homepage Forums SimHQ Community Screenshot & Video Gallery Leading Edge Simulations Saab 340

My wife picked this up for me for fathers day. I hesitated buying it myself because its a little pricey for an virtual plane $54. However, I have to say it is awesome. Very complex, right up there with PMDG and I guess you get what you pay for. Everything on it seems to be modeled very well. Just to open the door, you have to go through 4 or 5 steps to unlock things etc.. It comes with a bunch of liveries and 3 variants, Passenger, Cargo and some sort of airborne radar version.

There is an amazing interactive check list that takes you through the rather long start up procedure, that teaches you how to fly this plane. Very well done. I'm glad I got it!

Rob

That looks very high quality just from the screenies. Xplane?

Beautiful shots.

Nice blast from the past. I flew N437XJ when it was with Mesaba Aviation (dba as Northwest Airlink).

AHA!!
Chaz, do you mean you flew it, or flew in it? This gives me a chance to ask how it would have been navigated. It's the old "what do I do without an FMS" question. I know it's easier in the US as they still have their radio navaids, but what about in the UK f'rinstance.

I flew it. Mesaba Aviation no longer exists. I was there from 2000-2006. At one point, we had around 75 Saab 340s- A, B and B+ models. I think we were considered the largest 340 operator. Mesaba was bought by their sibling Airlink operator, Pinnacle Airlines. Then eventually merged into Pinnacle and changed name to Endeavor Air. That's the ugly nature of the airline industry beast.

Those screenshots above of the cockpit give me serious notstalgia and chills. All of the checklists, callouts,and procedures come racing back! Amazing how realistic they are right down to the different shades of grey on the panel and instrument cluster.

As far as navigation goes, we flew VOR to VOR and ATC directs. The airspace over the midwest was not crowded especially below 20,000 ft. We typically cruised between 10-18,000 ft depending on length of flight. Once we departed, 99% of the time, we were given an initial heading to our destination and eventually cleared direct. Most of the Saabs we fly had an FMS installed, but due to red tape with the FAA, we could not legally use it as the primary source of navigation.

In front of N451XJ circa October 2005. Damn, I'm dating my self....

Chaz,

That's really interesting info. I'm glad these shots brought back some memories. Hope they were good ones. LOL.
Do you still fly now?

Rob

Oh snap. N110XJ. Now that is really taking it way back. That was one of our A models. Underpowered, at least for the hot and humid Minnesota summers. Does your add-on come with just 1 model or does it represent all 3 models- A, B and B+ ? A was 30 seats. B was 34 seats (lav moved to the front) with a little more power. B+ 34 seats with even more power notably when there was an engine loss on takeoff.

Plenty of good memories. I logged just over 5,000 hours (in 6 1/2 years) in the 340. Plenty of war stories to tell my kids someday. I don't fly professionally anymore. I left Mesaba for a corporate gig flying a Raytheon Premier 1. Then the market crash of 2008 hurt my company (they were heavily dependent on the stock market) and I didn't want to wait around to see what was going to happen. Landed a desk job, but still within aviation.

You can see the different shades of grey on the panels. Your add on is the first one I've seen model the 340 in this detail. I noticed in your original post there is what appears to be a Garmin 430? just below the standby instruments aka peanuts gauges. We didn't have that. That was our TCAS. (below)

LOL wow, I just noticed the nosecone strip misalignment. It's funny because that IS accurate. Some of our older models had the strip painted differently and they were swapping out radarcones with the other B and B+. 'Twas a little embarrassing pulling into a parking spot/gate looking like that. Passengers probably wondered 'If they can't even paint the damn thing correctly, what else is wrong with the aircraft?'

They are modeling the "A" version here. There is also a cargo version and an airborne radar version.
Interesting comment about the radar cone misalignment. I didn't notice that until you pointed it out. Not sure if that was intentional or just a happy accident since, as you said, the real ones often had that.

There is more info here, in case your interested.
http://www.x-aviation.com/catalog/take-command-saab-340a-p-100.html

Rob

I love such threads. How much closer could sim and teality possibly come, when we are fortunate to have people here with experience on the actual registration number...

Great shots.

A few more of this amazing model.

Great shots, thanks for sharing.

Awesome thread, guys. I kind of want to get this now so I can be part of the club.

Beautiful screenshots!

Terrific shots Scoobe!

How do you get your X-Plane sky to look like that? Very realistic compared to what I see with default X-Plane 10.

Thanks,

I'm using a few add-on's for the sky and colors.
-- Skymaxx Pro (payware) for the clouds.
-- Maxx FX (payware)for the color adjustments.
-- Replacement Sky colors (freeware) from X-plane.org, because I didn't like the ons that come with Skymaxx.

Rob

Thanks Scoobe will look into those, 100X better than the default, the clouds are always something I notice when I fly XPlane 10 and not in a good way since I am spoiled on the FSX side with REX Essential and ASN...

I have been thinking of getting Xplane because I have the demo and like it so far. I am amazed at the the way the nights look with cars that have headlights and tailights and streetlights and roads are so detailed.

One thing stands out in that they get such sharp, almost super rez lights compared to the other sims. In FSX when I see another plane at night or dusk that is far away it looks like a little texture blob with maybe a blinking light and if it is too far away it vanishes. In Xplane that plane will be very clear and sharp and I can tell it has several lights, very much like real life..in fact I love watching the AI fly at night and sometimes just follow them.

It is so good at night they should rename it From Dusk till Dawn.