COWS DA42 Released

[Tom Clayton]

I just bought mine, but haven't had a chance to test yet. As far as I know, it's only on the Orbx app, and it's listed under COWS in the first column. There's also a link on the bottom of the product page to download the official paint kit.

[Tom Clayton]

OK - so after an initial flight, I have a few observations...

First, after spending a LOT of time in the DA62X mod by one of the members of the COWS team, I'd say the DA42VI (haven't flown the TDI yet) behaves exactly as you might expect a lighter version of the DA62 to behave. There are a few nice touches like having to manually cage the standby horizon gyro. The only graphic issue I could find is that the toe brakes aren't animated. However, my biggest complaint is the fact that I don't have a copilot when I'm inside the cabin! Who knows? Maybe I'm missing a click somewhere, but I spent a decent portion of my cruise from Dominicci to TNCM looking for one.

Two big advantages of this one over the DA62 are the fact that the canopy and rear passenger door actually open, and without the A pillar, landing visibility is much better in the 42.

At just over $30 US, it's a little pricey, but for Diamond lovers like me, I think it's worth it.

[Sunny9850]

Similar to Tom, I also loved what MrTommy did for the DA62 so I purchased the DA42, even though I do not really plan on using it all that much.
And I’d say at this point it is a mixed bag. The aircraft is certainly nicely done, and looks quite nice inside and out.
Flying qualities are on par with what I remember from 2.78h of flying the real thing while my flying buddy and I were considering a purchase of the TDi version. Maybe a little too much a pitch down when the gear is deployed….but hey it has been almost 10 years.
However when I use FSUIPC to assign control axis it only works for aileron and rudder and not at all for elevator. And after using the AP in flight I have no more rudder control or NWS after touchdown.
Same when using Axis&OHs to assign the control axis for the three main functions. That is being looked at by the COWS team, but so far not resolved.

As for the Gyro, that should be uncaging, because a caged giro is locked into a certain position to prevent damage when maneuvering or after shut down. And as such you should be able to lock that instrument even in flight.

Cheers
Sunny

[Tom Clayton]

From the official forum activity, the dev's are aware of the issue. Not sure of any patch release date though...

[Sunny9850]

From the official forum activity, the dev's are aware of the issue. Not sure of any patch release date though...

I know they are aware, I was part of the discussion on the FS Forum and on the team discord. But since the product was mentioned here and lots of folks here typically also use FSUIPC etc I figured it should be pointed out that there is a problem.

At this point it doesn’t matter much to me, since my sim install was somehow corrupted right after I tried a modified controls.html file from MrTommy to correct this issue.
I think it had absolutely nothing to do with that file, it just happened right after I used that, made a few flights to test it and then shut down to install the latest Connie update from Redwing.

Now the sim just said important updates were missing and to please update 😃
since that doesn’t work…I am reinstalling right now.

Cheers
Sunny

[MZee1960]

From several YT vids I have seen, many people miss the 'tablet' pop-up interface which allows for custom (cold and dark esp.) visual eye candy as other developers offer.

Maybe this will come with the FS2024 version update ?

[Tom Clayton]

Maybe this will come with the FS2024 version update ?

That's completely up to the dev. Personally, I don't need it. With the P2006t addon, you have to go around and remove chocks, hand-turn the props to get oil up, and check the control surfaces. Lucky for me, there's an option in the tablet to bypass all of that. Beyond that and the cargo loading, I don't use the tablet for anything else. My biggest gripe is that the copilot isn't visible from inside the cockpit. The hidden click spot in the DA62X addon from Tommy got me spoiled to that feature!