Background
The history of this aircraft is not that well documented.
Various sources all point to a few known facts and a lot of
conjecture. This summary is designed to give to a feel for its
history although may not be 100% accurate.
The one and only Pasped Skylark was produced by the Pasped
Company of Venice California in 1936. Fred Pastorius and
Stanley Pedersen (Their names are the components of the company
name) had designed and built the aircraft whose design mirrored
the pre-war 1930's fashion of the day.
The aircraft is a side-by-side, bench type two-seater monoplane
originally fitted with a 125-hp Warner Scarab radial engine
housed in a low-drag cowling; the restored Skylark was fitted
with a more powerful 165-hp Warner Super Scarab engine. The
fuselage was built around a rectangular steel tube with
Duraluminum metal panels forward and fabric to the rear. The
wings were wire-braced from above, had plywood leading edges,
and were covered with both fabric and Duraluminum.
| The landing gear is fixed and streamlined by a very
distinctive fairing which can be recognised miles away!
It was painted pure white, folklore is that Pastorius and Pedersen went to the hardware
store in town and asked what paint they had in gallon cans. All
they had was refrigerator white. Unfortunately production of the Skylark was interrupted when World War II broke out and never resumed, this, along with the theory that the Pasped did not sell and the expenses bankrupted the company resulted in no more aircraft being built. Its popularity however lived on. It was featured on the cover of Flying and Popular Aviation magazine in 1941 sporting a fire-engine red livery and starred in several movies of the day. The aircraft was eventually restored after 6 years of painstaking work and initial legal wrangling. Tom Brown, a specialist restorer of vintage aircraft, took over the restoration and completed the job returning the Skylark to its historically-correct state and original colour. The aircraft is now owned by Robert "Buzz" Penny, he currently has just one hour in the Skylark but he plans to build time and have fun; Tom, who test-flew it after restoration, has 14 hours! As for the future of the Skylark, Robert says "I want to enjoy it for a couple of years and then find a home to put it in," |
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| Performance and Specifications | ||
| Crew: 2 Length: 25 ft 0 in (7.62 m) Wingspan: 35 ft 11 in (10.95 m) Height: 7 ft 11 in (2.41 m) Wing area: 187 sq ft (17.4 m2) Empty weight: 1,288 lb (584 kg) Max takeoff weight: 1,885 lb (855 kg) |
Powerplant: 1 × Warner Scarab radial engine, 125 hp
(93 kW) Maximum speed: 139 mph (224 km/h; 121 kn) Cruise speed: 125 mph (109 kn; 201 km/h) Minimum control speed: 35 mph (30 kn; 56 km/h) (50 MPH in Flight Simulator) Range: 475 mi (413 Nm; 764 km) |
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Lionheart
Creations
LHC Ltd is a small design company founded in 1986 by William
Ortis. Bill's background lay mostly in design for the automotive
industry but also encompassed other diverse product design such
as movie lighting, boats and hovercraft and through to aircraft
systems including landing gear.
The company diversified into the computer gaming world and
simulators such as MS Flightsim. LHC has a proven record
in producing niche, very high quality products and their flight
simulation products carry this reputation on into FSX.
Some of Bill's aerospace concepts are available as freeware
through the usual outlets and make for an entertaining
experience! There are other unusual payware titles
including the Quest Kodiak and Epic Victory VLJ aircraft.
The product
I only found out about the Pasped Skylark by accident as I am a previous
customer and have LHC bookmarked in my browser. It is
available in download version direct from LHC using PayPal
or from Flight1 or SimMarket, both respectable and trusted
sites. It is worth remembering that SimMarket do offer a
CD service if you are prepared to wait up to 28 days for
delivery.
There are 2 versions available, the HD version, which I advise
you buy, that has the HD textures which are all 2048 size
textures, but in standard DXT5 format, not 'high-res', only
double size. The "Regular" version textures are also DXT5
standard, but in 1024 pixels instead of 2048. Only the panel and
fuselage textures though are double size, the rest are regular
size and smaller. There is a switchout service provided by LHC
so if you have trouble running the large textures you can change
to regular.
The download is just a tad under 50Mb, I used the Flight1
service and the file was on my desktop in no time. The
Flight1 wrapper is pretty straight forward to use and the
installation is completed in a minute or so.
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Manual Included in the download is the Pasped Skylark Owners Manual. This is a leather bound book (Actually pdf!) which like the aircraft has that custom-built aged quality. The manual lists the specs of the Skylark, flying tips, panel layouts etc. If you wish to get a feel of the instrumentation, etc. this is a free download from LHC here  and gives you
a perfect insight to this package. |
Looking around
the Skylark - Cockpit
The first thing you notice is the side-by-side bench seat which
makes for a snug cockpit if you're not flying solo. Immediately
in front are dual sticks that have real leather look gaiters.
Behind the seat is a small shelf to keep small bags and a
picnic!
The floor is wooden and crossed with an aluminium step plate
type material where the pedals enter the cockpit through
brushes. Loads of detail here too including the cross hatching
on the plate.
On the left side of the cockpit, for convenience, is a switch
panel which has the master battery and starter switch along with
sim controls such as tie down mode, Hdg and Alt lock switches
and master auto pilot switch. These can easily be brought
to the fore by pressing shift+7. When in flight, as Bill
suggests, you can just use Ctrl+H & Crtl+Z and Z to actuate
these controls, much nicer.
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The main panel has very few gauges but what is there is modelled
in very high quality. The dials are sunken slightly into
the bulkhead and the main 6 (Alt, Compass, ASI, VSI, Artificial
Horizon and Tachometer) are straight ahead with a nice big
clock to the left. A feature of the Skylark is there is no
Vacuum (Manifold) gauge so you have to look at the tachometer
red and green lines to gauge cruise and max RPM.
In front of the co-pilot are smaller gauges that denote oil
temp, oil pressure, fuel, elevator trim and flap indicator I say
flap but not in the conventional sense, more later. A map
box is to the far right with an animated door revealing a
well-worn interior. The open and closing of the map box
produces a quite eerie creaking sound that made my teeth itch!
Below these gauges, we have a detailed model plate and
electrical switches for the fuel pump, flap and lights. Dead
centre is the carb heat, mixture and throttle, which is
embellished with a very nice lion centrepiece (Well deserved
self-promotion I say) and fuel sector switch. All the switches
come with a nice sharp clicking sound when operated.
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On checking these controls out I only found one to be
inoperative by mouse, the flap, however, the switch was animated
when switched by other means. I checked the manual and unlike
the elevator trim, it doesn't suggest this is non-mousable.
The sliding canopy and doors either side can be operated by
mouse and their animation was very smooth.
There is a 2D panel available with all the knobs and dials, but
for the life of me, I cannot see why you would use it as the VC
is so gorgeous!
Special features
Here I intend to list features not accessed from the panel,
using shift+5 you get a rather smart looking nautical compass,
this makes for clearer reading than the whiskey compass and I
will check its use later on, it is quite a fancy contraption!
The kneeboard is very much in keeping with the style of the
aircraft and the compass. I found it very useful and easy to
use. One interesting feature is a runway visualiser which is
helpful to gauge direct, parallel and teardrop pattern entries.
Also on this page is a trip computer showing fuel remaining and
probable range. the range figure changes instantaneously when
you add and decrease the throttle.
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Also included is a fictional 1940's GPS! this is just like the default Garmin model
with the same display and functions, however, it looks like it
has an old metal case rather than the plastic we see today.
I like that touch, as I mentioned earlier you do have basic
autopilot functions so it would be easy to follow a track from a
flight plan.
Walk around
If you have set the aircraft to tie down mode she will be
chocked and the canopy covered. Nice details and not wasted on
me! The aircraft isn't exactly tied down but the chocks and
cover looked good.
The aircraft is interwoven with metal wire braces going in all
angles, above and below the wings and elevators as well as
between the wheel fairings. On close inspection you can detect
the strands of the wires. This aircraft will withstand a
lot of close inspection, Shift+E+4 gives access to the nose
compartment, here you will find the Exide battery and Sunoco
oils, all these small details have not been overlooked.
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The Warner Scarab radial engine is housed in a low drag cowling,
I was surprise at how small it is but at 125hp, that is a lot
less than my car! The wooden fixed-pitch props are just about
photo-real.
Turning now to texture quality, I would say these are amongst
the best I have seen, I loaded the HD set which are the larger
versions, the bump mapping is very evident and all the rivets,
lines and detailing are as good as you get. The textures are a
little clean looking for my liking but it is possible that this
being the only airframe made that it was kept in tip-top
condition. I would like to see a tatty version though.
There is a paint kit supplied so hopefully some other liveries
(Although fictitious) may be made by enthusiasts. (I know a
few!)
Moving back from the aircraft you realise how big the wings are,
they have a huge surface area and are rounded at the tips.
Along with the fairings this gives here quite a heavy look.
Mounted under the wings and belly is one huge electrically
operated flap, more later about its use.
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Looking to the rear of the aircraft you notice there is no
rudder trim so that could be interesting on take off, the tail
wheel moved with the rudder and can be locked in theory
but is not modelled so it just free-wheels, that didn't affect
the performance that I could see.
Finally, the small doors open each side to allow easy access to
the cockpit and the canopy slides back on its rails. Having the
canopy open like this, as with a lot of old military
tail-draggers is an absolute necessity when taxiing.
Flying the Skylark
Overall, I would say she is quite easy to fly. She does tend to
be more like a much larger aircraft in her feel, in no way a
nimble racer!
The kneepad start up instructions are clear and easy to follow.
There is a fantastic start up sound and the unmistakable deep
roar of the radial engine. As part of the animation a small
amount of smoke will fly past your head. Not being that
complex an aircraft, once warmed up, you will be able to taxi in no time. You
will tend to snake along the taxiway as you look out the side to
get your bearings. Steering is done by using the
toe-brakes, this is quite familiar to me as this is my favourite
type of aircraft.
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The take off roll is generally short and the tail rises quite quickly, she floats into the sky with the minimum of fuss, just be sure to gain a bit of speed before increasing your clime rate. You can push the RPM past the red mark momentarily if you need it but what's the hurry!?
Trimming her in level flight is quite straight forward but I was amazed at how quickly she responded to a change of trim. Book cruise speed is 130 mph on the green line and she achieved this easily and seemed quite happy to chug along all day. It is true to say that she handled like a much larger aircraft, she turned well but liked a gradual turns more than deep banked ones.
In most other manoeuvres she felt solid and reliable. Great for sight-seeing and there's no real need for the autopilot unless you are undertaking a longer flight and possibly following a flight plan on the GPS. There is no GPS tracking so you purely change the heading setting and let her go.
Bringing her into land is an interesting affair. You have a choice of bringing her in straight shallow which makes the runway a little difficult to see unless you fancy trying out your side-slipping which I did and I was impressed she handled it so well. Or turning onto a short final and using the "Flap" airbrake to bring your speed down quickly from 110 through 90 last notch of flap and keeping her at about 70 with quite a lot of throttle.
These manoeuvres aren't mandatory, just more fun, being in mind
the stall speed is a measly 50 MPH you are bound to get her down
safely!
Sounds
The radial engine sound wonderfully deep and growly from the
outside. I thought the engine sound in the cockpit was a bit
weak but this can be improved in the FSX sound settings, I soon
achieved a good balance.
One thing that would have really impressed me is if there was a
sound difference when flying with the canopy and closed as this
is integral to the whole take off and landing experience.
However, I haven't experienced this on any aircraft so maybe
it's not possible and I am sure Bill would have thought about
this.
Sim performance
After reading that using a non-"HD" texture set would increase
performance, I thought the Sim would struggle? Not a bit of it,
using default FSC scenery, REX2 clouds (I am not un-installing them
for anyone!) and an overall setting of "High" in the
display options, my FPS were in between 66 in the VC and 170 in clear air.
I think that says a
lot for the efficiency of the model. Infact, I found
myself having to throttle the FPS by using FPS Limiter an
excellent 3rd part utility to stop the sim being jerky.
Capped at 30, she ran like a dream.
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Please note, that except for these sim performance shots, all the others in this review are featuring various 3rd-party sceneries which will have further impact on the performance depending on their build quality. The idea of using these sceneries for screenshots is purely to promote the eye-candy aspect of this product.
Verdict
I have to congratulate Bill and the team at
Lionheart Creations for a very well presented and well
performing aircraft.
It's heartening to know that we still have these small
independent design studios creating these niche products.
You may remark, "Yes but at what cost?" I am astounded to
reply, $12.00 and be deafened by your numbed, open-mouthed
response!!
I loved the detail in the manual, overall she was a
delight to fly and will certainly be used again on one of my
cross-country adventures.
I am pleased to award this a very respectable
Mutley's Hangar
score of 9/10
Joe Lawford
Review machine Spec: Core i7 Extreme 965 @ 3.6 Ghz |
12Gb Tri-Channel Corsair DDR3 Ram |GX260 Graphics |Windows 7
64bit Pro
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System Requirements (Mutley's Hangar advice)
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