Beginners guide to the Black Square C208 Grand Caravan in Microsoft Flight Simulator

A quick look at the system, procedures, avionics, and navigation systems in the Black Square C208 Grand Caravan in Microsoft Flight Simulator. We fly from Aix Les Bains in France, and try out VOR navigation, ILS, and look at general operation of the autopilot along the way.
#flight #microsoft #flightsimulator #aviation #flying #navigation #blacksquare #simulator #c208 #cessna #grandcaravan #navigation #autopilot #beginner #guide #tutorial #howto #coldanddark #procedures

[@GumperVanLier]

Great video. If I recall, you are not a pilot, but you and Kip on the Ground, also not a pilot, are great teachers as you explain things well. I love what Black Square has done and I'm eagerly awaiting the steam gauged King Air.

[@jonbeckett]

Cheers :)

[@pdep]

Considering the high quality of your content, the superb presentation, your hundreds of quality wide-ranging videos and 3 years on the channel, I cannot understand the relatively low number of subscribers. Could it be the English accent? As a Londoner, I appreciate it, but there's no accounting for Eastern Pond dwellers. Fear not, I'm on your side; keep up the splendid work - ex-RAF navigator of 50+ years ago!

[@jonbeckett]

I don't market the channel at all :) It's all been organic growth so far :)

[@Big_Sierra]

@@jonbeckettWell, anywhere I go in the community they have heard of you and watch your stuff! So keep up the good work, it is not going unrecognized. :-)

[@CsabaKissColorado]

I have just flown this airplane in New Zealand and the weather radar worked perfecty. I landed in torrential rain. I suppose they have updated the plane since your video.

[@jonbeckett]

Interesting - I'll have to go back and take another look at it :)

[@SpaceWolfHudson]

Awesome, thanks for this video! I am absolutely new to flight sims but I love flying the analog C208 by black square. The detailed instructions about navigation are highly appreciated. Just yesterday I did my first ever landing at night (the sun setted while making my way from one airport to another) with the analog C208. Being the noob I am I thought every airport and runway surely has to be well lit during night. Well, the more you know. The airfield was barely lit. I did know the heading of the runway I was supposed to land on but still had to fly a few rounds above the airport (and squint my eyes really hard) to find it. The landing then has been very uhm... exciting, to say the least. I did pull off a very rough but successful landing but want to be able to do it "the right way" next time. So, again, thank you very much!

[@jonbeckett]

Landing lights are your friend in those situations :)

[@SpaceWolfHudson]

@@jonbeckett True :D

[@Snipes1702]

Superb content thanks Jon. Very well balanced between rigid procedure/detailed instruction and relaxed/friendly delivery. There are a lot of folks doing flight-sim content but not many that are palatable?!! Anyone can parrot checklists and flick switches, not many are good educators.

[@jonbeckett]

Awesome, thank you!

[@JohnVanderbeck]

On the GA vs Commercial question, I'm pretty sure the FAA in the US clearly draws the line simply as whether or not the aircraft is flying for hire or not (carrying passengers)

[@rvrnnr987]

If you switch the HSI source over to RNAV, it should slave to the GPS, and act just like it would when tracking a VOR, but it is tracking your GPS track.

[@JohnVanderbeck]

I would highly recommend simmers to not use the B key to set altimeters, but rather roll the dial. Why? Some aircraft will actually break internally if you use the hotkey (ATR is an example) due to how the systems work behind the scenes.

[@AndyHiggins007]

Thanks for this great video Jonathon, will do some flights focused on this topic to practise!

[@jonbeckett]

Glad it was helpful!

[@krishanson3889]

Great video - thank you! Can I ask which map theme you're using with Little Navmap? The topographic detail is great. Cheers!

[@Erny_Module]

Another excellent video - I think I can finally say that I now understand how to navigate with VOR, and what all those lines and needles on those dials actually mean! I'm sure you probably meant to do a review of the C208 but it turned into nav demonstration along the way, which made it a) more interesting and b) also showed off the qualities of the aircraft! The quality of the models being produced for sims these days is absolutely superb. My day job is as a technical illustrator, mostly for tech/aerospace/historical subjects, so I know a quite a bit about 3D modelling/texturing, and how many hours go into producing a halfway decent model - it's a lot! And that's for something that's purely static - making it fly in a sim, and adding all the controls and systems must be a mind-boggling amount of work, and them we can buy them for not a lot of money, and fly them. Just as an example, here's a commercially available model of the C208, at about the same quality externally as in the sim: www.turbosquid.com/3d-models/cessna-208-caravan-max/811046 Note that it doesn't even have an interior, but you'll pay $139 just for the model, but the fully flyable aircraft for MSFS is €24.95! That's amazing value! A decent 737-800 model with interior is over $500! Apologies for the digression, but I find it amazing that we can get our hands on seriously incredible and functional models at such relatively low prices, and get so much fascinating entertainment out of them. Looking forward to your next one - much shorter comment, I promise!

[@jonbeckett]

It's incredible really, isn't it.

[@mikecoffee100]

You a real pilot and or developer these videos are Brillant

[@jonbeckett]

I'm a software developer in the real-world :)

[@mikecoffee100]

@@jonbeckett coool mate

[@twistedyogert]

Wonderful tutorial.

[@jonbeckett]

Thank you!

[@Voltomess]

6:01 this is not a spike this is your petot that's why you heat him up so he cannot freeze and give correct readings all the time, unless you live in a really hot area then you don't have to use petot heat.

[@jay-rus4437]

He knows that. He used “spike” as a description for others. He even says it at 6:31

[@MojaveHigh]

Around 14:30, you talk about the CDI in GPS mode being useless. But it does work correctly. It will show a deviation from the magenta as expected. You just happened to be directly on the magenta line while sitting at the airport so it appeared to not be working. If you fly away from the gps course, it will show you the deviation. In a similar way that you set up the course of the CDI to be on the radial that you want to fly to a VOR, you turn the course heading to the heading of the GPS magenta line, when you are in GPS mode. In your case, that would have been 340. Then when flying, you will see the CDI working.

[@jonbeckett]

I think the point I didn't really make is the course doesn't really mean anything when you're in GPS mode.

[@GWAIHIRKV]

Very helpful. Thanks

[@jonbeckett]

Cheers :)

[@errolikalina1998]

Great video, doesn't look like you followed the start up procedure that came with manual. You should have the propeller rpm to max and then after flicking the starter wait for the ng to reach 12% before introducing fuel by putting mixture to low idle. I believe also the weather radar is functional and not just for the menu to control failures on the plane.

[@jonbeckett]

I did say towards the end that I didn't follow the book procedures - just the functional steps required. You can actually get away with a LOT in most of the aircraft in Flight Simulator - there are limits to the "simulation" all over the place :) Good shout about the weather radar btw - I forgot that since SU9 various weather radars in the Asobo aircraft work - and as this is based on the underlying Asobo code, it inherits it :)

[@errolikalina1998]

@@jonbeckett Ahh okay mate, then my bad about the procedures. Yeah I love how the weather radar works now.

[@MojaveHigh]

On the gauge to the left of the HSI, the green arrow is not NAV 2, it is the ADF, pointing at an NDB, if you had one tuned in. NDB navigation is old school and seriously fun.

[@jonbeckett]

NDBs are most fun when triangulating with an old map, and a pencil and ruler :)

[@mikecoffee100]

A very helpfull video Thank You although I don't fancy the Caravan however that doesn't realy matter does it its more for the lesson :)

[@jonbeckett]

Yep - radio navigation works the same in most aircraft.

[@thatguy7085]

I like they are trying to make everything work on the aircraft… like DCS aircraft. All the switches should work. It is why MicroSoft has never been certified as a real flight trainer.

[@jonbeckett]

I wouldn't be surprised to see MSFS get certified at some point soon. Real pilots are already saying the flight model in some aircraft is much more realistic than X-Plane. Both DCS and X-Plane have a lot of awful aircraft too - a lot of people seem to have selective memory.

[@thatguy7085]

@@jonbeckett MSFS isn’t interested in getting certified. A certified system can not be modified. Nothing seems to work in MSFS without modifying it. X plane works completely (all required systems, fees etc…) right out of the box. They bling might not look great, but what counts… does.

[@jonbeckett]

@@thatguy7085 You keep telling yourself that - and ignore the real-world pilots reporting that the flight modelling in MSFS is now more like their real world experience than any other home simulator. Since the CFD modelling appeared, and following the incremental improvements to the atmospheric modelling, it isn't even close any more.

[@thatguy7085]

@@jonbeckett As a 45 year ‘real world pilot’ that worked for the FAA, yea the people that certify these sims, and having played with the MicroSoft flight sims since before you knew what a personal computer was… Yea, I have a few decades more experience and knowledge on this subject than you will ever have… And, I happen to know the FAA employees that certify these simulators for ‘ Real Pilots’. I can tell you, no, MSFS doesn’t qualify as a certifiable trainer. It is still just a game. Pretty, but still, a game.

[@jonbeckett]

Grow up.

[@douglasrobinson7857]

Advise fuel select off red?

[@jonbeckett]

I'm sorry - I don't understand what you mean ?

[@douglasrobinson7857]

@@jonbeckett Sorted it. Have you had any issues with switches highlight blue and not being able to operate?Eg swooping between Nav system's. I may have to reinstall the JT analogue package and see if it's the issue. After JT reinstall everything operated as your great video and the manual.

[@thatguy7085]

I haven’t found where to buy it.

[@jonbeckett]

letmegooglethat.com/?q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.justflight.com%2Fproduct%2Fsteam-gauge-overhaul-analog-caravan