Review: Carenado 390 Premier IA

Earlier this year, Carenado released their next jet-engined aircraft for X-Plane 11. As the title says, it’s a model of the Beechcraft 390 Premier IA. Over the 11 years of production (2001-2012), 292 of these were built, the last ones being sold for 7.1 million USD. The Premiere is certified as a light aircraft and therefore is allowed to be operated by a single pilot.

Now, since Carenado provided us a copy, let’s have a look at it!

Exterior

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As you can see, the exterior looks superb. It is yet another example of great work Carenado’s been doing in the past years. Sense of detail is one of the things we can take for granted when talking about their aircraft. An HD livery is now sort of standard, too.

Interior

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Starting with the lounge, the inside is not an exception in Carenado’s model quality. It also features some controllable objects, like the folding table, or adjustable lights.

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Moving on to the cockpit, the ride continues.

The main panel is equipped with two PFDs, a panel with warning signs, pressurization, hydraulic and temperature gauges and last but not least a central display with engine information and map.

Underneath on the central pedestal you’ll find two CDUs which are unfortunately just stretched default Laminar ones, and more importantly, the engine levers and ignitions.

Need some light? Look at the overhead panel, it controlls them all.

Like I already said, there are many adjustable things, here namely a shade, lights or an arm rest.

Features

Talking about features, the Premier has a lot of them so I’ll try to cover them briefly.

HDR LIGHTING

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aircraft systems

• Annunciator logic
• Aural warning logic
• Throttle logic
• Custom electrical system
• Custom starter logic
• Custom fuel system
• Custom bleed air system
• Custom avionics busses
• Custom hydraulic logic
• Custom autopilot
• Pressurization and oxygen system

VR SUPPORT

Sounds & Effects

Carenado couldn’t have done a better job implementing the FMOD sound design. There are, however, some lower quality recordings which I would replace. For example, the flap extending and retracting exterior sounds aren’t the best. It’s not a thing you would normally notice, though. Furthermore, it is quite hard to record those in my experience. The FMOD implementation includes distance effects, prop reversal effects and many more.

The aircraft features a librain support, meaning that with librain plugin installed you’ll get the full rain experience and visual ice effects on windows.

extras

Above all, with the aircraft you’ll get:

• PDF with
  • Emergency procedures
  • Normal procedures
  • Performance tables
• RealityXP GTN750 support
• Goodway compatibility

Conclusion

In the end, Carenado’s made another brilliant airplane which combined with provided manuals could be used for basic procedure training. It is pity though it has the default FMS which kind of ruins the experience (but suffices for normal use). I’ve also had some problems finding out how to switch transponder modes and according to some discussions, it’s not programmed really well and hence makes the plane harder to fly with Vatsim or similar pilot networks.

Altough the problems I’ve stated might be a big deal for some, let’s not forget the beautiful model and in-depth systems.

Are you considering buying the Premiere? You can do it right now at Carenado’s eshop for $39.95.