IcarusGold's Dragon Rapide for FSX

By Bill Stack
3 July 2009


Screen shots by Icarus

The Dragon Rapide was a British twin-engine, bi-plane passenger airliner for short-haul flights. A downscaled version of the DeHavilland 84 Dragon, it became a very successful passenger airliner during the 1930s. First flown in 1934, 205 were built before the outbreak of World War II, and another 525 were built for military uses during the war. A few Rapides are still flying today. Their original capacity was eight passengers and a crew of one according to Internet sources.

A collection of this historic aircraft has been released by IcarusGold. Its nineteen versions cruise at 100 to 132 kts, their ceilings are 19,000 feet (5,795 meters), and their ranges are 578 nautical miles (1,070 kilometers). They seat one pilot and nine passengers. IcarusGold has made numerous flightsim aircraft such as racers, helicopter, World War II, and the jet age.

Icarus Gold made the collection of this aircraft because "We make models we like, especially old ones and rare or not made commercially. We prefer to build [aircraft] we like."

Aircraft Selections

Bombs underneath

Screen shots by Bill Stack

Major Features

The package is conveniently available for instant downloading from the Flight Sim Pilot Shop.

Basic installation is easy. The aircraft files are installed in the correct subfolders within the airplanes folder.

The virtual cockpit is fully clickable, compared to some add-on aircraft with no virtual cockpit or a virtual cockpit that isn't clickable.

Frame rates are barely affected. They're in the 30s and 40s throughout most areas. My display settings are at "medium high." Higher frame rates are possible with lower display settings, and vice versa.

A printable manual in Microsoft Word format, which includes annotated screen shots, explains how to set the simulator's settings for realizing maximum benefits from the aircraft.

Screen shots by Bill Stack

Nice Features

The exterior rendering is remarkably realistic when compared to photographs of the real aircraft I found on the Internet. I cannot comment on the cockpit and instrument panel because I found no real-world photos of them.

Nineteen liveries are included, such as Scottish Airways, United States Air Force, and Royal Air Force. (Icarus says there are 17, but the aircraft-selection menu shows 19.)

The following features are included:

A scenery Firbeck Airfield, a WWII English airbase
An animated "vintage" pilot
A canopy that opens and closes
Sounds unique to this aircraft, which contrasts with some add-on aircraft that borrow sounds from other aircraft
A paint kit for those who want to create their own color schemes
A patch for "adding a better chrome metal reflection" for IcarusGold aircraft.


At Firbeck Airfield (England)
Screen shots by Bill Stack

Issues

It has no 2D cockpit other than the mini panel.

The associated scenery and flights are not installed by the installation program — they must be installed separately by users, as explained in the MS Word manual.

No checklists or reference sheets are included in the kneeboard. Performance data such as V speeds, range, ceiling, and cruising speeds are provided in the separate manual in Microsoft Word format. Using kneeboards is more convenient than switching to MS Word or printing the manual and keeping it nearby. This shortcoming is common among some add-on aircraft, unfortunately, even though kneeboard data sheets are easy to make.

The most significant weaknesses, however, are this aircraft's severe overweight condition, conflicts in performance data, and the questionable flight modeling that results.

OVERWEIGHT: The aircraft is 6,613 pounds overweight from the outset, as shown in my screen shot below.

Subtracting the specified 2,934-pound empty weight from the specified 5,500-pound gross take-off weight (per the manual) shows the maximum variable weight at 2,566 pounds. This maximum variable weight includes various combinations of fuel, persons, and cargo.
Comparing that maximum variable weight to the 3,624-pound maximum fuel weight in the Fuel menu shows the aircraft overweight by 1,058 pounds without any people or cargo on board.
Comparing that maximum variable weight to the 5,360 pounds of weight in the Payload menu shows the aircraft 2,794 pounds overweight with zero fuel.

For some aircraft to be unable to carry a full load of passengers, cargo, and fuel is not unusual, however, but my weight calculations and experiments show this aircraft to be far out of bounds.

Screen shots by Bill Stack

My calculations and experiments with the Fuel/Payload menus show that this aircraft can carry the following maximum combinations:

One pilot and 364 gal, 2,182 lbs, of fuel. This is 215 gal, or 1,442 lbs, less than the aircraft's specified fuel capacity with no passengers or cargo at all. It begs the question as to why the aircraft can carry more fuel than practical. To add more fuel, the pilot must weigh less or stay on the ground.
One pilot and six passengers at 170 pounds each, plus 194 gal, or 1,164 lbs, of fuel with no luggage or cargo at all (or one pilot plus a comparable weight of cargo).

These configurations limit the aircraft's range and reduce its usefulness. Some balance must be found between enough fuel to carry passengers and/or cargo to a destination.

DATA CONFLICTS: There are three versions of how many people and how much weight this aircraft holds.

The IcarusGold manual says its Dragon Rapide holds one pilot and six passengers.
As shown in the screen shots, the cabin interior shows seating for one pilot and nine passengers. There are four rows of two seats and one row of one seat. The missing seat is the entry/exit door.
The Fuel/Payload menu shows four times as many people as the manual says the aircraft carries, plus two positions for luggage and cargo. There are positions for two pilots plus 11 rows of passengers. Dividing the weights in these passenger rows by the 170-pound average-person weight shows the following total weights: Four rows hold four passengers each, two hold three passengers each, and two hold two passengers each, for a total of 26 passengers. Add the two pilots, and we have weight variables for 28 persons in an aircraft that supposedly holds seven persons and has seating for 10.


Cabin holds one pilot and nine passengers
Screen shots by Bill Stack

FLIGHT MODELING: The aircraft's flight modeling is questionable because of its overweight conditions and data conflicts.

My flight tests show this aircraft requiring 125 miles per hour for liftoff. (The airspeed indicator shows MPH instead of knots.) That's excessive for this type of aircraft, and the manual says it climbs at 90 MPH. Once airborne, the aircraft flies just fine — it climbs, turns, and holds altitude without difficulty or stalling, which is bizzare for an aircraft that's 20 percent overweight.
When the aircraft is within weight limits, it lifts off at about 110 MPH and flies quite easily. But the manual says it should rotate at "65-70 mph according to weight" and climb out at "90 mph."
The only way I could get this aircraft to rotate below 100 KTS was to have one 170-pound pilot on board and 20 gallons of fuel (just about enough for a go around). Under this condition, it accelerated to 100 KTS in five seconds per my wrist watch! The real version could not have accelerated so quickly.

Having never flown a Dragon Rapide, I cannot personally attest to its flight characteristics, but I cannot believe that it flew normally when 20 percent overweight or accelerated from zero to 100 in five seconds when almost empty.

These conflicts reflect significant quality-assurance failures. I don't understand how a developer could enter all that weight for an aircraft that can't carry it. If the Dragon Rapide's aircraft-configuration file was based on or copied from another, the weight data should have been revised accordingly. However this error happened, it should have been caught during the internal quality-assurance reviews and testing. How the red-letter overweight statement in the Fuel/Payload menu could be missed is anybody's guess (see the screen shot).

My first clue to this aircraft's overweight condition was its high take-off speed during my first flight test. Then I started checking the data and found all these errors and conflicts. Didn't anybody at IcarusGold flight test this aircraft?

IcarusGold replied to my question about these issues as follows: "It's possible there is an error--for this usually we make also updates--all our models have updates also after months. We will check about this."

Summary

These aircraft are wonderful in appearance, but the significant overweight condition and various data conflicts are unacceptable quality-assurance oversights. The lack of kneeboard reference data and checklists is another weakness. Flight simmers whose idea of realism is strictly visual might find this package suitable, but those who seek realistic performance in their simulations will not find their needs met by this product. Until Icarus Gold corrects these shortcomings, this product doesn't pass technical muster.

Bill Stack

Learn More About Icarus' Golden Dragon Rapide for FSX