Carenado Cessna 337 for MSFS | In-Depth Review by Commercial Flying Instructor! 

They had these in the U.S. Air Force during the Vietnam War. I was in only 18 years old when I joined the U.S. Army in 1967 and was asked if I wanted to fly helicopters, and I said no, they had a high rate of getting shot down at the time. Unfortunately I wound up in a much worse position on the ground. I didn't think about becoming an officer however my entrance exam scores put me higher than needed to become a lieutenant via OCS. If I had it to do over I would have joined the air force, go to OCS and fly the airplane this video is about. Thank you this video.

I've flown the 337. My uncle had one when i was about 12 and kept his for quite a long time. Was one of the first planes i learned to and got to fly. The flight model is actually very close to what it really feels like in the air with exception of one thing. This plane tracks like it's on rails. You point it at a point, and that's where it goes. The rudder trimming is 'off' just a little bit as the real one doesn't really trim to the right as much as the one in the simulator does. The heaviness on the yoke is just about spot on. Oh, and if/when you lose the rear engine (it happened a couple of times from overheating in Florida weather, you really can't tell that you've lost it other than a loss of forward movement. If you are paying attention to it, you'd feel a little tug forward on your upper body (shoulders and head) when it was starting to lose power/thrust) Personally, other than a few little miniscule glitches, irregularities and easily fixed, temporal issues with the mosel itself, this might possibly be one of the best and most accurate flight model and rendering of any that Carenado has put out. It 'feels' and sounds like i'm back in it again... no joke. They did a fantastic job on the modeling of it all the way through. BIG thumbs up on this one. We did a flight from Titusville to Lakeland and lost the aft about half way through the flight, no one in the plane even noticed but me and him. The girls had no clue and there was no way we were even going to tell them... because we didn't need to. That's how well it flies.

OOP's; SOP for starting a 337 is Rear Engine first. Since you can't see the engine, you use sound to monitor the startup; rough running, missing, whatever. You are right - it flys like a Skylane or 210, just a little heavier. Really nice flying aircraft; stable, good visibility, etc. You would enjoy it!

First the Optica… now this. Finally some cool planes that I liked to fly 30 years ago.

Great video and thank you very much for making it. I also had the same problem with my throttles, props, and mixture levers needed to be switch. Have a great day!

Thank you for a very informative video. I had been thinking about the 337 and picked it up based on your flight test. The Skymaster has become my favorite piston twin, just nudging out the Seneca, mainly for the great visibility, but also for the uniqueness of the design. Something about starting the t/o run on the rear engine and then feeding in power from the front as you hurtle down the runway just gives me a grin every time! A happy subscriber- keep up the good work!

I have less than 30 mins real control time, and I'm not even a particularily experienced sim pilot ( maybe a couple of thousand hours in DCS, but that is mostly not really relevant here aside from abstract ideas about simulation ) - but I have worked on sim feel ( amongst other things ) on a pro level in the past so I'm a bit picky. So far all I've done is two flights where I started it by guesswork ( if you've ever started a light aircraft there's nothing that'll surprise you ) and flown it around at low level like a hooligan. This thing is up around the top of current MSFS aircraft I've got access to when it comes to feeling like you're guiding an object with mass in a fluid. All MSFS A/C can feel a bit wooden to me but this is probably one of the least immersion breaking so far, and that's flying it with a Virpil stick with an A-10 grip completely unlike pretty much any light aircraft... It's fun, feels like a fairly heavy aircraft ( as far as light aircraft go! ), the view out is great, it mostly sounds good ( a few wierd repetitive groaning noises ), if you deliberately spin it it doesn't half kick off but you can get it back out again easily. It's also quite fast & has a satisfying number of engines :D I haven't regretted picking it up - I've also got the Seneca but with this around I can't see me choosing that one over this. I think it was a good buy. Edit: SU8 is the current release & I'm a little less happy - I believe it's a MSFS core problem though & with a new flight model due in SU9 I'll hold off any condemnation. Edit 2: SU9 put the aircraft back in it's good state, even without any new cfd work.

Wanted...waiting for a sale. Love the instrument panel layout, very comfy to my brain

This aircraft is absolutely a joy to fly and it’s one of my fav in MSFS. I concur with every word you say in this fantastic review, but I have to disagree on the remark you did about documentation. I like Carenado but they lack in the manuals. There is no dedicated manual provided, see JF for example their manual for the arrow is outstanding and includes also a tutorial flight with full script. I mean you can find the POH online but it’s different, I believe a masterpiece like this needs a dedicated full blown manual with high res pictures of the panels and description of every single gauge and system.

Great review

Excellent review and presentation, I am new to your channel and glad I came upon this aircraft and flight test etc. concur with the points in the “ cons” listing and Hope the developer can adjust and update. Many Thanks Charlie ( EMA) ex Flt Engineer B707’s

I just bought this one and I love it And started my virtual trip back to Canada flying from Buenos Aires. I did Canada, Buenos Aires in a 152. Around 40 stops

Thank you!

Some comments. In my youth i did about 300hrs in this beauty. 1- Carenado sound is too much like a twin 172. 2- nose up trim is accurate. 3- Found that 16" manifold from descent to downwind, 1st notch of flaps, gear down, 2nd notch flaps on base, full flaps on final all on 16" manifold to power off for landing. A beauty to fly. More like a twin 182 to fly than a 210. A 210 is more slippery and feels very quick compared to the 337, even though performance is similar. I have the FSX version and love this baby a lot.

In real life.. Most are trained to taxi the aircraft on the front engine. But of course, you start both engines and bring them up to temp. Before taxi. As far as losing a rear engine, you know. Sound changes and performance changes. Also, your gauges confirm that engine loss. You still have to confirm and feather like any other twine. Plane performance will be slow on all aspects of flight. But the plane will take off on one engine but changes to flap settings need to be made and power setting to prop, and manifold psi. need to remain full until you land. You land as soon as possible, like any twine. The rear engine exhaust is always louder in real life. This video is nice. I will subscribe. Thanks, old washed-up pilot here. 🤣

Your the man M8.

Thanks for the in-depth review. I'd already bought this but I'm glad to hear it's on the numbers and the handling is plausible. The newer Carenados (170, Seneca and this) all feel nice to me, but it's good to hear it from a pro. The fuel flow seems bugged if you lean it too much. That's the only thing that really annoyes me. I'm sure the prop levers are reversed too but otherwise I'm loving the 337.

So over the years Carenado) habit was to not update a aircraft when the sim changed its version. Some planes were updated but many were not. Good luck buying it.

I love flying this thing, just need to get used to it, since I spoiled myself with the C172 G1000 lol.

Always loved this plane. The only thing concerning me is it’s Carenado. Will wait It a few weeks for all the reviews to come in.

I'm flying this right now in MSFS!

This Skymaster 337 is on my radar, love the instrument panel...tight package. But I also want the Carenado Archer....or the Cessna 170, so many planes, so many decisions! What reason did they give for not developing the 337 further then what they did?

man, what a cool aircraft. I'm always just skeptical of Carenado. in the M20R right now for example, lowering the prop speed actually increases fuel flow. I can't tell whether it has an effect on power, if anything it seems like the plane even makes more power at lower prop speeds! I remember that stuff was working perfectly when I first bought the M20. The Seneca has also had some pretty weird issues, though most have been fixed. Last I checked I noticed the weather radar wasn't updating properly (not that I'm too annoyed by that). I can't decide whether I want to wait and see if they fix the M20 before picking this one up. Or maybe I should buy it now and enjoy it until a sim update breaks it and it never works properly again? haha oh well. I think my favorite small plane in the sim right now in terms of being properly done is the JustFlight arrow series which I also own. Looking forward to their future content.

Very good review. There is an error with the movement of the brake pedals, and it is as follows: If you brake the right wheel, the two pedals of the capt move together and out, not in, and if you brake the left wheel, the two pedals of the copilot move together and equally outward and not inward. I reported this error to Carenado since this 337 was released for sale and they told me that in the next up date they would correct it, but unfortunately they have not done so. Greetings from Costa Rica

My dad owned this plane when I was a kid, in this paint scheme, but without the radar pod.

I know I'm coming to this party a little late but I fly on the Xbox Series X and the Skymaster has finally become available to me. I wanted to say that I really enjoyed your video and I have subscribed. I just wish you were a little more thorough.

I'm surprised that more aircraft don't have a push-pull configuration. Seems like it would increase safety.

One of the most beautyful and uniqué aircrafts currently available for the Flight Sim 20. The cockpit is beyond beautyful and detailed. I have fixed most of the visual flaws of the cockpit - but Carenado must patch some of the programming of the instruments (like having fuel flow when switching on the pumps) to bring this beauty to perfection :) Ah did you notice that bug when doing the run-up check? The rear engine was not changing sound when the rpm were reduced after changing the prop speed while the front engine had a clear change of sound. I will contact Carenado about these three little bugs this airplane has with no fuel flow when the pumps are on, no change in manifold pressure when changing rpm and no change in rear engine sound when changing rpm. Otherwise the aircraft seems to be perfect.

2 Things Whenever I hear people complain about Constant Speed Propellers on these Units: 1. You don't control the Propeller Pitch, the Prop Governor does. If the Prop Governor has its Stop set to a Minimum RPM of 1850, it's gonna remain fully fine until you reach that RPM no matter where the Lever is. Only if you are within the Limits of the Governer, in this Example somewhere between 1850 and 2800, will it maintain the RPM Set with the Lever. 2. The Propeller Pitch Angle Range on older Designs is pretty small. The max. Fine Pitch is coarse enough (normally about 17° to 19°) so that even Propeller Failure on Take-Off will not cause the Engine to Overrev. The max. Coarse Pitch is normally fine enough to still allow for enough forward Propulsion even with a Governor Failure. Normally that Angle is in the Mid 30°s. The Feather Pitch Angle needs to be activated manually in an Emergency, but the Propeller on its own cannot go there automatically. So on the Run-up you have to Rev the Engine into the Governor Range modelled for this particular Plane, and the higher you Rev it, the more you will be able to drive it through it's Pitch Angle.

Does the heater work?

the thing about Carendo. i bought and flew all of Carenado’s planes in xplane. They were all great details, beautiful planes. Some of their features did not work but they were still wonderful to fly. Some of their planes had fatal flaws and did not work. In those sad cases they did not repair them. I was just out of pocket. Then they quit supporting their planes in Xplane. They got up and walked away. They will do it again. i think if you give them money.. you may or may not get burned.

Interested that you like the flight model. Do you still think the same after flying later released ac? Cheers

I have this aicraft but has lot debu end issues when i do play

just bought this plane yesterday and it doesn't work. it gets up to about 40 knots and the tail tips on the runway and doesn't take inputs from my joystick. hope they fix it soon.

I noticed the alternator behavior, overvoltage test and alternator restart buttons don't work in a realistic way. I own and fly a (real life) 1975 T337G, for comparison. In the Carenado version, it'll power the DC bus if the rear alternator (but not the front) is switched on even if the battery master is off. This is incorrect behavior, with no power from the batteries, the alternators shouldn't come back online until hitting the alternator restart button (which connects some D cell batteries to the alternator field coils). Also the overvoltage test button should drop both alternators offline and light both alternator warning lights, and stay that way until the master switch is turned off for several seconds. Since the Carenado model has the 2-piece clamshell doors that were introduced in 1973, both alternators have their own separate regulators by that point in the production years. So that couldn't be a reason for the discrepancy between switching the front alternator on vs switching the rear alternator on while the battery master is off. Of course, either alternator starting up with no battery power and without using the alternator restart button is already a bug anyway.

Does the windshield defroster work?

Do you no longer have your webpage or has its location changed?

Does it have windshield wipers, do they work?

Does the plane follow a flight plan ?

do the cowling flaps work? is the autopilot fully operational?

As usually, Microsoft does NOT understand a plane has a SOUND. And sound is 50% of immersion... A good plane with a mixer sound feels like a flying mixer...

One down you should be heading right to the field.after you are abeam the numbers.pull the power when you hit final you would not have made it. . Why would you do that? what if the front engine over heated and stopped. CRASH that is how I would have done the emergency single engine landing.

Mixmaster

I will not ask about Xbox release, we didn't get anything good in ages....

Disagree about not knowing about engine failure if you understand the normal feelings. 2nd engine is all the difference surely missed.