisp and high definition which makes it a really nice thing to fly. I’m not a painter myself although from what I’ve heard the paint kits are quite a pain to use for some people, and for others? Well they find it easy. So try it out and place your bets is my advice.
To Conclude, I think that the Hawker is an awesome Bizjet from Carenado; Although there are a few things amongst it that it lacks such as limited engine fire system functionality, inoperable circuit breakers, other switches and more. James’ dad is type rated on the Hawker and when he had a fly he commented on how it flies very well although in some cases it stalls too easy. I personally think the price is slightly too much and although its great in many aspects, $49.95 may be slightly too much of a premium price overall depending on how much you’re willing to commit to a new aircraft like this. Although some people may think its overpriced, I’d certainly recommend it as its an awesome plane to fly and you won’t get bored of flying it any time soon depending on what your flying preferences are. To grab the product you can head over to the simMarket store or directly from their website.
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