Carenado Piper Saratoga

By Ted Thomas (20 September 2001)

reviously, I had the opportunity to test fly and review Carenado's Piper Warrior. I was thoroughly impressed with their work and jumped at the opportunity to review their latest commercial package - the Piper Saratoga.

The Piper Saratoga is the third-generation of Piper's single engine, six seaters. The Piper Cherokee Six was first introduced as a stretched Cherokee, sporting six seats and a 260 horsepower engine. It was an instant hit, and when combined with a 300 horsepower engine later on in its life, became the pickup truck of Piper Aircraft - it could carry just about anything you could squeeze in its door (empty weight was 1700 lbs and useful load was 1700 lbs!). As the years wore on, Piper renamed the Cherokee Six to the Lance. With some cosmetic improvements (i.e. club seating) and the ability to tuck the gear, it continued to be successful. However, when Piper tried to match the Lance with a T-tail, sales suffered. The T-tail (also feature on the Arrow IV, which was not a success either) proved to be quite a hindrance to pilots, especially on take-off and landing when abnormally large pitch forces were required.

Piper realized this blunder and quickly switched back to the standard tail, as well as renaming the aircraft. Thus the Piper Saratoga was born. If the Cherokee Six was the pickup truck of Piper, then the Saratoga was to be the luxury sport utility vehicle of the fleet. It was an attempt by Piper to build a workhorse luxury single that could take on the Beech A36/B36 Bonanza, acknowledged king of the unpressurized, six-seat, piston retractables. Beech had a reputation for producing ultimate singles, but Piper was the acknowledged master at stretching an existing model line to accommodate new thinking. The Saratoga HP was a successful mix-and-match of a Cherokee Six airframe and Seneca gear. The Saratoga benefited from the best of the ole' Six with performance advantages of retractable gear and many creature comfort improvements.

As with my last review, I focused primarily on the flight dynamics of this aircraft. However, I also wanted to make sure that Carenado had lived up to their early aircraft. The Saratoga, with a 1600 lb useful load, could easily carry full fuel and five adults plus baggage. Furthermore, it can manage to call any piece of pavement over 2000 feet long its home. With these virtues in mind, it has proven to be one of the best cross-country platforms and a shining example of what Piper's design teams can do. Now let's see what Carenado's design team can do...

FIRST IMPRESSIONS & VISUAL MODEL

This Saratoga comes in a dark blue with baby blue accents paint scheme (it was an instant hit with me, as this is the same scheme as my personal real-world Cherokee). The overall look of the aircraft is very sharp, and it's only when one zooms in and starts nitpicking that you find errors in their design. As with their Warrior, they used a Cessna tube-style pitot tube instead of the Piper blade-style (I guess they didn't read my Warrior review?). Furthermore, a prominent feature on Piper aircraft - the door handles - were missing from both the cockpit and passenger doors on the Saratoga. In fact, despite my best efforts, I couldn't even find the primary baggage door; the baggage compartment in the nose is present however.

Despite those minor things, the qualities that Carenado has brought to the table before are still present. Their attention for detail, whether it be the brake fluid lines, the sunspots in the windows or the overall "worn" look to the paint of the aircraft, is a shining example of what can be done when designer's work hard. This aircraft features all of the more sought-after details, such as transparent windows, accurate night lighting (including a glow from the instruments seen throw the windows at night!) and full moving parts - heck, there's even a pilot inside wearing David Clark headsets! Aside from the minor mistakes mentioned above, the exterior is virtually flawless.

THE PANEL & INTERIOR VISUALS

On the topic of radios, I was disappointed beyond words to see that Carenado used the default Cessna 182 Bendix-King radios. Seeing as how they had custom radios on their Warriors, and the fact that one is paying $15 USD for this aircraft, it would be nice not to see the same old stock gauges. In fact, a good portion of the gauges were stock. The ADF, altimeter, VSI, turn indicator and attitude indicator were all the stock Cessna gauges. The HSI and master switch were from the Bell 206B. As much as it would have been nice to see some non-stock gauges (like the HGHB Bendix-King radios instead), I can understand why Carenado didn't do this. First of all, it would take time to make new gauges, and secondly, to use someone else's gauges would probably be infringing on copyrights. I'll let you decide if the presence of stock gauges is the end of the world. To me, it's a disappointment, but if the plane makes up for it in other areas, such as flight dynamics and visuals, then all things will be equal in my eyes.

Most IFR-equipped Saratogas come with dual VOR/LOCs and an IFR-approved GPS, and as such it would have been nice to see the second VOR and a GPS other than the unrealistic FS2K GPS. However, I can understand why these weren't included as the panel is already loaded with goodies to play with.

The fuel selector, rudder and elevator trims are not visible on the standard panel, as is the case with the real Saratoga. They can be brought up using a toggle switch (similar to the GPS toggle switch) in case one needs to switch tanks or play with the trim. Again, as with the real Saratoga, this one features a LEFT and RIGHT selector for fuel - there is no "BOTH" setting. Many times pilots will run dry and think the engine has quit, only to realize that they used up the fuel in one tank and had forgotten to switch tanks. It is a good rule of thumb to switch tanks every hour to prevent this and to also keep the plane balanced. More about the balance issue later.

The overall look of the panel is quite sharp, regardless of the above mentioned problems. The layout is almost bang-on accurate to the real plane and the background image for the panel is quite sharp. Unlike so many commercial and freeware aircraft available, this Saratoga's panel seems like the designers took their time - they were not rushed and didn't have to beat any deadlines. Although I was disappointed with some parts (i.e. radios), at the end of the day I would consider this panel to be a winner.

The interior views were nicely done. I wouldn't say that they are superb, as they didn't seem to meet the quality of the Warrior's interior views. Furthermore, they were not the most performance-friendly on the initial load. However, they are among some of the best in the industry. They are quite accurate to the real Saratoga and all seven (front, front-right, right, back-right, back, back-left, left and front-left) all feature photorealistic shots from the real Saratoga. Whether it be the leather club seats in the back, or the storm window on the pilot's side window, it was all there. One interesting thing I noticed is that on the pilot's side of the panel (look front-right), there is a Garmin 430 and 530, as is in some real Saratogas. Yet this isn't in the Carenado Saratoga... I guess it's their way of teasing us! Hahaha.

AT THE END OF THE DAY... DOES IT FLY?

My flight test that I opted for would be about a 3 & 1/2-hour flight. I planned on departing my home of Burlington Airpark (CZBA) in Burlington, Ontario, Canada and travelling along the shore of Lake Ontario to Kingston (CYGK), Ontario. Kingston was once the capital of Lower Canada and to this day still has a very British colonial atmosphere. It is situated on Lake Ontario, near the Rideau Canal (which travels up to Ottawa). From Kingston I would follow the St. Lawrence River past Montreal and on to Quebec City (CYQB), Quebec. Quebec City was the stage of the greatest battle between the French and British in the 18th century for control of Canada. It was on the Plains of Abraham, just outside of Quebec City, that the two armies fought to the bitter end. Quebec City is easily one of the most historic and beautiful cities in North America.

The weather for the day was, simply put, gorgeous. With blue skies and a light breeze, this should be quite an enjoyable flight. The forecast for Ontario was calling for few clouds around 4000 feet with tops at 6000 and greater than 6 miles visibility. Most of the province of Quebec was even nicer - sky clear and greater than 6 miles visibility. With weather like this, Carenado's Saratoga should make for the ideal aircraft on the ideal day. Or at least, that's what I intend to find out.

The flight to Kingston was, to say the least, a treat. The weather varied between few clouds at 3000 feet up to scattered in the 20000 foot foot range. Overall, smooth sailing up at 7500 feet. Cruise at 75% at 7500 was 147 KTAS, with ground speeds varying between 120 kts and 143 kts. At 7500 feet, maximum power worked out to 73%, which is about normal in non-turbocharged aircraft. All of the engine gauges were in the green for the entire flight and the DDMP computer really helped out. This computer, located above the engine gauges, shows fuel (left and right), oil temperature and pressure, EGT and CHT, % MAP, AMP and MAP & RPM. It is very helpful for setting up cruise. Speaking of cruise, I was showing 14.6 gph at 73% while in cruise, which is about right. One must keep in mind that even in real life, every plane has its own quirks - we like to call it character and personality.

As far as handling, the plane was quite similar to a real Saratoga. In turns, on takeoff and on landing, it holds that "big plane" feeling, something you would expect from an almost 2 ton airplane. On a Saratoga, as with most aircraft from the Cherokee tribe, you can only select RIGHT or LEFT on the fuel tank. Thus, you will eventually end up with more fuel in one tank than the other during cruise, causing a slight imbalance. If you forget to switch tanks, after a while you will find yourself flying one wing low, or with a "heavy" wing. Carenado's Saratoga perfectly recreates this condition. The trim - which is less than ideal on the stock Cessna 182 - is quite nice on the big Saratoga. Small changes in trim will give you small changes in attitude, unlike the Cessna 182 which is, as one reader put it, a bucking bronco!

The airplane is also very nice on frame rates, which is surprising considering the detail on the exterior and interior. Even with ProFlight 2000 and Photoshop Pro 5 (for screen shots) running, and after having panned around outside and inside the plane, my frame rates were still excellent. Running on flight simulator as well is the Cloud Replacement Pack #4, Ontario Mesh scenery and individual scenery for various airports and cities that I passed enroute. My faithful old computer is a Pentium II 233 MHz, with 224 mb of RAM and a 32 mb TNT2 video card, and it normally puts out about 10-12 fpm on FS2K in my Turbo Arrow (again, my motto is "if it works on mine, it'll work on yours!"). In Carenado's Saratoga, which has a lot more detail on the interior and exterior, was in the 15+ fpm range. I'm sure 5 frames per second is something anyone, regardless of computer specs, would appreciate!

I did the last leg of the flight, from Kingston to Quebec City, later that evening. This provided not only smooth sailing once the convective heating had worn off, but it also provided the chance to review the night lighting of the aircraft. The weather on departure caused me to file IFR - there was a low level fog bank spread along the Lake Ontario shore from Kingston in the east to Trenton in the west. It was clear once you got above about 3000 feet, so it was wasn't really hard IFR (although the lack of a second nav radio can cause things to be a little bit cumbersome at times).

The night lighting of the plane is nice - most of the panel is lit, which is a bonus for freeware but to be expected for commercial developments. The only things that aren't lit are the autopilot controls and the master switch, all of the light switches and the pitot heat switch. Sort of an oxymoron in that the switches that control the aircraft lights aren't lit! Anyway, it might prove to be an annoyance flying night IFR in this plane until you memorize the autopilot and pitot heat.

Unlike the popular myth about aircraft engines, the one in Carenado's Saratoga did not run extra rough at night, during IFR or over water. Trust me - I flew IFR, over water at night, so I would have noticed if it did! Speaking of IFR, this plane makes a great IFR platform. Regardless of whether ATC wants you coming down the pipe at a blazing 140 knots because of twin traffic, or if you need to be fit in behind a Cessna 150, this plane can do it.

LAST THOUGHTS & IMPRESSIONS

For those of you who read my review of Carenado's first try at the commercial market - their Warrior - you will remember how impressed I was. You will also remember that I took time to mention that I was upset by the lack of original sounds and by the lack of documentation. I mentioned both of these problems to the Carenado folks the night I got the Saratoga. Finally about 5 days later, I was sent documentation in the form of a checklist (they wouldn't comment on the sound package). Because I had finished the flight tests, I went through the checklist to check it for mainly accuracy; was I ever dismayed. It would appear that the folks at Carenado simply took the checklist from the Cessna 182 and rewrote it to suit the Saratoga. Some examples of the problems with this checklist? The start procedures are for a non-fuel-injected engine; the one on the Saratoga is fuel injected. There are references to check gauges that don't exist on the aircraft (and in some cases, i.e. the TIT, instruments that shouldn't be on the plane!). The 'liftoff' speed is quoted at 60 knots, which, seeing as how it is below stalling speed, would make it rather hard to liftoff at. On approach and landing, the only mention of approach speed I could find was 75 knots just before touchdown, and then they say to use 'airbrake' - which should prove difficult as the Saratoga doesn't have airbrakes (nor should it). I could go on and on, but I think I've made my point. For all intents and purposes, you might as well consider that this aircraft, like its predecessor, does not have any original documents or sounds. Don't get me wrong - I'm glad to see Carenado making an effort to put something in writing - but they should spend $20 and buy the aircraft's real world operating manual so that they can include performance charts, airspeeds... and an accurate checklist! For the money they make per sale, I'm sure it would be better than to continue having people like myself constantly pointing out these deficiencies!

At the end of the day, it might not have the most accurate checklist, nor the most flawless visual dynamics, but it is easily the best Saratoga there is. As with its little brother, the Warrior, its pros greatly outweigh its cons. If you bought the Warrior and are looking for more speed or range, this is your bird. If you are looking for a stable, advanced IFR platform, this is your bird. Or if you are simply looking for a nice long cross-country aircraft that can almost haul its own empty weight, guess what? This is your bird! These days $15 (USD) is pennies compared to the prices we pay for flight planning programs, hardware and for the actual flight simulators. Heck, think about how much $15 buys you at a McDonald's - not very much compared with the high quality aircraft you are getting from the good folks over at the Carenado Design Team!

Oh, and as I let you ponder your next purchase, here's some inside information to wet your appetite. Sometime in the next few weeks, Carenado will be unveiling their latest addition. I won't say exactly what it is, but let's just say it is very similar to that of the Piper Warrior; this time, however, it isn't a Piper plane. And sometime in early October you will see their fourth aircraft. Again, I won't say what it is, but let's put it this way - it is one of the Piper (Turbo) Saratoga's competitors. In an upcoming issue of Hangar Flying, you will see these aircraft reviewed. Until then, I hope you enjoy Carenado's beautiful & luxurious SUV of the sky.

Blue skies & calm winds,

Ted Thomas
flying_ggq@yahoo.ca

Visit publisher Carenado at:
www.carenado.com

Ted Thomas is a real world pilot and owner of a 1973 PA-28-160 Piper Cherokee. He is also an avid flight simmer and promoter of general aviation in the flight simulation community.