Cera Sim Aircraft Cessna 188AG

Agricultural planes are a popular diversion for many simmers, giving the user a chance to fly very low by the seat of your pants; especially with more high resolution sceneries being available and most people having the power to run them.

The Cessna 188 was introduced in 1966 and on first glance looks like a butchered Cessna 180 – a lovechild of a smooth, classic aircraft and a tractor barn.

This is actually somewhat true. The two aircraft share engines and some bodywork.

The plane is Cera Sim Aircraft’s first fixed wing aircraft and have two previous helicopter releases with favourable reviews. Their new C188AG package comes with two models of the wagon (earlier, smaller) and truck (later, larger payload) models.

Installation and Manuals

The aircraft is available from the FS Pilot Shop or Sim Market for a reasonable 20 euros – though this now seems a bit expensive in the UK due to the pound crashing in value. Installation is easy and quick with a simple auto-installer.

Documentation comes in the form of a detailed PDF filled with all the information a discerning sim pilot or casual flyer needs ranging from charts to labelled diagrams. All of this is easy to print for the sections needed to keep on the desk while you fly.

Exterior

The model on first glance looks a bit blocky – textures have been saved in a format with mip maps which FS2004 never seems to want to render at the highest setting. Re-saving in DXTBMP is a simple procedure but a bit tiresome over the wide range of models.

Visually the range of models look very similar but the key is in the detail and zooming in closely will reveal some very tidy modelling on bolts, grills and the spray equipment. There is a lot of dedication to the task in this product as a look under the wing will tell you. Some areas of the model are a little less satisfying – the nose being a bit sparse on polygons perhaps but because the aircraft is so clunky in appearance I didn’t really pay any attention to it except under close scrutiny for something to write!

Personally I am a fan of textures with a photo-like look but this is by no means a criticism of the Wagon, the textures are at a reasonable resolution with careful detailing of dirt and rivets. When in close the textures do have some blocks due to the BMP compression of re-saving. A feature that never gets old to me is the way you can be in spot view and notice something shiny – there’s loads of high alpha channels on small bits of metal – and I bet it would look really good with FSX bloom.

When on the ground not being distracted by shiny things, other small touches make me smile such as the cockpit cover, wing ties and pitot covers. Chocks and opening doors somehow makes me feel like I own the aircraft for a fleeting moment (though this isn’t purely why I use Flight Simulator!). I also find the prop animation to be quite realistic as the center seems to spin completely out of time do the blades.

The spraying effects included are dense and surprisingly frame rate friendly which is pretty satisfying – especially if you take a look at a few old crop spraying films on the internet first (youtube.com/watch?v=3jWufkTHbj8).

2D Panel

The panel included is simple, there aren’t many gauges in the real aircraft so there isn’t much to look at. The pop-ups range from very nice to a little crude but they offer quick access to… this point doesn’t matter because where you really want to fly it from is…

The Virtual Cockpit

In a late entry to the FS2004 market you should expect a well executed VC and with the Cera Sim Aircraft Cessna 188 you definitely get one and I believe it is a strong selling point of this fairly niche add-on.

Panning around inside the cockpit is a pleasure. It is filled with carefully detailed small parts and best of all is the very well animated control cables seen at your virtual feet. All switches and controls are in 3D though some of the labelling is a bit hard to read. Fortunately the cockpit is fairly spartan so I found there wasn’t much confusion.

There is a combination of photo and hand drawn texturing which I found a little odd, one moment glancing at the very realistic lower regions then noticing the frames of the glass have a repeat pattern on that is stretched.

The gauges are all clear, move smoothly and are neatly housed in 3D bezels which is a nice touch. At first flying with your eyes on engine and fuel instruments is odd but to any wannabe crop sprayer flying by the seat of your pants is the only way! For those who like to fly with an attitude indicator clearly present these are situated awkwardly on a lower row. It is a downside of cramming a cockpit onto a computer monitor but uses with TrackIR or a utility to move the view with a mouse it is only a minor issue. Since the aircraft is not suited to instrument flying anyway I found it much more fun to watch where I was going to avoid trees!

Flying

Loading up some rural scenery in the middle of nowhere (I really recommend the freeware photo Jesenicko package for this) I carefully went through pre-flight checks, removing wheel chocks and flicking through the brief array of switches, swiftly being rewarded with a rumble from the engine. It’s great just to jump in and fly but when the start up procedure is so short it is just another small touch to make simming more enjoyable.

Taxiing is easy as the cockpit windows are large and steering is via a tail wheel rather than braking as on many tri-cycle gear aircraft. The take off run is very short so find any obtuse out of the way airport to fly from.

The aircraft will lift off on its own but a little backward stick pressure will lift it slowly into the air where it feels heavy and lumbering. The plane is very stable to keep straight and level so being close to the ground  is no issue. Also being this low provides the benefit of not noticing that this aircraft is far from speedy!

Overall

Cera Sim Aircrafts first foray into a fixed wing aircraft is a great success. The package is solid in all areas with no show stopping glitches or bugs to be found – a testament to good beta testing. Care can be found all over from the manual to the small model details.

If you are a low and slow fan and own some good scenery then I recommend this package for you to try. It may look odd but I have had many moments that have made me smile which is all you can ask for.

Summary

+ The small details
+ Good to hop in and fly

- Some textures look a little too low resolution
- A few crude modelling and texturing touches

2D Panel: 2/5
Virtual Cockpit: 4/5
Exterior: 4/5
Dynamics: 4/5
Sound: 4/5
Performance: 5/5
Value for Money: 3/5
Price: £15

Website: www.cerasimaircraft.com