The Carenado Piper Cherokee 180F – reviewed by Ludo Lambrechts
Carenado has made many great add-on aircraft for our Flight Simulator. They have always been at a bargain of a price and have been worth it as well. Carenado’s most recent product, the Piper Cherokee 180F is no exception to this. It is a great plane which is detailed from the air intake grills near the engine to the nuts and bolts on the side of the plane. The Piper Cherokee is one great plane for all fans of general aviation aircraft and worth the $28 Canadian (USD$23.95), and the 2 for 1 special for X-mas makes it an even better deal.
The Piper Cherokee 180F is highly detailed on both the exterior model to the interior Virtual Cockpit. The plane comes in a couple various models which include wheel pants and more than one person in the cockpit. Anything that you would find on this plane if you looked at it in real life you would find on Carenado’s killer plane! It has all of the hydraulic systems realistically remade, the intake grills on the engines, opening exits, and beautiful gear. The interior of the Piper Cherokee 180F is also as amazingly detailed as the exterior of the plane. It has a realistic panel which looks like it does in the real Piper Cherokee 180F. The seats are beautifully detailed and made to perfection by the skill of Carenado’s team. In the Virtual Cockpit you can look around and you will find everything that you would in an everyday Piper Cherokee 180F-ranging from books to maps to other everyday aviation items. The Carenado Piper Cherokee 180F is a winner in regards to it’s detail and quality of it’s model.
The plane’s quality might sound very good and encouraging but as many people have experienced over time, the planes with the highest quality have troubles with their frame rates. The Carenado Piper Cherokee 180F is an exception to this though as it has great frames per second and is frame-rate friendly. I have found that the FPS of this amazing plane is better than the default planes in Flight Simulator even though Carenado’s defeats them in quality by a long shot. With the frame-rate friendliness of the Cherokee 180F users with computers of lesser performance can enjoy flying this wonderful plane.
The Carenado Piper Cherokee 180F comes with 4 amazing liveries. It has a different livery for each model and these liveries don’t have a single flaw in them. All liveries are detailed on all parts of the plane and everything has been optimized to look the best. There has been stunning work used with the alpha channels in these liveries as well adding a most realistic looking shine to the plane and enhancing your Flight Simulator experience. All of the liveries were painted with the hand of quality, and the finesse of Van Gogh.
The Piper Cherokee 180F is also the most realistic flying experience out there. With this plane you will only be able to fly the Piper Cherokee 180F like you’d be able to in the real plane. The plane is highly realistic and will allow you to realize the difficulties of flying a plane-adding a new meaning to the term “simulator”. With this plane right from the get go you will fell like you are sitting behind the yoke, whenever you start your engines it’s as if you’re smelling the smoke from you’re engine-it’s that realistic. The sound would blow you right out of your chair. You feel the plane starting up in front of you. While taxiing you will have the challenge of manoeuvring your plane from the ground, everything will act as if it would if you’re in the cockpit using the pedals. From the takeoff you have to set the pitch to the proper setting, the checklist has to be completed before you should take off. When you gun the throttle to take off you will hear the engine roar, it sounds just like the real thing. In the air you will be in command of your plane, you will have to make sure everything runs right and you don’t crash. Winds will have the proper effects on your plane, banking will have to be done with caution, and the airspeed will have to be watched at all times. Carenado makes sure that you don’t feel as though you’re flying an F-16 but like you’re flying the Piper Cherokee 180F. The realism is just that good.
Carenado has scored big with their newest plane and is a good follow-up to the quality of their older models. I encourage everyone who loves General Aviation aircraft to buy this aircraft. It is sold at a low price with the highest quality in the business. “Bang for your buck” is given with this model. Carenado is deserving of a round of applause for their excellent work on the Piper Cherokee 180F!
*Click Image to enlarge.
Carenado can be visited
HERE.
Ludo Lambrechts
Administrator of Canadian Pilots
Carenado's Piper Cherokee 180F, My review
[GK-customfield]FSX[customfield-GK] 
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